There’s a pixel doubler that was very useful for this resolution issue in other games, totally free, discussed in the Star Sector thread.
I got a copy of this to stream and even just reading the manual has me excited. It reminds me of those crazy weird ambitious games you’d see in the 90s that no one remembers, like Cave Wars.
This uses chits? I’m such a fucking nerd that this gets me excited.
Even better - it has a NATO symbols option!
Damn, I was holding out until now…
Umm…i limited simplified set of Nato Counters. It does not have/use the full layout (yet).
This AAR is awesome. Thanks.
I will probably wait for the Steam release, though. I am not sure about the UI scaling issues mentioned above, and Steam will provide refund-ability. Must … hold… off…
If anyone posts about this game in July (other than to ask if anyone’s still playing it), I may buy it.
I’m concerned that for now, this game may benefit from “New Toy Syndrome.” A corollary to the Chick Parabola. People love learning new things, and deep games with tons of potential. I do too! But considering that the manual says the game is designed to let you be good at it even if you don’t know how to play, and that “Stratagems” will give you a break from the tedium of playing the game and let it play itself for a while, I am dubious. Let’s see how it holds up once there are a few toys newer than it.
Distant Worlds plays itself for a while and it’s still amazing. Sir.
I was going to comment that I got a (turn-based) DW vibe.
Short take from the review:
Shadow Empire is the Alpha Centauri of today, only better. Yeah, I said it.
At first you had my curiosity, but now you have my interest.
Been playing around with it today. Very, very interesting, but wow does it take some doing to understand how to do things. I hate to think how much time I have spent just figuring out the basics of logistics and how to build roads.
We have a result, assuming it works!
Tommorow we should have an open beta patch published.
This patch includes a major speed-up of the 200% DPI setting.
Nice!
At this point, my biggest frustration is the map.
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I am surrounded by minor factions and non-aligned segments of land. There is a tab that shows this as a sort of a mini-map. But the information is not readily apparent on the main map, and if there is an overlay to accomplish this, I have not found it. (Admittedly, I can sometimes overlook the obvious in an interface.) All I see are faint dotted lines separating unlabeled areas. Not really very helpful.
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Specific hexes have on-map labels like Habas Alps or Cargo Vessel or Pons… but nowhere do I see information about the significance of that. Even the hex where I constructed a mine, I see an icon, but clicking on that hex I see weather, I see terrain, but not the answer to the important question, “What is this?” The assets for the entire zone are available, but not for the particular hex. I gotta be missing something, right?
So I read the manual & linked AAR & then spent a few hours playing yesterday…
… and I really don’t understand what’s going on most of the time.
It’s incredibly ambitious but also feels like a shambling pile of over complexity & the exact opposite of an elegant design. Why are there, for example, so many nearly-overlapping kinds of currencies and points? Fate points, logistical points, action points, political points, industrial points, bureaucratic points, research points, bonus points. It’s endless and I honestly don’t think i’ve remembered or listed them all!
Hopefully I’m just overwhelmed & frustrated by the huge design and will start to understand it a little better on future attempts. But wow this is not what you’d call approachable & who can even begin to tell if the AI actually knows how to play the game?
Gary Grigsby meets Derek Smart so far.
Diego
Box quote!
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The maps are only as accurate as your intel (spies) or what you have personally unveiled through moving units. It’s pretty chaotic at first but will make more sense as you get better details. Sending Spies to neighboring areas is a great way to get information (including the areas entire map).
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When you click on a hex, in the lower right (just left of where the temp/rain/scav/recon points are listed) you have 5 vertical buttons (selected, hex, every asset in zone, public assets, private assets, delegated assets) that let you filter what is shown. The first button will limit what is detailed to just the exact hex you have selected instead of showing every asset in the zone. After you have found the asset just click it to open a detailed info window.
@Vormithrax I was curious about your take on @dgallina’s view. I’m on the fence about grabbing this and trust your opinion.