Stardock owns Star Control and is planning an "XCOM-like" reboot

I think during battle is important. The AI can handle some ships fine but others not. And then I would like to jump in.

Same here, no first contact achievements have triggered.

Yea, I think it’s a classic case of the beta group just not consisting of enough non-actiony players.

I think this also shows in the general lack of attention on the AI control module (I don’t recommend it). I’m going to take a hand in it this week to make sure Thursday’s 1.01 update makes that AI modules good enough that it plays as well as an above-average human player.

Yes. The various choices and decisions you make in the game will have subtle and not-so-subtle effects on the state of the universe.

As the game progresses, you’ll start to see borders shift a bit.

This is a really good idea. I’ve sent it in.

No, they’re not. The first contact ones are not triggering at all.

Also: Took The Bait (Accept the Trandals’ upgrades) didn’t trigger for me.

Are the Fleet Battle achievements not supposed to unlock during the campaign? Because they’re not for me.

The AI control module is the first thing I bought, because I’m more of a non-actiony player. I’m very pleased that it exists, and is so reasonably priced.

I’m pretty sure I should have Kzanti Killer at this point, plus Uncomfortable (Wymdoo joining your crew).

Speaking of Took the Bait and its aftermath, Has the overmind been fucking with your auto-pilot destinations? I’ve had at least 2 occasions where I’ve ended up in a system other than the one I was targeting. They were places I’d marked with a target marker as well, and selecting them as a destination on the right side of the map. So it wasn’t a case of mis-clicking.

I’m guessing the Fleet Battle achievements are for the separate game mode.

Glad to hear that. :)

I often pick up and stack the auto collectors. Then I go onto planets and scoop everything up fast (note, I only go to planets with yellow, purple and green resources ;) )

Oh, those percentage boosts stack? I tried it with fire resistance but that did not seem to stack.

Since I am now over the hump and happily continued on I get the feeling I took too long and now I will have a failed state? The enemy is expanding and the Mu’Kay seem unable to send a ship to earth (there is none since a few month) since the baddies have settled in between us? I am fighting tooth and nail to continue but again seem to be at a place where I can only fly around randomly in the hopes to find what I need to continue or gather minerals to sell so I can afford upgrades. While quests pay better there just seem far too few of them.

Are people using the ai module really expected to defeat that scryve ship? I’m done with that module. :) It has cost me lord knows how many ru replenishing the fleet.

I don’t have the game so I lack the proper context but… if someone has problems with a fight, shouldn’t the answer be to lower the difficulty of the game? Can it be changed on the fly?
Is Tom playing on the easiest mode and still being beaten? (Should we point and laugh then? :P)

The AI module, from what I’m reading, it’s for players that are giving up the control of the combat. That’s a bit weird to me, if they don’t like the combat of a game maybe the game isn’t for them, but I guess that is a good idea, game design wise, to have a way to play for players who are interested in the story/adventure aspect, and not in the combat.
Then, yeah, the AI module should be good, otherwise is pointless. If people wanted to be defeated in combat, they don’t need to install the AI module, they can be defeated by themselves :) :). Maybe put a note on screen when you install it clarifying to the player what’s going to happen.

The campaign doesn’t have difficulty levels, as far as I can tell.

Wasn’t there a choice at the beginning?

Was there? I can’t remember anymore I guess. I don’t remember there being one, but it’s possible that I’ve forgotten by now.

I’m thinking of getting one of those AI modules myself. This was unthinkable in the first three Star Control games, since I loved the combat so much. But in this one, combat just feels terrible in comparison, so maybe the AI module is the answer? I’m just finding the physics and combat to feel horrible.

Yes, you can pick a difficulty at the beginning – easy, normal (?), hard, IIRC.

Edit: actually you get the prompt on the first in-game screen, after the opening cutscene, and there’s four difficulty levels:

And hey, didn’t notice the typos before (“report to the the U.E.S”, and “[a]waiting your arrival”)!

Not really, since it makes you watch the inept AI slug it out with itself. ;-)

But is the combat bad or is older you less able / willing?

And here Brad says it can be changed:

https://i.imgur.com/BgvWUK2.png

I thought about that this weekend. I fired up Hyper-Melee mode in Star Control 3 and Super Melee in Star Control 2. StarCon2 is definitely less smooth than I remember it, but it’s better in StarCon3. It took me a bit to get used to the keyboard controls again. Both are definitely better in my memory than in reality, no doubt about that. But still, both feel less “janky” in the combat compared to Origins. There’s no weirdness with collision detection and what-not that you get with Origins, plus the wrap-around playfield is much better than a super huge playfield surrounded by asteroids, since you never zoom out as far as you do in Origin, where everything becomes tiny.

I think the combat in Origins is salvageable. If they’re married to the playfield not wrapping around, they just need to make the collision detection less wonky. A patch should be able to fix the latter. They’ve got a decent foundation, it just needs more polish.

Yeah, how good we were at the previous games probably colors a lot of the impressions. By the time StarCon2 came out, I was really good at melee thanks to the original Star Control. And by the time StarCon3 came out, I was god-like.

The most recent game that currently colors my perception the most is Galak-Z. If you haven’t played that, put it on your wishlist right now! It’s got the best 2D space combat I’ve ever experienced. Honestly, I was hoping Star Control: Origins would have the feel of the physics/collision/control of Galak-Z mixed with the ship variety of a Star Control game.

Edit: Good point about the lack of audio feedback when you get hit. That’s a big part of why this feels kind of limp. Also, running into asteroids kills your crew as well, even though the collisions look kind of benign on the screen. Maybe better, more devastating audio feedback is required there was well.