Although the team has moved to a two week schedule for feature implementation it doesn’t mean they won’t release a patch if they’ve fixed some important bugs. Case in point this was released today:
Critical Fixes:
- Fixed AI from taking control of players in slots other than slot 1
- Fixed upgrade missions from using the wrong system to populate upgrade options
- Fixed issues with upgrade missions.
Other Fixes:
- Fixed missing start node lines for Humans
- Fixed an incorrect calculation for ship construction that caused the player to have less production then they were supposed to have.
- Fix missing Battle Cruiser and Battle Ship Categories
- Fixed module weapons
- Fixed spectres not being attacked by planetary beams when merged with planets
- Fixed some animations for Liir battleriders
- Fixed minor projector bugs
- Fixed the order of fleets in all mission screens
Other Changes and Additions:
- Minor tech tree and ship tuning changes
Known issues
- Launcher not properly reflecting game version number
I put in a hundred turns for a game over the weekend and enjoyed it quite a bit. Things are shaping up.
Lorini
1724
I guess I’m pathetic, but I can’t even figure out how to build ships/fleets and stuff. I’d like to play since it’s pretty clear they have no intention of giving me my refund, but it’s just too opaque for me.
You design a ship, then build one as a prototype. In order to create a fleet you need a free CnC ship built. Then you assign an Admiral to the CnC ship and then you can add any other ships to the fleet up to the Command Point limit.
Have you checked out the manual and beginner’s guide?
Janster
1726
I’ve put some more hours into, glad they fixed the human node line, was driving me batty hehe.
As Rorschach says, once you built your ships, you gotta remember where you built them, and then proceed to the fleet management where you create a new fleet and stuff those ships into it.
Its a drag and drop process if nothing else.
I kinda wish they had used a fleet pooling system instead of reserves based on location, it would have simplified stuff a bit…and instead used the naval bases as marshaling points. Which I honestly could not imagine any other use for them as…
Sepiche
1727
At the very least it would be nice if they would let you transfer reserves from one planet to another without having to shift them into a fleet first. I can see what they are trying to do with fleets, but I think they made the rules for them a little too rigid in some spots.
MikeJ
1728
Yeah I think it is too rigid as well. I’d like to be able to queue up multiple missions if the supplies are available. I like the idea of naval bases as rally points. On the other hand, I don’t like being able to relocate a fleet to an undeveloped system.
I find that ships are expensive enough that I only build them in a few key node systems, where I also get the construction bonus for the naval base. All the other systems are dedicated to trade.
Lorini
1729
Yeah maybe once they can get the game to run reliably, they can go back to making the game changes. I hate the new fleet system it’s way too cumbersome. I think I’ll go back to Distant Worlds and AI Wars for now.
MikeJ
1731
I’m afraid your arch-nemesis beat you to the punch this time, Grifman.
The fleet mission system is very useful when you have to keep track of 20 fleets across multiple colonies covering a dozen systems. Early game it can be a little daunting especially if you’re expecting drag and drop movement.
Lorini
1734
Well if I want to send out 10 explorers/scout ships in either AI Wars or Distant Worlds, I build them and send them out. In this game I have to build 10 CC ships, as well as other ships to support them and then put them into fleets and babysit them across the galaxy. That’s just insane to me.
Janster
1735
The fleet stuff was supposed to make things a bit more ‘formal’ I would guess. However it has turned things a bit tedious , surveying is also a mechanic that isn’t really needed if you ask me.
Simpler pool of ships, fleets should be able to do like Shogun 2, gain ships from the pool every so often to replace losses.
CNC ships was a weak spot in SOTS 1 too, idea is good, execution so and so, I would remove them personally and instead just have a ‘lead’ ship.
Yep surveying is different from the previous game. Personally I don’t build surveying fleets, I build general purpose combat fleets which I use to survey, defend, and attack.
I like the Shogun idea of unit replacement. Something like that is kind of already in the game. If you task a fleet with a mission and you don’t have a required ship you’ll automatically build that ship and add it to the fleet.
KevinC
1737
IMO the fleet system is a good concept yet to go through some playtesting / iteration cycles. Hopefully they’re open to making adjustments after the bigger issues are tackled?
Sepiche
1738
Yeah that’s what I tend to do. I don’t mind surveying actually and quite honestly, my old SotS 1 tactic of sending out lone tankers to explore the galaxy always felt a little gamey. I think the new survey system is pretty clearly intended to keep players a little closer to home and not be able to send a few lone ships on a suicide mission to explore the cosmos. It’s also worth pointing out to new players that you shouldn’t skimp on your survey fleets… the more planets a system has the longer is takes you to survey. If you only have 1 or 2 ships in your fleet it’s going to take you upwards of 10 turns to explore a system with 5 or 6 planets.
After playing a bit more the last few days and fighting a few battles I can really see the charm of the fleet system, but it needs a few tweaks to be a little less annoying. I think one of the biggest things in it’s favor is, because battles now tend to be fleet vs. fleet, you get a lot more battles that are roughly even instead of being able to build a giant fleet and rely on the bonus outnumber ships to win.
Primarily, I think they need to add the ability to let a fleet relocate at any time. It’s really frustrating to have a fleet on a mission in a system right next to another system where you want to rebase them, but the fleet has to travel back to it’s previous base before you can give them the relocate order. It would just save some hassle and time if I could tell that fleet to relocate the instant they are done with their mission… or even better, add to the mission creation interface the ability to select an alternate system to return to.
As I mentioned above another option that would streamline things a lot is letting ships transfer from one reserve to another without having to join a fleet. Sometimes I need to spread my construction out through multiple systems to speed it up a bit, but then I’m left with having to send a “ferry” fleet around to pick up the new ships and gather them together. That’s just annoying micro management that slows things down. At the very least being able to give a rally command to order all new ships to gather at a certain system would also probably help.
I think the main thing annoying me at the moment is an odd issue on the main map. Is anyone else getting an issue where sometimes a fleet in a system is placed “on top” of the system, so when you try to select the system you only get the lone fleet? You can usually click around and eventually get the system selected, but it sometimes takes a lot of clicking and rotating the camera to work and it’s really irritating.
MikeJ
1739
Yeah I am getting that. Annoying as heck.
I’d like to see some tweaks to the fleet system (you have some good suggestions). Overall I think it’s pretty reasonable.
Sepiche
1740
I did a little reading over at the Kerbero’s forums and it sounds like it might be related to cancelling missions, but can be fixed by reloading the game. I’ll mess around with it tonight a little probably and see if that’s the case and if that helps any.
Grifman
1741
Your suggestions sound good, have you posted them over at the Kerberos forums?
Sepiche
1742
I probably should, but I stopped posting there years ago after being hounded by fan boys for making modest critiques. :P
