Thoughts after my first play in several years

For what's not in 'Top Priority Game Design'. Post your ideas, visions, suggestions for the game, rules, modifications, etc.

Moderator: Oberlus

Message
Author
marhawkman
Large Juggernaut
Posts: 938
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 9:34 pm
Location: GA

Thoughts after my first play in several years

#1 Post by marhawkman »

I like the new version! It's awesome! even "unfinished" it's a lot of fun to play in single player. Although.... I did get that "SURPRISE SPACE KRAKEN!" thing a lot... still do...

one main thing that bugs me: could you guys add something to let you know WHAT blew your scout ships up? More often than not I have no idea whatsoever what destroyed one of my ships. Is it something i could beat by sending 2 ships next time? Or is it something REALLY scary? No clue....
Computer programming is fun.

User avatar
eleazar
Design & Graphics Lead Emeritus
Posts: 3858
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:09 pm
Location: USA — midwest

Re: Thoughts after my first play in several years

#2 Post by eleazar »

marhawkman wrote:one main thing that bugs me: could you guys add something to let you know WHAT blew your scout ships up? More often than not I have no idea whatsoever what destroyed one of my ships. Is it something i could beat by sending 2 ships next time? Or is it something REALLY scary? No clue....
I'd like to see a pre-battle interface where you get to see the forces on both sides --the ones you can detect-- and you get to choose between fight and retreat.

User avatar
Bigjoe5
Designer and Programmer
Posts: 2058
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 6:33 pm
Location: Orion

Re: Thoughts after my first play in several years

#3 Post by Bigjoe5 »

eleazar wrote:
marhawkman wrote:one main thing that bugs me: could you guys add something to let you know WHAT blew your scout ships up? More often than not I have no idea whatsoever what destroyed one of my ships. Is it something i could beat by sending 2 ships next time? Or is it something REALLY scary? No clue....
I'd like to see a pre-battle interface where you get to see the forces on both sides --the ones you can detect-- and you get to choose between fight and retreat.
I'd like to see tactical combat, but it looks like I'll have to get a bit better at C++ before that's going to happen *coughtzlaineweneedyoucough*.
Warning: Antarans in dimensional portal are closer than they appear.

marhawkman
Large Juggernaut
Posts: 938
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 9:34 pm
Location: GA

Re: Thoughts after my first play in several years

#4 Post by marhawkman »

Speaking of combat... how is combat with spacemonsters determined? they seem a lot more dangerous than their stats would suggest...

Asteroid hulls with 40 attack and hp lose to great krakens with 10 attack and 50 hp....

another thing kinda bugged me... the game sometimes "shortens" numbers greater than 99 by displaying them as 0.x...
Computer programming is fun.

User avatar
Bigjoe5
Designer and Programmer
Posts: 2058
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 6:33 pm
Location: Orion

Re: Thoughts after my first play in several years

#5 Post by Bigjoe5 »

marhawkman wrote:Speaking of combat... how is combat with spacemonsters determined? they seem a lot more dangerous than their stats would suggest...

Asteroid hulls with 40 attack and hp lose to great krakens with 10 attack and 50 hp....

another thing kinda bugged me... the game sometimes "shortens" numbers greater than 99 by displaying them as 0.x...
? What version are you playing? For quite a while now, Great Krakens have had 60 attack and 2000 structure... which I thought may have been related to your second problem as well, since the 2000 would show up as 2.0k, IIRC, with the k being largely hidden by one of the meter icons, but the numbers don't seem to add up.
Warning: Antarans in dimensional portal are closer than they appear.

marhawkman
Large Juggernaut
Posts: 938
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 9:34 pm
Location: GA

Re: Thoughts after my first play in several years

#6 Post by marhawkman »

ah, maybe that's it. I think I have the latest version and the behavior of the game would support them having 60/2000 stats even though the stats are displayed as 10/50. Maybe it's a display glitch?

I DL'd from the link here: http://freeorion.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6502

here's a picture: http://marhawkman.deviantart.com/art/fr ... -299858760
Computer programming is fun.

User avatar
Bigjoe5
Designer and Programmer
Posts: 2058
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 6:33 pm
Location: Orion

Re: Thoughts after my first play in several years

#7 Post by Bigjoe5 »

Yeah, that version is different from the current revision in a lot of ways. The stats are displaying correctly.
Warning: Antarans in dimensional portal are closer than they appear.

marhawkman
Large Juggernaut
Posts: 938
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 9:34 pm
Location: GA

Re: Thoughts after my first play in several years

#8 Post by marhawkman »

so what's the current version?

EDIT: and if those are the right stats(for the version I'm playing), then how is it that the kraken can kill ships with higher stats?
Computer programming is fun.

User avatar
Bigjoe5
Designer and Programmer
Posts: 2058
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 6:33 pm
Location: Orion

Re: Thoughts after my first play in several years

#9 Post by Bigjoe5 »

marhawkman wrote:so what's the current version?

EDIT: and if those are the right stats(for the version I'm playing), then how is it that the kraken can kill ships with higher stats?
Here's how combat works at the moment, IIRC:

Each combat round, a random object is chosen to be the attacker, and a random object of a different affiliation from the attacker is chosen to be attacked. If the attacker has a damage meter of 0 (ships) or a defense meter of 0 (planets), nothing happens, and we move on to the next round. If the attacked object is a ship, damage will be allocated first to decreasing its shields, then to decreasing its structure if there's any damage left over, and if structure reaches 0, the ship is destroyed and removed from combat. If the attacked object is a planet, the damage will be allocated first towards decreasing its defense, then decreasing its shields if there's any damage left over, then decreasing its construction if there's any more damage left over.

So it's entirely possible for that Great Kraken to fire off 4 shots before your ship fires off 2.
Warning: Antarans in dimensional portal are closer than they appear.

marhawkman
Large Juggernaut
Posts: 938
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 9:34 pm
Location: GA

Re: Thoughts after my first play in several years

#10 Post by marhawkman »

does combat speed affect how often things fire? I was wondering what that stat was for.

"Eaten by space monsters" has been the fate of far too many ships for this to be a fluke. And your explanation would explain why my ships do so much better in groups.
Computer programming is fun.

User avatar
Bigjoe5
Designer and Programmer
Posts: 2058
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 6:33 pm
Location: Orion

Re: Thoughts after my first play in several years

#11 Post by Bigjoe5 »

marhawkman wrote:does combat speed affect how often things fire? I was wondering what that stat was for.
Nope, does nothing. Stealth and detection also have no effect on combat.
Warning: Antarans in dimensional portal are closer than they appear.

marhawkman
Large Juggernaut
Posts: 938
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 9:34 pm
Location: GA

Re: Thoughts after my first play in several years

#12 Post by marhawkman »

Do the newer versions have refinements for armor techs? I noticed the version I'm playing has refinements for weapons, but not armor or shields. Death Rays cstart at 60 and go to 100, but armor caps at 25(Neutronium) and shields cap at 3...
Computer programming is fun.

User avatar
eleazar
Design & Graphics Lead Emeritus
Posts: 3858
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:09 pm
Location: USA — midwest

Re: Thoughts after my first play in several years

#13 Post by eleazar »

marhawkman wrote:Do the newer versions have refinements for armor techs? I noticed the version I'm playing has refinements for weapons, but not armor or shields. Death Rays cstart at 60 and go to 100, but armor caps at 25(Neutronium) and shields cap at 3...
No, weapons are very much out of balance with shields/armor.

marhawkman
Large Juggernaut
Posts: 938
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 9:34 pm
Location: GA

Re: Thoughts after my first play in several years

#14 Post by marhawkman »

Well, I saw something rather astonishing yesterday while playing a second game. A big group of ships armed with Mk1 Mass Drivers managed to take down a Great Kraken!!!!

Yeah, so the 10/50 stats for Great Krakens MUST be correct. In this new game I've had MUCH lower ship losses. Why? I stopped sending ships out alone. Except for long range scouts, all of my ships operate in fleets of at least 3. I've had much better results in combat this way. Capital ships seem to do poorly on their own.

and another question: how many types of discoveries can you get from ruins? So far I've seen Neutronium synthesizers, and multispectral shields(the only shield worth using), and then once I didn't get anything(redundant tech?).
Computer programming is fun.

User avatar
eleazar
Design & Graphics Lead Emeritus
Posts: 3858
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:09 pm
Location: USA — midwest

Re: Thoughts after my first play in several years

#15 Post by eleazar »

marhawkman wrote:and another question: how many types of discoveries can you get from ruins? So far I've seen Neutronium synthesizers, and multispectral shields(the only shield worth using), and then once I didn't get anything(redundant tech?).
4

Post Reply