I’ve been playing quite a lot of the latest release, learning all the new nuances and adapting my strategy to fit this game. ISG has now taken another huge leap forward, and to tell the honest truth, I love how everything has come together. In due time, maybe I will write some specific thoughts, or share my latest game with you all, (it’s glorious), but for today, I want to start a thread on some thoughts for minor adjustments. In no particular order then Events I love how the events have introduced enough randomness in the game to make each session different and exciting without breaking the game. There are though a few things I would like to see, in particular, better attention to when the events fire. A few times so far, I received the event that required a marine barracks early enough, that there was no chance of fulfilling it, same with the defense fleet. For example, being asked to assign numerous DDs when I’ve yet to build a single one, is less than ideal, especially at a stage when doing so means I either have to scrap half completed construction (and lose it), or it is early enough that producing a single DD takes several turns. Refit I know this is a matter of personal taste, however. I have a session right now, and I just can’t see the cost benefit of refit. My fleet numbers over three dozen warships ranging from Frigates to Battleships, I’m surrounded on all sides by the AI factions and engaged in a border war with part of my forces, the rest are scattered all over my extensive front. My main ship yard worlds are churning out new constructions, and I find it preferable to gradually scrap the oldest designs as new ones come on line. This at least guarantees that my front is covered at all times, my production is non-stop, and avoids the micro. A possible solution may be to introduce a tech for upgrades and tie it into monetary cost. Remote exploration This is certainly one of the strengths of the game and early on, it works great. But I’m on a large map and I now have two remote efforts underway at all times. Perhaps then, the mechanic could be automated further, meaning that results would still come in after 4, 6, and 8 turns respectively, but without my manual intervention. I would still like the option of stopping an underway effort at any time and re-directing it elsewhere, but the fewer times I am forced to go to the remote exploration screen the better. Colony event frequency These are mostly beneficial to the player and I love the effect overall, but I play hardcore, I don’t want to turn them off as that diminishes the experience, but I would like to see them fire less frequently on the harder levels. Better yet, right now we have the option to turn events off, perhaps another option for frequency (none, few, many) would be good. Tech Tree Here it is possible that we will continue to see additional adjustments over the course of time, I have no issue with that, but I would like to see advanced research added, (where appropriate), similar to MoO2 once you get pat level 10. These should be super expensive to research and confer miniaturization to the higher end weaponry. It would also give us something to research for those times that the game plays in a way to run through the normal tech tree. Desires Overall an excellent job, sometimes you can even turn them down if the leader has a high enough opinion, I would however minimize the number of times a leader asks you to fire someone else, so far It isn’t a glaring issue, but I did have one session where it happened enough to annoy me. Well crewmates, believe it or not, this is it on the parts of the game where I would like to see some adjustments, overall, I think the Devs have done an outstanding job with this release, and have come very close to fulfilling their promise of creating the “most complete and comprehensive Turn Based Space 4X ever developed” P.S. Here's a tease on my latest session, I’m dark blue.
Let's go. We'll have a look at both those situations to see when it's best to fire them. The point of refit is to offset costs of having to build ships from scratch, but above all to keep that precious crew experience intact. From your feedback, I see that you have a hard time moving ships to star bases because they leave your borders unprotected, as for the hassle of having to move ships around. You could always rush a starbase near the front or on the most pressing borders. If the problem in the end is the micro we're thinking in a solution to allow mass-refit, or an automatic refit option where possibly ships will go to the nearest starbase and then get back to where they were. Alternatively, and as a third option, we could have a late tech that allows auto-refitting at a distance (without the need to visit a starbase), possibly tied with a monetary cost in the lines of what you propose I think either of these three solutions, a combination or all could work well. Yes, this is also in our TODO list. That's a nice suggestion, and quite easy to do. We'll consider it for the future. Agreed, this is also in the queue of things to improve. We have already toned down the request to fire another leader. It will be available in the hotfix. We're glad that you're enjoying Pre-Alpha 11 Chris. There's still a lot to do however, especially on the graphics, UI and usability aspects. We'll also be adding more content and improving all aspects of the game. As you say, our goal is to offer the most complete and comprehensive turn-based space 4X ever developed. In time, we hope the Interstellar Space series will be regarded as the best turn-based space 4X strategy game experience ever.
Don't get me wrong Adam, it's a bit of a nuisance at times, but certainly not game-breaking. A lot is contingent on the strategic situation. For example, in the game I referenced (screen shot), I'm in the center and my "front" is massive, if I had spawned in a corner, I could handle the situation better. I guess for my play style it is a factor, I field very large fleets for ISG as they are usually balanced, with many smaller ships escorting one or two heavies. Their armaments isn't as effective if they are few in numbers (massed missile volleys), so it does get pretty intense. Again, in the current game, I anticipate having over 50 ships by the time I switch from border wars to all-out offensives, that adds a lot to the micro. Glad to see we're pretty much on the same page and as far as this... Enjoying is an understatement, I'm floored by how well ISG has evolved, intricate, immersive, fresh, and best of all... pretty damn challenging now on the harder levels. With past versions, I just used the same template as a playing style and didn't really feel challenged, now, i have to react differently, think far more long term. and be prepared to adapt to the uniqueness of each session... if I had to sum up PA11 in a single word... exquisite comes to mind. Hats off to you Gents
Hi Konstantine, nice thread. I agree with what you mentioned, and I appreciate Adam's replies. Great! These guys are really doing a super job. I'm not playing on the same difficulty level you are but I've got to say this game really, really does have that "just one more turn" effect. God knows what it's going to do to my sleep level, or my relationships. Speaking of remote (and other) exploration, when I get an icon about some new discovery, I'm often unsure what it was. The system view does not seem to have a written explanation or other specific clue, so I'm left to guess what it was. I guess I'm missing something here, but what??? So now you know just how faulty my memory is! Just a thought...
Thanks for the kind words! I also feel the "just one more turn" effect. If I was not super busy ironing out bugs and constantly analysing and looking out for stuff I would be playing this game already just for the fun of it. I know I'm suspect but that's how I feel. That's why we need your feedback and assessment from a pure play perspective so much, because we're in it too much. Regarding the exploration, and the new discoveries, you right. Sometimes you make discoveries that report "You have discovered more information on system A or sector B" but the system view should, and will, tell you exactly what those discoveries where as sometimes it's not so evident. Don't worry, that level of UI refinement and great usability will come.
Wow, Adam, you must be hard-wired into this forum. I've never seen Developers respond so quickly. Thanks! As long as I'm here, may I mention ship refits again? I sincerely agree with Konstantine about somehow making it cheaper/faster/easier (????) to do refits. That was on top of the things I liked about MOO2 - as opposed to MOO1 where refits were not possible. You guys are doing a great job with this game. Please keep it up!
Hi Joe3, great to see you around, I completely agree with you on this! Ditto my friend, not to mention some clients of mine who are wondering what the "emergency" is that has them waiting for my presence Waking up this morning, I thought about two more points I should mention, this may help @Adam Solo Trade treaties In the screen shot above, you can see I am swimming in credits. The primary culprit is the trade treaties, I have one with everybody except the Sulak, you may want to consider adjusting the benefits. Early on, I was struggling with cash, now, I'm spending like a drunken sailor. Keep in mind that it hasn't effected the game in a negative fashion though, as you can see, the AIs are also quite healthy with The exception of the Draguul who spawned in terrain that limited their early expansion, the others however, are doing extremely well. Marine barracks for dictatorship Again, not a glaring issue as it effects everyone the same, but you may wish to consider lowering the bonus somewhat on this. Now, I just woke up, and I'm itching to play more
Good lord I got my butt kicked by the Sulak, they had these Titans that were one shot killing my Shiny new Battleships... I noticed that those wonderful ships you find in ruins can't move in combat, is this intentional?
We'll look into that. Treade treaties being powerful is intentional. We'll have a look if they are perhaps too powerful, especially in late game. As you know, the morale bonus from garrisons only applies to Dictatorships. You mean, you're finding it too much for your own benefit? Awesome! Man, we need to put this hotfix out the door as soon as possible as it will increase performance considerably in lower-end graphical cards.
No, that's a bug. Could you send me a save where you have such a ship found in ruins that you say can't move?
You're welcome! We value the time you're putting into the game at this stage greatly. And, this is simply the nature of Praxis Games, we value customer feedback a lot as we believe that's key for producing better games in the end. Ship refit was also one of my favorite aspects of MoO2. However, as you say it was not without its falts, namely a bit too much hassle in late game. We'll fix that. Thanks!
Yes, I play as a dictatorship, in MoO2 you had a penalty until you built one, here you get a bonus. I like the ISG version better, but perhaps a reduction in the bonus might be worth a look, might not. After getting my butt kicked so consistently on the higher levels... I''m not so sure anymore. I saw it in two different sessions, in this one, I have one of those ships at Widmas, but haven't taken it to battle, a save is attached, try it out and escort it with some of my normal built ships, I'm at war with the Humans and Sulak, plus there are a few monsters around, you have plenty of targets to choose from
I could move the Stellar Flare ship in combat, the one you had in Widmas. Fought against a monster and a Draguul fleet. Could the immobility issue have happened with another ship found in ruins? If you have another save with a ship that doesn't move let me know. \Edit: Do you remember if you refitted the special ship found in ruins when you got that behavior? \Edit 2: I see the issue. The Demolisher has only 2 combat speed and the Mothership only 4. It's a bit too low, we'll fix that.
Some more (positive) thoughts about refit, it's a must on the harder levels. In the past, older ship classes were effective a very long time, now I see the AI fielding some excellent designs which make my ships obsolete quicker. In yet another game I started, I availed myself of the refit to keep up. Early on, it was not difficult and they refit quickly, as the game progressed though, it takes a long time. Additionally, when I had few ships, it was actually kind of fun, but once my fleet grew, and refit times also increased, I was at a loss about what to do and how. It would be a shame to lose this entirely as it does add another layer to the game.
The problem here is that refit prices are quite high. I think that they for what they offer, they need to go down. I'm pro-refit, since it allows for existing crew experience to be carried over. The only other way I could see this working is to have a "pool" where when ships are decommissioned, there is a pool of experienced crews.
I don't know about not moving, but in my last game, the "Demolisher" ship I found only had a combat movement of 2
Personally, I love ship refitting, I really like to have my old ships with their experienced crew. I am a big RPG fan, so for me, such things matter, I am getting attached to my ships after a while I also, noticed that Trade Treaties give a lot of bonuses, I think I've already mentioned that few moths ago that in general, in this game there are no no problems with money. I think this aspect should be revised, I think having money should be a continuous struggle. You should always have to worry about that, but to be honest, in my play-throughs it is like 30 first turns and then I have more and more and more to the point that there was no room on the screen to count BCs Maybe this is because of Trade Treaties, but even without them I had a lot of income.
You can try to put that money to good use by rushing construction. It is quite expensive to rush. Also, you can allocate it to research and culture. Of course, if you keep accumulating money and don't spend it / allocate it, then, yeah, you will have a lot money parking there We may need to balance money generation. As you say, perhaps trade treaties are generating too much money at the moment. However, at the end of the day it's not so much about the amount of money you have, it's where you should perhaps be spending it on, because if you don't you may get behind on tech or culture. Of course, if you're doing good in tech and culture, are ahead in the game and playing at a harder difficulty, then that could be a problem yes. Let us know your thoughts on the matter as you play more, especially on higher difficulty levels where you'll neeed a bigger army and negative SSP may also come into play, which will create an extra fee from fleet maintenance.
