Hi I guess I need to start a new game because you've just released a Beta! Anyway, here are the things that I've gathered so far: BUGS 1. Interstellar Geology - Space Culture Perk might not work correctly. From what I've noticed it did not provide additional resources.There are no benefits listed from it when hoovering mouse over Helium/Antimatter/neutronium/Dark Matter. For example now I have +3 Antimatter it shows: +2 from star system, +1 from galactic wonders. No word about Interstellar Geology. 2. I think Battlestation default project is wrong, My Battlestation design contained 1 regular Chaos Chain and one Chaos Chain (Heavy mount). It did not contained missiles at all. (I've had discovered at least 2 missie types at that time). I've already noticed this quite long time ago in the enemy Star Base: https://interstellarspacegame.com/forums/index.php?threads/pre-alpha-10-notes.665/#post-5044 Now I have confirmation for a human player Battlestation. 3. Some ships don't disappear after being destroyed. They remain until battle is over. I don't know if it has anything to do it but they were destroyed by Chaos Chain and they were small Frigate / Destroyer size. 4. U.I. has problems with larger amount of BC income: POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENTS: 1. When on colony screen allocating a production via "Triangle of Allocation" we have an instant update of value changes at colony level. So for example, we see how BC/RP/SCP values are changing. However, the same instant update is missing at empire level. Update at empire level shows after left mouse button is released. It would be nice to have instant update there too, it is important especially if you have problems with BC income on global level and you try to adjust that value via production allocation to trade gods. 2. A.I. prefers build outposts on asteroid fields rather extracting rare resources. While I agree that in early game it is more beneficial to use asteroid fields, I am talking about a middle game. I've discovered at least five systems that had outposts everywhere except Stellar Black Holes / boson stars / neutron stars. I thought it was a bug, but then I saw one outpost on a neutron star. So I don't know if A.I. was lazy or what happened there. On the other hand, A.I. approached me multiple times offering me BC for strategic resources. It was the same A.I. which could have those resources for free, just by having outposts. 3. I've discovered an unique technology Chaos Chain but there was no information what this technology provides. It would be good to have a technology screen for it, the one that is shown after researching new standard tech perhaps? 4. So, my Battle Station with one standard Chaos Chain and one Chaos Chain (heavy mount) was attacked by a frigate and got destroyed by it! Frigate was at point blank range (next to Battle Station) and still my Chaos Chains had 0% to hit it. I would expect Battle Station to be stronger than that. I think Star Base / Battle Station need a bit overhaul. They should contain: a) Missiles b) Torpedoes c) Point defense weapons (since they are immobile, it is crucial to have defense against missiles). d) The same targeting systems that are installed on ships automatically. 5. When hoovering on an enemy ship we do see percentage chance of hitting that ship, but we don't know how it is calculated. It would be good to know that, especially in situations like the above where I had 0% to hit that frigate. I know that it is a bit of challenge how to display this information.. but it would be useful. 6. Enemy ship information: a) Provide information about armor type when hoovering over armor points, currently no clue what kind of armor do they have. Not a big deal but still I couldn't tell the reason their armor had so many points. b) Provide information about shield recharge rate / number of blocking points when hoovering over enemy shields. I've noticed that this information is provided for my ship (excellent), so it should also b displayed for their ships after scanning, right? 7. I am missing and effect of shields that absorb hits from missiles and beam weapons. You know what I mean? MOO2 had this cool effect that blue arc was shown when a shield was hit. 8. Hitting a missile group with a beam weapon shows damage done to them but when hoovering over there is no information how many points are needed to destroy next missile / what damage has been done. Maybe display a total number of hit points remaining for all missiles? 9. Auto resolve shows 98% chances of winning a battle. The thing is that A.I. has started this battle. A.I. should not attack when there is no chance of winning? Unless that was a move to get an intel about my ships technologies, but I doubt it. 10. Refitting ships currently it is a bit painful. I will try to explain why. I am occupying a system that is 2 turns from me. I have 3 Cruisers that need to be refitted. I need to spend 7 turns in total for them to be useful again. 2 turns for backing to my colony, 3 turns to refit, 2 turns to get back to their system. Refitting cost of one ship is 1200 production. The thing is that my system is capable of outputting 12509 production...So currently it is better for me to build 3 full blown Battleships with latest technology and have them at enemy system within 5 turns... My proposal is, allow us to refit more than one ship at a time. I know, it is challenging to code, maybe to late for that change, but refitting feel underwhelming right now... 11. No information about Battle Station outside of combat. Could we get information in system view when hoovering over battle station icon? Currently we get "Colony has a Battle Station" tool tip, show us detailed information, the same as we would see for ships. 12. In combat, Battle Station window shows information about drive, for example "Hyperdrive", But battle Station is immovable. Should it be displayed? WHAT I AM CONCERNED ABOUT: 1. Upgrading for free all Star Bases to Battle Stations when discovering a Battle Station technology seems like a big bonus to me. On the other hand, I don't know exact differences between these two (in terms of armor/ structure/ free space) so I am not sure. 2. I don't now how Trade / Research treaties work. I just know that I am getting a lot by having them. How they are calculated, what benefit gets the other guy? 3. Does A.I. build galactic wonders? Cause I was able to build all of them. 4. For 200 turns A.I. had not attacked me even once on Impossible difficulty level on a standard galaxy size map. I had to attack first. I had very good relations with each civilization. WHAT I LIKE: 1. Really like idea of slower development of techs in the same branch. 2. Events, and follow up events! 3. I like that other things besides population count for galactic votes. That's it from me Hope this helps.
While the beta touched on some things you mentioned my friend, I want to add some thoughts to select points of yours Happened too me as well, also with the chaos chain. The AI auto-builds with what seems no consideration other than the most advanced weapon. Abolutely, there should be a mix of weaponry, especially some space to PD I want to add to this that sometimes the auto-upgrade is a curse. On my less developed planets I could be a few turns away from building a SB. I then attack an enemy and gain either battlestation or star fortress from them. The auto upgrade now means that those SBs that were near completion need a hell of a lot more turns to be finished. While I appreciate efforts to lessen micro for the player, this is one area I would prefer to decide on my own. I've seen them do it, I wound up with two econ capitals that way in one session Refit can be micro hell, especially if you are trying to refit in the middle of a war and you need to get to get your ships away from the front lines because only your core worlds can do the job quickly. I average 40 ship fleets by the time I go to war, sometimes I do scrap the old ones as it's just to painful to refit, I hate losing the experience, but it's the only viable option at times.
Hi Wodzu, thanks a lot for the detailed report. We'll see what we can do to address some of these issues. I took notes and what is not addressed now will be in post-release, for sure. The perk does work as specificed. However, you don't get a breakdown with the space culture perk bonus in the tooltip, as you normally get in other areas of the game. So, your +2 antimatter from system is actually +1 from the system +1 from Interstellar Geology. The issue there is with the Chaos Chain, which takes a lot of space. The AI algorithm is assigning it to the Battlestation and then there's no space left for the other stuff. The AI equips the orbital stations with missiles and point defense, however we could tweak the way it chooses the best weapon, otherwise no other stuff can be installed if the main weapon needs too much space. Now, you could argue that that can still be a good approach, to let the AI put the best weapon possible and then fulfill the other requirements with the space available, as possible. This will only be solved to the full extent when we offer space station customization, but that will have to wait for a later occasion It may be related with the Chaos Chain. Can you send me a save before you go to battle so I could have a look at the Chaos Chain behavior? Ok. Yes, that's how I'd prefer for it to work. That's how it worked before, but we had to change that for performance reasons. We may put it back at a later stage, but for now the information will have to update only when the button is released. That's the AI thinking it doesn't need to extract that strategic resource, at least not yet, and that outposts could be put to better use elsewhere. Ok, arguably it could be more beneficial for the AI to settle accretion disks for strategic resources it has access to instead of having to buy them. However, maybe money is more abundant than availability to build outposts and settle. You never know what the AI thinks is a better deal Trading resources via diplomacy can have its own advantages. In any case, I took note of this as it does seem a bit odd. I believe you obtained the Chaos Chain from exploring ancient ruins. The weapon description is presented after you end exploring ruins. Also, the weapon description is also presented in the ship design screen when you are equipping weapons. That said, the tech screen or at least a tech notification could be shown when unique technologies (that are not part of the tech tree) are found. The frigate being able to destroy your battlestation can be due to many factors. The 0% chance to hit of your Chaos Chain is odd though. That sounds like a bug in the Chaos Chain, or the enemy's ship defense bonus is huge and your attack bonus isn't great. Can you send me a save before a battle with your Battlestation with the Chaos Chain so I can have a look? As I said above, the issue here was the Chaos Chain, which occupied most of the available space in your battle station, which left no space left for missiles and PD. They usually equip missiles and PD when they're available, but not here because of the Chaos Chain "too much space" issue. The chance to hit depends on your Ship Attack modifier and the target's Ship Defense modifier. If the difference is more than 100 (e.g. let's say your SA is 50 and your target's SD is 150, then you will not be able to hit the target and therefore the 0% chance. The formulas behind the accuracy calculations are not easy do display in the UI in a good way, as you say. However, this is certainly important information to put in the game's manual. I took note of this to consider adding a bit more information on how hit chance is calculated in the game's manual, if not now at least in some point in the future. The take away for accuracy / chance to hit is the difference between your SA and your target's SD. So, try to always have reasonable SA (e.g. leaders, targeting alrogithms, race Ship Attack modifier, crew XP, etc). You want to not go too negative on the difference between SA and SD. Yes, in theory the same info should be displayed after scanning the enemy. I took note of this and I'll see what be done now and for post-release. I know what you mean and you're totally right, we should have this. I'll see what we can do for the release, if not, it's definitely top priority for post-release. Noted. Could you provide more details on the circunstances for this attack by the AI? Did the AI moved towards a system of yours to attack, or were you in their system and then they decided to attack? Also, do you remember the fleets' composition, yours and the AI's? 12509 production... that is simply too much. Could you please send me a save where you have a colony outputting such formidable amount of production? Thanks. Ship refit improvements will come in a later opportunity. The process could definitely use some streamlining. Thanks for your feedback and suggestion. Ok, this shouldn't be too hard to do. We'll see if it can make it for the release. No, it shouldn't display the drive, we'll fix that. Bigger orbital stations can equip more combat hardware, and offer more sensor range and ship support. Battle stations also give you bonuses to Ship Attack, while Star fortresses give both Ship Attack and Ship Defense bonuses to the defending fleet. A regular Star Base doesn't offer these attack and defense bonuses. With respect to the hardware, the orbital station will equip the best loadout comprising the best weapons, including point defense and missiles, when available. The exact composition will be determined by the AI. As I said above, you will not know for sure what the orbital stations' HW is until we allow players to customize them. I think displaying the orbital station ship design information in the system view will be a good mitigation action for you to understand what to expect from your orbital stations. As for the upgrading "for free", it's not really that easy, or shouldn't, because you do have to research new orbital station tech and that can come a bit further down in the tech tree. It will also depend on if you go with random tech trees, where you may get battle stations earlier, for example. In any case, the automatic upgrade upon discovering the new tech was a design decision compromise to ease on the micro. In the future, you should be able to design your own orbital stations and then you can be in full control if you prefer it that way. In the past, we added more information on how Trade Treaties and Research Treaties work when you hover the diplomatic proposal. Both sides get the same amount from the deal. The deal's reference is the "smaller" empire's capabilities. Trade Treaty tooltip: Research Treaty tooltip: As for the actual calculations behind them, it will depend on your production level and the other party for the trade treaty and total research output in the case of research treaties. The details are hard to conveyed directly in the UI, as you can understand. However, more details could certainly be given in the game's manual. The trade and research treaties tooltips could be expanded to have more or the same information as displayed in the diplomacy screen when proposing the deals. It does. This was changed in the Beta. You will see that the AI is now much more aggressive on the harder difficulty levels, especially Severe and Impossible. As challenge seems to be what you're after, I believe you will find Beta to be more challenging and fun for you. I'm sure you liked many more things than this, but I take this list as things that you particularly liked This is a long list of comments and suggestions Wodzu, thanks a lot for taking the time to playtest the game and to put these notes up. I'm not sure we have the time to address all of this for the release. I took note of everything though and I'll be addressing the most pressing ones now. The rest will have to wait for post-release. \Edit: If you find the time, please send me a save where you had 12509 production in one of your colonies so I could have a look at it. Thanks. Adam
It sounds like that may be the output of a system rather than a single colony? With a good leader, antimatter, helium-3 and all the ship production upgrades, it seems plausible to have an end game system like this. I agree a save would be the best way to see if it revealing an issue or just a really well designed and efficient system.
Oh, my bad. Wodzu did say system, not colony. It's plausible then. Having a save would be great to see if there's an issue or if it's a very well designed system, as you say. Let's see what Wodzu has to say.
Hi dear Konstantine, I hope you are well. This is strange, because I've checked and Star Base, Battle Station and Star Fortress have the same cost to build (3500 production). So you shouldn't observe delay in construction, unless description is wrong?
Sorry, I've messed up a bit this play through and did not save where I should:| The frigate being able to destroy your battlestation can be due to many factors. The 0% chance to hit of your Chaos Chain is odd though. That sounds like a bug in the Chaos Chain, or the enemy's ship defense bonus is huge and your attack bonus isn't great. Again no save for this particular battle, but I will send you a save with this Batte Station. I've had another battle with a Destroyer class ship and Chaos Chain was able to hit it with 18-23% probability. I remember that I've already took two colonies at their system. My fleet was consisted from 2 Battleships and 4 Cruisers if I remember correctly. They decided to attack me after my fleet stationed there for a couple of turns already. The thing is that researching it in non-random mode is not a big deal at the later stage. Especially if you are not attacked for 100 turns, you can postpone researching it till later stage of the game when you can research it in one turn. Heck, you can even decide to research it at the time when you see enemy fleet invading you. Imagine this, I have 10 Star Bases, after researching Battle Station I am getting 10 Battle Stations for free. This is a huge bonus in defensive power. It is like I would have 10 Destroyes and got a free update to 10 Cruisers. Even better analogy: we have a Titan construction research, but we don't get a free upgrade of existing Battleships to Titans. We also don't get a free upgrade of Ecological Level of planet from 1 to 2 when we research it. So I see some inconsistency here. IMHO how it should look like: 1. Each more advanced orbital structure should cost more in terms of production. Currently all cost the same (3500), however @Konstantine observed increased construction time after switching from SB to BS/SF ? 2. Star Bases should be upgradeable to BS/SF. Cost of upgrade in case of already build SB should be a difference between BS-SB. So for example if SB cost is 3500, BS 5500 then the cost to construct BS is 2000. 3. As a player I can accept that there are no two structures visible and possible to construct. I understand that this is done to have less micromanagement. However I remember that in MOO2 I've had the need to build SB instead of BS because these Antarans where coming and I had no production output to build BS Indeed, those were the things that struck me the most since I've played last time. I didn't know that you are so close to release date I will try to provide some saves when I have some more time
Ok, I'm curious to check what's happening in Valaraukar II because I see 5342 production in the colony screen but then it shows "49592 MAX PRODUCTION" in the ship refit screen. Having a save of that will make it easy to check what the issue may be, although I suspect that may be production overflow from constructing smaller projects and then accumulating/stockpiling large amounts of production (aka production overflow). Thanks.
Yes that is the production overflow, I haven't known about this mechanic I am uploading a save showing it and in the next turn my home world will be attacked by a cruiser. You will be able to see current Battle Station design. I think regardless of beam weapons, missiles should be always included in Battle Station (unless we chose to not do that in future custom BS projects ).
I've fixed the Chaos Chain battlestation issue. Now, orbital stations equip more sensible hardward, to make sure you have PDs and missiles as much as possible. And, you'll be able to see the orbital station loadout in the system view outside combat now! Thanks!
