Star Traders RPG v4.1.15 Released

[Cory Trese]

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market.android.com/details?id=com.corytrese.games.startraders

v4.1.15 - 12/10/2011
- NEW Ship Artwork: Harbinger
- Ship Cost Balancing
- Operation Fuel Use Balancing
- New: Harbinger Carrier
- New: Pirate Harbinger
- New: Indomitable Class
- New: Resiliant Class
- New: Nova Jammer
- New: Harbinger Class
- Fixed Reported Zoom Map Crash

[Fenikso]

Thanks for update, Cory.
BTW: You would like to have some reviews for non-Elite version, correct?

[Cory Trese]

I would love to have reviews on any version that you are willing to rate 5 stars. The forum is the best place to give feedback but reviews are our measure in Google's system so they matter a great deal to us.

[roemann]

Cory,
I would prefer that you concentrate on locking down the combat, fuel usage, and other performance models. Rather than spending time adding more and more ships. IMHO the ones you have now are fine. It is very annoying when the playability shifts so dramatically between versions; it appears to me that one time I can't be beaten and the next--with the same supposed conditions--I'm getting killed with one shot. The last update, 14, was an example of the latter. Please consider it. Thanks.

[Cory Trese]

I do not understand this post at all.

Lets discuss. There was no update 14.

[Cory Trese]

If this comment "very annoying when the playability shifts so dramatically between versions" is about the v4.0 Combat System we can re-open that thread and keep discussing that point.

[Cory Trese]

Star Traders RPG has been available for download from the Android Market for 412 days.

We have released 143 updates to Star Traders RPG (Free.)

That works out to one feature or bugfix release every 2.90 days for a year and a month continuously.

[roemann]

I'm sorry if I misstated the last release number. I meant the release immediately prior to 15.

Cory I'm sure you work very hard to maintain and improve Star Traders. My comments are not intended as a criticism. Rather, they are intended to express an opinion about the orientation of future releases.

From the nature of the improvements in the recent releases, I infer that someone has requested adding lots of new ships. That's certainly ok. But along the way it seems you have been also changing the combat system pretty well continually. That would be ok too, except that the "balance" seems to be changing wildly. Such changes are really troubling when a character you have spent many hours developing gets instantly killed for no apparent reason, because you have changed the underlying rules of the game.

It seems to me that with all the laborious development you have done the underlying game rules and parameters ought to be figured out and completely stable by now. If they are not stable, my previous message was intended to say, that I would prefer future releases to focus on making the game stable. Once that is done, then add all the ships and other stuff as you like. (Though I think there are plenty already.)

[Cory Trese]

We have found that releases based around new ship art and ship designs improve downloads and are well received. We have recently replaced the Ship artwork and are enjoying a new found love for ST RPG Ship Art upgrades.

That said, my reasoning for Ship-based updates is the exact thing you mention -- it is a fantastic type of update that can be made when the game's combat rules are stable.

That would be ok too, except that the "balance" seems to be changing wildly.

This is completely false from my point of view. The last major change to the combat system was 10/13 for version v4.0.3

However, you may not appreciate, see or understand the effort that I put into working on game balance. I assure you it has been a top priority over the past 140 updates to Star Traders RPG. If you have specific issues with changes in

We have made many adjustments to the game's rules, however we have always worked to make those changes evolutionary instead of revolutionary.

Here is our recent changelog for your consideration. I strongly disagree with your statements indicating that the game has been undergoing "continuous changes."

I have added some notes as well, to give you some perspective.


v4.1.15 - 12/10/2011
- NEW Ship Artwork: Harbringer
- Ship Cost Balancing
- Operation Fuel Use Balancing
- New: Harbringer Carrier
- New: Pirate Harbringer
- New: Indomitable Class
- New: Resiliant Class
- New: Nova Jammer
- New: Harbringer Class
- Fixed Reported Zoom Map Crash

v4.1.13 - 12/8/2011
- Fixes Map Crash
- New Urban Zone Econ Engine [now uses stored economies stats for all calculations instead of estimated values]
- Persistence of Zone Stats [now stores all economies between phone reboot]
- Increased Conflict Effects 0.10 additional effects for Conflicts (3.25%)
- Balanced some Cutter ships
- Balanced some Manta ships
- Fixed Media Playback on some devices

v4.1.11 - 12/4/2011
- NEW Ship Artwork: Admiral
- Fuel Use Balancing
- New: Admiral Raider
- New: Admiral Cruiser
- New: Admiral Carrier
- New: Forgotten Dark
- New: Tiberia Dark
- New: Admiral Liner
- Improved Blockade Fuel Use
- Improved Patrol Fuel Use
- Improved Spy Fuel Use
- Increased Harvest Returns in Elite Map Rumors

v4.1.9 - 11/30/2011
- NEW Ship Artwork: Cutter
- Fixed Persistent Memory Bug
- "Big Ships" Release
- Adusted Fuel Use Curves [2.4%]
- NEW: Obliterator Cruiser
- NEW: Obliterator Carrier
- NEW: Pirate Obliterator
- NEW: Pirate Carrier
- NEW: Paladin Cutter
- Improved Blockade Fuel Use Now Matches Map -Solar Upgrades
- Improved Patrol Fuel Use
- Improved Spy Fuel Use
- Improved Landing Fuel Use
- Increased Exploration Returns in Elite Map Rumors

v4.1.7 - 11/27/2011
- NEW Ship Artwork: RipTide
- Fixed Reported Crashes
- New Ship: Dark Vector
- New Ship: Crisis Vector
- New Ship: Inquisition Cruiser
- New Ship: Pirate Deathwing
- Improved Combat Media Performance

v4.1.5 - 11/23/2011
- NEW Ship Artwork: Manta Ray!
- 6 New Manta Ray Ship Designs
- Fuel Usage Discounts for Slow Ships
- Improved Operational Toast Options [8.6%]
- Fixed 2 Ship Purchase Bugs
- Improved Ship Pricing
- Fixed Log Performance Bug for Large Logs

v4.1.3 - 11/21/2011
- Fixed 1 Menu Crashed
- More Menu Tweaks
- Ten New Ship Designs
- 6 New Smuggler Ships
- 4 New Savage Pirate Ships
- Accuracy Improvements in Fuel Calc
- Ram Damage Lowered on Lower Difficulties
- +Torpedoes During Military Surplus [20% increase in torps for sale]
- Options to configure XP toast up to 200
- Options to turn off operational toasts

v4.1.1 - 11/18/2011
- Fixes 3 Crashes
- Changed Elite Main Menu
- Six New Ship Designs
- 4 New Military Cruisers
- 2 New Blockade Ships
- Improved Trade Save Performance
- Artwork Cleanup and Bugfixes

v4.1.0 - 11/11/2011
- Ship Art Update Part III
- New Ship Hull (Blade Ship)
- New Carrier Ship Art
- New Battleship Art
- New Space Hive Art
- New Hawkwing Ship Art
- 8 NEW Ships: Blade Cutter, Pirate Blade, Spear Cutter, Ranger, Zendu Cruiser (Total Ships: 290)
- Changed Ship Art for 12 Designs
- New Type of Space Hive (Cargo 950!)

v4.0.9 - 11/9/2011
* ELITE: Now with 250 Ships
- 5 Never Before Seen Icons in ELITE
- Ship Designs Update Part I
- NEW: Omega Battlecruiser, Callidus Cruiser, Judgement Class, Exeter Vector, Exeter Lifter, Paladin Lifter, Deathbringer, Predator, Line Cruiser, Dreadnought MK3
- New Double Exile Spice Hive (!!!)
- Changed Ship Art for 21 Designs
- Fixes Crash Reports
- Updates Main Menu

v4.0.7 - 11/7/2011
- Ship Art Update Part II
- New Destroyer Ship Art
- New Dagger Ship Art
- New Merchant Ships Art
- Improved Media Performance
- Fixes some Crashes
- Fixes Resource Pricing Bug on Unionized Quixann

v4.0.6 - 10/31/2011
- New Vea Victus Ship Art
- New Smuggler Ship Art
- New Scout Ship Art
- New Battle Frigate Ship Art
- Increases Power of Space Based Rumors [higher % of ship encounters, 5%-10%]
- Five New Ship Designs
- Fixes Text Bugs in Combat
- Improves Game Performance
- Fixes Reported Crashes

v4.0.5 - 10/26/2011
- Cross Fade Game Music
- Improved Game Performance
- New Boarding Combat Results
- Improved Combat AI for Merchants effects 12% of Merchant AI decisions
- Better Combat Performance
- More Water Fuel on Merchant Ships
- Improved 4.0 Combat System (v4.1?)

v4.0.3 - 10/19/2011
- Reduced Combat AI for Bounty Hunter effects 20% of AI decisions
- Reduced Combat AI for Military Officer effects 9% of AI decisions
- Working to Improved 4.0 Combat System 10%+ change to Boarding Rolls, cumulative across all 16 combinations, average of 0.65% per roll
- 7 New Ships
- Rear Carrier, Spike Class, Redesigned Flagship Carrier
- New Elite Versions of: Crossbow, Longbow, Revers
- New Rim Freighter + New type of Merchant AI
- Fixed Ship Description Strings
- Improve Contract Pricing
- More Weapons / Artifacts on Smuggler Ships

v4.0.1 - 10/14/2011
- Combat Tweaks
- Combat Text Fixes

v4.0.0 - 10/13/2011
- Major Combat / Boarding Overhaul
- Fixes Award Display in Elite
- Combat Dice Tweaks
- Combat XP Curve Tweaks
- Fixed Upgrade Couts in Starport
- NEW: Elite Negotiation Special Abilities
+ StarPort Reputation (Star Trader)
+ Palace Reputation (Captain)
+ Exchange (Merchants)
- New Hazard Toasts & Options
- New Alien AI (2 types)
- New Bounty Hunter AI (1 type)
- New Warship AI (2 types)

v3.9.31 - 10/7/2011
- Improves "Time to Trade" Issues
- Fixes Water Tank / Cache Bugs
- Fixes Destroy Mission Bugs
- Improves Reputation Loss for Spy/Blockade
- Improves Map Performance for Low Memory Devices
- Fixes Urban Zone Crash

v3.9.27 - 9/28/2011
- Improves Contract Payments
- Fixed Import Captain Score Bugs
- 4 New Ultra Rare Space Hulk Types
- 2 New Fearsome Aliens
- 5 New Player Ships (Bounty/Military)
- Fixes Pesky Map Crash
- Improves Scrolling Performance
- New Pilot Bonus vs. Space Hulk
- New Vet Bonus vs. Narvidians
- Going to Prison Resets Rep to -5
- Fixes Crew Transfer For Some Ship Combinations
- Minor XP Curve Tweaks
- Log Entry for Ending a Shortage Event

v3.9.25a - 9/23/11
- Fixes Loading Bug, Sorry!

v3.9.25 - 9/20/11
- All New Icon by Andrew
- New XP Bonus for Contracts
- Additional XP Balancing Acts
- Increased Rumor Potency for Elite
- Starting Ship Stats Display
- Reduce Extraneous Lock Toasts
- Reduces Award Toasts in Palace
- Fixes Prison / Drifting Combat Result

v3.9.23 - 9/10/11
- New Option "Hide Out of Stock Upgrade"
- Doubles Ship Upgrades For Sale #ELITE
- Doubles New Ships For Sale #ELITE
- Clear Log Button in Ship's Log
- Performance Improvements for Map & Combat

[Fenikso]

Interesting read Cory. Thanks! Maybe it would be nice to include that additional level of detail somewhere for the interested players?

I have two questions on my mind:

1) Reading this "Improved Blockade Fuel Use = Now Matches Map -Solar Upgrades" does it mean that without any Solar Sail Upgrades the fuel use should match the travel consumption?

2) As I recall, After 4.1.9 update, when I push any of the operations buttons, it feels kind of laggy. Especially when I push it in a quick sequence (yeah, patrolling for a first pirate's prey). Maybe I did not notice before or it is my phone's problem.