Post by slayernz on May 4, 2014 18:42:29 GMT -5
So far, loving the game and the visuals. In fact, the title screen graphic is awesome! 
Quick comments:
On the load screen, the text is great for flavor and may even provide insights, but sometimes the screen loads way too fast to absorb it all.
Recommend: Instead of automatically starting the game on load complete, have a "Start" button that you press. Actually, this is also a valid thought for HoS where load is quick too.
As per Criss Hoppe's comment in Google+, I definitely agree I only want to play as ONE faction, rather than "Syndicates" or "Houses". I don't want to control all three Syndicates, and this isn't particularly realistic based on the ST universe because let's face it, even the staunches allies end up being in solar war just as often as not Also, if I ever choose the Houses option, I would end up accidentally letting Steel Song become canon fodder.
Playing only one faction would allow you to have 6 or even 7 potential adversary types rather than just the 1 (Aliens). You could have the 5 other factions + aliens + some upstart independents maybe? You beating down the independents would explain in ST why they are such a fragmented part of the quadrant.
Ship builds - too limited in initial phase. I found that when the inevitable hoard of Aliens came, the only thing I could do was knock out a few strike fighters. Yes, there are tech paths to build better ships, but the paths are not initially obvious.
Ship upgrades - when you do unlock tech tree paths, it would be great to have an option to "upgrade" the ship with new weapons/engines.
Ship repairs/refueling - it would be cool to have an option of landing on your planet to "dry dock" the ship. This would speed up repair/refuel options and cut it down to only one or two turns maybe?
Explore option - should be able to be done without fuel costs. Exploration ships are expected to go far out into the wilderness, and if they do that, they should be able to do their core function of exploration.
GUI button tool tips - long pressing could offer you with a description of what the button does without you having to press them and try and figure out what is happening
Ship retiring - being able to scrap the ship for valuable resources would be great and may even be a strategic option for quickly getting a new colony on its feet (the extra resources could help boost your initial CP cache)
XP - what happens as you accumulate XP for ships? Is it an automatic improvement, or do you have to do something?
Defenses - Do you really have to research to protect a planet against invasion? It would be good if there was at least one type of planetary defense option right off the bat - even if it is basic defense.
Ship design - you have some hull patterns available but not the tech to actually build them. It would be better to either grey them out, or not show them at all.
Ship design - I do actually like the way you can design ships and really customize them, but the customization shouldn't be available until later tech trees. Instead you should be able to build stock designs of various ships and have to wait until you can do your tweaks.
Ship exploration - Ship status should change to "exploring" and/or all other buttons should be greyed out (except for maybe "cancel exploration") to show you that the explorer is doing something. Sometimes I forget I have chosen that option and then moved or accidentally cancelled the explore.
Research tree queue. It would be really cool if you could select a particular research item (eg Planetary Construction 6), and all of the dependent items get queued up automatically - so you automatically research PC1, PC2, PC3, PC4, PC5, then PC6. You don't have to manually select each one.
Also, you could be able to select individual tech items and queue them up like you queue up planet upgrades.
That's all my brain can remember right now - I've probably just doubled up on lots of comments already posted (I'm late to the posting party )
Quick comments:
On the load screen, the text is great for flavor and may even provide insights, but sometimes the screen loads way too fast to absorb it all.
Recommend: Instead of automatically starting the game on load complete, have a "Start" button that you press. Actually, this is also a valid thought for HoS where load is quick too.
As per Criss Hoppe's comment in Google+, I definitely agree I only want to play as ONE faction, rather than "Syndicates" or "Houses". I don't want to control all three Syndicates, and this isn't particularly realistic based on the ST universe because let's face it, even the staunches allies end up being in solar war just as often as not
Also, if I ever choose the Houses option, I would end up accidentally letting Steel Song become canon fodder.Playing only one faction would allow you to have 6 or even 7 potential adversary types rather than just the 1 (Aliens). You could have the 5 other factions + aliens + some upstart independents maybe? You beating down the independents would explain in ST why they are such a fragmented part of the quadrant.
Ship builds - too limited in initial phase. I found that when the inevitable hoard of Aliens came, the only thing I could do was knock out a few strike fighters. Yes, there are tech paths to build better ships, but the paths are not initially obvious.
Ship upgrades - when you do unlock tech tree paths, it would be great to have an option to "upgrade" the ship with new weapons/engines.
Ship repairs/refueling - it would be cool to have an option of landing on your planet to "dry dock" the ship. This would speed up repair/refuel options and cut it down to only one or two turns maybe?
Explore option - should be able to be done without fuel costs. Exploration ships are expected to go far out into the wilderness, and if they do that, they should be able to do their core function of exploration.
GUI button tool tips - long pressing could offer you with a description of what the button does without you having to press them and try and figure out what is happening
Ship retiring - being able to scrap the ship for valuable resources would be great and may even be a strategic option for quickly getting a new colony on its feet (the extra resources could help boost your initial CP cache)
XP - what happens as you accumulate XP for ships? Is it an automatic improvement, or do you have to do something?
Defenses - Do you really have to research to protect a planet against invasion? It would be good if there was at least one type of planetary defense option right off the bat - even if it is basic defense.
Ship design - you have some hull patterns available but not the tech to actually build them. It would be better to either grey them out, or not show them at all.
Ship design - I do actually like the way you can design ships and really customize them, but the customization shouldn't be available until later tech trees. Instead you should be able to build stock designs of various ships and have to wait until you can do your tweaks.
Ship exploration - Ship status should change to "exploring" and/or all other buttons should be greyed out (except for maybe "cancel exploration") to show you that the explorer is doing something. Sometimes I forget I have chosen that option and then moved or accidentally cancelled the explore.
Research tree queue. It would be really cool if you could select a particular research item (eg Planetary Construction 6), and all of the dependent items get queued up automatically - so you automatically research PC1, PC2, PC3, PC4, PC5, then PC6. You don't have to manually select each one.
Also, you could be able to select individual tech items and queue them up like you queue up planet upgrades.
That's all my brain can remember right now - I've probably just doubled up on lots of comments already posted (I'm late to the posting party
)
