Difficulty Poll

[pendell]

Trying out the new upgrade. It's nice to have a breather from the xenos on the tutorial while I'm learning the ropes. Thanks for listening!

Question: What exactly does 'subsidy' do? Is it a one-time bonus or is it ongoing until the project is built.

Question: I think I've figured out what the numbers mean. I finally found that I could click on a star that I've just seen and get a readout such as :

Minerals: 6-20
Quality: 2-20.

This means that the star could have a MINIMUM of 6 minerals and a max of 20. Likewise, quality can be as low as 2 or as high as 20.

So this is probably a star I want to hold off on colonizing until I have at least hab 2 or higher.

Suggestion: When you eventually create the game manual and make it available online, this would be a great thing to spell out in detail more fully.

As an example of one way this was done right, have a look at the manual for the old EA starflight game:
www.lemonamiga.com/games/docs.php?id=1538

I find section 5.3 [planetary conditions] of particular interest. It is considerably more detailed than ST but the player is left in absolutely no doubt what is and is not colonizable. If the player than winds up trying to colonize a magma world, s/he's got no one but himself to blame.

Observation: I am colonizing very quickly and my core worlds are languishing at only a few population (3-4 max) while some of the new worlds jump to pop 2 almost immediately. I'm facing a constant housing crisis.

I suppose I need to allow my core worlds to build up a bit before launching my first colony ship. Since the Templar Adviser clearly spelled this out this is totally on me.

Observation: Some of my colony worlds have a bad die roll and I am limited to 6 or fewer quality. But they rapidly become overpopulated even so.

I assume that I should build habitation modules even if it exceeds the planet's quality, because the cost I will pay in maintenance premiums is going to be less than I will take from a morale hit. At least up to some point of diminishing returns. If the planet stays overpopulated for too long, it will eventually declare independence, correct? And an independent world doesn't contribute anything to our budding federation, but at least it's not a xeno world.

Is that correct?

Is there some way to evacuate a planet once colonized? I know I have the evac option if the planet is under attack from a world killer. Can the planet be evaced under other circumstances as well?

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[fallen]

pendell -

- Subsidy costs 2 x the $$ but starts the project at 30% completed CP.
- Yes, Minerals 6-20 means you min 6 and max 20. Personally for my playstyle, that looks like a great planet, I'd colonize immediately.
- We'll keep working on improving the in-game manual.
- The maintenance cost of going over quality is exactly the equation of over-Quality. 13 upgrades, 10 quality = 130% maintenance rate. So, if you get to 13 / 10, and you can keep the Colony at 4 or better Morale, then you have a net win.
- Population Treaties will be released in future updates which will give you a more active way to move population around.

[pendell]

Thank you!

Next question.

A Factory I produces 2 cp for 2 population.
So:

-- I can have as many factories as I have population points. So if I have 3 population points I can have 3 factories. This will result in overcapacity however, as 2 factories can fully employ up to 4 population.

-- Likewise, the factory does not stack. 1 factory with 1 population will produce 1 cp. 1 factory with 2 population will produce 2 cp. 1 factory with 3 population will likewise produce 2 cp, because the factory can only employ a maximum of 2 population points. 2 factories with 2 population points means you get 2 CP and the maintenance cost of 2 factories.

Is that correct?

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[fallen]

pendell - sounds right to me. Therefore, even population is perfect for Factory 1's. Changes a lot as you get higher level Factories.

[jehuty01]

I only learned today that even in death, the xeno menace can resurface! Onwards to a longer post-xeno game!

[Cory Trese]

Jun 27, 2014 13:03:56 GMT -5 jehuty01 said:

I only learned today that even in death, the xeno menace can resurface! Onwards to a longer post-xeno game!

They are numerous and deadly.

Victory screen explaining how they might attack from beyond the grave is slated for release in an upcoming update.

[Deleted]

I think it depends on the chosen difficulty and map. Play on easy in tutorial and I can't imagine it being that hard for anyone. Start on impossible with the biggest, baddest map because you think you're a badass and don't need to start lower, and "waaah! it's too hard!"

[phantombudgie]

@starfixer I did that on the tutorial on easy! But I am getting better with practice.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using proboards

[azedenkae]

I started playing since Thursday and so far it's a nice and easy game, imo. Haven't found it so difficult that I am flailing around. This is my first go (I'm playing on the tutorial map), and so far so good.

[fallen]

Jun 28, 2014 3:52:41 GMT -5 azedenkae said:

I started playing since Thursday and so far it's a nice and easy game, imo. Haven't found it so difficult that I am flailing around. This is my first go (I'm playing on the tutorial map), and so far so good.

Exciting! Glad to hear we are finally getting it to the right balance on the tutorial map!

[beuns]

azedenkae : now it's time to play on another map

[pendell]

I also agree that the tutorial is much, much better as a training exercise now. Thanks guys!

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[odomi]

Just my 2 cents on topic

At first, I thought that the difference between Normal and Hard was too far. I almost asked if Demanding or Challenging will be a future addition.

Then I learned more, where Hard on small map was quite easy as long as you get a strangle hold early in the game. Haven't tried Hard on Large Map yet.

I learned a bit more and tried Crazy on 100x100 map. I thought I was doing great until mid-game when I ran the treasury to the ground -30k and both enemies attacked at the same time and then the Houses decided to have temper tantrums and have solar war and trade embargo at the same time. I managed to survive the wave. What killed me was no funds and no ships and World killers started showing up. And as the fabled Xenos did not dissapoint, I couldn't bear to witness the horror...So I performed Euthanasia and deleted that game.

This game is so promising and has so much things going on, which is good...really good. It also have a steep learning curve to succeed in higher difficulty. The lack of clear description as to what the various things suppose to do, just cuts you below the knees. I don't know if this is done by purpose, trying to hide the game mechanics for the thrill of discovery.

Glaring example: Ship designs and Captain abilities. No clear understanding on what each category does. It's a double edged sword. Great for hard core gamers, but will easily alienate the casual gamers. Great for experimentation and high reward for discovering what works well but also very frustrating for learners and can be viewed as misleading. I can also see how if these things are any easier, it can get boring really fast. No need to devulge the entire formula we just need honest basic descriptions on what these things do.
Sensor: all it says is range of vision (or whatever)
Repair: first thing comes in mind is how fast the ship's damage is repaired on green zones.
I don't think it will hurt if a little more detail is given just like in ST RPG.

Overall, the difficulty is just right. Hard is HARD. If hard was any easier then it wod be EASY, not HARD.

[anrdaemon]

I'm not voting, but this thought crossed my mind a day or two ago:
This game, for all its pace and setup, would have been better in a competitive PBEM format.
As it is right now, each party stretches into infinity, drowning the player in a micromanagement with no hope for relaxation or satisfaction.

On an unrelated note, I've found it extremely amusing, how the game keep the player occupied even after a total map domination.