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[Shades]

It sounds like the game needs it as badly as DF needs the pop_cap .ini line.

If you delete the delivery area near the road prisoners stop being dropped off, items will happy teleport to a delivery area elsewhere though.
Makes it possible to slow down the influx of prisoners to a rate you can handle while you try things out.

Has anyone figured out how to set up the guard patrol routes yet?  I tried again this afternoon and still couldn't figure it out. 

The patrol routes button isn't in the alpha just yet it seems.

Sorry if its been asked, but 15 pages is 15 pages, is this game worth my 30 bucks?

Yes. So far it's managed to eat up both of my evenings since release, probably already have 30 bucks worth of entertainment out of it
I'd warn you it's a buggy as can be though, lots of issue everywhere so you can't really 'play' it just try things out.

[Neonivek]

Shades can you play devils advocate and tell him why he SHOULDN'T buy the game?

[jester]

mmm, so watching calhoun's lets play (rather enjoying it too, nice work there) and the general feel of the game is starting to make it look like a buy for me, ill just get this rather than beer this week i guess.


Edit: can anybody tell me the dl size, turns out my net is going to be a bit limited for a while.

[Shades]

Shades can you play devils advocate and tell him why he SHOULDN'T buy the game?

It's not really playable and sometimes crashes is probably the simplest statement I can make.

Although you can survive happily by abusing the fact removing the delivery area stops the endless influx there isn't really much you can do, and no real challenge.

Patrols aren't implemented yet which means the security desk is also useless, and in turn means you can't sensibly lock down your prisons. You instead have to watch in vain as a prisoner hanging out by the staff only doors slowly makes his way past them each time your guys walk past, until he triggers an 'escape' while he is already outside your prison and none of your guards are. So far the only 'solution' I've found to this is to mark the door he's waiting at as closed to everyone and wait till he gets bored. It's either that or just do a DF like wall everyone in solution.

The lack of a balanced cost vs income or grants after the initial ones doesn't help either as it's very hard to make any significant amount of money each day (even if your willing to plaster your whole map with 5x5 workshops) so you spend a lot of your time waiting for the midnight daily income, just to burn through it before morning and your back to waiting again. This frustrates even me and I'm happy just to watch things fall apart in most games.

I'd have said if you play fortress mode of DF you will probably enjoy it but even then you'll need a lot of patience and like when things just break because of the endless bugs. If the frustration overrules your glee at the random failings then I imagine you'd get bored very quickly and resentful at the $30 price tag, which might negatively colour your enjoyment of the game at a later, more playable, state.

I realise that isn't exactly a devils advocate view but I tried

[ThtblovesDF]

Sooo...

Creating a massive holding cell with showers (not a seperate room), tvs, beds, benches and tables seems to be the most price effective way to go (then give them lots of free time, to fullfill various needs) - can be made even cheaper by exploiting the fence-walls. Change the whole room to canteen at food time and you're good to go.

[hemmingjay]

Edit: can anybody tell me the dl size, turns out my net is going to be a bit limited for a while.

The dl is 75-80 mb.

[ThtblovesDF]

Anyone else didn't get the alpha-wiki/forum access username/Pass after buying it?

[Gantolandon]

They have a malfunction - right now you just get the alpha from the download link.

[Vattic]

Anyone else didn't get the alpha-wiki/forum access username/Pass after buying it?

You can get the forum and wiki access too. You have to register an account on the forum then go here and do what it asks.

[Zangi]

Sorry if its been asked, but 15 pages is 15 pages, is this game worth my 30 bucks?

It REALLY is up to you.

Remember you are buying an alpha. There are not a lot of games out there with "Must buys" during alpha.

Huh, was wondering about all the bugs ya folks were talking about...  Price going up on release?

[nenjin]

I don't think they can sustain a higher price point on this game, personally. It's a good game but the format and presentation just doesn't lend itself to a $50 sandbox.

I'd say if you like and can put up with DF's level of buginess and open-endedness, it's a good buy. There's lots of moving parts and, like DF, you're constantly under the gun of new "migrants", needs and scaling. So you nose dive a lot, restart, tweak and experiment.

I think it's worth $30 because there's lot of nuanced mechanics. At first blush you think "this isn't really much more complicated than Prison Tycoon" but as you start to drill down you find new behaviors and mechanics interacting.

[Girlinhat]

Well, it's also worth noting that you can't really play it right now.  I don't have the game myself, but just looking at it... you get new prisoners every day, and you don't get enough money or room to cope, and prisoners never leave.  The current game is a playtest, you cannot sustain yourself and it's just to show that the game mechanics work.  Walls are built, prisoners arrive, power cables link up.

If you're that person who embarks on DF Terrifying Glaciers with endless zombie revival, then you'd probably enjoy this game.  It assails you with the endless masses, the only difference is that you have to put these hordes inside, instead of destroy the brain or sever the head.

If you don't enjoy losing, then wait a few weeks/months until prisoner intake rate gets balanced.

[lordcooper]

Or you could modify the save file to give yourself loadsa money.

[nenjin]

Are the save files in plain text?

The break point seems to be about 4 days. The wave mechanics aren't tuned and by that point you get the wave that breaks the prison's back.

I find myself wondering if we're seeing all the objects and constructions we're going to. While there is a goodly amount, the Objects pane makes me feel like there's only so much you can build before it starts becoming redundant.

I'd argue you can play the sandbox now, but it basically defaults to Hard Mode. One real issue I see with the game is you can't ease yourself into a larger prison. The demands of the inmates mean you basically have to start building your ass off from the very first day until you get at least 4 buildings constructed, wired and pumped. If you've got a design or style in mind for your prison, it has to be planned out and implemented ASAP. I hope at some point we have sliders or something to govern how fast you get prisoners. Or at the very least have that tied to difficulty pre-sets.

[lordcooper]

Are the save files in plain text?

Yup.  Ctrl + f search for 'finance' and changer the balance to whatever you want.  You can also allow all buildings/objects/staff from the start by changing all the 'Progress 0.00000's into 'Progress 1.00000's.