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[pavlosg]

hello there,

    My name is Pavlos, and with Tryggvi we are the designers of the game ! Congratulations on finding the game even before we strove to make it public Glad to see it is of interest to you guys/gals.

As you are well aware, the game is in pre-alpha stage and changes weekly -we are improving almost every aspect of the game non-stop. At this stage every bit of feedback is crucial, whether it is about gameplay, design, interface and such. So feel free to play the demo -we have a new version already, and will update it again this afternoon with the tutorial corrections, and tell us what you like and what you would think could be improved.

We are all ears (long and pointy, you know the kind). If you want to know more : ceresthegame.com

take care,
Pavlos

[Zangi]

I think I tried the... 9.4? demo.  I ended up dying to the turret spawn... or maybe collision with the station.  I'm not sure.

Personally, I'm the type who does not like the graphical view, much preferring the grid mode.  Apparently though I couldn't make the game scan the ? icons while in the grid mode.
I didn't do the tutorial.

My initial take on this game, seems like those X3 games, but not as graphicy or something.

[pavlosg]

thank you Zangi,

You must have died to the hacked turrets -there is no damage taken from collision in the game yet.
So if I understand well, you like playing from 'the top' - with a top-down global view and not among the ship, right ? You used the 'tactical view' to play  (the icon with the '?' in a circle) or in the 'map view' (the globe icon to the right of the '?') to play ?

What's different in Ceres ?
Well, In Ceres you command a squadron of ships. It is not just one ship or a fleet of numerous and anonymous vessels. Everything is designed for you to control just a handful of ships, whether they are heavy fighters or little frigates up to cruisers and battleships. Think of the game as a 'jagged alliance' kind of game with spaceships in real time and 3D: you alone will not be able to overcome the odds. Only by coordinating well your ships, upgrading them and adapting your tactics will you prevail over your enemies: that's the core of the game.

This is pretty much clearer in the latest version of the demo, the 9.4.1, where you are able to enroll a few captains and their ships near the station. Do not expect destroyers and cruisers yet, the ships are small- but hey you got to start somewhere, right? Mission by mission, location by location, you will upgrade the little ships with lethal weaponry, buy or capture new ships, acquire new seasoned crews and purchase new advanced Artificial Intelligences. The little flotilla will have turned in a deadly battle squadron -at your command.

...but that is for the full game. We are not there yet But that's what we are striving for !

Thanks for your feedback Zangi.
I will post important news and updates about Ceres here, if you guys/ gals want.

Take care all !
Pavlos.

[mosshadow]

I like the 9.3.3 version somewhat, Downloading the newest one now.  Its a little confusing and the icons could be bigger. Also A way to select multiple targets would be helpful, such as when a bunch of fighters come out of the nebula.

Also I got killed by the Turrets that pop out next to the station, is that intentional, or I am supposed to have a fighting chance at escaping?

[Zangi]

You must have died to the hacked turrets -there is no damage taken from collision in the game yet.
So if I understand well, you like playing from 'the top' - with a top-down global view and not among the ship, right ? You used the 'tactical view' to play  (the icon with the '?' in a circle) or in the 'map view' (the globe icon to the right of the '?') to play ?

Yea, top-down view, tactical view... whatever you call it.   I'm not into the graphic ship view mode.  (Plus, I found it cumbersome to shift view around to look for/at the enemy, I may just be bad at it though.)

As for '?', they are orange in tactical view when you manage to highlight over the square with em, I could not seem to interact with those things while in the tactical view mode.  For example, in the first mission, I could not interact with the station in the dust nebula and there was a smaller derelict object...

[pavlosg]

thanks for the feedback mosshadow and Zangi

I got mixed results with the turrets myself: one time I blast them without even blinking, but another time they shoot me in the unarmored belly and I loose control of the ship (critical damage), only to get blasted to smithereens a short while later. We will make the trap less punishingly lethal in the next update.

Did you guys (or gals) use the help from the friendly Octavius captain or did you go in it on your own ? And what starting ship did you take ? The plasma-armed pirate Spartacus, the martian multiple-gun armed scorpio or the drone-carrying aurora ?

Zangi, we are currently making it easier for players to issue orders and control their squadron from the map view. We will keep you updated on that. The map in general is being updated, as are most menu and window elements -information is both more rationally displayed and more accessible.

Mosshadow: we already have moved the pirate fighter attack area out of the nebula, as it was indeed a pain to target them. A couple of tips: you can put your ship in a defensive stance (the icons above the captain picture, the one with the shield here), so that all beam weapons act as point defense (and shoot the fighters). Otherwise, and I also like that, you can launch some drones to do the killing on your behalf -they are surprisingly effective. You can launch the drones without a proper target: they will target the closest enemy for you.

take care,
Pavlos

[mosshadow]

thanks for the feedback mosshadow and Zangi

I got mixed results with the turrets myself: one time I blast them without even blinking, but another time they shoot me in the unarmored belly and I loose control of the ship (critical damage), only to get blasted to smithereens a short while later. We will make the trap less punishingly lethal in the next update.

Did you guys (or gals) use the help from the friendly Octavius captain or did you go in it on your own ? And what starting ship did you take ? The plasma-armed pirate Spartacus, the martian multiple-gun armed scorpio or the drone-carrying aurora ?

Zangi, we are currently making it easier for players to issue orders and control their squadron from the map view. We will keep you updated on that. The map in general is being updated, as are most menu and window elements -information is both more rationally displayed and more accessible.

Mosshadow: we already have moved the pirate fighter attack area out of the nebula, as it was indeed a pain to target them. A couple of tips: you can put your ship in a defensive stance (the icons above the captain picture, the one with the shield here), so that all beam weapons act as point defense (and shoot the fighters). Otherwise, and I also like that, you can launch some drones to do the killing on your behalf -they are surprisingly effective. You can launch the drones without a proper target: they will target the closest enemy for you.

take care,
Pavlos

Thanks Pavlos, I have tried with the Spartacus and Aurora so far. Using defense is pretty good against the fighters, but it seems that you also need to keep the ship mobile. I bring along the Octavius captain and he helps, but I have trouble controlling both at the same time , even with pause. It would be nice if you could add a button that would make allied ships in the squadron follow the lead ship in a formation along with speed matching. 

Im going to try another round and see if I can destroy the turrets before I get killed, but I have never shot at them before, so im not sure if they are out of range or if  I need to select the targets individually.

Also Is there anything after the station fight? Its a pretty big map and I got a message about a pirate carrier

[Urist McSpike]

I've been playing around with this for a couple of days (although not very much playtime yet), and I think you have some serious potential with it.

With that said...  All I've been doing is messing with the tutorial so far, and it looks like you should make a serious pass through it again.  There are a few typos or word usages that could be fixed (loose instead of lose in one place), but those are minor.  But I'm having trouble when I run through it all to the Trading & Modding part.  For one thing, the tutorial says to "press the Mod Ship button", but I have no idea where or what it is, or if it's even showing.  Also at that point, I tend to get graphical glitches - stuff like a copy of my ship, with what looks like a parts diagram overlay... but I can't interact with it, or get it to go away.

I haven't really had time to actually play the demo, so I can't comment on there.  But going through the tutorial starts off good, then gets confusing.  Also, a suggestion - I didn't realize, until about the 3rd time through, that there were more pages/topics on movement.  Specifically, the extra bit about holding Ctrl to move the movement map up or down.  I'd suggest adding a "1/x" type of page/topic numbering, in addition to the button to move to the next sub-topic.  (Sorry if that's confusing, working on the first cup of coffee)

Still, there's some great work already done on what I've seen, and I'm looking forward to seeing more!

[mosshadow]

Tutorial is broken in some parts/ unfinished which is Ok I guess since its pre alpha

[pavlosg]

hello,

sorry for the late reply -was a bit sick.

@mosshadow:
- keeping the ship mobile is always a good idea: it makes enemy targeting you harder, and might his lasers/ missiles/ slugs might miss you. Maneuvering also makes avoiding missiles possible -there is no air out there, so the missiles' turning rate is less than you might imagine. Torpedoes are even easier to avoid. Mind you though, if you maneuver too much, your own weapons might have trouble zeroing in on your enemies !
- The formation thing is now working -I haven't yet tested it in battle myself, but will shortly. Now, by clicking on the 'fleet' icon on the top of the screen, you might assign your squadron some simple formations -up to four of them, to be precise.
- controlling several ships is hard at first, but then you sort of get used to it: that's the soul of the game. We might make a simple follow script if you think its a good idea, for a ship to follow another one (say if you move one ship on top of another, we could active the close 'follow'/ escort script).
- there is quite a few things after the station fight. As you say, there is the pirate light carrier you might want to go after. But I warn you, I got plastered last time I tried (wrong tactics, my bad). It is a challenge -but you can always turn your back away from it, in space no one will tell on you Then there's a sort of climax I will not tell you anything about ! The demo is a part of the game's story. Finishing it will lead you into what will develop as a campaign, if you want, with its plot and twists. Finish the demo !

@Urist McSpike (like your name hehe)
Thank you -we are working daily (and nightly) on the game. We know its ambitious, but we ain't scared ! Tryggvi is reviewing and updating the tutorial as we speak. As new features are added/ updated, there is a delay for the tutorial to 'follow'.
I did not find the vertical movement either when I played the tutorial. We are taking care of that.
- Good idea about the breaking up of topics into pages/ sub-topics.
- if you can move and attack, gather stuff with your drone (the button at the bottom center with the little 'diamond' minerals on it) and activate your auto-repair (one little button in the rightmost part of the screen, in the repair menu), you can fight ! Remember that you MUST repair your ship's damage while in the mission, and for that you need minerals (nanomachines eat minerals and 'heal' your structure and armor). Manage your minerals carefully, thus, and gather all you can get your hands on.

We are also working on making the inventory, ship and refit menus functional. Will tell you when they are working correctly.

You may now post also in our site's new forum, and subscribe to our newsletter. Check it all up at ceresthegame.com !

take care all,
Pavlos

[Zireael]

Sounds like an interesting project, will be keeping an eye on it!

[mosshadow]

Thanks for the reply, I was able to reach the mothership quest(and found a wormhole too), it was pretty interesting fighting it, sadly I got killed by the guarding ships.

[mosshadow]

New version 9.4.2 is up.

Most important thing of all is that you can finally have ships follow you instead of manually controlling every single one, plus theres more ships available so you can actually survive those hacked turrets thanks to more firepower.

[Graknorke]

But 9.5.0 is up already...

EDIT: Though I would like to say that the newest demo is working a lot nicer than the previous one. The interface doesn't disappear anymore, and while I'm not sure exactly what it is the entire thing seems to play better, but that might just be me.

[xaritscin]

well looking at what happened to this game, it seems Iceberg Interactive (the same guys who published Stardrive I) is gonna publish Ceres this year (Q2 according to the news on the homepage)