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[LordArchibald]

What you think about eras? I had a bit of a hesitation when impementing these but it seems you accepted these without problems?

The lack of implemented features there really shows

Could you expand your thought on this? I'm trying to figure out the key thing I need to do/implement/change.

I hate micromanagement but there is maybe too much automation in this. Slightly more control over your Armed Forces (Regulars and Stormtroopers) on the same level as you manage your fleets would really go a long way.

Yeah... but I'm sceptical that adjusting the military part of the game (like more focus on the ground troops) would solve it. I get a feeling it's another part of the game that might need fleshing out (economy, internal politics, audience maybe?) I mean, you can do pretty much military wise already, you have fleets, squadrons, various hulls, modernizations. Adding more here... I don't know.

Also while there was information that it would not be okay (or okay) to use chem/atomic/bio WMDs on some people i couldn't find anything regarding orbital bombardement.

My idea was that you have strategic weapons (like +1 strategic weapon per 25 turns) and then you can go to a planet page and you have "launch nuke/chemical/etc vs this planet" button, without moving any units around or anything like that (of course the enemy planet has to be within range). Then (maybe there is a counter so it's not instant) the planet gets hit by that weapon (and in case of nuke it halves all planetary defences, troops, infrastructure and population, the planet is radiated for 50 turns, you can do it only vs non civilized planets).

[LoSboccacc]

Eras are nice they give a pacing to alien menace at predictable times. If anything it'd be nice to have them tied to in game events instead of turns. Like when your civ discover a key tech, conuer a planet, or just tied with menaces cycles, like the hive gets stronger and begins a new era.

[QuakeIV]

What you think about eras? I had a bit of a hesitation when impementing these but it seems you accepted these without problems?

The lack of implemented features there really shows

Could you expand your thought on this? I'm trying to figure out the key thing I need to do/implement/change.

If you added more stuff to the Audience then that would add a lot I think.  Give officers something to say, give the scientist guy something to say.  Add more things for people to say.  I had every possible conversation memorized fairly quickly and was mostly rapidly clicking through it so I could get back to moving my fleets around.



e: Tangentially related; most of the audience stuff doesn't really impact my overall strategy, the numbers are too small.  That would also make the audience more interesting.  '+5% to hulls for the low low price of 1k + 10 credits per turn' 'hmm let me think about that, the treasury is at 30,000 because everything is colonized and I can easily hold back the alien hordes with no upkeep, so sure what the hell'

[LordArchibald]

Eras are nice they give a pacing to alien menace at predictable times. If anything it'd be nice to have them tied to in game events instead of turns. Like when your civ discover a key tech, conuer a planet, or just tied with menaces cycles, like the hive gets stronger and begins a new era.

I see.
With variable eras there coudn't be the era progress bar, which I think is very usefull for the player (you know how much time you have till something big happens/contacts expire/etc).

If you added more stuff to the Audience then that would add a lot I think.  Give officers something to say, give the scientist guy something to say.  Add more things for people to say.  I had every possible conversation memorized fairly quickly and was mostly rapidly clicking through it so I could get back to moving my fleets around.

e: Tangentially related; most of the audience stuff doesn't really impact my overall strategy, the numbers are too small.  That would also make the audience more interesting.  '+5% to hulls for the low low price of 1k + 10 credits per turn' 'hmm let me think about that, the treasury is at 30,000 because everything is colonized and I can easily hold back the alien hordes with no upkeep, so sure what the hell'

I made a separate topic for this, since audience is a big thing in the game:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=155165.0


So, back to things that need to be fleshed out. I find these main areas in the game:
- military (I think it works fine)
- economy (basicly non existant since planets are automated)
- audience
- managing personnel (imperial officials)
- progress (maybe it's just me and I kind of lost the perspective here but isn't there a problem here? I mean, you conquer planets and do research and that's basicly it? Is that enough?)

Are these the ones I should focus on? Maybe something else? Where exactly lies the problem (in some of the things I listed or somewhere else)? Also note I can't/shouldn't focus on everything or the game will turn into a blob of disconnected complex mechanics Also, maybe I should go the other way and remove/ignore some of these?

[LoSboccacc]

Progress for sure. But progress come after you define a goal. Currently it isn't clear who are the baddies, at which point the scenario is considered won, if there are any dangers at all to your empire etc.

Scenarios could help here. The planet count goal is quite shallow. An alliance against the hive, while navigating the relations of faction as the enemy push against the borders and people try to drag your fleet in helping them? Sure, bring it on! Given the style, I'd look at crafting compelling political goals.

[LoSboccacc]

So, I happened to play the 50 planets start. At that scale, fleet/squadron management becomes busywork and the map looks really weird, it's hard to identify chokeplanets worthy of expanding toward as every move makes the empire more and more exposed.

Gateway planets are useful asthey become important bastions to fight for. Map generator seems to make a too much interconnected galaxy

[Sirus]

I'll go through the thread in more detail later, but right now this is looking pretty interesting.

[xaritscin]

talking about features. and knowing that this game is about playing the actual role of "teh emprah"...have you looked at subdits and their potential upheavals? or problems regarding imperial religion and stuff like that? i mean, trying to keep a good image as emperor for the citizens and that stuff.

[LordArchibald]

Progress for sure. But progress come after you define a goal. Currently it isn't clear who are the baddies, at which point the scenario is considered won, if there are any dangers at all to your empire etc.

Scenarios could help here. The planet count goal is quite shallow. An alliance against the hive, while navigating the relations of faction as the enemy push against the borders and people try to drag your fleet in helping them? Sure, bring it on! Given the style, I'd look at crafting compelling political goals.

To assure we speak about the same things:
- diplomacy - relations with alien powers, allies, vassals, enemies, coallitions
- politics - internal relations with your people, factions, important figures, organizations, corporations (all of them belonging to the empire)

Which one you meant?

have you looked at subdits and their potential upheavals?

I'm not sure I understood that sentence.

[xaritscin]

i mean, from the images, it seems the emperor only receives audiences and notifications from the military. but what about imperial citizens? do gobernors and members of the peasantry present requests or notice the emperor of local events? for example, economical disasters in certain planets or revolutionary groups trying to incite into rebellions and secession from the empire.

that's what i meant regarding subdits.

[EuchreJack]

I like the Eras, especially how they're semi-random in each game.

[Hanzoku]

Finally got around to playing the demo, and I have to say I like it a lot. For me, it fits exactly what I liked about Master of Orion 3 - the ability to manage and control an empire, but also the ability to just step back from that and manage the fleets and research, and it'll all more or less keep running itself (with some corrections) while I focus on not being swarmed under and eaten by bugs.

A couple of thoughts:

- Income needs to be higher. Even though the game is meant for the longer term, I was having trouble getting my income per turn above 700 or so, despite expanding my empire threefold fighting the two bug species.
-- That said, I believe that tax should also be collected from conquered aliens, but at a lower rate then humanity.
- Research should also be a bit quicker, in my opinion. Without focusing, I managed to research one topic in each of the topics by turn 30, but given everything only gets more expensive from there, I'd suggest making it easier.

[LordArchibald]

Finally got around to playing the demo, and I have to say I like it a lot. For me, it fits exactly what I liked about Master of Orion 3 - the ability to manage and control an empire, but also the ability to just step back from that and manage the fleets and research, and it'll all more or less keep running itself (with some corrections) while I focus on not being swarmed under and eaten by bugs.

Do you get the feeling that "there is not enough to do" as some other people?

- Income needs to be higher. Even though the game is meant for the longer term, I was having trouble getting my income per turn above 700 or so, despite expanding my empire threefold fighting the two bug species.

It's on purpose. The income is quite flat, typically it ranges between 700 and 2000 (the rest is eaten up by bureaucracy if the empire is huge ) so you won't be dealing with tens of thousands of moonies in the late game.

- Research should also be a bit quicker, in my opinion. Without focusing, I managed to research one topic in each of the topics by turn 30, but given everything only gets more expensive from there, I'd suggest making it easier.

BTW, there is a balance.ini, if you feel adventurous you might open it in a notepad and change "researchcost" And then see how it goes.

I like the Eras, especially how they're semi-random in each game.

So, I'm keeping the eras it seems

i mean, from the images, it seems the emperor only receives audiences and notifications from the military. but what about imperial citizens? do gobernors and members of the peasantry present requests or notice the emperor of local events? for example, economical disasters in certain planets or revolutionary groups trying to incite into rebellions and secession from the empire.

It's just a screen, civilians/diplomats come to the audience too.

[Hanzoku]

Somewhat. There were several turns I handled the ongoing battles/invasions and not much else. I wouldn't mind seeing a more in-depth diplomacy options, both internal (appointing members of factions to ministers, dealing with factional infighting and popularity with each faction based on what you are doing and how the empire is faring) and external (truces, non-aggression pacts, trade agreements, research exchanges, perhaps even lend/lease programs of military hardware - hiring out squadrons to serve as mercenaries for another species or hiring their own forces for a set number of turns?, defensive alliances and full alliances), but I'm guessing that's all things to come in the future when that part of the game is filled out.

I agree that income should be somewhat flat, but given the number of empty planets I had available to colonize when the swarming bugs retreated to hibernate, being able to do so more then once every 4-6 turns would have been nice. Perhaps the cost of colonizing should be lowered, or there should be three tiers

1 - focus (full cost, occurs the quickest)
2 - encourage (costs less and is a lot slower)
3 - natural expansion - as civilians explorers and settlers and company concerns move into an uninhabited system, it slowly colonizes towards your empire at no cost to you. Eventually, they might have enough population to become formally represented. (MOO3 had this - species would naturally settle planets that were perfect for them, which allowed minor species in your empire to colonize worlds that your base species considered hellholes.)

[EuchreJack]

Right now, it seems more like a combat simulator than anything else.

I think research costs are just right.  It really should take an era to research each level of tech.  Only change I would suggest is allowing the player to somehow control the research budget, ideally through events.  Dump cash, get research points (or not, if the RNG doesn't favor the player).  Most games use a dorky slider that most players just set to max, hence why events are better.