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[SeaBee]

I know key bindings will be in at a later date, right now the menu option is grayed out/not programmed. I'm not aware of a way to change them right now via config files, I suspect it is still on the To Do list.

Might be nice to allow the AI to continue controlling the ship while in the combat view, then give us control back when we tap a movement key. Not sure if that's something Alex would consider in the future or not. I know I generally want to take command immediately, but I see what you mean.

[alexm]

Alexm, if you're unsure on setting up and starting a wiki/forum I'd be happy to assist.

Thanks for the offer! I think the hosting provider I'm using (Lunarpages) has SMF and it's probably a one-click-to-install type of deal, so it *shouldn't* give me much trouble. Famous last words?

Hmm, I'm going to set up a forum soon (probably next few days, if I can swing it). What do you think about stickied threads for this stuff, at least to start with? It won't have the full advantage of collaborative editing the wiki provides, but would probably encourage more discussion and participation from the start. I'm open to anything, though.

I'm sure that would work fine. If the community for the game grows enough, having both would be awesome -- of course, policing and maintaining them will eat up your time. I know we B12'ers are used to (mostly) policing each other, reporting spam posters (and threads that get out of hand) as necessary so that Tarn and his brother don't have to read every new post. That will help. I'd be willing to volunteer for moderation duties if it gets too busy, as would several others here I'd bet. Doubt that will be a concern for awhile yet.

By the way, glad to see BMT Micro got their stuff together! Hopefully everything is stable on that end.

Much appreciated, I'll take you up on that if the offer is still good when the time comes. Re: BMT Micro, would you believe that some Visa servers are down now, preventing any orders using it from going through? Not that huge of a deal, but still.

Sussed it. I kept switching back to main screen which gives direct control again. Can I suggest changing some keys around? I find the UI a bit fiddly as it's P to pause then F to view the action from a ship, Esc to go back and Tab to change back to direct control.

Would be nice if it was possible to Tab back to main screen but still have the AI control in place. That way it's just Tab to switch from action to tactical and use Space bar to pause. Then it's only 2 keys. Although this may make it too much like an RTS and I'm not up on what the original design is around piloting a ship.

Might be nice to allow the AI to continue controlling the ship while in the combat view, then give us control back when we tap a movement key. Not sure if that's something Alex would consider in the future or not. I know I generally want to take command immediately, but I see what you mean.

You don't actually need to use Escape there - Tab works too. You can also get a video feed from your own ship, so I'm not sure when you'd actually want to switch out of the warroom if you're playing in "admiral" mode.

Space to pause does sound appealing, though. Let me add that to the list, I'll play around with these controls and see if I can streamline it while keeping all the functionality intact. I'm not quite happy with the flow of it myself.

Really, though, I also don't want it to feel like you have to micro so much - so some larger changes might be in order to make sure of that.

Right now what seems to be happening is, the AI isn't meant to be very responsive to micro. But, the UI lets you micro more than is probably optimal given the nature of the AI. And then it's a bit frustrating when it doesn't respond well.

[forsaken1111]

Probably the most frustrating thing for me is that I have no way to tell my ships to NOT engage, or to disengage from a fight they can't win. I had several small ships in combat against a larger one when all of his buddies showed up. They could easily have run away given their faster speed, but when I gave them a move command away they just kept right on with the skirmish.

[Flare]

Oh yes, I replaced the package with the appropriate text as well as deleted the class file in the mission folder, and the problem of the game crashing before reaching the menu screen seems to be resolved and the mission appears in the mission selection space . However, when I click on the mission, the game crashes here instead .

[Qloos]

Right now what seems to be happening is, the AI isn't meant to be very responsive to micro. But, the UI lets you micro more than is probably optimal given the nature of the AI. And then it's a bit frustrating when it doesn't respond well.

Quoted for truth.  When I am given so much control and the AI simply refuses to do as I tell it, it feels like the loss is my fault and not simply the luck of the round - which is highly frustrating.  If it feels like AI vs AI, and I'm just a member of the battle, I can say "oh well, maybe next time" instead of "God dammit, what the hell am I doing wrong?!"  Then again, some players want control.

I'm really admiring the lighting effects by the way, care to explain your technique?  Or is that a trade secret?

[Fishbreath]

This is a fantastic piece of work.

[alexm]

Oh yes, I replaced the package with the appropriate text as well as deleted the class file in the mission folder, and the problem of the game crashing before reaching the menu screen seems to be resolved and the mission appears in the mission selection space . However, when I click on the mission, the game crashes here instead .

Oh, wow, this is not going smoothly for you, is it? My apologies If you post the last 20 or so lines of the logfile, I could probably tell what the problem is.

Probably the most frustrating thing for me is that I have no way to tell my ships to NOT engage, or to disengage from a fight they can't win. I had several small ships in combat against a larger one when all of his buddies showed up. They could easily have run away given their faster speed, but when I gave them a move command away they just kept right on with the skirmish.

I hear you. Will work on that.

I'm really admiring the lighting effects by the way, care to explain your technique?  Or is that a trade secret?

Thanks! The only actual lighting is used for planets. The other "lighting" is variations on particle effects. Sure, some particles are huge and static, and look like a glow, but that's still a particle effect in my book

This is a fantastic piece of work.

Thank you, glad you like it!

[Fishbreath]

I can hardly wait until the sandbox RPG part arrives.

One thing I've noticed-- the enemy AI seems to be big on capturing objectives, while it seems like even when I explicitly order my fleet to go after objectives, they'll break off to go after enemy contacts, and so I'm usually fighting at a big disadvantage in terms of fleet size.

On the other hand, I think the system itself is great. It basically leads to Jutland-esque scout ship action over the objectives, while the main fleets jockey for position and only later commit to the fight.

[Sergius]

Well, been playing it on and off, and I must say I find the missions way to hard for my tastes, so I hope that the sandboxy game lets you control more how much you want to steamroll the other side with superior forces. I'm assuming for demo or test purposes the battles are unbalanced on purpose and that's not the case in the full game.

Like General Callus Tacticus wrote in his journals on the subject of What to Do If One Army Occupies a Well-fortified and Superior Ground and the Other Does Not: "Endeavour to be the one inside".

Well, that's the reason I want this game, for the meta-part, or sandbox or whatchamacallit. I just like owning and designing ships 

[alexm]

One thing I've noticed-- the enemy AI seems to be big on capturing objectives, while it seems like even when I explicitly order my fleet to go after objectives, they'll break off to go after enemy contacts, and so I'm usually fighting at a big disadvantage in terms of fleet size.

Hmm... both you and the AI follow the same rules as far as that's concerned. Possibly, it's just using faster ships (like Talon interceptors) and capturing some objectives before you're close enough for them to want to break off?

On the other hand, I think the system itself is great. It basically leads to Jutland-esque scout ship action over the objectives, while the main fleets jockey for position and only later commit to the fight.

Glad you like that! That was the goal - to make smaller, faster ships useful, and something you'd want to keep around even in late game - and it seems to have worked.

Well, been playing it on and off, and I must say I find the missions way to hard for my tastes, so I hope that the sandboxy game lets you control more how much you want to steamroll the other side with superior forces. I'm assuming for demo or test purposes the battles are unbalanced on purpose and that's not the case in the full game.

There’ll be an overall difficulty setting that affects how much damage your ships take. “Normal” will be 100%, with easier settings for when you want a more forgiving experience. Also, you can expect a more gentle mission difficulty curve in the next release.

The battles in this release are indeed on the hard side. The way I see it, unless the game challenges you, you won't have any incentive to explore its mechanics. But that being said, the curve IS too harsh, and we'll make the aforementioned changes.

And of course, in the sandbox, you'll be able to pick your own fights, so that'll help

Well, that's the reason I want this game, for the meta-part, or sandbox or whatchamacallit. I just like owning and designing ships 

There will be plenty of that!

By the way, our forum is set up. And it even has a few threads in it already

[Sergius]

By the way, our forum is set up. And it even has a few threads in it already

Nice. May I suggest something more "spacey" for the theme? These I found don't look half bad:

http://custom.simplemachines.org/themes/index.php?lemma=128
http://custom.simplemachines.org/themes/index.php?lemma=264
http://custom.simplemachines.org/themes/index.php?lemma=731
http://custom.simplemachines.org/themes/index.php?lemma=1042

Can I ask why use SMF instead of some integrated solution with WordPress if you're already using that? There are a few plugins use user info directly from the CMS and don't need to be themed separately. Even if you're revamping you're site to something else, plenty other CMS's have their own forum that are internal.

Nothing against SMF itself, I just have something of a pet peeve about not using certain tools to their fullest extent  Next thing you know, you're looking for ways to embed SMF into an iframe within WordPress

[forsaken1111]

Many of the wordpress forum plugins are... well let's go with 'not very good'. Unstable, buggy, etc.

[Sergius]

Many of the wordpress forum plugins are... well let's go with 'not very good'. Unstable, buggy, etc.

Well, that's a good reason, I guess. I quite dislike WP myself.

[Fishbreath]

After watching the initial deployment screens a bit, I realize why I've been losing so badly. The trick is not deploying your flagship and heavies until you have enough fleet points to bring in a big honking battle line. I did that, and ta-da, won one I hadn't been able to win before.

I may have to mod myself a variant of the battlecruiser from The Last Hurrah with a broadside of the front-mounted lasers from the cruiser from Hornet's Nest. >.>

[NovaNero]

Game looks great. Bought it with paypal but the game went to my email account attached to paypal which I havn't been able to logon to for a few months :/


PS My first post . I decided I'll jump in and post today.