Evil Roy

Join Date 05/2003

Beta 2 Report

the ramblings of evil

Bugs (or my stupidity):

1. Doubling of previous bonuses if you start again with the same race
2. Parties are "Terran Oriented"?
3. Problem with sliders on domestic screen after set to zero
4. research build button not intuitive? it took me a while to work out clicking the tech didn't actually research it.
5. turn button MIA - i believe it has something to do with whether a ship has finished its move. also long lags sometimes with turns.
6. -12345678 weeks build etc on zero military funding
7. autosurvey?
8. event bonuses? - not sure if they work
9. research complete drop down doesn't disapear after new research
10. alien ships turn up as a blue square when clicking on planets?
11. able to launch alien ships
12. scroll on planet build screen not working? the arrows don't scroll, but clicking the column does.
13. if go to ship design from planet screen, don't return back to planet screen on completion
14. planet screen, previous/next buttons don't work
15. had a "remove component can't be done because linked" message in ship design?
16. upgrading a built ship accesses the last ship design not the actual ship
17. had a sudden net income of -2028044283 followed after a few turns by a CTD. not sure what i was doing at the time. think i was upgrading a ship design.
18. previous saved game designs appear if you haven't completely left the game and restarted?
19. Failed invasion stil brings up planet screen.
20. can't make a fleet?

General interface comments (to be taken as dumb if not relevant):

1. 3D - not positive that the 3d is being fully integrated into the gameplay yet. wondering whether there are two play states - one on the tactical screen (with a set of tools and information, and no mini-map? kinda emperor looking at a map thing. perhaps the tactical screen can replace the mini-map. want a mini-map, zoom out) and the other in 3D (with a different set of tools and information? kinda emperor in his ship looking at the empire). also wondering as the 3D is there whether there can be an "eye of sauron" kinda thing - eg Evil Roy your colony ship has arrived, do you want to see the planet? or Evil Roy, the Battle of Calamine Lotion is about to take place in quadrant Red Rash, do you want to see the battle?

2. planet screen - i think i'd like to see the ship build *and* the building build on the same screen, like GC1. the starport/ship design lower screens ain't doing it for me in terms of the quick peek.

3. having spoken against the dropdown build complete icon continually appearing while a build queue is in process, i now miss it. is is possible to have a drop down build queue icon, that flashes everytime a build happens, just so you *know* things are being built?

4. ship design - it's a bit much for me at the moment. i think i'd like to see it disengaged from the planet screen and left simply as a button on the main interface a la domestic, foreign button etc. As a player i like the tactical side of design, but am not overly involved in the process of designing the ship. tend not to use bling. I don't know where you're going with this, but the kinda design i'd respond to is Evil Roy your scientists av just discovered how to make a titanic hull. 'ere why don't you put your touch on it ie ship design as an occasional reward. The process of upgrading (ie removing parts and replacing) is also too hands on for me. I think I'd like the option of an Auto-Design button and an Auto-Upgrade button that replaces all current modules with the latest in that vein of module (leaving radical departures in military tactics to ship design proper). Also it might be an option to simply auto-generate your ships at start-up if you're that way inclined (or select from pre-prepared)

5. the research screen, as has been stated, does need work. the advanatge of GC1 was that you alway knew at a glance where you were on each strand of research. perhaps researched techs should just disappear collapsing the lines to simple what's next in each tech?

6. i'd like the resources to look more 'realistic' in keeping with the rest of the game?

that's it for the moment. sorry for the ramble

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Draginol

Join Date 03/2001

+137

Thanks! We plan to have an update tomorrow. Won't affect all this of course but will improve a few things.

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Hi,

I've got the latest build and, after starting twice, I've had the game hang twice, requiring me to Ctl-Alt-Del out. Consequently, I didn't get a Smart Exception file, but I still thought you'd like to hear about it.

The first hang came after pressing the "Turn" button. It disappeared, as it always does while processing the turn, but it never reappeared. I waited some time, and finally gave up and terminated the game. I've seen this mentioned elsewhere on this forum, but this is the first time it happened to me.

The second hang occurred when the Yor invaded one of my planets. The invasion screen came up, showing all the pertinent info, but nothing happened. The numbers under the word "Advantage" flickered a bit, but that was it. Perhaps there's a button I was supposed to hit to execute the combat, but I couldn't find one. The only apparent button was the "Done" button, which was grayed out.

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ScottTykoski

Join Date 03/2001

+132

EvilRoy: Great Feedback! Thanks for the suggestions and concerns...we'll log these items in our list!

Hrothgar: If you get another hung game, could you email the Debug.err file to Scott@stardock.com. Hopefully some of that data will help us track down the bug.

As for the Invasion screen, you'll want to press the space bar on this screen to initiate the battle...which I don't think is displayed on the screen anywhere

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Thanks for the info regarding the invasion screen. I wish pressing the spacebar had occurred to me.

As for the other time it hung, I didn't know anything got recorded in the debug.err file unless Smart Exception was activiated. I'll send it as soon as I finish this post.

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If the turn button disappears when you're playing, try clicking on your autopilot ships and setting their destinations again.

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Cari,

I did everything I could think of, clicking on the "Find" button, your suggestion above, going to the planet management screen, etc. B y the way, I should have mentioned that it wasn't a typical "hang," in that the game remained responsive in a way--I could scroll around the map, click on ships [altho they would not accept new orders], go to planet mangement, etc., but the "Turn" button just wouldn't come back.

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Lucky_Jack

Join Date 01/2002

+62

Hrothgar,
The enter key is supposed to be the alternate key for the turn button for the main window. Sometimes when the turn button dissapears the enter key works for me (but not always).

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Lucky Jack,

I think I tried the "Enter" key, but I don't remember for sure now. At any rate, I'll have to remember this and make sure I try it if it happens again.

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I have some remarks which are the same as Evil Roy's:

4. research build button not intuitive? it took me a while to work out clicking the tech didn't actually research it.
and
5. the research screen, as has been stated, does need work. the advanatge of GC1 was that you alway knew at a glance where you were on each strand of research. perhaps researched techs should just disappear collapsing the lines to simple what's next in each tech?

I'm just unable to get any tech funded. I also find it very hard to see which tech is researched and which is not. I know and can see the difference, but it is not clear enough, I have to wonder everytime I look at the screen what is researched,.

2. planet screen - i think i'd like to see the ship build *and* the building build on the same screen

The starport interface is clumsy. As Roy said, ship design should eb a different button, immediately available from the main interface. Knowing which ships are built where and building new ones is a bit painful. I haven't got the knack of getting from planet to startport and back. I wonder if one can get several starports on one planet, too. Must try, but I guess the ui won't let me use it.
7. autosurvey?
This would really help. I didn't manage to get the anomalies to show in the minimap but it may be just me, it used to work with beta1.

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planet screen - i think i'd like to see the ship build *and* the building build on the same scree

If you mean that you want to be able to pick what ship you want to build from the planetscreen, I could maybe have it pop up the quickbuild list when you click on the current project's name.

The starport interface is clumsy. As Roy said, ship design should eb a different button, immediately available from the main interface.

There's a button for the shipyard on the main button bar that allows you to design a new ship or upgrade an existing design.

Knowing which ships are built where and building new ones is a bit painful. I haven't got the knack of getting from planet to startport and back.

We are going to make it so that you can return to the planetscreen from the starport, we just didn't have time to get to that yet.

I wonder if one can get several starports on one planet, too. Must try, but I guess the ui won't let me use it.

Nope, one starport per planet. You can upgrade the existing one as you research better techs.

autosurvey?
This would really help. I didn't manage to get the anomalies to show in the minimap but it may be just me, it used to work with beta1.

The hotkey for autosurvey is A, when you have the flagship selected.

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If you mean that you want to be able to pick what ship you want to build from the planetscreen, I could maybe have it pop up the quickbuild list when you click on the current project's name.

hi cari

it's only a minor point, and one that may be fixed up once the starport screens link back into the planet screen. it's just that i like having the one screen for the instant assessment/build, and then bouncing through each planet screen with the next/previous button (nb there is a notable lag on this for the current beta). a separate starport screen just feels like more work at the moment. the starport and ship design windows are essentially the same in the looks department, so was just wondering whether all the elements of the starport window could be redistributed into the planet screen and ship design window, thus having one less user level. it's just a thought, but as the age-old expression goes....."who am i?"

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