Author Topic: New version .807 now out!  (Read 1939 times)

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
New version .807 now out!
« on: March 17, 2014, 09:24:34 pm »
Release notes: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=The_Last_Federation_Alpha_Release_Notes#Alpha_Version_.807

Restart steam to force a quicker update if you like.

So... about this new version:

1. There's a number of random balance and bugfix and player request things in here, but not really heaps of it.  Some of that we're kind of queuing up at the moment, although we're also trying to at least do some every day.

2. There are a number of things that are explained better in the solar map now, and a number of the balance things are targeted at the solar map, I might add.

3. The player flagship stats were really differing between models and confusing people in all sorts of ways.  And being decidedly un-fun in the variance, too.  That's all been normalized to what should hopefully be the most balanced, interesting stats.

4. We did something of a performance witch-hunt (just a small one) relating to combat, and Keith gave it a good kick in the teeth.  Still more to do, and we won't be spending a lot of time on that for another couple of weeks because there are more important things in the short term, but it is notable at least.

5. The logic for the AI flagships themselves should be a lot more interesting and aggressive now.


What this release does NOT address is the critical issue of finding it too hard to gain BP right now, and not having enough friendly actions in a number of scenarios.  There has been a lot of progress on designing solutions for that today, and laying all sorts of groundwork.  Actually parts of it are coded, but nothing that you can really touch yet.  I hope to have that "resolved" in tomorrow's release.  I put that in quotes because I really mean "enough to be playing with" and not "as much as we'll ever have."

There are a number of non-combat ways of earning BP that I have planned, which will instead cost you (game) time.  You don't just sit there doing something boring, but rather when you choose these actions the sim speeds up and runs in the background real quick, and a second or so later you continue on with the game but time has passed while your flagship was off doing whatever it was that you agreed to do.  You gain BP and so forth out of that, but since the situation on the solar map evolved while you were away, you can't just spam this sort of thing.

It actually MAY be that we can have enough non-combat missions that those who would prefer not to have the action-y combat can be more pacifist and instead work doing mining, construction, and other various jobs for races in order to earn the political capital needed to build the federation.  We'll see how that works out.  At any rate, it will be something to augment things.  It would never completely replace the need for combat, but right now there is way more frequency of combat than I want to have be required.  The other thing planned are some easier combat missions that are nonetheless based on the solar map sim state, and which feed both in and out in a very direct fashion.  Well, all of them won't be easier per se... but faster, definitely.

So there are a number of things planned and in the works on all those fronts.  My particular goal is to get all that worked out by the end of the week.  We'll see how we do with that goal.  Anyway, lots and lots of more actions and similar coming in the next days, so stay tuned.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Professor Paul1290

  • Sr. Member Mark II
  • ****
  • Posts: 395
Re: New version .807 now out!
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2014, 11:12:26 pm »
The speed increase is pretty noticeable, but I can't really make up my mind about it either way.

On one hand it does make evasive maneuvering a lot more viable.

On the other hand it does make more fine movement (like between asteroids an such) a bit tricky at normal speed and it also makes using operational abilities rather tricky due to the deployed ships falling behind rather easily.

Having a slower speed to toggle to might be nice. (Maybe have Shift toggle speed and re-assign plotting out waypoints to Ctrl or something.)
« Last Edit: March 17, 2014, 11:18:38 pm by Professor Paul1290 »

Offline Teal_Blue

  • Hero Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 935
Re: New version .807 now out!
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2014, 11:47:49 pm »
Quote: X4000 said - "It actually MAY be that we can have enough non-combat missions that those who would prefer not to have the action-y combat can be more pacifist and instead work doing mining, construction, and other various jobs for races in order to earn the political capital needed to build the federation.  We'll see how that works out. "


I really like this idea, and feel that this plus the text form of stepping combat might be a really nice thing!  :)  Just wanted to support your idea and say Yeah!  :)

-T

Offline PokerChen

  • Hero Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,088
Re: New version .807 now out!
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2014, 05:14:04 am »
Since I'm in favour of gunning for a grand victory by bringing all 8 races into the Federation, I also think more non-combat options would be preferable. It seems to require a lot of BP points on top of the Skylaxian options, and it would be a very thin line to walk trying to farm the scourges for BP without allowing the other races to wipe them out.

Also, would a mini-combat practice be ok at the blackmarket to try out your new tech? I'd like to be convinced beforehand of the various specials that I'm fitting to my ship.

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: New version .807 now out!
« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2014, 08:56:56 am »
Brief notes:

1. Option for half-speed movement makes great sense to me.  I was torn on that, too.

2. Mini combat practice at the black market is an awesome idea, I've put that on for round 3.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline Cinth

  • Core Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,527
  • Resident Zombie
Re: New version .807 now out!
« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2014, 02:34:12 pm »
I have a few Q's about stuff that has been in for a bit but I haven't had a chance to really dig into.

In quick start games, are there ways to get different flagships?
Are the default advanced start options the same as the quick start?
Quote from: keith.lamothe
Opened your save. My computer wept. Switched to the ST planet and ship icons filled my screen, so I zoomed out. Game told me that it _was_ totally zoomed out. You could seriously walk from one end of the inner grav well to the other without getting your feet cold.

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: New version .807 now out!
« Reply #6 on: March 18, 2014, 02:36:06 pm »
No, and yes.

The idea with quick start is that it is literally trying to give the player almost no decisions to make.  That's for the first time someone plays -- press, for instance -- where we just want them to get in and have a good general game without having to think about setup at all, really.  I doubt we'll ever add more options to quick start than there are now, at least I hope not.  But advanced start will continue to grow, as that's the thing for people beyond their first game or two.  Or who just like starting more complex, either way.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

 

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk