Nominations for Most Important Pre-8.0 Polish

[Fealthas]

So I shouldn't be scared of a negative glowing green hacking number? Ok good to know.

[TechSY730]

If CPAs and Exos are to "more often, but weaker on multi-inpoint" logic as well, then a different definition of "in points" would need to be used than waves.

As CPA ships can come from any AI planet that have guards, then the definition should be: the number of human worlds that contain in-points from a non-human world that is along the path to an AI world (which might be the adjacent world itself if the adjacent planet is an AI world).

For Exos, exos can come from any warp gate, so it should be: the number of human worlds that contain in-points from a non-human world that is along the path to an AI world that has a Warp Gate (FULL) (which might be the adjacent world itself if the adjacent planet is an AI world with a Warp Gate (FULL)).


Also, how much sense does it make for exos to use this logic, given that they often have focused "deep strike" goals anyways?


Finally, how does the warp jammer AI interact with the multi-inpoint adjustment logic?

[TechSY730]

The one thing I would think about is fabricators. Currently if you get something like a Bomber Starship 5 it takes forever to build unless assisted, and its very awkward to have to micro your engineers everywhere over different planets. It would be nice if fabricators built super fast.

This comes from a player who likes to have all his docks on 1 world...so am I missing something that some of you do to make this process easier?

(Most) Fabricators now also give the relevant "regular" builder the ability to build the ship as well, as long as you hold the fabricator (or for the rest of the game if you design downloaded it). For example, a Mk. V bomber fabricator, while being held (or for the rest of the game if downloaded), you can build the Mk. V bomber at your space dock. Same applies for Mk. IV factories, Mk. IV starship factories (built at starship factory), experimental ships, etc.

In fact, the only ones that I think it doesn't work for are:
- nebulae reward ships (can be partially be mitigated by intra-galactic warp gates)
- spire capital ships (which makes sense lore wise, but there is currently not a intra warp gate for it, which is also in mantis)
- resistance fighter base (lack both currently)

[Toranth]

The one thing I would think about is fabricators. Currently if you get something like a Bomber Starship 5 it takes forever to build unless assisted, and its very awkward to have to micro your engineers everywhere over different planets. It would be nice if fabricators built super fast.

This comes from a player who likes to have all his docks on 1 world...so am I missing something that some of you do to make this process easier?

Anything you unlock from a Fabricator can be build at a normal Space Dock or Starship Constructor.  No need to actually use the Fabricator, Advanced Factory, or Advanced Starship Constructor to do the production.  You *can*, if you want.  But it is not required.
This means you can produce everything on your homeworld, with as much engineer assistance as desired.

[keith.lamothe]

I feel like in the current state of aiwar, there is no reason to ever not hack a fabricator

Just checking:

1) Do you ever find yourself wanting to do a hack, but not doing it due to lack of HaP?  If so then would you rather have not done that last fab hack, so that you can do that other thing?

2) On an average map, how many fabs do you want?  How many of those do you hack?  With each costing 1.5x as much HaP as the previous, it does get pricey fairly fast.

[Lancefighter]

I feel like in the current state of aiwar, there is no reason to ever not hack a fabricator

Just checking:

1) Do you ever find yourself wanting to do a hack, but not doing it due to lack of HaP?  If so then would you rather have not done that last fab hack, so that you can do that other thing?

2) On an average map, how many fabs do you want?  How many of those do you hack?  With each costing 1.5x as much HaP as the previous, it does get pricey fairly fast.

Well, maybe saying it in such black and white wasnt quite what I meant. It is just that if a fabricator can be at all useful to me, it would be almost infinitely more useful hacked than not-hacked. I dont think I've ran into a situation where I regret my last hacking attempt, however. (with that said, I have not actually played a game to completion in a while due to getting mad at plasma siege starships and other things)

Do I want to hack? I can think of maybe a half dozen offhand that are amazing and should always be hacked, not including mk4 facts. Bombers and engineers are probably the biggest ones here. Add pretty much every single turret controller to that..

[Draco18s]

I feel like in the current state of aiwar, there is no reason to ever not hack a fabricator

Just checking:

1) Do you ever find yourself wanting to do a hack, but not doing it due to lack of HaP?  If so then would you rather have not done that last fab hack, so that you can do that other thing?

2) On an average map, how many fabs do you want?  How many of those do you hack?  With each costing 1.5x as much HaP as the previous, it does get pricey fairly fast.

Off hand and not actually having played under the circumstances:

"About three."  Add to that one Mk 4 factory, one Mk 4 starship constructor, a ship design back up server (or three), and a couple of turret controllers (about three).

I don't know what that totals, but it is roughly what I'd look to get.  Placement matters a lot, if it's too far out I might not go for the hack, if it's close enough in, I'll just capture it.  The Mk 4's are worth getting at any distance, and only worth getting via hack.

[keith.lamothe]

Ok, I imagine everyone who wanted to add something here has done so.  Omitting the things that have already been dealt with (to my knowledge), that leaves:


- Buff the AI's response to Golems-Hard and Spirecraft-Hard to prevent the overall impact of those making the game way easier than without superweapons.
-- but do this in a way which doesn't mess with the balance of the game-without-superwepaons

- Buff the highest difficulties, as 10/10 (even without superweapons) is still winnable.

- there were various unit buffs requested (maybe a few nerfs); as chemical_art implied that sort of thing is better handled separate from bug/feature-request stuff

- The current compilation-of-text-issues mantis

- Making the context menu more accesible and usable, etc

- the search icon things on the map screen (NOT the filter) not being "type-in able"

- places where the needler turret class are still called basic turrets

- tables where columns are not sortable, and lack any sort of reasonable default ordering.

- unpauses don't always get synced with clients in a multiplayer game, leading to a client saying "paused" but the game is still running (time is moving, things are happening, etc) (no mantis yet, but there should be, as this is a pretty big one)

- resistance fighters and spire capital ships still don't have a warp gate point (http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=9217)

- remains rebuilders still sometimes get "stuck" on less important stuff (http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=14662)

- turrets have not been readjusted to have caps of multiples of 8 (probably a mantis on this)

- in periods of moderate to heavy lag, ships often overshoot, often heavily, their target point (no mantis yet)

- a "hold position" order that will temporarily override auto-frd and auto-kiting logic (probably a mantis on this)

- an auto-attackmove variants of auto-frd controls (no mantis yet)

- A more convenient way of managing preferred target (like using the side bar) (no mantis yet)

- Make sure some of the misc fabricators (warbirds, beam starships, micro-parasites, translocators, etc) are up to proper balance (no mantis yet)

- I want to set a target by clicking the sidebar.

- The Nienzul Enclave starship tooltip still says 10s for Mark I.

- Galaxy map filters being broken. Which ones are broken, well, it is easier to list which ones AREN'T broken. Try various combinations of the first and second filters, and watch nonsense results come up with many, if not most of them.

- How about the turret changes that were proposed a while ago?
-- Specifically, making normal turrets per-planet-cap, along with other adjustments

- Making exos and CPAs do the "if only one entry point, send less often but larger attacks; if many entry points, send more frequent but smaller attacks" logic, not just waves.  Also increasing the difference between single-ingress and multi-ingress even for waves.


... so, um, doesn't really look like material for the poll mentioned in the OP, honestly, as many of the items are either:
- individual-unit-balance stuff best handled through the normal ad-hoc change process, and in some cases by the balance poll process
- things that are controversial and need a consensus on whether they should be done at all before the question of priority comes into play (turret changes, ingress-point changes)
- simple things that will be done anyway at some point pre-8.0 (text fixes)


The only one that really sticks out to me is "- unpauses don't always get synced with clients in a multiplayer game, leading to a client saying "paused" but the game is still running (time is moving, things are happening, etc) (no mantis yet, but there should be, as this is a pretty big one)" and I think that's probably just the interface being unclear about the difference between "pausing" and "paused", as if one sim was actually allowed to keep going and the other not there'd be a desync in a big hurry.

So I'll think about this and probably take chemical_art's suggestion of more targeted polls.  Probably a buff poll, a nerf poll, a "quality-of-life feature" poll, and a "worst bug" poll.  Though some of the above will be taken care of outside that process anyway.

[ZaneWolfe]

The one thing I would think about is fabricators. Currently if you get something like a Bomber Starship 5 it takes forever to build unless assisted, and its very awkward to have to micro your engineers everywhere over different planets. It would be nice if fabricators built super fast.

This comes from a player who likes to have all his docks on 1 world...so am I missing something that some of you do to make this process easier?

If you have control of a fab, you can bulid that unit at any appropriate constructor anywhere else in your empire. So in your example with a Bomber Starship fab, you could build them at any normal starship constructor.

Edit: And it seems that I am late to the party, several other people pointed it out as well.

[Draco18s]

As an aside while you're looking at the tweak on preferred targeting.

I have a feeling I've run into an issue where some units won't accept a preferred target, even when they are dealing more than 0 damage.

Unfortunately I don't recall the circumstances.  I think I was trying to get something to prefer-target plasma siege, but in issuing the attack order (which did cause whatever I had selected--turrets? (mini) fortress?--to fire) didn't set the preferred targeting.

[Toranth]

The one thing I would think about is fabricators. Currently if you get something like a Bomber Starship 5 it takes forever to build unless assisted, and its very awkward to have to micro your engineers everywhere over different planets. It would be nice if fabricators built super fast.

This comes from a player who likes to have all his docks on 1 world...so am I missing something that some of you do to make this process easier?

If you have control of a fab, you can bulid that unit at any appropriate constructor anywhere else in your empire. So in your example with a Bomber Starship fab, you could build them at any normal starship constructor.

Whoa!  He's right - Something is wrong.  I tried this out:  I captured a Starship Fab:  A Spire Corvette V Fab - and I am unable to build the ship at the normal Starship Constructor.
Fleetships are still showing up in the Space Dock, though.

[Faulty Logic]

A Spire Corvette V Fab - and I am unable to build the ship at the normal Starship Constructor.

Yeah, also happens for the core protector starship. And the problem disappears if you have the respective non-core modular starship unlocked (though you can still build them at the actual fabricator), so I think it's a bug in the "display-alternate-starship-tab" logic.

[keith.lamothe]

Yea, I've fixed probably a half dozen bugs with the fabs of the modular types, apparently there are more

[Bognor]

Ok, I imagine everyone who wanted to add something here has done so.

One late entry:

• Make Raid Starships go pew pew

[tadrinth]

More polish thoughts:

The first Neinzul Mourner nebula, with the prisons, is rather frustrating.  I found a forum post by Keith which suggested accumulating a massive ball of friendly ships, and then popping the last four prisons all at once.  Great in theory, but the friendly ships are all faster than my champs, which means they always beat me to the spawned ships and then die.  They're speed 177, I'm speed 150, even if I have a head start they get there first.  I also can't keep up with the enemy spawns; if I fly out to intercept, the ones with anti-ultra-heavy bonuses just fly right past me to the starbase and ignore my champs.

That nebula also does not have a large starbase, so once your shields go down, you can't recover them unless you have friendly engineers parked outside... which I didn't because the neighboring system has an attritioner. 

Now if the Zenith trader will just show up so I can start building a ZPG prior to capturing one... you can have two as long as you capture the second one, right?