Hurray! I was able to caputure my first planet!

[chemical_art]

As name implies, game is now intuitive enough that I was able to at least progress enough to get that first planet as a AIW 1 player, which is a massive improvement compared to when I last played. So that's good!

Now as a AIW 1 player, it still is jarring. But another day for that. But at least it is possible to advance which is a nice start.

Keep up the good work!

Note: chemical_art's threat is growing. Can't say it is all good news. But at least there is enough of a given floor so as to allow me to contribute to the game!

[x4000]

Sweeet!  A lot of changes are coming to the interface that should make this less jarring, and balance changes should make the capture of early planets not quite such a chore, too.  Stay tuned.

You and Cyborg are on the top of my litmus test of "if they say it's okay, then we're into reasonably safe territory."

[chemical_art]

Glad to hear the interface is getting improvements. The tooltips I'm still not a fan of: Being in the top left corner with a non-opaque background can make it difficult to read. But they are there and that is good.

Starting with the first planet is good, but a huge challenge is that everything is spread out. In AI War 1 the planet is setup centralized and thus reasonable to defend. Now everything is spread out and I can't easily find a hub to coordinate actions such as tech and production. I know the home ship can do these functions but it is difficult to select in the mass of ships protecting it. Also, do you get stationary production facilities at the start? Power was so constrained I couldn't make one of facility. This lack of power extended to other functions as well: I couldn't make turrets in my second world (I think it was caps? But having 10 of one turret and they all already being used in world 1 was jarring. I had spent all my tech on starships and didn't realize just how crippling it could be).

I felt really sluggish in general, unlike AIW 1 where I may have been weak but from minute one start agile making moves. This was in part because your homeworld had extra production/resource facilities that provided extra resources to protect (pods, etc) while in this one I felt like a gorilla fighter with only a home ship to protect. Which could be fine, really, it opens up exciting possibilities of a more mobile nature compared to the potential empires that AIW 1 can build. But in that case I need to feel even more agile as I have my home ship moving with my fleet on the attack. Either direction is fine, but both need agility at start.

[x4000]

That's really good feedback, thanks!  We'll have to think on this and see what we can do.  I totally get what you mean on those issues, though.

And yep, the tooltips and so on are getting completely changed, it's a really huge difference planned (and really good, thanks to Eric).

[Cyborg]

Sweeet!  A lot of changes are coming to the interface that should make this less jarring, and balance changes should make the capture of early planets not quite such a chore, too.  Stay tuned.

You and Cyborg are on the top of my litmus test of "if they say it's okay, then we're into reasonably safe territory."

Still here, I have been voting with the GUI group but not saying much. Between the GUI and the giant fleetball, things felt very different from AI War 1. Not a bad thing, as long as you can deliver the depth somewhere else. Sometimes I think it would've been better to just port what you had to the new engine and go from there, as right now it feels like you are working backwards trying to recapture AIW1 rather than forwards from it.

But so it goes and here we are. I think we all know the balance isn't there and the GUI is a work in progress. I will login and give it another try this weekend.

[x4000]

No worries at all. Honestly, I think it may be better if you wait a couple of weeks, given how muxh the gui grates on you and how much that's going to change in that time span. But there are also some substantial non-existent changes going on, most of which are intended to being back some of the feeling and depth of the first game. The very next release should have some things that really focus on making the tower defense part more relevant and fun, and more like the original in a lot of ways.

Please note that I'm not saying I don't want to hear your opinion yet or something. But I don't want to burn you out on something that we know is imminently changing for the better, either.

[chemical_art]

and balance changes should make the capture of early planets not quite such a chore, too.  Stay tuned.

This is my biggest road block right now. The GUI isn't pretty but it is at a point that I can test the game.

But I tried a new game today and after 15 minutes using more balanced tech I still had not taken a single mk I world. It was a terribly boring grind. Dramatically reduce the defenses and garrisions of these and mk II worlds, they are not meant to be difficult in the big picture. A mk 1 world with 0 ap should not have 3x the base strength of the player's triangle fleet. I am used to be able to conquer three or even four of these stages planets within 30 minutes in AIW 1 as part of a more aggressive game.

If it makes things better: This is a game I want to digest. I am hoping the mid game and late game can throw hammers like I would expect from AIW 1. I am eager, but I will force myself to engage only if I can make "tactical", "clean", otherwise meaning move in the game, rather then bash it to death with a hammer.***

***I feel more then most players that it is OK, with preparation, to bash the AI with a sledgehammer. Heck, this foil of the human strategy is the goal of whatever AI I can influence in a later point. So I promise if the hammer feels appropriate I will use it. But for now it is not.

[x4000]

I am absolutely on board with that. We still have some experiments going that should drag it more in that direction.