Author Topic: First game done, second in progress, remarks.  (Read 1836 times)

Offline kasnavada

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First game done, second in progress, remarks.
« on: April 13, 2014, 01:36:23 am »
Hello !

I just wanted to add a few thoughts on the game, as I've finished my first game and am starting working on achievements.

I've bought most of arcen games over the years, but this one I put on hold as it looked very much spreadsheet like. But, actually, it's way better than it looks like from the trailer.

My first game was the default one, with meg + 4 "standard" exos in normal difficulty. I'm rather used to video games but it was a cakewalk once the first 10 days were passed. Still, it was fun switching equipement on exos, making the focus on one or another one and razing an entire map with a single exo. I laughed as I tricked AI into shooting each other, but I admit I did not really play with virus and mines as shooting outright was waaaay easier.

Once won, I tried another game, on "expert" with the shopper & 4 snipers for the achievement. That was kind of a bad idea as the power gap between both diff level is very huge, but... well... That'd teach me the game better. I guess. In normal barely anything passed the 2000 hp line and here every other robot does After a dozen days I had to stop, it was nearly impossible to finish anything. The RNG hated me as I did not get a single weapon part with something else than area effect bonuses (which snipes can't use), and I managed to find myself out of ammo multiple times. Also, lack of area attack is crippling.

My current game is the same concept with Genjy. As epic snipes have AOE attack the game is much more doable, even if some bots I can't really pass without save scumming a bit. Doombots in particular I can't beat unless there is less than 5 of them in a mission.

Now about my remarks...
- The balance between bots is really, really strange. Some start with 100 hp and other get 2000. The growth is also strange. There does not seem to be a obvious link between the "quantity" of hp units get and the day or growth. That lead me to mutiple times where my ammos were depleted while I did not even was in danger (multiple radarbot + emp is the worst... VERY easy to protect against, but waaaaaay to ammo-consuming).

Would it be possible to see the growth of AI units in game ? Currently clicking on "robot army" gives you a list, which is not anything helpful. Also, I'd love if it was possible to set-up an information "subcreen" of robots, for example by right clicking on them, which would give you a "detailed" information screen like your robots have. It would help players when they do not know what weapons the bot have do. Also some robots have 2 weapons but only one shows.

- Shooting is strange. Sometimes the snipers gets 2 shots while no robot moves, sometime it does not. Sometimes the AI seems to shoot before I do. It takes some time being used to. "Robot" turns seem to happen very fast and it's very difficult to see what's happening sometimes. No idea how ot improve this, maybe I'm not used to the game yet.

- The interface... does its work. Yet, I'd propose the following:

I currently have 4 snipes and the information "subscreen" only tells me about the trap level, and ammo. Could it give me virus, hack, stealth, turrets, mines too ? With 4 similar exos I just can remember which has what and the information subscreen does not give the remaining mines / turrets / stealth points either. Also, is it possible to set a comment ? Again, when playing with 4 of the same I have "Ultra long (whatever)" 4 times... As there are achievements for playing with the same types...

- Range... I just cannot see where I shoot and where I'm about to be shot. Whether it's my units or the robots. When I click "control" I expected to see the range of all robots. Then, if I were on an "attackable" case by robot(s) I'd have said robot(s) highlighted, and if I highlighted a robot, I expected to see it's range (that works fine =)). Would that be doable ?

- About mines and turrets, is there a button for placing them behind you ? It's really annoying for mines in particular to systematically have to turn to place them.

- About customisation I'm not sure about commenting yet. Placing the parts is kind of confusing right now, as there are a lot of part, a lot of positions to be filled and the interactions between slots is complex. I'd like a "shit shop" selling white parts with purposely "low" stats (like mk-2 compared to current look). It would help a lot not being screwed by RNG. About the MK of parts, it seems you get mk around (50 - remaining days) / 2. Is that right ?

- About the general customization interface... would it be possible to set-up filters with icons on the side of the part box instead of the current list ?

- Also, could you add a "+% to shield, propulsion, weapon" on the stat box ? What I mean is that I would want to know how much bonuses I have to for example propulsion before adding more mines.

- About the general map, is there a point to the warnings about the lion's den, robot command center and assassination ? Overall the comments look like it's a bad idea to attack them. Given that the above calculation for mk of parts seems accurate... I don't see the downside in doing those missions. About the robot command center, it looks like the robot levels and manufactoring gets up as much as it does from a single day, and that the mk of parts from missions just jumps by +2 once it's finished. I don't see how that could hurt you. About both others, early game, they're weaker, but late game you're supposed to be able to beat them anyway if you prepare for the late battle. So why the warning ? Also does the assassination mission reduce non-boss quantities ? Also, the number of boss from assassination mission is random, from 0 to all of them... There should at least be one of them there. Also, for the command center, you get "orange" part that you can either use or sell for a buttload of money, which improves you even more.


Ooopsss... wall of text.

Anyway, the game is very fun for now. I'll add other remarks when I played a bit more I guess =).
« Last Edit: April 13, 2014, 01:39:17 am by kasnavada »

Offline acqsen

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Re: First game done, second in progress, remarks.
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2014, 11:57:52 am »
@kasnavada
I've also recently finished a game, second play-through on iron hard . Died on iron extreme just now.
I like this game very much, hopefully it will get some more content in the future.
I have played with +drop_quality and +shop. Those are best bonuses imo.
The power gap between difficulty levels is rightfully big, making room for player improvement.
Radar bots are very interesting to deal with, i use aoe weapons against them mostly.
Seeing AI growth is useful but i would rather see other changes made first, like unlocks or achievements.
Not seeing the second weapon is of little inconvenience to me, the name is enough to know what you're against.
Did not see any strange turns on my last game through.
My robot turns happen at perfect speed, got a rather aged laptop though.
I agree about the need to see which bot is currently selected
Imagine what would it look like if you would see all of the bots range after ctrl - total mess.
Cant place behind, but the bot that placed mines can step on them safely.
Shit shop with white items is very required, at the start of the game mostly.
You are probably right, MK  = days/2
Seeing current +% to .... is good idea also.
I think the warning about lions den is more to get the feel then an accurate strategic info.

My own comments:
- my steam leader board is not working
- black tunnels on black borders are terribly hard to see, especially with low brightness to save eyes
- achievements are rather dull and without any sort of reward in form of "unlocks" or bonuses
- no reward for iron man game, something like more drops or more money would be nice
- out of ammo is bad, especially in start of game, when you have no means of getting more +ammo items. Also on misery difficulty those bots are just so durable you will sooner run out of ammo then kill them. Maybe a weapon that rewards some ammo if used to kill an enemy with it? Ammo bots are rather rare.
- finishing game before time (command centers) seem to not reward any bonus score, i think it should
- special terminals need a serious rework (kills exo?!?)
- all bots should get their specific feats. (sniper: max-range-crit, siege: entrench, brawler: empower, science: energize)

I will make new topic about.
Reworked Special terminals
New Achievements with unlockable rewards.
New bonuses for old exos
A new exo sugestion.

Offline estyles

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Re: First game done, second in progress, remarks.
« Reply #2 on: April 27, 2014, 11:11:33 am »

That's a lot of stuff there - I agree with some of it, but a lot of it just seems like extra clutter that isn't really necessary.  One thing though, the reason I wanted to reply - I think if you read the mouseover description of the sniper rifle, you'll see why the bots sometimes didn't move after your sniper fires.  I forget if it's even shots or odd shots, but basically the sniper can get two shots per turn if he starts the turn with an even (I think?) amount of ammo.

 

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