Quick comments from a brand newbie whatevershirt

[FroBodine]

First of all, thank you very much, Chris, for allowing me to help test your new game. 

My initial impression is that the game looks awesome.  I love the graphical style.  It is a bit difficult to distinguish the different buildings, but that will come with time I'm sure.  At least you have super uber useful tooltips everywhere, so that helps.

1.  Title menu - the text seems blurry to me.  The white on blue . . . I'm not sure what it is, but it just doesn't look sharp.  No biggie.

2.  What the heck am I doing in this game?  I kind of get the idea that I have to build a city in a way that keeps it growing, efficient, in power, in population, jobs for the workers, places for the workers to live, etc.  I'm not sure how the military comes into play, or how you get it up and running.

3.  Please add tooltips to the main interface bar on the left edge of the screen.  I have to keep opening every one of them to find the one I want.  These tooltips should definitely note the type of building that are grouped there, e.g. Housing, Mining, etc. that relates to the icon.  Icons are nice, but not always obvious what they are.  Again, in time these will be memorized.  But for someone like me, that time will be quite long.  Also, what about having them pop open as you hover your mouse over them, instead of having to click each time? 

4.  All my Hazmat stations have an icon that looks like an upside down helicopter, and the message, "Building damaged from insufficient staff", and "it takes care to operate this building."  What does this mean?  Why is it damaged, and how do I undamage it?

5.  Will there be a tutorial sometime for this game?  It really, really needs one.  There are so many buildings, and I have no idea how they all relate to each other or why and where they should be built.

6.  What do you have to do to increase your buildable area?  I think it has something to do with exploer camps and guard stations,  but again, no explanation of how to do anything.

7.  How do you get combat going?  When do you meet other races and cities? 

8.  Progress towards rogues?  What are rogues, what do they do, and how do you get them?

9.  I see  Dropbear and a Dragon Slug icons on the map.  It says "Gathered by Harvest Facility for training or natural science by Guild Hall".  I don't know where the Harvest Facility or the Guild Hall is.  Are these in the tech tree?  It would be helpful if it somehow showed you exactly where these techs are that are needed to catch all these various critters.  I also see a Soursop that needs Extraction Facility and Industrial Chemical Processor.  Same problem - I don't know where these are or how to get them.

10.  Finally, is there rhyme and reason as to where to place various buildings, except for the mining ones that need to be placed on specific hexes.  Like does it matter if you place commercial  next to housing?  Or do you need a hospital and police near housing?  These are just examples, but are the kinds of relationships I am curious about.

11.  Where are terraforming buildings?  I saw another posting about them, but I don't know what buildings they are.

Well, that's enough for now.  Thank you again!  This game appears to be a major winner, and I see myself playing A LOT more.


 

[FroBodine]

How do I improve my linguistics so I can understand the other races?  I get that I click on the boxes in Linguistics to focus, but how do I gain the necessary points to improve the linguistics? 

How do I talk to a specific race?  So far, I can only select "open channel to everyone" and ask general questions.

How do you declare war on a race or attack someone?  Other races buildings are dropping all around my city, but when I click on barracks or missile silo to launch an attack, my attack cursor is greyed out and I cannot select any buildings.  I guess I just have no idea how combat works.

City Centers?  I read another posting about city centers.  I have absolutely no idea what those are, and how to use them.  I guess all this will make sense sometime, but we really need a tutorial.

[ptarth]

Spoiler for Hiden:

2.  What the heck am I doing in this game?  I kind of get the idea that I have to build a city in a way that keeps it growing, efficient, in power, in population, jobs for the workers, places for the workers to live, etc.  I'm not sure how the military comes into play, or how you get it up and running.
>>Dominating the other races. However, you choose to do that.

4.  All my Hazmat stations have an icon that looks like an upside down helicopter, and the message, "Building damaged from insufficient staff", and "it takes care to operate this building."  What does this mean?  Why is it damaged, and how do I undamage it?
>> If you don't have sufficient citizens to operate some buildings, they take damage.

5.  Will there be a tutorial sometime for this game?  It really, really needs one.  There are so many buildings, and I have no idea how they all relate to each other or why and where they should be built.
>>Yes.

6.  What do you have to do to increase your buildable area?  I think it has something to do with exploer camps and guard stations,  but again, no explanation of how to do anything.
>> Civic Centers. Possibly teleporters.

7.  How do you get combat going?  When do you meet other races and cities? 
>> Build a Scouting Station to explore the map. Find the other Races. Build a military building. Shoot them (the aliens).

8.  Progress towards rogues?  What are rogues, what do they do, and how do you get them?
>> Rogues = enemy monsters

9.  I see  Dropbear and a Dragon Slug icons on the map.  It says "Gathered by Harvest Facility for training or natural science by Guild Hall".  I don't know where the Harvest Facility or the Guild Hall is.  Are these in the tech tree?  It would be helpful if it somehow showed you exactly where these techs are that are needed to catch all these various critters.  I also see a Soursop that needs Extraction Facility and Industrial Chemical Processor.  Same problem - I don't know where these are or how to get them.
>> First, a warning, Drop Bears are deadly. Be very careful around the Drop Bear.
Harvest Facility should be early in the first rank or three of the tech tree. Guild Hall is around 4-6 rank in the tree. Once you have them, you'll still need to build them. You might actually already have them.

10.  Finally, is there rhyme and reason as to where to place various buildings, except for the mining ones that need to be placed on specific hexes.  Like does it matter if you place commercial  next to housing?  Or do you need a hospital and police near housing?  These are just examples, but are the kinds of relationships I am curious about.
>> For the most part, there aren't restrictions. Some buildings produce crime and they need to be near police. Same for pollution. Other buildings have adjacency bonuses (listed on building) that you'll want to take advantage of by building them in specific areas.

11.  Where are terraforming buildings?  I saw another posting about them, but I don't know what buildings they are.
>>There aren't any. You get auto-terraforming and manual terraforming. The terraformed terrain has to be unlocked. It shows up on the build menu. The auto-terraforming is on the city screen once you unlock it.

12. Linguistics
>>Build Linguistic Centers. They automatically generate them.

13. Talk to specific Race
>>Click on their Icon in the Diplomacy screen at the bottom

14. War
>>Use military buildings. Targets have to be within range. Use z or r I think. Range is listed on buildings.

15. Civic Centers.
>>They let you build more and farther away.

[Cinth]

Spoiler for Hiden:

2.  What the heck am I doing in this game?  I kind of get the idea that I have to build a city in a way that keeps it growing, efficient, in power, in population, jobs for the workers, places for the workers to live, etc.  I'm not sure how the military comes into play, or how you get it up and running.
>>Dominating the other races. However, you choose to do that.

4.  All my Hazmat stations have an icon that looks like an upside down helicopter, and the message, "Building damaged from insufficient staff", and "it takes care to operate this building."  What does this mean?  Why is it damaged, and how do I undamage it?
>> If you don't have sufficient citizens to operate some buildings, they take damage.

5.  Will there be a tutorial sometime for this game?  It really, really needs one.  There are so many buildings, and I have no idea how they all relate to each other or why and where they should be built.
>>Yes.

6.  What do you have to do to increase your buildable area?  I think it has something to do with exploer camps and guard stations,  but again, no explanation of how to do anything.
>> Civic Centers. Possibly teleporters.

7.  How do you get combat going?  When do you meet other races and cities? 
>> Build a Scouting Station to explore the map. Find the other Races. Build a military building. Shoot them (the aliens).

8.  Progress towards rogues?  What are rogues, what do they do, and how do you get them?
>> Rogues = enemy monsters

9.  I see  Dropbear and a Dragon Slug icons on the map.  It says "Gathered by Harvest Facility for training or natural science by Guild Hall".  I don't know where the Harvest Facility or the Guild Hall is.  Are these in the tech tree?  It would be helpful if it somehow showed you exactly where these techs are that are needed to catch all these various critters.  I also see a Soursop that needs Extraction Facility and Industrial Chemical Processor.  Same problem - I don't know where these are or how to get them.
>> First, a warning, Drop Bears are deadly. Be very careful around the Drop Bear.
Harvest Facility should be early in the first rank or three of the tech tree. Guild Hall is around 4-6 rank in the tree. Once you have them, you'll still need to build them. You might actually already have them.

10.  Finally, is there rhyme and reason as to where to place various buildings, except for the mining ones that need to be placed on specific hexes.  Like does it matter if you place commercial  next to housing?  Or do you need a hospital and police near housing?  These are just examples, but are the kinds of relationships I am curious about.
>> For the most part, there aren't restrictions. Some buildings produce crime and they need to be near police. Same for pollution. Other buildings have adjacency bonuses (listed on building) that you'll want to take advantage of by building them in specific areas.

11.  Where are terraforming buildings?  I saw another posting about them, but I don't know what buildings they are.
>>There aren't any. You get auto-terraforming and manual terraforming. The terraformed terrain has to be unlocked. It shows up on the build menu. The auto-terraforming is on the city screen once you unlock it.

12. Linguistics
>>Build Linguistic Centers. They automatically generate them.

13. Talk to specific Race
>>Click on their Icon in the Diplomacy screen at the bottom

14. War
>>Use military buildings. Targets have to be within range. Use z or r I think. Range is listed on buildings.

15. Civic Centers.
>>They let you build more and farther away.

He has a database of frequently asked questions that he cuts and pastes from to answer all these so fast. (lol )