Beta 0.909 (Super Ultra Mega New Version)

[x4000]

Release notes are ridiculous, and honestly don't include everything because good grief: https://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Stars_Beyond_Reach_Beta_Phase_2_Release_Notes#Version_0.909

To some extent it's almost not even worth it to bother reading them and just assume it's a different game.  You might think I'm joking, but not really.

It is late and I'm absolutely exhausted.  A few things I want to point out:

1. I am not starting the new beta with new players tonight, because it is just too late and I figure folks that aren't in Australia or serious night owls won't be able to play it right now anyway.  Or the west coast, actually -- I'm too tired, I didn't realize it's only 6:46 for you guys.  Well, sorry, anyway.    I would love to get the next wave of beta players in, but it takes 40+ minutes and I'm just not up for that until the morning.  Give me about 12 hours and I'll have you guys set up!

2. For existing testers, here you go, it's out.   The updates are going to be fast and furious from here on out.

3. That said, the funeral for my grandfather is on Friday, so I'll be out that day.  And Keith has things going on half of Friday and then all this weekend, too.  So that is one disruption in the very short term.

4. The game itself has these notes on the main menu now, but here:

Development Status:
* The game will presently stop you from playing after Act I.
* Various buildings are missing descriptions; sorry about that.
* Various buildings are missing international abilities.
* Various buildings are missing periodic events on them.
* All subscreens except the tech tree are very unpolished.  Apologies.
* Aspects of the main hud (objectives mainly) are unpolished.
* Many overlays are visually psychedelically nuts right now.  Will fix soon.
* The intro story is not there yet.
* Underground monsters don't yet come after you when you attack other races during Act I, but they will soon.
* The international relations screen at the bottom is brought up by three icons right now.  It will be three separate windows soon.
* You can (intentionally) get some Act-II-or-later buildings by choosing certain territories at game start.  These have not had a balance pass.
* Beyond those things, please let us know what you find!


I'll be back tomorrow with more info and more energy.  Night all! 

[Captain Jack]

And there it goes. Get some sleep Chris! 

[x4000]

Off I go, to do just that.

[P3X-639]

Woot! Been waiting for this one. Thanks Chris! Get some sleep. Time to dig in

[Aklyon]

If you added a couple more words to that you'd match the amusingly huge title extension Half-minute hero gained after it transferred from the psp.

An actual post I'll make tomorrow, since I'm not on the west coast either.

[Vinco]

Having just played for a brief session, I have to say that this version is a huge improvement.  The addition of the Act 1 goal, the clear presentation of the problems facing the city...  This is actually starting to feel like a game with progress to it rather than a sim city type sandbox.  You've renewed my interest in the project, and I'm eager to see the rapid evolution to come.  If possible, what I most want to see ASAP is a way to click on a shortage indicator and be informed what buildings or tech will help me to fill that shortage.

[tuigirl]

Have a good night!

Hehe, I am in New Zealand right now.... 

Really looking forward to this game, hope I make it into the beta- have all weekend to do some testing! 

[kasnavada]

First impressions... Yay ! the end turn button went bottom right =).

The addition of acts seems like a good idea.

About the "you should choose that territory because" pop-up that appears when you click to place the lander, I think it would be better if it appeared as a pop-up when hovering the lander over a territory or at the start. It's confusing to choose something and then be told that whatever you choose, there was hidden reason for it that you didn't know.

I'm very confused at the moment at what commercial items are and do. And why I need "20" of them. I don't hink I have in the starting selection any building that does, but either way, whether I missed it or not, it should be a tad more obvious what it is. Also, there is a need to have a buidling that starts producing those items from the start, otherwise people will feel they need to rush whatever tech does produce those items, ruining the point of having a tech tree with choices.

What does XP ? It's not explained (more or less figured it out, but should be shown somewhere, like in the line where you show, the xp, showing what you'll gain at next level, or what was already gained). For example, the city park shows :
Level 2 (15 XP / turn, 2 to next)"
Provides 117 Basic entertainment

I'd rather have something in the lines of this:
Level 2 30/60 XP (2 to level up)
Provides 117 Basic entertainment (100+17 from XP)

About the "status & ressource bars" I think it's currently a huge improvement over the previous ones.

Fire station and police seem mandatory, yet they cost a lot. Starting income and prices probably need refining somehow. Currently I gain 2.6k, so I have to pass 4-5 turns to build one. The pace of the game is strange to me, it looks like I can just pass turn when I need money and don't care much how time passes. Yet this is a 4X, so I suppose that other advance during the time I don't do stuff. It makes me feel like I waste my time.
Maybe having "basic" buildings cost around 3k/turn and having a starting income around 3k could be a better idea, so the player builds one building / turn at start ("noob" buildings, but still). So basically a "small police station", a "small firestation", "small research station", "small hospital" and so on. Maybe those "low price" buildings could be "upgradable" (for a somewhat reduced cost, keeping XP bonus) to the "next" version.

About research, I think it would be a good idea if research indicated what it does better. I have in mind something similar to the icons from Civ5 for the advisors, but adapted to the game, like a "population" icon for research that boost population, "food" icon when a research provides food buildings, "money"... I think you get the idea.

The "problems" mini-bar I love. Seriously that's a great addition.

-Otherwise, waiting for most time to test, more, I had only 15 minutes with my kids around shouting...)

[Misery]

Well, I've started (though my time might be pretty limited today), and my current thoughts are summed up by:

[nas1m]

Well, I've started (though my time might be pretty limited today), and my current thoughts are summed up by:

[awesome meme I have never seen before]

Oh my, that one is lovely .
I will hopefully be able to get my hands dirty with the new version this afternoon.
I am curious how much "confusion fallout" from playing most of the previous versions I will encounter .

[kasnavada]

Otherwise, yes, more or less the same as misery. However maybe it'll be alleviated by the time we have a tutorial in =).

[Mick]

I am intrigued, I will try this out tonight.

[nas1m]

Just let me say this: You really have a whole new game here! I love it .
Only got my lunch break with the game so far, but this is just so much better - and I feel like I am just scratching the surface.

Sure, there is a bucketload of confusing stuff (like meals still being referenced all over the place, out of data or missing descriptions etc.) - but that's what we are here for right ?

As a sidenote: Did somebody also encounter pollution (cleaning) being totally off right now? Like, I am only able to build Hazmats, but one does not even clean half of the pollution created by an single Construction Crew?! Earlier I needed one or two of these guys at most - now it looks like I will have to build a whole ring of them for each single polluter.

Or is this what EXP is all about?!

Anyway - Exciting Times!

[x4000]

Awesome!! This is definitely a relief, I have to say.

Lots of things coming up to deal with some of these specific things.  I will probably aim to fix up some of this stuff this morning before pulling in the next batch of beta testers,  since Keith and I can get a lot done before it is the evening hours in Europe yet, and that will likely help a lot with the new folks.

I'm glad that other folks have been feeling the same way I have about this being a huge improvement, though -- that's definitely good, whew.

[kasnavada]

As a sidenote: Did somebody also encounter pollution (cleaning) being totally off right now? Like, I am only able to build Hazmats, but one does not even clean half of the pollution created by an single Construction Crew?! Earlier I needed one or two of these guys at most - now it looks like I will have to build a whole ring of them for each single polluter.

I had this issue, but I had some of the nainzul "upwind", so I figured they were throwing their pollution on me.
Being polluted seems to reduce the XP gains too.