Thanks! I have you noted down as a blueshirt, then, for the second major wave then. I have 6 noted redshirts already, and I don't expect that phase with just those 6 to last very long (a few days, a week at most) before we bring in the blueshirts. If you or anyone else does really prefer to be a redshirt, though, I can definitely do more than 6. 12 is probably about as many people as I can reasonably respond to in the redshirt period, though.
Personally I'd prefer redshirt but I know having too many testers can be problematic and I'd hate to add to a redundancy problem, so if you think I'd better serve in the second wave then that's fine too. Though if you're particularly looking for feedback from people who like AI War but couldn't figure out how to play TLF in a strategic sense then I qualify there.
Cool, I've got you switched over to being a redshirt -- never be afraid to ask! I'm an easygoing guy. Bear in mind that during the beta I'm going to have a hard time responding in depth to everything everybody writes, because I'm just one guy and there are a ton of you. But I read everything -- being a speed-reader really helps. And I'll respond wherever I can that I think it will be most useful, or to note understanding, and so on. Anyway, with more redshirts that's the thing that really drops more than anything else: my ability to do back and forth with individuals.
Since I've never done a beta with you before I suppose it would be prudent to ask, how do you feel about beta participants uploading or streaming videos of the beta?
I'm perfectly fine with that, although to be honest I'd prefer if we got a few weeks into beta before doing that. It's not a hard rule or anything, but given there are likely to be some problems right at the start, I'd rather not have the first videos showcasing those, you know? If those problems are there in the first videos, then resolved immediately, people still will have the wrong impression. I'd rather have the videos happen once we hit a period where things feel really solid and we're into polish.
Right now I don't know what said problems will be, but hence the point of the beta in the first place, heh. Good question!
Wow looking very good, please add my name to the beta list would love to have input to help polish the game. Happy as a Redshirt love seeing how games feel right from the start.
Shocked I didn't have you already! But added you as a redshirt.
Yep, blueshirt sounds good to me!
Great!
This game looks really awesome. Please add me to the beta list. I'd like to be an early tester, but if you don't need any more of those, later is fine too.
I have a total of 83 mentions in alpha / beta release notes for the four Arcen alpha / beta tests I've participated in (TLF, BD, Valley 2 and Skyward Collapse). So you'll definitely get some good feedback
Haha, I've had you on the list since January 21st, according to my notes. With the comment "did not outright say he wanted in, but said he can't wait." Yeah, when I started making a list of obvious beta testers, you were definitely on there. No slight to anyone else, it's hard to remember all of you off the top of my head so I tend to remember when you post -- so many huge contributors to this community and our games! Anyway, I've flagged you as a redshirt now.
Ah, and I'd been just about to post a big annoying question wondering how this was going! Well, now I dont have to be more irritating than usual, so that's good.
Whole thing is looking quite nice! Quite eager to have a go at this.
You always seem to be down on yourself and think you're annoying, but you really are not! I don't think anyone here thinks that. Anyway, glad to sate your curiosity. Does that mean you want redshirt, blueshirt, or later?
Eh, I always sound that way. If I'm not being negative and sarcastic, I'm probably asleep. It wouldnt make sense to use this name and be super-happy and positive all the time. As it is I ended up using this name everywhere after being told so many times in the course of a week that "it's really fitting". Even by those that dont know the character. Not sure if that's hilarious, or tragic. Or both.
....also my mood is kinda bad because WINTER WONT GO AWAY. They say spring has started. THEY LIE.
Ah yes, makes sense. And while I don't envy you still being in winter, spring is here where I am and it is kicking me in the throat. Sooo much pollen. Been getting a lot of the staff, even though we don't live near one another for the most part. Hitting NC, FL, GA, and Spain all at once.
Now as for the alpha/beta/omega/something, uhhh, I'll go with whatever gets me in the earliest. I dont exactly have much else to do currently and have as much free time as ever, and I can handle the glitches that come with testing; bring em' on, I say. They cant be any more irritating than that blasted Disc. And being able to contribute is nice. I saw the video in the other thread, this looks like it's shaping up quite well.
I think that means "red shirt", uhhh, as I'm assuming this is a Star Trek reference. Unless it's some bizarre Power Rangers thing where the costume designers lost interest partway through.
It's a star trek reference, yep.
I've marked you as a redshirt!
Now I may have already asked this, heck if I can remember, I'm full of caffiene, but about how long is the average campaign or whatever you want to call it for this game? In terms of hours? With such a very different format and gameplay mechanics, I'm curious as to how that matches up with other 4x games. You know how those are... they can really draaaaaaaaaag at times. Where some mechanics take the more dull parts and cause them to stretch unnecessarily. I cant see that as happening with this one really, so I'm curious as to what the typical time ends up being with so many differences.
I honestly am not sure, as I've not played a game to completion yet in a "true" way. That might sound odd given we're about to start beta, but I basically play until I find something wrong, then work on that, then restart, etc. My focus has been on the early game more than anything, and then the midgame. I've design in various things to make the endgame interesting, and those are unit tested, but in terms of the grand scheme of a real game the endgame probably needs some work and a few more mechanics to really polish that one off.
As far as how long a game will last, I honestly have no idea. Steam says I have 37 hours logged (and that's just since we put it on Steam -- not that you can see it in the store yet), but I've not finished a game yet. And a lot of that was unit-testing various things. The settings you choose, and the type of victory you go for, have a lot to do with how quickly or slowly your game will go. If you set up the challenge for yourself of getting everyone to be militarily dominated, but ideally not dead, then that will be a LONG game. 10+ hours probably, on the conservative side. If you're using a more sensible mix of domination types, plus if you're okay with outright killing some races, then it won't take as long.
The specialty victories are kind of in the 8-10 hour range I'd guess, but I imagine they could also be shorter. Most of them you can ignore the other races to a large extent and focus inward on the citybuilding and tecching and getting your wonders out... then fend off all the other races when they turn on you. So depending on how you play, those could be the shortest, but most intense, versions of the game.
Anyway, I think that the range is honestly kind of similar to AI War. I'm expecting that an expert player might be able to do this in 4-5 hours, with the right settings and with the right self-set goals. On average I see 8-14 hours or thereabouts, depending in large part on how much time people spend reading tooltips and noodling over options, etc. We had some AI War marathoners with single games that lasted 80 hours, and I'm not sure if that can happen here -- I suppose if you were trying to absolutely paint the world with your color, then it might take that long on the largest maps. That's more or less what the players were doing in AI War (capturing ALL 100 or 120 planets). There are going to be outliers on both ends to be sure.
As to the endgame dragging, I think that's less a matter of time and more a matter of inevitability. If you KNOW that you are going to win, but you are just going through the motions, that's boring. The reason people like the AI War endgame is because that's actually when things are most dangerous. I don't think that I've yet achieved that here (except in the specialty victories where that is absolutely the case), but that is my goal. The other thing dragging the endgame of most other 4X titles is the awful lag between turns, which shouldn't be an issue here (knock on wood).
I mentioned my desire to be in the beta already, but I'm just now seeing this blueshirt redshirt thing. Assuming it means early on, I'd like to take redshirt. The earlier the better, actually. There are more bugs to report, then. 
I've switched you to redshirt! That brings us to 11 of those, now.
Almost a full suicide -- er, lander -- pod's worth.
