New version .990 (Combat And Diplomacy Exploit Fixes)

[cupogoodness]

Should have saved it for the sequel. The Last Federation 2: Federate Harder

The Last Federation: Federate Harder expansion has a nice ring to it as well.

[jonasan]

there seems to be some rather strange relation/war/notification/relation info screen occurrences going on in my test game with the new build, and also the new floating point relation numbers are not always being rounded up....

see the following mantis ticket with attached save:

http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=14198

right, got to go to work now.... good luck with the last day of tweaking before launch

oh, and the balance changes to improve relations dispatches seemed pretty good in the short time i spent with them! i also really like that you don't earn much positive influence with races from doing dispatches.

[wyvern83]

http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=14161  -   possible bug with researching vaccines that I think needs to be fixed if it's reproducible. I'll see if I have a save for this one still.

http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=14162  -   Evuck join federation dispatch text sounds like it is the Skylaxian version, mentions Senators.

http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=14167  -   Possible crash and save corruption related to when two non-allied races conquer the same planet and take it back and forth from each other.  Was on my old machine when it happened. I'll try to attach my save for the last one before I go to work. I haven't tried it on my new machine yet but I can try it when I get home this afternoon.

[Tridus]

One thing I noticed is that late in the game when I had a Federation going strong, occasionally I'd just wind up in combat with no explanation as to why. I realized later it was AFA people trying to kill me, but it was pretty jarring to be on the solar map and then suddenly be in combat with no transition or explanation.

[topper]

It may already be, with things like Spreadshot, Stunner, and Shortwave Virus (superb alliteration there); more suitable abilities would make this even better.

If Stunner and Shortwave worked all the time.

Maybe if your weapons did more damage based on their range?

Looking over all of my open Mantis tickets, this is probably the only one that is both a pretty "big" issue, and also one that could be pretty easily fixed before release.


Also, I think a "shotgun" style weapon would be nice for close range combat.


On a balance note, I am a little afraid that the simulation might have swung closer to "out of your control" with the recent buffs to tech bonuses and nerfs to the player dispatches and combat ability.

[Admiral Tolwin]

Unfortunatly i havnt played TLF right now, cant wait for the release^^
But I found the discusion to exploidable kiting and the solution (as far as i understand it right now) quite irritating.
Wy give u the AI some buffs, when u just have to balance the Weapons?

To honor both kiting and melee u just have to balance the weapons this way  imo:

Long Range should be have the smallest DPS and perhaps some could they are mechanics to conter them (cheap point defence vs rokets a.e.)
Melee Weapons than have the highest DPS but u need way more defence and better engines (to get to the enemy)

So depending on the enemy Ships some time its better to have LR Weapons, or Melee or something between.
Important is that this way both playstyles (LR: please dont hurt me/ SR: I smash u) are supported!

Perhaps u guys have this allready done than forget this post^^
More to this after i played it.

[x4000]

Thanks guys!  Lots of ideas here, and have taken them on board.

Regarding the diplomacy thing, this is something that I was also realizing was needed: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=The_Last_Federation_Alpha_Release_Notes#Slowing_Of_The_.22Out_Of_Your_Control.22_Ongoing_Racial_Attitude_Shifts

[topper]

This is another one that a lot of people might see and complain about, but should be easy to fix.

improve relations text goes out of box on solar map during dispatch.

[Konqq]

Are non-federation alliances (solar axis pact, protectorate, etc.) supposed to prevent races from joining the federation?

In my experiences so far (I think only up to .906) I have been able to end these alliances by just asking races to join the federation.

[Azurian]

1. I would mention in one of the tutorials or when you are doing missions that it takes 20 solar months to make a Solar Year. New players will assume that it takes 12 months to complete a solar year. The best screen is probably the Contract Complete screen in the very bottom.


2. For the Diplomacy value, Archenemy can also be called Nemesis or Archrival.


3. For the max  RCI or Diplomacy Value  in the positive side, put a Star/special character in front of the name.  Like ?[/size]Venerated

http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2605/index.htm


I believe, in my opinion,  the following issues should have the highest priority :

[/size]Sound levels of voiceover a little low
http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=13848


[/size]Combat: Emergency Response Hangars spawn ships even if the player is not in range?
[/size]http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=14041


Edit:
[/size]Fatal Error upon clicking on the Planetcracker
[/size]http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=14212

[Professor Paul1290]

From the .991 changelog:

Slowing Of The "Out Of Your Control" Ongoing Racial Attitude Shifts

I'm not dead-set against this but this one has me somewhat nervous.

I mean, I can understand wanting to not let things spiral completely out of the player's control, but that can be overcome somewhat by spending time with the game.

On the other hand, slowing things down risks ending up with a simulation that seems too passive and makes it feel like nothing is happening, which I think is even worse.

A player who sees a active simulation and fails to control things knows there is a game to be played and can learn and try again if they want to.
A player who is unimpressed by what's happening in the simulation concludes the game isn't as deep or challenging as he/she thought and plays something else.

Ideally you don't want either happening, but I see the current extreme as being somewhat annoying and the other extreme as being downright catastrophic.
Seeing things like "slowed 10x" makes it seem potentially overkill, but maybe it isn't. I mean, on the other hand the changes to ground combat ability for the races seemed extreme, but seemed to turn out OK.

[topper]

From the .991 changelog:

Slowing Of The "Out Of Your Control" Ongoing Racial Attitude Shifts

I'm not dead-set against this but this one has me somewhat nervous.

I mean, I can understand wanting to not let things spiral completely out of the player's control, but that can be overcome somewhat by spending time with the game.

On the other hand, slowing things down risks ending up with a simulation that seems too passive and makes it feel like nothing is happening, which I think is even worse.

A player who sees a active simulation and fails to control things knows there is a game to be played and can learn and try again if they want to.
A player who is unimpressed by what's happening in the simulation concludes the game isn't as deep or challenging as he/she thought and plays something else.

Ideally you don't want either happening, but I see the current extreme as being somewhat annoying and the other extreme as being downright catastrophic.
Seeing things like "slowed 10x" makes it seem potentially overkill, but maybe it isn't. I mean, on the other hand the changes to ground combat ability for the races seemed extreme, but seemed to turn out OK.

Maybe a third "difficulty" option should be implemented (post release)
Implement a "solar map simulation speed" setting in advanced start.

[Azurian]

Don't forget to add the Intro Story Video to the game.