New version .820 now out! (Logbook, Physics Improvements, Lots of Tweaks)

[Breach]

Thanks for the new updates. I played most recently when the new combat had just been introduced and the latest UI is now much better and more intuitive. One think I'd like to see is a way to 'waypoint' within a turn, by which I mean moving along a user-defined path.  The distance moved per turn wouldn't change but I think it would open up combat a bit more tactically by allowing you to dodge shots or maneouver to where the best firing position might be.  However I'd understand if you think that might complicate things a bit.

Aside from that (and this may be a little off-topic, apologies for that) I'd been trying to take a break from the game for a bit since the solar section was completely overwhelming me from the beginning honestly.  All I knew was that I had to create a federation, which I assume is some sort of alliance, and there are friendly and hostile actions I can do to each race.  Other than that there's something lacking I think that shows the importance of actions and how the interactions between races are important and can be affected by your own actions.

Something good I think might a small non-interactive (or it could be interactive if you wanted!) demonstrating some example actions going into moderate depth of how they've affected the game and how they've contributed to your overall goal.  Though I realise in a procedural game that might be quite hard to accomplish...

[doctorfrog]

I notice that, when I program my power levels on a turn, I can adjust them however, but when I initiate action, they're different. Current game: I set everything to equal, but during action, they're all adjusted almost fully to weaponry. Is there a lag in between settings, like they take a few turns to adjust?

e: Argh, this is annoying me too much. Why are they shifting during the action phase?

[Kingpin23]

Just curious about lore on the galaxy screen: am I teleporting from planet to planet now? Or is the metaphor that I'm contacting people via space internet? But then of course initiating a deed at a planet is instant as well.

Is the ship moving from planet to planet gone for good now, or is it on break? I hope it comes back in some form. Along with the sense of alienation that just clicking on planets gives me, you also lose some potential time-tension: will I get to planet X in time to prevent that war (or whatever). At the very least, I'd want some kind of metaphor for travel between these places, even if it's my ship going ZIP and teleporting there.

Did about an hour this weekend, and I'm experimenting with using Twitch to broadcast it --not with voice or video or anything, just rote silent gameplay, I might gussy it up with commentary in the future. It's more just to see how it works than anything else. Please let me know if that's not OK and I'll cease and desist.

And I'm sorry if the above are answered by release notes, I wanted to just jump in and play, and I'm glad I did. I have to say, the combat is pretty brutal now, in a mostly good way. Those document drop offs are no joke now. 1 hour of play + not reading the notes = the worst tester on the planet.

I'm running into texture loading issues. To a point, I'm used to this, as I see it in AI War and other games, but it can take a few seconds for backgrounds to load, but also things like buttons, ships, everything. It's not game-breaking, but it can be noticeable and perplexing for new players. I've seen at least one other person mention this, and I don't think it can be explained by a weak CPU, this is a pretty decent modern PC I put together in Sep 2014. Is it linked perhaps to disabling Aero on Windows 7?

A short recorded stream at 1024x768 (just experimenting with low resolutions): http://www.twitch.tv/captain_worthless/b/517612040

i hope it gets back in some form aswell. Just clicking on planets without seeing a ship move to it is kinda strange.
if races send mercenaries after you or you intercept some pirates and see that happening on the solar map it gives that little bit of extra feeling to it

[_K_]

Done some playing.

I have no major complaints about space combat now. It works fine,  cant think of any major complaints.

So i have decided to play some proper game. The learning curve is steep, so i might be missing things, but here are my observations:

• The spacefaring tech smuggling mission is super-easy with cloaking tech. You should settle down and decide if it is supposed to be like that, or i am supposed to fight in order to smuggle the tech.
• When jumping from planet to planet, pause gets cancelled, so i have to pause again every time. I liked the old ship travel a bit more, but it i am ok with the current mode anyway.
• When on a dispatch mission, the speed-up buttons appear, they usually are invisible. However, once the mission is complete, the game keeps going at 2x rate if you set it there during the dispatch misison.
• I gave skylaxians access to space, which gave me enough influence to broker tech trade deals. I used my influence to make them gift their techs to other "friendly" races, easily improving relations and my influence. This sounds exteremely cheap, compared to other ways to obtain influence and improve race relations.
• Next, i still dont understand how the "form the federation" works. The requirements seem to vary by race, and are not descriptive at all. Right now i am at great terms with evucks and peltians, and ok terms with skylaxians. However, i cannot start a federation with any of those.
• The planetary stats, in general, remain a complete mystery to me. Yeah, i understand that "-10 economic" is bad. But how exactly bad is it? What does it affect? how do i improve it? Why should i care if i can't? The most important stat, it seems, is the ship production rate, why cant i see it, but instead all other useless stats?
  
• Merc bases, how come they have unlimited supply of bribe items? Wouldnt it be better if they had like 5-6 random ones?
• Planetary resources: okay, now i see their use, you need them to make bases, is there any other use? Also, i would like to know if some planets are richer in some specific resources. Right now i dont understand how trade works because i dont understand the supply and demand dynamics between different planets. I can broker a trade route, but i cant choose which resources are traded, and i am not given an explanation why are some specific resources are picked for trade.