Alpha .701 now out!

[x4000]

Release notes: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=The_Last_Federation_Alpha_Release_Notes#Alpha_Verson_.701

Restart steam to force an update, if you like.

Lots of fixes in this, mainly, as well as some balance stuff.

[Hyfrydle]

Wow finally started my first run through of the full game and I'm really confused. This is the kind of game where I would dig out a let's play on YouTube so I could get my head around how everything works. Here are some of my thoughts:

Right off the bat I was plunged into combat and my first run through I ended up failing badly, I tried again and selected all ships and pressed 'V' then I sat back and watched the fireworks and survived.

I then arrived on the main screen for the campaign and felt very lost. I clicked on various buttons and tried to get my head around things. I started as the Stylaxians and they now really hate me so I decided to find a possible ally I chose the Burlust and moved to their planet once I worked out how to move on the solar system map.

I could only choose one mission and it involved deivering documents to allow the Burlust to become space faring. This involved more combat which was two ships with red circles which I destroyed and a yellow circle I tried to enter the circle and retreating appeared on the screen where it says start/end battle I think I succeeded but can't now get back to the solar map.

I'm sure it will all make sense but as it stands I think some kind of video describing the interface would be really useful for both combat and the solar map.

One thing I felt was how autonomous the races appear to be lot's going on as I sat and watched may try ghost mode and watch a game to see how things develop.

Hope someone can get me unstuck so I can have my hard won influence with the Burlust.

[x4000]

When it goes into retreat mode, look for the blue circle.  When we have a minimap, that will help a lot on finding that.

And in terms of the confusion, please note the areas where you are confused in that big thread.  I'm intentionally trying not to do LPs of this quite yet -- you are Round 0, recall?   This sort of confusion and blind taste testing, so to speak, is important for us so that we know where the stumbling blocks are.  You pave the way for future people to not feel that way.

[Hyfrydle]

Will do I was hoping to have some idea what's going on I'll try again and post my issues.

[orzelek]

Don't have much time for playing so few short comments:
- influence is to be gained by actions - hard to get at start and I'm not sure how to get it against race that doesn't like me
- combat - enemy flagship faster then their squadrons (comes first ) = fail = dead flagship
- in general not much to do at start but I seen thats to be changed

Victory music got lost somewhere - generates an exception.

[Cyborg]

Loving the solar map so far. Actually, I find it infinitely more entertaining than the combat, which could be a problem, as seemingly every behavior on the solar map needs to be earned on the combat side. Because of this, I think some efforts need to be put in to the combat. Bionic Dues, AI war, shattered Haven, and Valley without wind have better combat models. I don't know what the answer is, but right now I feel like retreating more often than not to get back to the solar map, which is really really nice.


* Wild swings in balance with no real indication of how strong you are or what you have to work with against your opponent.
* Still not liking the swarming behavior.
* Constellations can really deal you a bad hand on a mission. Need to find a way to make these fun.


Sound effects might help, having other races fighting at the same time as you on the combat map might be entertaining (deciding when to intervene, if at all), or RPG-like progression of your flagship to build attachment and investment. I have no investment in my flagship.

[x4000]

Glad you're loving the solar stuff!  And understood on the combat, am working on that.