TLF Version 1.005 Beta Released (Holy Smokes It's Big )

[x4000]

Original: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2014/04/tlf-version-1005-beta-released-holy.html

Version 1.005 Beta is now out, and is monstrously, wonderfully huge.  This one changes so many things that we're releasing it only as a beta version (which you can optionally download inside the game itself from the updater) rather than as a full version that everyone gets automatically updated to.  So you can update or not for this one, at your discretion.  When it's fully tested out, we'll push it out in the normal way.

This version has auto-resolve for battles, as described a couple of days ago.  However, it is hot off the presses and I have not yet had a chance to do much testing with it in enough varied situations, so that's a big part of why this is a beta build.

Other notable stuff:

* The least-popular mission types have all been heavily revised in ways we think you'll like.

* Solar map performance is vastly better in the late game.

* There is a new "Federation Points" system, which again I've not had sufficient time to test the balance or clarity of, because auto-resolve was taking so long.  This new feature is huge, and helps to give games a more natural arc.  Federation Points basically keep track of how much a race likes the idea of the federation.

* There are also some important bugfixes.

All through next week we will continue releasing at least one new free feature every day of the work week, thanks to the overwhelming support this game has had (tonight there's a bunch of stuff at once in one day because several of the features were THAT large, but normally that won't be the case).  This is far and away our best launch ever, and that gap keeps widening by surprising degrees.  We're extremely grateful to our ever-growing community for their support, as well as to the press for taking the time out to look at our stuff.  You guys are all awesome!

Afternext week, we'll continue putting out at least one new free feature every week for at least a few months, if not longer.  A quest, a new weapon or ability, a new ship, a new action... something.  We'll vary it up, and make it fun.  I'm really excited about expanding the game even further, as large as it already is.  Right now we're doing that very fast in response to all the huge numbers of new players and all the things that a larger audience is bound to dig up in a game of this scope and complexity; once that settles down, we'll make it less intensive but still ongoing.

More to come soon.  Enjoy!

This is a beta update that you can optionally download through the  in-game updater.  Steam will not automatically update it for you yet, as we don't think everyone wants that inflicted on them. ;)

[Mick]

Hmm, was the initial battle removed or something? I started a new game, and my starting race was the Skylaxians. I decided I would do the "docking solution", but I was never put into a battle, just thrown directly to the solar map.

Was this an intentional change, or is it a bug of some sort?

EDIT: It also shows me that I have two quests, but I can't click on either of them

EDIT2: Disregard! I'm an idiot and I had it on observer mode!

[x4000]

Np.

[casualsax]

Glad to see the use of the beta option!  Some of us are more willing test subjects than others.   Thanks for the continued updates, and constant contact.  I've gotta say the attitude on the forums here is refreshingly pleasant.

Mick ->  The only thing that could make that more hilarious is if you posted in big, bold letters "I can't effect ANYTHING!"

[Azurian]

Why is the word folks used in the game by some races,  it doesn't match the sci-fi theme.

[Mick]

Mick ->  The only thing that could make that more hilarious is if you posted in big, bold letters "I can't effect ANYTHING!"

That was almost my next edit when I opened one of the action windows and every option was red.

[casualsax]

Why is the word folks used in the game by some races,  it doesn't match the sci-fi theme.

I'm 50/50 on this one - its out of place as far as typical sci-fi, but it fits the more personable races and keeps with the direct, snarky feel.

[x4000]

I'm not sure on the word folks, it must be in text Erik wrote, or I may be forgetting it.  It's in common parlance around here, at least.  (Though he is in the west of the US, I'm in the east, so it's not "around here" for both of us, I was speaking for myself).  A note:

Regarding auto-resolve issues, I'll check into them tomorrow afternoon while my son is sleeping. The autoresolve is in really early stages right now in terms of being really fully fleshed out on every angle. The code is 95% there, it's a huge thing, but that last 5% takes a lot of tuning and checking, and that has just barely the tiniest bit begun. It will probably take a few days until this is really what I'd call "official ready," but we'll see.

I hope to not have to make too much use of the beta updates, because when we're doing refinements or bugfixes it's good to get those out to everyone ASAP.  But when it's whole new features or major overhauls of mission types or whatever, boy the beta thing is really clutch to have.

Goodnight, all!

[ElOhTeeBee]

I haven't played yet, so this is just my gut instinct talking, but I don't really think Federation Points are a good idea. Seems like they would severely harm the whole "it's okay to make a race hate you, you can have another race backdoor them in later" thing - and, if you can't get the guys that hate you to do what you want anyway, then that really harms the whole experience of being a clever manipulator.

[GC13]

Well I'm certainly having trouble generating them, and the loss of Federation points has already made some costly options seem downright unusable.

[cupogoodness]

Why is the word folks used in the game by some races,  it doesn't match the sci-fi theme.

Iirc, I just used that kind of regional speech for the Peltians. I wanted to give them this gung ho, yeehaw, take on the world (edit: solar system) kind of aura -- despite their small stature. Let me know if you see any other race saying "folks," or "pal," or anything of that sort. That's not intended and I'd be happy to revise.

[GC13]

I'm loving the change to Peltian voting proxies, by the way. They now feel appropriately limited-but-attainable; I have enough to use to do what I want, most of the time, since they love me but I'm having to pay attention to that number now.

[Coppermantis]

Why is the word folks used in the game by some races,  it doesn't match the sci-fi theme.

Iirc, I just used that kind of regional speech for the Peltians. I wanted to give them this gung ho, yeehaw, take on the world kind of aura -- despite their small stature. Let me know if you see any other race saying "folks," or "pal," or anything of that sort. That's not intended and I'd be happy to revise.

I like the Peltian speech. Stuff like simply "hi, I'm craw" is cute, and the word "Spokespeltian" speaks to me on a deeply personal level.

Though the Thoraxians are still my favorite race overall. Gotta love dem hive minds.

[Lucian]

Can't raid Pirates for Bribes? is there a change now?

[contingencyplan]

Logged an issue:
Attempting to raid pirates throws non-fatal exception

• Lucian, is this your issue as well?

To call it out again, the save attached to the defect is from a prior version
that I've already noticed other problems in, so this may actually be a
non-issue in new games.

Also, thanks to Azurian for posting my 20-char limit on save filenames complaint.

As two minor non-defect points of feedback:

• In the save attached to the defect, the 1000 federation
  points restriction is a bit annoying. I've about got the universe
  where I want it (such as my newb-strategy allows), so it feels like a waiting
  game till I can bring the remaining 2 races into the federation, especially
  because there's only a few ways I've seen to increase that number. I'll have
  to see what a new game's progression looks like, but this is too good of a
  position (at the moment) for me to ditch.
  
  • Suggestion (depending on how a new game behaves):
    Make the federation points increase according to influence, whether mine or
    another race's --- essentially hearing from people they like about how every
    happy meal comes with a build-your-own-death-robot kit under my regime.
    
    
  
  
• The game was still fairly laggy when the Acutians were getting slammed
  by 1.5M-attack-power-worth of ships, and not just when doing super-FF ---
  whenever their planet was on the screen, everything lagged,
  even when paused, and even when the menus when the solar system weren't
  visible. This leads me to conclude that a huge chunk of time is being
  spent on rendering the ships in this view (i.e., not just on simulation
  calculations).
  
  • Note: This may be due to an insane number of ships having been
    built prior to recent mechanics changes, but I think the point remains.
    
    
  • Suggestion: Apply a similar logic as AI War's carrier consolidation algorithm ---
    namely, make the number of displayed ships at a planet relative to the total
    number of ships at the planet, rather than an "absolute" value.
    
    • For instance, ensure that only 100 ships are displayed at a planet,
      determined by the proportionality of each race's presence at the planet.
      
      
    • While the massive space battle is kinda nice, it's also pretty pointless
      --- people are going to look at the numbers to figure out how the battle's
      going, not the number of individual ships orbiting the planet.
      
      
    • The metric can be applied to the entire solar system: e.g., 1000 ships are
      displayed at any given time (with at least 1 ship if there's any present).
      This way relative strengths are still represented between planets.
      
      
    
    

And again, thanks for making some awesome games in general and Linux-native
runs in particular!


edit: I'll try to get better data and officially log it tomorrow, but it
appears that influence is being capped at 100 or something. Easy steps to
reproduce from the save attached to the defect above: supply medical help to
the Evucks for 60 months, and watch influence not increase by 12.