That functionality will be added for next release. not currently possible.


SP? as in Single Player? that would not be much fun with no AI I suppose.
You can have as long turn as you wish (30 sec to 2 billion years). If some people wan't to have a server with long ticks I can set it up for that group of people, I'll ask when I sent out another set of mass emails midweek.

After next release when user accounts are set up, and it will be easier to start up servers without any manual work, I'll try and make it so that groups of people can run their own, if they want.


There will be, maybe even some for this weekend.


I love everything you just said about colonization.

Seeing that we can already see exoplanets today, I guess at least number of planets should be shown. I was thinking of having it display more detailed information depending on your sensor strength.[/quote]


no it's on the todo list. no admin stuff at all yet, after next release there will at least be possible to have admins on servers, and I'll add stuff like that


Yes, 0.5 or 1.7 makes much more sense for speeds. It depends on the ship, scoutships and colonyships (starting ships) have quite a high range, when designing ships you must add fuel tanks to increase range, so it's a trade off. Might need some balancing.

Good idea, i'll make it so.

Yes, but it should only work if morale is high.

No, when the galaxy is generated the growth rates have a random component. No current structures modify growth rate.

Not sure if OR should be a start structure, it's used for hurrying production which is needed in new systems. I only added it to default structures because it was so expensive, but I guess I should just make it a bit cheaper instead


Currently: troops = 5 + num_planets + bonusStructures
bonusStructures is 1 + num_of_colonization_modules_in_colony_ship.

yeah, gas giants giving troops bonus makes no sense



Currently a new system gets: 1 industry, 1 power, 1 farm, 1 lab, deuterium plant + ore refinery.
in addition it gets 1 or more bonus structures as described above (factory, power, farm, lab or shipyard(small chance)). If the bonus structures puts food/power/industry into negative, an extra structure of the correct type is added to fix this. I might add some code to make sure some starting systems don't have very little industry when it's created.

I must say the random structure worked out nice on the slow server for me, colonized 5 systems and got a free shipyard on 3 of them (6.25% chance to get ONE)

I actually already had a fresh colony with shipyard and two fabrics I think but negative power.
Wasted a few turns till I realized I can simply switch of the shipyard.

Btw, neither decomission nor self destruct work.
klogd, I hope you play feds

I actually played klingon for the first time (well, I've tested it, but never played like a full game with them). Sure dodge a bullet on that one

Next weekend everyone will have random faction

FYI- I managed to log on to the larger map server tonight. It was late last night when I first tried, I may have been logging on incorrectly. At any rate, so far so good. The only problem I had at first was actually finding my homeworld on the map. My biggest concern at this point is the percentage of CPU this is using in some screens. I can make it work less with some manipulation, more on that in a further detailed report later.

That bug is a bit strange. When it says research needs 1 turn, it actually takes 3!
Not even the faction penalty can be taken as explanation.

Edit: Hm, seems like the server crashed, doesn't stop fetching data. Dunno how I might have caused this.

For testing purposes only, just like the previous alpha test. There was no AI then either
It would be useful to try out a few things in the game, like the ship designer, testing pop related stuff, mining, etc. When you have other players breathing down your neck (which hasn't been the case yet, but just in case), it's harder to test stuff.
Ideally one could set up turn duration, and have a turn button. Even for MP IMO, where if everyone would have pressed end turn before the turn was over, the server would end turn automatically. But that's just wishful thinking.




If you do reduce number of planets per system (and I do think systems are kind of boring, they usually have 8-9 planets, some 5, and composition doesn't change much - I always go for the larger ones), you could do something like terran=1, jungle/oceanic=2, desert/arctic=3, barren/volcanic=4 or something.




I'm thinking in terms of gameplay, not realism.
Right now, I just move my scouts around, I don't even go to systems. As soon as I spot them, I get a pretty good idea of what to expect. I choose them based on their max pop and structures (size really). I'm still not sure what pop is used for, and since initial pop growth is fixed, GR is moot initially and hence doesn't really play a role in system choice. If it has deuterium (which I can also see) and it's large, it's a priority target.




Are you sure? Every system I checked was (3*num_planets).




I once got 3 power, 1 factory, 1 farm and 1 lab... what a waste. I think it's a bit odd, the randomization of colonization modules.

Yeah, the client LOVES the CPU Going to do some performance tuning on the animations and drawing to fix this

Could not find out why this happened, restarted the server and the large map seems to be working fine now.

If it happens again, please note the turn and/or time

I wan't to add a "end turn" button feature, but this will probably only be for smaller games, or else someone could log on when nobody else is online and just move the game along extremely quickly.
For small games, I want and admin user that can change the turn rate (30 seconds to years), that will effectively pause the game, and a end turn button


Same here, I could try and change systems so that you get some sort of incentive to colonizing the small/medium systems as well.



Very sure:



I once got 3 shipyards out of 5 colonizations! :p

I meant that only when all players would have hit end turn would the server actually end turn.
At this point, night time is a problem, as you can set up build queues but not research, or fleet orders.




You could probably start by making starting pop a fixed number, instead of 20 per planet which is kind of odd anyway (variable pop per module). That way smaller systems have more pop per planet. Of course, then you'd have to somehow tie structure development to pop count. Right now, it's not clear what pop is used for - except to actually have a presence in the system.
Those minimum 5 pop per planet would be a problem though, as larger systems would still have the advantage of getting more pop per turn, and the incentive would get diluted. It could be turned into a %, spread across the planets according to their habitability - say starting at 25% total pop, which is what you get now (+5 in 20), and decreasing over time.




I meant 3 power structures in the same system, which is obviously not efficient. Does it really add any value, randomizing structures?
Speaking of shipyards, I don't think it should be a possible starting structure. IMO you should only get "production facilities", like in BotF.


---



I was going to try to check that ingame again, but I'm getting the IO error again... I could swear that it's 3x though, checked in several systems.

I get Troops = 3 * planets + defense

(edit: ok, the number you're providing is the initial troops; I was talking about the troop cap )

For example, in a system with 9 planets and a Bunker 1 and a Military Outpost 1 I get Troops 36/36 (3) [3*9 +9 Defense]
Not sure what the number in parenthesis means, maybe protection from orbital bombardment from the bunker? It starts at 1 when there's no bunker.
Don't know if the 9 Defense comes from the Bunker or the Military Outpost, or both, and exactly what it does in the game. It's probably from the Military Outpost, providing 9 more troops, but it (Defense) doesn't include the default troops - which makes me think it's something else.

---


It'd be nice to have the energy/food/etc surplus values in the System Control (Manage System) window, so that you can plan your builds without closing the window and opening it again.

It'd also be nice if the research screen would in some way indicate the tech levels where hulls are unlocked. [it does show when there's only one tech missing]

And the screen should center on your homesystem when you log in.

Oh crap, you're talking about the starting troop CAP, I misread that as starting troops. So you're probably right about the numbers.


Ah, yeah on low resolutions you probably can't see the bottom menu while the system control window is open :/

I'll see if I can work that in there somehow.


Yeah, I haven't touched the research windows for like 4 years, and it's pretty crap. I need to work in a research guide in-game until maybe one day I can completely redesign the research system.


It should, and it will. I'll make the client remember your last view, so it does not start in upper left corner each time you restart.
Or maybe make it center on your home system (first built) and hope it's not been conquered. Finding your home system for the first time should be much easier when the minimap is fixed

Nebulae seem to not be affecting scanning (scan strength zero), probably not implemented yet.
Uncolonized systems inside the scanner range of a colonized system (adjacent sector) are also reading scan strength zero (dark gray background isntead of black), whereas all other adjacent sectors read 5.

Hi All,

Here's what I experienced from the initial Alpha test.

Being an alpha and my first time, it's understood there would be some bumps in the road.

First, the specs for my rig ...

(Not a bad rig if I say so myself, I spect it out and Cyberpower PC built it.)

After several back and forths with Erlend, I finally got the client to run. (Thanks for being so patient) This is what I did that worked.

1. Added JAVA_HOME to my environmental variables.
2. Added the java bin directory to my path.
3. Added an outbound rule to my Windows Firewall.
4. Used the IP address instead of the URL to connect.

Once I connected, I was able to poke around and discover how to do stuff and actually get down to testing. I can say that I never had the GUI crash on me, though it did lock up once. Overall, I like the interface, though I felt it needed some improvements.

• It would be nice if the GUI would save the last server settings you connected to, or even better, allowed the user to save specific server settings as a menu item they can name on a dropdown.
• The GUI has a lot of infromation on it, but some information is more important that other info. An example is the research "bar", which even when it reached 0, actually has one more turn before it completes. The bar should be easier to read.
• Right click dropdown menus would be nice, especially in the case of clicking on ships. I know this can be a pain to impliment in Java.

Can't wait to actually have stuff running while others are trying to kill me.

Would it be better to start the servers at different times? Say the slow one an hour or so before the fast one? Just a thought.
That is, if there's going to be 2 servers again.

Did I forget to mention a volume control for the music?

This is coming in the next major release (0.4.6)

I could add a number on or near the research progress bar, so one does not have to mouseover to see number of turns left


There are right clicking dropdown menus several places in the game, so implementing them won't be a problem.
Where do you wan't them and what do you want them do to?
So far I know moving ships needs to be simpler, maybe by differentiating between right/left clicking in tiles with fleets.
Maybe a duplicate of the order menu as a drop down if you right click the red square that symbolizes the fleet (just above the bottom menu).

It will definitely be added down the line, you do have the option to disable the music (see first post in this thread, under "tips").

A suggestion for fleet orders.
Left click on the fleet's sector to choose it, then right click on the _target_ sector and a dropdown allows you to select the order - Move To (_that_ system), Colonize (_that_ system), Assault (_that_ system), etc.

BTW, selecting the target sector for a fleet's movement takes several seconds, way too long.

Is it possible to set waypoints for fleet movement?

I'll definitely consider this alternative when making ship movement easier.


You mean the entire operation?
1) Click tile with fleet in it
2) Click fleet
3) click "move"
4) click target tile

or do you mean some kind of lag/delay between clicking a target sector and the route actually showing up?

There definitely will be a simpler/faster way to move fleets in the near future.


No, but this is something I really want to add, but there currently is no order queue for fleets so at the moment they can only do one order at a time.
I want to add this for exploring, setting up patrol routes, or as you said above, move to a system and then automatically start colonizing it.

NOTE

The game client will be available for download tomorrow around noon GMT.
You will then receive an e-mail with download link + username and password.

You need to download the new client, the client from last weekend won't work because of several changes.

The game server will open at 16:00 GMT.

This has the benefit of the orders being carried out even if you're not logged in at the time the fleet arrives. Particularly helpful in the case of colonization.




This.




Any specific reason for this number/formula(s)? I mean, why is number of planets factored in, if troops are global to the system and not planet specific? Wouldn't it be much simpler to just make it say, 1 troop per 20 pop? And you'd get a new troop every 100 pop (up to the system's max)? Since starting pop depends on number of colonization modules, initial troops would too; even if starting pop is made to be a fixed number, this still works.
These are just placeholder numbers ofc. With these numbers, initial troops would be decreased to ~half the current, which wouldn't be that bad IMO. Would make the system be more vulnerable for the initial stages.
Not sure how troop recruitment is handled now, but having it tied to pop count would be nice.

On 1024x600 (on a EeePC), the Ship Design screen won't show me the bottom part, which means I cannot see ship stats, and even worse, I can't save the design - and consequently use it (any).

Stats of buildings need to be tweaked IMO, big time. At this point, I can build just 5 farms and 5 generators in a large system, and cram it with labs (around 30) and factories.

The Deuterium Plant should have a lower capacity, 3200 is way too high, it makes you not need to build silos.

What's the difference between scanners and sensors?

I demolished all industry in a system, and it got to a surplus of -25. The buildable structure display shows -58 turns for a factory to be built... I can still put stuff in the build queue, but it says -99999 turns.

Strangely enough, the turn I demolished all industry, my food surplus also went negative (famine in the system). If anything, shouldn't it have increased, since factories have a food upkeep?

Obviously one will not demolish all his industry, but it can happen through orbital bombardment.

BTW, demolish takes effect immediately, but disable only in the next turn? Is this intended?

Demolishing all power structures has no effect.

--

I'm guessing it's intended that we see fleets from our faction but from a different player, if they're outsidfe our scanner range but inside our visible/explored area?

I'll update the calculation so they are consistent, or maybe say "never" instead of -X


If all the industry is gone, I think that will reduce your farms efficiency (they don't have the industry to provide them with parts/machinery/support, etc..)


The server only processes information when going into next turn so they should be the same.
I think the disable button just doesn't update the local client like the demolish button do, so it's just a visual discprepency.
I'll fixy


Really? Doesn't it show a warning saying "something something low power" in the system manager (at the bottom)?
If you have a power deficit, your construction should take longer, and structures like the subspace scanner and maybe shipyard should not work at all.
Not sure how much of that is implemented, I'll have to give it a go after this weekends test.


No
The code that gives each users their custom view of the map is currently EXTREMELY simplistic, so stuff like that is not really being handled yet. But that's an interesting question, should allies fleet movement be visible?

I think Never would be better. Negative turns is kind of weird.




Is that explained anywhere? Or is that from farms having an industry upkeep? I don't think I saw this decrease in other production types, research and energy - I might have missed it though.

Another point I was going to make but didn't, was that if you can demolish all industry, the system is pretty much wasted. You can't do anything from then on - including by orbital bombardment, which should be a concern. There should be a way to reestablish industry; either by having a base industry value (even without factories - maybe pop-count based) or allowing the system to be "re-colonized", where a colony ship would add initial structures (includes factories) (and pop) again.
In the case of demolishing, you could prevent the last factory and farm from being actively demolished by the player. Maybe also limiting the number of structures that can be demolished per turn, to say one in each planet.




Can't tell, not on this machine. The rez thing. But there's no effect in game, that I can see. Everything was working as usual as far as I could tell.




That's a good question. Depends on how you want factions to work I guess. If it's meant to be true co-op, they probably should.
I could also see the fleet's stats, even though it was out of range of my scanners. But that's basically the same issue.

Server starting in 3 hours and 45 minutes

Turn speed is 1 minute, there might be a slower server up tomorrow that will run through next week.

In other words 16:00 GMT
https://www.google.com/search?q=current+time+gmt

E-mail with download link + username/password has been sent out

I'm getting a connection refused error. I'm only saying this because you asked us to test the connection.

Ditto.

Two questions, One sensors vs. sensor arrays, any difference?
I cannot seem to scrap a ship once it's obsolete. Does this work?

Would be nice if we could have spaces in the ship class name. I like to prefix my designs with ship designation like FF or DD or DDG so I can rapidly identify the roll of the ship since I tend to upgrade often.