Hi, I am a new player. Even though I've played MoO1, MoO2 and FreeOrion, I'm getting my butt kicked even on BABY setting.
Details below.

What I like
1) I love differing UI and names for different races
2) Different resources are brilliant

Suggestions
3) Is there a way to increase the font size in the System and Empire screen? Cathari and Khothayr fonts are hard to read
4) Why not create more major races to choose from but limit the total number in a game to 6?
5) I’d like a race which is average across the board, to get the feel of the game
6) A two-step terraforming (requiring a high Bio tech level) to inhabit non-inhabitable planets
7) Stars actually giving some sort of a bonus by themselves, like they did in MoO2
8) A screen to compare all discovered systems would make game much easier

General
9) an in-game tutorial is needed, especially concerning movement, trade and resource routes and resources themselves (and ‘trade goods’, and morale!)
10) Why is solar date increased by a random number?
11) A toggle to change the color of undiscovered systems’ names – if the empire color is orange (Omega Alliance), the text is unreadable; for other races I’ve tried (Terrans, Cathari, Khothayr) it’s not as bad

Diplomacy
12) Other races can break non-aggression pacts with apparent impunity
13) I sent a gift to another empire and they declared war on me, and 5 turns later they suggest a friendship pact… make the AI better at diplomacy

Nitpicks:
14) scroll bars in System screen are needed
15) being able to enqueue more items (the production queue scrolling)
16) drag and drop (or arrows) to move items in the production queue
17) there should be visible arrows in System screen working like the hotkeys
18) I’d like tooltips when I can’t build something, explaining why it is so
19) a tooltip showing the change in morale, and the reason for the change

20) clicking on a fleet shouldn’t cancel move order
21) a message when a fleet arrives at the destination is needed; especially for colony ships
22) a colony base (0 movement, but cheaper to build) would be useful for colonizing other planets in a system

23) all techs should unlock something
24) I think the techs are different for different races, there should be a common baseline
25) There should be a way to see the entire tech tree


26) There should be buttons to access older messages in the Empire screen

tl-dr: The game is pretty fun, but too many things are fiddly or happen or don't happen for no clear reason. As the Cathari, I've lost an empire to a snowballing revolt for no apparent reason.

Thanks for your feedback.

Q 3) Is there a way to increase the font size in the System and Empire screen? Cathari and Khothayr fonts are hard to read
A: Fonts are defined in \Data\Races\MajorRaces.data - make a safety copy before editing. Make sure that your edits going to the file (windows might be tricky - use admin rights). For Khaoron maybe replace KlingonDagger by Arial. The two lines above klingon dagger are font sizes - but may cause problems (text too long and so)
-> another/easier way: delete Fonts from Windows(!) system (use \Data\Fonts for re-install)

Q 4) Why not create more major races to choose from but limit the total number in a game to 6?
A: the limit of 6 is because of network code (maximum 6 human/ai players). For previous Alpha6.1 we did some mods with up to 20 majors (see viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4256 and http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/index.php/Mods)

Q 5) I’d like a race which is average across the board, to get the feel of the game
A: well. see here http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... ready_done -> Empire Overview (click it) ..each race has its own manner. For starting maybe Cartare as agressive conqueror or Rotharian as maverick with cloak advantages at higher tech (and just remember colors/names to ST)

see also first steps http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... e_Schritte and maybe choose TINY galaxy at Settings before starting

Q 6) A two-step terraforming (requiring a high Bio tech level) to inhabit non-inhabitable planets
A: well...non-inhabitable like Saturn will stay non-inhabitable so in my opinion there will be no chance. But we had also wishes to expand max. population but no solution yet. (special building like orbital station, moons)

Q 7) Stars actually giving some sort of a bonus by themselves, like they did in MoO2
A: “by themselves?” – in BotE actually only planets give bonuses – Tooltip above sun graphic shows a summary

Q 8) A screen to compare all discovered systems would make game much easier
A: make them part of your empire and see system overview


Q 9) an in-game tutorial is needed, especially concerning movement, trade and resource routes and resources themselves (and ‘trade goods’, and morale!)
A: indeed, but would need a programmer and much effort...especially free programming capacity is missing for that...and better new features are getting into the game

Q 10) Why is solar date increased by a random number?
A: http://translate.google.de/translate?hl ... 3DRaumzeit

Q 11) A toggle to change the color of undiscovered systems’ names – if the empire color is orange (Omega Alliance), the text is unreadable; for other races I’ve tried (Terrans, Cathari, Khothayr) it’s not as bad
A: For Omega you’re right – as I saw this color is hardcoded (same for all races) so easiest way will be to copy \Graphics\Galaxies\rot_galaxy.boj above ome_galaxy.boj (*.boj are simply renamed jpg's). At the moment I found no other/better and unused color for this.

Q 12) Other races can break non-aggression pacts with apparent impunity
A: well...see moral.data: #25 Declare War on an Empire when Non-Aggression: -6 0 6 1 3 2 (only Humans are peaceful, Khoaron (+6) cheer about getting into a war)
PS: not all values of moral.data are used ingame see here http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... Moral.data (values in wiki are not up to date – who needs write permission just PM me)

Q 13) I sent a gift to another empire and they declared war on me, and 5 turns later they suggest a friendship pact… make the AI better at diplomacy
A: hard to answer without savegames – I think diplomacy is quite well but could be improved everytime....at least it’s varied

Q 14) scroll bars in System screen are needed
A: our head SirPustekuchen doesn’t like unattractive scrollbars

Q 15) being able to enqueue more items (the production queue scrolling)
A: eight items should be enough for that

Q 16) drag and drop (or arrows) to move items in the production queue
A: would be nice...I rarely use many items, so I cancel them and re-order it in another sequence

Q 17) there should be visible arrows in System screen working like the hotkeys
A: yes, and there are not there yet ...important ones are left and right to switch between systems and double click onto structures – > build select list jump to top entry

see also http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... ys#Hotkeys

Q 18) I’d like tooltips when I can’t build something, explaining why it is so
A: well...if the requirements are not complied entry is grayed – prerequisites and costs are displayed...I think you’ll become accustomed

Q 19) a tooltip showing the change in morale, and the reason for the change
A: there are many reasons, visible ones (news, buildings empirewide or only system, some troops) or unvisible (being conquered, with random factor and so on) ...I think you’ll become accustomed. I don’t see a tooltip will be realized.
Also mention the morale graduations http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... e_Faktoren

Q 20) clicking on a fleet shouldn’t cancel move order
A: it isn’t so – try right mouse click. (you only could give new aim). After forming a fleet go to galaxies map AREA and do right mouse click to leave fleet view

Q 21) a message when a fleet arrives at the destination is needed; especially for colony ships
A: since Alpha7 Anonymissimus did a better solution: click into map, press “n” to find next idle ship (all kinds). http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... English.29

Q 22) a colony base (0 movement, but cheaper to build) would be useful for colonizing other planets in a system
A: in my opinion BotE-system is ok/better: you can terraform one planet and colonize it (population=4). You can terraform all planets and colonize (pop=4). You can terraform planet by planet and colonize each separat (pop = 4 + 4 + ..).
A Colony base isn’t more than a colony ship but can be destroyed. But you’re right ... I’ll suggest it in German forum.

Q 23) all techs should unlock something
A: most do it yet. Depends also on sequence of your research areas. Please mention that propulsion tech expands your range (“not directly visible”) http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r#Research

Q 24) I think the techs are different for different races, there should be a common baseline
A: yes and no. But with Alpha7 we did first step of expanding tech, limited before to tech 10 (now 14) and we did a re-sorting so now there is a more (not complete) common baseline. Though there shall be differences between the races. Do you have specified examples?

Q 25) There should be a way to see the entire tech tree
A: yes, but it’s not realized yet. But the more you play the more familiar you’ll get. Use Tooltip-Preview for each area http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... 3.B6glicht

Q 26) There should be buttons to access older messages in the Empire screen
A: At the moment I’m working on something similar (logging of the game session into BotE.log file including this messages) – I don’t know if it will come. Storing all messages would expand savegame-file size.

Q tl-dr: The game is pretty fun, but too many things are fiddly or happen or don't happen for no clear reason. As the Cathari, I've lost an empire to a snowballing revolt for no apparent reason.
Thanks...indeed there are some features and so you’ll have to get familiar by playing and playing (also because no ingame tutorial is available) or asking and asking. Because game is still in developement things are also can chang again.

For Cartare: Do you have a savegame?

For Cartare beware of
- Surveillance Units (morale –1)
- Labor Camp (morale –1)


For all races beware of buildings with morale mali e.g. (use them only if your other morale production is high enough to compensate)
- Super Taxes (morale –2)
- Deritium Trading (morale –2)

Still happens - with one of the Terran buildings, the list of results is unreadable since it goes out of the box. I think it's the Angstrom Council.


I know why the limit is, that's why I suggested giving choice, but still leaving the limit in place.
Also, any chance of getting the mods to work with Alpha 7?


Class J (gas giants) and T (super gas giants) should remain non-inhabitable. But all other non-inhabitables could undergo the two-step terraforming. With the possible exception of class Y...


In MoO, a yellow star gave a food bonus, a red star IIRC gave an industry bonus etc. This would apply to all planets in system.


I don't have the savegame now.


Then arrows or something to clearly show the list of buildable stuff is longer.


Sometimes, 8 items is not enough... especially when building a new colony.


On second thought, a different font color for not-complied requirements would be a better idea than a tooltip.


At least seeing the visible ones in a single place would be useful.


Thanks for the tip.


The tooltip only shows the things that are directly unlocked.


That's a good thing. I'd even take increased savegame size if it meant easy access to earlier info. Although, I saw a neat little tooltip idea for system history on the German forum. Will it be included?



What's the point of morale lowering buildings? If they really need to stay, I'd lower the penalty to -1 for all of these...

P.S. The graphics are wonderful and I'm up to turn 351 in my Terran game. Going to take on the Rotharians or the Omega Alliance soon.

Q 4) of course it’s possible to get more majors into Alpha7 but atm nobody does it (upgrade mods from Alpha6.1 to Alpha7)

Q 7) I think we have the same result as in MoO but in BotE boni are from the planets AND planets are not calculated seperately but the system complete: so a food bonus from planet earth is also at all planets (“and the sun”). In my mind the food bonus from earth: food is transfered by non-interstellar trasnporters also to neptune

Q 14) it won’t take long to discover this (should be part of a tutorial)

Q 15) than return after 8 turns (when news is “construction list is empty”) and do the next 8 ones

Q 18) good new idea (I like it ) ... must be tried (Khoaron have already red font, so maybe a color out of MajorRaces.data) and before that: a programmer must be found to do this

Q 26): “Although, I saw a neat little tooltip idea for system history on the German forum. Will it be included?” –> please give me the link. (hope you don’t speak German... I sweat here with my bad English )

Q: What's the point of morale lowering buildings? If they really need to stay, I'd lower the penalty to -1 for all of these...
A: well...each penalty building has some boni and historical growing (think about Bajor under Card. supremacy). If you have minus 1 and from other buildings (maybe empirewide) you have +2 ... so you can take boni of moral minus without problems.
- Super Taxes (morale –2) and Deritium Trading (morale –2) were myself’s fiction...I didn’t like every game having maximun morale (200). Bonus of these two buildings are credits you need for fleet’s maintenance costs. They take energy so you can them turn on/off



P.S. The graphics are wonderful and I'm up to turn 351 in my Terran game. Going to take on the Rotharians or the Omega Alliance soon.

go on, Terran, and good luck. Graphics: Well, after refit to avoid copyright problems BotE Team ran to collect new graphics (and found many artists and helping people). Just check Credit-Files and at least readme.txt.
My fiction is to document the credits also in Wiki http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... /Thank_you

The link to the tooltip system history idea: http://forum.birth-of-the-empires.de/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2273

I can read some German, provided the words are similar to Polish/English ones and the sentences aren't too long. My German is not good enough to post on the German forums, though.



EDIT: I can't get the trade routes to work. I open the System screen, Trade tab, push Traderoute button and whatever other system I click on, the route doesn't "stick"/"catch on" (isn't created, simply).

well...this kind of history is far away, maybe impossible (which data to store and which not)... a paper besides your PC will do the same :-)

I can no Polish so English is ok ... (because I'm here in English forum).

Trade Routes: Please mention that
- you must have capacity for a further trade route http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... BCbersicht (top left ) ..and see in Wiki the table above (route capacities are tricky)
- you must have a partner on the other side (Diplomacy = Trade Treaty or higher)
...then it sticks

I started a game as the Cartare in a tiny galaxy. And I have a problem. There's a war with the Khaorons (me + Hanuhr). I bombarded a Khaoron planet to death. I intended to colonize it, but it somehow went into the Omega-A sphere of influence, even though I have an outpost sitting right next to it.

A similar situation with an unowned planet happened earlier with the Terrans.

Maybe this idea is worth implementing? http://forum.birth-of-the-empires.de/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=165&start=30&sid=4e9c1c6689703a1773b266f65c7f57da

well... savegame savegame savegame

on the other side: see it as a challenge ... I don't know why an outpost/starbase should give force to another sector. Compared to a ship etc. I have no chance to go to there and insist on my territorial entitlement.

At weekend I try to read the thread you gave me

Some questions:
1) What is the max number of stars you can have in BotE (top density, biggest map)?
2) Would it be possible to make the galaxy map more similar to MoO3 or FreeOrion? I find this type of map more readable than the one in BotE...
3) Would it be possible to have races with different planet preferences (for example: Terraner prefer Class M planets, Omega prefer Class O, Khayrin prefer Class H etc.)?
4) Can I cripple the AI somehow so that it doesn't beat me on BABY difficulty?

to 1): don't know - Classic is 30x20 = 600 sectors. With Alpha7 "HUGE" is available: 40x30 = 1200. Not commented is the option to edit manually Bote.ini -> MAPSIZEV=20, MAPSIZEH=30, maybe 60x90 and so on... much fun

for maximum set ANOMALYDENSITY=0

just try to start BotE some times and take samples (ok, we have only 850 Names in PlanetNames.data, but from code there's no limit)


to 2): I don't think - Bote's map is this 2D one

to 3): from Alpha7 Major's home system are defined by MajorPlanets.data http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... anets.data. The number behind planet's name is planet's kind, e.g. Merkur 13. But each kind of planet has its own advantages/boni so editing all Omega's planet to O would get away a whole things, e.g. maybe there's no Titanium in your home system.

Other system are generated automically (uncolonized or minor systems) -> there no change to mod anything without programming new code on your own

to 4): no cheat options there ... but try to get military power by ships so AI won't attack you. And think about that especially at first 100-200 turns it is hard to fight against one or more empires. Just wait with your attacks until you're strong enough. Remember that Human's isn't the easiest race to play - maybe Rotharian are better http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... ce-Fenster

Yes, but just like now we can terraform many planets, the Omega would be able to terraform them too. But they would be able to colonize class O planets immediately, without terraforming (as is the case now with M class).

It would be a good explanation for the system of planet classes existing and for the existence of various races - because if they all prefer class M planets, what is the difference?

well...you may be right but that's overwhelming the current game design ...sorry