Surprise Defeat (wrong sector in combat)

[ronan]

I had a large number of ships in a sector and I got attacked in it by surprise. At the end of the previous turn, I clicked "turn" and I saw the tactical screen start in a sector where I had no issues. I hit auto, and very rapidly all the combat moves were over, nothing special, and suddenly I discovered my fleet of 50 ships include 20 motherships had disappear and a huge enemy fleet was in place.

now I appreciate that things can happen when you are in the wrong sector, but missing an entire set of combats seems to be wrong, especially when it was such a major engagement. I did not choose to look at the wrong sector, so it shouldn't be my fault that I didn't get to make any decisions on the combat.. equally I have no report on the combat that occurred... did I kill any enemy ships for example? i'm feeling a bit missing here

some points... no combat should happen without being given the option of engaging..
secondly there should be comprehensive reports of any battle

[CellNav]

+1 ... I hate arriving at sector battles that are half way completed (round wise).

Since we can use the comm button to help(selecting a battle), there's no way I can tell (in the comm screen) which battle is more important. More feedback as to what's going on using the comm screen might help, but overall, I would prefer each battle to be resolved piece meal (by the player) ... If not, then I recommend we have the ability to recruit "Star Fleet" commanders to take care of those other battles. If he loses, I'll fire him!!! <--- That would bump the fun factor up a bit eh?

[ronan]

I agree... every battle needs to be resolved individually. This would not be a burden if I had the option of resolving a sector-battle automatically

[Fairin]

havent seen the comp launch a counterstrike that could overwhelm 20MS. either poor design (putting all your lasers on one bank) or the known combat bug of your ships not returning fire. =)


really.. fkn hate it when they break my frontal mount lasers.. seriously.

[ronan]

didn't know about that combat bug.. i've seen that effect a lot but figured I didn't understand what was happen. That probably explains what happened. still my biggest issue was the fact that I was not even aware that this combat had happened. i'd really like more information about the different battles BEFORE the rounds start.

thanks

[Hikarr]

i'd really like more information about the different battles BEFORE the rounds start.

That is essentially the issue though? There are no different battles,
the combat turn is for the entire galaxy at the same time - with different
sectors able to fly into any engagements in neighbouring sectors
and thus no actual borders limiting the fights.

This is an interesting new take, but it does cause new problems also
From our perspective obviously any sector where lots of our ships
are getting shot at is going to be more important, but unless we
choose to engage that sector every turn (to make sure we control it)
the game will have to guess what you want to look at at any time.

Perhaps the interface could have a map of the galaxy on the side,
with sectors lit up if they have enemies detected in them and
a number for how many ships you and/or they have there?
Or buttons appearing for sectors with hostiles?
Not sure how feasible either possibility would be,
nor if they would work as solutions or not..

[CellNav]

Perhaps the interface could have a map of the galaxy on the side,
with sectors lit up if they have enemies detected in them and
a number for how many ships you and/or they have there?
Or buttons appearing for sectors with hostiles?
Not sure how feasible either possibility would be,
nor if they would work as solutions or not..

Something like you said could work ... After we click the turn button, the galaxy map changes to a Strategic Galaxy Map which reverts to a map that contains only the info we need to sort out the sectors battles. It would be purely a combat strategic map without trade routes, colony stuff, and other non combat related functions. We can think of it like a new turn "phase" if you like.

[ronan]

i'd really like more information about the different battles BEFORE the rounds start.

That is essentially the issue though? There are no different battles,
the combat turn is for the entire galaxy at the same time - with different
sectors able to fly into any engagements in neighbouring sectors
and thus no actual borders limiting the fights.

This is an interesting new take, but it does cause new problems also
From our perspective obviously any sector where lots of our ships
are getting shot at is going to be more important, but unless we
choose to engage that sector every turn (to make sure we control it)
the game will have to guess what you want to look at at any time.

I don't mind the new approach to combat, but it's the mechanism that you can only focus on one sector per turn that causes the problems and the lack of tools to manage the combat. Many of the tools needed have been flagged elsewhere. However I know the dev's want us to focus on one sector as a strategic decision, but as the games get larger with lots of combat, i'm not sure this is a valid call - esp as the AI gets to play its best hand everytime.

[CellNav]

I don't mind the new approach to combat, but it's the mechanism that you can only focus on one sector per turn that causes the problems and the lack of tools to manage the combat. Many of the tools needed have been flagged elsewhere. However I know the dev's want us to focus on one sector as a strategic decision, but as the games get larger with lots of combat, i'm not sure this is a valid call - esp as the AI gets to play its best hand everytime.

This goes back to assigning Fleet Commanders ... We currently have a basic AI, if they improve the AI the devs can create different AI strategies for combat and relate them to specific abilities and insert them into Fleet Commanders. I would enjoy this feature because not only can I jump between battles, I would probably jump to the battles that have weak commanders and leave the veteran commanders to their own demise. Our commanders could level up as well. Imagine the comm window showing the commanders name (both player and enemy), we know it's time for the player to jump in when our novice commander is engaged with a "hero" type commander ... That would be a nice feature that would go a long way in our gaming experience (aka, fun factor).

[Zaimat]

I had a large number of ships in a sector and I got attacked in it by surprise. At the end of the previous turn, I clicked "turn" and I saw the tactical screen start in a sector where I had no issues. I hit auto, and very rapidly all the combat moves were over, nothing special, and suddenly I discovered my fleet of 50 ships include 20 motherships had disappear and a huge enemy fleet was in place.

This has been fixed and will be in the next update (Alpha 4.41+). The way it will work is if you are not in actual combat, the camera will take you automatically to the sector with combat even if you had pressed Auto elsewhere (normal or fast speed modes but not if you press 'Skip to End').

If you are already in combat, it will display in the combat window (top left) a msg 'combat in sector xxxx, click to switch'. This part is not new but if this isn't obvious and easy to miss we can review it to make it more visible on the UI. There is another thread about this also.

some points... no combat should happen without being given the option of engaging.. secondly there should be comprehensive reports of any battle

Last Turn Messages provide a summary after tactical combat, and during combat the Combat Msg window should provide details of the engagement.

We are considering adding the ability to quickly preview other sectors/battles where you have ships before you make a decision about switching focus (and thus making a more informed decision). This will likely be tied to the Com button.

Another thing we are looking into is having a sphere of detection where you can see large fleets coming ahead of time on the galaxy map, an 'early warning system' so to speak.

Great feedback so far, thanks!