Random thoughts and suggestions after 9 hours of play

[HeinzHarald]

Thought I'd share my thoughts after about 9 hours of play (continuing from the tutorial, all settings at default). I'll try to keep to the most important points. One thing to note is that I have done no combat outside of the tutorial, so I can't really comment on that. I've only planned for war (now that I own half the galaxy and have all Tech at lvl10…).

I haven't read through all the threads here so some things may already have been mentioned.

First off I must say that I love the tech window. Having everything in one screen is wonderful, and I really like this way of progressing over the paths common in 4x. I actually found it fun to micro manage research which I normally don't (and liked that I didn't have to when I didn't feel the need). It does feel a bit weird to progress in tech that is obviously inferior, but it's not a big deal. And I suppose it makes logical sense that you'll progress in an "obsolete" tech by researching a similar tech.

On the subject of micro management I was very happy to not have to micro manage ship movement outside of combat. This approach is a bit more like a board game than most 4x games which I prefer, it gives me more time to focus on the bigger picture.

Now on to suggestions for improvement.

1 Doing surveys ought to be streamlined I feel. Perhaps by having an option to design a ship that does auto survey if any planet in a system is unexplored. The extra clicking bugs me, and I forgot to survey quite a few times.

2 It would really help if you could get a better view of the systems different races occupy. Even with a legend for the colors which I suppose isn't in place right now, I would like to be able to filter for a certain race for instance if I'm about to plan a war. I don't know if I'm supposed to know home systems, but that was also something I missed when planning for war.

Also I'm not sure if there is such a thing as sphere of influence or similar, but it bugged be a bit when races said I was intruding on their territory when I colonized in an unsettled system. It even happened when I myself had another system close by.

3 Better indication of ships awaiting orders would be nice. Sorting the Fleet list works ok, but it would be more fun to see an idle-icon for each Fleet for instance so I can use the galaxy map exclusively rather than having to move between the Fleet list and the galaxy map all the time.

4 A button for accessing Design would be nice. It's not a big deal but I often wanted to improve on a design without actually building anything at that time.

5 The tutorial should probably mention the weapon options in Design. It wasn't until fairly late that I noticed that I could have several weapons on one "hardpoint", and that I could change size and ammo.

[Zaimat]

Thanks for the great feedback.

1. Surveying:
You can survey the whole system by clicking on the Sun instead of a specific planet. The task force will automatically report if it finds anything and when it's done.

2. other race systems:
We can certainly look at adding more filters. As for knowing alien home systems, once you are aware of the location having explored it or shared by other races it will show on the map.

If you got a message about tresspassing, it has to do with having passed through their space (with a colony). Perhaps on your way to that system.

3. noted

4. Can you elaborate on this? I'm not sure I understand. You can access the design from the planetview in two ways (right click on ship queue or the big button at the bottom), or F3 shortcut.

5. noted

[FrozenFallout]

Thanks for the great feedback.

1. Surveying:
You can survey the whole system by clicking on the Sun instead of a specific planet. The task force will automatically report if it finds anything and when it's done.

2. other race systems:
We can certainly look at adding more filters. As for knowing alien home systems, once you are aware of the location having explored it or shared by other races it will show on the map.

If you got a message about tresspassing, it has to do with having passed through their space (with a colony). Perhaps on your way to that system.

3. noted

4. Can you elaborate on this? I'm not sure I understand. You can access the design from the planetview in two ways (right click on ship queue or the big button at the bottom), or F3 shortcut.

5. noted

For number 4 I feel the same way. If I understand him currently it would be really nice to have the design button on the Map screen. Having to go into a planet to design you ships feels clunky and just not proper for a 4x game as almost all have a one click access to the ever important design screen.

[HeinzHarald]

Thanks a lot for your reply.

1. Yes I have been clicking the sun for system survey, I just forgot to do so several times and in my "explore everything" phase it also got a bit tedious. I had a lot of scout ships out exploring at the same time, primarily looking for hidden secrets and good planets to colonize. And I didn't really do much else during much of this phase.

Telling ships to survey isn't really the big issue for me though. It's the extra clicking that happens because I'm uncertain if a system is fully explored or not that bugs me slightly.

A better indication on the galaxy map system list of visited vs fully explored would be help a bit for instance (or perhaps it could be a filter on the galaxy map itself?). It would also be nice to have a "galaxy list" with all the systems I "know of" showing if I have done a full survey, if the system is currently colonized by anyone and if I have any ships in the system. Perhaps it could also show treaty status for colonized systems.

1.5. To see treaty status for all races at the same time is something I forgot to mention btw. A couple of times I found myself opening communications with all the races just to get this information which seemed slightly clunky.

Perhaps you spoiled me with the excellent Tech screen showing everything at once, and now I want the same for exploration and communication as well.

2. Thanks for the info. I havn't really tried exploring occupied systems, so that's obviously why I don't know of any home systems.

I wasn't thinking about the trespassing message though, but rather the message I got a couple of times when I settled near another race, but in an unoccupied system. I got a couple of different ones. In one they even demanded that I give the system back, even though it wasn't settled before.

4. FrozenFallout is correct. Having to "open" a planet to access Design is a bit clunky when it could just be its own button on the galaxy map.

[Lithari]

When it comes to the designs button, even Master of Orion 2 didn't have that, I don't think it did, I haven't played it in a while.

[FrozenFallout]

When it comes to the designs button, even Master of Orion 2 didn't have that, I don't think it did, I haven't played it in a while.

Your right Moo2 didn't have access to designs until you went into the planets menu. And Endless space does make you go into a fleet menu to get into design.

I'm not sure why though it just doesn't feel right.

[Madbiologist]

I think it based on the logic you will be designing them when you are about to go build some of them. So they are either embedded in colony management (in the case of Horizon) or in fleet management screens (ES) (if not both (Starbase Orion)). That said, I do agree with the player sense it should be on the galaxy screen. I can't tell you how many times I go, 'I want to make a ship, now where is that button' and then realise I need to go into a colony screen first.

Not end of the world stuff, but I get that effect often, especially since I love to design my ships after I discover a tech and not when I am about to built them (since the system auto applies refinements to existing ships and new ships get them from the start). So I design my ships as I progress through tech and/or empire/fleet management.

Also Frozen Fallout, what is that image from at the end of your posts?

[Zaimat]

A better indication on the galaxy map system list of visited vs fully explored would be help a bit for instance (or perhaps it could be a filter on the galaxy map itself?). It would also be nice to have a "galaxy list" with all the systems I "know of" showing if I have done a full survey, if the system is currently colonized by anyone and if I have any ships in the system. Perhaps it could also show treaty status for colonized systems.

Thanks, we will look at adding an easier way to see surveyed/vs not. In the last patch we have added a Survey System order so you don't need to make two orders, streamlining survey of whole systems.

1.5. To see treaty status for all races at the same time is something I forgot to mention btw. A couple of times I found myself opening communications with all the races just to get this information which seemed slightly clunky.

You should be able to get this info by just hovering over the race without clicking communicate. There is a tooltip that opens with your active treaties/pacts.

4. FrozenFallout is correct. Having to "open" a planet to access Design is a bit clunky when it could just be its own button on the galaxy map.

Yes we very much like this suggestion, will be added soon as we get to it!

[FrozenFallout]

Also Frozen Fallout, what is that image from at the end of your posts?

Freelancer opening

[Zalthun]

Also Frozen Fallout, what is that image from at the end of your posts?

[okreps]

When it comes to the designs button, even Master of Orion 2 didn't have that, I don't think it did, I haven't played it in a while.

Just because a successful game didn't have something doesn't mean it shouldn't be implemented. I think a dedicated design button on the world screen would be a nice addition, as long as it doesn't add too much clutter.

I also agree with HeinzHarald regarding his 5th point - the weapons aren't fully explained on the tutorial - and would like to add another thing that should probably be mentioned - maintenance. I built a shipyard around my main planet fairly early on, and started hemorrhaging money until I realized that it was costing me 2 billion credits a turn (in my opinion, a fairly insane amount, but I'm still very early and it'll probably be well worth it later) and I scrapped it. This is from a player who should know better - I'm a 4X vet. I can imagine someone new to 4X who doesn't know about maintenance costs building a shipyard or a starbase early and not realizing what was going on with their economy until it is too late.

Anyway, I've just started but so far the game looks very well put together and quite fun. I'll post more thoughts once I've played some more.

[HeinzHarald]

]You should be able to get this info by just hovering over the race without clicking communicate. There is a tooltip that opens with your active treaties/pacts.

Has that been in the game since the public alpha started? Because I never saw such a tooltip which seems weird since I must've started communication say 30 times. Perhaps I was clicking too quickly?

Tried it just now and got the tooltip.