I'm new and i want to help :)

Hello everyone, i just gave my self a gift yesterday and bought PA, i think the game is awesome even at it's alpha state, and well i'm making this thread to let everyone know that i'm a total newb and i want to learn how to play the game better and also help the devs posting here any useful information and personal recommendations i can provide, understanding this is a game that is being improved every day of curse, so yeah thanks for the help in advance and for the fun too

Sorry if my english is bad, i live in venezuela so i do my best to make sense

One last note before starting, i know that maybe most of what i'm going to write about the game, is maybe already planned and or in actual development, i just want to describe what i see and make recommendations or notes about them, i'm not by any means trying to troll or make th elook bad or anything, as i said before i'm just trying to help, if there's anything that i say here that i shouldn't please tell me so i stop doing the wrong things....

Ok so i'm going to start by describing my first experience with the game so far, i've been playing a couple of games vs AI and also i've been playing around with the options, here i go:

Options and Menus:

Ok so, because i'm using a very old pc the first thing i look is for the graphic options, i went there to put all low, i found that the setting where blank, like as if the background color and the font color where both the same color withe in my case, but once i click the arrow and highlight the options i can see what they are, i changed everything to low and turned the shadows off. I couldn't find a Full Screen Option.

Then i went to the keyboard setup, i realized i had to write "ctrl" or "shift" instead of just pushing the corresponding buttons, for example i wanted to put the idle workers on a shift + a, instead of pushing thous buttons i had to write that else i would get an "A" instead of "shift+a". Another thing was that i had to look for repeated commands, say i putted the build energy on "s" but that same button has the stop command
assigned to it so i need to look for it and either change it or delete it.

Also i turned on the edge scroll on my camera options.

In Game Experience:

I started my first game on a Metal Planet, and i couldn't do much, so i quieted and started a new game on other planet (I know metal planes are under dev.)

I started on a Earth planet that had two small isles and one big continent and a big ocean, i tested my keyboard commands, everything works fine, selecting units and building can be a little dificult some times, specially when the camera is either zoomed in a lot or very far away, and nearly imposible if the camera not on top of the building\unit.

I'm missing a selection tab that tells me what i have selected at the moment, how many units and types of units selected and their icons, also i'm missing a minimap, and some small tabs that tells me what do i have on my control keys (ctrl+1 Builders, ctrl+2 Bots...) an idea for this could come from Star Craft 2 that has this little tabs that shows you what do you have in each control key, and i guess the last thing would be on the tooltip of the units\buildings and basicly any clickable button on the interface i'm missing the shortcut assigned for them so i don't have to click it or got into settings-keyboard-look for the shortcut.

On the Strategic view (zoomed out camera where you see small icons) i cannot tell what units\buildings are selected, maybe putting a different color on the edges of the icons can help with this problem say like blue edges when selected and white edges when not.

On the workers\commander i'm missing a queue display that shows me what i'm doing and also let's me modify what i'm doing, say i'm doing a build and i made the energy on top of a metal spot and i realized that after queuing a lot of other stuff, the only way to fix that is to erase the whole queue and start from where you left, i guess a good example for this is coming from SupCom where you can modify your queue and move the already placed buildings before the commander\worker starts building them...

Also queuing movement orders like patrolling don't have visible waypoints, that could help a bunch, different colors for different types of orders, red for attack movements, blue for normal movements, green for patrols and so on...

I realized i lost track of all my workers, i guess a small tab for idle workers\commander would be great so you know when they are idle this works for idle factories as well, and maybe a popup message when something is done building.

Also alerts when your units\base\commander is under attack, Enemy nuclear missile under construction not the structure but the actual missile, and nuclear launch detected...

A small clock for the in-game time so i don't have to look at the in-game replay for the time.

The AI was stuck on the island it just builded one energy thing and did nothing for the rest of the game, but on other planets like the moon planet it kicks my A$& good so i guess is a water pathfinding problem i guess...

When starting a new game, at the starting point selection if i scroll using the edges of the screen the game selects a random starting point for me and starts right away doesnt shows the start button...

And there it is, that's a couple of things i could see on my first 5 games, and as i said before i know that maybe all of this is already under development already but maybe some ideas can help, good if they do, if they don't well at least i tryed, as for new features i'm really exited about traveling to other planets and using meteors to kill your opponents, using moon bases to shoot units on top of the enemy and well i'm exited about the game overall

Thanks once more and i hope i can help the devs in someway to finish this awesome fun game and well please help me get better i'm a total newb good game

welcome to the forum ^=^

your english is fine : )
see this thread https://forums.uberent.com/threads/suggestions-for-a-pa-begginer.50993/#post-779472
and this thread https://forums.uberent.com/threads/as-we-inch-toward-beta.51283/#post-784822
for help on how to get you started. Make sure you delve in a bit, there are some other helpful links within.

brand new glitch hot of the press, of minor importance, last patch didn't have it and this fixes it.

good going, that's the way to play it currently

definately not alpha priority. A number of solutions to that are circulating around the forum. there are scripts from both Sxx and cola_colin. and alternatively you can use gamecompanion 1.3

use click and drag.

no. nobody else has it, don't worry you're not experiencing a glitch, it simply isn't coded in yet, again alpha.

: ) .... : ) : ) : ) : ) it's the other way around. Starcraft II got that from supcom.

they do... hold shift and squint you eyes a bit more, they are very small, again alpha, and there isn't the path on top that would help to emphasize them

work in progress.

good suggestion, also work in progress.

here.
best is to wait for me to release new megapack version to have all the work chewed up, I'm waiting for next patch to come out to do that though.

alpha ^^

you need training young padawan, see above threads.

no, you must have waited too long, there is a timer on spot selection, if you don't choose it selects random spot (this is to avoid all players waiting in vain if a player leaves or crashes).

Awesome thanks for reading and the help ^_^ will check thous threads right away

my pleasure ^^

Great info on all thous threads, thnaks once again. About the other notes it is great to know is under development and well sorry about the SC2 , and i'll begin my training Master

good yeees yeeeees, the force flows stroooooong through this one.

LoL

Well i can beat the AI using a Build Order i found Spear Head is the name, i went into a multiplayer game and well, my team got killed, and i couldn't play very good my fps was really ugly, i guess its because i have a really old pc... guess i'm staying away from team fights... any suggestions on how to improve fps? Thanks

The "Spear Head" build order is very inefficient. Recommend you check out some of my gameplays or casts for something much closer to the current meta for opening build strategy.

boot with only one screen, reduce running aplications to a minimum, install new graphic card driver. reinstall windows.

Upload a Dxdiag.txt to your next reply so I can help you further.

to do this hit ÿ
then "dxdiag", ↩
let the program run, allow the progress bar to finish
hit "Save All Information..."

also download my attachement, unzip to : "Planetary AnnihilationPA\media\pa\effects\specs" and overwrite.
and install this : https://forums.uberent.com/threads/rel-ui-mod-manager-v1-41.50726/
and this : https://forums.uberent.com/threads/rel-slowbars-52973.50349/

the mod manager will be usefull for future mods, once you have dropped slowbars in the right location, you must run PAMM.hta (Planetary Annihilation Mod Manager) (also from the right location) to activate slowbars and run the game.

slowbars and fabspray edit are our two minor performance gainers. you might not notice the difference.

Thanks ZaphodX, i just saw one of your recent 1v1 vids and i got your build order:

1 Metal
1 Energy
3 Metal
1 BotF
6 Energy
1 AirF
1 Energy Storage
6 Energy
2 VehicleF
! Energy
@ 100% BotF - 3 Eng + 2 Bot + ! Eng
@ 100% Eng - ! Metal
@ 100% AirF - 1Bom + 1Scout + ! Fighters
@ Energy Storage Start - 2 BotF + 6 VehicleF

Please correct me if i'm wrong

Master tatsujb here is my DxDiag save file, i'm going to try and install everything you putted up there and see how it goes thanks a lot

I remember f used to select idle fabbers, i'm not sure if this still functions but check the keyboard section in settings. I also think tatsubjs first post deserves a like.

Yeah, thanks clopse, i changed it to "shift+`" now i can recall any idle worker but they're really hard to spot form the strategic view, what i do is push that button twice so the camera centers on the idle worker and then zoom in to give him some orders

Hey tatsujb i got everything running, i tested by playing vs the AI, the game goes more smoothly thanks, i have to test it on a multyplayer session and see how it goes...

As for the Build Order i can mimic it i still need to work on my APM but i guess i don't know how good i am until i match someone thanks ZaphodX

Yup, good work. This can have other variations for different purposes,
1 Metal
1 Energy
3 Metal
1 BotF
5 Energy
1 Energy Storage
1-2 Energy
1 AirF
! Energy
@ 100% BotF - !Eng
@ 100% Eng - 1st Assist Comm, rest on metal
@ 100% AirF - 1Bom + 1Scout + ! Fighters
@ Energy Storage Start - 2 BotF + 6 VehicleF

Gets lots of engineers for rapid growth, earlier storage and later air factory.

Adjust as per situation,
>Air factory you could open with 3 bombers to be nice and aggressive. Big planet or teamgames you might want to open with 2-3 scouts instead (Intel is insanely important, particularly early game in team games).
>I go 2 bot factories because I like a bit of light raiding early but mostly tanks. You could go as much as 40-50% bot factories depending on size of the level or just personal preference.

Also try to minimise any commander walking for as long as possible.

Bear in mind I'm a noob who knows how the strong players play, my builds aren't as efficient as they can be but they're close to the current meta. Recommend you carefully watch the top players builds and consider doing a carbon copy until you can (efficiently) adjust it to your playstyle:
http://www.twitch.tv/therealneptunio
http://www.twitch.tv/gunshinn
http://www.twitch.tv/colacolin/

Got it, will try to see their plays, for now i'm just trying to figure out how does the ladder works and just getting a little better on my APM... the game runs really nice with the mods i just won a game ^_^

Going to install the PA Stats right now, thou i'm not sure how i'm suppose to use it...

Holy Macarrony n'Cheese just watching colacolin i know how noob i am... practice practice practice...

thankies

APM is of no importance but knowing how to jump the gun as soon as the game kicks off is. You gotta make sure you're persistent in energy (not the game resource, your energy.) input.

Playing simulated projectiles RTSes is kinda like making good love, it's not about how fast or straightfoward or confident you are, it's about being long-lasting, being able to be as intense on the long run as you were in the begining.

I checked your Dxdiag (BTW, very glad the game runs this much better for you) and you might want to consider an upgrade, I'm sorry to say but you're really running on fumes here. one thing to consider of course is that alpha (and in the case of Uber) also beta a bit, means that the game is highly unoptimized and as such compensates runnability through hardware, hardware and more hardware. so currently the people with Titans run the game just great (and still some have problems) but I for one run it only when all graphics are low and shadows off even though i have a beefy rig.

4Gigs of RAM is the minimal acceptable quantity. 2 to 3gigs of graphic memory is the recommended type graphic card.

I'm unsure from the dxdiag but you own a MSI desktop PC?
I posted on a thread about buiding a cheap PA pc : https://forums.uberent.com/threads/how-well-would-my-computer-run-a-realistic-gaming-computer.50223/

maybe you find the thread interesting. In the meantime, know that the game will definately be runable on your pc on release, however the ram and vram limmitations you have will keep you from flirting with too many units, better graphic settings and generating big planets.

Don't bother with APM too much. The gameplay is about change completely over the course of the beta. The game is currently very fast paced, but it's not going to stay like that once multiplanetary gameplay is to be introduced. Also expect a massive cut on the number of metal spots, so spending mass smart (instead of just expanding as fast as possible and going haywire just to convert all that mass into units someway) will play a more important role.

Like making good love... Dude you're the best master ever!!! I won't never ever forget this lesson ok so no APM focus and more FUN focus and of course keep track of the metagame... And yeah this is my dad's pc he needs an upgrade ASAP, im on vacations and don't have my pc here but i will be playing the beta on a new rig, got myself some upgrades 16g ram, gtx 770 gpu, AMD FX 3,5GHz 8 core cpu and a Saberthoot MoBo finally a good pc ... Oh and thanks for the heads up on the like button i didn't knew there was one