Specific thread for the Vanguards!

I opened a ticket and provided some information to a tech support rep. I would like to compliment the speedy reply as I have been ignored by so many support groups. The rep involved me in this forum so that my information could be relayed to the Vanguards. If you are posting in this thread, do not insult or belittle any information. Please be respectful and only attempt to further this game!

That said! Here is the information from me personally that I wanted to relay. Please add to it respectfully!

First of all I would like to acknowledge the fact that my name is real, and I am not a joke lmao!

Sorry guys I had to say it! I would also like to warn you this will be lengthy, and ask that you read this with the most enlightening attitude as possible. I am in love with what you guys are doing with an old game and none of this is meant to be insulting, degrading or any of the sort in the slightest as I do very much understand there is a lot of work being done on this game and things that I could not do half as well as your team even with 14 years experience. If I say anything that is already being worked on just brush your shoulder(Shake this [not so]hater off) and continue reading.

I am running:
AMD FX Quad 4.2GHz 6/8Cashe
16GB DDR3 10600 9-7-2-2
ATI Graphics card w/2GB DDR5 @ 256bit core clock 950Mhz

This is well above the recommended hardware but as it is still being determined please let us know if this should be beefed up.


I purchased and installed the steam build of the early release content pre alpha. These are some things I have noticed since the latest beta update release and am sure they are on the list of things to be looked at but just in case, I figured I'd be a friend.


Unit Movement
They have improved so much, I love the smooth transition.
There is some sticking and a lot of units don't follow orders in conjunction or sometimes the first time they are given at all. Other times they walk half way there and stop and do nothing until another order is given.

Ships in the water that have been blown up sink, but when they are impacted by another moving ship they resurrect and are obstacles on top of the water causing blocked paths and all types of chaos.

I like that bots are faster than tanks however, the level 1 tank is extremely slow. It feels like nothing can be attacked. No matter how many, they just get slaughtered by defense instantly. I think this is a bit troubling as in real life tanks are pretty quick!

I loved in the THQ SC series that there were orders to move in formation. This solves a lot of problems with faster units arriving way before slower units and being ineffective in battle. It also unlocks the strategy of placing smaller units first as protection. This may work well as an option that can be turned on or off at the players discretion or in a smooth transition of mouse movement/keystroke.

Structures
I am noticing that there are added structures and defense platforms. I feel that we are missing an air defense structure that should be there. As I play I cannot defend against large air raids with just the level 1 missile towers no matter how many I sic my commander on. The adv laser tower could be edited to hit air as well and this would solve a lot.

Shields are a seller for me. OR at least a light attack defense such as lasers that shoot down small missiles Make them adv and expensive that's fine but I wanna see em! Three or four different types! You can just make one structure that can upgrade that would be fine with me. My resource operations have no defense to air raids or cannon fire. I saw in the tailors that there is a lot planned and it looks good but I think shields of some kind are vital!!

Someone in the midst of all the TA universe created a structure that was a repair tower. It was weak but served useful against light attacks. This would not be a bad Idea.

Most of the other structures balance out perfectly and I have no true complaints as of course it's still early/mid BETA.

Commander
I cannot figure out this double click thing with the D-Gun or cannon the commander has. It is a bit difficult to operate and I have failed many times due to this. I am wondering if there may be multiple attack modes for the commander, maybe it could be suspended as a defense structure at cost of resources once enough bots and cars are constructing. Maybe there could be attachments or upgrades in conjunction with construction bots and vehicles. Have upgrades available only after construction of adv const. bot or vehicle able to be added to the commander by these vehicles and different for each one. Again these are all ideas I am giving here. I mean no push!

Interface
A lot of the symbols and structure outlines are not working in my experience. When I shift build multiple structures I cannot see where there will be structures. My units health bars as turned on in the settings will not show up at any distance or with a mouse wave. This may be a glitch with my download as I was able to see them originally in alpha but I have deleted local content and re-installed and am still receiving the same effects.

In the TA world, there was an open source of a sort that provided many many units and structures that were not available in the normal build. I loved this personally and play still to this day every once in a while! I would love to see an ever expanding TA universe as I know you would. Please take my words as only friendly and if you have any questions. Do not be afraid to ask me as a fan what I think! Most companies ignore their customers/fans... that is their biggest downfall! I am glad to see that Uber has taken an interest in what goes through our minds as well!

Thanks so much for everything you have done and please continue to create. I have an Idea for a very amazing Space based game that compares to no other style of gaming. I would love the opportunity to talk to someone about this some day. I will not bore you with the details here but if any of you should want to talk about it email me any time!

Thanks Again!
Clay Akin

Hey Clay, We're glad you were able to get things working, unfortunately this isn't the kind of thing we generally handle, if you have any specific concerns adding your voice to the relevant thread(s) and/or creating threads that don't have one already is probably your best route here and allows other to comment as well. Any issues with bugs and such are Best placed in the Beta Issues & Bugs Sub forum and make sure you check the Bug Tracker to see if anyone has previously reported anything you are experiencing.

Mike

I see you're new to the forums, and welcome!

Remember, the game is in beta and has much to be done.

Unit balance still has yet to be fully tweaked. Uber hasn't even released their full unit set, to balance needs to wait.

Unit formations are a confirmed addition and are being worked on.

An advanced air defense tower with flack style fire has been confirmed by Uber thanks to pressure amongst the comunity.

Shields have been talked about a lot. You should do a search to find those. Traditional bubble shields will not be in the game as they are OP and are not a good choice for the spherical nature of PA. They also don't promote the type of gameplay that Uber is going for.

The community has put forth a lot of pressure for some sort of anti catapult/artillery style unit/building. I'd tend to guess that will be added, but we don't know.

Repair towers likely will be added, but we don't know.

The Uber cannon cannot be manually fired right now. Upgrades are a confirmed no. However, the Commander is the most efficient construction unit in the game – so you want it assisting a factory or building something at all times.

The interface is being completely redone. Gonna be awesome!

Mods are being heavily integrated into PA – so there will be an ever expanding universe. Gonna be awesome.

I'm pretty sure I covered everything in your post. Reply to me if I missed something or if you have any questions.

When unit not follow order it's never random event because there is mostly nothing random on server-side. It's always bug or incomplete feature, but second is really rare.

So please try to remember/make screenshots such behaviors while playing and then send them to bugtracker:
http://pa.lennardf1989.com/Tracker/index.php?project=1&do=index

Try to look if same issue reported already, and then:

• It's not here? Just create new task, try to add reproduction steps and screenshots/videos.
  If you create duplicate task it's not big problem because two reports are better than zero reports.
• You find task that popular or well known? Vote for it!
• Or task have poor description and updated few months ago? Then leave comment that version XXXXX still affected, leave reproduction steps in comments and attach your screenshots.

Thanks guys, questions answered, I'll let you know if anything else comes up. I am Humble and I mean no offense to the real creators out there I know there are thinkers and conceptual personnel already I just feel the need to do my part.