Disappointed about PA

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by arkounay, February 28, 2014.

  1. FSN1977

    FSN1977 Active Member

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    I really dont understand why people complain about a game being delayed , you want a game that is early beta at best? like EA released BF4? Come on now... I dont get It.
    Bsport likes this.
  2. Taxman66

    Taxman66 Well-Known Member

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    Great. Ill see you that you run off with zep in the sunset to your Simcity of adjacency. I'll even challenge you in a 1v1 but you'll complain that winning doesn't matter or some crap once you lose.
  3. monkeyulize

    monkeyulize Active Member

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    They've pretty much said they are working on all those problems right now.

    And your complaint about the release date?

    Come on man, making any game FROM SCRATCH in a little over a year is a feat in itself, but making something totally new and different as PA you've got to have some understanding.


    I share the same thoughts about the UI and such but if you look at where we've come from and where we are now, I have no doubt that we will get to where the UI and control rivals that of supcom.
  4. drz1

    drz1 Post Master General

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    Hi, firstly I'd like to welcome you to the forum! It can be a bit rough if you are a new user and post something negative about the game as a first post :p

    While I respect your opinion on the game, I'd like to try and reasonably address some of the concerns you have, to try and convince you that the game is worth sticking with.

    1)The original release was indeed intended for Dec 2013, but you should bear in mind that this was an initial estimate, based on the core game that was proposed. Since the addition of several rather significant stretch goals, this deadline has been elongated proportionately. Not to mention, the success of early access has meant the developers can take a bit more time to put more polish and features in the game.
    I wouldn't be too concerned with release dates though, given that a fairly rounded game is now available to play in advance (and is already damn good fun, in my eyes), and it isn't like you will never get to play the finished product.

    2) There are still AI bugs and UI kinks, but these are things that constantly have people working on them and are being improved more and more with every patch. I am confident that in time for "release", you will be happy with both the AI and UI (at the moment, it does depend on the type and size of planet you are playing on, in terms of AI ability and indeed, game performance).
    Your gripes about UI things such as build queues are almost certainly known by Uber and being actively worked on. Also feel free to check out the already excellent mods made by the community here to fulfil many UI desires you may have. Just don't forget, most of these issues will be fixed in time for full release.

    3) I would respectfully disagree with your statement that the social features are premature. Consider that the game has already had an entirely new engine built for it, with features such as chronocam, picture in picture, orbital play, planet smashing etc. all implemented. Does it really seem like the social element is coming too soon when you think about all that is in already? The balance is constantly being addressed and there are still a few new units to be introduced that will cause further rebalancing to be required. Personally, I think the game is fairly "feature complete" already. Galactic war is certainly something I would consider as a final addition, given that people can easily play normal AI or human opponents in systems of their choosing. A meta game mode is not really needed until all of the former has been properly implemented.
    Also note that, as a "gamma" phase game, Uber wants to make it easier for people to play the game, so that they can get valuable feedback. They regularly read these forums and engage actively with the community to improve the game in a timely and effective manner.

    4)Planet features are a constantly discussed topic on here, and the devs have repeatedly say they want to do more with the biome features, to make games more interesting, and are working on adding much more flexibility in the creation of your own personalised planets and systems.

    5)The start of the game may seem slow, but in reality it is only a few minutes of : build one metal extractor, build one energy plant, build a factory, begin scouting/assisting building. There is discussion already over how to speed this up, but I think a couple of minutes is not a long time to get things up and running. Also, I find the later pace of the game brisk, to say the least, with trying to manage multiple attacks on different planets and such like. Personally, I love the pace at present.

    6) Your factory and unit choice will have much more impact as the game gets developed more. Already, bots are the faster and more efficient raiders, with tanks being better offensive units against bases. Be patient as the units gets balanced to make more of a difference depending on what you use.

    I guess the final thing to say is "Be patient". Take a little time to play the game a bit more, get used to some common strategies, try to get a feel for the flow of the game (expand, expand, expand :p), enjoy some of the UNIQUE features, such as orbital travel and planet smashing and check the game out periodically to see what has been added since you last played (if you don't feel like playing it regularly). Participate in forum discussions, and watch livestreams, to see where the game is going and how things are being changed that might interest you.

    Anyway, sorry for the long rambling post, I just feel passionate that people should give the game a chance and see what all the fuss is about. A lot of people love this game, and I hope eventually that you do too :)

    Hope you enjoy your time here!
    Quitch, vyolin and dukyduke like this.
  5. dukyduke

    dukyduke Active Member

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    Keep faith !

    Most things you complain about is polishing.

    Even if it seems essential for you, it's just polishing.
    Queue order is polishing, colour select is polishing, biomes tuning is polishing, etc.

    Until today, they're still working on making base functionalities working, now they will start to tune and improve it.

    For exemple, Planet generation is working but not tuned. They stated many times that they are aware of the need to improve it and that they are working on it, be patient...

    twitch is a functionality even it is not essential for you. Remember also that Uber is a company that need to sell games. They can't afford a big marketing campaign. Twitch.tv and encouraging pro gaming is an excellent way to promote the game.
    It's also a really great tool for us to communicate with us. You should really thank uber for their great communications on the game development. Few games that I've backed do that...

    Most of the base bricks seems to be here now and it's probably why they said that they are in "gamma".
    I think you'll see more and more polishing in coming updates.
    In fact, they already started polishing by the way with starting to work on units and balance.

    I really think you'll be very happy with the coming updates.
    cmdrflop, Quitch, drz1 and 1 other person like this.
  6. neutrino

    neutrino low mass particle Uber Employee

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    I just want to say I'm really impressed with the responses on the community here. You guys get the game and understand it's still in development.
    Geers, cola_colin, paulusss and 8 others like this.
  7. drz1

    drz1 Post Master General

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    If you read my rather long and rambling post, then that made my day! You guys are great, keep up the good work!
  8. FSN1977

    FSN1977 Active Member

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    Well that is the only problem with a large user base, more people complaining.
    Last edited: February 28, 2014
  9. thetrophysystem

    thetrophysystem Post Master General

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    Meh, all those things sound like they are being addressed.

    I wouldn't mind a color selector. If it were possible, I wouldn't mind ye olde box of 256 color blends where we click a point in it and get that color. Two of them, one for primary color and one for trim color.

    It is time they put in the game's proper launcher and game-menus. It just so happens it integrates twitch and social/video. Because it's webscript based. Why wouldn't it.

    The planets have come a long way. They could go even farther to be honest. If only there were some way the planet would generate some features like cliffs where it determines the "terrain slopes down", if it could be smart enough to place certain terrain in special places the terrain makes sense, you would have very interesting results.

    The game UI is entirely moddable. Can you build a webpage? Then you can build a UI, you just didn't know it yet.

    The game's release time is the worse. You quote Supcom. At this point of development, they had finished the engine enough to run the game on it. Didn't have menus for it, the executible fired it up straight into a default map. Didn't have more than 6 units testing handfuls of weapon and projectile values. Supcom developed much longer than this game. I think if they wanted to make this game, they probably could have in the time, without naval or any other stretch goals. Yet, it wouldn't have been this full featured. The end product is sure to have more.

    The map sizes, nobody played on large supcom maps from what I hear. You can argue nobody plays on non-orbiting planets in this game. Yet, if individual planets felt as large as supcom maps, and they can when they are size 3000, then it would be hard to manage all of them AND other planets. We just got multi-screen so we could even do that now. However, one could think of multiplanets as chunks of the same map which you can't just walk to. Chunks of the same map you must travel to via slow teleport or something. They are parts of the same map, divided, like continents on Planetside2.

    This game for being so early does have a lot of bugs in the features, a lot of features to come before release, and not the best default UI. Those are all things that can be touched on though. After release, if they aren't touched on, then Uber made the code so openly editable that anyone could continue working on it. It is inevitable for this game to eventually get all the best parts of everything.
    emraldis, Quitch and drz1 like this.
  10. Quitch

    Quitch Post Master General

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    Didn't SUPCOM have a $10 million budget?
  11. FSN1977

    FSN1977 Active Member

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    Yep estimated.
  12. arkounay

    arkounay New Member

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    Thank you for your answers everyone, faith within the game restored

    I know the game isn't finished, and I guess using the "Gamma" word for the new update made me think it was one of the last big update, especially when I read what was planned during this gamma phase and that I didn't see anything about planet generation or building queue, so that got me worried.
    To me usually games are alpha -> beta -> finished so that gamma version just worried me and my friends as I expected gamma to be kinda close to the final product, because of the "gamma" name and also because of the date. If they had called the versions alpha 1, alpha 2, alpha 3 maybe it would have been better to me

    Also, I didn't want to sound rough or like a troll, I was really worried about the game and didn't find anything about the issues I mentioned, but I should have searched more before as most of what I've said have been discussed apparently, so sorry about that, and thank you about the long replies and thank you for staying cool and explaining what was going on to me

    At least, just like in SupCom, the community looks awesome :D
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  13. drz1

    drz1 Post Master General

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    Yeh, and if any of your concerns aren't met by the developers, you can be pretty sure a modder will make it for you :D
  14. tilen

    tilen Member

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    I agree with most of what OP said. I would like to love the game and I'm doing my best to get into it. It's just thar nothing really feels right.

    For example: I can't quite put my finger on it but the building placement feels off and the resulting base is just a mess. Maybe a snap to grid mechanic would help.

    I feel like this game tries to differ from SupCom too much where SupCom made improvements and was an outstanding game for it.
  15. tatsujb

    tatsujb Post Master General

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    I want that.
    websterx01 likes this.
  16. buttnuggets

    buttnuggets New Member

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    I just want to clarify which penii ruler we are using, inches or centimeters? I'm betting on the guy who who wasn't the antagonizer and acting like a kia. Level head = win.
  17. eukanuba

    eukanuba Well-Known Member

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    I can't be the only person who wants to see @tatsujb and @taxman66 settle their differences with a best of 5 on FAF? I propose that five 1v1 maps should be chosen, each with a different aspect of FAF gameplay prevalent, and then they should play them at an agreed time with observers allowed. If somebody could record/stream the games that would be awesome.

    So what do you reckon guys, going to put your money where your mouths are? :D
  18. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

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    11,5
  19. Geers

    Geers Post Master General

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    Make all the maps Seton's Clutch.

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