ok first of , it's probably in the wrong place, maybe it's been said before but hey ... sue me I thought that for over 60$ purchase price the game would be in some kind of OK state, but i was wrong lol. Not stating it's bad, but man ... it's way more BETA than i expected ... Had some contact with uber support (which was a kind lady called Michelle) and they requested i posted it on this forum. PS. Still in conflict with my "friends" over at steam on the refund ====================================================================== Hi Michelle, just thought i'd let you know that i got a first reply from Steam, which indeed is basicly them saying "no refund" ... in all honousty, i have tried to play PA some more and got at least a 15 minute game in so i could see more of the game and i could see some of the charm that had me playing SupCom for a long long time. Aside from the fact that the game is very hard to get started, seriously ... (i'm a techy , so powerfull machine, all drivers up to date etc. got some knowledge on programming and gamedesign) So well i'm just gonna have to accept i might not get it back. Best to provide some feedback then and try to help you guys with some feedback (and maybe learn something along the way) ... i could be really mad , but i won't , i'll just have to make do For me the game seems to crash everytime on the world/system generation, from the messages i get it looks like the C++ thread that generates it ends in an illegal manner making the system crash. When i reboot the game after a few tries i can get into the generated system. I'm guessing that the generation is done in a few passes, which would result in having to restart the game a few times, as you would loop through the different states until that is done.It also seems to occur more when there are larger planets in the system, as of yet i have not been able to play on a system that has a planet larger than class 3. For the ingame crashes i'm suspecting that this has something to do with the chrono cam system as it seems to happen around large scale assaults by the AI, not in the quiet periods so to speak. I'm also missing a few balancing options, when i start a new custom game i can set the numbers on rate and metal and power, though when i enter a different number and proceed it resets everything to normal numbers (1000,1000 and rate of 1.0), it looks like the custom parameters aren't being passed over, again my best guess would be that the encapsulated parameters aren't being read or passed over to the main thread. Also maybe a function to set a start up "no fire" period could help to overcome the fairly steep learning curve of the game. A tutorial of some kind would be helpfull, i really liked how this was done in SupCom , which basicly was a few small video's showing how a few of the things worked, having played SupCom a lot i kinda guessed a lot of the things, but for players that are new to this type of RTS it can be confusing to say the least. Some things i hope to see soon: -some kind of notification that there are idle construction units (like an icon) -some text to explain what a building does, or what it's effect is (like how much extra metal storage would be added if i built one) -for AI games it might be a good idea to be able to define where the AI will start, giving the player some form of control on the type of battle/skirmish (interplanetary battles would help to give a player some time to build up their base) -some way to set the aggression of the AI, it's very brutal at the moment -better placement of resources on the map, i've run into this a few times, most of the metal close by my initial base are unreachable, this not always very clear to see, sometimes it looks like you can reach a metal deposit but you can't, the problem being if 2 out of 3 closeby metal deposits are unreachable you're really handicapped from the get go as production slows down, i then have to expand the base, but i do not have the resources to do so resulting in the AI wiping me of the map pretty fast. Is there a way i can see the tech trees somehow? Like what would i need to build certain buildings, this not always very clear to me ====================================================================== Played a few more games and noticed that as long as i keep playing systems with only class 2 planets it seems to be working OK as in not crashing. Oh, i'm one of those "weirdo's" that doesn't play online, i like to play against AI only, i know, i'm a noob, that's why i don't play online The UI is just waaaaay to simple and small at the bottom, i think it would be much better if it was positioned at the top close to the economy bars The performance is also a bit off at times (slowdowns) , not always obvious why that is. I run a Intel 2500k, GTX560ti, 8GB ram, the game is running of a SSD
day 3 .... OBSERVATIONS : ====================================================================== -AI needs some balancing please! They use ok build tactics, but i feel they start attacking too soon, feels like a rush game tactic, i also cannot escape the feeling that my units seem to be a lot more vulnerable than the AI units ... 20 unit packs against a laser turret from my end , wiped off the map within seconds, my laser turret against maybe 10 AI bots, total annihilation! -hoped the latest patch would fix the ability to set custom economy rates so i can easy the pain of the rush tactics of the AI, it doesn't work still. -unit still get stuck , on weird places, sometimes i need to click several times for it to respond , or worse it loses focus on the unit and i have to re-select it, when being attacked this sucks monkey butt, since you lose them fast. Tried to build my base a bit more open and not close together (making them harder to defend) but still to no avail , they just get stuck. Not helping the automation, for instance : got wiped off the map because the fabber that was meant to build my northern defences got stuck while i was expanding another area, at least give a ping sound for "cannot reach destination" or something. -when cancelling build orders on factories you cannot cancel the unit being built, which is annoying if you need to rebuild a few fabbers stat ... this screwed me over a few times where they killed my fabbers, but i couldn't build one quickly because my factories just HAD to finish that last unit. -Can't get to play on anything larger than scale 2 planets, even a single scale 3 and a scale 2 planet will result in endless crashing, sticking to only scale 2 drops me in a game fairly quick and ok. Tried to make a one planet system with a scale 3 planet, but the game simply crashes when i try to build the damned thing -noticed the game stutters, tried shift-P and monitored the FPS for a while, but it kept stable at a nice 60fps, but still , stutters ... not that it slows down , but it's kinda annoying , looks like it skips a frame every now and then. - i disabled the steam overlay, that seems to have solved my low fps i had before, where i was stuck on 40fps, it now runs at a cool 60fps (had some problems with the steam overlay a few times before... nothing über can't fix , that one is for the folks over at Valve) - on earth like planets it's easy to lose units as they're very hard to see when standing in between trees ... IDEA'S: ====================================================================== -Would be nice if i could change the enemy commander, i seem to always be fighting the yellow guy , as there is no in-game info on what the difference is between the two i have no clue as of yet what tactics they would use and how to counter them. I know, should be on the forum, but would be nice to see the info in-game -metal placement seems better but is still inconsistent across the landing zones, some landing zones have only 1 close by metal deposit, others have 4 or 5, landing zones also are sometimes really close to eachother (as in TOO close for comfort, combined with my scale 2 restriction and the AI rush tactic it almost always results in disaster) -shields, i miss them! Same goes for upgrading the commander ... -what i also really miss is the ability to upgrade my metal extractors, instead of having to reclaim them and then build a T2 version. -building placement misbehaves at times, don't understand why it has to be so hard to nicely line up a few factories, looks messy and i'm a bit OCD , quit torturing me , same goes for walls, would be nice if you could easily drag-select and build a straight line of those, or i dunno , click once for the start point , then again for the end point and let the fabbers build all the wall section in between automaticly -some visual cue/icon to jump to a site of importance (like a building being attacked), say an icon which you could click to jump to the place where the action is , now i hear just hear a ping, and have to start panning like crazy to find out where and what is going on. Maybe something like the event notifiers in the Anno games, that always worked really good for me. -the lava planets bug, please fix it , those planets look horrid ... at the moment they are nothing more than big glowing orange blobs with a few poo-coloured rock formations here and there. -some type of in-game tutorial, it really needs it, again probably lots of info on the forums or the net ... but i feel this should be IN the game.
see attached image, anyone else seeing these?? And please someone , any tips on how i can play a scale 3 planet .... it keeps crashing every single time i try
Hey! I am not a tech wizard or anything like that and am pretty much the perfect definition of a "n00b", but I do feel I can help with a few of your problems, and answer some of your questions. If I am wrong somewhere I am sure that someone will be able to correct me I can't help on the tech side of this, so problems with generating I will have to leave out, but I will help where I feel I know the answer. "I'm also missing a few balancing options, when i start a new custom game i can set the numbers on rate and metal and power, though when i enter a different number and proceed it resets everything to normal numbers (1000,1000 and rate of 1.0), it looks like the custom parameters aren't being passed over, again my best guess would be that the encapsulated parameters aren't being read or passed over to the main thread. Also maybe a function to set a start up "no fire" period could help to overcome the fairly steep learning curve of the game. " Those numbers are not yet editable, so you will always start with 1000,1000,1.0. It looks like that will be something we get to play with late beta/release. I am aware that you will be able to customize the AI style at some point in the future as Sorian (AI Programming legend) has confirmed that is what he would like to have working. "A tutorial of some kind would be helpfull, i really liked how this was done in SupCom , which basicly was a few small video's showing how a few of the things worked, having played SupCom a lot i kinda guessed a lot of the things, but for players that are new to this type of RTS it can be confusing to say the least." While there is not currently an official a manual or tutorial, that will most likely come at release stage. There are some fantastic tutorial videos on youtube from other early backers that are really useful which helped me when I started. "-some kind of notification that there are idle construction units (like an icon)" I am not sure if that is something that they will do, however if you press F in game, it will select all idle fabbers in your current view. "-better placement of resources on the map, i've run into this a few times, most of the metal close by my initial base are unreachable, this not always very clear to see, sometimes it looks like you can reach a metal deposit but you can't, the problem being if 2 out of 3 closeby metal deposits are unreachable you're really handicapped from the get go as production slows down, i then have to expand the base, but i do not have the resources to do so resulting in the AI wiping me of the map pretty fast." They are working hard on better metal spot placements, and eventually they will turn on the control on the planet creation tool to allow more metal. Its currently set at 50%. "Is there a way i can see the tech trees somehow? Like what would i need to build certain buildings, this not always very clear to me" Somewhere in the forum, someone has actually created and linked a website with the tech trees contained within, and is very useful. "-when cancelling build orders on factories you cannot cancel the unit being built, which is annoying if you need to rebuild a few fabbers stat ... this screwed me over a few times where they killed my fabbers, but i couldn't build one quickly because my factories just HAD to finish that last unit." If you find yourself in this situation, on the right hand side of the UI, there are some commands. Move, Attack, Patrol etc. One of them is a cross, and clicking on it will instantly stop building the unit that is currently being built, and clears the entire order history. Further more, if you can wait a little but longer, you can queue jump units to be the priority, by pressing control as you click on the build icon. It will only go up by 1, but it will be built before the rest of your build queue, after what is currently being built. "-Would be nice if i could change the enemy commander, i seem to always be fighting the yellow guy , as there is no in-game info on what the difference is between the two i have no clue as of yet what tactics they would use and how to counter them. I know, should be on the forum, but would be nice to see the info in-game" When you are on the page that starts loading the game now (the red green amber lights) you can click on the commander of either your own, or the AI and it will switch to the Delta commander. Their is no difference in function, performance, or in the case of the AI, mood. The different commanders will however have different skills, but these will not be game deciding as it will balanced. When this has been implemented I am sure there will be a description on there "-shields, i miss them! Same goes for upgrading the commander ..." It has been confirmed that shields and up-gradable commanders will not be in the game. "-what i also really miss is the ability to upgrade my metal extractors, instead of having to reclaim them and then build a T2 version." You can just slap an advanced metal extractor right on the top of the basic metal extractor now. At this time you even get both the t1 and t2 metal credits Hope this has helped with a few of your queries. Steve
Thanks Steve couple of your answers helped me, some just don't work it seems at least not when i tried last time. Tried to switch the computer AI commander , but it did nothing for me ... but seeing there's no difference it doesn't really matter then , to bad that those stats don't work (yet) , that would really have helped me ... Slapping a T2 metal extractor doesn't work for me, i literally have to reclaim the old one , then build a new T2, not a biggie, but still not very convenient... i will give that another try though. Thanks for that canceling build orders, as soon as i can get into a game (sigh...) i will try that out, many thanks. I got lucky yesterday and the enemy AI just stalled and didn't expand or attack so i had the chance to build everything, will try to locate that tech tree though, some visual representation would be most helpfull I know a few of the things i mentioned are still being worked on, just giving feedback on what i see when i play this version of the beta. I watched the live stream tonight , and i heard them say a few things on putting in some more options for the AI, made me a happy camper to hear they are thinking and talking about that. Thanks for posting a reply, really appreciate it!
day 4 ... OBSERVATIONS: getting slightly better at the game (thank god lol ... less shame for me) -Noticed that the AI does a pretty good job at attacking weak spots, def. something i like though the units they use are still very basic, usually just a bunch of T1 bots, maybe sometimes a group of bomber. Seem to only be getting attacked by bombers when i lack (enough) air defences -The AI does seem to stall at times, there were a few instances where a large group would gather close to my base (freaking me out, cause i thought i'd be annihilated) only to just remain standing there, if i move unit's to attack them they will retailate and return fire, but not move. As soon as i kill that group , the AI starts attacking again like it did before. -AI seems to build a lot of laser turrets, but not as much anti air turrets -Experimented with getting units stuck, it looks to me like they get stuck on the models themselves, maybe a somewhat larger bounding box around the buildings would help them to not get stuck on model features. If someone from Uber would like to see that , i will make a video for you showing what i mean, though it's easy to reproduce ( i just built two metal storages in front of a factory exit). -speaking of factory exits ... i don't know how i do this , but somehow i always place the exit on the wrong side, a directional arrow when placing the building would help to combat this and make it more clear to see how the building will function (as in where the units will exit) -now that i've found somewhat of a tactic to beat the AI i noticed that the Air units are underpowered, and very easy to counter, basicly a few turrets around your base and that's that, problem solved, previously i tried to build some AA units, but that only led to my destruction, the moment i switched to just building ground units, i got the upper hand quite easily, as soon as i have like say 5 or 6 T2 tanks or bots, it's just a matter of finding the base and kill the commander for a quick and easy kill.
As for factory placement, holding down the left mouse button lets you rotate the building by moving the mouse. The rectangular bits are the exits, that should help you with placement.
I'm trying to track down all the GUI suggestions compile and organize them here: Unoffical "Official" GUI Discussion Thread https://forums.uberent.com/threads/unofficial-official-gui-discussion-thread.52055/ Context issue - Added! [SUGGESTION] Control Groups Panel ~ Idle fabbers. Left Click to Select all visible on screen. Right click to select, zoom-to and cycle through idle fabbers. (similar to SupCom). There's a group of info I'm calling the "Unit Information Panel" stuff. I'm putting it there. Context issue - Added![SUGGESTION] Unit Information Panel ~ Economy Income/Drain/Storage I have no doubt Uber will be refining this. The "simple and small" can be rectfied once the rest of the info is in. Context issue - Added! [IMPLEMENTED] Unit Information Panel ~ On mouse-over of completed unit. [SUGGESTION] Unit Information Panel ~ On mouse-over of Build Panel. [IMPLEMENTED] Unit Information Panel ~ Unit type name. [SUGGESTION] Unit Information Panel ~ Unit HP (Current/Max.). [SUGGESTION] Unit Information Panel ~ Unit HP regen. [SUGGESTION] Unit Information Panel ~ Economy Income/Drain/Storage Please do keep these suggestions coming! I'm working very hard to organize all of it.
Control issue. (Player cannot remove from unit from queue) Continuity issue. (Subtract units from queue does not remove in-production unit). Added! [SUGGESTION] Building/Production ~ Units ~ "Right click" to subtract current "in-production" and stop production. Control issue. Conveyance issue. Building alignment is behavior isn't UI, it's game behavior. I'm skipping this one. Regardless how the game decides to "auto-align", that info needs to be conveyed better. I totally agree! I think because of the "rotate building function" we lost click+drag which makes me really sad. Control issue. Added! [SUGGESTION] Building/Production ~ "Click+Drag" for line of buildings (Similar to Supreme Commander) Context issue. (For needing notification) Control issue. (For camera jump-to-notification) Added! [SUGGESTION] Notification ~ Building under attack. [SUGGESTION] Notification ~User-defined items of interest. (ex. Tag an in-production weapon to flag notification when complete). [SUGGESTION] Camera jumps to notification.
thanks, though that's not really obvious to see in my opinion an arrow pointing outwards would be WAY more clear to see, especially in the heat of a battle when you have to place a few quickly. I knew about the rotation thing, it just wasn't obvious where the exit would be, but thanks for replying everybody. what i meant with placing the unit drain info at the top is that it would be a lot easier to see what your current income is , and how much energy is drawn by the unit or building , now you have to look at the bottom , then up. Might be better if it was clustered at the top as far as information/economy , and units and construction options at the bottom. Again thanks for replying guys and girls, i really appreciate it!
Conveyance issue. (For not showing player exit ramp directions) Added! [SUGGESTION] Building/Production ~ Ghost overlay to show exit ramp directions. Thank you so much for the suggestions man!!!
The exit ramp direction is something relevant to playing the game. If it is not obvious, then game hasn't conveyed that info to you well. I think you're the first person to make that suggestion, but I think it's a really good one.
oh and thanks Culverin, my ideas and suggestions are a bit of a mix of everything, i play a few games then write down what i noticed that day , UI , gameplay and AI, a bit like a daily journal. I'll try to seperate the topics a bit more in my further posts so it will be easier for the "collectors" among us to pick out the pieces of info they like.
