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- - SE5 Demo Bug Reports & Annoyances/Requests (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=30319)

Re: Access Violations

Kamog: I think that's just because the demo doesn't include the large-sized component pictures that should be showing up there, I imagine they'd take up space better left out of a small demo.

Cloaking uses up all supplies?

I was playing around with large drones. Made a super planet killer using the 'alltech' cheat. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/redface.gif Drones don't move in demo, so it didn't work. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif But that's not the point of this post. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif The point I want to make is that this drone had level 21 cloaking, and if I turned it on and moved it one sector to a planet sector (in system view), then moved it next to the planet (in sector view), then turned it off (in system view), it wound up having zero supplies. Even if I used the 'restoresupplies' cheat first, the short period of cloaking used up all supplies (and it had 12 max level quantum engines). Does cloaking really use supplies that heavily, or is this a bug? Seems like a bug. Doesn't really matter in demo since drones are disabled anyway, but would be bad bug for full game. I mean, doesn't everyone want to make super-cloaked planet-killing drones? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

Combining missile ships and PDC: Solution

Refer to several posts below for discussion of this problem. It turns out, I'm dumb. The quick-and-dirty solution is obvious. Just use those anti-missile missiles instead of PDC, if you want to give your missile ships some defense against missiles/fighters/drones. Their range is 9, just like missiles, so you don't run into all the problems that I brought up in earlier posts. True, they don't work as well as PDC, but your missile ships will be running away anyway, trying to keep at max range, so enemy missiles will run out of fuel before hitting you while enemy fighters/drones will only catch up slowly. (Note that you still need to change the 'maximum range' strategy to put 'nearest enemy' at the top of the targetting list.)

Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution

In earlier posts I described how the PDC doesn't work properly for multiple ships. Here is a quick-and-dirty fix: use meson blaster PDC, which has a fire rate of 0.5 instead of 1. This makes all the difference in fleet battles, so that fleets of missile ships are NOT undefeatable.

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution

I still hope this is fixed because as it is now it is ridiculous. I tried 1 missile FG with 3 CSMs against two DDs each with 4 PDC, 2 DUC and combat sensors. Every time the 8 PDCs can't stop the missiles. They almost always only get one, rarely two. Always ends with both DDs destroyed or crippled

Haven't tested against fighters yet. Are PDCs equally useless against fighters?

Re: Boarding Parties

I posted this over at Space Empires Universe, but it's pretty slow over there still...

Quote:

Boarding parties are not working correctly (I don't imagine this is a "feature").

At first I posted at the Shrapnel site. I thought it was a missile vs projectile ship issue, but I have since reinvestigated my "bug report". I created boarding ships with a single boarding party, and in simulation they would launch the little grey shuttle things, which would attempt a boarding action. However, no damage was done to the target ship's crew regardless of the type of ship. I had 30:1 odds, yet the target ship did not lose a single crew member!

However, if I put two or three boarding parties on a single ship, it could successfully take over the target ship.

Two problems with this system:
1) it just doesn't make sense logically - and this is the style by which most players will be attempting to play. Two boarding parties from a single ship are successful, but 30 boarding parties from 30 ships don't succeed in killing even one crew member of the target ship? Ack.

2)it means that once people start getting into huge ships, only huge ships with boarding parties will be successful. So much for the swarms of pirates coming to capture that one giant treasure ship.

I don't know, the current system just doesn't allow much flexibility, and is not readily apparent to the user (which will cause disatisfaction in the game). When the inevitable Pirates and Nomads mod comes out (please please please SJ) this will be a hindrance.

Thoughts?

Re: Boarding Parties

Timing on the boarding parties- did they all arrive at the same time, or one-by-one?

I can see there being a problem like in SE4's troop combat, where the first set arroves, gets massacred, then the second wave arrives, etc.

Instead of 30-1 odds you actually have odds stacked the other way, only repeated over and over..

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution

Quote:

tmcc said:
I still hope this is fixed because as it is now it is ridiculous. I tried 1 missile FG with 3 CSMs against two DDs each with 4 PDC, 2 DUC and combat sensors.

What are the other factors in this equation? Level x CSM vs. Level x PDC?

Plus, what type of PDC? There are like, a lot. I've yet to get to test with them all, so please share.

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution

Regarding PDC/missiles: I reported earlier that the combat speed influences the PDC efficiency. Higher speed decreases the PDC effect!!

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution

The boarding parties from multiple ships shoud be easy enough to implement though - be sure to send an e-mail to MM about it.