Re: Access Violations
 

With the game unstable as it is, it might be an idea for it to remember your autosave settings...

Re: Access Violations
 

It really should remember *all* the settings, except maybe strategies and ministers. :/ Who really changes their display settings based on what empire they are using?

Re: Access Violations
 

Using shift with caps lock on works.Caps lock without shift does no capitals in this game for some reason.

Re: Access Violations
 

My biggest annoyance is the unstable warp points. They someone warp to themselves or even different points within the system or different systems.

Re: Access Violations
 

There's a new bug and feature reporting section at www.spaceempires5.com. It works like the system at sourceforge.

Re: Access Violations
 

Damaged facilities seem not to be repaired, at least if there is no space yard facility on the planet.

Re: Access Violations
 

Ihighly reccomend everyone to use that instead of this forum post. (or together with this forum post) Because a bug tracking system is waaaay more readable and manageable than one huuuge post like this. Remember SEV has only one developer.

And as stated, the demo will most likely not be bugfixed. But the bugs might also occur in the game that is to be released.

Make sure that you include instructions on how to reliably reproduce the bug.

Re: Access Violations
 

I recommend to e-mail true bugs to MM unless they clearly say they will read regularly any of these forums, which is until now not the case.
But all these forums are very useful for us, as sometimes a suspected bug turns out not to be a bug.

Re: Access Violations
 

If you have a treaty (with empire A) that forbids any further treaty with other empires, you can't change this existing treaty with empire A at all! You get the message that the treaty forbids it.
And the log message for a technology transfer according to a treaty seems wrong. If I give empire A technology B, I get the message that empire A has given technology B to me.

Re: Access Violations
 

If you click on the picture of a component in the component report, it opens a window which is blank inside.

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...

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
 

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.

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

And vice versa, right?

I hope that doesn't apply to Strategic combat. :/

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

Strategic combat is just the same as tactical minus the graphics component - so it's likely to carry over there. However I think the current workaround in that PD weapons should fire at an increased rate is a good solution. Although I'm running some more tests to confirm the effectiveness of this change.

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

Phoenix: Yes, they were boarding one at a time. You're probably correct, but I still don't think this is a good way for the combat to work. Furthermore the odds of one boarding party to one crew quarter should be even enough (IMO) for the boarding party to cause some degree of damage.

Kwok: Thanks for forwarding that to MM. Tell them I'll buy the game either way, but a fix will make me extra giddy.

Cheers all.

[EDIT] Oh, and is there a way to avoid ALL the boarding parties heading for the same target ship? Would task groups change this?

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

Maybe boarding parties are killed one component at a time?

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

Blockade of an enemy colony by a fast ship with "don't get hurt" strategy can be very powerful, too powerful IMHO. The ship can fly away and avoid combat indefenitely without leaving the sector therefore maintaining the blockade.
And in SE V a blockeded colony not only produces no resources but costs maintenance!

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

Only really a problem if the planet has ships defending it or the blockader doesn't have weapons, IMO.

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

Fighters move much faster than ships so it might be a good situation to deploy them. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Although I've suggested elsewhere that ships that go "off" the combat map should move into the adjacent system sector...

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

One way to deal with this, of course, is to use the sector view to place a ship, satellite, etc. right next to the blockading ship. Kind of cheap, but so is blockading with a fast ship.

Re: Design Flaw: Sucker missile ships
 

I found the source of my memory access violation woes. They are related to using the quick start. If I use quick start 1 never get to turn 50. If I don’t use quick start, then I as far as I can before a big battle locks it up. I avoided all big pushes through defended warp points, trying to get to 100 turns, but it locked up when I was creating a ship. So I still have yet to make the turn limit.

Re: Blockading by running away
 

There are 4 problems that you bring up:
1) Retreating from combat is too easy. Like Kwok says, if you retreat past the edge of the map, you should wind up in the next sector. The opponent can then choose to stay away from the edge and remain in that sector, or follow and also wind up in the next sector. If the opponent chooses to follow and already has ships in that next sector, then you should start the next turn in space combat, surrounded.
2) Movement during combat should use up some supplies. So a blockader who is repeatedly attacked but keeps fleeing should run out of supplies and become a sitting duck.
3) You probably should not be able to totally blockade an undomed colony with only one ship. We usually can't do that for islands on Earth's oceans, and that's only two dimensional. And blockades should be less (or not at all) effective if the enemy has better cloaking than you have scanners.
4) Blockaded planets should be able to use their resource production to maintain themselves, even if they can't get anything in or out. (Conversely, if a blockaded planet doesn't produce the required resources to maintain its facilities and population then those should degrade. And a blockaded planet shouldn't be able to build stuff from non-existent resources.)

I think that #2 would be pretty easy to put into the game, would be well-received, and would take care of the "chicken blockader" problem, not to mention the "unstoppable colonizers" and "untouchable explorers" freely passing through hostile systems. (One can put colony components into fast hulls.)

Re: Moving ships in sector view
 

You can do this without cloaking? Didn't realize that.

Bug in the repair priority setup
 

I don't know if other lists have this problem, but when you are setting your repair priorities, the "Send to Top" and "Send to Bottom" buttons do not work properly. Instead of sending the chosen item to the top/bottom, these buttons SWITCH the chosen item with the top/bottom item.

Re: Fighters to counter don\'t-get-hurt blockader
 

Could use drones too. They get a speed bonus.
Agreed. And if there are enemy combat vessels there, they should be lying in wait. But, practically speaking, this has been suggested (and debated) for a LONG time (at least 6 years), and it's pretty clear that Aaron isn't going to put this in. It's not like he didn't know about the issue or the suggestion. Rightly or wrongly, he decided to implement an endless attack map. I think that his solution would work if ship movement during combat used supplies. Does it? I hadn't noticed. If it doesn't, can it be modded in? If it can, then retreating won't be such a big deal.

Re: Blockade by fast don\'t-get-hurt ship
 

A very simple solution would be that ships with the "don't get hurt" strategy do not impose any blockade. Can this be modded? Plus, normal attack ships with no working weapons, or no movement, whether due to design or damage or no ordnance/supplies, should also not impose a blockade. (Really, helpless ships orbiting a colony all by themselves should be destroyed or captured after one turn by freebooters. But I don't suppose THAT can be modded!)

Re: Blockade by fast don\'t-get-hurt ship
 

Actually depending on how flexible the events script is..it might be.

Re: Blockade by fast don\'t-get-hurt ship
 

in se2 i believe running from battle put you in a adjacent square. Thus being able to run past a fleet

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

All weapons are level 5 plus PDC has the benefit of level 5 combat sensors. PDC is just that Point Defense Cannon. I have teated the Flak Cannon and Bomblet Missiles with very similar results. Increased range of the Bomblets Missile does not provide any benefit in actual combat due to increased reload time.

As I watch combat it appears that missiles come in as a stream and the PD weapons target the first one and all fire at that one. I think it is necessary to re-work the targeting algorithm so that the PDC fire is spread out. Increasing fire rate would help but the problem of all firing at one missile would remain.

Also I do not know why PDCs from non targeted vehicles are exceptionaly useless. I have not seen one hit yet and I have seen many fire after the missile actually hits the target.

Re: Blockade by fast don\'t-get-hurt ship
 

Although it is hard to evaluate the AI in the demo version as it is only at medium difficulty level, the colonization minister seems to be asleep most of the time. The AI just does not expand fast enough and rarely has more than 2-3 systems when my human empire has already 15-20 systems with around 30-40 colonies. Is this better in the full game?

Re: slow colonization by AI
 

I've only played one game of the demo so far, but I've encountered 4 AI races and 3 of the 4 have not left their home system (at turn 65+). IIRC, stock SEIV had the same problem when it first came out. That last sentence is becoming way too common on these boards. I am beginning to wonder if Aaron is an AI. (And if so, can we mod him?)

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

I have not seen either of these behaviors, but I have about twice as many PDC on my direct-fire ships as there are missiles on the missile ships. You seem to have about the same number of PDC as missiles.

What I see is that, at slow combat speed (either tactical or strategic), all of the missiles in the first salvo from the leading missile ship get destroyed by the PDC from the leading direct-fire ship. Unfortunately, the PDC from any other direct-fire ships ALSO fire at the first salvo (and of course they never hit because, in my situation, there is nothing to destroy). The problem is that, when the second missile ship comes into range and fires a salvo, there is no PDC left in the entire direct-fire fleet -- everyone is still reloading -- so the second salvo gets through untouched and does massive damage to its target.

Substituting PointDefenseBlasters (PDB, which are based on meson blasters) for PDC (based on DUCs) halves the reload time and eliminates the above problem (or at least substantially reduces it).

However, if I run combat at fast speeds, then I get substantial "leakage" through the PDC, even when I have twice as many PDC as missiles. Perhaps it is the behavior you describe; I can't tell for sure. But it seems to me to be more like 1 or 2 out of a 5-missile salvo getting through, rather than 4 out of 5.

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

Actually it quarters the reload time, going from 2 seconds to 1/2 second per shot. I think the PD problem may be another manifestation of a known problem. The problem being, that when only one target is availible (ie in range), *all* weapons will completely unload at it. Even though more targets may be in range shortly.

Re: slow colonization by AI
 

LOL!

Re: slow colonization by AI
 

I don't understand: do the results of a battle change depending on the speed at which you run the combat? I thought that the time rate increase / decrease controls should affect everything in the battle equally, so that the outcome should be the same, you just watch it happen quicker or slower. So that's not how it works? What's really going on, do missiles and beams stay the same speed while ships move faster or slower? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: slow colonization by AI
 

They SHOULD, but they don't. Everything moves the same relative speed, but the targeting for weapon fire doesn't work quite right, resulting in more misses at higher speeds.

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

How was this handled in SEIV?

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

In SE4 all weapons except seekers hit their target instantly (in SE5 all weapon projectiles including beams have travel time), and fired sequentially (ie one after the other) until the target was destroyed.

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

And seekers did exibit the overkill effect, especially against planets.

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

I was hoping to see if increasing the beam/bolt projectile speed, in the hopes of making them basicly instant-hit, would help any. Unfortunately the demo won't allow it.

Re: Ineffectual PDC for multiple ships: Solution
 

It helped in Starfury, except when you increased the speed too high the projectiles had a tendancy to randomly explode.

No, I have no idea why either.

Re: SE5 Demo Bug Reports & Annoyances/Requests
 

Is it just me, or is everyone getting 100% CPU usage at the game setup windows? I played with the display driver/memory settings and was able to get the kernel time down, but the usage stays pegged at 100%


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