Length of games.
 

Hi folks,

I tried the demo yesterday,and today. I like this game.It's different and interesting how the old 2D is used for combat.

I found the demo to be to short. Sure you can play it over and over (I have) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif
In the full game when you select medium length how long does that last? And when you chose a long game,how long do they last?

Also when in combat with other ships,does it all happen automatically or can you directly effect the combat somehow?

Thanks for the interesting game!

ps- I though Frunobulax was a gigantic poodle dog. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

Re: Length of games.
 

I found that on a long game for me, I usually spend 20 to thirty minutes, less depending on items. Combat can be controlled somewhat, you can tell your ships where to move and who to attack, plus you can select items, but the ships automattically fire what weapons it has once in range.

Re: Length of games.
 

Oh my... did you not even try clicking the mouse somewhere??! (or read the readme file??)

This surely must be in the demo's readme file, but in short...

Click the top-left ship icons or use the keyboard numbers 1-5 to select which of your ships you wish to control.

Click the background to set a move-to destination.

Click an enemy to set a target to move to and attack.

Click and hold (or click and drag) to bring up a contextual menu allowing you to do things like turn and face in the direction of the mouse pointer, but not actually move in that direction. Useful for attacking without closing the distance.

If you bring up this menu on another one of your own ships, you can set the 'escort' command which makes the ship follow the target ship at the specified position.

You can also pre-set your formation outside of combat from the star-map, via the icon in your ship display window.

And finally, you can pause the combat at any time to issue orders by pressing the space bar (or use the icons at the top left).

So you see, you have a great deal of control over combat!

Re: Length of games.
 

Yes I tried clicking the mouse,lol,I still got owned by the enemy. I hope that more powerful ships are availible in the full version,otherwise "avoid" will be very popular.
I have to admit,I'm dissapointed that long games only last 20-30 minutes.
The puse combat is a good thing.

Re: Length of games.
 

There's powerful 'ships' (really upgrades for your ship) in the demo.

I've taken out eight enemy ships by myself once. Gotta love Multi-Missiles and Particle Vortex Cannons. Don't just leave that loot sitting in your cargo hold..strap it on!

Re: Length of games.
 

I have done that,I use every piece of equipment I can find.
It's tough though when the game last only 5 minutes.

You took these 8 ships out in the demo?

Re: Length of games.
 

Yep. I had the enemy density set to "high" and there were two Ta Ru fleets at the same star.

The cloaker is your friend, also..

Re: Length of games.
 

The medium and large maps are two and three times the size of the small one (ie. the demo). Of course with the full game's mod support it's possible to create a mod with even more stars, but at some point it starts to get less interesting as cool events and alien fleets etc become too spread out. I usually play on the medium setting myself.

Re: Length of games.
 

Skirmisher - don't engage the enemy unless you're fairly sure you can handle them. Run away from a fight and come back better equipped.

WW, like SAIS,has a definite learning curve regarding what aliens are what level of threat, just how amazing a given device really is, etc. And because of the random setups, you can get dropped onto maps that can't be won - and maps you just can't lose on. Sometimes they're the same map with diffrent decisions on where to go! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Length of games.
 

I don't anymore James,theres no point in it. The game(demo) doesn't last long enough. I mean you need to get back to base before times up,so usually by the time you have some goods on your your ship and feel good about maybe fighting,your boss is telling you not to forget to come home on time.
I generally look at the small map,plan out a course of action,avoiding the nebulas(to much time it takes to go through)and stick to it,avoiding enemy fleets.
If I was lucky enough to get good equipment right away,then maybe I might think about taking them on,but that doesn't usually happen.
It's really all about collecting as much stuff as you can to get the highest score.
In my last game, I got a lot of upgrades that where highly rated,but it was close to the home planet as I was headed back with days rapidly running out.

Re: Length of games.
 

Sounds like you are getting the hang of it, then. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Length of games.
 

Btw, the Weird Worlds demo is essentially SAIS for free -minus a boss, the combat simulator and a couple of the alien races.

Re: Length of games.
 

Also, make sure that you have the game set to "pause" when you're orbiting stars so that the game doesn't fly by *too* fast. One of the things I did when I got alot of cool stuff later on in the game was to just say screw the return order. After getting owned a few times, getting revenge was more important than getting back to the base on time. Once I still managed to get a good score, despite being late, because I amassed enough goodies.

If you find the hyperdrive, definatly take and equip...ASAP!
You can travel the galaxy "Star Wars" style, so there's no where you can't get to quickly. With this, you'll rule!


Hey, Ripcord...in the full game, is there a way to adjust the time limits to make them later, or just remove them?

Re: Length of games.
 

"Hey, Ripcord...in the full game, is there a way to adjust the time limits to make them later, or just remove them? "

I'm very interested in this as well.
It's got great art and a lot of cool looking stuff, but I don't know if i want to purchase the game if there is no non-timed game mode.

Re: Length of games.
 

You can certainly mod the game to increase the time limits if you so wish.

Simply change the values of "TIME" under each "MAPSIZE" definition in the distribution.ini file to be the desired number of years.

I would maintain that part of the challenge (and hence enjoyment) of the game comes from determining how to best travel so as to do as much as possible and still return within the specified timespan.

You might get short-term satisfaction from a limitless (or effectively limitless) game, but the long-term appeal of playing will most likely be significantly lessened by such a change, IMHO.

So... make such changes at your own risk http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Length of games.
 

Ah, good to know.
Thanks.