I decided to start this thread because of the discussion in another thread over fleet experience. I think it would be good to have a common place to discuss testing of unknown parts of the game. We could constructively advise and critique others on the methods used such that we can test things as a community. Results can also be verified by others. I then can easily add the findings to the Newbie FAQ. There are probably lots of people willing to do testing and others that don't have the time but are willing to provide advice and experience. All new information can benefit the whole community.
Here are some ground rules I'd like to use here in this thread:
1) First and formost, this thread is to remain objective and helpful. Criticism should be constructive, objective and delivered in a respectful manner.
2) Anyone can request a topic, and are encouraged to assist in testing existing topics.
3) When you start doing testing, please post your hypothesis, and methods. Posting this before you start will prevent someone else from doing redundant work. Follow up with in-process status and finally with results and conclusions in a manner that others can independently verify so that any follow-on ideas or tests don't have to start from scratch.
4) Obviously if a topic is raised which a reader has previously done testing on, please feel free to share your knowledge to eliminate rework.
5) Anecdotal evidence is a good place to start because most of the questions people have arise from something that happens in a game, but the preferred method is to design a set of conditions to determine exactly how something works and then post the results.
===============================
I'll start the list with some things that are on my "todo" list:
- how exactly is fleet experience calculated. See related discussion in
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=23;t=010610
- I know there is a pretty good list in the FAQ, but what is the exact order of operations during turn processing. Include all things that can happen in a turn. Knowing what happens in what order can be very important in how you execute a turn. Include any differences between simultaneous and turn based games.
- The topic has been bantered back and forth, but is there any testing that proves if Environmental Resistance affects Happiness or not?
- How exactly does each minister work? If we knew how each minister operated in detail, maybe we would use them a little more. My experience is simply that they are terrible and I haven't used any of them in well over a year. This one would have to be broken up so that effects could be isolated to an individual minister.
Slick.
[ December 25, 2003, 23:31: Message edited by: Slick ]
SE4 Gold Testing Thread
Threaded Mode