Presumed hostile

[Claudi]

Hi all

Great demo. I have not 'lost' so much time in front of the computer since Civilization.

One thing bugs me a little though, why is new contacts always presumed hostile. Every time my unarmed scouts run into a new species, they are lost. You should at least sometimes get a chance to talk.

oh and the meson bLasters really need to be toned down a little.

But thats about it. Looking forward to the final release - only two months...I hope...

[jars_u]

Yes, I agree. New contacts with other species should not always be hostile. Just because your ship enters into the same space that is occupied by another ship does not mean you should automatically enter combat. Sometimes you just want to get though the warp point or something.

[wingte]

I cannot find it in SE IV,, but in SE III there is a place to select how your ships will interact withother ships when they meet. One of the settings was "ignore" ,, one is check orders befor entering space with any other ship,, and the third was check oders befor enter space with enemy ships..

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Wingte

[Claudi]

On the subject on giving ships orders. Is there a chance the orders in the Empire_status/Strategies window are expanded in the final game. The ultimate solution would be some sort of a simple script or is that just too much?

[jars_u]

SE4 will ask/prompt you to confirm entering space that is occupied by another race but that still leaves the only 2 possibilites yes or no to combat. Another thing I would like to see is that when you save or delete games - if it would prompt you "Are you certain you want to delete game?" Before it deletes the game or saves over the old one.

[Lerchey]

I'd like to clarify a couple of things about "meeting engagements". Here are the possible scenarios for those "I didn't really want to fight but the computer made me" situations.

1) A ship has a move order which causes it to attempt to pass through a space (sector) occupied by a non-allied ship, planet, etc.

In this case, you will be prompted as to whether you want to enter the space, or not. If you do, YOU ARE GOING INTO COMBAT. There is no other valid reason for going that close to a non-allied ship, and you have no business orbiting a non-allied planet. It's just part of the game, and in it's own way, it does make sense. You don't have to co-occupy a space to communicate. And yes, it's irritating when someone is blocking a warp point... but then you have a decision to make... right?

2) You jump through a warp point and there's something on the other side. This one bothers me 'cause the only option is "Strategic or Tactical". In SE III you had the option to back out. I liked that, especially when I was doing something like "innocently" sending a transport or some such through and some energetic "enemy" scout was moving in from the other side. I hate losing colony ships that way. On the other hand, I can FULLY understand why it would be the case that you could not abort a jump through a warp point. The only option in this case is to run like hell and hope that the other guy is slow enough for you to evade.

This brings up another point... it really would be nice to be able to run off of a map edge and just get the hell out instead of being trapped in the corner.

In any case, I thought that this issue was worth clarifying. You enter someone elses personal space, prepare to fight.

John

[Mephisto]

Yes.