First-time player thoughts

[yeahjim]

Hi. Bought the game. I like it!

Some thoughts:

-Auto-explore needs fixing. I'm not so worried when it craps out and simply ceases to work, but it's sent my away team off far beyond what their O2 capacity will allow for and has gotten them killed a couple times.

-Recently bumped into Gashers. Very easy to lose your entire away team because they block the passage back to shuttle. I know the answer: buy a ranged weapon with damage to several adjacent squares. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a decent choice for several sectors. I just don't like Gashers, and I think they need to be toned down a bit. The slimes are a little easier to deal with because there is a Boss Slime type of guy and you can cut off production at the source. Likewise, the Floating Eye guys seem to only appear in shipwrecks, and are usually easier to cordon off. Gashers = too hard, too unpredictable. It's almost to the point where I'm thinking of skipping planetary exploration until they stop spawning.

((I'm in the late teens, sector-wise, and I've lost half of my senior officers several times (mostly because of the top two notes above.) With that in mind, and considering how slowly officers progress, it would be nice if there were some high-cost cloning feature available for deceased officers whose bodies could be tracked down and recovered.))

-I like that traveling between previously explored star systems is pretty much a slog. That's how it should be. But I would like to see more dynamism within a star system after it's already been explored... I kind of vaguely get the impression that unrest exists in the galaxy, but I don't see it ever.

-Why doesn't the bio-filter work underground?

-I'd like to have a note for planets with cave systems.

-In fact, shouldn't there be a general note-making thing in game? Like, right click a planet, and type: "Gashers. Avoid." or "Black Malaria - no big deal."

-I'm given to understand that there is a trading mechanic in place... but I've never made use of it. I don't even check to see what the prices are. I just find crap and sell it at the nearest place. I can't see warping around to increase the take by 20%, less travel expenses. Usually, I enjoy trading in space games, but something about the basic physical structure about AI, these boxed-in systems, makes it feel pointless. That's part of it. It also may be the fact that it's turn-based. In real-time games - like Escape Velocity and stuff, somehow the stakes seem higher. You'll be cruising along in deep space with these little red dots behind you, hoping you get to somewhere civilized before the pirates blast open your cargo bay, wondering if it was the right decision to take such a risk for a greater margin on the galactic market. I just don't feel it with AI. The individual sectors seem totally static, despite the fact that market fluctuations exist.

-Speaking of which, why do all these other ships just chill out while the pirates are blasting at me?

-Seriously, how is there not ship boarding?

-Is there ever going to be a ship for sale that I'm going to want to buy?

Now... one thing to mention as well is that we only hurt the ones we love. There are plenty of small(ish) games I play that don't make an impression on me one way or another. Plenty more I play, dislike, and delete. AI is not one of those games! I'm actually really into it - I think it's almost fantastic, and it's far and away the most fun I've had with a new roguelike this year. It's just that I want more, more, more!

Lastly, Thank you for making the game. Having a lot of fun with it.