SEV DEMO IS OUT!

[wilhil]

@ renegade 13, demo is out, a lot has happened!

also, how long is combat meant to last and when does it quit?

some times attacking a ship can last for ages but when I was in the middle of attacking a planet, it just stoped

[Noble713]

AMF said:
One side-effect of having hex contents obscured until you come within sensor range of them, is that a colonizer (or any ship) will bypass a good planet because you give it orders before you know what is in the region of space. A rational ships captain of a colonizer, for example, is out to find a good planet, and make a colony on it. Unfortunately, since you give it movement orders and only after it has moved all turn do you discover what it passed by can you colonize things. It would be logical to have a -colonize best planet- option that it enacts when it has movement orders. This probably isnt possible given the current movement mechanics, but it would be a big improvement.

I'd argue that you should send Explorer ships to survey systems (very useful button IMO) before you send in colony ships. I don't even include sensors on my colony ships.

AMF said:
In the tech research window, its hard to grasp that an advance in tech is often really just an advance in the level of an existent tech. Tech level pictures should have a number displayed that indicates the level I am about to achieve, rather than just the type. If I am researching projectile weapons, and the advances I expect to get are DUCs, then Im confused, because, goldarnit, I already have DUCs, why am I spending money on getting them again? If I research industry apparently Im going to get space port, but dont I already have them? See what I mean? Its confusing for newbies, I fear.

The way I look at it, your scientists may have a general idea of what areas/equipment will be improved, but not the specifics. You make a good point about confusing newbies though.

And your comments about the ship/unit design screen are spot-on. Defintely not user-friendly.

wilhil said:
some times attacking a ship can last for ages but when I was in the middle of attacking a planet, it just stoped

Yes! I had that same problem! You can compare notes with my experience here: http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...t=1#Post446044

[Q]

I like the game setup menu in general. The only thing I miss from SE IV is the gradual 1% change you could make in increasing/decreasing racial characteristics. The fixed 5% option you have here is a little bit crude.

[Suicide Junkie]

We all want that back; with forumulas for cost it would be amazing.

I despise the fool who conviced Aaron to drop sliders from the racial setup. Their only fault in SE4 was poor cost settings

[wilhil]

I was a bit confused about being able to choose tech during starting a game, it all costs thousands (i am talking techs instead of traits). is this for mods?

from what I have said since the beggining of this thread, for a demo that is limited, it has some annoying features that lead to nothing.

[Captain Kwok]

Tech points and racial points are separate and both are used in the normal game. The tech points are used to allow the player to select starting techs, while the racial points are used to select traits.

[wilhil]

some things I dont like... levels of ships, they seem to be in alphabetic order rather than order of how good they are, and it gets confusing as when you research them, if for example you take a top destroyer has more hull than a low destroyer.

this gets confusing, and I think that on all of them the cost should be changed so that it costs more, but the smallest destroyer should be bigger than the biggest frigate.

it just gets a little bit confusing... :S

edit - @kwok, well, first time I played it, and I got confused. cant cancel down any and start with it saying 2000 points when creating a empire, I couldnt increase any of the techs as they cost to much and it is greyed out to make any lower. I got confused, and I am sure others will to... I didnt realise what it was, and I was trying to get rid of one of the techs to get all the good benefits!

[Captain Kwok]

The select your starting techs is a re-introduction from SE:III. I thought there was expanded help text that described the function of technology points?

[Fyron]

wilhil said:
some things I dont like... levels of ships, they seem to be in alphabetic order rather than order of how good they are, and it gets confusing as when you research them, if for example you take a top destroyer has more hull than a low destroyer.

You can fix this horrible, horrible blunder in Empire Options. Alphasort can be turned off for both components and hulls. Also, it can be fixed more permanently in Settings.txt. I suspect that almost every mod will turn off the crappy alphasort...

[Renegade 13]

Suicide Junkie said:
I despise the fool who conviced Aaron to drop sliders from the racial setup. Their only fault in SE4 was poor cost settings

All beta testers have pushed for this right from the beginning. It's just too bad that Aaron didn't agree with us... maybe if enough people complain, it'll be changed!

Note for those of you trying out the demo. If you find something that you don't like, or seems like it could be done better email Aaron and tell him about it! I can't stress that enough. Essentially, you're all second-line beta testers, and if enough complain about something, it has a much better chance of being changed, especially if the beta testers have been pushing for the same change.

The power is in your hands!