SE5 Demo Bug Reports & Annoyances/Requests

[MasterChiToes]

I offered a treaty, the AI countered, I re-countered, and when the AI re-re-countered there was no reply option in the news, and the message didn't appear under the diplomatic menu.

When the AI escapes in combat, you can reposition your ships in the sector screen (surrounding the AI) and then attack again... maybe escaping ships should move to an adjacent hex (random or directional) so this wouldn't work (and possibly have them end up into an occupied hex and have to fight/flee again).

[wrongshui]

MasterChiToes said:When the AI escapes in combat, you can reposition your ships in the sector screen (surrounding the AI) and then attack again... maybe escaping ships should move to an adjacent hex (random or directional) so this wouldn't work (and possibly have them end up into an occupied hex and have to fight/flee again).

Totally agree, running away doesn't work. Maybe another work around would be to not allow hexes with engaged units in access to the sector view. In such a way that you can still surround them when you attack cloaked, but not after the first round.

[MasterChiToes]

wrongshui said:

Totally agree, running away doesn't work. Maybe another work around would be to not allow hexes with engaged units in access to the sector view. In such a way that you can still surround them when you attack cloaked, but not after the first round.

Still doesn't remove all the potential abuse... add sensors to a colony ship and use it as a scout, every time it runs out of movement go into sector view and place it on the edge of the map... should be completely safe from the AI unless engaging it moves it to another sector.

[wrongshui]

Any new engangement could always be centered around the defender, with the attackers at a set distance? The map is semi dynamic size wise so it could be possible.

[Captain Kwok]

I think fleeing ships that pass the "borders" of the combat area should move into the adjacent sector in the sytem. Any new combat in that sector would start in the middle again.

Sector placement should not be allowed for sectors that currently have an enemy presence.

[wrongshui]

Aw but I like using cloaking devices to do that, actually gives them a use in combat.

[dmm]

I also have a complaint about missile combat and PDC, which may or may not be a bug.

If I pit several LCMs against an equal (or even somewhat greater) number of Alligators (see previous post for descriptions), then the LCMs ALWAYS win, regardless of the speed setting of the simulator. What happens is this: when the leading LCM shoots its missiles at the leading 'Gator, all of the 'Gators shoot all of their PDC at the missiles. Then the second LCM shoots its missiles, and they ALL get through, because none of the 'Gators has PDC ready.
Unless this is fixed/changed, there is absolutely NO point in using PDC for missile defense, and absolutely NO point in trying to fight missile ships with direct-fire weapons with range < 9.

[neofit]

A couple of days ago I've been searching the web for a place to pre-order the SEV. Not anymore, until I see a playable demo first.

I'm a big fan of SEIV. My system: Intel Dual Core 2 Duo E6600, 3Gb RAM, Nvidia 7950GX2/1Gb graphics with the latest drivers. This system runs Everquest 2 at the highest settings (but the shadows) without a problem. In the SEV demo the mouse pointer is so slow that it's work just to navigate the menus. The pointer is very slow and lags constantly.

I've tried some suggestions in this thread. Removing AA and AF gave nothing. Setting the affinity of my dual-core to a single CPU seemed to help a bit, but still not enough, I still feel like I'm fighting with the cursor. Maybe it has something to do with the instant tooltips? Some even stick to the screen until I move the mouse cursor over them again. All screens are bad, but the worst are the game setup screens (when creating the race and stuff before a new game), the research and the ship design screens.

Then there is screen corruption on the 3D combat screen. I've tried to start one with the combat simulator, using a ship I so painfully created . After a few seconds of combat the 3-D screen starts to stop being updated, in large lines from the bottom to the top, the cursor leaves a trail on it, yet the menus at the bottom are being refreshed. I have to pause the simulation then resume it for the refresh to kick back in.

So, with the empire management screens (the meat of the game) unusable, and some weird corruption on the 3-D combat display, I'll give it a miss until I can see some changes without paying upfront.

Another thing - a suggestion about the planetary screen rotation. How hard would it be to implement a rotation system that does not involve moving the mouse to the sceen edge? We're not in the early 90s anymore, and many games, namely the RTS ones, have shown that it is quite possible to rotate a 3-D view by simply holding the right mouse button for instance then moving the mouse. Or maybe holding shift or control then moving the mouse? Moving the cursor to the screen edge to rotate is as clunky as... having 'hotkeys' that require to hands to be used (like the Shift-<key> ones), while the third hand is on the mouse to select objects .

[MasterChiToes]

Sentry is a sweet command (if there are no enemies already in sight)... however without a guard or skip turn command, I still end up wasting a ton of time clicking next to be sure I am done moving all my ships.

[edit]One more thing... what is with having coordinates as an option for the ship screen, but not system? I know you can see the system highlight in the minimap when you mouseover the ship in the list, but still... sorting ships by system would be invaluable.

[dmm]

I think I found a MAJOR bug in space combat involving missiles and PDC.

Summary:
In the simulator, if the combat resolution is set to high speed, the PDC miss frequently, while at low speed the PDC either never allow a missile through (Tactical, 1/2 speed) or seldom allow one through (Strategic, 1x speed).

Details:
I am pitting two LC3s (500 kT) against each other.
Alligator has 4 A8 Armor, 10 PDC8, 12 CT-2 Engines, 2 DUC6 with LargeMount6, and CombatSensor11. LCM has 8 A8 Armor, 1 PDC5, 12 Ion-5 Engines, 5 CSM9. Both have 1 LifeSupport2, 2 CrewQuarter1, 1 Bridge1, 1 SupplyStore2, and 1 BasicSensor11. Both have OrdStore2 (1 for Alligator and 3 for LCM). All engines and weapons are in outer hull; all other non-armor in inner hull.
In either tactical or strategic battle simulations, the Alligator ALWAYS wins if I run the simulation at low speed, but the LCM ALWAYS wins if I run it at high speed.