Some remark from a stars! player

[Suicide Junkie]

A good way to make up for a zero reproduction rate is to take organic manipulation. Build a few replicant facilities and then ship the new people around.

[Athena]

About the Anti-matter torps:

True that they do slightly more damage than a DUC of the same tech level, but they also weigth 25% more. With that you gain an inferior range. Well it's a minor point, it was just to point out that some changes were blatantly needed and that Aaron could do this in a matter of minutes in the components file just by agreeing with the change most asked by the vets players.

On the inability to save the order file compared to stars: It strikes me cruely because in stars PBEM (16 players per game routinely) there was a lot of diplomacy and to be efficient it was mandatory to wait for responses from other players (how you coordinate attacks then ? )

Well I have still much to learn in solo game before trying to play in PBEM, but my expectations are great for this game, as poor stars supernova is more and more cold

[DirectorTsaarx]

Not allowing people to save & restart their PBEM turns was intended (IIRC) to prevent the exploit of saving immediately before combat, letting the combat play out, and, if the combat went poorly, reloading the saved Version of the turn and avoiding said combat. Or other similar exploits (re-trying colonization of a ruins planet until a "good" tech appears, for instance).

[Phoenix-D]

"True that they do slightly more damage than a DUC of the same tech level, but they also weigth 25% more. With that you gain an inferior range"

Methinks someone needs to finish researching That extra 5 levels makes a difference. DUCs are cheaper to research though. But if you have a speed advantage, the torps are better, since you can fire and run away while they reload

DUC Vs do 40 damage out to range 5, fires every turn
Quantum Torpedo Vs do 100 damage out to range 6, fires every other turn, weighs 10kt more.

So: damage/kt/turn:
DUCV: 1.33
Quantum V: 1.25
Comparion:
APB XII: 2.16 (max) to 1.5 (min) range 8
PPB V: 2 (max) to 1.67 (min) range 6
WMG III: .667 out to range 8 (reload 3)

The APB costs quite a bit more to research though.

EDIT:
"On the inability to save the order file compared to stars: It strikes me cruely because in stars PBEM (16 players per game routinely) there was a lot of diplomacy and to be efficient it was mandatory to wait for responses from other players (how you coordinate attacks then ? )"

The inability to save doesn't affect this at all. You can't save and wait for another person's actions to play out; you COULD save and wait for their email message, but nothing in game. But, then, if you're waiting for email, you can just do your turn and then not send it. If something comes in that you need to change plans, open the turn file again and play again (that can be done, you just start from scratch on the turn)

Phoenix-D

[ May 14, 2002, 05:17 PM: Message edited by: Phoenix-D ]

[Phoenix-D]

"Not allowing people to save & restart their PBEM turns was intended (IIRC) to prevent the exploit of saving immediately before combat, letting the combat play out, and, if the combat went poorly, reloading the saved Version of the turn and avoiding said combat. Or other similar exploits (re-trying colonization of a ruins planet until a "good" tech appears, for instance)."

You can't do that in simultanious play..

Phoenix-D

[Bman]

Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
"On the inability to save the order file compared to stars: It strikes me cruely because in stars PBEM (16 players per game routinely) there was a lot of diplomacy and to be efficient it was mandatory to wait for responses from other players (how you coordinate attacks then ? )"

The inability to save doesn't affect this at all. You can't save and wait for another person's actions to play out; you COULD save and wait for their email message, but nothing in game. But, then, if you're waiting for email, you can just do your turn and then not send it. If something comes in that you need to change plans, open the turn file again and play again (that can be done, you just start from scratch on the turn)

Phoenix-D

Of course that is the whole complaint When it takes 30+ minutes for some of the more involved turns it becomes a chore to have to replay it all now that you have gotten your email reply.

[DirectorTsaarx]

Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
"Not allowing people to save & restart their PBEM turns was intended (IIRC) to prevent the exploit of saving immediately before combat, letting the combat play out, and, if the combat went poorly, reloading the saved Version of the turn and avoiding said combat. Or other similar exploits (re-trying colonization of a ruins planet until a "good" tech appears, for instance)."

You can't do that in simultanious play..

Phoenix-D

I've never played simultaneous, so I'll take your word for it. So, while the "feature" of not saving mid-turn for multiplayer makes sense for non-simultaneous, it may not cause an "exploit" to be able to save a simultaneous-mode game in mid-turn & come back later. Of course, maybe that's difficult to program...