SE5 - Strategies

[Pooka]

"Now for a more specific request: I'm interested in getting your feedback on the strategies in SE4. I'm reworking them for SE5, but I wanted to get the fans input on how well the strategies worked in SE4. Did you use them? What part was most useful? Which part did not work so well?"

Well, it's been said, but to add my voice, I only played simultaneous movement. My desire, in buying the game, was to play on PBW so even when I played single player, I made sure I was using the same conditions, etc. Strategies are, thus, both my greatest tool, and greatest curse.

The ability to modify the AI behavior was a godsend, unfathomably useful in concept. Unfortunately, the degree to which you can make your fleet behave appropriately to a combat situation was very lacking. The AI handles non-specialized ships very poorly, and has a lot of bizarre quirks to it that just don't make sense.

These have led to most people (in my experience) having all ships break formation, taking a lot of potential out of the fleet-level strategies.

I agree that being able to influence where certain ships (pickets, screens, fighter Groups, missile boats, fleet tenders, etc.) appear in the formation, and a degree to which they could deviate from formation would be extremely valuable in giving the fleet-level strategies more usefulness.

If, for example, I could tell my pickets they could range up to 10 sectors away from their 'proper position' in formation, but my fleet tender needed to keep really close to my point-defense ships so they'd not get killed, that would enable me to use strategy in constructing fleets instead of simply trying to come up with complimentary designs that mob-rush the enemy as soon as battle is joined while all my fragile ships run for the corner of the map.

Some kind of defensive strategy that consists of huddling together with protective ships instead of scattering out to be picked off piecemeal by swift-moving fighters would be very nice as well.

Also, I agree with others that a greater degree of control, perhaps adding some semblance of 'situational awareness' would be very nice.

At the very least, if AI behavior could be clearly documented, we could better adapt to it's short commings.

You've written a fabulous game so far, and I look forward to seeing how you improve upon it.