What is the problem with SE5?

[President_Elect_Shang]

I have read a lot of complaints about the game and while I admit there is work to be done I also strongly voice my faith that things will work out and SE5 will become a top notch; if not the top notch 4X game. Till SE6 that is! Anyway what I don't understand is just what the main complaint is here? I hear 20 people give 20 different answers each for a total of 400 answers and many of which are repeats. So I want to get my misunderstanding cleared up once and for all!

Without a lengthy discourse as to the nature of the problem what is the ONE problem you have with SE5? The one and only one that eats you up more than any others?

Please repeat others if you must; however, if you repeat a problem that is your one and only answer so don't give another. What is my goal here you may ask? Well mainly I don't seem to have the problems others are having, although I do have my complaints they are "game breakers" not "game slowers" or "hinderers", or whatever! You know what I mean! Also I would like to clearly see what the problems are so I can tell if they are things modders can work at fixing. Please lets try to keep on topic and not have this devolve into an argument over which game is better or anything like that.

[Shadowstar]

As I understand it, the main gripe is that most people don't want to play a game that's so buggy out of the box. These people don't see modding potential and typically never bother looking at what the community is doing. They see the stock game, play it for about 15 minutes, and give up at the first bug they run into. SE5 isn't as skin-pretty as some of the more mainstream games, and unfortunately that is what gets most gamers hooked. If it doesn't have a nicely polished exterior with 5,000-particle explosions, pixel shaders, and fancy ragdoll physics (or water simulation), and especially if it has any bugs you can find within the first 5 minutes of playing, most gamers tend to lose interest pretty quick.

This is also why SE5 gets bad reviews. Reviewers may spend alot more time with a game than Joe Sixpack (the good ones have to - even if they hate it), but in the end thier primary audience is still the casual gamer since they are responsible for the majority of business in the industry. Reviewers who enjoy mods or patched versions of an initially buggy game will still give it a bad review because they understand that most of the people who are reading thier reviews don't have the patience to dig into the game's community or look for patches. The best reviewers will still mention the game's modding potential, and its dedicated community, but only as an afterthought and it will not affect the score they give.

There is precident for a properly patched game to get "re-reviewed" later on and get a better score. CGW re-reviewed X3 after it had been patched quite a bit and gave it a better review than they did initially. So there's still a chance for SE5 Gold to be a big hit right out of the box, but alot of that depends on us, the modders. (This is speculation, I don't know if there will be an SE5 Gold, but it could be a good business move, if it can include enough content to be worth going to retail).

[Azselendor]

My point of view is that most people are....

1.) Upset about about the number of bugs.
2.) Upset with the interface.

My point of view is that Aaron will either fix all of these problems in SE5, or by in SE6 - but personally I think Aaron needs to consider taking SE6 in a more modern direction than the other games.

[Ironmanbc]

Azselendor said:
My point of view is that most people are....

1.) Upset about about the number of bugs.
2.) Upset with the interface.

My point of view is that Aaron will either fix all of these problems in SE5, or by in SE6 - but personally I think Aaron needs to consider taking SE6 in a more modern direction than the other games.

3.) They bought MOO3 (they were moo2 fans)

[Phoenix-D]

Define a "more modern view"

[Raapys]

As unfinished as the game is, what's really breaking it for me is the AI, and it's doubtful I'll actually <play> the game more before that part has been vastly improved. It's just not interesting( especially with stock tech tree ) when there's no competition at all. Heck, you can play player vs 20 AIs on hard and max bonus and never have any fear of actually loosing. You can only go through the tech tree and watch the AI do amazingly silly and uninteresting things so many times before growing bored.

Other than that it's really just the bugs, incosistencies with the data files and functions( for modding purposes ), etc. that's bugging me. And, obviously, the UI.

What's of a somewhat greater concern, though, is the fact that the game didn't really bring with it anything new, or change anything significant. Well, except going from turn-based to real-time combat, but that's a *very* subjective improvement. I am, in fact, having more fun playing SE IV than I am playing SE V. They are the same game, but SE IV comes in a more finished and user-friendly package.

I was sort of hoping for more of a MoO2 -> MoO3 sort of change( without the whole 'was never finished' aspect ), especially regarding planets and economy, which MoO3 does insanely more complex and better than SE. I understand making the game this complex would probably be a nightmare for Aaron on a code-level, though. I just feel we need something new and fresh, something to set it apart from the previous games.

Until then I'll just be doing some modding and stuff for SEV, while waiting for the AI update that will make the game challenging. And some interesting mods.

[Azselendor]

To me the interface of SE5 could be a lot simpler and a lot more modern by embracing the concepts of usability and accessibility that are being adopted across various tech industries.

[President_Elect_Shang]

President_Elect_Shang said:
Without a lengthy discourse as to the nature of the problem what is the ONE problem you have with SE5? The one and only one that eats you up more than any others?

I don't think anyone has actually read my post. I am asking what is your one personal gripe with SE5 that you would like to see fixed. I am not asking what you think is other peoples opinion. None of this helps me to understand anymore than before. Raapy you came the closest to answering my question but you still gave me how many answers?

ONE Problem
ONE Answer

Thats all nothing else. What ONE thing would you like to see fixed if you cold wave a magic wand and fix only one thing? We can discuss the ins and outs and details later. Right now lets get a focus on what one thing is eating you!

[Arkcon]

Question: Was a complete solution ever found to the problem of fleets appearing outside the retreat zone, immediately ending combat, repeating the attacks over and over again, occasionally losing troop transports (and glassing the planet) or attack ships (sending the lone troop transport on a suicidal invasion attempt) and ending up with multiple "ghost" fleets surrounding the planet, that have to be recombined consuming moves, before attacking again, only to have the same happen again?

I didn't see a specific entry in the patch history for all these problems that I experienced.

Manually moving them at the start of combat didn't work for me as well as I would have liked. And of course, manual movement is not an option for the A.I. either against the human opponent or A.I. vs. A.I.

How is everyone managing to play on PBW, with this problem in force. Is it fixed and I just missed the solution?

[EDIT]

If fixed, then, oops, sorry. If it's not fixed, then, that would be my problem with SE5.

[Azselendor]

It's hard to pin frustrations with SE5 on any one problem, but with that said - I'll take a buggy game with a intuitive and great interface over a non-buggy game with a byzantine interface.