Thanks for the feedback, Piddyx. Very helpful.

We'll be working on the Craver quest and Fail/Cancel quest bugs shortly. Thanks for flagging them up.

Regarding the minor faction quests, as you may have guessed the quests are written so that they can be used without knowing the identity of the minor faction. This makes for some pretty interesting linguistic gymnastics at times. One issue involved removing the verb "kneeling" because it didn't work if it applied to the Amoeba . . . Maybe we'll look at preventing certain minor faction quests from being spawned depending on the minor faction in question. If you have any especially egregious examples, we'd be keen to hear!

The ease in which quests lead to Minor Faction assimilation are being internally discussed presently, so we should have an update on that issue soon.

RageMcGeezaks wrote:

I really love the Sophon story-line and humor so far :) 

Those are my favorite too! I love the one where ENFER runs amok in one of your systems, it's so funny!

I'm not a huge fan of the "find X anomalies" ones, especially since they are sometimes not even possible on smaller maps with a lot of AI factions.

Generally though, I absolutely love the direction this game is going quest- and lorewise. More please!! :-)

I love these quete, mainly when they add lore, but i things they appear too often.

I've only done one full playthrough so far, but I really enjoyed the quest system.  Even more than in Endless Legend.

I especially liked the diplomatic issues that came up where you had to pick sides against warring subfactions inside your government (militarists vs pacifists, etc.).  

I would like it if some 'explore x amount of curiosities' or 'make x amount of outpost' quests objective were retroactive.

The Lumeris quest where you need 80% of the Pacifist party is rather difficult to do, especially when compared to the other objective of a paltry 20% Industrialist.

The quests are good in general with lots of lore and decent rewards. I have not encountered a single bug or misplaced reward so far. 

My only concern really is the fact the faction quests are systematically done in the same order so it makes the replays kind of boring on that area. As I suggested in another thread, it would be nice to have some branching system in those quests changing slightly the flavor and destiny of the faction, maybe influencing politics and economics in a different way? It would makes things more interesting in my opinion. 

I really like the 'dynamic' quests especially. I got the one that triggers when your planet population is split between Militarists and Pacifists, and it was an excellent, multi-part story. I'd like more quests that were triggered by conditions like that than the static or random ones.

It would be great if there were quests that had even more interplay between these various factors (eg- getting your Industry too high on a planet populated by Ecologists could trigger protests or an eco-terrorism related questline)

The only thing I'd ask for in particular is that there's some clear indication of when a quest is competitive or cooperative. Maybe I'm missing something but I didn't see any special indication that I was competing against other players for the Academy quest, for example.

Thanks! Everything I've seen on this front has been excellent so far.

Hello :)

I’m here to ask you some questions about Quests and Narrative Events. :)

First, I would like to know your global feeling about them. Even if I know that this feature is not the main one in 4X games, maybe you’ve noticed some details that you want to give feedback on? :)

• Did you see some bugs? I’ve already read that “Bug Fixing” is something impossible to complete (it should be possible and even easier to achieve it soon J ) but did you see some other strange situations?
• What is your feeling about those quests/events’s appearance? (appearance rhythm, diversity…).
• Did you see some silly objectives, stuff you can’t achieve, which are too complicated, annoying to do, that you never want to do?
• Are the rewards sufficient? Did you receive a poor reward after doing a super complicated Quests? Or, on the contrary, a super building after killing a stupid pirate? xD

You can also of course add your own answer/suggestions/questions about the choices (quests) or the effects (events) and everything you want! :)

Thanks a lot. :)

quaedam wrote:

Hello :)

I’m here to ask you some questions about Quests and Narrative Events. :)

First, I would like to know your global feeling about them. Even if I know that this feature is not the main one in 4X games, maybe you’ve noticed some details that you want to give feedback on? :)

• Did you see some bugs? I’ve already read that “Bug Fixing” is something impossible to complete (it should be possible and even easier to achieve it soon J ) but did you see some other strange situations?
• What is your feeling about those quests/events’s appearance? (appearance rhythm, diversity…).
• Did you see some silly objectives, stuff you can’t achieve, which are too complicated, annoying to do, that you never want to do?
• Are the rewards sufficient? Did you receive a poor reward after doing a super complicated Quests? Or, on the contrary, a super building after killing a stupid pirate? xD

You can also of course add your own answer/suggestions/questions about the choices (quests) or the effects (events) and everything you want! :)

Thanks a lot. :)

For me, the Bug Fixing quest was impossible to complete because it asked for 2 more populations in a system who only had one slot left. Not only that, but the short timeline made it near-impossible to influence the outcome; 10 turns isn't enough to build a food-producing building and have it crank out enough food to squeeze out a population sooner.

Instead, I would suggest it makes X craver populations less efficient until the planet they're on produces X food total. That way there's no time limit and you can influence its speed by moving the pops to different planets/systems.

As for the other quests, I have one major gripe about the storyline quests: when you make your initial choices of which branch to take, you don't see the final reward for it until you complete the initial quest. I would rather skip the paltry initial rewards and compare what technology/equipment I earn for completing each particular branch.

It was working well for me, and stories are interesting.

My only nuissance is with Harmony related quest, as it appeared very soon and take me only with scout ships that are no match for this roaming fleeet. But may be it's all my fault.

quaedam wrote:

Hello :)

I’m here to ask you some questions about Quests and Narrative Events. :)

First, I would like to know your global feeling about them. Even if I know that this feature is not the main one in 4X games, maybe you’ve noticed some details that you want to give feedback on? :)

• Did you see some bugs? I’ve already read that “Bug Fixing” is something impossible to complete (it should be possible and even easier to achieve it soon J ) but did you see some other strange situations?
• What is your feeling about those quests/events’s appearance? (appearance rhythm, diversity…).
• Did you see some silly objectives, stuff you can’t achieve, which are too complicated, annoying to do, that you never want to do?
• Are the rewards sufficient? Did you receive a poor reward after doing a super complicated Quests? Or, on the contrary, a super building after killing a stupid pirate? xD

You can also of course add your own answer/suggestions/questions about the choices (quests) or the effects (events) and everything you want! :)

Thanks a lot. :)

Gladly. Let's begin:

Issue number 1) Less obvious choices in quests. Take the Vodyani step 2 of the story quest: one side gives you some influence that will barely cover the one you have to spend getting a minor faction asimilated. The other ... give the absolute most vital piece of tech for the vodyani in the game curently: amazingly fast engines that let you zip across the galaxy at speeds that make the sophons weep (I think sophons can recover the speed advantage ... in era 3. You become the flash in era 1). I mean ... yeah. There is never any reason to pick the asimilitate quest when the exploration one gives you such a powerfull tool for the vodyani ship-bound migratory playstyle.

In a similar tone with this: cravers. Lore quest gives you a choice between a weapon system that needs era 3 resources to build and ... something mysterious I will not spoil. Era 3 demanding material ... in Era 1. Oh well, in the future you will have amazing guns ready to build without the research right? Well ... nope. Those guns, and excuse my language, SUCK. I think Era 2 whites are just as good, era 3 whites are definetly better. I believe someone did not properly think this through OR asigned them the wrong resources. And while I am on this subject: cravers have a racial afinity for the kinetic weapon type, yet this quest rewards you with lasers. Maybe replace them with railguns or some super torpedo system?

Sophons have the oposite problem ironicaly with their first quest. They have too much important cool shit in one quest that they loose acces to based on the choice. This may not necesarily be bad, but it is inconsistent and it creates some unwaranted frustration due to how important and helpfull those techs could be down the line based on the development of the game. You are asked to make a choice for vital long term affecting techs in the first moments of the game before you even have any ideea how the game will grow and what conflicts you will end up in.

Issue number 2). Explore x anomaly type. Either make it retroactive, OR make it spawn specific quest related anomalies. Otherwise these quests will only ever be either so trivial as to not be worth considered a task OR impossible to complete. Similar for many objectives that demand you explore or build outposts. Curently when I play vodyani I never use any probes on ruins until I get the quest for them, but that's not really a solution, is it?

Issue number 3). The Academy quest. If this quest is to in any way relevant, maybe actualy make the academy secret? As in can't be found through exploration without the quest. Because I have only ever seen the quest once, before I accidentaly ran into the academy (and failed the quest becaue derp?) and the rest of the games have had the academy either discovered in 2-5 turns because it spawned near another empire OR because someone built the academy embasy. In fact, remove the academy embasy structure. Make the academy a quest only deal. With a proper reward for discovering it (curently the dust is a pitance). Perhaps ... first come first serve? The one who discovers it gets a hero free of charge and then the normal recruitment process begins. It would also be an excelent way to plug the Archivist for Endless day into the game in january *wink* *wink*. I have more to say on the subject of heroes but I'll save that for a separate post when my thoughts are in order/when an EA diary comes for them.

Issue number 4). Political repercusions. You sneaky devs, you think I don't see the senate faction symbols on my choices? Well I can, but it also makes me realise they are small and not obvious. Also, there is no tooltip that would indicate those repercusions. Perhaps adress this and let us know that choosing a particular path will boost a certain ideology within our empire.

Issue 5). Minor faction quests. Make them happen, the small people deserve it and we deserve the option of improving relationships with them not through bribery but through genuine friendship ... or intimidation (meaning let the minnor faction quests specific to each race ... sophons would work toghether, cravers would intimidate into obediance, vodyani evangelise to them ... you get the point).

Other than that, I have no more problems with them worth mentioning (I will not complain about how few quests there are and how they vanish as a factor preety soon in the game because early acces, I imagine most of them do not have the proper triggers/are not written yet).

Playing as the Cravers and conquering two Sophon Systems, one was their home system, I got the Sophon Quest about their Youth (the one where you have to either build only science buildings or station fleets in two systems).. Is this intended? Can I get this quest even if I am not playing as the Sophons and only have them as slaves? Is this some kind of population quest or part of the Sophon quest line?

Thanks a lot for all your Feedback! That’s really nice of you to spend time on this topic.

Now I have a lot on my plate >.> I’ve tried to answer to all your questions (though I didn’t quote when the same question had already been posted). But if I’ve forgotten some questions, feel free to remind me!

Aiyen wrote:

I hope I am right to assume that some quests .. for example the "find the academy" one is more or less shared among the various players/AI at least it seems that way. 

I must admit that I find this type of quest really annoying for the following reason. 

You get this interesting quest and you decide to try to fulfill it. However you also know you are never going to make it before one of the AI´s so why bother. 

It would be nice if the quests would be a bit more specific to each player, especially the ones that involve finding a location. 

Also if you are tasked with finding X amount of anomalies it should be possible to do so. I am fairly certain that those things are a one time event for the person who send an expedition... which kinda ruins those quests when you get them later and already have explored your section of space. 

I do not think it would break the game to have quest specific events/anomalies etc. spawn that only the player can see. 

Hey Aiyen! Multiplayer quests will be available in the game. As you said, the Academy Quest is part of them. They would have a specific shape (different from the solo quests). Be sure that we really want to create specific quests and solo quests/events. Plus, we really want to improve the AI to enable it to interact with quests (at least the Multiplayer ones). Being stuck because of the AI shouldn’t therefore be an issue.

Aiyen wrote:

One more minor thing I have noticed is when you get events based on exploration of anomalies curiosities etc. Some events really do not make any sense when you consider what planet you are currently investigating. 

One example I had earlier today. 

I explore a lava or gas giant planet.. forgot which. And then get this nice picture of a lush planet and something I can only assume to be space cows. Then get options to either eat or domesticate them. Now fair enough it can be that space cows can live on those planets... but the illustration is just off and kinda breaks the immersion of the event quite a bit. 

You’re absolutely right. I have to fix that.

phanemy wrote:

I love these quete, mainly when they add lore, but i things they appear too often.

Thanks a lot J We’re trying to find a good “appearance rhythm”, that’s why we’ve asked your opinion about that. Thanks for the feedback

Cronstintein wrote:

I've only done one full playthrough so far, but I really enjoyed the quest system.  Even more than in Endless Legend.

I especially liked the diplomatic issues that came up where you had to pick sides against warring subfactions inside your government (militarists vs pacifists, etc.).  

Thanks, I hope we will be able to create a lot more politics related quests 

RageMcGeezaks wrote:

Asking you to garrison two fighter ships in 10 turns. Early game this is barely possible without crippling your entire game.

That’s annoying indeed. I could postpone it and require the Era2 to launch it.

So I usually go for the other option, pretend to build but never finish only science buildings for 10 turns. 

Which is also crippling, but at least you don't have to finish these buildings to get the reward. :)

Oh really O.O I have to check that. That’s strange.

RageMcGeezaks wrote:

Also the timed quest are all impossible if you play on endless speed, the quest timers will need to be tweaked for that.

Caelie wrote:

Oh yeah, i forgot to add: Do effects from events scale with gamespeed? I get the impression they don't from the endless game i am currently playing.

That’s the next step for all the quests: balancing them depending on the game speed. 

Caelie wrote:

I think Lumeris's has a narrative quest that has you choose between exploring 50% of the galaxy, making 3 colony outposts or assimilate a minor faction. If you choose the "3 outpost" option, it does not retro-actively count if you already had an outpost going. I think it should.

We’re working on it, in order to avoid that kind of unbalanced situation. 

Also the exploration option led me to a military follow-up quest which I was not really expecting since the initial quest was marked with science. I thought it would be a path to pick to somehow get stronger in science, and perhaps it is later, but I did find it a little odd to suddenly have a quest to build 3x "40 attack power" ships after exploring half the galaxy.

Sure. We’ve decided to make it little bit more coherent. Somehow *mysterious dev* >.> I hope you’ll enjoy those modifications soon.

I like quests and events in general a lot, I think they add much variety to the game that keeps it from going stale, but I find myself agreeing with phanemy that they are a bit too common now. It seems like one is almost always popping off. It's a bit much. I would prefer each quest/narrative to be more impactful (both in difficulty and reward) and to not have them happen so often.

Thanks for your input, I’ll remember that. 

Giarc wrote:

I would like it if some 'explore x amount of curiosities' or 'make x amount of outpost' quests objective were retroactive.

The Lumeris quest where you need 80% of the Pacifist party is rather difficult to do, especially when compared to the other objective of a paltry 20% Industrialist.

I would say: it should depend on the context. But I agree with your point regarding the Lumeris’ objective “make X new outposts” which is really hard without retroactivity. We’ve changed a little bit this quest, in order to make it retroactive and more “open” in terms of way of achievement.

Pejman wrote:

What i noticed about balancing quests : the Lumeris quest that gives you the choice between 20% industrialist or 80% pacifist : the 80% pacifist is a dead option, most of the time you'll get this quest after having 3 or 4 parties and you wont be able to get 80% pacifist no matter how hard you try (had to wait and to change my government to dictatorship xD)

I agree and it has already been balanced

Syrenion wrote:

One was probably due to Early Access and the tech tree not being fully developed yet, but one step in the main quest of the Vodyani asked me to either investigate or colonize Auriga. Since my exploration hero was bound at the moment and I was pretty well stocked with Arks, I sent one of those there only to find out that I didn't have the technology to colonize Ice, as well as not being able to research it as it wasn't part of the tech tree yet. 

This kind of situation shouldn’t occur. You’re right.

In general I think, this illustrates nicely the gripe I have with the quests from a purely mechanical point of view: while narratively and visually they are great to read and add flavour to the game, they are often too demanding, complicated and time-consuming to really make it worth the effort. Often times I found myself going out of my way trying to get to quest markers that were just too far away from me, thereby using up a ship I direly needed in other situations. 

Now I think this might also be a Early Access problem, since with a bigger map and without time limit and with the ability to turn off the score victory, one might actually be able to take the time to fully commit to such taxing quests, but at the moment they seem rather a hinderance at times.

Thanks for your feedback. I understand what you mean and I think we should find a balanced way to create quests which are complex/demanding, but also easier quests and events that the player should achieve in just a few turns without changing too much his/her gameplay. 

Nyanko wrote:

The quests are good in general with lots of lore and decent rewards. I have not encountered a single bug or misplaced reward so far. 

My only concern really is the fact the faction quests are systematically done in the same order so it makes the replays kind of boring on that area. As I suggested in another thread, it would be nice to have some branching system in those quests changing slightly the flavor and destiny of the faction, maybe influencing politics and economics in a different way? It would makes things more interesting in my opinion. 

In the following chapters, we’ve planned to change the destiny of some of the Factions J Plus, in the next update, all your choices in the Main Quest will have political impacts…

atejas wrote:

The only thing I'd ask for in particular is that there's some clear indication of when a quest is competitive or cooperative. Maybe I'm missing something but I didn't see any special indication that I was competing against other players for the Academy quest, for example.

Thanks  So, about this concern, we really want to have a different shape, or at least feedback clearly the multiplayers quests

Talfos wrote:

Really small complaint : The first Cravers' quest is pretty annoying. At first i though the rogue fleet was gonna patrol a few systems, but then it just flew through my home system and went on its merry way on the other side of the galaxy. I might be wrong, but i think the starting quest should be a bit easier and not needing you several fleets to corner the enemy one.

Yes, this quest really depends on how the AI will drive the fleet. Sometimes it’s easy and funny, sometimes, lame, and sometimes really annoying. We’re planning to improve the AI and avoid that the situation where a fleet moves away from the neighbors nodes for example. 

Calavera wrote:

RageMcGeezaks wrote:

I really love the Sophon story-line and humor so far :) 

Those are my favorite too! I love the one where ENFER runs amok in one of your systems, it's so funny!

I'm not a huge fan of the "find X anomalies" ones, especially since they are sometimes not even possible on smaller maps with a lot of AI factions.

Generally though, I absolutely love the direction this game is going quest- and lorewise. More please!! :-)

I really have to say that to the writer who created this quest :D I understand, this quest is annoying to achieve if the AI doesn’t participate.

MikeLemmer wrote:

For me, the Bug Fixing quest was impossible to complete because it asked for 2 more populations in a system who only had one slot left. Not only that, but the short timeline made it near-impossible to influence the outcome; 10 turns isn't enough to build a food-producing building and have it crank out enough food to squeeze out a population sooner.

Instead, I would suggest it makes X craver populations less efficient until the planet they're on produces X food total. That way there's no time limit and you can influence its speed by moving the pops to different planets/systems.

That could be a good way to deal with this problem. Plus, with the migration feature, this quest should be a lot easier to do ^^

Pejman wrote:

Hi Quaedam

I believe that events are a good way to add diversity in the gameplay

<3

The voydani have a quest asking for you to kill pirates in their own systems/constellation but sometimes these pirates are very far, i had them once in another constellation around another empire system ...

It could occur if your galaxy settings are set to “Constellation = few” and “Size = Tiny”. I don’t know if it’s the case for your game. Please check your settings and let us know.

Last but not least, we can't see what the empire improvements we unlock will do until we unlock them. It would be great if we could have a description of their effects before chosing what part of the quest we want to complete

I hope I could help

That’s a global problem indeed. I hope we’ll be able to address that.

lo_fabre wrote:

It was working well for me, and stories are interesting.

My only nuissance is with Harmony related quest, as it appeared very soon and take me only with scout ships that are no match for this roaming fleeet. But may be it's all my fault.

Hum… it’s not your fault, but maybe we have to say something like “There is something VERY dangerous here”. As we do for some events…

XDAvenger93 wrote:

1) And while I am on this subject: cravers have a racial afinity for the kinetic weapon type, yet this quest rewards you with lasers. Maybe replace them with railguns or some super torpedo system?

This may not necesarily be bad, but it is inconsistent and it creates some unwaranted frustration due to how important and helpfull those techs could be down the line based on the development of the game.

Thanks a lot for your feedbacks about the rewards. I forgot to update them after balancing iterations but I’ll have a look at it.

XDAvenger93 wrote:

3) The Academy quest. If this quest is t