After a couple hours of playing this game, I've worked up a list of things that have come to my attention, both good and bad, and I'd like to share them.



1) Simplicity. In this case, it's a good thing! Compared to MoO3, I can actually figure the game out! So kudos for that! I've had great fun with the alpha thus far



2) I did, however, come across an issue involving some pirate ships that just sat around one of my systems. I could see them, but I couldn't do anything to them, like attack them to boot them out. I found that quite annoying, because they were blockading some planets that I was considering colonisation of.



3) Resource requirements. It was a good idea adding them to certain technologies. However, I recall a missile I had that needed Titanium-70, and the nearest planet with that resource was quite far away, and in pirate-infested space. Maybe have resources for basic technologies a little more accessable.



4) Heroes. Or more specifically, the limit on them. I don't know if it ever increases or not, but 3 heroes doesn't feel enough. Even early on when I had 4 systems and 3 fleets, they felt too thinly-spread. Also, I was unable to find a way to remove a leader from a system so I could post them on one of my fleets. They were stuck there doing menial tasks on an unimportant colony.



5) The combat system. It's alright, I suppose, but I also feel a little powerless with only options on a few strategic decisions. A little more control over the conflict would be nice. And a retreat option.



6) The tech tree was a little difficult to use at first glance, at least when it came to finding a specific type of technology. The icons are ok, but they need to be categorised a little better. When I'm looking for a tech that helps remove adverse conditions on a planet, I don't want to have to hover my mouse over every possible technology until I find it. Also, are there sensor upgrades? Becuase I was unhappy to have a neutral ship flying around my territory when I didn't even know what it was. If there are sensor upgrades to aid with that, I could not find them due to difficulties with the tech tree; and if not, there should be some.



Now despite those issues and an unhandled exception that came up at one stage, I am impressed with this game. It is good enough to keep me hooked for a while, it's fun, not too hard to understand and definately has a great atmosphere.



I do, however, have some suggestions of my own that I think would make the game even better:



- Orbital defences. I havn't had a system attacked yet, so I don't know what defenses there are, but I feel it would be more fun to have system or planetary defenses upgradable individually. Such as with Pax Imperia, where you get the option to build a missile base, battle station or fighter base, which launch the corresponding weaponry. You can have one of each - as well as a minefield - and upgrade them to a 5th level. Of course the down side of that, is that a fully defended planet needs an entire fleet of 21 ships to defeat, so obviously a balance is needed to make war a little more affordable than throwing millions of battleships at a metaphorical brick wall and hoping they don't break.



- Star drives. I think drives that allow you to travel through wormholes should be hardpoints on a ship. That way, you can build cheaper ships with more space to defend your systems, whilst sending more expensive ships with less remaining space out on the offensive. Makes colonisation of your local cluster cheaper and also makes war a little more strategic.



- A better tutorial system. The current one I was too tempted to skip without reading. It should show you how to play rather than just tell you.



- More focus on individual planets rather than systems. I feel there should be more focus on the planets when it comes to construction. Each indivudal planet should have its own buildings and tech upgrades rather than each system, and the results of these should really be visible on a planetary view screen, which can be anything, really, so long as one can see a visible progression of the planet's surface. That doesn't really have much of a use beyond asthetics, but it's nice to see your progress in such a rewarding and impressive manner.

Couple of answers to your points (bear in mind, I am not a Dev, just played the game early)



To

1) nothing to add.

2) Did the pirates really hinder you? I had the same problem last night and they just sat around doing nothing and blocking nothing.

3) Answer to that... If you miss a resource, usually the next item on the research tree is free of that particular resource. In this instance, next missile would be Titanium-70 free iirc and there you have a nice trade-off, actually.

4) Heroes, you have research which allows for more heroes aye. I am pretty sure the number of heroes is voluntarily limited as they are something special... As to the reassignement thingie, it ought to work without a problem, will retest the procedure tonight. My usual plays, I have 2 heroes doing admin thingies and an admiral for the spearhead of my fleet.

5) Combat, well I would also prefer a bit more details, but it works as it is and it is really strategic. The tactical part is actually restricted to the cards you play, but 90% of the battle is decided beforehand, due to your technologies, number of ships and weapon/defense/support builds you chose to create. No micro-management of fleets but a strategic one. But YMMV of course and perhaps you would prefer Total War : Endless Space

6) Tech tree, you can use the search function if you look for something, like "missile" or "kinetic".



Orbital defenses... I agree, I love those but they are not present in game at this stage, they are replaced by planet-based structures which make your system harder to occupy. Conversely, ships have the possibility to add modules which facilitate invasions.

Star drives: nice idea, albeit I would hate the micromanagement aspects.

Tutorial system: didn't use it, so can't comment. (no, not bragging, I just tested an early version without tutorial...)

Focus on planets: I disagree. I like the way it works as it cuts down heavily on micro-management. Only gripe I have is that I would prefer to have a separate queue for strategic endeavours like shipbuilding, for example.

Riik wrote:
After a couple hours of playing this game, I've worked up a list of things that have come to my attention, both good and bad, and I'd like to share them.



1) Simplicity. In this case, it's a good thing! Compared to MoO3, I can actually figure the game out! So kudos for that! I've had great fun with the alpha thus far



2) I did, however, come across an issue involving some pirate ships that just sat around one of my systems. I could see them, but I couldn't do anything to them, like attack them to boot them out. I found that quite annoying, because they were blockading some planets that I was considering colonisation of.



3) Resource requirements. It was a good idea adding them to certain technologies. However, I recall a missile I had that needed Titanium-70, and the nearest planet with that resource was quite far away, and in pirate-infested space. Maybe have resources for basic technologies a little more accessable.



4) Heroes. Or more specifically, the limit on them. I don't know if it ever increases or not, but 3 heroes doesn't feel enough. Even early on when I had 4 systems and 3 fleets, they felt too thinly-spread. Also, I was unable to find a way to remove a leader from a system so I could post them on one of my fleets. They were stuck there doing menial tasks on an unimportant colony.



5) The combat system. It's alright, I suppose, but I also feel a little powerless with only options on a few strategic decisions. A little more control over the conflict would be nice. And a retreat option.



6) The tech tree was a little difficult to use at first glance, at least when it came to finding a specific type of technology. The icons are ok, but they need to be categorised a little better. When I'm looking for a tech that helps remove adverse conditions on a planet, I don't want to have to hover my mouse over every possible technology until I find it. Also, are there sensor upgrades? Becuase I was unhappy to have a neutral ship flying around my territory when I didn't even know what it was. If there are sensor upgrades to aid with that, I could not find them due to difficulties with the tech tree; and if not, there should be some.



Now despite those issues and an unhandled exception that came up at one stage, I am impressed with this game. It is good enough to keep me hooked for a while, it's fun, not too hard to understand and definately has a great atmosphere.



I do, however, have some suggestions of my own that I think would make the game even better:



- Orbital defences. I havn't had a system attacked yet, so I don't know what defenses there are, but I feel it would be more fun to have system or planetary defenses upgradable individually. Such as with Pax Imperia, where you get the option to build a missile base, battle station or fighter base, which launch the corresponding weaponry. You can have one of each - as well as a minefield - and upgrade them to a 5th level. Of course the down side of that, is that a fully defended planet needs an entire fleet of 21 ships to defeat, so obviously a balance is needed to make war a little more affordable than throwing millions of battleships at a metaphorical brick wall and hoping they don't break.



- Star drives. I think drives that allow you to travel through wormholes should be hardpoints on a ship. That way, you can build cheaper ships with more space to defend your systems, whilst sending more expensive ships with less remaining space out on the offensive. Makes colonisation of your local cluster cheaper and also makes war a little more strategic.



- A better tutorial system. The current one I was too tempted to skip without reading. It should show you how to play rather than just tell you.



- More focus on individual planets rather than systems. I feel there should be more focus on the planets when it comes to construction. Each indivudal planet should have its own buildings and tech upgrades rather than each system, and the results of these should really be visible on a planetary view screen, which can be anything, really, so long as one can see a visible progression of the planet's surface. That doesn't really have much of a use beyond asthetics, but it's nice to see your progress in such a rewarding and impressive manner.