Hi,



I failed to find a 'clear' spot to send feedback to, so I'm posting here, hopefully it's the right place if it's not, please move it to the right spot.

The following feedback represents my first 8 hours of experience with the alpha version (0.24.4) of game. The points are in random order, some big some small.



1. The game always attempts to start in a fixed full-screen resolution before switching to the configured values after the menu is loaded. It is annoying if you have a multi-monitor setup and each time you launch the game, everything gets broken while the game is starting. It should ideally use the configured display options from the very start. It is also annoying if you have configured it to run in windowed mode, but it still starts off in full-screen.



2. It would be nice if we could choose the monitor to display the game on (again, for multi-monitor setups).



3. The combat should not have the start timer in single player mode (I can understand it being there in multiplayer, but should not be in single player). I want to be able to find it and consider my chances for as long as I like. Also, when I am reading a report on one battle, and the second one starts, it goes on and finishes in the background while I cannot interact with it, because I still have the previous battle result window open. This should never happen.



4. I find the manual combat hard to understand, chaotic and way too fast to react properly. It's just personal preference I suppose (I am a slow person, I like to read all the details and consider my options), and as long as I have a choice and don't have to use it I'm ok - but you probably intended it to be used extensively, and after trying it a few times, I do not want to use it at all any more.



5. Opponent fleets move during my turn. This is completely unexpected from a 'turn-based' game and extremely annoying when you are trying to attack an enemy fleet and it just moves before you can order to attack. This should not happen. My fleets should move on my turn, opponent fleets should move on opponent's turn and stay where they are during my turns.



6. The game is too difficult. Now - I might be just plain bad at it, but if I play at a Newbie difficulty and am crushed each time, having around 3-4x less points than the opponents at all times something feels wrong. I do not expect to be able to win on the hardest difficulty, but I do believe I should be able to win on the easiest one.



7. I should be able to change AI player's color when creating a single player game. I can change mine - that's nice - but the AI can end up with a very similar color and I cannot change it, which is a little bit annoying.



8. Sometimes a fleet does not want to move to a system without any obvious reason. I select the fleet, order it to move, the sound is played but the fleet does not move. The systems are connected with the usual string (not a wormhole) and it is a new turn. Selecting any other system works just fine, only that one particular does not. It only happened to me 4 times during the 8 hour play but it is annoying. If there are reasons why the fleet cannot move to that system it should be explained.



9. The hit boxes on the fleets and systems should be a little bit bigger. I often find myself having to click a few times before I hit the right spot.



10. It took me a few tries before I realized that the last tab of the ship designer can be scrolled to see other modules I can fit.



11. Sometimes the system/planet view takes unreasonably long to load. For the most part it works just fine, but sometimes when you click on a system there's a big lag before the screen shows the planets.



Overall I do enjoy and like the game. It looks very promising. Well done so far.

I'd like to second the interface suggestions.



I'd love it to be easier to select a fleet and to get proper feedback when giving them orders. When hovering over a destination, tell me how long it will take to get there or why the path is blocked. (Common reasons being trying to enter another person's territory or cross a wormhole, I think, but I don't know).



Really, the fleet interface needs some changes. A way to move ships from one fleet to another form the main screen without having to merge, easier to select fleets (the whole interface element for fleets should be larger) and more feedback as to what a fleet can do.