Alright, as I did with the first Alpha, I've collected and written down things I've encountered that I would like changed or added to. The game has come so far, so some of these are nit picking, but here are my thoughts:



[Engine]

1. SLI Support. Not sure if the game allows for this. Currently doesn't seem to, which means my collective 2 GB of graphics cards is widdled down to a pathetic single 1 GB GTX 460 struggling to render these massive battles in all of their glory. Whether this is a problem on Nvidia's side or the game engine, I haven't found an answer yet, but it seems that the game only likes to use 1 card at a time despite whatever I try to force. A large number of potential customers use SLI and crossfire setups, you might want to keep this in mind.

2. Graphics. Are gorgeous. I love the explosion system. I love everything about the graphics of this game, they are well done and beautiful. Which is why I'm so peeved about #1!



[UI]

1. Fleet Strength Indicators. Do we have a way to estimate fleet power? Check (MP). Do we have ship graphics for fleets? Check. Why not have the fleet graphic change based upon the fleet strength, or if that information is not available to the player, how about fleet size? So many games allow this quick viewing of enemy strength without having to actually interact with the fleet/army.

2. Population Indicators Further Out. I feel that, especially on larger galaxies, I can't zoom out too far without losing critical information. However, occasionally it is good to be able to "birds eye" the game from a strategic perspective. Maybe having each planet show their current pop/maximum possible pop (which should include non colonized planets....which this info currently doesn't when you tooltip the planet). Also, even though it might have been a bug, I appreciated the large number next to each planet showing the garrison size when you are zoomed out.

3. Outpost Indicator. I shouldn't have to click on a planet to tell when it is an outpost or not, there should be some easy visual indicator of this. early game this usually isn't an issue since planets don't have a large radius of influence but late game all the colonies and outposts blend together and you can rarely tell which is which from an expanded view. I usually notice which one is an outpost because the enemies try to take it, not because there is an easy way to tell without having to click on every planet and remember which is a colony and which might be an outpost!

4. Blockade/Invasion Notifications. Similar to the "list" notifications for finished production, give me a list of planets that are being blockaded or invaded each turn. That way I don't have to fish around the map to find out.

5. Praise. Your UI is sexy. Did anyone tell you that?



[FleetCombat,andInteraction]

1. Enemy Defensive Fleets. It seems that if an enemy splits their fleet into five 4/10 groups and puts them defensively around my planet, my massive fleet has to eat them piecemeal over 5 turns. How about a fleet can engage an equal amount of CP per turn? (I think the game let me attack multiple fleets during one invasion, but I could not get this to repeat during subsequent invasions).

2. Armor more important?/AI shipbuilding This gets deeper into game design suggestions than I'd like to get, but late game ships pop within seconds of battle since the power of weapons so greatly overruns most possible defense and armor combos. I think a ship HP module buff would help, I'd love to make it to melee phase past turn 200 :P. This might also be because the AI does not "balance" their armor yet, they like 1 weapon 1 armor approach (this might also be related to the current "kamakazi destroyer" strategy being heavily exploited by both the AI and players).

3. Camera. But you know this .



[Economy/Tech]

1. "Slow" tech speed and pirate balancing. Two suggestions: Adding another speed of tech. I'm a fan of slow, epic, massive games, and I feel that while the "slow" tech speed is well paced, a "marathon" speed might be useful. Also, game tech speed should be synced with pirate tech pace. I don't think it is currently (not sure), I was playing on a slow tech speed and it was WAY to early and pirates were tearing up me and the AI's with 400-800 beam damage fleets. In fact, in a recent slow, huge, 8 player game, 4 of the AIs were wiped out from just pirates. Well, something isn't right there.

2. Diplomacy modifier techs. I think there should be some techs that give you a positive relationship boost to you with the AIs. Currently, expanded diplomatic options don't seem to give you any diplomacy boost or bonus (since the AI rarely likes to stay friends anyways). GalCiv2 had techs that gave small modifier bonuses to diplomacy, I think it might be worth it to tie this to the current diplomacy techs.

3. Praise. Overall, this section of the game is well done !



[Diplomacy]

You knew this one was coming. I'll be brief, and I'll also add that I understand there is much work to be done in this department. If you guys had any focus, let it be diplomacy for the next few weeks! Unfortunately for 4x's, this can make or ruin the experience of the game.

1. Allied victory. Let us win together. Not sure the game allows this yet (apologize if so).

2. AI expansion on military modifiers need to be toned down. I know you guys have mentioned the AI was left aggressive internally due to concerns about balance.

3. More Diplomacy Options! I can't bribe an AI to stop warring another AI. I can't try to make peace between two factions. I can list many more options that would make me happy, but these are sorely needed. Otherwise, Alliances seem to be a the whim of the erratic AI.

4. Alliance Improvements. I don't feel alliances are explained well enough to the player. It seems that the AI can do whatever warring it wants in your alliance without your consent or without even telling you! (Someone in my alliance declared war on the Cravers, and the game did not notify me....until the Cravers took a planet of mine...).

5. Blockade/Outpost Invasion AI behavior. Not every AI needs to be a jerk and ALWAYS blockade and invade every planet that is an outpost, especially if they want to be friends. Currently it seems that every AI personality (even "good" ones) will ruthlessly invade and blockade my outposts. When I do this, I get negative diplomacy modifiers. I'd prefer two separate AI personalities on this one. If they want to go to war with you, let them be aggressive. If not, make them leave my planets alone. Because when I do the same to them they usually declare war on me, and currently this feels asymmetric. I like the idea of the "cold war", but hell, if the Soviet Union blockaded or invaded Japan every week during the cold war, you guarantee it would have turned hot quickly. Ramifications for an AI actually blockading or invading your systems, even during cold war, should be a BIG deal, and would add to the tension of the "cold war" state. Again, every AI shouldn't autoblockade or autoinvade outposts just because of our cold war status, it needs to be related to the AIs ultimate intent or the current trend of diplomacy modifiers.

6. "UN" type organization, or at least some secondary-level "politics". This is a dream of mine, but I loved the system from GalCiv2. It really made you feel like there was "politics" in the Universe, instead of just the bland peace/war dealings. Heck, you even gave each race an alignment, so it makes sense that their should be some secondary-level politics affecting the whole Universe. Maybe alliances can, within themselves, act as mini "UNs" where each member has to agree or negotiate for unified action (ie, destroying that Craver threat or making peace with the Sophons). Either way, this would breathe more life into the Universe than there is currently.



[GameSetup]

1. Remember my previous setup. We aren't paragons, sometimes we get a bad start and we want to reroll the Universe. Many of the options (tech speed, AI's) do not carry over if you want to re-start a setup. This would be nice, and maybe add a "default" setting or other "saved" settings for the players to chose from easily.



[UniverseEvents].

Half of these don't seem to work yet (ie "Legendary Wreck Found"). You have such a wonderful artist, why not draw some pictures for each event? Something to make it more exciting than a simple text box! Also, Big Events. I do want (see GalCiv2 "Return of the Dreadlords"/"pacifists" etc). I'm sure some of these aren't finished yet, I know we are only in a Beta.



Thanks for giving me the chance to play your game before the official release! It is very fun, and hopefully my feedback is useful to you. I think this game is going to make a big impact on the 4x scene, and it really is getting there!

Great ideas and feedback. Diplomacy and flavor are the two biggest areas that I would like to see addressed.

I'd like to add one suggestion to those good points: Being able to battle an enemy together with an allied fleet. As it is now, battles take place one after another preventing such joint efforts. It would be nice to see a friend join the fight when needed.