Polaris Sector - another new space 4x

Started by RedArgo, November 02, 2015, 04:48:47 PM

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vyshka

I'm not booted up in windows now so I can't go check, on the planet screen is there something that tells you the max population that it could have? I went to migrate some citizens to an oceanic planet I'd colonized, and only a small number were able to disembark there. My empire is probably going to die. They only have 2 corvettes currently, and they are defending the home system because someone in procurement screwed up and didn't check the range on them before having them built. I imagine he got a nice kickback on that.

Millipede

Quote from: Barthheart on April 04, 2016, 11:52:00 AM
Quote from: Millipede on April 04, 2016, 11:44:43 AM
You guys are really annoying me! Like I need another game.... I've decided to make the leap but I see that it's single player so is there any advantage to buying it on Steam or should I just go to Matrix/Slitherine?

Where ever you can get it cheapest I'd say. If you buy it at Matrix/Slitherine I think you get a Steam key anyway...

Thanks for the response. I'm off to purchase another game I don't need but it sure looks like a winner.

Barthheart

Quote from: Millipede on April 04, 2016, 12:36:28 PM
Quote from: Barthheart on April 04, 2016, 11:52:00 AM
Quote from: Millipede on April 04, 2016, 11:44:43 AM
You guys are really annoying me! Like I need another game.... I've decided to make the leap but I see that it's single player so is there any advantage to buying it on Steam or should I just go to Matrix/Slitherine?

Where ever you can get it cheapest I'd say. If you buy it at Matrix/Slitherine I think you get a Steam key anyway...

Thanks for the response. I'm off to purchase another game I don't need but it sure looks like a winner.

Glad to be of service!  O0

mikeck

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on April 04, 2016, 12:11:22 PM
Yeah...I'm with Barth on the research issue. I'm still totally reliant on Corvettes. I can see Frigates in the research queue, but its still pretty far off. I can't imagine how long it will take for my empire to develop destroyers, cruisers and battleships. Very impressive, Ian.

I just prioritized frigates and used them for awile, then as I got more applied tech and discovered more toys, I prioritize destroyers

Keep in mind, just because you "prioritize" something doesn't mean nothing else gets researched. Just that the sliders are moved to positions that put the most research points as possible into that prioritized item. But if- after prioritizing- you have a couple applied sciences checked, then ANY items requiring research in those sciences gets love too

So after I prioritized destroyers, there were 3 items I discovered before I got the destroyer...they also benefited from the "concentrated" research. So don't be afraid to prioritize things constantly, other stuff still gets researched!

By the way...that BATTLESHIP...holy crap! It takes a minimum of 35 years to build!
"A government large enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have."--Thomas Jefferson

Jarhead0331

Quote from: mikeck on April 04, 2016, 01:02:02 PM

By the way...that BATTLESHIP...holy crap! It takes a minimum of 35 years to build!

Yeah, but in a universe where wars can rage for hundreds of years on the average, what's a measly couple of decades?  :smitten:
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Ian C

#260
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on April 04, 2016, 12:11:22 PM
Yeah...I'm with Barth on the research issue. I'm still totally reliant on Corvettes. I can see Frigates in the research queue, but its still pretty far off. I can't imagine how long it will take for my empire to develop destroyers, cruisers and battleships. Very impressive, Ian.

Thanks but not really. Prioritising capital ships put me back in other techs and it took ages. I was lucky that nothing big kicked off with the other empires and I could do it in relative peace. The scope is the thing about this game. Fast forwarding several hundred years just to improve tech wouldn't work in other 4x games. I think perhaps choosing the 'No Pirates' option also gave me a head-start.
Next game, I'm going to choose a more aggressive strategy. I didn't do too badly though, I'm second in colonised worlds (103) to the Magellan's 122.

Another thing about this game is that it illustrates the reality and issues of creating different variants of ships that look good but never see production.
You might develop better tech, power plants, weapons, armour etc. which in theory promise much more powerful vessels, and when you make the design you realise the ship has lost performance in areas, where in others it has gained. Perhaps its speed has dropped or those super-powerful weapons just bleed off power, and suddenly your 22,000 range ship has dropped to 14,000. The new design is more expensive, and while tactically, it's a bigger gun, strategically it's effectiveness has been reduced. Suddenly your trusted Mk 2 Cruiser which you began with is a better choice. Which is how I suppose it works in reality.

Dread Rlyeh

So the steam forums have the patch being QA'd (presumably very light QA) and released to beta hopefully tomorrow.  I wish they would just push it to the beta branch ASAP and let users decide if they want to install.  What's the worst that could happen?  It's already pointless (imo of course) to start a new game if the AI isn't researching.  If it is totally game breaking you can just patch back to the standard branch.

How no one catches something huge like this is beyond me.  Why not, in addition to the current inadequate QA, have an all AI game setup,  decoupled from the graphics engine so you can really crank, and run a regression after each patch?  You can then look for thrown exceptions, review combat logs, check to see if some AI player tweaked with extra bonus is usually winning, etc.  You can throw in some hard coded events and such to ensure you can test various scenarios if need be.  Minimal work, maximum return.

Anyway, I will probably just monkey around and work on my starting builds.  For races that don't start with a police force, I think it is worthwhile to build 1 or 2 thousand so that you can run a longer work day and unrest will grow less quickly.  2-4 months lag time to build the police, but you can save significantly more from the production increase, especially as time goes on - at least that's what I'm thinking. 

I'm not sure if this was mentioned upthread somewhere, I've kind of been skimming it for some time.



   

solops

#262
Quote from: mikeck on April 03, 2016, 10:43:40 PM
Just read in the steam forums that a beta patch will be released in the next few days. This fixes an issue with the AI not properly researching. This would explain why they never use more than corvettes frigates and fighters. Pretty pathetic that even with a tech handicap, I still get slapped around in battles

Read the same note on Steam. As I understand it, as true patch is Sunday (?) and a Steam beta patch might be available before then. That seems odd, maybe I have it mixed up. BTW, I run into cruisers regularly. Have not seen a BB yet. I just finished the tech tree by getting BBs. I am so resource strapped in my multi-front war that there is no way I can build a BB. I cannot even keep my carriers fully loaded and I am still trying to rotate my many older DDs back for a 2 generation upgrade. What few CAs I have are all current. Everything smaller than a DD has withered in the fire of combat and has not seemed worth replacing, other than a few smaller light carriers. BTW, it seems to me that the human CA hull is a terrible carrier platform (poor layout). DD hulls seem much better suited, given the costs involved.
"I could have conquered Europe, all of it, but I had women in my life." - King Henry II of England
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly. - Winston Churchill
Wine is sure proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. - Benjamin Franklin

ghostryder

I understand this correctly ghostryder you spent a week complaining the game had set start points with utter outrage and having been disproved you've now made a mod to do what you were furious about

Yeah I wasn't happy with the start positions and I think the races and the player start far too close to each other--especially on a 900 star map. Then I investigated the modding angle---but I've still found no way for a 2 player race game on a 900 star map--not from that gen 0 file-and to go into modding deeper it's pretty convoluted- you have to unpack, run utility programs , convert and all sorts of things I just do not have time to mess with right now---but yeah--modding may fix it but I think this should be in the map options without having to to mod it.

Jarhead0331

Quote from: ghostryder on April 04, 2016, 02:31:38 PM
I understand this correctly ghostryder you spent a week complaining the game had set start points with utter outrage and having been disproved you've now made a mod to do what you were furious about

Yeah I wasn't happy with the start positions and I think the races and the player start far too close to each other--especially on a 900 star map. Then I investigated the modding angle---but I've still found no way for a 2 player race game on a 900 star map--not from that gen 0 file-and to go into modding deeper it's pretty convoluted- you have to unpack, run utility programs , convert and all sorts of things I just do not have time to mess with right now---but yeah--modding may fix it but I think this should be in the map options without having to to mod it.

I tend to agree with this complaint. My first game was on a 500 star elliptical system and I would say I was within 10 systems of 3 different races. I started a new game, this time without pirates, and in a 700 star elliptical system. I made contact with intelligent life within THREE stars of my homeworld. Another THREE races were shortly discovered within 10 stars of my homeworld. This could be totally coincidental, but it does seem that races are placed a bit too close for comfort on large maps.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Dread Rlyeh

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on April 04, 2016, 02:43:28 PM
Quote from: ghostryder on April 04, 2016, 02:31:38 PM
I understand this correctly ghostryder you spent a week complaining the game had set start points with utter outrage and having been disproved you've now made a mod to do what you were furious about

Yeah I wasn't happy with the start positions and I think the races and the player start far too close to each other--especially on a 900 star map. Then I investigated the modding angle---but I've still found no way for a 2 player race game on a 900 star map--not from that gen 0 file-and to go into modding deeper it's pretty convoluted- you have to unpack, run utility programs , convert and all sorts of things I just do not have time to mess with right now---but yeah--modding may fix it but I think this should be in the map options without having to to mod it.

I tend to agree with this complaint. My first game was on a 500 star elliptical system and I would say I was within 10 systems of 3 different races. I started a new game, this time without pirates, and in a 700 star elliptical system. I made contact with intelligent life within THREE stars of my homeworld. Another THREE races were shortly discovered within 10 stars of my homeworld. This could be totally coincidental, but it does seem that races are placed a bit too close for comfort on large maps.
On hard, you are attacked by Logans (or by pirates if Logan) right off the bat.  The first encounter is easily won, but they return with 2 cruisers and you have to give 3% mineral tribute (accept their apology, then tribute the tribute option).  You don't have time to build up any defenses. 

Also, within a jump of your homeworld is a pirate fleet.  If you are unlucky and this is a chokepoint it will obviously curtain expansion.  The dev is clearly a fan of some fixed start parameters and scripting.  Mods/greater configuration options will I'm sure provide some alternatives. 

I think the game will be great when it has been tuned a bit.  The AI not researching tech properly is really POing me though, after another hour or so of monkeying around with starting strategies, I wanted to get a game going.   

goldsboro

Quote from: ghostryder on April 04, 2016, 02:31:38 PM
but I've still found no way for a 2 player race game on a 900 star map
I guess you can generate a 900 stars galaxy and then just delete all homeworlds except for two races you wish to keep in the game...

mikeck

Quote from: Dread Rlyeh on April 04, 2016, 01:25:44 PM
So the steam forums have the patch being QA'd (presumably very light QA) and released to beta hopefully tomorrow.  I wish they would just push it to the beta branch ASAP and let users decide if they want to install.  What's the worst that could happen?  It's already pointless (imo of course) to start a new game if the AI isn't researching.  If it is totally game breaking you can just patch back to the standard branch.

How no one catches something huge like this is beyond me.  Why not, in addition to the current inadequate QA, have an all AI game setup,  decoupled from the graphics engine so you can really crank, and run a regression after each patch?  You can then look for thrown exceptions, review combat logs, check to see if some AI player tweaked with extra bonus is usually winning, etc.  You can throw in some hard coded events and such to ensure you can test various scenarios if need be.  Minimal work, maximum return.

Anyway, I will probably just monkey around and work on my starting builds.  For races that don't start with a police force, I think it is worthwhile to build 1 or 2 thousand so that you can run a longer work day and unrest will grow less quickly.  2-4 months lag time to build the police, but you can save significantly more from the production increase, especially as time goes on - at least that's what I'm thinking. 

I'm not sure if this was mentioned upthread somewhere, I've kind of been skimming it for some time.





The patch will be available on steam beta tomorrow but they had to at least make sure that it does what it's supposed to do and doesn't break the game I guess.

I'm not sure that the AI is not to researching at all... I just know there is an issue with AI research and I certainly have not run into the AI possessing anything of advanced technology. There are exceptions but looking back on it I think it is because I sold them technology. For example one race only has three or four worlds while the others have over 100 and I think it's because I sold atmospheric dome technology to those worlds and not the other one? so I don't know.  I love the game and I am deep into one right now so I will just practice invasions and ship design and things like that until the beta patch.

Funny thing is even though I am far advanced in tech?  I'm still having trouble. I will say when I looked at the graphs I am far ahead and tack but the other races still have a line going up indicating discoveries just not near as much as mine. It is possible that they are researching but they are not building any research facilities or something
"A government large enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have."--Thomas Jefferson

Dread Rlyeh

#268
Quote from: mikeck on April 04, 2016, 03:28:45 PM
The patch will be available on steam beta tomorrow but they had to at least make sure that it does what it's supposed to do and doesn't break the game I guess.

Shards  [developer] 5 hours ago     
I have files from Ufnv and I'm doing a sanity checking for him before we upload. Will probably release them to beta tomorrow.
Ta!


I read this as possibly tomorrow with a dash of the 12th of never :) 

Quote from: mikeck on April 04, 2016, 03:28:45 PM
Funny thing is even though I am far advanced in tech?  I'm still having trouble. I will say when I looked at the graphs I am far ahead and tack but the other races still have a line going up indicating discoveries just not near as much as mine. It is possible that they are researching but they are not building any research facilities or something

I have heard multiple people say this, so hard difficulty with the AI effectively researching might be closer to impossible.  It will be interesting. 

mikeck

New post by devs. Patch out tomorrow. Here is the changelist

http://steamcommunity.com/app/418250/discussions/0/371918937275744568/

Hi,
We'll be putting the first patch up tomorrow (5th April) and it will be initially as an open beta so that we can check stability.

Changelog v1.03:

Stability:
Fixed – Crash on exiting Settings Configurator
Fixed – Misc other crash bugs
Fixed – Boot error when using the "-design" option
Fixed – Remove the possibility to use special symbols in names (was causing save issues)
Fixed – Crash at end of Tutorials when playing in Spanish

AI:
Change – Updated AI rules to force it to stand and fight after a second retreat in a row
Change – Increased AI focus on science production on Hard difficulty
Change – Planetary governer mode "Mineral" renamed to "Mineral+"
Added – New Planetary governer "Mineral" that will only build mineral facilities, nothing else. Use this when you want to add mineral mines but not reduce food or research output
Fixed – Colonizers can now take population from a planet with population control

UI:
Added – Option to permanently remove ship designs (Hold down shift and click the delete button)
Fixed – Scrolling in the economics screen could scroll down the events log
Speculative Fix – Reduced UI messages about planetary bombardment
Change – If combat cannot be simulated in a reasonable time then game uses calculations rather than simulation. If this happens then no statistics are shown on post-battle screen.
Change – Can order 150 fighters at once from planetary build queue
Added – More tooltip info on the impact of extended working hours on exhausted workers
Fixed – Can now have the same name ship design across multiple races

Gameplay:
Fixed – Transporting population to world with Shipyards but not factories will no longer destroy the shipyards nor any excess Colonial Modules
Fixed – Muon Fusion Reactor changed to 6x6
Change – lessened the rate of impact of extended working hours on your workers
Fixed – Removed ability to destroy orbital structures or launch invasions before combat resolved

Modding:
Fixed – Can now use SCENARIO folders inside Mod folders
Added – Ability to add Heroes
"A government large enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have."--Thomas Jefferson