game flaws preliminary report

[leafy_kille]

! made a race based on the Bardacks, sorry if I spelt it wrong (the amoeba plant things) played on the default settings for the map with the missions enabled and on the hardest available difficulty setting, my custom build for them had 175 spare points, to purposely make it harder for me, the AI still folded effortlessly, you REALLY need to do something about the difficulty of this game, if I make a race using all the points I can be at the top of every graph in under 100 turns, that's just stupid.

Either disable the ability to customise your race, fix the race customisation options (I have many suggestions if you want to hear them, and am glad you took my previous suggestion of removing teraforming as a starting tech along with the option to pick crystal cannons), or create an ultimate difficulty level where the AI opponents get a % bonus to build times, credit income, food production, production, ground and ship combat, research and ship hit points (or defence if you can fix it so they don't end up immortal if you set it high enough) and ideally allow the player to set that value (shouldn't be too hard to do if you limit it to 10% increments from 50% to 300% {or however high is necessary to make it totally impossible to win} depending on the coding a true sliding scale or simply a number entry box may be achievable without too much effort and would be preferable)

I have also noted that the AI is hopeless at actually attacking planets, 2 solutions spring to mind, 1: stop players attacking planets with anything but heavy weapons or bombs, or 2: get the AI to use the fact that even its light scouts can destroy a colony.

This is not an exhaustive report of the problems I have found but it is the biggest and easiest to solve problems that I have found.
I am aware it is still in beta so I hope this report is helpful, for further dissection in a (hopefully) useful way please feel free to contact me [email address available on request]

leafy

[Zaimat]

It is interesting to know that you found it very easy even on the highest difficulty setting.

Can you share your template? And did you play Normal or Classic mode?

Currently the AI races don't cheat at higher difficulty settings but the Player is set at a disadvantage with money generation from trade and tourism.

[leafy_kille]

specific race build:

general

government type: - totalitarian 10 pt
pop growth rate: - low 0 pt
planet size: - medium 20 pt
planet type: - desert (though I have since worked out that the race performs even better if you set it to metallic at no additional cost)

traits

farming, industry, trade, research, boarding combat, ground combat, morale, ship attack and ship defence all poor 0 pt
finance: - good 40 pt
special abilities:

Immaterial 100 pt (only purchased for don't need food, immunity to pollution and ships self destruct when boarded are just candy)

Quasi-Immortal 100 pt (only purchased for maximum work force, immunity to pollution is just candy)

Eco-Adaptive 60 pt (more expensive than teraforming used to be, but still amazing value)

Repulsive -100 pt (I fight everyone I meet anyway, this is just free points)

techs

propulsion:
organic engines 1: 20 pt
organic power generator 1: 20 pt

armour:
Bio-mechanical armour 1: 20 pt

electronics:
defence ECM systems 1: 20 pt
hailing communicator 1: 20 pt
logistics 1: 20 pt
scanners 1: 20 pt
targeting systems 1: 20 pt

biotech:
none

construction:
life support systems 1: 20 pt

weapons:
fusion bomb 1: 20 pt
neutron streamer 1: 20 pt
nuclear missiles 1: 20 pt


note: I don't ever actually use the bombs or missiles in game ever so they are essentially wasted points too.

upon game start I have just enough credits to start a space station and a colony ship building, repeatedly purchase colony ships with credits and colonise everything, as soon as a colony has the outpost to colony upgrade it becomes profitable regardless of planet, build lvl 1 buildings on all colonies, remove any farming infrastructure, fit out colony ships with 1 regular neutron streamer front right and left, with 8 light neutron streamers spread around so all locations are filled and none has more than 2 light neutron streamers (note no supply bays as they are not needed if you simply keep colonising outwards)

thanks to the regenerating armour and above average damage on the streamers, this ship will beat any light combat ship and most medium enemy combat ships (for some reason they put 8 bombs on their attack ships that they never use)

I don't bother building light ships at all, ever, the regenerating armour has little effect on light ships.

at year 2226 I have 25 colonies (and this is a slow start) and 9 colony ships as well as 4 dedicated medium combat ships with 6 more medium ships on the way and an income of 2.6 bc

This game is being played on normal mode since all that I can see classic doing is making it easier for me.

leafy

ps. when making this post I spotted 2 spelling mistakes, but I figure they are pretty low priority.

[Zaimat]

Thanks for posting in detail. Yes certain template combinations can make for powerful races especially in the hands of the player at early game because it mitigates the normal monetary/colonization constraints while the AI can fall behind (which affects their aggressiveness and compete level).

We can look at it again in future updates template balance but these are primarily for fun and up to the player also what combinations to use. We will certainly look at increasing the difficulty settings effects though to make the AI more challenging at very hard level etc.

[Xyquas]

I understand you like it to be really hard, so I have a challange for you

Modify Barbeck like this:

General
Government type: - totalitarian 10 pt
Pop growth rate: - low 40 pt
Planet size: - small 0 pt
Planet type: - earthlike

Traits
farming, science, morale: good 40 pt
all other traits: poor 0 pt

Special abilities
parasitic, telepathic, fanatic: 60 pt each
Repulsive -100 pt

Techs
Only minimum required (non deletable) techs in all areas but biotech, where all the spare points go to:
Antitoxines 2
Advanced clonining 3
Advanced waste removal 3
Nano bodies 3

Start a new game with the following parameters
Amount of stars: average - this will ensure you have close neighbours
Amount of planets / system: 9
Scenario: normal - this will place you in a starting position near Tantik and Varians as you play Barbeck
Inhabitable planets: rare - whis will cause Tantik having an enormous advantage as their preferred planet type is volcanic and this is more common with that setting. On the other hand you will need some earthlike planets which should be very rare this way.
Special planets: rare - reduces the chance to give you a bonus

Disable random events, so you cannot get credits by accident

Set difficulty to the highest level.


If this is not hard enough, you may try reducing amount of planets / system and increasing amount of stars - that should favor Tantik even more.


If you try this setting, tell us how playable it is

Oh, and if this is still too easy for you, try setting all race parameters to their lowest level.

[Lithari]

Well, most players now-a-days rush, maybe you should slow down abit and take the time to actually play the game instead of just beating the game.

[leafy_kille]

makeing a chalangeing scenario is easy enough if you design a lame race, hell its possible to create a race using all the points that starves to death from turn one, and has a negligeable if not negative income! but my point is that the design i mentioned above can be aplied to any race (with different weapons and armour etc) with very similar results, and i have yet to find any scenario that my race design canot beat.

as for takeing my time and playing the game i have finished it with all of the default races before i created my own, if i hadnt done this i would not have had the understanding to create my master race.

leafy

ps yea i havent spel checked this post...

[keller]

Hi Leafy,
Would you happen to have a screenshot of your victory to share?