Rebellion Single-Player Review

from Sins Forums

So, this review is based on about 20+ hours of single-player experience. I will present this in the same order as in the "How To Provide Feedback" post by Stardock for clearer view.

 

First a little about balance:

- (against NPC only) The 2 Starbases research on Loyalist side - As I'm sure it was intended The Loyalists come off as a 100% defensive side and so the defense of their own territory would be their main focus, however having 2 starbases deployed in a single gravity well (fully upgraded and with support defense structures deployed) makes it unconquerable by any NPC (numbers or difficulty have minor effect - tested on four 3rd level Agressor - Rebel NPCs - simultaneous attack - no Titans however). In my opinion the Starbases shouldn't be changed in any way, however there should be viable countermeasure against a starbase. And this is where my second balance issue comes in.

- The Titans - I have nothing against the firepower here . The main issue is the survivability. In fact it doesn't take that much to destroy one. A starbase will barely lose most of it's shields before blowing one up (in a 1 on 1 fight). Generally ships in the game are too fragile. I'd love to see a new class. Somewhere between a Titan and a Capital Ship. Or buff up the Capitals (also make them bigger), and add a sort of Support/Command class ships (almost no weaponry, but very durable and with many fleet support oriented abilities. There is also the issue of speed. I take it the Capital Ships had to be made faster so that they wouldn't match the Titans speed, however I'd suggest modifying the "Ship Speed" factor at the start of a game to incorporate the Titans and allow a setting that would match the ship speeds from Trinity.

Now the performance:

- One "performance" issue I see is with the fleet command. Even when formed into a fleet ships usually travel in a disarray. What should be done is make all the ships (or at least make that option available in fleet tab) stick to formation (whether it slows them down or not).

- The bigger problem I've been experiencing here is that NPCs just give up without a reason - They just stop... They won't attack even when given a command, they won't defend their own planets, build ships, respond to treaty offers; And their ships will just jump back and forth between 2 planets. This is a major bug that has to be fixed.

- Now the victory conditions are also bugged. Although I can only refer to those I've tested... First one is a pure bug - an NPC is NOT defeated when losing a Flagship - it actually doesn't affect it at all. And the other one is the Military Victory - NPCs give up waaay too early -> Match: 1 player + 1 NPC against 3 NPCs (Allied Victory, Flagship, Capital Victory) - Enemy gives up [MILITARY VICTORY] while still having their Capitals intact, combined fleet to launch a major offensive, production capability to double their fleet size before I can do anything about it, and the best one yet: they still control over A THIRD OF THE GALAXY. What's the fun in that? I barely got to research the true capability of my race/allegiance. Sure, there is the option to Keep Playing, however the NPCs will not play along - they won't even put up a fight beyond whatever forces they have present in the gravity well.

The Graphical Issues:

- Honestly I haven't experienced any. But I'll submit my rig specs anyway - even if it just offers people a way of knowing which hardware runs good with the game. So, I'm running 1920x1080 with the graphics all maxed out on:

Windows 7 64-bit; Intel Core i7-960; ASUS Rampage III Extreme with 3x 4GB Corsair 1600 MHz RAM; Dual nVidia GAINWARD  GTX 560 Ti "Golden Sample" in SLI. --- I also tested the game on my other rig with all the same hardware except for the graphics - GAINWARD GTX 580 - also maxed out and also no issues.

Crashes:

- Not a single one so far.

Multiplayer:

- As I've said earlier I have not played the game online yet.

 

For any additional feedback regarding the beta, or to clarify any of my problems or ideas please do not hesitate to contact me via e-mail. I hope this proves useful to somebody :D

9,257 views 12 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

I totally agree with everything that Bialislaw has stated ^^^.  The idea of a star base destroyer is an excellent idea if implemented properly.  Also, the idea of a capital ship, or an extra class of ship, that can take a lot of fire power but has really good fleet capabilities is an excellent idea.  Very nice feedback, and i'm sure very helpful.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Starbase Destroyers exist, they're called Ogrovs.

Adjudicators could also potentially do that job if their single target was buffed, but right now they're not worth getting. As for Vasari... they don't even need a special ship to focus fire a Starbase to death.

Titans are designed as centrepoints of a fleet and/or pure anti-fleet, not anti-Starbase.

Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

A starbase destroyer already exists and it's called an ogrov torpedo cruiser.

Dual starbases will still do poorly in pvp.

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Halos, reply 3
A starbase destroyer already exists and it's called an ogrov torpedo cruiser.

Dual starbases will still do poorly in pvp.
End of Halos's quote

Depends if you have phase jump inhibitors and lots of fighters with your SBs then they become potent since they can't just go the roundabout way. It works on great chokepoints especially if that chokepoint is an astroid or such.

Orgovs are expensive and flaks can kill them pretty easily.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Yea Vasari don't need one at all. 

It takes at least 90 bomber squadrons from Advent or TEC to do what 50-60 Vas bomber squads can do when focus firing on a star base. Phase missiles and high multipliers against structures make Vas bombers by far the best structure busters in large numbers due to the fact they are also, you know, useful for killing things that move.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting rowanlad, reply 5
It takes at least 90 bomber squadrons from Advent or TEC to do what 50-60 Vas bomber squads can do when focus firing on a star base. Phase missiles and high multipliers against structures make Vas bombers by far the best structure busters in large numbers due to the fact they are also, you know, useful for killing things that move.
End of rowanlad's quote
This is slightly compensated by the Vasari's lack of an anti-structure cruiser, however.

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Didn't anyone read the "Not for Review" label on the loading screen? :P

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

Who reads nowadays.  They should add also, "Not for Trinity" :)

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top


What should be done is make all the ships (or at least make that option available in fleet tab) stick to formation (whether it slows them down or not).
 
End of quote

I'm not sure if anyone else remembers this and perhaps if it dates me but, if you remember the original C&C Red Alert, you could use a fleet-move function to cause all units to travel at the same speed. The problem was is that if you group very quick transports with slow-as-tar battleships the battleships would move insanely fast suddenly to keep up with the transports. It was hilarious.

But to address your point, I don't believe this is needed. The amount of open space a unit has to use path-finding in for this game is extremely limited, like a single gravity well. The fleet option in Trinity does a good job of making sure all units jump at the same time, which naturally keeps the fleets together since there really isn't much time or room for them to get horribly spread out. If I've had a multi-stage invasion of a gravity well I'll use more then one control group to make sure it's timed properly, 'cause a human can do it better.

 

 

PS. i just looked up the wiki page for the first Red Alert. My god, things have changed since '96.

Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top

I have nothing against the firepower here . The main issue is the survivability. In fact it doesn't take that much to destroy one.
End of quote

So you were playing the Rebel side? The Loyalist Titan is nigh invulnerable I find.

Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top

OP should rename post to "My 2 Cents"

Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top

They did give us an anti-starbase ship way back in Entrenchment if have a problem with starbases you those in mass