Some final feedback on Escalation
AshesoftheSingularity ForumsThings I think need to be fixed before release:
- Substrate Saboteurs can be dropped (and spammed) anywhere, even if you don't have vision. This is broken and I hope it is an oversight. They are fine if you have the balance of first needing vision where you drop them.
- Defences which are in the process of upgrading are absolutely indestructible. Also AI targets them forever, both enemy AI and player unit AI.
- Substrate Punishes are genuinely OP. They just come in and wipe out a base in no time.
Normal stuff:
- Also vital but there is still some odd movement behaviour of armies. Trying to attack up a hill and they would switch left and right a bunch and wouldn't go forward, so died a lot.
- The PHC initial AA is completely weak, fragile and ineffectual, I hate that I have to build them before upgrading them, too slow.
- Definitely need some graphical, and ideally audio, feedback when someone blocks your orbital ability
- Ping still only flashes for a few seconds, this needs to be at least doubled
- still no text saying whether a message is sent in team speak or not. Ideally should have time stamp too (probably match time not actual time)
- If you mouse over the Refinery it says 20, when it should say 20%
- Bug: Armoury got blown up which left behind an Artemis but it was not selectable.
- If you upgrade defences they loses line of sight. If you are upgrading the defences you have around a node and have nothing else there an enemy can just come in and take the node, not good.
- An old one and annoying one. Have some units capturing a node. Grab some other units and send them over there by clicking on the node. When the node is captured the units you sent over there just stop dead where they are. They should continue to the node.
- Need a visual indicator that a factory still has the production boost, until it doesn't. At the moment you get a one off graphic.
- A small thing but you can't deselect your units if you pause the game and want to take a cool screenshot. These leave the selection rings on the units which is shame.
At the moment the game has 3 tutorials. The tutorial itself, the first missions of the original campaign and the Memories campaign. Memories mission 1 is a non-mission, mission 2 was fine and not tutorial (apart from Mac sees all the Sub stuff and then doesn't make the connection in the original campaign (and this precedes original campaign), and then mission 3 I would call tutorial as you drop 3 dreads every few minutes so you can't lose the game. If you can't lose and can't get that sense of accomplishing something then that is still tutorial I think. Something needs to be done as that is too many tutorials! Also, unless you have put it in in the latest patch or 2 then there is still no mention of the energy requirement of many Sub units and the role of the capacitor, a problem I see in Ashes games and videos a lot. I can't believe it is not in there really. (again, unless added in the last patch)
I still need to test the teleporting stuff. I gave it a quick try before the previous patch but it crashed before seeing if it worked. Also the reinforcements I ordered went to already busy factories when i had purpose built 4 factories which were idle. I have never used re-enforcement mechanic before and I don't know any good players who do. The teleporting could be very powerful but I hate that it forces you to use the re-enforcements mechanic, which is itself poorly implemented right now. Gateways like in PA would have been preferable.
I wonder if PHC storage needs a small bump, or small bump to how much it goes up with upgrades. Dreadnoughts are so expensive now that there is finally a point to the storage upgrade, but you really need that extra storage which takes a lot of quanta in the end.
Game looking very good, some really good new music, Substrate mobile orbital nullifier looks very cool, I do like the new defence buildings, though going back and fourth upgrading them all is a real pain in big games, but a real must to do.
Would be nice to get more maps. No new 6 player ones currently either.
Looking forward to release and all the MP mayhem to see how things develop.
