Brain storming with the beta testers...

1) Animated planets. For download size, we only have static images for the planets in the planet policy window. However, for the CD-ROM version (which will be available to everyone who has purchased Drengin or GalCiv) will have a lot more animation and cut scenes. One such animation we're thinking of having is for the planets to slowly rotate in 3D.

The question we ask, is this something you think is worthwhile or would you rather us spend time on other things?

2) Animated ships. The ships are technically animated now, they just have 1 frame. What we are thinking of is for the ships to look more lively, more 3D where lights subtly flash and the ship has the appearence of really floating there in space. Moreover, ships with damage could display this damage with sparks and smoke and such on the ship itself.

Same question as above, would this add to the atmosphere of the game considerably or would you rather us focus on other things?

3) Construction ships. Right now, you make your colony and you build it up with improvements. We have implemented sector control (color coded) as you can see. We have tossed around the idea that star systems could have built by construction ships things that orbit the star itself and give benefit to all your planets in the sector. If you lose control of the sector, alien players also would get some benefit. These would literally be structures that would be on the main galactic map.

4) Related to above, various "resources" would exist in space. Mineral rich asteroid fields, nebulas, etc. These would allow additional thigns to be built in that sector by construction ships that would benefit the planets in that sector even more so.

So the question again on 3 and 4, do you feel these are things that would increase your enjoyment? Or do you think that it would over complicate the game (we could let you put the construction ships on auto pilot).

My feeling is that it would be nice to have more "Stuff" that is in galaxy to give the game more visual flair along with giving players additional strategic options (i.e. if a black hole is rare and allows your construction ship to build a gravity power generator in that sector that gives you a big production bonus to all stars in that sector, it means controlling that sector may be more important).

1) Not necessarily animated, but more different ones.

2) The ability to see at a glance the condition of the ship would be nice, even if it's just a bar above/below the ship, similar to they way that Warcraft or C&C does.

3 & 4) They'll be in the next beta, right?

I think the animated planets idea is a great one- it would look more aesthetically pleasing, and add more character to an otherwise staid screeen. Perhaps for the downloading, simply make them a separate download, like the cola market for Corporate Machine.

Animated ships could be a nifty idea, but too many smoking ships could get kind of annoying... i think this would something to do if you felt you had extra time at the end of the production cycle

for the construction ship thing, i think you mean like an ancient remains that gives the dominating civ a production bonus, but the civs themselves wouldn't be able to construct them right? That would impart a much more strategic aspect, and could impart influence and prestige as well.
( i like it )

That was my take on construction ships until i read the next number... mineral rich asteroids etc, i think, would again give more strategic value to controlling certain systems. If a rich asteroid field was in an otherwise worthless (fives) system, then that system value would suddenly increase and be a sought after place.

I definitely think things like that would give an added benefit to the game, and make things much more interesting.

1) Would be very nice to have purely for improving the presentation of the game. But this feature shouldn't be absolutely essential. I think what you have now is great and if adding a rotating 3d planet only takes a few days then sure, put it in.

2) I think this is probably the least importent of your other 4 suggestions. Sure this would be nice but it wouldn't add to the game the same effect that a rotating 3d planet would. If you know what I mean... What you have currently with the ships is fine in my opinion.

3 & 4) These two I definetly like and should be added in. They just add a new dimension to the game.

I dunno about most ppl here but I actually like complicated space rts games. Take for example SpaceEmpires 4 and MOO2

I like them all, but I think they need to be kept in the "nice to have if time permits" catagory. If time runs out, then they could be put into an early upgrade.

Cheers,
Jack

Must say that I like the idea of the smoking/damaged ships, as long as they do reflect the extent of the damage to the ship.

As to 3 and 4, it sounds a lot like a space station. So you would have a construction ship that could build a station in a star system, regardless of whether it was inhabited or not. It would gain access to the resources of the system (ie asteroids) and perhaps be able to add research and production benefits to that system or sector. Am I on the right track there?

I agree with Jack. Nice to have but not required for the first release. I assume the first two options just involve the graphics team while the construction ships will involve more programming.

I would also suggest the following possibilities.

5. Battle markers (nice to have, could wait till an upgrade). These would be symbols on the main screen where any battle occurred the previous turn. You can click on them and see a replay of the battle with clear summary of who fought, how much damage was sustained, and who died. perhaps even a 3D cut scene or simulated battle could be added later.

6. Auto intercept (nice to have, could wait till an upgrade). I would love the ability to place a ship on intercept and if an enemy ship tries to move past (on the AI's turn) it attacks (despite it not being your turn). The number of times ships slip past or hop from system to system and I cannot attack them is annoying!

7. Auto retreat (nice to have, could wait till upgrade) I would like the ability for faster ships to be able to retreat from a battle once a level of damage has been reached. They should obviously be prone to one final attack as they retreat. If they have moves left then they move away the maximum distance.

8. repair facilities / ships (nice to have). Repair ships or improved repairing in systems with shipyards is a needed feature. The amount of time wasted waiting for ships to repair is annoying.

That's it for now. Wil ladd more after I've spent some more time playing.

Paul.

PS. Sorry for lack of feedback for the past 4 weeks. Been on holiday in Siberia.

1) & 2) pro It would look a bit nicer contra I hope that we would be able to even change the graphics (look at SEIV) and Animated Grapics are much harder to do for player.
3) yes something like this sould come into game but I still hope that a Spaceyard either on planet or in space is necary to bild at last the biger ships. I also hope that we be able to desing the interior of the ships and not get finished ships for research.
4) Yes that sound realy good.
5) Yes something like this is a absolute necarity. I would also loe it if we could make strategic combat in a singelplayer game.
6) Dont have a own option on this till now.
7) Yes a fast ship especial if it dont have a weapon or lost its weapon sould be able to retreat.
8) Hmm I personaly dont like the Idea that a ship reapirs it self in moving. I think its much bether if you hae to stop a ship for a slow repair or bring it to the next Space Yard or Repair Ship for a fast repair.

Somthing I also whant to see is a tabell where I can see all planets I have already scouted but not colonized so that I can faster decide what planet is next to colonize.

2 more things:
- The bonuses for flying in a Anomaly are to big if you get a Survey Ship at the start. But if you have to build a Survey Ship first then the bouses you get for this are balanced.
- I also whant to see more saving slots in one of the next beta releases

I rate 1 & 2 minor with a preference for seeing the ship damage.
I like 3 & 4.

With my alpha experience (I'm struggling to get the B1 code.. ) I'd like to point the attention of my space friends to the proliferation of colony ships at the beginning of the game. Some races do build colonies and load them with very few colonists and spread out to colonize all planets making the game something like GrandPrix 3 LOL . No alternative strategy is effective.

From my CG for OS/2 experience, I remember how effective was to limit the range of ships. In a moment you:
1) limit the colonize strategy having viable alternatives;
2) force races to colonize planets to move forward.
In addition to that I'd like to set a lower limit for a colony ship to colonize a planet (50M, 75M, ... :notsure: ) so that we avoid silly things like a planet of 10M building 10 colonies of 1M each occupying all planets.

Your vote please.

At point n°2 please read...
2) force races to colonize minor (12 and below) planets to move forward.

I'm going to make ranges a seperate topic so we can discuss that.

How about some sound effects.
Click on a ship and its says waiting for order , where would you like me to explore, scout etc. Some find this annoying so it should be able to be turned off but I think this adds the AAA game feel.

Like in C&C? No thanks. Just think of how much data it would take to provide all of those voices, data that would have to be transmitted over the net.

Cheers,
Jack

Somting like special sounds would be a nice feature for a sound pack that you can download seperate but dont even think to put somthing like this into the main download.

I also counsider this sound onl yas nice gimick for kidies but I will turn them instantly off.

1.)and 2.) Yes I'd really like to see animations here, but due to dowload sizes these should be placed in a separate download (like the music for LWN).

I would also like a sound FX pack containing various sounds like JavaScout mentioned.

And it would be nice I the background music was moved to a separate pack to reduce the game-dowload. (There are some of us that prefers to listen to a cd rather than the in-game music that can become a little boring after long hours.)