ShadowOTE

Reply to Too Long with No Patch in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Although I haven't played the beta, the 1.1 patch seems pretty major, which explains the long wait (how many small patches have 3 rounds of beta?). Also, they've been working on Entrenchment and the unnamed diplomacy pack, so its no surprise that it's taking a bit longer. And, since everything has to work with Entrenchment and not unbalance the game, it would probably have to wait until most of the code was finalized for Entrenchment even if it were a bit smaller. We'll probably see it around

Reply to capture the flag in Sins Modding Sins Forums

You could set it up as a "King of the Hill" style game, where only one extractor can be in player hands at a time, and there are multiple gravity wells that the active extractor can flip between. One an extractor's time is up, it reverts back to neutral and cant be captured until it is active again. Balancing could be tricky though.

Reply to More voices in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

A seperate voice pack for each avatar image would be a nice touch. Maybe as part of the diplomacy pack, since it could kinda fit the theme.

Reply to capture the flag in Sins Modding Sins Forums

Maybe something along those lines, with the "flag" starting off in a gravity well between the players. Capture the flag and escort it back to your base. If it gets to your home gravity well, you get a point. Depending on how it works, you could make it best of 3 or something. You'd have to code in stuff for a point counter and figure out a way to get it to trigger a win, but its a start. You'd have to make the flag slow though, or have low antimatter reserves and recharge rate. Along

Reply to Massive amounts of bombers in Strategy Sins Forums

From what I understand, Flak frigates are nerfed a bit in the 1.09 beta. I haven't played it, so I can't say for sure, but combined with the more powerful carriers and you might have a bit of a problem. Of course, they might have made other balance changes to counter that, so we'll see what happens.

Reply to Ironclad...Mine size is way out of proportion, their as big as cap ships! shrink them please! in Beta Feedback Sins Forums

You could use minefields in a variety of ways. If you scout out the enemy and see him building up for a massive attack along a specific phase lane, build a bunch of mines where he's going to come out. Or, he sees your mines and has to come through the only lane that isn't blocked. Or you could use it to slow the enemy advancing through your territory. Give up a few worlds while you buy time by mining everything in sight and build up a fleet to counterattack with. On the offensive side

Reply to Ironclad...Mine size is way out of proportion, their as big as cap ships! shrink them please! in Beta Feedback Sins Forums

I'm withholding judgement until i've seen the final product. Getting mines right is tricky in a space sim with any semblance of scale (which sins most definently has). Until we know more, its really hard to say if mines need changed based on a few vids taken from betas, especially since its likely that given the digital distribution plan, Ironclad and Stardock can continue refining the game considerably longer than they could if they had to get everything ready for physical distribution.

Reply to Ironclad...Mine size is way out of proportion, their as big as cap ships! shrink them please! in Beta Feedback Sins Forums

Umm... Mines are pretty big in real life (seriously, look them up on google), and in Sins they are as well. I'm not exactly sure what your complaint is anyway. Sometimes you have to sacrifice realism for gameplay. If the mines were smaller, you'd have trouble seeing them. But in any case, the current size is good. Not sure why you're complaining so, to quote: Er, what? Edit: If you're talking about the new defensive mines, please say so. Otherwise, everyone thinks you'

Reply to 1.1 where art thou? in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

When it's done (hey, it worked for Duke Nukem!). Seriously though, it seems like the content is pretty much wrapped up so far, so like somebody else already said, it's probably the new MP client that's holding it up. I imagine we'll see it out sometime the week before Entrenchment is launched.

Reply to Military, Economic, Research, Or Defensive Buildup? in Strategy Sins Forums

From what i recall, the advent's main economic advantage is their massive culture bonuses. As a result, they lose less of their potential income, making up for their weakness in other areas. Of course, I haven't really played them, so I can't say. I usually stick to the TEC.

Reply to Request of Devs: Pirates... Please Read in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Changing intensity would be a great option! Of course, you'd probably want to have pirates with tougher ships at the higher intensities, which would be neat as well. And yeah, size of pirate fleets should be linked to how many credits are spent.

Reply to Request of Devs: Pirates... Please Read in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

It's true that pirates are pretty much cannon fodder against even the weak defenses currently available. At best, using pirates to attack an enemy will only force them to spend a few resources on upgrading their defenses whenever the closest world to the pirates changes. Even then, you're going to spend far more bribing the pirates than the defender will defeating them, especially if the defender leaves a capital ship in the area to level up. With the exception of the few games where the pira

Reply to Request of Devs: Pirates... Please Read in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

It's true that in terms of pure content value, pirates are far from the most important part of the game. However, they go a long way towards providing the game with polish and dramatic flair, so to speak. Sins has plenty of eye-candy, and a good foundation, but in some areas it lacks depth. Pirates both have the potential to add an important strategic and diplomatic element to the game and also make the game feel more authentic. Right now, they're little more than a cheap, safe way to le

Reply to Request of Devs: Pirates... Please Read in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

I agree that pirate bases need work, but I like being able to capture them. Maybe give them more options for what the base consists of; ie, derelict starbase, asteroid field, moon base, abandonded dreadnought, etc. Make the cost of colonizing after taking it go up as the game goes on, as the pirates have time to booby trap the base and upgrade its defenses.

Reply to Request of Devs: Pirates... Please Read in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Of course not regular parrots! What type of fool do you take me for? [e digicons]:thumbsup:[/e]

Reply to Request of Devs: Pirates... Please Read in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

I agree that Entrenchment is almost certainly feature locked. Changing the way pirates work beyond whatever they've already done would require a great deal of testing and probably at least some rebalancing. Some of the stuff listed is very good, and I'd like to see it in the diplomacy pack, but we'll see what they do with Entrenchment. The rest of this stuff would probably go well in the third expansion pack, which doesn't seem to have a theme at the moment beyond "More stuff for everyone".</

Reply to Request of Devs: Pirates... Please Read in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Putting in pirates as what is effectively a 4th race would be counter productive. If the devs want to go that route, expanding the role of neutral planets would be more effective. Pirates aren't that interested in controlling territory, especially in a warzone. In doing so, they would go from pirates to warlords (a subtle, but important distiction). Instead of siezing planets, they should be doing stuff like hijacking frigates, cruisers, and (possibly) capital ships that g

Reply to Request of Devs: Pirates... Please Read in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

It would fit well with the theme. For example: While the battle lines have been solidifying, the pirates have been picking over the wreckage and carrying away military grade shields, weapons, designs, and equipment. Looting the battlefields has resulted in pirates with advanced technology capable of holding their own even in the mid-late game. Combined with purchasing upgrades for their base defenses on the black market and deserters/mutiniers swelling their ranks and shoring up their

Reply to Why SoaSE doesn't have a campaign in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

It would be nice to see some support for campaign and scenario creation in the future. While I'm not sure it would be possible at the moment, as I doubt there is support for things like triggers and such, it would be something to look forward to in the future.

Reply to Anyone else find this game damn near impossible? in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

I'm not sure about the Advent or Vasari, but the TEC has at least one tech that makes things easier as for diplomacy, which seems to escape most people's notice. If you want to play a team match without locked teams, it's a good idea to grab any techs reducing fallout from failing missions and increasing the amount of favor generated by successes. Unlocked teams strikes me as a great way to add depth to the game, particularly in team matches.

Reply to Here comes the next OS from Microsoft in Personal Computing Sins Forums

I've been using Vista for the past few months, since around SP1, and it really hasn't been that bad. The UAC is annoying, but being able to come out of sleep mode in 2-3 seconds makes up for that. I haven't seen much performance drop with it, though on the rare occasion I do, it's usually not because of windows. The sidebar is tacky, and needs a better positioning system (I almost never look at the desktop, and rarely use it. I'm seriously considering disabl

Reply to Anyone else find this game damn near impossible? in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

I made the unfortunate mistake of not locking teams on my first 8 player map with AI on hard. I ended up with one or two key planets always being attacked. As a result, I had my entire fleet there with 7 repair platforms. Unfortunately, while I was holding off the enemy AI, I wasn't taking any worlds, I was distracted from my economy, and I wasn't doing missions. All of that combined to result in my allies going rogue. From there it was all downhill. I ended up wiping out an enormous amo

Reply to planetary defense.....defense platforms or hangars?? in Strategy Sins Forums

In general I've found that a combination of hangers and repair platforms works wonders. I usually stick 4-5 hangers, 2-3 repair bays, and maybe a phase inhibitor on a choke point if I can, unless I plan to have a good sized fleet there on a fairly long term basis. Then i build a bunch of repair platforms. Repair platforms are truly amazing. I had a battle where I'd forced the AI to take a stand in a system I'd just taken a few minute previously (it was the only jump between their last t

Reply to Launch Error in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I found the problem. I copied the sig file from my desktop so I wouldn't have to retype the serial number. Somehow it was corrupted, and as soon as I removed it and ran the game again, I was prompted to enter my email and serial number. The game was then able to launch. Thanks for your assistance.

Reply to Launch Error in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

I ran the diagnostic and posted the printoff below. As far as I can tell, the game just isnt launching for some unknown reason. I've tried rebooting, but that had no effect. I've also tried with the cd in and out, to the same effect. Let me know if you find where my problem is. Thanks for your help. ------------------ System Information ------------------ Time of this report: 12/28/2006, 00:16:52 Machine name: SHADOWOTE2 Operating System: Windows XP Home Ed