Palladin123

Some feedback on the beta. The changes overall are great so I'll only touch on the points I think need improvement - - What happened to the army management interface on the left of the screen? It's currently showing up only for numbered meta-units and does not show anything else. The old interface was so much better and useful as it allowed me to see all the units , factories and metaunits at once and select as required. For those who do not number each metaunit, t

[quote who="Ticktoc" reply="3" id="3615489"] as Beta is approaching and things get fine tuned then why not? [/quote] My thoughts exactly. The core gameplay of AOTS is now in strong shape and looking good, so its time to look at some of the minor things to refine the game. And being a strategy game about military units fighting each other, explosion/destruction effects are important in creating the right atmosphere.

Since the core game is coming along well, I thought to write a comment on a cosmetic issue that I feel still needs some work - explosions. Explosion and weapon effects are really important to give a game that feel of battle and immersion. Think of the feeling one gets when watching spaceships blowing up in Homeworld/Sins of a Solar Empire or tanks blowing up in Company of Heroes. The explosion effects in AOTS have definitely improved over time but I feel that they are still too slow a

Similar to what was done for the reconnaissance air unit, I think the interceptor should have its size increased as well. Compared to the other air units, they're too small and hard to make out and select. Once air battles get more intense, quickly selecting those interceptors is going to be important. And on the subject of unit size, reducing the size a bit of the reconnaissance air unit would be nice too - they look bigger than a Tier 1 unit, which is odd for what is basically a reconna

Thanks for the long post on the game development process behind AOTS. As a long time strategy gamer, it's always interesting to see how developers build out games in this genre. And I'm cautiously optimistic about what you mention about independent funding/smaller studios leading a new renaissance in strategy games. This genre has been sadly rather quiet over the last few years. On AOTS and the new engine, it's good to hear about the long term development plans for the gam

That Zeus HP bonus has been bothering me for a while so I checked how it scales up. HP of a Hyperion dreadnought (with no HP tech upgrades): Base: 9,000 1 Zeus: 11,250 2 Zeus: 13,050 3 Zeus: 14,490 4 Zeus: 15,642 5 Zeus: 16,653 The % increase starts at 25% for the first zeus and falls off to 5.9% by the fifth one (I cannot see the HP of other units in the meta-unit so cannot see if the bonus only impacts the metaunit leader or all units

Agree. I find this to be an issue too. The way I get around it for now is to use attack move on the generator - that works even for controlled generators. A related issue that sometimes affects me is that when I select a meta unit travelling over a generator, the generator gets selected instead of the unit.

Looking good with 0.70! Some feedback: - New building explosion effects are great with that bright flash. Maybe add that same flash effect to dreadnought explosions as well? - Improved terrain looks good - Performance has significantly improved. My benchmark went up for heavy batches 20-25% on a GTX 970 - For a game changing power, plasma storm does not seem that powerful - Consider reducing the rate of increase of quanta c

I don't think maps in the DLC are a good idea. If the game already has a map editor, people can create their own maps and use maps made by others. I actually do not recall seeing any expansion/DLCs for a strategy games that involved only maps. Some ideas: - Sandbox/unit test mode where we can try out different unit combinations in a controlled setting - A unit coloring option where we can customize the color of our units. The original Dawn of War did a

Some suggestions (Mostly for mid to late game strategy. Being a macro strategy oriented game, I think that late game strategic options are more important. For single player matches, most of the game players will not be concerned with options that let them save a minute or two on their first T2 unit): - Transport options to get units to the front line faster. Either teleportation, specialized transport units, mobile factories etc. And there should be some way for the enemy to dis

Quick feedback - There is no free quanta at the start - The new open range map is not showing up - Improved destruction looks good

@ TheRealWarpStorm - If there are already diminishing returns for hp boost from the Zeus, the severity of the diminishing returns should be increased. And same for other buffs too, from the Nemesis for example. I think the main objective of metaunits design should be simplified control of large groups of units and the resulting emphasis on macro strategy. The buffs should be a minor incentive for creating metaunits and should be toned down.

@MnMShow - Yes, metaunits have to be created to get those bonuses. Simply sending some Zeus next to a dreadnought will not apply any bonuses.

Right now some individual units give bonuses to dreadnoughts in metaunits - zeus gives more health etc. I think this is a good idea but there has to be a limit to the bonus, or it's going to be make large meta units unbalanced and take away any positioning/flanking strategy from the game. I saw this happen in a game few days back - a large enemy group with a Hyperion dreadnought was coming up to one of my nodes. I had three smaller groups nearby, with bunch of T2s and one Hyperion

I like this idea too. Often I have a bunch of units waiting in the rally point area and I want to make meta units from them. In the heat of battle, I don't have time to carefully select individual units to create my ideal group. I just end up selecting a large bunch with a select box and creating a metaunit from them - the result usually is that the meta unit does not have the right composition of units. It would be great to have that option to quickly select metaunit composition from tha

I tried out that replacement file too and noticed a difference. My brutes are more agressive now and stepping out further from their formations. I definitely like their new behavior more. Out of curiosity, I looked into those files and the variables are easy to change. Hoping that the early access community starts to experiment more with changing parameters there to test different meta unit behaviours. For macro players who don't enjoy microing, this meta unit concept is one of th

@ Frogboy - That comment about trying out different meta unit placement and leashes was very interesting. If players could edit the meta unit structure and rules, it could open up a whole new strategy element in the game. More aggressive and loose formations, formations where Artemis stay in the front to fire missiles first but then the Zeus and Brutes rush ahead if enemies get too close, or formations where fighters give air cover but stay just a bit behind the main group to avoid any unnece

I like all the changes in the update. Some quick comments: - Great to see the terrain scarring from explosions. The current scarring textures though are making it difficult to spot units standing there, especially for tier 1 units with a red team color. I think the combination of red units, brown terrain and strong terrain scars are the issue. Maybe lighter terrain scars might help. - The player locations on the minimap during the create game screen have disappeared in 0 63. I

[quote who="TAG_Utter" reply="2" id="3600159"] For me the only way this game can grab players, i cant tell but players and this team might acuse us to try make this games a clone of Forged aliance /Supreeme commander 2/PA games. ... This more a game like Company of Heroes (game that i hate sry) and GC , its going without return for now,lets wait for the future . [/quote] On the uni

I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to increase unit line of sight. Weapon ranges are long enough but the short line of sight means that units often stumble into encounters. The short line of sight also causes large battles to devolve into large confused masses, since even with radar coverage, laser firing units need to get visual sight before firing. I think a slightly longer line of sight will help in making encounters more manageable and feel more like real battles. <

I like the graphical improvements in the latest update. One issue though - rockets fired by the cruiser and siege dreadnought have a very pronounced lens flare, rather like a small star. I was wondering if everyone else is seeing this or just me. I'm running the game all high settings, 2x MSAA, 1920x1080 on a GTX 970. If everyone else is seeing this, is there any option to turn this off?

I'm having the same thing happen with my repair units too even when they're in battle groups.

I noticed an issue with medics in groups. When a medic is part of a numbered group and the group is ordered to move to a certain location, the medic races ahead of the other units. The result is that the medic is the first to be destroyed in case there are any hostile units at or on the way to the destination. This does not seem to be happening with the others units - they stay close to the group while moving. I think the medic movement AI has to be adjusted so that they stick with the group

Agree with your points on unit artwork, map design and research. On maps, I'm going to assume that the final version will have more variety of maps that do not have corridors and are flatter. I'm personally fine with the slow speed - it was a bit odd when I first started playing, but on larger maps with multiple engagements I find the slower speed better. About research, I think one way to solve the current issue of the generic upgrades is to have research upgrades that only t

Agree. The sight range for units needs to be increased. Apart from the fact that it does not make any sense (futuristic units that can hover but cannot see more than a few hundred meters ahead of them), it negatively affects gameplay. Instead of units strategically maneuvering, skirmishing and fighting at standard range, we have groups of units blundering into each other from the fog.