Installed and started up fine.
Hopped into a game, races seem standard, though some of the racial look like they might need some balancing for multiplayer.
Seen fungus and my mind immediately went to Alpha Centuri. Which is good in my books. Play felt reminiscent as well. Particularly enjoy the tech tree. Too many 4x games (apart from Civ) have very linear tech tree's where you research exactly what you want (particiularly painful in Gal Civ). The randomness and interconnectedness of the tech was very appreciated.
Felt confused regarding frontier modifiers, and how morale worked. Though basic production and combat were very intuitive. Ai diplomacy was silly. Lots of offering gifts, declaring war and then offering more gifts.
As some other users have mentioned, xenoforms are only threatening early on, there needs to be some sort of scaling function to keep them relevant.
Over all very enjoyable. I look forwards to purchasing the finished product.
Initial Impressions
Moderator: Pandora Moderators
Re: Initial Impressions
Cheers,
I'll add a tip to explain the frontier penalty mechanic.
I'll add a tip to explain the frontier penalty mechanic.
Rok Breulj
Designer and Programmer
Proxy Studios
Designer and Programmer
Proxy Studios
Re: Initial Impressions
Well 6 hours into a game and I just discovered there's a tax slider... Has that really been a feature the entire time? Completely did not see it, only happened upon it by chance when I was looking to change some city production from the list view.
Re: Initial Impressions
Having beat the game on easy and normal, and several failed attempts, I will attempt to provide some feelings I have towards certain features.
1) Aliens - Terrifying early on, but as soon as the first sniper weapon is researched they ALL become meaningless. Their difficulty drops to almost zero, and because they have clearly established hives you can systematically wipe them on until they no longer exist on your continent.
What I would like to see :
A - Some sort of scaling. Have the planet react when a player makes it to a new age. Maybe have new aliens spawn and start focused migrations. A large group of aliens (I'm imagining a 3x3 block, of several stacks) that begin a path of destruction in a random direction, leaving fungus in its wake.
B - Maybe have those big 64 strength sea monsters that are largely irrelevant now, vomit up new hives when they get close to a coast. The new hives have a higher tier of units? Also killing them should have some sort of reward, maybe similar to ruins.
2) AI City Building - Towards the end of my games the AI starts dropping cities EVERYWHERE. If there's a block on a continent not covered by ZOC they will plant a city there, almost regardless of how small, and how terribly surrounded it is. It becomes complete city spam.
What I would like to see -
Some sort of feedback loop in the AI- decision making that discourages planting cities in annoying and inconvient places. Or maybe a growth/pollution/morale penalty for proximity to other cities (reduced when the cities are yours?). ( On a related note a city's pollution should affect the geographical area. My dumping of pollutants into the sea should ruin the fishing of my AI neighbours as well.) (Also I just realized there are no rivers. Is there a reason there are no rivers?)
3) AI Unit Production Choices - Towards the end of my games the AI was making cheap, super low tech units and spamming them. My superior forces literally couldn't kill them fast enough to take a city until I had researched the end game tech that makes attacks take .5 movement.
What I would like to see:
That new tech is viewed as a reward, maybe have the % str increase offered by new armors greater than the % cost increase. There should be real advantages to advancing up the tech tree, not just bigger but proportionately more expensive units.
4) Ruins - After the first 20 turns, they become meaningless. ~10 resources or ~40 credits is insufficent to make them appealing or interesting. They must house the worst advanced alien technology imaginable if this is all an entire civilization can gain from their study. Sea ruins especially, as they require tech to be researched before they can be explored, and the sea actually remains potentially dangerous for the first 1/2 of the game (No sniper boats).
What I would like to see:
A - Some sort of scaling. Rewards need to be altered in nature, or increased to match civilization level.
B - Variety, other than the traditional ones covered by Civ, some ideas could be to not have any of your cities consume resource X for Y number of turns, generating a stock pile. Or a % based gain on mining/farming/research rates. Units wielding unique alien equipment - new weapons or devices, just for the unit that explored the ruin. Have a ruin show you a tier or two of your tech tree, letting you plan your research more effectively. Auto defenses protect the ruin, damaging the unit before they can be overcome.
5) Diplomacy - There is a lack of ability to negotiate. Why stop a war when the losing side can't offered the winners something. Decision making for accepting/terminating agreements/ NAPs seems a little random.
6) Predictability - In its current state the game becomes quite predictable. Other than drop pods, there are no real surprises that occur.
7) Units - Tanks moving only 1 hurts me in my soul, at the very least they should have a bonus move on plains.
Refitting - Incredibly cost prohibitive. Its like buying a new unit without discount. What is the reason you would do this?
What I'd like to see:
A - Discounts applied for smaller increments, upgrading a tier 2 weapon to a tier 3 weapon should be cheaper than upgrading a tier 1 weapon to a tier 3 weapon. If a weapon is all that is being upgraded, that should be all you pay for. Offer discounts for upgrading within same type of weapon, if you go from Tier 1 Sniper, to Tier 2 Sniper, it should be cheaper than Tier 1 Sniper, to Tier 2 Flamer.
I think that covers my impressions to date.
P.S. I am not convinced faction traits are balanced.
1) Aliens - Terrifying early on, but as soon as the first sniper weapon is researched they ALL become meaningless. Their difficulty drops to almost zero, and because they have clearly established hives you can systematically wipe them on until they no longer exist on your continent.
What I would like to see :
A - Some sort of scaling. Have the planet react when a player makes it to a new age. Maybe have new aliens spawn and start focused migrations. A large group of aliens (I'm imagining a 3x3 block, of several stacks) that begin a path of destruction in a random direction, leaving fungus in its wake.
B - Maybe have those big 64 strength sea monsters that are largely irrelevant now, vomit up new hives when they get close to a coast. The new hives have a higher tier of units? Also killing them should have some sort of reward, maybe similar to ruins.
2) AI City Building - Towards the end of my games the AI starts dropping cities EVERYWHERE. If there's a block on a continent not covered by ZOC they will plant a city there, almost regardless of how small, and how terribly surrounded it is. It becomes complete city spam.
What I would like to see -
Some sort of feedback loop in the AI- decision making that discourages planting cities in annoying and inconvient places. Or maybe a growth/pollution/morale penalty for proximity to other cities (reduced when the cities are yours?). ( On a related note a city's pollution should affect the geographical area. My dumping of pollutants into the sea should ruin the fishing of my AI neighbours as well.) (Also I just realized there are no rivers. Is there a reason there are no rivers?)
3) AI Unit Production Choices - Towards the end of my games the AI was making cheap, super low tech units and spamming them. My superior forces literally couldn't kill them fast enough to take a city until I had researched the end game tech that makes attacks take .5 movement.
What I would like to see:
That new tech is viewed as a reward, maybe have the % str increase offered by new armors greater than the % cost increase. There should be real advantages to advancing up the tech tree, not just bigger but proportionately more expensive units.
4) Ruins - After the first 20 turns, they become meaningless. ~10 resources or ~40 credits is insufficent to make them appealing or interesting. They must house the worst advanced alien technology imaginable if this is all an entire civilization can gain from their study. Sea ruins especially, as they require tech to be researched before they can be explored, and the sea actually remains potentially dangerous for the first 1/2 of the game (No sniper boats).
What I would like to see:
A - Some sort of scaling. Rewards need to be altered in nature, or increased to match civilization level.
B - Variety, other than the traditional ones covered by Civ, some ideas could be to not have any of your cities consume resource X for Y number of turns, generating a stock pile. Or a % based gain on mining/farming/research rates. Units wielding unique alien equipment - new weapons or devices, just for the unit that explored the ruin. Have a ruin show you a tier or two of your tech tree, letting you plan your research more effectively. Auto defenses protect the ruin, damaging the unit before they can be overcome.
5) Diplomacy - There is a lack of ability to negotiate. Why stop a war when the losing side can't offered the winners something. Decision making for accepting/terminating agreements/ NAPs seems a little random.
6) Predictability - In its current state the game becomes quite predictable. Other than drop pods, there are no real surprises that occur.
7) Units - Tanks moving only 1 hurts me in my soul, at the very least they should have a bonus move on plains.
Refitting - Incredibly cost prohibitive. Its like buying a new unit without discount. What is the reason you would do this? What I'd like to see:
A - Discounts applied for smaller increments, upgrading a tier 2 weapon to a tier 3 weapon should be cheaper than upgrading a tier 1 weapon to a tier 3 weapon. If a weapon is all that is being upgraded, that should be all you pay for. Offer discounts for upgrading within same type of weapon, if you go from Tier 1 Sniper, to Tier 2 Sniper, it should be cheaper than Tier 1 Sniper, to Tier 2 Flamer.
I think that covers my impressions to date.
P.S. I am not convinced faction traits are balanced.