First Impressions

[Rieddogg]

So far, I've loaded up the game and played a few turns.

As the game loaded, it seemed to take longer then most games I've played recently. I shut the game down and restarted again, still felt the same way. I didn't go as far as timing it, just a feeling.

After the game opens, the graphics are excellent. I immediately felt like I was starting a re-skinned Alpha Centuari. It felt a little derivative, in faction selection and the workshop especially. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but that feeling is there. I found the menus and unit movement very intuitive. I had no issue navigating the screens available. My only thought is that some of the critters around my initial city seemed a little strong for the forces I had available. This could just be my lack of knowledge of the game so far though.

More info in the tips on uses for formers would be nice, but not required.

I'll type more after I've played more.

[Rieddogg]

Further notes:

I like that when you change the weapons and armor, there is a visual change. I think it would be also nice if there was a visual change for damaged units as opposed to just a reduction in power above the unit.

It bothers me that the tech tree does not follow a logical format. Weapons technologies leading to mining leading to naval, and so forth. This could just me, but I like it when linked techs have some relation to each other.

I like the way the info panel fills as you discover things, but I've been unable to find an in game definition for rules. For example, my first city reached a population of 8 and while I had plenty of food available, all growth stopped. I looked in game for several minutes and couldn't find a reason for this.

[Rieddogg]

By digging around I've found some answers to my own questions, so I now understand why the tech tree works the way it does.

Some in game explanation of why the growth stops at certain points would be nice.

[Rik81]

The subject fits, though I've just been invited on-board (Sept. 5th). The first impressions on launching. Took, like forever, LOL. I'm sure that is just to get everything installed/updated, but really near an hour. 5 Minutes? Colorful, like the graphics. Generally speaking when I start a NEW game, I look for a TUTORIAL or three. Perhaps that is not needed for this game? The tips seem good. I will start fresh here when I get 30 minutes available. I am running version 20 (or was that 020?).