Enough with the positive, lets get down to brass tacks, the game play lags at times with up to 8 minutes for the computer to complete its turn (I did say it reminds me of the 80s, right) but the population who plays Turn Based Strategy games should be a pretty patient lot, but not that patient. I have found the tech tree interesting but I am not sure where I see differentiation between games. In other words, I like games where I can focus on some aspects of my ToE and let others go to the wayside. Right now, after one complete game, I see the tech tree as a straight forward race to the finish line for the most part. I believe this will hurt the game in the long run. Unfortunately, a huge ponderous tree is well ponderous. Solution? No idea (glad, I am not a game designer) but I think that you might want to expand the tech tree a bit. I am color blind (blue/yellow) and I found that the units were a bit difficult at times (consider 1/6th of the male population has some form of this disability).
The opening stages of the game were slow and I was unsure of what I was doing without a bit more direction. I found the move up the tech tree was pretty much guess work and I did not find out how to use some of the tech efficiently until the last stages of the game. Orbitals observation platforms, I think they were called, were lost on me for about 35 turns or so (bows his head in shame) but I was able to figure them out eventually. All this is a round about way of saying this old geezer did not find the game as intuitive as I would have liked in a finished product. Maybe a line on each tech upgrade which gives a hint to what they do. This may or may not be specific (not sure what your are shooting for here) but a hint, at least, pretty please.
The middle part of the game was, for me, the most exciting with the tech upgrades beginning to make differences in my settlements and units. I could see myself beginning to understand what the units were doing and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Can you name each new unit in the game? I would like to see my production line should the differences in each unit if I can. I did find the units interesting because of their differences but I made few of each type as I played a passive game to see if I avoided conflict almost entirely, whether the computer would beat itself. I am happy to report that I placed second and the one of the computer players placed first. In other words, the AI is a net positive given a player who does next to nothing with anyone else. I made alliances and trade pacts with everyone but did not share research. Interestingly, the computer was constantly trying to get me to ally with it but eventually gave up and declared its disgust with me.
I found the last stages of the game were dragging. I was playing the research specialists, and I burned through the tech tree pretty fast and I was beginning to think about building an army when the game informed me that the Fleet was dominant. The long pauses between turns as the AI churned were a bit wearing and I found myself surfing on my tablet in between. Twice, I simply walked away from the game for quite a bit in frustration. I am not sure if this was my laptop, or the game, but I have a pretty nice little LT so ...
Overall, I think that I would play the game in its current state but I would not be too enthused. I would not place it above something like .... FreeOrion, for example, but I am interested in how the game changes in Beta as it moves forward. I will post again, after my second complete game. This time I will be looking at game mechanics and how the AI reacts to an utterly aggressive player. I think I will take the Fleet. Any suggestions, comments, criticisms or concerns, please speak up. I am not trolling but I like input on my input.
Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend as much as myself.BearPaw out
