Review/First Impressions/Suggestions
Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 1:02 am
I have recently purchased Apollo Tier of BASPM, and have updated my game to 0.7.4.
From the first looks, the game is awesome. The menu screen has sleek and futuristic renderings (Despite showing obslete spacecraft), awesome music, and a neat and simple GUI that fits in very, very well with the pictures being displayed in the background.
After drooling for a long hard moment at the music and pictures on the screen, I got around to making my own Sandbox game on "Normal Difficulty". Immediately, I started making satellites and opened up a whole bunch of programs. After around 10 years from 1955, I had sent probes to the moon, but the launch preparations would always fail for Mercury (Even though I had maxed out R&D, finished all test flights, and had hired the astronauts with the best piloting and Leadership). Soon, I noticed that flights with around 60-70% reliability would less likely fail than flights with their R&D maxed out-and trust me, it's real (I had maxed out the Mercury spacecraft, and had failed more than twelve times to get it onto an suborbital trajectory with a astronaut).
Flash forward to 1970. Almost every flight is a success, unless the odds are really low (Lower than 40%)-even the flights that had previously failed are now operating perfectly. This came as a pleasant suprise, though it removed much of the challenge in the game. I would like to have this..well..adjusted. It's just odd.
I have run into no bugs/glitches other than the Jupiter C booster texture glitch and some oddities in the cutscenes-things that do not affect gameplay.
Now, what else? I have some suggestions for the game.
First of all, once Apollo is added, please do include the Apollo Applications Program and Dynasoar into the game-either as a DLC, or just with it. The Apollo Applications Program called for the Saturn V and other Apollo hardware be used for lunar bases, spacestations, and Mars landing missions/Venus flyby missions. But, however, make these cost alot in R&D and risky, since they do not have the advantages of modern computing in the third episode. The "Apollo Extension & Spaceplane" pack could be included along with the main game, and would hypothetically contain:
- Mars/Venus Flyby Missions (With high R&D costs/hardware costs)
- Skylab habitat modules for lunar bases
- Skylab-based spacestations.
- Military Dynasoar project (Similar to the XML-30 shuttle in the old Race into Space)
- Hardware for Mars Missions (That land).
Secondly, please include Skylab into the main game. Skylab was an important aspect of Apollo Program, and used the last remaining Saturn V's to do it. Yes, it was a small spacestation, but it was a basic one and extremely simple and primitive (Think of a empty third Saturn V stage with a tabe, chairs, beds, solar panels nailed to the side. That is Skylab.). The missions for Skylab could go something akin to this.... A new catergory for "Space Station Missions" at Earth, which would be unlocked by launching a spacestation (Skylab). After launch, the catergory is unlocked and you are now allowed to send craft up to dock with it and such-but only that. The rest of the resupply missions would require "Constructing" another spacestation, which would be Saylut, Alamaz, and maybe Mir? (All craft which occured in the Apollo timeframe, maybe except for Mir, but still...)
Thirdly, in Campagian, will there be other agencies? They need not compete with you (The GSA), but can cooperate with you and hold some of the costs for the mission, in return for sharing Prestige with them.
Also, I have a question. Will the game(s) follow this time table/Something similiar?
Episode One: Road to the Moon (1954-1980)(Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Saylut, Alamz, Mir, Early Shuttles, Soyuz, Apollo Applications, Dynasoar)
Episode Two: ISS/Return to the Moon (1980-2030)(Commericial Crew, Advanced Space Shuttle, ISS, Advanced Mir, Ares Rocket, Orion MPCV, Asteroid Capture, Shengzhou, Tiagong, Space Launch System, Dragon, Golden Spike, moon base)
Episode Three: Future (2030-3000)(Mars landing mission, Mars base, solar power plant, SLS, Orion, MTV, Jupiter manned mission, Jovian Moons base, space elevator, moonbase)
From the first looks, the game is awesome. The menu screen has sleek and futuristic renderings (Despite showing obslete spacecraft), awesome music, and a neat and simple GUI that fits in very, very well with the pictures being displayed in the background.
After drooling for a long hard moment at the music and pictures on the screen, I got around to making my own Sandbox game on "Normal Difficulty". Immediately, I started making satellites and opened up a whole bunch of programs. After around 10 years from 1955, I had sent probes to the moon, but the launch preparations would always fail for Mercury (Even though I had maxed out R&D, finished all test flights, and had hired the astronauts with the best piloting and Leadership). Soon, I noticed that flights with around 60-70% reliability would less likely fail than flights with their R&D maxed out-and trust me, it's real (I had maxed out the Mercury spacecraft, and had failed more than twelve times to get it onto an suborbital trajectory with a astronaut).
Flash forward to 1970. Almost every flight is a success, unless the odds are really low (Lower than 40%)-even the flights that had previously failed are now operating perfectly. This came as a pleasant suprise, though it removed much of the challenge in the game. I would like to have this..well..adjusted. It's just odd.
I have run into no bugs/glitches other than the Jupiter C booster texture glitch and some oddities in the cutscenes-things that do not affect gameplay.
Now, what else? I have some suggestions for the game.
First of all, once Apollo is added, please do include the Apollo Applications Program and Dynasoar into the game-either as a DLC, or just with it. The Apollo Applications Program called for the Saturn V and other Apollo hardware be used for lunar bases, spacestations, and Mars landing missions/Venus flyby missions. But, however, make these cost alot in R&D and risky, since they do not have the advantages of modern computing in the third episode. The "Apollo Extension & Spaceplane" pack could be included along with the main game, and would hypothetically contain:
- Mars/Venus Flyby Missions (With high R&D costs/hardware costs)
- Skylab habitat modules for lunar bases
- Skylab-based spacestations.
- Military Dynasoar project (Similar to the XML-30 shuttle in the old Race into Space)
- Hardware for Mars Missions (That land).
Secondly, please include Skylab into the main game. Skylab was an important aspect of Apollo Program, and used the last remaining Saturn V's to do it. Yes, it was a small spacestation, but it was a basic one and extremely simple and primitive (Think of a empty third Saturn V stage with a tabe, chairs, beds, solar panels nailed to the side. That is Skylab.). The missions for Skylab could go something akin to this.... A new catergory for "Space Station Missions" at Earth, which would be unlocked by launching a spacestation (Skylab). After launch, the catergory is unlocked and you are now allowed to send craft up to dock with it and such-but only that. The rest of the resupply missions would require "Constructing" another spacestation, which would be Saylut, Alamaz, and maybe Mir? (All craft which occured in the Apollo timeframe, maybe except for Mir, but still...)
Thirdly, in Campagian, will there be other agencies? They need not compete with you (The GSA), but can cooperate with you and hold some of the costs for the mission, in return for sharing Prestige with them.
Also, I have a question. Will the game(s) follow this time table/Something similiar?
Episode One: Road to the Moon (1954-1980)(Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Saylut, Alamz, Mir, Early Shuttles, Soyuz, Apollo Applications, Dynasoar)
Episode Two: ISS/Return to the Moon (1980-2030)(Commericial Crew, Advanced Space Shuttle, ISS, Advanced Mir, Ares Rocket, Orion MPCV, Asteroid Capture, Shengzhou, Tiagong, Space Launch System, Dragon, Golden Spike, moon base)
Episode Three: Future (2030-3000)(Mars landing mission, Mars base, solar power plant, SLS, Orion, MTV, Jupiter manned mission, Jovian Moons base, space elevator, moonbase)
For episode three, the plan is to end the game in a manned mission to Mars.