Galaxies Mod v0.2.4 - Feedback & Suggestions

[Tethys]

As the title implies, please post feedback and suggestions on how you feel the mod could be bettered, as well as any screenshots you feel you would like to include.

Thank you Beta testers

And please take part in the poll!!

[mickar]

Ok, I just met orion.

[ZeroChance]

Hey Tethys, these are just some preliminary suggestions/observations/comments: Please take them as constructive, as that's how they are meant

I haven't played more than a handful of turns as any empire, but I was writing things down as I played and felt I'd just post them before I got too caught up in everything. Also, I attempted to not repeat what fixes you had mentioned in the ToDo list in the readme file.

- the borg still have the ferengi logo in the event popup screen, and any diplomatic popups as well.
- it seems as though many minors have the wrong name in the diplomatic screen (ex. the Trabe declared war and in event popup screen it said Selay)
- also it seems some minor races have the incorrect race info in the diplomatic screen (Tellarites have Caldonian info) (Caatati have Angosian info)
- on the subject of minor races, it seems that many (minus the Son'a and Andorians) have the Pakled transport as their ship.
- I find that the beam weapons are a bit too thin... even only on medium zoom out they can barely be seen. (personal preference, of course)
- I don't mind the new terraforming graphic, it works as fine as the 'grid' graphic imo
- I love that the Jemhadar fighters are quick and easy to build... I've always imagined them being quick to build and easy to replace!
- the description for the galor class, jemhadar fighter, karemma transport, dom battleship, and battle cruiser is missing
- I am loving the Dom and Fed shiplists Especially the couple surprises.
- I'm also a fan of the Kling BoP as a cruiser.
- however I'm not such a fan of the structures needing to be built on the first turn of a T5 game in the home system. Just personal preference. In time, I will learn to live with it! haha If having those buildings to be built in the first turn preserves the build list work you've done, I'll force myself to be happy with it
- The Rom scouts and destroyers all have the same description
- And this last one is only because I'm a little ocd when it comes to spelling... there's a typo in Dom strike cruiser II description: 'Dominion' is spelled wrong -> as 'Dominoin'

I should have some time in the next couple days to actually play a game and give you some more solid "meat and potatoes" feedback. These are just some surface things that I noticed. All in all, I'm really excited for this mod

EDIT: Also, below is a crash log that I got after creating a Dom game, saving it, closing the program then reloading it and going into the Dom ship screen.

When I reloaded a second time it did not CTD.

-------------------------------------
ST:BOF Mon Feb 1 16:25:24 2010

Version Under Test: 72
File: listbox.c, Line: 640, itemNum <listBox>numItems
Initialize State: 31
Player Empire: 0 Starting Seed: 1265058431
Galaxy shape: 2 Galaxy Size: 0

[mickar]

- however I'm not such a fan of the structures needing to be built on the first turn of a T5 game in the home system.

What do you mean by this?

[ZeroChance]

- however I'm not such a fan of the structures needing to be built on the first turn of a T5 game in the home system.

What do you mean by this?

I mean, for example, starting T5 with Klings, there are a handful of special structures that are in the build list in Qo'nos. I'm not a *huge* fan of having to build more than one extra structure at the beginning of a high tech game (in a home system) because I'd rather just get to shipbuilding, even in sp. Obviously there will be special structure in the additional systems. But like I said, it's really not a big deal... I just felt like voicing that observation.

[Tethys]

Thank you, Ive noted the bugs you pointed out (as did mickar a few hours ago lol) and will add them to my txt log on more to-dos before final release (GM 1.0.0)

Thanks for the quick feedback, and I will look into the buildings issue.

On a note of the minors, those will come later. I just changed the names and star systems, and races which control ships is subject to change (pallete issue). Race descriptions and minor buildings should be in a later update (maybe 0.2.0, or 0.3.0)

As for the crash log, ive never seen it before. What exactly did u do to make that happen?

[Tethys]

I should have some time in the next couple days to actually play a game and give you some more solid "meat and potatoes" feedback.

Lol its funny becuz my dinner tonight consists of BBQ ribs, mash potatoes, and beans lol

[ZeroChance]

As for the crash log, ive never seen it before. What exactly did u do to make that happen?

I loaded up a new sp game, as Dom. Played a turn or two, checked out the ships and stats. Then I saved the game. I went and did the same thing with Kling, Fed, and Rom. I quit BOTF altogether, and later came back to the Dom game. The first thing I did was go into the research screen, to where the shiplist is. As soon as I clicked the shiplist button I got a CTD. I reloaded botf again, did the exact same thing without a problem.

[Tethys]

that is weird. ive never had that happen, then again ive never saved a new game and came back to it... ive always played 10+ turns..

ill see if TC knows what it means thanks

[Mentat]

@Zerochance & Tethys:

There is two likely possibilities for that CTD in the research screen.
A.) If nobody but Zerochance encounters this during the test, he has simply installed the Multiinstaller with the wrong video settings. IN consequence every mod aswell.
B.) If its reproduceable by others, its likely a problem with one of the shipmodels used, which has to be fixed.

[ZeroChance]

I might be guilty of some tinkering with UDM (in order to help Thrawncrusher with some testing of changes he's made) and accidentally copied over some vanilla files, so I did a clean install of vanilla and GM. Just in case I messed up with replacing files somewhere. I have not encountered that crash with any other mod since I installed the multiinstallers a while ago.

@Tethys: So I am into a T1 game as Borg, around turn 150ish... I must say, I nearly quit and started anew when I saw the doms had over 90 jemhadar fighters plus command ships at their disposal. But I know the AI better than that and just conquered their systems while the fleet of ships... did... something. The Doms are almost gone. Shipbuilding is slow for the borg, but necessarily so. With a good popped minor it's no big deal to build cubes or those strike ships. The Feds and Klings have expanded just as fast, and have a sizable fleet to work with.

I do have a couple questions:

- Did you mean to have the central plexus, data node, and unicomplex available right from the start in T1? It's not a problem at all, they're just impossible to build right away unless you've got a decent sized minor or have upgraded your construction early.
- I like the gas giants with moons, and being able to terraform them. My colony ships found one though, with 500 pop and it's taking forever to terraform.
- I'm thinking the scaling might be a bit much for the borg ships. Any more than 2 cubes in one tactical combat screen and they're all crammed together. However the spacing between the types of ships is perfect, I find.



Also, I find that the grey for Borg space is perfect. You can see it and distinguish it from other races...

I'll keep playing tonight after work probably... and post some more feedback. Everything's looking awesome so far!

[Borg]

I am still testing but I have say what I have seen I like, am still looking for those bugs for you I didnt want to report bug that some one els reported.
Just some thin to report is you know the borg sphere the cruiser one, I think thats sphere should be renamed tactical sphere class, and I think also borg needs a morale Building. Also the growth rate is too slow, but I sill think its a great mod and I love it.

[Lathon]

I just started playing as the Borg, and I'm not sure if this was meant to be, but playing at Tech 1, the Explorer 1 has a speed of -1, and it zooms across the space needed in one turn

[Tethys]

@ Lathon The speed is intentional and is supposed to resemble transwarp capability (which all Borg ships have in the Mod even non combat ships)

To counter too quick of expansion of the Borg ive made the Colony ships short range only, and am thinking whether or not to make the TTs short range as well.

@ Borg for the morale building, why does Borg need morale? They are loyal subjects which need no manipulation to be productive (thats what Industrial Replicators are for)... the power lies in the assimilation of species, where the Assimilation Center comes in

@ ZC, the central plexus and data nodes are supposed to be there and are supposed to be expensive as well, so choose what u build wisely (since ships are also as costly), the unicomplex comes after upgrading (construction?) to tech 2

The 500 pop moon may show up elsewhere, as might a Fluidic rift (both having 500 pop), this is due to Species 8472 having only 1 planet (Fluidic Rift) while keeping up with Pop of other races

The scaling issue has yet to be resolved. If i scale down the cubes any more (or the starbase) they dont look as big and menacing (as they should) to intimidate the members of the milky way... if i do then i would have to scale down all other ships of all other races (and im not doing that lol) i may have to scale Species 8472 ships up a little bit, they are so tiny when put up against a cube ^^

So i hope somehow to edit the combat radius of the Borg ships to get them spaced out a bit better? This is just with cubes? or are other ships as well?

EDIT: Also i found a problem with the Borg Dreadnought I and II, they both become available at tech 8, the Dn II should become available at tech 10 (will fix in update)

[mickar]

Few things to comment on.

The asteroid outpost is available at the beginning on t1 games, even though you need level 3 research for it.

I find that ship building is way too easy. I played a 90 turn t1 game as rom and used my 27 warbirds to kill 86 dom fast attack.

Research is very very fast. So fast that it's difficult to finish upgrading a structure before the next thing is done.

Minors are set to vanilla setting in that they are too easy to member. I like the UDM setting more, although I wish they would pop sooner.

I don't like the large maps as mp games will last forever or not be finished.

At first I found it hard to see what systems had dill as the dill icon is small and doesn't stand out. I'm more used to it now so not a big deal.

I don't like having too many starting systems. 6 at t5 is abit much, imho. Even t1 you start with 2.

I won't go into the things I do like so just assume I like everything else.

EDIT: Also, start systems are way too big, imho. I'm on a t2 game with kling and I finally made all the structures to fit my pop. 33 turns of making structures is not very fun.