Another Sword of the Stars II Thread...

[Jarhead0331]

Just to give you guys some feedback on the current state of the game...I've been playing a bit over the past few nights and I have not had a single crash.  I'm over 50 turns into a new Sol Force game and it feels very stable.  I've had no interaction with other species yet, other than to detect an alien survey fleet conducting a survey mission of an unclaimed system on the outskirts of my territory.  I was given the option of intercepting the alien fleet with my nearby 2nd System Defense Fleet commanded by Admiral Tasa Ise.  However, to do so would be an unprovoked act of war.  Admirals, by the way, are recruited with neat little personality quirks...ie. True Believer, slippery, true grit, green thumb, architect, etc.  So you can assign admirals with special traits to the appropriate mission based fleets.

I've built a number of ships, created new fleets, assigned admirals to command positions and then assigned ships to the new fleets. I've conducted numerous survey, patrol, construction and colonization operations.  I've claimed new worlds, constructed naval outposts and upgraded a naval base to a naval sector base.  I've only had two random encounters, both of which I auto-resolved because I had no military assets in the combat zone.  I've researched many different technologies, done some feasibility studies and adjusted the economy between government spending, stimulus, research, and security. 

Everything "seems" to be working well, and I've definitely caught that "just one more turn" bug.  I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing.  Nevertheless, I have no doubt that there are numerous remaining bugs and missing features.  I'm sort of just fumbling my way through the UI and while I feel relatively comfortable with the big picture, I'm sure there are many little details I'm missing or not picking up on.  Still, it is clear that the game has come a long way since release.

Might be time to take another look for some of you.

[Grim.Reaper]

JH, I am glad it is starting to take shape so that you and others that purchased it can ultimately get enjoyment out of it.  Everyone who put their faith in this product deserves a good outcome.  For me personally, not sure I ever will take the plunge, since not my favorite game type and not a fan on how this got released....but......when it hits the bargain bins which it surely will at some point this year, maybe I will give it a shot:)

Thanks for the update as I am sure people like me are interested in how things are progressing.

[Tpek]

Maybe I should really get back to this game then :)

[mikeck]

At this point, the problem isn't with stability but with missing or partially missing features. I think espionage, diplomacy and some other things are still missing. Makes it more of a 2.5x than a 4x at this point. It's fun though.

[Martok]

Thanks for the update, Jarhead.  I've been hearing the game is playable now, but isn't necessarily actually that much fun yet.  Sounds like things might finally be turning the corner on the latter aspect, though? 

[Epee1]

Thanks JH.  I want to get this game, but keep posting your observations if you don't mind.

[Jarhead0331]

No problem guys...and I'll definitely keep posting impressions.

I just saw for the first time obvious placeholder graphics.  I had a random encounter near one of my colonies that resulted in combat with something called "Spectres"...In the combat view, they appeared as empty polygons...although not even close to being a game stopper, it is clearly something that has not been added to the game yet.  As I see these deficiencies, I will point them out.

[Capn Darwin]

I've got the game and tried it a couple times, but I placed it on ice to give the Devs time to clean it up and get it to a point of being the game they wanted to release. It's good to hear they are getting more stable and getting stuff placed back in and working. Too busy with other stuff right now to enjoy it if it was working. Only so many hours in a day sadly.

[republic]

I finally gave up playing until they announce it is as they intended. 

What is in the game works fine until you get into a battle.  It seems the unit AI isn't working, so they will only do what you explicitly tell them to do.  Also (and maybe because of the non functional unit AI) the various stances aren't working yet, so the broadside and pursue.  If you pause a lot and tell each ship what to do all the time, it works ok, but what happens is that as soon as their target is destroyed they stop and do not engage others on their own.  So its pause, click click click, unpause *kablewie* pause, click click click etc.

I'm not fond of the way you move your fleets, but that is a game design decision, rather than a flaw or missing content.

All in all, its a great gem of a game, but lots of refining to go.  I just consider I'm playing a beta build like StarDrive, Starfarer, etc.

[RooksBailey]

Even though I usually find 4X sci-fi games to be irresistible, I doubt I'll pick this game up until there is 1) a full demo, & 2)the game is between 50-75% off.  I just find what Kerberos pulled to be so disreputable, that the whole thing leaves a very bad taste in my mouth, something made all the worse by the insufferable attitude of Kerberos during and after the launch debacle (at least Wardell manned up to the Elemental debacle and didn't play the victim card like Kerberos did).    I hope one day the game  lives up to the hype, especially for all the people who unknowingly invested in a paid alpha, but I have no interest in anything Kerberos makes at this point (I'm still annoyed by the whole Fort Zombie mess  ::)).

[Jarhead0331]

Another pretty comprehensive patch released...

Critical Fixes:
+ Fixed indy colonies from trying to add an already existing civilian
faction to a newly created colony through stimulus. (Caused a crash
during end turn)
+ Fixed a crash with declaring war on an independent
+ Fixed a crash when trying to add battleriders to platforms
+ Fixed a crash when simulating 2 AI vs AI combats involving battleriders
+ Fixed dronesats from crashing the game when trying to place them in
the defence widget
+ Fixed an SQL crash caused by improperly removing systems from a game
(when they are destroyed)
+ Fixed a crash when placing defence platforms
+ Fixed a hang when more then 1 combat took place
+ Fixed a crash when entering multiplayer games
+ Fixed a crash related to slaver encounters
+ Fixed the station sync crash in the fleet widget

Other Fixes:
+ Added AI cost assessment and picking for technologies
+ Added ability for AI to resume abandoned research projects
+ Enhanced AI research algorithms
+ Enabled UI for Special Research Projects
+ Hooked up Asteroid Monitor Special ProjectID
+ Hooked up Investigate independent Special project
+ Removed the poker chip system that combined 5 like items into 1.
+ Added additional trade from megafreighters, and an icon to represent
them in the trade view
+ Balanced freighter speeds
+ Increased visual ranges
+ Made target dish on the command monitor easier to see and hit
+ Added Pirates to randomized encounters
+ Added AI tech research strategies
+ Added the missing icon for building a mining station in the station
placement screen
+ Balanced Civilian and Naval Stations
+ Added Interceptor missiles
+ Removed waypoint arrows when specific stances are active
+ Added Indy races and Splinter factions
+ Rebalanced number of empty star systems
+ Improved zuul trade range
+ Build screen stats have been fixed and report correctly
+ Added mission times for boarding pods
+ Adjusted the number of slots available around planets for stations
+ Fixed modules not having a proper collision shape
+ Added the Comet randoms
+ Added a load screen after combat
+ Fixed a bug in the last capital standing end game rule that caused
players to be prematurely removed from the game
+ Added the ability to assimilate indy players by creating an alliance with them
+ Added an Indy button and diplomacy screen for managing diplomacy
between indy players
+ Fixed the Asteroid encounters to have the proper player avatar
+ Fixed some text width issues in the build screen related to cost
+ Dragging a ship into a fleet now selects the fleet after it has been moved
+ Tuned module deaths when they are blown off a ship
+ Added critical hits to space beasts
+ Added the combat manager button to the precombat popup
+ Tuned drone sats
+ Added a confirmation to the exit to main menu button
+ Ships destroyed by a boarding pod are now properly removed from their fleet.
+ Added death of crew if a ship breaks it's crews constraints
+ Fixed fleets not refreshing when being added in the fleet manager
+ Corrected the fleet times for missions
+ Fixed an issue where you could spam the ok button on the naming
dialog for an invoice and it would add extra empty invoices
+ Fixed feasibility studies to show 100% for techs you can definitely research
+ Tuned repair points for ships
+ Fixed an incorrect turn event for players that were being betrayed
(They were being labelled as the betrayer)
+ Fixed music from not changing if another cue was already playing
+ Fixed gms to only spawn for the number of gms picked in the game setup
+ Fixed the kill count for ships in the post combat screen
+ Fixed the human construction ships slowing down node travel significantly
+ Added Suicide Drones
+ Added Drain Drones
+ Added EW Drones
+ Clicking on news events now focus' on relevant system/colony
+ Rebellions now form splinter colonies if the rebellion is successful
+ Fixed infrastructure display value
+ Fixed the tech tree only displaying the cheapest path
+ Increased max length for fleet names
+ Changed colony stimulus to drop friendly indy colonies on
inhabitable planets - They are only negotiable when they have become
fully developed
+ Fixed an issue that caused encounters to become unhooked when naming
your player name the same as an encounter
+ Fixed indy colonies to simulate without starvation and support
(since they cannot have support)
+ Fixed the primary weapons being saved on your designs
+ Added turns remaining to build orders on the build button
+ Increased starmap label view range 20%
+ Fixed ships with structural fields not being able to be fully repaired
+ Fixed ships with structural fields not having full health when they
are created
+ Changed the slaves label to Deaths to represent the change in slaves
better on the colony summary
+ Added a mouseover to defence widget items
+ Fixed the AI from creating fleets that exceeded command point limits
+ Fixed a bug related to updating ships in the fleet manager
+ Fixed an issue with command points being calculated when moving
command ships (leviathan and cruiser commands)
+ Added color indication to defence items that require more cp then available
+ Added police cutters to defence manager
+ Added new art for defence platforms
+ Added new art for minefields
+ Police cutters are automatically added to defense fleets when they are built
+ Fixed the Vector3 Parse crash (a knock on from removing systems)
+ Fixed encounters from being properly removed when the system killer
destroys their homeworld.
+ Fixed repair points from not being rejuvinated each turn
+ Fixed invalid slot placements in the battle manager
+ Fixed morrigi sdbs not coming with drones
+ fixed jammers not working
+ Wraith abductors will now properly attack planets
+ Adjusted weapons for slaver ships
+ Fixed a typo in the encyclopedia
+ True grit is now a positive trait
+ Construction mission estimates are now correct for time and cost
+ Meteors now end combat early if they cannot hit a planet
+ Added splash screens for indy races
+ Fixed defence fleet from not showing up in the repair dialog and rider manager
+ Fixed weapon riders from showing up in the repair dialog

Known Issues:
- When loading an old saved game, the fleet mission times will display
incorrect number of turns until they start a new mission.
- Unable to target polygons on Morrigi monitors.

[spelk]

Just a warning if you're buying it from Gamersgate at the el cheapo price, even though you download the install files from GG, as soon as you begin the install you have to attach to (or install) Steam, and then it needs a 7Gb patch to be playable!

[Bismarck]

And then you find out you need Vista!

[mikeck]

Yeah..this was the game that got me to finally update to Windows 7. Had to have Vista or 7 to run it. Of course, little did I know that the game itself with be worthless at release but hey! it was motivational.  I'm 'bout ready to fire it up again and see where it is....unless someone can recommend a game in my other post for this weekend ;)

[steve58]

Just a warning if you're buying it from Gamersgate at the el cheapo price, even though you download the install files from GG, as soon as you begin the install you have to attach to (or install) Steam, and then it needs a 7Gb patch to be playable!

Actually, I didn't even even bother with the GG files, just grabbed the code and activated on Steam from the get go and downloaded from there.   Steam is always a faster download for me than GG.