The Last Federation

tgb · April 18, 2014, 08:54:22 AM

I spent about an hour with this this morning.

The strategic game is largely menus and charts, and the game auto-pauses whenever you open one up, so the real-time aspect is inconsequential. The only time the clock is running is when you are waiting for a decision to be implemented (and the menus tell you how long that will take in both game time and real time) and when executing combat moves. There may be a way to turn auto-pause off, but why would you want to?

I'm finding combat tougher than in the videos. Without a shield that recharges, I haven't even survived the second tutorial mission. Either I'm doing it wrong (likely) or I really suck at the combat (even more likely). I'm going to try a couple of ideas but if they don't work may have to dial the combat down to Easy (there are separate difficulty settings for the combat and the strategy layer).

One thing I really like is that just as in AoW 3, the game putas all the information you needat your fingertips. The benefits and drawbacks of each mission you can select, and which weapons are most effective against a selected target. There appears to be no guesswork in the game.

Nefaro · April 18, 2014, 09:27:20 AM

I'm glad GOG has been selling more new releases from the first day. Hope more developers start using them.

tgb · April 18, 2014, 10:00:50 AM

I started another game and am doing much better. I realized that it's not enough to see which weapons do the most damage to which targets, you also have to be aware of the weaponry and firing arc of enemies you will be coming in contact with. Turns out I was flying into the arc of some platform that fired missiles that were one-shot killers. I am an idiot. Also, now that more of the strategic layer has been opened up to me, I can see this game is a lot deeper than it would appear in the earlier videos.

One thing I can't figure out is how to delete or change a move in combat after plotting it. Everything I try just seems to execute the original move.

Nefaro · April 18, 2014, 03:20:31 PM

Good news. Was hoping the strategic layer had more to it than the videos initially prophesied.

I picked it up earlier today but have been busy. Maybe I'll get to it this weekend.

Tpek · April 18, 2014, 04:07:48 PM

Damn.

Apparently, except for on GOG, Arcen can't allow the game to be released anywhere before Steam releases it on their shop.
Thing is, Steam is having problems again (Valve-Time and all :P).

EDIT: And Steam just delayed the release by 24 hours.
I'm getting this through GOG now.

Jarhead0331 · April 18, 2014, 04:42:04 PM

It is available on steam now.

Tpek · April 18, 2014, 05:27:37 PM

Yeah, I just noticed.
I guess they were waiting for me to get this game on GOG first :P

In any case, I actually wanted to do this through Gamersgate (for their bluecoins) but GOG are good enough I guess.

tgb · April 18, 2014, 06:18:00 PM

This is the best video I've seen as far as showing how the strategic game goes.

tgb · April 21, 2014, 10:02:27 PM

1.002 is out, and get this:

QuoteVersion 1.002 is now out, and includes lots of goodies. One of the top-requested features was a way to get techs from races that already have them, and so that's today's "feature of the day."

Beyond that, there are a ton of fixes and improvements all over the place:

* A few GUIs are now quicker to navigate through (those small-action "after action report" popups, primarily).

* A lot of racial attitudes now shift in reaction to bad things that you do to other races.

* Fixed three exploits that clever players found. It's always fun to see what an increasingly-larger audience thinks of that a smaller one did not. And then of course do something about it. :)

* We also fixed some really unfortunate errors in the planetary ground and bombing attacks that were making those basically... well, borked. Incredibly sorry about that. It was a small change that we had made right prior to the weekend that caused it, and the fact that it was happening was not immediately obvious.

* And then some other, smaller bugfixes as well.

Today is the first day of us releasing at least one new free feature every DAY at this point, thanks to the overwhelming support this game has had. Seriously, this is now our best launch ever, and we're extremely grateful to our ever-growing community for their support, as well as to the press for taking the time out to look at our stuff.

After this week, we'll continue putting out at least one new free feature every week for at least a few months, if not longer. A quest, a new weapon or ability, a new ship, a new action... something. We'll vary it up, and make it fun. I'm really excited about expanding the game even further, as large as it already is. Right now we're doing that very fast in response to all the huge numbers of new players and all the things that a larger audience is bound to dig up in a game of this scope and complexity; once that settles down, we'll make it less intensive but still ongoing.

I can personally vouch for the change in research. I went to research a tech with a race that already had it, and the time had been cut by 2/3 for that reason.

Nice support, Arcen. I only wish I liked your other games as much as I like this one.

spelk · April 22, 2014, 07:56:18 AM

I really like the game, but I'm having issues with the longer strategic picture - I think its the balancing act you have to do, very similar in concept to Skyward Collapse - where you have to appease all the sides, to try and get them friendly enough to do business with you, and then eventually form a federation. Obviously the Acutians are the baddies, and you can milk them as much as possible because their hatred is a bonus to try and bounce the other nations off. I think I have trouble getting research tech from other nations, and perhaps this patch will help me out big time by the sounds of it.

The combat is entertaining, but quite brutal if you take your eye off the ball - an hour or two carefully crafting relations, can all be lost in a split second of distraction. Then its back to the autosave. I like the fact you can takeover other races outposts/stations. And then you can invest in security to help protect them from the cursed Acutians!

If anyone is playing this, and has some tips on getting past the short sighted end of jollying up everyone apart from the Acutians, then don't hold back! :)

tgb · April 22, 2014, 08:51:07 AM

No tips, but GMG now has it for $14.99, and with code GMG025-EASTER-024HRS the price comes down to $11.99. Anyone who has any interest in a unique take on space opera should get it at that price.

Tpek · April 22, 2014, 08:54:45 AM

I'm having trouble with the Boarines.
I was planning on forming the Federation using them and the Andors.
But the Andors for some reason quickly formed the Solar Axis Pact before with the Thoraxians before I managed to bring their relationship with the Boarines high enough.
Worse, since the Andors conquered the Acutian's homeworld, which had terrible civil order, now they are considered to have it (despite having replaced the original population :P), and everyone is starting to hate them guts... and they are the only way to get the Boarines in and keep the Federation sane :(

Nefaro · April 22, 2014, 09:35:23 AM

Dunno about tips with the long-term game. It's difficult to see how things play out in Last Federation, especially in my first game. I feel like I'm just playing by the seat of my pants and doing what may or may not end up being an ideal strategy at any one moment. I suppose this helps the unpredictability but you're just dropped in with little direction for the overall picture. Figure out the strategy as you go?

I'm glad this is their best release thus far. While I've enjoyed some much more than others, they definitely make some unusual stuff. At this point in release, I think Bionic Dues was more fun. I enjoy roguelikes and RPGs, however, so my preferences may color that. I've also not played TLF long enough to fully explore all the features (such as researching and taking outposts) and it sounds like they will be adding some stuff post-release. So I'm still unsure as to whether it's something I will play a lot.

spelk · April 23, 2014, 12:01:52 PM

Arcen are still hot on the patching trail..

Looks like Permadeath is now being tempered into a narrow escape, but you can still turn it on if you're that way inclined.

QuoteOriginal: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2014/04/tlf-version-1003-released-permadeath.html

Version 1.003 is now out, and is another biggie. There are a couple of new features today, instead of just one:

1. Permadeath is now optional, and off by default. Instead you "narrowly escape" from battles that you would otherwise die in, and it gives you a time penalty in solar map months. This is a nontrivial penalty, in that things on the solar map may get out of hand -- so just fighting until you die still isn't the best idea; withdrawing is better. However, if you do wind up making a mistake that gets you killed, it's not just something that encourages savescumming by putting its boot in your face. This was a common request.

2. Being "kited" by the Velociter flagships was a huge complaint, and something that has been addressed. But while we were at it, we also split the Velociter into Type A and Type B models, with different attack patterns that are interesting to deal with.

3. The (arguably) most common remaining combat exploits are now dealt with, although there's still more to do. The big thing is that you can't cheese docking missions anymore, and you can't grind burlust duels. Burlust duels themselves still need work for the actual battles themselves, but either way the results of their battles are now more interesting and also non-cheeseable.

Then there's a bunch of other fixes and improvements, including but not limited to:

* Holy smokes there was a bug that was causing your health and shields to be way lowered in combat at various times, mainly when loading a savegame taken in the middle of combat.

* When a race takes over a planet, the RCI values are now closer to a clean slate rather than something that gets increasingly war-torn like in the last version. That didn't work so well.

* The everpresent complaint about the missing Boarine federation deals is now addressed; thanks for your patience on that one!

* Races were -- sigh -- not unlocking any new hull types that they didn't start the game with. No racial flagships, no expanded turrets, no expanded hydral tech, nothing. That's now fixed. So in effect there are now a bunch of "new" ships for players (at least those that were not in earlier versions of the alpha).

* You can now see what is going on with the ground troop numbers attacking and defending planets right on the solar map, which is kind of a big deal!

Today continues our releasing at least one new free feature (or in this case three) everyday of the work week , thanks to the overwhelming support this game has had. Seriously, this is now our best launch ever, and that gap keeps widening by surprising degrees. We're extremely grateful to our ever-growing community for their support, as well as to the press for taking the time out to look at our stuff. You guys are all awesome!

After this week, we'll continue putting out at least one new free feature every week for at least a few months, if not longer. A quest, a new weapon or ability, a new ship, a new action... something. We'll vary it up, and make it fun. I'm really excited about expanding the game even further, as large as it already is. Right now we're doing that very fast in response to all the huge numbers of new players and all the things that a larger audience is bound to dig up in a game of this scope and complexity; once that settles down, we'll make it less intensive but still ongoing.

More to come tomorrow. Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater, or if you have Steam it will automatically update it for you. To force Steam to download it faster, just restart Steam and it will do so.

PanzersEast · May 19, 2014, 08:57:43 AM

I've been playing and so far I really like is. Each race is distinctly different and there are a lot of options, many of which are obscure on exactly what they can do or how to wield them. So far, I find myself reading and taking it slow to try and figure out the best steps and not stay lost in all the available options... I think I will just set it spinning and see what happens instead of trying to figure everything out and plan too much.... but overall I enjoy it and it is a very unique, al be it somewhat confusing experience.

PE