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Author Topic: Galaxia: Remember Tomorrow - 4x space strategy game (Alpha15D)  (Read 80265 times)

Majestic7

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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #15 on: August 27, 2014, 01:20:35 pm »

I tried this out. The start is somewhat confusing - I sent my corvette to explore the neighboring star and left the fighters at home. Some time after the fighters disbanded due to lack of resources. The corvette got stuck in the neighboring system without enough fuel to fly back.

I understand this is Alpha version, but the game should definitely inform the player about high upkeep, low fuel etc before the problems strike you in the face in earnest. So I restarted the game.... This time my ships didn't immediately disband, instead some guy game and whacked them. Okay, I start building a new ship... but I don't have Burmiton or Plutonium to build any. I don't have any such income on my home planet and no way acquire any. So yeah... the start ups definitely need some work. :P Right now your game can end before it begins.

Space combat feels a little shallow. Are you planning to add more tactical elements into it? Like different damage types, different defense types, weapon arcs, stuff like that? Are we going to get experience for ships or admirals or something like that? Some strategic maneuvers which might allow us to face enemy fleet piecemeal would be nice too. Maybe that could be the effect of cloaking devices, since then you'd choose when and where to engage.

 On third game I got to play properly. I think the build times are too high in the beginning; it takes ages to get anything done. Tweaking them a little downwards might be in order. Other than that, the basics seem to work.

On to general suggestions... First, I think it would serve the game if the species were completely different from each other. Right now they are all really similar. Stuff like different ship types, different battle tactics, different planets (what if one race inhabits gas giants), different economies would work wonders. Not to mention racial victory conditions that are a little different for each.

Second, most 4Xs really fail in the department of internal politics. It would be fun to see that fleshed out, with stuff like political parties, lobby groups and corporations or noble houses pulling strings inside your empire. They could give you missions and demands etc. Then depending on whose policies you follow, their power would grow and they'd grant you boons, while other groups would lose power and eventually start working against you. This could work as an intuitive limit on overexpansion, if larger empires had more powerful internal factions, leading into corruption and unrest as it was impossible to please everyone at the same time.

I'd be glad to play this more in the future once there is more content.

Edit: Forgot third note - random events and special planets/star systems would be nice, with stuff like primitive natives, ruined cities, strange plants, wormholes or ancient space hulks etc.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2014, 01:22:13 pm by Majestic7 »
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Ufnv

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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #16 on: August 27, 2014, 01:20:52 pm »

I am downloading this as I type, and really hope it lives up to my expectations, which have been driven very high.
I think, it's better for me to under promise :)

Quote
What is your long term plan for this game, regarding its release etc? I would hate to play this early alpha then find myself expected to drop large amounts of cash on it when finished... :P
I'd like to try Steam Greenlight soon, when I finish some features, namely espionage, science rebalance, some combat rebalance, adding all missing ship bodies (race-specific battle satellites and platforms and, possibly, Destroyer class ship), better English texts and, for sure, implementing what would be requested by play-testers.

I'll be willing to charge some minimum amount of money for the final release (not from those who play-tested, though :) ) and use these money to implement a much nicer graphics (primarily in combat).

I currently work on it in my spare time, so if I get some money out of it, this will be a good excuse to my wife and kids.
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Ufnv

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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #17 on: August 27, 2014, 01:35:08 pm »

I tried this out. The start is somewhat confusing - I sent my corvette to explore the neighboring star and left the fighters at home. Some time after the fighters disbanded due to lack of resources. The corvette got stuck in the neighboring system without enough fuel to fly back.
Looks like you started on Hard settings :)
BTW, what kind of galaxy you tried?

Also, corvettes are very short-range ships, for exploration it is better to build a scout ship. Stuck ship can be refuelled by a refuelling ship or when you establish a colony at a star where your ship stuck.

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... the game should definitely inform the player about high upkeep, low fuel etc before the problems strike you in the face in earnest.
It does, but looks like it should do this better :)
High upkeep is reported by "events monitor" that pauses the game and shows a popup (if not switched off), as well as red numbers in minerals balance.

Low fuel is reported when you select the destination star - next to the distance it shows a low fuel warning.

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Okay, I start building a new ship... but I don't have Burmiton or Plutonium to build any. I don't have any such income on my home planet and no way acquire any.
You should have some deposits initially, plus they are mined at your home planet.

Quote
Space combat feels a little shallow. Are you planning to add more tactical elements into it? Like different damage types, different defense types, weapon arcs, stuff like that? Are we going to get experience for ships or admirals or something like that?
Yes, all this is present, you just need some advance in science to get all this.

BTW, a lot of things are explained in tutorial.

Quote
On third game I got to play properly. I think the build times are too high in the beginning; it takes ages to get anything done. Tweaking them a little downwards might be in order. Other than that, the basics seem to work.
Do you mean "real time" build times, or "in-game" build times. If real-time, it makes sense to set the in-game time flow to maximum in the beginning.

Quote
On to general suggestions... First, I think it would serve the game if the species were completely different from each other. Right now they are all really similar. Stuff like different ship types, different battle tactics, different planets (what if one race inhabits gas giants), different economies would work wonders.
Already implemented in the upcoming release :)

Quote
Second, most 4Xs really fail in the department of internal politics. It would be fun to see that fleshed out, with stuff like political parties, lobby groups and corporations or noble houses pulling strings inside your empire. They could give you missions and demands etc. Then depending on whose policies you follow, their power would grow and they'd grant you boons, while other groups would lose power and eventually start working against you. This could work as an intuitive limit on overexpansion, if larger empires had more powerful internal factions, leading into corruption and unrest as it was impossible to please everyone at the same time.
Interesting idea, I'll think about it.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2014, 02:02:42 pm by Ufnv »
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arbiter787

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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #18 on: August 27, 2014, 08:59:40 pm »

Okay, downloading now. Let's see how this plays.

EDIT: Hmm, two hour download time. I guess my internet isn't feeling good today.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2014, 09:04:40 pm by arbiter787 »
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Ufnv

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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #19 on: August 28, 2014, 12:40:20 am »

Hmm, two hour download time. I guess my internet isn't feeling good today.
The server is in Holland, maybe should move to the US :)
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Xantalos

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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #20 on: August 28, 2014, 12:57:20 am »

I'm gonna PTW, since this looks rather interesting.
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IcyTea31

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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #21 on: August 28, 2014, 01:58:20 am »

It certainly looks pretty in the screenshots. I'll try it out later on. 690 MB is a lot for an alpha stage game, hopefully it's worth it.
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Majestic7

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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #22 on: August 28, 2014, 03:55:36 am »

I'll play this more when I have time. What kind of suggestions do you want? Like do you have vision of alien species or do you want ideas? Do you have a framework for espionage? Want ideas about random events and unique planet finds? Ideas about internal politics I suggested? Just mechanical suggestions? I'm always brimming with ideas and I don't want to seem like I'm imposing them on you.
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Ufnv

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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #23 on: August 28, 2014, 04:59:32 am »

I'll play this more when I have time. What kind of suggestions do you want? Like do you have vision of alien species or do you want ideas? Do you have a framework for espionage? Want ideas about random events and unique planet finds? Ideas about internal politics I suggested? Just mechanical suggestions? I'm always brimming with ideas and I don't want to seem like I'm imposing them on you.
To be honest, even the initial impression you shared is very valuable, as it shows a new player experience and spots problems that are not obvious for me or those who already know the game well enough.

So, most important suggestions are:
1) UI and convenience related things - what to emphasise, how adequate is the Tutorial, how easy it is to understand the basic game concepts (build a ship, colonise a planet, research new technology), etc
2) Game mechanics suggestions - those you listed, basically - random events, politics, etc - but this requires some understanding of what the current gameplay is. And this is why:

Take the espionage, for example. The common concept is to build or hire dedicated spy units and assign them some task.
My concept is a bit different. Instead of hiring spies, I am going to introduce three type of modules to install on ships. These are: "spy base module", "spying probe module", "cloaking device".
When you install a "spy base" on any ship you get your spy ship. If you have open borders with another race, this spy ship would just fly and do spying. If borders are closed, you need a "cloaking device" to be installed additionally. Effectiveness of this "cloaking device" is defined by your spy ship experience and amount of energy your ship dissipates. So, theoretically you can cloak a dreadnought full of guns, but practically it would be nearly impossible due to enormous amount of dissipated energy.
"Clocking device" when it works gives you the possibility to hide in an enemy territory until you attack someone with this ship, fail a dedicated spying mission or your ship is discovered by enemy counterintelligence.

There will be two kinds of a spying activity:
- Passive
- Active

Passive spying is a background process that does not require much attention from a player. In general case this is the gathering of information. Information in the "passive" spying mode is discovered by small potions, i.e. a cloaked spy entered an enemy system will not get the exact information about enemy fleet composition instantly, but will be receiving it gradually.
There is different type of information that can be gathered and it depends on a planet the spy is investigating. For example, if we spying a Research planet, we can get the list of technologies an enemy has, if we just spying a big planet rich in population, we will most likely get information about other systems of this race, routes to those systems, fleets at those systems, etc.

To avoid having a spying ship constantly orbiting some enemy planet, we can use a "spying probe module" to leave a probe in some system.

Enemy passive activity can be discovered only by counterintelligence.
Passive activity would not get more that two spying experience points.

Active spying is a different thing and is performed only when ordered by a player.
Active spying can be sabotage, steal of technology, inciting to riot, counterintelligence, etc.
Such kind of mission can fail and leads to uncloaking of a spying ship, so enemy can attack and destroy it.

There is also a "counterintelligence building" that can be built on a planet. It costs upkeep, but gives a probability of detecting passive enemy spies and lowers enemy chances on successful active spying.

-------------

So, to summarise, any kind of ideas are welcomed and I can promise I answer them in either accepting and telling when and how I am going to implement them, or telling why exactly I think they do not fit well in a general design :)
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Ufnv

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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #24 on: August 28, 2014, 05:02:11 am »


One suggestion I have is tying component health to ship health. Once structural damage starts to be taken, components should start being damaged/destroyed, so a ship at 30% health won't have the effectiveness of a ship at 100% health.
Yes, I think this may be the option. However I had a poll and it shows like 50/50 distribution pro and contra this thing. So, as a lot of things already, this would be configurable by a line in the settings file :)
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Akura

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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #25 on: August 28, 2014, 12:25:18 pm »

I can't access the website for some reason. It looked interesting, though.
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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #26 on: August 28, 2014, 12:28:45 pm »

Downloading! Because its 4x and I apparently have a fetish for 4x space sims or something.
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Ufnv

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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #27 on: August 28, 2014, 12:31:55 pm »

I can't access the website for some reason. It looked interesting, though.
Uploading it to Google Drive, I think it will be a much quicker download from there.

EDIT:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5INQrkj4FfHNlFFWXZUb2lOcHM for the installer.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5INQrkj4FfHUmJjZFJ0c1dmS2c for the ZIP archive.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2014, 12:43:22 pm by Ufnv »
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Finndibaenn

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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #28 on: August 28, 2014, 03:45:40 pm »

I played a bit in the small and easy galaxy. explored most of the stars, and did colonize some planets.

In the meanwhile i was conducting research and discovered a number of techs.
However i couldn't find anything that would help boost the planet production, which at least as that stage of the game seems to be the biggest problem, did i miss something ?

Also, The automatic AI for a balanced started by building a Iron Mine even though there was already a spaceport on the planet.
if I understand correctly the spaceport would allow automatic transfer of iron from other planets (and i was turning a profit on this), wouldn't it be more appropriate to start with factories ?
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Retropunch

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Re: Remember Tomorrow - an indie 4x space strategy game
« Reply #29 on: August 28, 2014, 03:46:55 pm »

PTW, this looks awesome. I've taken a break from playing alpha games and mods at the moment because I find I just get too annoyed if things don't work, but I'll definitely give this a go after a few more releases!
 
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