Octopus Overlords

by **Zurai** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 8:14 pm

Still getting crashes ~100 to ~150 turns into the game. At least these aren't the same "array out of bounds" errors; they're SQL query errors, now. I don't know if that's progress (old bugs being fixed and revealing other old bugs that just didn't get encountered because of the first set of bugs) or not (simply new bugs).

That said, the UI has improved quite a bit with the last couple of patches. Ship modules now actually tell you what they do in the design screen, there's a list of all your fleets, you can research a tech you've just done a feasibility study on without entering the research screen, etc.

Still not in a release state, but getting closer.

by **Buatha** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 11:04 pm

Thank you for the updates, Zurai. I mainly keep checking this thread to find out where the game is sitting.

Well, I guess the "good" think about this release is that it made me finally look at Distant Worlds.

by **Zurai** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 11:28 pm

No problem. Kerberos has shown no sign of letting the game go, and I'll keep trying it until they do. As I've said, I see a great game in there, it just needs more work until it's ready. It's really, really irritating that they foisted it off on me in an early beta state, but oh well.

Incidentally, even though they said we were all only going to get the Liir/Morrigi, Tarka/Hiver, and Suul'ka Horde immersion packs for free, I also got the Human one. Not that big a deal since they're all pure eye candy, but it is more than they said I'd get.

by **silvaril** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:33 pm

Heya

The Human ImPack has been distributed now that the Media Releases have been made available at Retail.

That seems to have been what the Publishers were waiting for, as the Human ImPack was a goodie for Retail Store sales.

by **abr** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 1:28 pm

silvaril wrote:Heya

The Human ImPack has been distributed now that the Media Releases have been made available at Retail.

That seems to have been what the Publishers were waiting for, as the Human ImPack was a goodie for Retail Store sales.

Yup, got all DLCs now.

Also, updated beginner's guide and ...

... new patch:

r18645b
------

Critical Fixes:
+ ** Fixed known empty fleet issues caused by orphaned battle riders not being removed. **
+ Fixed crash due to module instance count not matching actual module count.
+ Fixed the crash caused by selecting fleets while in the province edit mode.
+ Fixed the crash caused by multiple special encounters (for instance System Killer and Asteroid Monitor) at the same system.
+ Fixed the reported colony update crash.
+ Fixed the reported System Killer crash.
+ Fixed a crash caused by bad data in certain turn events.
+ Fixed a crash that could be caused by transferring a battle rider to reserves.
+ Fixed the crash caused by a colonization fleet being destroyed just prior to the appearance of the Colony Self-Sufficient dialog.
+ Fixed a potential crash that could be caused by removal of collision from dying objects.
+ Fixed a crash that could be caused by not having enough admirals for starting fleets.
+ Fixed planetary missiles not firing.
+ Fixed numerous known issues with fleet pathing.
+ Fixed a bug where a different station would be upgraded than the one selected.

Other Fixes:
+ Fixed known issues with Battle Cruisers.
+ Fixed an issue where detonating weapons were not selecting the correct targets.
+ Fixed known issues with lagging PD target tracking and PD target selection.
+ Improved general target leading in combat.
+ Increased turret tracking speeds in general.
+ Fixed an issue where multi-volley weapon firing sequences were being timed incorrectly.
+ Fixed an issue where drones were not firing their targets.
+ Disabling a Command Monitor or its turrets now forces a neutral state to eliminate unwanted combat.
+ Fixed an issue where battle riders were launching in the design screen.
+ Fixed known issues with the Combat HUD showing incorrect information for multiple ship selections.
+ Fixed an issue that was causing jitter from ships in formation flying around planets in overthrust mode.
+ Immigration slider is now hidden until until the correct technology is available.
+ Fixed an issue where disruptors were not disabling turrets.
+ Fixed a few smaller issues with Protean placement.
+ Fixed the issue where battle riders were not being provided with default ships.
+ Fixed the missing Siege Driver impact effect.
+ Fixed many localization typos.
+ Fixed known turret arc issues.
+ Fixed some material issues on various Human faction models.
+ Fixed an issue where stance changes were being erroneously applied to battle riders and stations.
+ Fixed bug where player was being charged for civilian built mining station.
+ Fixed bug where enemy fleets would show up in phantom fleet widget when turn is ended.
+ Rewrote turn transition interface flow to more accurately represent turn processing time.
+ Removed scrim from GUI loading lockout, which may eliminate the rare reports of being stuck on a screen forever.
+ Fixed bug where tooltips would be one line no matter how long they where.
+ Fixed known issues with variable weapons in the weapon test screen.
+ Fixed known issues where Drone carriers were not attaching drones.
+ Fixed known issue where meteors could not be destroyed.
+ Fixed an issue where weapon recharge times were double the intended value.
+ Fixed bug with Zuul where all civilians where being considered as slaves
+ Updated colony UI to properly represent slave vs civilian population.
+ Fixed a bug where a player's own colonies could be misinterpreted as being out of sensor range.

Other Changes:
+ Added new Double Helix star map.
+ Introduced combat AI surround and flank behaviors.
+ Adjusted some tech costs.
+ Made improvements to the research screen.
+ Tutorial pop-ups for Research and Starmap updated to reflect changes.
+ Added border and background to star map fleet and planet lists.
+ Planet orbital position changes have been disabled.
+ Asteroid Monitor special projects have been added.
+ Colonies will now launch heavy missiles if the population is high enough.
+ Introduced corrosive ship damage from weapons.
+ Added a better visual effect for ships being disrupted by EMP.
+ Improved strategic AI capabilities.

Key Known Issues:
*** This update breaks old save games. ***
- Tempest Array weapons are not firing.
- Some star systems have anomalous moon orbits.
- System Killer auto resolve is not producing results.
- Tarkas and Zuul Dreadnoughts have various turret arc corrections still to be made.

by **tgb** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 8:44 pm

Out of boredom I re-installed this today to check out the newest build. I was feeling pretty good about the current state of the game until my cursor vanished around turn 11.

Time to put it back on the shelf.

by **abr** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 9:02 pm

tgb wrote:Out of boredom I re-installed this today to check out the newest build. I was feeling pretty good about the current state of the game until my cursor vanished around turn 11.

Time to put it back on the shelf.

Yeah, I'm also mostly watching from a distance. :wink:

I would expect the game to reach beta at the end of January and to be ready for 'release' somewhere between the end of February and mid-March. I have full confidence that Kerberos will see this through if they can. The big question now is: Has their deceit brought in enough money for them to stay afloat until then?

by **JonathanStrange** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 11:27 pm

I see that they're hard at work, which is a good sign. (crosses fingers)

by **GreenGoo** » Sat Dec 17, 2011 12:03 pm

JonathanStrange wrote:I see that they're hard at work, which is a good sign. (crosses fingers)

I feel the same way, although I have no interest in buying it right now. If they finally get a decent game out of it I'll buy it, but I'm in no rush.

by **Grifman** » Tue Dec 20, 2011 9:37 pm

Here are the current plans for updates before and after Christmas and the holidays:

Hey folks,
Because everyone is interested I thought I would outline the next few days for you. The plan is to put a big update out on Tuesday and then follow it up with at least one hotfix before friday. The update will contain some mission screen changes and a pass at combat to address some issues. Will be a bit lean in terms of picking up on content, and to be honest I wish we were farther ahead on that count, but given the holiday week, we have decided in the push/shove contest of feature placement vs stability, stability has to get the nod from Santa. So update and then a few days if intensive hotfixing of anything resembling a CTD or gameflow stopper. The plan is to get you folks playing a SotS2 game from beginning to end with a reasonable chance of success. Will be less huge of a game for now but what is there will work. Thats the plan.

The new year as I have mentioned will have at least a couple updates a month till every lil thing is where it should but the longer pacing should make for much cleaner updates. Before the end of the week we will put out a fairly comprehensive list of whats in and whats waiting so you can adjust your holiday playing accordingly.

by **Grifman** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 2:26 am

And here's the update:

r18757b
------

Critical Fixes:
+ Fixed a crash that could occur within the strategic AI could not determine which ships to construct for a fleet.
+ Fixed another crash related to selecting shield options in the design screen.
+ Mission estimates are back.
+ Fixed a crash related to fleet selection in the Battle Manager.
+ Fixed an issue where the star mapo camera could become locked after selecting a system for a diplomatic event.
+ Fixed a feasibility study crash.
+ Fixed mine frame rate issues.
+ Fixed mine audio issues.
+ Fixed frame rate issues when selecting large numbers of ships in combat.
+ Fixed an issue where fleet entry positions were not taking advantage of closer control zones.
+ Fixed the issue where game setup parameters were being lost when reloading a saved game.
+ Players rejoining hosted saved games will now be moved to their respective slots when possible.

Other Fixes:
+ Strike missions against stations now require the targets to be in sensor range.
+ Added missing Ionic and Shield Breaker weapon attributes.
+ Fixed an issue where Siege Drivers were not causing damage.
+ Added missing psionic abilities to modules.
+ Added missing tactical sensor range to colonies.
+ Fixed an issue that stopped cancelled fleets from being able to be issued new missions right away
+ Fixed an issue that caused the autosave to save the wrong turn number
+ Fixed a trigger constraint with the von neumanns
+ Fixed issues with calculating fleet ranges.
+ Fixed an issue where the endurance rating for fleets was falling below one turn.
+ Boarding pods are no longer factored into fleet endurance calculations.
+ Armor display on the design screen now updates correctly when changing techs.
+ Fixed an issue where colonization missions would not resume after clearing enemies out.
+ Fixed the bug where non Zuul factions where getting node line collapse events.
+ Fixed issues with station module assignment.
+ Fixed a number of small resizing issues in fleet lists.
+ Added missing combat fleet placements for neutral encounters.
+ Fixed an issue where damaged ships entered combat destroyed sections not properly connected.
+ Fixed various boarding pod issues.
+ Fixed issues with weapon target leading.
+ Added missing economic and research efficiency connections.
+ Von Neumann homeworld starts hidden once again.
+ Fixed Fire Control and AI Fire Control section effects.
+ Fixed an issue where all weapons would fire immediately when coming out of overthrust.

Other Changes:
+ Sensor memory and is now working.
+ Improved interfaces for all mission types except Station Construction and Upgrade.
+ Added features to the combat UI.
+ Introduced a Surveyed Systems view mode for the star map.
+ Reduced size of tactical star system.
+ Introduced surrounding behavior to combat AI.
+ Reduced structure of all ship sections.
+ Various weapon tweaks.
+ Made improvements to the research screen interface.
+ Added tooltips to all tech selections on the design screen.

Key Known Issues:
*** This update breaks old save games. ***
- Deployed gates are not showing up in combat.
- Some moon orbits are still incorrect.

by **Buatha** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:43 am

Ouchie

Gamespot Review

I haven't been playing the game until I hear an all-clear, but damn, I'm worried about some of the UI/functionality issues they are mentioning.

by **JonathanStrange** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:26 pm

Many of the Kerberos forum habitués remain optimistic - but then they could be low on photon torpedoes, shields down, engines off-line and still claim everything was going according to plan.

Personally, I've been on a SOTS 1 gaming spree. I've a "scenario" I call The Haunted House: a huge map, low random events, two species. Me and the Zuul. No quarter given or asked. Ssssh...did you hear something?

by **GreenGoo** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 4:09 pm

JonathanStrange wrote:
Personally, I've been on a SOTS 1 gaming spree. I've a "scenario" I call The Haunted House: a huge map, low random events, two species. Me and the Zuul. No quarter given or asked. Ssssh...did you hear something?

Hmmm.

If you encounter them before you are heavily into the Anti-matter era, and after the fission era, you are dead meat.

You can either contain them early or outgun them later. If you give them half a galaxy (or more, he may start grabbing your half) to colonize and then fight them in the fusion era, you will have a heckuva time. What race are you?

Let us know how it goes.

by **Sarkus** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 9:00 pm

$20 on Steam as part of their holiday sale today. Same price on Amazon digital. You know you want it . . . :twisted:

Besides, the devs say they are shooting for having it in release state by next month, or the one after. Maybe.

by **JonathanStrange** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 9:14 pm

In space, no one can hear you scream!

I never thought I'd ask anyone, "Ya think SOTS2 is worth $20 yet?" but stranger things have happened.

But thanks Sarkus. :wink:

by **Sarkus** » Thu Dec 29, 2011 9:54 pm

For what its worth, people in the QT3 thread about the game say the game is "playable" to a degree now. But not many think its worth $20 in its current form. The question is whether buying now as an investment towards a future hopefully better status is worth the risk or if by then it will $20 everywhere anyway.

by **$iljanus** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 10:24 am

So I was one of the early suckers that pre-ordered this piece of shit. Stopped playing it a few updates back so maybe its less of a piece of shit. But I don't recommend games that ship incomplete to people, even to electronic internet friends on faith that it will be fixed in the future. I may have a useless game because people aren't buying but I still recommend waiting. Alot of other games that work better out of the box to spend your hard earned $$$ on.

But some people have different definitions of "incomplete". Do your research and decide if you can throw away $20. If I were doing it over again, I wouldn't mind waiting with the possibility of paying more for a finished product. I will always have SotS1 which is still an awesome game. And Kerebos going out of business because of lack of buyers will be their own fault. I didn't get the alpha tester discount when I pre-ordered. :lol:

by **Grifman** » Tue Jan 17, 2012 3:42 pm

Updates since the New Year began:

Jan 9

Critical Fixes:
+ Fixed the known issues where ships would not respond to controls.
+ Fixed a design screen boarding pod-related crash.
+ Fixed an AI crash that could occur when issuing orders to fleets.
+ Fixed a crash related to Hiver AI trying to set Gate missions.
+ Fixed a crash that could occur when entering combat with police cutters.
+ Fixed the rare crash that could occur when previewing maps when creating a game.
+ Fixed the crash that could occur when combat salvage generated a special project.
+ Fixed a game lockup that could occur when entering combat at a system with no orbiting bodies.

Other Fixes:
+ Fixed known issues where planet missiles and boarding pods were missing certain ship sections.
+ Fixed the issue where only one module of the same type would show up in the design screen.
+ Fixed some known Battleship rider issues with Leviathan class carriers.
+ Fixed Hiver, Human, and Liir boarding pod speeds.
+ Fixed Drone configuration issues with the Horde Drone Satellite.
+ Fixed incorrect display of armor in the design screen.
+ Fixed a couple issues causing different combat results at different time scales.
+ Fixed the launch pattern of planet missiles, which should lead to planet defenses being more effective.
+ Fixed the issue where feasibility could be displayed as 0%.
+ Fixed Meson Beam Length and the issue where its impact effects were not positioned correctly.
+ Fixed some issues where ships could fly over planets in combat.
+ Fixed the missing sound cue for relocate missions.
+ Fixed duplicate speech events for research breakthroughs.
+ Fixed an issue where the empire summary was counting fleets incorrectly.

Other Changes:
+ Various weapon and section tweaks.
+ Sensor information is now shared by players in teams (allied for example) in combat.

Known Issues:
- Overlapping start points can occur at star systems with no orbiting bodies.

Today, Jan 17

Features
- Added better battlerider behaviours
- Added drone healing and autolaunching
- Added patrol positions in combat
- Added a fleet widget tooltip to show ship information from any fleet listing.
- Added gravity mines and tar pit functionality

Major Bugs
- Fixed a crash involcing salvage projects that occured after combat with a zuul player
- Fixed a hang with the zuul intercept missions
- Fixed a number of incorrect ship section and module stats
- Added ship options to a number of ships
- Fixed a crash caused by the Von Neumanns in combat
- Fixed a crash caused by critical hit repairs
- Fixed a crash caused by dead AI admirals trying to repurpose fleets.
- Fixed an issue with reserve fleets causing false combat for a turn.

Minor Bugs
- Fixed the critical hit for shield generator to function correctly.
- Changed the default ship construction on planets back to zero
- Fixed a framerate issue with overlapping ships in combat
- Fixed a framerate issue with gate ships in intercept combat
- Fixed the weapon panel to no longer show destroyed weapons
- Added a primary weapon to ships to determine closing distance for pursuit
- Fixed planet missiles from attacking themselves when spectres are attacking the planet
- Fixed the battle rider button to only enable if the carrier is able to launch
- Fixed being able to select things other then the design ship in the design screen
- Moved station spawns closer to planets
- Fixed a bug in the tech tree that allowed the camera to focus on nothing
- Removed unneeded sliders and ship designs related to trade when FTL economics are not researched
- Fixed a bug that caused the incorrect tech state for feasible techs
- Fixed gate ships getting incorrect spawn positions in combat
- Fixed mesh particles from always spawning at their effect position
- Fixed a label in the fleet widget from overlapping it's list
- Fixed the starmap so that it focused on your home system if a certain option was checked
- Fixed disabled states on sliders so that they are more obviously disabled.
- Made the combat preview focus on the system the combat is taking place in
- Added art for admiral promotion events
- Fixed VN disintigrator beam range
- Fixed the defaults shields from not showing up in the design screen
- Fixed mining station costs
- Fixed a missing icon for adaptive buttresses
- Fixed some turret arcs on the torpedo mission sections
- Removed an extra quote from a localized string
- Fixed the cost of human large habitation modules
- Increased supply and track speed of guass PD
- Increased track speed of Phaser PD
- Increased track speed an muzzle speed of laser PD
- Added disabled state to controls of a colony when it is not owned by a player, but still visible to them
- Fixed a number of incorrect turret arcs

by **Grifman** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 11:14 pm

New update, Jan 20:

Critical Fixes:
+ Fixed a ship module sound issue that could potentially cause leaks.
+ Optimized code that was contributing to longer turn times and slower combat.
+ Fixed a bug that was causing combat to be initiated when no ships
were present.
+ Fixed the issue where invisible enemy fleets could still be selected
on the star map.
+ Fixed the bug where additional armor layers were not being carried
over into combat.
+ Fixed the issue where the strategic AI was not researching outside
of initial core technologies.

Other Fixes:
+ Addressed known bad turret arcs on numerous ship sections.
+ Fixed known issues with combat AI assigning objectives to ships.
+ Fixed issues with the design screen weapon panel not closing.
+ Fixed the intermittent bug that would cause icons not to be laid out
correctly when switching ships in the design screen.
+ Added missing combat sensor icons.
+ Fixed the bug where simulated and full combat start positions would differ.
+ Numerous fixes to known issues with Psionics effects in combat.
+ Fixed Neutron Round and Accelerated Amplification effects.
+ Fixed some issues where star system ownership visuals could get out
of sync in the star map.
+ Addressed known issues with disruptors and deflectors.
+ Addressed known issues with minelayers.
+ Rapidly clicking buttons will no longer bypass feasibility studies.
+ Slave discs now attach to ships other than Scavengers.
+ Made some changes to address the strategic AI spending itself to death.
+ Fixed an issue where COL launchers were not orienting to face the target.
+ Addressed known issues with node lines and fleet travel.
+ Fixed some issues with fleets showing up behind routes.
+ Fixed a bug where fleet pathing would sometimes return an incomplete route.
+ Addressed known issues with DLC materials.
+ Fixed a bug related to colonizing systems with more than one colony.
+ Fixed a bug with armor alignment on tooltips.
+ Fixed the bug where research was not being cancelled when going too
far over budget.

Other Changes and Additions:
+ Build screen now sorts available ship classes, and only shows
classes that you have designs for.
+ Implemented Smart Nanite effects.
+ Stealth armor on all sections now correctly reduces sensor signature in strat.
+ Full functionality for Liir battlecruisers and battleships.
+ Full functionality for mines and cracker COLs.
+ Improved grappling hook physics.
+ Effective ranges for ships used in stance positioning no longer
include PD weapons unless requested.
+ Numerous ship section, weapon and module data tweaks.
+ It is now possible to select a direct route for Zuul bore ships to travel.
+ Updated UI for upgrade missions.
+ Updated combat UI introducing new cloaking, stance buttons, facing
buttons and a priority weapon toggle.
+ Fixed some spelling errors in UI.

by **GreenGoo** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 11:29 am

How's it looking? Any tried and true fans still plugging away at it diligently?

by **tgb** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 12:29 pm

I've been waiting for the All Clear before diving back in.

by **Sepiche** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:56 pm

I think it's starting to get there. I still play once a week or so after big updates to see what's what.

At this point I can play for a while and enjoy myself, but usually end up shelving it after running into one bug or another. With each attempt however it sucks me in a little more. The last patch in particular seems to have loosened the economy up a bit (a good thing) and fixed a bunch of previously disabled or broken features (psionics, battle riders, etc).

I'd say on the whole SotS 2 is perhaps a little farther along than SotS 1 was at release... that is it's basically functional, but still in need of lots of balancing and fixing to really be the game it aspires to be.

Edit: One thing I should probably add... the biggest problem with the game at this point would probably be the AI. It can do basic things like build and attack, but it's got big problems in research and ship design among other issues. As of the last patch they at least seem to have fixed the problem with AI players racking up massive debt, but they still aren't very competitive.

by **Grifman** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:00 pm

New update, Jan 24:

Critical Fixes:
+ Fixed AI from taking control of players in slots other than slot 1
+ Fixed upgrade missions from using the wrong system to populate upgrade options
+ Fixed issues with upgrade missions.

Other Fixes:
+ Fixed missing start node lines for Humans
+ Fixed an incorrect calculation for ship construction that caused the player to have less production then they were supposed

to have.
+ Fix missing Battle Cruiser and Battle Ship Categories
+ Fixed module weapons
+ Fixed spectres not being attacked by planetary beams when merged with planets
+ Fixed some animations for Liir battleriders
+ Fixed minor projector bugs
+ Fixed the order of fleets in all mission screens

Other Changes and Additions:
+ Minor tech tree and ship tuning changes

Known issues
+ Launcher not properly reflecting game version number

by **Sepiche** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 2:28 pm

Saw a strange comment from the Paradox CEO about SotS II on Blue's News today:

We’re changing our QA processes based on this game, and we’re changing the whole model of how we make games with third parties. We’ve added amendments to existing contracts to prepare, to try and stop it from happening again."

I'd love to hear the real back story behind what exactly happened, but it sounds like he's trying to at least partially blame it on bad QA testing which seems pretty ridiculous to me. Whatever forced them to release it when they did it was pretty obviously a half completed nightly build that went up originally... this isn't the case of some testers missing a couple of minor issues.

by **IceBear** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 2:46 pm

Perhaps they are referring to either using a service that allows them to release on their schedule as opposed to the third party's schedule. Back when it was released I thought the rumour was they had to release when they did or Steam wouldn't fit them in to the release schedule until sometime in March (though as it looks now, maybe that would have been a good thing). Personally, if they had at least marked it as an unfinished product and explained they were shipping it early to meet Steam's requirements it might have reduced the bad blood.

by **abr** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:07 pm

Sepiche wrote:Saw a strange comment from the Paradox CEO about SotS II on Blue's News today:
We’re changing our QA processes based on this game, and we’re changing the whole model of how we make games with third parties. We’ve added amendments to existing contracts to prepare, to try and stop it from happening again."

I'd love to hear the real back story behind what exactly happened, but it sounds like he's trying to at least partially blame it on bad QA testing which seems pretty ridiculous to me. Whatever forced them to release it when they did it was pretty obviously a half completed nightly build that went up originally... this isn't the case of some testers missing a couple of minor issues.

Another interpretation would be: We will have our own QA team look at lot more closely at third party titles instead of taking the devs word that everything's in order.

by **tgb** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:36 pm

abr wrote:
Sepiche wrote:Saw a strange comment from the Paradox CEO about SotS II on Blue's News today:
We’re changing our QA processes based on this game, and we’re changing the whole model of how we make games with third parties. We’ve added amendments to existing contracts to prepare, to try and stop it from happening again."

I'd love to hear the real back story behind what exactly happened, but it sounds like he's trying to at least partially blame it on bad QA testing which seems pretty ridiculous to me. Whatever forced them to release it when they did it was pretty obviously a half completed nightly build that went up originally... this isn't the case of some testers missing a couple of minor issues.

Another interpretation would be: We will have our own QA team look at lot more closely at third party titles instead of taking the devs word that everything's in order.

Because history shows that Paradox beta-testers are among the best in the industry.

by **abr** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:52 pm

Touché.

by **Grifman** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 2:29 am

And the fixes just keep coming.

r19278b
------

Critical Fixes:
+ Fixed a combat memory leak.
+ Fixed a crash that could occur when clicking the research cube on
the star map.
+ Fixed a crash that would occur in the research screen when the
slider was set all the way to government.
+ Torpedoes now apply damage to planets.
+ Fixed a bug that caused battleriders to crash the design tooltip.
+ Fixed a crash that could occur when requesting enclaves.

Other Fixes:
+ Fixed missing Bio-missile art for Morrigi.
+ Fixed a couple Human, Hiver and Morrigi DLC art issues.
+ Fixed the problem with some carriers not being able to rotate while
riders were docked.
+ Fixed an issue with riders taking too long to dock.
+ Fixed a couple issues that were leading to phantom fleets, related
to deployed gates and defense fleets.
+ Carriers can now carry other carriers.
+ Fixed an issue where loaded games could mix up player ID's.
+ Fixed known issues with Kingfisher.
+ Fixed issues where ships were not targeting stations correctly in combat.
+ Fixed an issue where destroying the mission section on the ship
would kill all crew onboard.
+ Fixed an issue with Game Setup options resetting when switching maps.
+ Fixed issues with combat AI splitting targets.
+ Fixed issues where bio-missiles were not launching.
+ Added missing bonus for Expert Systems.
+ Added missing bonus for Orbital Drydocks.
+ Added missing bonus for Heavy Platforms.
+ Corrected bonus for Materials Applications.
+ Fixed a bug that was causing designs to return incorrect attributes
once they had been committed.
+ Fixed a bug that was reporting the build times for ships with naval
stations incorrectly.
+ Removed duplicate "destination" text from fleet lists.
+ Made a change to address the concern that missiles would continue to
move after combat had ended.
+ Battle riders are now silent while docked.
+ Fixed known issues where tracking weapons would fail to hit ship
targets after their sections were destroyed.
+ Turrets no longer fire missiles after the crew are killed.
+ Fixed an issue where assault shuttles would not return to tender.
+ Fixed combat AI not launching battle riders.
+ Fixed the decimal place in reported post-combat damage.
+ Fixed issue where ships would not point off the horizontal combat
plane to aim.
+ Fixed an issue where the AI was making poor/mixed weapon decisions
when designing ships.
+ Fixed an issue where a colonization was available for targets with
known enemy colonies.
+ Fixed a handful of sounds that did not have attenuation set and were
therefore audible from everywhere in combat.
+ Fixed known issues where the Hiver gate traffic was not being
updated correctly.
+ Fixed known issues where Liir were no longer being slowed in
proximity to gravity wells.
+ Addressed handful of engine types that could be heard constantly
regardless of distance from camera.
+ Addressed variety of standard turrets that weren't able to target straight up.

Other Changes and Additions:
+ Psionics can now be researched, designed into ships and activated in the game.
+ It is now possible to repair riders in the repair dialog.
+ Added antialiasing to many parts of the game. 3D scenes now use FXAA
antialiasing by default, which can be disabled in the launcher if desired.
+ Reduced fleet icon click radius on the star map.
+ Biomissile and other super-class weapons are now reported in the
post-combat dialog.
+ Added plague effects.
+ Increased pitch range of turrets across the board to make them more
effective at PD off the combat plane.
+ Sensor range discs now have clearly defined boundaries in combat.

by **Holman** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 8:53 am

Playable yet? Fun?

by **Grifman** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:59 am

Holman wrote:Playable yet? Fun?

Define playable and fun.

The game is not complete so your enjoyment will be determined by how much fun you get out of playing what is still a beta.

by **Holman** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:17 pm

Grifman wrote:
Holman wrote:Playable yet? Fun?

Define playable and fun.

The game is not complete so your enjoyment will be determined by how much fun you get out of playing what is still a beta.

I'll take this as a "No."

by **JonathanStrange** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:44 pm

Playable? Few CTDs? No AI turns too long for medium game/galaxies? Rational-appearing AI that attacks when you're weak? AI planets with "sensible" defenses (few defenseless/few with budget-busting defenses)? No game freezes?

Fun's relative but I guess if Grifman doesn't offer his opinion there then the answer is indeed NO.

It's been what? Two months or three since release? What if it had just been released, would we be saying "It's rough but it's promising" of the game as it now exists? Just wonderin'

by **Grifman** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 3:26 pm

JonathanStrange wrote:Playable? Few CTDs?

I think those have largely been eliminated.

No AI turns too long for medium game/galaxies?

I haven't heard that to be a problem.

Rational-appearing AI that attacks when you're weak? AI planets with "sensible" defenses (few defenseless/few with budget-busting defenses)?

AI still needs work.

No game freezes?

Haven't heard of that being problem. The game is pretty stable as that was an early emphasis, eliminate CTD's and freezes.

Fun's relative but I guess if Grifman doesn't offer his opinion there then the answer is indeed NO.

I haven't offered an opinion because I haven't played it. I don't plan to play it until it is finished. I've heard a number of people say that they are having "fun" but they are aware of its incomplete state and have the appropriate expectations, knowing the game still isn't finished.

It's been what? Two months or three since release? What if it had just been released, would we be saying "It's rough but it's promising" of the game as it now exists? Just wonderin'

No, I don't think so because there are still a number of missing features and the AI still needs a good amount of work. IMO it's still a beta.

by **Grifman** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:36 pm

Some hotfixes:

r19345b
------

Critical Fixes:
+ Fixed a crash that could occur when clicking to launch a bio-missile
frequently.
+ Fixed all known issues preventing combat with deployed Hiver gates.
+ Fixed a crash that would occur if duplicate province names were selected.
+ Fixed a crash caused by the trade stimulus phase of the turn update.
+ Fixed a crash related to erroneous reactionary movements versus
undiscovered star systems.
+ Fixed a multiplayer desync in combat that could lead to players not
being able to move ships and a potential crashes after combat ended.
+ Fixed a turn update crash related to checking certain victory conditions.
+ Fleets are no longer held up indefinitely at systems with enemies.
This addresses issues where missions could not be cancelled.
+ Fixed reported divide by zero crashes.

Other Fixes:
+ Fixed an issue where players could select the same psionic power
twice for a design.
+ Added missing Morrigi bio-missile collision shape.
+ Fixed accuracy/aiming issues with fixed mounts on drones and ships.
+ Tarka Hunters are now constrained to Tarka Hunter Carriers and said
carriers can no longer take other battle rider types.
+ Dead ships no longer show up in sensors.
+ Fixed the issue where ships were auto-targeting uninhabited planets in combat.
+ Fixed an issue where assault shuttles were not returning from a
planet if it was defeated.
+ Fixed an issue where techs that should add to the production cost of
ships were reducing the production cost instead.
+ Fixed issues with duplicated psionic icons in the selector.
+ Fixed issue with modules not loading in the design screen.
+ Fixed the issue where AI players would issue missions to unknown star systems.
+ Fixed an issue where certain ship armor data could go missing.
+ Fixed an issue where the battle rider manager was not showing riders
already assigned to ships.
+ Gate traffic cost is no longer applied for fleets already at their
destinations.
+ Fixed an issue where the starmap display was not updated after
committing an upgrade mission.
+ Fixed some known turret arc issues.
+ Fixed an issue where PD missiles were not taking out other missiles.
+ Added a fail-safe to certain effects that might not otherwise
expire, creating a memory leak in combat.

Other Changes:
+ Tweaks to drones.
+ Hooked up Psionic recharge bar.

by **tgb** » Tue Feb 07, 2012 10:36 pm

I started a game yesterday just to check the state it was in. When I resolved the first turn I got a message telling me that I had lost. After sighing and hitting the "ok" button I got a similar message telling me I had won.

If that's the shape of the game 3 months after release, fuck 'em.

by **Grifman** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 5:47 pm

tgb wrote:I started a game yesterday just to check the state it was in. When I resolved the first turn I got a message telling me that I had lost. After sighing and hitting the "ok" button I got a similar message telling me I had won.

Don't blame the game because you're a crappy player

by **Holman** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 6:11 pm

Apparently, the only winning move is not to play.

by **Tampa_Gamer** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 7:00 pm

That's what W.O.P.R. determined

Octopus Overlords

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