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[Star Ruler] Indie 4x game of greatness? Signs point to yes.

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Posts

  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Is there a way to get tankers to fill ships that are out of fuel? I know that normally ships refuel themselves if there are tankers, but I haven't been able to go the other way.

    Khavall on
  • PopesnaxPopesnax Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    So I have seen a lot of discussion about spaceships and bigger spaceships, but what can you do with the planets?

    Like, what are your options when dealing with worlds you control - do you get sliders to fiddle with or are they just static resource points or can you upgrade them or what?

    Popesnax on
  • TheOtherHorsemanTheOtherHorseman Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Popesnax wrote: »
    So I have seen a lot of discussion about spaceships and bigger spaceships, but what can you do with the planets?

    Like, what are your options when dealing with worlds you control - do you get sliders to fiddle with or are they just static resource points or can you upgrade them or what?

    Well, you can shoot them with really big spaceships.

    TheOtherHorseman on
  • subediisubedii Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    I guess what i'll have to learn is that this game is more like Risk and less like a RTS game.

    It's more about the big picture and moving resources and ships around rather then micromanaging everything and every ship.

    If that's the case, that's definitely a point of interest for me. Not that I don't like RTS's, but I could definitely go for a less micromanagement oriented take on managing a space empire and fleets.

    Still, I think I'll hold out on the demo for the time being. Or until a few days have passed and people have got a decent idea of how the game plays.

    subedii on
  • SorensonSorenson Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Stupid steam being all stupid and not carrying this for some stupid reason. :( At least it sounds like you dudes're having fun.

    But now that we've got dudes with this hands-on, though, some questions to sate my curiosity:

    A) How fast are you able to speed shit up? Readouts are sayin' stuff like "Beam Weapons to Level 6, 22s" but does that take into account your current level of time compression or is that for normal stuff?

    B) How well does scaling shit up work? I know someone mentioned you can get ships big enough to one-shot planets, so is it better to make huge-ass mofos instead of big fleets of ordinary-sized ships?

    C) Race/empire customization? Can you do custom icons, names, backgrounds, color themes, stuff like that?

    Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to be in the corner sulking and finishing my SEV game from my aborted LP way back when.

    Sorenson on
  • Typhoid MannyTyphoid Manny Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Popesnax wrote: »
    So I have seen a lot of discussion about spaceships and bigger spaceships, but what can you do with the planets?

    Like, what are your options when dealing with worlds you control - do you get sliders to fiddle with or are they just static resource points or can you upgrade them or what?

    basically the extent of planet control is sending colony ships to them to take them over, and then have the AI governor decide what to build

    i imagine it's more efficient to designate planets to do certain specific things, but it's more fun to not have to deal with that shit

    Typhoid Manny on
    from each according to his ability, to each according to his need
    hitting hot metal with hammers
  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Can you mod the maximum allowable AI Empires? I feel like trying something. . . crazy.

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • MetallikatMetallikat Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    What's this "Repeat Mode" message I have in the upper right corner of my screen? Must have hit a button or something, but damned if I know what.

    Metallikat on
  • FirgofFirgof Blind Mind Studios - Co-lead Developer Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    You pressed R. :p

    Repeat Mode is currently quasi-functional but not recommended for general purpose orders at this time.

    Firgof on
    Co-Lead Developer, Blind Mind Studios
    Click here to visit our thread on Penny-Arcade
  • Doctor DeimosDoctor Deimos Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    god damn all of you

    bought.

    Doctor Deimos on
  • PopesnaxPopesnax Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Is there a pukka gameplay video out there anywhere? Because while I want to spend dollars on this I do not have a hell of a lot of dollars and do not wish to spend them frivolously.

    Popesnax on
  • Typhoid MannyTyphoid Manny Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    ok so i either stumbled across a bug or i pressed a button unknowingly, but suddenly the planets aren't highlighted while ships and stars still are. it's a pain in the ass trying to pick out a planet against the background of hundreds of stars and other planets.

    anyone have any ideas?

    Typhoid Manny on
    from each according to his ability, to each according to his need
    hitting hot metal with hammers
  • MetallikatMetallikat Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Firgof wrote: »
    You pressed R. :p

    Repeat Mode is currently quasi-functional but not recommended for general purpose orders at this time.

    Yeah, when I pressed R again it crashed my game out to desktop.

    Metallikat on
  • FirgofFirgof Blind Mind Studios - Co-lead Developer Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    What were you doing at the time that the planets highlighting turned off? Did you turn off shaders/change their configuration?

    Firgof on
    Co-Lead Developer, Blind Mind Studios
    Click here to visit our thread on Penny-Arcade
  • Typhoid MannyTyphoid Manny Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    actually, i just pressed R and they came back!

    Typhoid Manny on
    from each according to his ability, to each according to his need
    hitting hot metal with hammers
  • HoothHooth Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Okay, definitely interested in this game, just one question. For those of you who bought it from gamersgate or d2d, is it possible to burn the install files to a disk? I've never used either and I'd like to have a hard copy of my game.

    Hooth on
  • Typhoid MannyTyphoid Manny Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    when you download it off d2d, you get an executable that installs the game that you can then do whatever you please with it.

    except pirate it, because that's bad and these dudes deserve all the money they can get

    Typhoid Manny on
    from each according to his ability, to each according to his need
    hitting hot metal with hammers
  • A Flock of WalrusA Flock of Walrus For the Greater Good! Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Hooth wrote: »
    Okay, definitely interested in this game, just one question. For those of you who bought it from gamersgate or d2d, is it possible to burn the install files to a disk? I've never used either and I'd like to have a hard copy of my game.

    The game isn't large. You could easily stick it on a small flash drive or host the install somewhere.

    120MB maybe?

    A Flock of Walrus on
    PNA1v.jpg
  • Typhoid MannyTyphoid Manny Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    actually, i just pressed R and they came back!

    as it turns out, this is not true. i couldn't tell you what i was doing when the highlights went away, because i didn't notice right away. i didn't change the shaders or anything, though

    Typhoid Manny on
    from each according to his ability, to each according to his need
    hitting hot metal with hammers
  • HoothHooth Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    when you download it off d2d, you get an executable that installs the game that you can then do whatever you please with it.

    except pirate it, because that's bad and these dudes deserve all the money they can get
    Sweet, bought!

    Hooth on
  • subediisubedii Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    when you download it off d2d, you get an executable that installs the game that you can then do whatever you please with it.

    except pirate it, because that's bad and these dudes deserve all the money they can get

    So wait, if I re-install from backup, does it not still phone home to verify the copy? And you can install where you want?

    Basically they way you're describing it as working sounds like GOG (no DRM at all, once you've bought and downloaded it the company can permanently shut down the servers and go into selling shoes for all you care), is that how it works out?

    subedii on
  • bamjobamjo Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    So I ran to a weird display issue. The first two times I started the game up the top bar was off center and the time clock was overlapping it and obscuring one of the buttons. Also the second time I started the game the details panel with the status bars and such didn't show up when I selected a ship or a planet. Now I just started the game again and everything looks fine, it fixed itself. Weird. Time to make a quadrant sized battleship.

    bamjo on
  • KlorgnumKlorgnum Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    subedii wrote: »
    when you download it off d2d, you get an executable that installs the game that you can then do whatever you please with it.

    except pirate it, because that's bad and these dudes deserve all the money they can get

    So wait, if I re-install from backup, does it not still phone home to verify the copy? And you can install where you want?

    Basically they way you're describing it as working sounds like GOG (no DRM at all, once you've bought and downloaded it the company can permanently shut down the servers and go into selling shoes for all you care), is that how it works out?

    AFAIK, D2D doesn't have any specific DRM. It's up to the developers to include it. So if Star Ruler doesn't have any DRM, the download from D2D won't have it either.

    Klorgnum on
  • FirgofFirgof Blind Mind Studios - Co-lead Developer Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Yes; when we said no DRM, we meant no DRM. We tried to enforce that as much as possible through our distributors as well and I'm pretty sure in the case of D2D that means that once you have that file you have a personal copy of the game that you may back up, etc. as you wish.

    We certainly do not want you to suddenly lose the ability to play the game at any point. That would be contrary to our stance.

    Bamjo: I bet you resized the window while the game was loading. There is a known bug here; it is on our to-do list but is fairly low priority at this time. Just as long as you resize the window, then start a new game, it shouldn't be a problem.

    Firgof on
    Co-Lead Developer, Blind Mind Studios
    Click here to visit our thread on Penny-Arcade
  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Wow, I apparently fail at scouting hardcore.


    I am 2 hours into a game, I have been attacked and fought them off with a ridiculously massive fleet of in-system solar panel/capacitor, ramjet, beam weapon ships that I never have to worry about after building, along with some repair/salvage ships....

    And then I built massive ships with massive jump drives to counter-attack


    And I cannot for the life of me actually find opponent planets.

    Khavall on
  • Phoenix-DPhoenix-D Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Where the heck is the D2D installer kept? All I have is that pissant little "download this to download the game" thing.

    Phoenix-D on
  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Phoenix-D wrote: »
    Where the heck is the D2D installer kept? All I have is that pissant little "download this to download the game" thing.

    D2D doesn't have an installer unless you want it to, and then it's GameSpy Arcade. You just download the exe and install from wherever you downloaded it to and bam you have the game.

    Khavall on
  • nessinnessin Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Khavall wrote: »
    Wow, I apparently fail at scouting hardcore.


    I am 2 hours into a game, I have been attacked and fought them off with a ridiculously massive fleet of in-system solar panel/capacitor, ramjet, beam weapon ships that I never have to worry about after building, along with some repair/salvage ships....

    And then I built massive ships with massive jump drives to counter-attack


    And I cannot for the life of me actually find opponent planets.

    One thing I saw someone mention on the official forums that I'm planning on trying is building a metric butt-ton of initial scouts (or if you're working with a low system count, one for each system in the game) then send them on an explore mission all at once. They should each go to a unique system and voila, instant mass exploration and your scouts will hang around in the systems to give you on-going intel.

    nessin on
  • Phoenix-DPhoenix-D Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Khavall wrote: »
    Phoenix-D wrote: »
    Where the heck is the D2D installer kept? All I have is that pissant little "download this to download the game" thing.

    D2D doesn't have an installer unless you want it to, and then it's GameSpy Arcade. You just download the exe and install from wherever you downloaded it to and bam you have the game.

    Sorry, Gamersgate not D2D...

    Phoenix-D on
  • Typhoid MannyTyphoid Manny Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    so has anyone put together a tech tree graphic? blind research is fun and all but i want to play with some of the cool advanced shit

    Typhoid Manny on
    from each according to his ability, to each according to his need
    hitting hot metal with hammers
  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Anyone know how to mark a ship design as obsolete? I see that there is a "show obsolete" thing, but I haven't been able to mark obsolete. It would be nice to know.

    Khavall on
  • durandal4532durandal4532 Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    You need a more comprehensive tutorial dudes. It's a pretty cool game but "here's how you colonize, here are some hotkeys, have fun!" is not enough.


    Still, everything seems pretty dang fun. Right now I'm automating basically everything and playing it like Risk but I get to construct my ships.

    durandal4532 on
    Take a moment to donate what you can to Critical Resistance and Black Lives Matter.
  • theSquidtheSquid Sydney, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    I have preordered this fine game on Impulse.

    It will be delicious.

    theSquid on
  • EliminationElimination Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    So i take it this is awesome stuff? I was eyeing the game up but was unsure, wanted to wait and see what you guys all thought. Will this game ever end up on Steam or is it D2D only? Im cool with D2D if thats all there is.

    Elimination on
    PSN: PA_Elimination 3DS: 4399-2012-1711 Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/TheElimination/
  • theSquidtheSquid Sydney, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    D2D Gamersgate and Impulse.

    theSquid on
  • WMain00WMain00 Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Huh, what's that pink stuff floating at the centre of OH MY GOD OH SHIT ARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

    I laughed at the idea of only 150 star systems being available in a Galaxy, thinking that would be kind of small. How wrong I was. D:

    WMain00 on
  • MetallikatMetallikat Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    WMain00 wrote: »
    Huh, what's that pink stuff floating at the centre of OH MY GOD OH SHIT ARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

    I laughed at the idea of only 150 star systems being available in a Galaxy, thinking that would be kind of small. How wrong I was. D:

    Yeah, I jumped it up to 650 and... I have a long expansion ahead of me.

    Metallikat on
  • WMain00WMain00 Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    So after a good couple of hours playing here's my thoughts:

    -Extremely large and complex, which is very impressive considering there's only 2 people working on this game. The options available in ship design is great, but also the complexity involved in making sure ships have proper equipment in order to function means there's quite a large depth in what you can build.

    -Huge! 150 systems is surprisingly large. More than that I imagine would take months of gradual expansion and battles for supremacy. The idea of creating say, a 3000 system galaxy would probably take a year to complete. Effectively blows Sins of the Solar Empire out the water for game length.

    -Thank god for micro management, as it would take ages to organise every planet i colonised. The governer thankfully sets down the neccessities and leaves it open for me to build ships or other finer adjustments.

    -Risk style gameplay is fairly accurate. There is a feeling that you're almost controlling provinces within a region, and the greater number of army the better for defensive and offensive purposes.

    -I moved the pause key (currently set to pause on the keyboard) to the space key. Makes pausing management a bit easier.

    Couple of minuses/room for improvement:

    -Camera needs totally redesigned. It's horribly difficult to control and it shouldn't require me to press keyboard buttons in order to perform functions. If i hover the mouse to the sides of the screen I expect it to move to the side. Needs fine tuned basically.

    -Some sort of fleet management is needed, as so far i'm not understanding how to organise fleets, and I can't see fleets made.

    -Diplomacy needs to be noticed more. Many a time a diplomatic event such as war can occur and i'm oblivious to it because I don't see the information telling me. A simple pop up warning of diplomatic events would be great.

    -More thorough tutorial on how everything works would be great.

    -Research is great but a bit more explanation on what does what would be beneficial. If I train up X what sort of bonuses does X give me and what technologies can X open? A thorough tech tree would be useful really showing all options.

    -A sovereignty overlay would be useful as well. I'd imagine in later and more complex games it may be difficult to follow who has what and where, alliances, etc.


    These shouldn't dissuade people though, it's still a very good game and worth trying. If the developers involved continue development I'd imagine these complaints will soon be a thing of the past.

    Possible review up at LMB later.

    WMain00 on
  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Yeah, the biggest things I'd like to see would be:

    - Something like the SE:V Guide Book tab. A tab where you can review easily the effect and purpose of buildings and technologies, instead of having to go to the ship builder or build a structure on a planet and then go to the structures tab. Also, have it update when new technologies are available.

    - Better design management. I can't mark ship designs as obsolete yet, so if, say, I make a design that doesn't work, I then have to have a retarded name like "Analyzer - Working", so that I can actually pick the right one, and I still have the broken design on my list. SE:V, and GalCiv2 both have this ability and it's fantastic.

    - That sidebar needs to be changed. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I often, without telling it to focus on anything, will have 4 Battlecruisers and a Scout up on the sidebar, with something I've told it to focus on being left off the list. Ideally, I would like the leaders of any fleets I create to be put there, as well as having any ships I designate stay there. Possibly have all systems up there a la Sins. Sins probably has the best real-time fleet and planet management system there is. Obviously doing it by planet would be a little much, but doing it by system would work great in this game.

    - I could just be missing it, but it seems that I can't tell if I've been to a star system before without a ship there. This makes colonization annoying, if there was a way to view the system as it was the last time there was a scout there, a la Sins, that would certainly help.

    - I'm really not entirely sure what happens with my ships and dealing with resources and whatnot, but I notice that, for instance, I'll have a hauler in a system that has plenty of tankers out, and the hauler has run out of fuel and explodes. Or I'll see an analyzer ship sit near the planet when there are disabled ships out, but only when it's near one will it work. I'll often lose a few ships every once in a while because they just run out of fuel and sit there forever with no recovery.




    Overall, I'm still really enjoying it. But it does have plenty of, let's say indie edges to it. It's remarkable for what it is, but I think it only needs a few changes and some polishing to really push it over the edge to just remarkable overall.

    Khavall on
  • Michael HMichael H Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    WMain00 wrote: »
    -I moved the pause key (currently set to pause on the keyboard) to the space key. Makes pausing management a bit easier.

    Good call; that's the first thing I'll do when I get it on Monday. (Damn you Impuuuulllllse) Space-bar-pause is pretty much the common convention in pause-able RTS games, such as Paradox Interactive Titles.

    Michael H on
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