Apologies it took so long to write up 0.60.208431a. I like to get deep into playthroughs to better appreciate mechanics and bugs. Turn 481, Slowest everything, Arm with largest sectors, 16 AI opponents, max separation.
Bug – Early in two playthroughs, about 4-5 worlds owned, my influence in my starting sector suddenly increased to span most of the sector. Later, after saving and reloading, the influence returned to normal, resulting in worlds that were in my sphere suddenly being in an AI opponent’s sphere and rebelling. This bug did not repeat after reloading.
Bug – About 400 turns in, my game began to hang when processing AI opponent turns, specifically unidentified opponent 11. This was similar to the hang in the last version. However, this time, hitting ‘esc’ and selecting resume caused the game to continue processing and advance to the new turn. This hang did not happen every turn, just the ones where player 11 showed up.
Bug – Prestige is broken. In the previous version, I won a prestige victory after only meeting 3 opponents around turn 200. In the first game I played on 0.6, I suffered a prestige defeat when I’d only met 2 opponents around turn 250. No warning. Just defeat. In my current play through, I turned Prestige off.
I just played my first game of Humankind. Their prestige victory condition, total points by a set turn count, works much better, and I can always check current standing even with opponents I have not met.
Bug? – The AI is still having issues, I think. I played my current game on Gifted because Normal was just too easy. Even so, it’s still easy. The AI didn’t really start spamming colony ships until later in the game. The AI in my sector didn’t start spamming them until I settled worlds near their territory. By then, I already had about 75% of the sector settled.
Bug? – At turn 481, I have 31 core worlds and 191 colonies. One of my core worlds and 5 of my colonies are those Class 77 worlds. These are ridiculously overpowered. Just the one 77 core world is providing 114.5 food. Increasing my core world populations and settling new worlds is so easy I barely pay attention to my food supply.
Mechanic – Please stop the pop-up spam. I didn’t really notice this until I had 26 core worlds and a couple dozen survey ships set to automatic. In GC3, turns were long so the pop-ups (apparently) weren’t as noticeable. Now, with turns moving faster, they are VERY noticeable and irritating.
If all a pop-up is doing is informing, please don’t have players have to click “ok” or otherwise acknowledge the pop-up. Just tell us and move on, or put the info in the slider on the left. The only pop-ups we should have to acknowledge are ones that require a decision.
Mechanic – Speaking of pop-ups, please make it so no pop-up “locks” the screen, meaning you have to answer the pop-up before being able to do anything else.
Mechanic – Okay, so I’m getting used to the mechanic behind ideology. I like that you have to select one side or the other, and choosing the opposite decreases the player’s standing. What is still missing is actually getting culture points. We either need more decision points to give culture points (not just a few improvements or a couple early missions), or we need a mechanism like GC3 where improvements can give points over time. Locking an improvement to an ideology over time, with only one side available, could make for a good game mechanic.
Mechanic – Vital resources like Tetrapod Hives should be available from colonies without having to make a core world. If the resource is on a “3” planet, and a star system has a “12” planet, I should be able to build something on the “12” core world that lets me harvest that resource.
Mechanic – Speaking of colonies, the current mechanic of a single improvement of a random type isn’t really adding anything to the game for me. Mostly, I ignore this. Suggest either removing it, or giving us better options for improvements (like mining a vital resource).
Mechanic – I need to see which planets are defended on the map regardless of zoom level. Having to constantly scroll in and out is really annoying.
Mechanic – Colony rush. Yup. Still there. Longer as I’m still settling worlds at turn 481, but except for early game and early food supply, I found almost no impediment to spamming colony ships. Especially true with that 77 core world with 114 food I mentioned above. The free colony ship interval of 5 turns between use spending 20 Control Points should be increased to 10-20 turns between use or cost more Control Points.
Mechanic – It would be helpful if open border treaties did not expire but had to be revoked. It’s a pain to constantly have to keep track of this.
Mechanic – Why, when I am allied to another player, do non-aggression pacts expire? Also, shouldn’t allies share visibility?
Mechanic – Is it possible to get a game mechanic that improves the quality of leaders? I hit a dry spell where every leader was crap. Maybe shorten the time for the “Invite Leaders” Control Points option.
Mechanic – Civilization Policy gave me 2 options at the beginning. At turn 481, I still have not unlocked any others. I also don’t really understand the link between them and ideology at a game mechanic level.
Mechanic – Commanders still need work. Yes, I have used the ships available for planets or to form fleets. As currently implemented, though, not enough ships (like the Galactic Bazaar in GC3) or enough planetary effects (like the ships we got from government type in GC3). Additionally, I want commanders to actually mean something, to have a more dynamic effect on combat than just a few perks that (so far) haven’t really meant anything for my gameplay. I want a “feared” commander, and maybe some chumps would be interesting too. Like a commander who retreats from a battle and has to be relieved, or another who charges in with high casualties, so gets the job done but loses more ships. Keep him or relieve him? The choice is yours.
