Not impressed

[plasticpanzers]

Waited a long time for this and just bought it today. Not impressed with the
layout, graphics, style of game. Slow turns with alot of clicks, confusing controls,
graphics not as clear as SOTS1. Too much bling around systems that is really
unneeded and hinders the players view. Bought a new HP dual core Intel system
for some other games but this one i had hoped would be better. Does not feel
like a real improvement over the original SOTS1, just more cluttered. Who in
goodness sakes chose the Solforce badges!! They are purile! Why on Earth (or
any other planet) would l want a symbol like a WWI airplane on my ships! Where
are the cool ones from the 1st SOTS? Just a real disapointment. I will continue
to try this but for gameplay after several hours of eye damage looking at the jumble
on my monitor the 1st version still shines above this. really sad but that is OMHO.

 

[DaveDash]

Waited a long time for this and just bought it today. Not impressed with the
layout, graphics, style of game. Slow turns with alot of clicks, confusing controls,
graphics not as clear as SOTS1. Too much bling around systems that is really
unneeded and hinders the players view. Bought a new HP dual core Intel system
for some other games but this one i had hoped would be better. Does not feel
like a real improvement over the original SOTS1, just more cluttered. Who in
goodness sakes chose the Solforce badges!! They are purile! Why on Earth (or
any other planet) would l want a symbol like a WWI airplane on my ships! Where
are the cool ones from the 1st SOTS? Just a real disapointment. I will continue
to try this but for gameplay after several hours of eye damage looking at the jumble
on my monitor the 1st version still shines above this. really sad but that is OMHO.

The game isn't finished yet. Shelve it for a month and then come back.

 

[plasticpanzers]

fixes in patches to the game system cannot change the bizzare look of the game now. Why
on earth are there so many things going on in systems on the map? i mean all the flashing,
spinning, fireworks when you click on a system. not needed and distracting. too much bling!
I am sure the mechanics of the game are fine but it appears they took a page from MOO3 and
figured if one ring around a star was good why not add 3 more, spinning discs, radar spinner,
and fireworks when you click on it. Graphics are dull and lifeless on the ships. I am playing
SOTS1 and RFTS now (Win95/98!) and its clear and concise the info you have. Why have a
pic of the sun on the system screen. I know one is there. It just takes up window space. The
view is cluttered and messy. The acutal mechanics of choosing options is long winded and the
voiceovers are uninspired and limited.

ps: was the naming of induvidual ships ever implemented. There is no mention
of it in the rulebook or game encylopedia and no tool tips about it.

 

[Agent.nihilist]

Please use Paragraph breaks, your wall is hard to read.

Graphics are dull and lifeless on the ships.

What? Turrets pop in, out, up and down. Missile silos slide out of armored areas, docking clamps release drones and riders. Riders come flying out of open hanger bays.
Guns are strip-able, sections and modules can be independently destroyed and most ship designs have moving parts.
You are really going to have to qualify that one.

For the rest, try playing with bloom turned off, Should make the graphics less glaring for you.

Edit: You can name Ships individually both when doing the original invoice before hitting submit and before the ship is built by double clicking on the in-progress invoice. This feature has been in since day one.

 

[plasticpanzers]

thanks on the tip on naming, too bad it not listed anywhere obvious. For the rest i still say
its too much bling on the map. Too much clutter and unneeded flashie stuff. Its my opinion
which equals anybodys elses opinion on the game for or against tho (LOL!)

 

[unmerged(485795)]

Well of course it's not impressive. The games not done. Yeah kerberos messed up and released the game a year early for some reason, everyone knows that. So coming in here and stating that it still need work is rather pointless. I'm not impressed by it either, the interface is quite ugly and the combat isn't fully complete, but I see the chance that it can be a great game once it's finished. I'm kind of treating this as my first experience being involved in a beta. The game is starting to be fun and if Kerberos can deliver on all the features it will be awesome. It still has a way to go but it's headingin the right direction.

 

[plasticpanzers]

I didn't say it needed work. I am not commenting on the actual mechanics of game turns.
The graphic representation on the main map is sloppy and overdone. Delete the star picture
or give the option to do so. move menu button to the top right of the screen rather than where
the back button is for us who's fingers are too fast on the draw. Loose the bling around all the
stars. I am NOT talking about game mechanices. Long turns? Ever play War in the Pacific! LOL!
The use of information should be clean and simple (KISS = keep it simple stupid) or "dont guilde
the lilies..." To much is not better all the time. There is much that can be changed that is simple
but has nothing to do with the actual way the game runs. Right now (again) it looks alot like MOO3
(and that gave you crosseyes...lol!). I am sure the game is fun but developer needs to go back and
clean up and simplify some stuff. Whats the use of the big space screen with all that garbage on it?
Do we really need a pic of the star with its stats? You can see the star color and planets on the pic to
its left. I am not angry, just disapointed. I talked to the MOO3 designer and he insisted more was
better. Know where that leaded to...

 

[Agent.nihilist]

I didn't say it needed work. I am not commenting on the actual mechanics of game turns.
The graphic representation on the main map is sloppy and overdone. Delete the star picture
or give the option to do so. move menu button to the top right of the screen rather than where
the back button is for us who's fingers are too fast on the draw. Loose the bling around all the
stars. I am NOT talking about game mechanices. Long turns? Ever play War in the Pacific! LOL!
The use of information should be clean and simple (KISS = keep it simple stupid) or "dont guilde
the lilies..." To much is not better all the time. There is much that can be changed that is simple
but has nothing to do with the actual way the game runs. Right now (again) it looks alot like MOO3
(and that gave you crosseyes...lol!). I am sure the game is fun but developer needs to go back and
clean up and simplify some stuff. Whats the use of the big space screen with all that garbage on it?
Do we really need a pic of the star with its stats? You can see the star color and planets on the pic to
its left. I am not angry, just disapointed. I talked to the MOO3 designer and he insisted more was
better. Know where that leaded to...

What res are you running at? I personally don't find the screen to be cluttered.

P.S. Paragraphs breaks? please?

 

[unmerged(424854)]

I like the UI set up personally its fin for my 21 inch display at 1920x1080. not cluttered at all.

 

[DaveDash]

I agree the agree that the game looks and feels cluttered. I often play with survey view on to get rid of the clutter. I liked the more saturated galaxy look that SoST1 had, and it was very easy to see your empire at a glance.

I am also not a fan of the core design of the UI. I recently found a few rumours that Kerberos lost a key UI designer from SoTS1 so there you go.

 

[plasticpanzers]

17in monitor (gonna upgrade to a 24 soon). 1280x1024 (tho i have tried lower levels as
experiments). Move that darn star pic and you will have more screen space anyhow. All
you need to know is on the pic to the left. Ships ARE nice but look worse than battered
water-borne earth based vessels (how does stuff get corroded and dinged up in space with
sheids/armor?? LOL!).

Its not that I say the game is BAD, I am just not impressed with how the layout of the game
that the player must used was done well.

 

[Agent.nihilist]

Yea, Anything is going to look cluttered at that res, not surprised you think that. You really need at least 1600 horizontal resolution .

FYI the "Star Picture" uses the same slot as the planet display. Its not there to be redundant, its there to give additional info on whatever body is selected, be that moon, planet or star.

The ships look worn down because moving at near relativistic speeds means your paint job gets sandblasted by anything larger than an atom. I'll have to post some ship screenshots, becuase they do look pretty amazing by large.

 

[unmerged(213178)]

I don't find it cluttered but i do get what you mean with the rings circling the planets. They need to be made into one circle like sots, and then fade it out a bit.

Apart from interface and such i find the game more enjoyable then the first.

p.s. 17 inch monitor is way to small for gaming on.

 

[DaveDash]

17in monitor (gonna upgrade to a 24 soon). 1280x1024 (tho i have tried lower levels as
experiments). Move that darn star pic and you will have more screen space anyhow. All
you need to know is on the pic to the left. Ships ARE nice but look worse than battered
water-borne earth based vessels (how does stuff get corroded and dinged up in space with
sheids/armor?? LOL!).

Its not that I say the game is BAD, I am just not impressed with how the layout of the game
that the player must used was done well.

This is where I disagree.

The tactical engine is where the game shines. It's where most of Kerbs dwindling resources went into the game, but it looks amazing to me (max settings @ 1920x1200). Also try some of the immersion pack ships - they look better in some cases.

The combat physics are especially impressive.

Just shelve the game and come back to it. When the UI is polished a bit and performance increases the game hopefully won't feel like its working against you as much.

 

[unmerged(401835)]

The only bad comments i have currently about the game as a whole is that the UI navigation is still laggy, and goes from perfect to laggy back to perfect then back to laggy with every subsequent patch. At the moment it's settled to half way between laggy and perfect lol.

The UI i think is a bit more cluttered then in sots prime but not by as much as your talking. Yes they should have options to turn the pretty strategic stuff off like the nebulas and the starfield in the background, sots prime users are used to having a blank canvas makes things easy to see and all that. However i like those things, yes they clutter the screen and sometimes make it a bit hard to see but it adds realism to the galaxy. One thing i didnt like about sots prime is that u didnt feel like u were in space cause of no backgrounds and stuff. They fixed that in sots2 by putting in a starfield and nebulas and stuff like that, yes i like it but some people possibly wont, so they should put that into the options to toggle on or off but that sorta thing would have to wait till the all clear for the game and go in during polishing phase.

As Dave says if your really unhappy shelve it come back in a month or two and see if your still not happy. Worst case scenerio you wasted 15-20 bucks. If anyone has the right to complain about the game its those of us who paid full release price for it

 

[unmerged(485795)]

Well, I will admit that the nebulas are anoying. I also think the ship coloring needs some work. The colors you get to choose for your empire are a little to bright and plain for my taste. Also i started a game today where i played against some liir ships that were bubblegum pink. If they hadn't started a war with me i would have gone after them just to blow those abominations out of the sky.

 

[plasticpanzers]

you fellas must be mostly young! I remember using my wife's 8088 IBM type computer
with 5 colors (wow cyan is a color and a pepper...LOL!) as well as the dinky 9in Apple IIC
monitor. You young fellas are just darn spoiled! LOL! (as i walk to school 5 miles barefoot in
the snow in memories...)

 

[Zazen]

No offense dude, but it's pretty clear after a 30 second review of the forums that everyone admits/knows the game is un-finished and needs serious work. I have know doubt you realized this before you made your purchase many months after the well documented botched release. Just think of your $ as an investment in what the game hopefully will be one day, not what it is now and you'll be happier for it.

 

[plasticpanzers]

I have been reading the boards every few days to see the progress. I understand the AI and
many fuctions need to be added and tweaked but the interface still sucks a bit (IMHO). I know
it may be cool and work better with a 21-70 in screen but most folks have not the cash (me inc)
to pay for a large monitor and the game should whrk on a 17in or any monitor. That damn sun
box that serves NO real purpose (all can be added to the info on the system box to its left) makes
it impossible to click on systems under it and you constantly have to realign the screen to acess
systems. Keeping the screen as clear as possible should allow for more "disable" on some of the
boxes and popups. Again this is my OHP but again my opinion is based upon years of gaming
(anybody remember SSI Imperium Galacticum?) or the earlier AH ones text only. I have seen
the progress of space games over the years and this has great potential but is also overly pre-
tensious in some instances to the negative effect on making the game easy yet fun to play with
detail. Just not thought out well in a number of instances.

 

[Agent.nihilist]

The "star box" is the planet box too, it show the stats of whichever body you have selected.