Should communicate the timing of jump costs better.

[ronhatch]

Not sure the best way to fix this, but my first Ironman loss happened when the payment for actually making a jump between systems coincided exactly with the end-of-month accounting... and because of that, the financial summary in the corner did NOT indicate bankruptcy was about to happen. I believe this is the only expense that is not paid immediately (other than the monthly running costs).

I could have easily covered the costs by scrapping some parts.

Perhaps the next jump should show up on the timeline once scheduled. I would think that at a minimum the financial summary should take into account any jumps scheduled prior to the end-of-month accounting coming due.

 

[The Shadowhawke]

You allowed yourself to lose by not rewinding. Time and costs for system and contract travel is clearly indicated.

 

[Jade_Rook]

This is the second or third instance I have seen of someone complaining because they were surprised by running out of money with jump costs. I think they could be communicated clearer or given an opportunity to scrap some equipment to pay the jump costs. Of all the reasons for a campaign to end, this shouldn't be one. If someone does fail because of jump costs, it should not come as a surprise.

 

[ronhatch]

You allowed yourself to lose by not rewinding. Time and costs for system and contract travel is clearly indicated.

Wait, what???

Was there some part of "Ironman" that you didn't understand?

Regardless, the time and cost is clearly indicated... but is NOT paid immediately, and is NOT figured into the projected costs.

 

[ronhatch]

This is the second or third instance I have seen of someone complaining because they were surprised by running out of money with jump costs. I think they could be communicated clearer or given an opportunity to scrap some equipment to pay the jump costs. Of all the reasons for a campaign to end, this shouldn't be one. If someone does fail because of jump costs, it should not come as a surprise.

To be fair, it didn't actually come entirely as a surprise, and none of this is intended as a complaint.

I was fully aware that the costs aren't paid immediately and knew that the amount of money I had was going to be a problem if I didn't sell anything... I just didn't expect the jump cost to come due on the exact same day as the end-of-month and wanted to see how the game would handle things with it being close.

The answer? It handled things poorly. Very poorly. Which is something I think HBS needs to be made aware of if they didn't know already.

Oh, and obviously I was in a bad situation even if I scraped by this month... next month's bills need to be paid also, and I was down to just four lights. One of which was in the shop for about another 20 days, IIRC.

 

[The Shadowhawke]

Wait, what???

Was there some part of "Ironman" that you didn't understand?

Regardless, the time and cost is clearly indicated... but is NOT paid immediately, and is NOT figured into the projected costs.

You can't back up the game with saves in iron man mode?

 

[ronhatch]

You can't back up the game with saves in iron man mode?

I'm sure I could do it, but that's ENTIRELY missing the point of Ironman.

 

[The Shadowhawke]

I'm sure I could do it, but that's ENTIRELY missing the point of Ironman.

No, it isn't . Not when iron man isn't even being iron man.

 

[Timaeus]

No, it isn't . Not when iron man isn't even being iron man.

...how is ironman not being ironman?

 

[The Shadowhawke]

He said it himself. No warnings on finances, and went bankrupt on a system jump.

It's bad enough having to manage and track a campaign, but to lose it to dumb and unnessecary crap is a waste of time.


I get it that some people want to really challenge themselves with games, and to each their own, but while I'm up for a good challenge, I'm not into masochism.

If you know the game has errors you eliminate them from the timeline of your campaign and move on.

If you let those flaws end your game...thats on you.

 

[Timaeus]

Sooo it's still ironman. Like, errors or not, it's a single save career. That's by definition ironman in games.

 

[ronhatch]

I mean... there's absolutely no way that I'm going to take the time to copy the saves over as "backups" while I'm playing an Ironman campaign. It's Ironman. As far as I'm concerned, accepting whatever happens really is the point.