Daily Feedback Roundup

from Sins Forums
Note: The purpose of this thread is to round up posts of note from the past day so the developers can easily find and track feedback in the chaos of the beta forum, and concentrate their time on the game. It will not be able to be replied to by non-moderators.

Posts already replied to by someone from Ironclad will be denoted by an (IC).
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Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
April 5

Technical

1. Reported BSOD when running FRAPS and Sins together (Link)
Has anyone had problems using FRAPS and getting the BSD?... There has got to be a conflict somewhere but I will be darned if I can figure out what it is.


2. Invisible fighters under certain circumstances (IC) (Link)
the beta I am playing at the moment (I downloaded it last Sunday evening) I cant see any capital ship fighters 3D models when I zoom in on their icons, but I can see system fighters when I zoom in... further testing reveals the cap ship fighters are only invisible in the star sector of any star system


3. With 3+ factories, simultaneously built ships spawn from only one or two of them (IC) (Link)
After the second and third factories were completed, ships were being built in parallel but they were all coming out of the same cap ship factory (the original one). They were coming out 2 or 3 at a time but at the same factory. They probably should be coming out of the factory that actually built them.


4. Random crashes in latest version Overheating due to dirty heatsink... (.009) (IC) (Link)
I have yet to get a full game in since the new patch, I always get a lockup and then right to the desktop. And it doesn't happen right away, it's usually about 2 hours into a game. Before the newest patch I had 5-6 full games with no problems.


5. Ships 'return to position' through open space when set to defend local and phased to another planet (IC) (Link)
The ship in picture is showed flying toward the system in the background when it arrive in system after move order. Notice I never gave the order to move after move because it said auto return to position.

Dito, had this happen today too...
I put them on Defend Local Area, forgot to return it to Defend GW, and jumped em to another planet. After dealing with some of the locals that where close they decided to "fly" (not jump) home to their old positions in the previous system.


6. AI fails to explore/colonize uninhabited solar systems (IC) (Link)
all the games I have played I began in one star system with all the other players in the same system and no players in any other star systems and I can certainly confirm what daniel is saying that none of the AI were trying to colonise spare star systems.





Gameplay

1. Requests for construction queueing and different ways to view/order planets based on production (IC) (Link, Link)
What I want is the ability to assemble groups of buildings or units and order them all to be built with a single click of a button. It's sort of like customizing a ship in a standard 4x game, but instead you're customizing a fleet or a planetary infrastructure and greatly simplifying the process for the user to build them.
The List. You know the one I mean. Give us a few different ways to sort colonies; alphabetically, by number of friendly/enemy ships present, by idle construction frigates, and by idle ship construction facilities spring to mind as the most useful off the top of my head. If you add sorting, it might be nice to give the option to open a second list to allow more access to data. While I'm thinking about it, is there a way to take a stack of, for example, five ships and say, "Select three of these"?


2. Requests for deeper 4X-style diplomacy options, and less 'backstabby' AI (Link)
Pretty much every strategy game i've ever played has terrible diplomacy. "Alliances" last a few turns and then your ally turns on you for no apparent reason. For the love of mustard, please do not let this game fall into that pit.

Some gifts to other factions should offer *permenant* bonuses to your relations. That is, if you give a struggling faction a few systems, it should be almost unthinkable for them to attack you for the usual reasons the AI attacks you.

All diplomacy options should have a specific, negotiable duration... i would at least ask that whenever a player cancels a peace treaty that all their ships inside your territory be warped back to one of his colonies to prevent cheap shots ( Civ 4 style ).


3. Escorts should break and engage hostiles when the escortee enters combat (IC) (Link)
when a ship is escorting another and the secound ship enters combat so should the escort... and then return to escorting when the fight is over


4. Assorted feedback from 1Spartan (Link)
1. The travel lanes. The system needs to be reworked. I utterly wasted the AI using a line of G-guns and hangers.
2. The lateral plane should be broken when viewing the galaxy. It looks like a 2D game and that is sad because it is so damn pretty. This is not a real issue but adds to that extra polish that will make the game a classic.
4. Ability to set some sort of tax and trade rates with appripriate tech and adverse affects -etc...
5. The voice sounds are way to low. I can barely hear them and I have them at max.
8. Some priority target function is also really needed. The "auto shoot planet" thing makes simultaneous attacks a very dangerous thing to try.
9. The AI auto placement ability real needs to be redone because it simply does not work with a degree of logic that I can see.


5. Request for player-customizable flagships (IC) (Link)
As the title suggests, I would like a few custom ships in the game. Even if it's just one capital ship which you can call your own. It wouldn't be overpowered or something but just a ship someone can make to their own playing style. Such as a heavily defended ship, but little towards damage, for a defensive player or a ship with the health of a frigate, but which can take out an army of frigates with it's firepower. These are just two examples and I'm sure people can come up with much more interesting types of ships.


6. The realism vs gameplay/fun debate rages on...
Phase Highways in space is a bad game concept!
Game play, Realism and Fun
A real Solar System
Issues with scale and ship control

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
April 6-10

Technical

Crashes and sound issues in 010  (Link)
3. [Stability] Sins crashes regularly during the end game. I'm down to one other AI player, he's backed against the wall, I have a large fleet (40+ ships) closing on the last planet- and Boom... hard lock of the game. A dialog appears prompting me to send the dump info to the devs (see #1). *Note: I've never been able to actually win the game without a crash- the crash is always on the last couple of systems that need to be conquered.
4. [Sound] Sometimes when Sins starts the sound is all crackly. The technical term is "digital clipping". Quitting the game and restarting it solves the problem.


Crashes under .009 in windowed mode with Vista+nVidia, no word if problem persisted in .010 (IC) (Link)
+ Multiple Research Labs are needed to reach higher tiers of research.
i have a thought, what if instead of just having multiple research facilities to gain tiers of tech, you could upgrade the research centers as well.


Crashes with large numbers of objects in the game (Link)
so i got this game, which is crashing all the time. with 3000 objects in total.
Its reported to [email protected]
'Objects' here referring, note, to everything you can count--capital ships, frigates, squads, civilian ships, planets, asteroids, and modules.
well you can try this savegame of mine, but im sure it will crash. savegame


Game will not run after .010 update  (Link)
I can run 0.60[b].004 but I can't run 0.60[b].010, any chance of some help please I've sort of exhausted all efforts to get it working.
I have tried restoring from an archive, I haven't done a complete install over the Internet again. I might give it a go when my PC is free for a few hours... I only have a 512kb connection so it takes a while.


Strange process behavior after exiting the game (Link)
Ive also seen after quitting sins that my CPU usage, would be at 100% without any processes takeing more the a max of 1-2% like normal.
hmm, it seems like its getting worse...
When ever i quit a program, it will quit but still be as a process, and take 50%
i just quit notepad, after that it needed 50% lol


Inhibitors inhibit as soon as construction begins, and some issues with dead ships phasing... (Link)
The first picture show that it IS under effect of jam while the second picture show that is it is uncompleted.
Another discovery. I kill a ship at the last minute cause the FTL animation to happen WITHOUT the ship.


Enemy ships wander off into space when an inhibtor is built while they are trying to phase out (Link)
Enemy ships seem to get goofy when you build a phase space inhibitor when they already have orders to jump. They will just idle there and some even drift all over the place:


Slowdowns after exiting the game when also running VLC Player. Solved by deleting temp files. (Link)
Problem:
When i exit sins, windows works very very slow.
Reproduce:
The problem seems to happen, if i start the game, when i got VLC player open (not playing). alt-tapping and click on the vlc player will also make windows work slow.


The ends of phase lanes "pulse" when saturated with culture  (IC) (Link)
I've seen it too in the previous version (haven't gotten to load up the new one yet). It seems related to culture "push", so you won't see it on "unsaturated" phase lanes.


Repair stations 'repair' unbuilt orbitals (IC) (Link)
When a structure is first commissioned, it is shown as transparent and has a hull of zero and the hull rating goes up to full as the structure is built. I guess the repair platforms read this as damaged. So they will repair the thing before it has been completely built. Not sure if that is intentional.


Repeatable crash in .010, with savegame (Link)
OK with the new patch I keep getting a crash that is repeatable 100% I would attack it to this post but we cant UL - sad. I will email it to [email protected]
The file name default has this in all of them: v1.04.06.10.12
BTW I found the save files. Strangely they are hidden in some new user "roaming" directory in Vista. I have UL it to one of my domains. This is the  Link


Fighters chasing ships out of the well and through a phase jump (Link)
i was woundering where all my fighter were going. Found them long away from home
got a savegame if its needed


Scrollbars way out of place in options screen (Link)
So, I noticed this with the scroll bars yesterday. In any menu where a scrollbar isn't necessary (but not during the actual game), I see the bars stuck at the top of the screen. Graphics card is, as mentioned, a Radeon 9600 LE, and the drivers are the most recent ATI official ones (07.3).


Research item infocards block view of techs on the right side of the screen (Link)
Problem Description: In the research screen the lower level items are blocked from view by the descriptor window on the right side. (sorry I forgot to have the pointer show in fraps.)
Suggested Resolution: Have information window appear on the opposite side. IE if selecting an Empire tech, have the window appear in the Combat side and visa versa.


Research item infocards do not tell when additional research stations are required to advance to next tier (Link)
Problem Description: No information to build 2nd research (or is it a bug) station to advance past the 2nd tier research.
Problem Type: [Missing Information] requiring 2nd research station
Suggested Resolution: update text or check for bug for research advancement


Kol beams stretch way out when the target phases jumps while under fire (Link)
As long as we're ragging on the Kol, has anyone ever noticed that if it's firing its big beams at a ship as it goes to phase space that they'll track it for a REALLY long way? When the enemy goes to phasespace, the thing doesn't realize that the target is no longer available and the beams will track the thing sometimes up to 2 planetary diameters away before wearing out.


Development hotkey and planet elavator option unresponsive (Link)
1. The hotkey for planet development (or, the a key) does not work. The hotkey itself works for other units, and so does other hotkeys for the planet (i.e. build frigates) 4/8/07.
2. The "show planet elevators" box is always on and can not be turned off. It's located in the effects menu in options. 4/8/07.


Report of savegame overwrites not working (Link)
3)saved game overwrite doesnt always work sometimes- sometimes doesnt give that option.




Gameplay/Cosmetic

More discussion on in-depth Diplomacy... (Link)
So, to summarize:
-Diplomacy in this game MUST be drop-dead amazing in order for it to stand out as far as it truly should. This is the difference between an 8 and a 9 in a review score.
-Everything you do to another faction has a permanent effect that is visible, Civ 4 style. To change your relations, you must make up for what you've done so far.


Idea to make research stations upgradeable, rather than requiring more to reach higher tiers (Link)
+ Multiple Research Labs are needed to reach higher tiers of research.
i have a thought, what if instead of just having multiple research facilities to gain tiers of tech, you could upgrade the research centers as well.


request for more feedback about research completion and availability (Link)
For example, in Civilization, a popup window appears whenever research is complete asking what technology you'd like to work on next. Now, with Sins, this is impractical, as it's real time. However, if a research station is free, the research button could begin to flash. Once clicked, a specific technology could begin flashing as a "suggested" technology, much like how Civ 4 (or GalCiv, I'm not sure, haven't played it much) suggests technologies. While not automatic (as this would give you a case of, "Hey, where are my credits running off to?"), it does give the player some more prompting to keep research moving. Sometimes the "Research Complete" announcement isn't noticeable in the heat of...something else.


Request for slow tech option (Link)
In the game I was playing yesterday, I stayed in my solar system and didn't travel to a distant star, but I had practically maxed out the tech tree. I think to make this game truly feel epic, technology needs to be slowed down, or have more techs in the tree to make the game feel epic. I think the best solution would be to have the tech rate in terms of costs of each tech and the time to research each tech customizable.


Request for moons or gas giant planets (Link)
I was thinking that perhaps moons would be an interesting dynamic to add to the game. They would not only extend the gravity well of a planet, but also, when colonized, would provide a fractional bonus to the planet's tax income. It would also be interesting to see if multiple players could colonize a planet and its moons, sharing a gravity well. Perhaps the owners of the moons could pay tribute to the planet's owner as long as they were neutral or friendly to that player.


Request for turbo-resource mode as in Rise of Nations, for deathmatch games (Link)
Im sure someone has already brought this up, but it would be nice if there could be like a "turbo" resource option. In some games that require a great deal of conquering and economy before going out to fight, they have the option that you get resources at a faster rate than normal, therefore allowing you to just enjoy the game for battles.


Ideas to make black market resource trading easier (Link)
1: Move the buttons from diplomacy to right underneath the money bar (I dunno what you call, that bar near the top that shows your current credits, metal and crystal reserves) for easier access. Going into the diplomacy window to convert 100 metal to credits is slow and tedious and best if you are micro managing your economy.
2: Add a second option to convert 500 (example number) crystal/metal to credits, for the same rate as 100 to credits. Same with credits to cystal/metal. The current values are a little low if you need to convert, say, 10,000 metal to credits. Right now that is 100 clicks. (Carpal tunnel, anyone?)


Idea to send ships to a recycling center for disassembly, rather than getting resources back for scuttling in open space (Link)
Ah - the simple solution there is to not get resources back from scuttling a ship.
Perhaps the best thing to do is to force the ship to return to a shipyard for deconstruction if it needs to be reclaimed for resources. So your options are 'scuttle' and 'recycle'.


Request for ramming ships (Link)
I agree, they are unbalanced, however, they would be very cool looking. So how about this. A ship made for ramming, no guns, no shields, little hull. The crew are ready to die for the cause. Maybe they take out frigates in about one hit, but it should take a few to take down a cap ship. They should inefficient cost wise, possibly only used as a last resort in defense of a planet which has a frigate factory and can churn them out. They should die from fire easily.


Request for hero characters (Link)
One of the things i really liked about Master of Orion 2 was all of the ship captains \ planet administrator characters they had. They were essentially "hero" characters and had a unique portrait and provided the ships \ planets \ whatever they were in charge of some nice bonuses. They didnt do anything overpowering, maybe +5% damage dealt, or a small speed increase etc. They made the ships \ systems they were in charge of seem more important and less generic.


Complaints about the Akkan Targeting aura icon (Link)
Thats interesting i wasnt aware of that - but surely there may be some other way of signifying it - the red globes really do look ridiculous in battle. But is there really any need to signify those ships ?
Sorry it really does look strange - i thought they where some whizz bang forcefield


Request hiding the infocard "socket" when the card is moved to the corner on widescreen displays (Link)
That's cool by me. The only change I would suggest here is to modify the UI graphics slightly so it doesn't appear as though they should be together when you're in widescreen mode. For normal screens, leaving it the way it is looks good.


Long lists of assorted feedback
Spartan's Impressions (IC)
Beta Issues (IC)

The reality debate still burns...
Phase Highways in space is a bad game concept!
A real Solar System
Game play, Realism and Fun
Seriously, a new galaxy is desparately needed.



Multiplicity - Control multiple PCs using one keyboard and mouse
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Aptil 11

Technical

Game will not run after .010 update (updated) (IC) (Link)
I can run 0.60[b].004 but I can't run 0.60[b].010, any chance of some help please I've sort of exhausted all efforts to get it working.
I have tried restoring from an archive, I haven't done a complete install over the Internet again. I might give it a go when my PC is free for a few hours... I only have a 512kb connection so it takes a while.

Reboot when attempting to screenshot tech tree (potential BSOD) (Link)
I was trying to take a screenshot (Print Screen key) of my completed tech tree and *POOF* my system reboots. Happened twice now, no mini-dumps, nothing in the event viewer, etc... In the screenshot folder I get this:


General system spec and performance feedback  (Link)
Since the MAIN purpose of this beta is for IC to verify soase will run on a wide variety of PC hardware, shouldn't there be a thread with detailed spec's of our current (not your fantasy PC!) rigs (including driver versions)? Then trying various resolutions record frame rates, using your favorite fps counter (like fraps). I think we should also give them min, max, and/or averages during large battles and when just exploring a new world with a small fleets.





Gameplay

Defenders should scramble to the lane exit upon an incoming warning, rather than waiting for them to arrive (Link)
i think that when a grav well with fighters and/or bombers are protecting a grav well from a hanger
and you detect enamy ships inbound said fighters/bombers would actually move toward the the jump lane rather than sit on the other side of it until that ship/ships actually make it to the grav well


More (combat-worthy) frigates wanted (Link)
I know its the beta and a lot of material is unreleased. but to be perfectly clear:
there are NOT enough frigates//the frigates are not powerful enough to warrant much attention in the beta. most of the time I almost completely ignore them. the kodiac frigate (nearly the only frigate worth noticing) is far too high up on the research chart to look at with a forward eye


C_M_C's Beta Issues (updated) (IC) (Link)
Here are the green lines from the missile batteries, and on their own they are moving towards the sun. I jumped most of the fleet out towards the right so that the carriers and such wouldn't clutter the screen.
8. This only happens to me when I haven't built broadcast centers yet. It appears that even if I cut off the source of the culture flow it will still spread from infected planets.


Homeworlds should start with some static defenses (Link)
I agree with you, homeplanet should have rudementary defenses, even if only the vasari and advert get them, as the TEC disbanded all their weapons. But the Vasari and Advert definately, one is running from a super powerfull force so it stands to reason that the moment they colonize a planet they would have defense platforms in orbit, maybe even before they colonized the first planet in that system.






Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
April 12

Technical

Potential issue with asteroid infrastructure levels (Link)
Problem Description: When selecting an asteroid to upgrade it shows 0/2 and once it has completed the 1st level it automatically continues to the 2nd level without being told to and at no cost.
Problem Type: [leveling] Asteroids
Suggested Resolution: update text or check for bug.



Gameplay

Brad solicits thoughts on the battle mechanics (Link)
So let's talk about battle mechanics in space.  How do we make them more fun? What do we have to work with that will be intuitive from a strategic point of view and enjoyable to make use of?



Not everyone enjoys the unlock-on-edge-scroll camera functionality (time for an option?) (Link)
As the title says. It's rather disconcerting to be rotating the viewpoint around a ship or planet, only to have it start to shift wildly once the cursor reaches a side of the screen.
Disabling scrolling while in the focus locked camera mode would be nice. Well, the 'zoom to cursor disabled' mode, anyway.


More thoughts on active ability icons... (Link)
indeed, a better location for active effects would be inside the unit icon (middle bottom).
The best thing to do would be to make the showing of these icons(unit active effects) as an option in setup.


Idea to have certain orbitals be upgradeable, rather than using multiples (Link)
Suggestion: instead of purchasing a new research station for each couple of levels how about just upgrade the station and present with new layout/animations. The same could also be said with some of the other buildings such as hangers becoming larger instead of separate buildings.


Idea for tug frigates to move orbitals after construction (Link)
Suggestion: Need tugboats of sorts to be able to move buildings / weapon platforms. Sometimes the buildings placement is in the way of ship movement or the area ends up cluttered.
Problem Type: [suggestion] tugboat option


Request for permanent visual damage to bombarded planets (Link)
Needs craters or some form of visible damage.
That would be cool, even just scorch mark decals or maybe some glowing core material (those nukes hit deep man).
Visually I think the nuke explosions are a little big at the moment. Anyway scaring and a color change in the atmosphere would be great additions.


Request for options to script capship levelups and attack priorities (Link)
Ability to choose all skills for Capital ships in advance.
The ability to have a list of things you want to attack in certain circumstances, a la FFXII (unless Ironclad wants SOME but not MUCH micro)


More thoughts on the black market (Link)
Everyone should have access to it, tho the TEC should have better access seeing as how they are former traders.
Lower prices (or perhaps better - more goods available) would reflect that better than exclusive access.



Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
April 13

Super-small gameplay-only Friday the 13th edition...

Gameplay

More thoughts on planet bombardment and its effects (Link)
I also thinks that you shouldnt be able to colonize a planet right after a bombardment. Maybe a planet gets a quarantine-time that ticks down after you finished your bombing.

Yeah. That would add a nice dynamic to the game. You could have nukes which would make the planet unlivable for maybe 10 minutes game time but do vast damage infrastructure and population quickly or you could have some bio weapons that target the population only and limit your max pop level for say one hour but do no harm to the infrastructure and/or high explosives that waste the infrastructure rather quickly but have little effect on the population.


Request for selectable flagship type (Link)
I realize they can be toggled on and off, but one should choose which flagship to start with. For example, a Carrier or Dreadnought instead of a Battleship


More on solar systems not feeling like solar systems (Link)
The current systems appear too heavy (i.e. they have too many planets), lopsided (i.e. the planets appear to be on one side of the system), and lack other subtlities (e.g. gas clouds, moons, and etc). (I do agree with scattering specific planet types within the systems.)


Some assorted thoughts on fighters and bombers (Link)
I'd like to see small craft have an endurance timer. By that, I mean the amount of time they can spend undocked from their base should be finite (instead of the current infinite)...

I'd also like bombers to perform one (more powerful) attack on ships and then have to return to base to reload...

More (potential) research topics for small craft would be to increase hanger capacity (allow more squards on the carrier and hanger platform). Increasing carrier experience would result in faster turnaround time for the bomber rearm or small craft refuel rather than the current "more squads" bonus...





Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
April 14-16

Technical

Crashing with large numbers of objects in game (Link)
I have a saved game that has 5684 objects in total. It will CTD though if any activity is started.

This game was running fine until I phase jumped a fleet to another star system. I did not create any more ships or other objects. As long as my fleet sits at that star the game is fine, but if I try to attack any planet at that star system it will CTD.

I have emailed the exception log to them.


Colony frig attempted interplanetary travel at sub-light speed (Link)
Hey guys, not sure how it happened but I just ran into a rather odd bug. I ordered a colony frigate to jump to a planet for colonization from one of my worlds. I looked back a min later to see it hadn't gone far. I zoomed in to see that the ship had left the gravity well and was not in phase space. It was travelling somehow in sublight speed to the other planet (which needless to say took forever). I haven't been able to replicate this bug again, but I was wondering if anyone else ran into this.




Gameplay

The phase lane debate continues:
Impressions of what should be improved
Phase Highways in space is a bad game concept!

Combat system/balance discussions:
Beta Frigs... a sad reality
RTS Battle Mechanics and Ships

Request for subsystem-level orders and targeting (Link)
Id really like it if they made all of the different weapons \ systems selectable and able to receive orders \ battle plans. Battle plans basically being a specific target priority list per weapon system.

If subsystems can take damage seperately from the hull it would make things more interesting. Rather than doing it the "power bar" way every other game does which basically amounts to your ship being 100% functional until its last hp is gone and then it explodes completely leaving no trace.


Request to hide exact stats on enemy ships (Link)
I would prefer to not see the enemy's: hull points, shields points, and antimatter points, as exact numbers, but rather as more of an overall percentage of each.

I can foresee multi-player games where my opponent constantly targets my level 10 capital ships in each fight trying to take it out, as it took the longest to get to level 10 and or the most investment ( if I paid to upgrade it ).


Request for improvement in the savegame UI (Link)
When one goes to save a game, you have to retype your previous saved game name to overwrite. The simple method to fix this is allow one to see previous saved games in the save game window and allow double clicking for overwriting previously saved games.


Complaint about the AI sneaking about and grabbing bombed planets before you can (Link)
I dont know if anyone else has noticed this, but the AI trails around all of my fleets with a colony frig! it captures every planet I take before I can get my frigs safely in! there has been more than one time that I've shouted



Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
April 17

Technical

Thoughts about more controlled performance testing (Link)
Regarding the current testing process, there was a thread about system specks and performance rating and I was wondering if it is going to be followed up on or do you guys think it is a moot issue at the moment? Because if it is I suggest grouping the testers into classes and having them run predefined (read as controlled) games. This is so a base line can be established and referenced as the process develops. I would even consider further sub divide the groups into faction teams for more refined data points. It would also help isolate any unique issues that may arise with each faction and its specific tech and what not.

Concerning performance issues, is it planned to have benchmarks in the beta client that generates performance/bug reports? I'm thinking about some kind of test framework that could be run on testers machines to gather data. Maybe that's already implemented, I don't have access to the beta yet.





Gameplay

The phase lane debate continues:
Impressions of what should be improved
Phase Highways in space is a bad game concept!

Combat system/balance discussions:
Beta Frigs... a sad reality
RTS Battle Mechanics and Ships

Super-capital class ship discussions:
Oh Em Gee! Megaships!
Megaships

AI Loyalty concerns (Link)
Yeah, once again, speaking of the AI in this regard. I don't mind if some of the AI factions are all cutthroat like this, but when every single AI does the same cutthroat tactics, it gets both annoying and old. I enjoy having allies, however in the beta at least, my allies never act like allies, all it is is a NAP. Question for IC, will the AI ever be programmed to actually act like an ally? Or should I get used to playing the game without alliances every time?


Should the AI be so culture-happy? (Link)
OK...how many BCs should one build per planet/colony? I put one in each of mine, but in my current game the AI factions are building 24+ per planet/colony? Is this normal?




Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
April 18

Technical

AI threatens allied players under locked teams (IC)  (Link)
I'm playing a game with locked teams at the moment. One of my allies and I controlled almost all of one system, and I was moving my fleets to finish off the last remaining enemy home world. To get there, the fastest route was through my ally's territory. While en route to the enemy, my ally says this: "Keep your forces away from Daedalus or pay the price." He also brought his entire fleet back from his campaign in the other system, just to make this point, not that he could do anything about it.


AI doesn't re-plan when an inhibitor is built along its route (Link)
I saw some very weird things happen after building Phase jump disruptors. For one, enemy IAs kept sending trade ships through that got hopelessly trapped in my system. At one point, I think there was like 20 or 30 ships piled up on the edge of my gravity well.
Unfortunately, the same happened with a combat fleet. I suppose this fleet intended to attack a distant system travelling through mine but the AI was not able to re-plan when the fleet got stuck in my system. Instead of attacking my planet, or at least the phase disruptor to break free, the ships just floated around aimlessly and the fleet just scattered very far out of the gravity well (mostly above and underneath).


Freeze/Crash (minidump sent) (Link)
At the end of the first tutorial my screen seem to freeze, I heard a windows error beep and then the title screen music started playing but the screen was still stuck at the end of the tutorial. My Hard drive was acting like it was going through something serious so I let it sit a minute and then alt+tabed out to find a message about an error and to send it to the programmers. I sent it so hope you guys got it.





Gameplay

Request orphaned fighters reassign to incomplete squads before self-destructing (Link)
. Fighters/bombers: If the hangers or ships are destroyed your fighters/bombers get destroyed too. Could we not have them assigned to ships/hangers with space available? or atleast wait till after the battle with the option of scuttling or keeping in the area for patrols?


Request for remaining ships/orbitals to remain after a player's last planet is conquered (Link)
What is worse if your planet gets capped everything self destructs. I do hope that will be changed as well. It is kind of funny in a way however. It is sort of like they send out an APB suggesting to toss in the towel and commit suicide because it will surely irk the enemy to be deprived of the experience (and points) of doing it. The truly last great act of defiance.


Suggest limiting fighter fuel/loiter time before requiring a return to hangar (Link)
I agree with him that hangar location should only influence travel time to (and from) the battlefield. However, right now, with the infinite loiter time small craft have, that's a trip they only make once, so the reward for placing the hangar close to the action is small compared to the risk of the hangar being destroyed. A finite loiter time would require small craft to be making multiple trips to the hangar, and directly affect time in battle (a long trip will chew up time the small craft could be fighting).


Ongoing discussions:
Phase Highways in space is a bad game concept!
RTS Battle Mechanics and Ships







Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
April 19

Technical

All orbitals autodestructed when a planet was nuked (NOT the last planet of the faction). Possibly modding related. (Link)
@Trist - that has not been my experience. My last game I had over 8 planets and I purposely left a built up planet undefended except for only guns (working on my Gauss Gun mod). The AI sent two fleets in the frigs went to the guns and the caps when to the planet once the planet was toast all my infrastructure simply vanished.



Pics posted for yesterday's report of AI ships wandering off into deep space when their route gets inhibited after it's set (Link)
Notice the stranded purple carrier at the very bottom
I should try to drop the "spam scout frigates" strategy and work out a more elegant and cost efficient one. So far, I barely used any static defenses.



Gameplay

AI is so culture-happy that it starts building new BCs without even clearing the planet's prior owners' orbitals (Link)
Green conquered this planet, and without finishing off the enemy's broadcast centers, he began building his own. (screenshot)


Idea to list the ships an enemy cap has killed, rather than a level (Link)
another way to assess the quality of an enemy ship (and which should be in line with the world world example) is in listing the ships it destroyed. so, if you have a battleship that destroyed a good number of your high profile ships that would make it a prime candidate for taking it out.


Ongoing discussions:
Phase Highways in space is a bad game concept!
RTS Battle Mechanics and Ships
Oh Em Gee! Megaships!










Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top
April 20

Technical

Queueing issue with Data Archive Artifact research and Scout Probes (Link)
Data Archive: When you queue up research in this category, all research queued subsequent to that should be at the reduced cost granted by research into the data archive. This is because you don't actually start those topics until AFTER the data archive research has been completed.

Level 2 "Probe" was available to my scout frigate immediately upon queuing research for it. I am unsure whether they would actually use level 2 (vs. just level 1) or if it just said level 2, but either way, something isn't quite right.


TFL BigBANGtheory's inability to run .010 inexplicably resolved itself (Link)
ok whats changed other than the SDC update?

cos I have been away for 1 week, fire up 0.62[b].010 having changed nothing on my PC and its working now. 


AI built colony frigs as its last resort... (Link)
Setting was on easy *stop snickering* and I sent my fleet in on the last bastion of the enemy. What did they build why my ships were tearing through their defenses… colonizers.

Even on easy it should have built atleast something that fought back.







Gameplay

Idea to make bomber bombs interceptable by flak (Link)
2. Make bombs released from bombers and possible from the other ships as well interceptable by either normal fighters and or Garda flak frigates. that way Gardas don't become nearly so obsolete and more people will be encouraged to use Flak frigs and fighters instead of the Kol's special ability.


Ongoing discussions:
Phase Highways in space is a bad game concept!
RTS Battle Mechanics and Ships
Oh Em Gee! Megaships!




Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top
April 21-23

Technical

Error message "SanityCheckManageSquadType failed: ManageSquadType=0" (Link)
Happened again today on 0.62[b].010. Same scenario: colonized a contested planet, queued up several hangers, began queuing up their bombers when the planed was bombed to death. I'm not sure if actually clicking the button caused it or if it was just because it was open when I lost the planet. I was clicking like mad so I'm not sure if the actual click was what got it or not.


(Modding) Maps generate with incorrect planet counts when the number of planets is set very low (Link)
EDIT1: i changed min planet to 6, then custom galaxy with 6 planets 1v1, the game ended up with 5 planets, 3 asteroid planets and 1 dead asteroid planet... iirc that's 9 planets, not 6 , this game took me exactly 1:31, i was hoping for only 6 planets though, ima try 4 planet min, maybe i'll get what i want

EDIT2: tried 4 minimum, turned out to be 7 planets total, map was slightly unbalanced (one side had 4 easy planets, the other only 3), i think they would need to work on making decent small maps 4-8 planets total, anyway 1v1 hard comp, won in 00:59:20, that was straight caps, didn't build a single frigate save 1 flak to take the first planet, i've been building only caps simply because hard comps just pile on the frigates so i didn't want to bother matching them

Stacking and empire tree issues (pics in thread) (Link)
Stack icon option put my building WITH enemy building in the same stack? I sure don't own it!

Sometime icon of system that I have no info or los(line of sight) on would disappear just look under the last planet. On the list there are at least 5 or so system missing.

Second picture to show better proof. Just look for health bar that has no icon over it.







Gameplay

Request for customizable AI personalities (Link)
Yeah. I would like to be able to program AI personalities and add them to a database of sorts so I can assign them to different AI players. Hell if the system is powerful enough we can trade AI bots on the forums.


Idea for different types of ships to behave differently when escorting (Link)
this is what i think should happen

1 flax and scouts and colony frigates should stay near the escorted ship either to protect that ship or to recieve protection from that ship

2 heavies and cruisers should move to intercept the enamy and when they enamy is dead/destroyed then resume escort duties


Request for newly built fighters to automatically join the owner's Ctrl group (IC) (Link)
I've noticed with my large fleet (12 caps + many misc frigs), when I band everything into ctrl-group 1 (including the 56 advanced fighter/bomber wings), that once a squadron is lost and replaced, it's not part of the ctrl-group anymore. This is annoying, as it makes me have to constantly "add" the new wings, during my large battles (one MORE unnecessary micro-management duty). Has this been discussed before? I would really like the fighter/bomber wings created by the carriers, to inherit the ctrl-group status of that particular carrier.


More thoughts about intercepting bombs before impact (Link)
Yea that's the tricky part as you don't want them to shoot only bombs because people will complain about bombers not being shot down. Maybe it could be any bombs being shot at the ship would move up to target priority one as i know i would rather shoot a bomb coming at me than the bomber that launched it, especially since i could just shoot the bomber down later.

If a priority targeting system gets enabled and if there is a range subsystem then there should be no issues.


Ongoing discussions:
RTS Battle Mechanics and Ships
Oh Em Gee! Megaships!
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top
April 24

Gameplay

Suggest making the effect of Bounty/No Bounty at game start clearer (Link)
the bounty toggle doesn't actually disable the bounty system, rather it determines if everyone starts with bounty already on them or not.

Change the Bounty option to Start with/without Bounty to be more clear on that point


Idea to make enemy ship detection/movements show delayed from actual positions/vectors (Link)
Attacking ships could arrive in system and not be detected for a set amount of time (depending on the system and the distance between the ships. )
Attacking ships would be able to see everything in the system and can create a formation or plan of action accordingly. (The ships in system would have been reflecting light for the entire time they where in the system so the light would have bounced to every edge of the system when the attacking fleet arrives.)

Any course changes would show up in a delayed manner too. The attacking fleet could decide to move to the left and jink right halfway trough the maneuver in order to confuse the defending fleet. But then again the light bouncing of the defending fleet is showing a delayed picture too, so it could have moved right in intervening time.


Request to have the skyboxes cast light appropriately on objects in the system (Link)

Shouldn't there be a light source that acts as the background light as well? It's kind of awkward to know there's a giant light behind you which casts no shadows or rays.



Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top
April 25

Slow day... not much of note besides the ongoing Point Defense discussion.
Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top
April 26

Gameplay

Idea to limit sensor range and/or add stealth ships (Link)
Do you think that there would be any points to including some kind of range-related efficiency to the sensors, along with the stealth value of the target? (and multiple ships stacked in a fleet would have abyssmal steath value - except if they were all specificly designed stealthy ships)


Ongoing discussions:
Phase Highways in space is a bad game concept!
Point Defense system
Limitations of light speed detection...

Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top
April 27

Technical

Bug allowing planets to be captured without being completely razed first (pics) (Link)
I can reproduce it so far Kryo even entire galaxy worth of population. Yarlen How you get it to happen is that you set the battle to be "Flagship suicide", then you build 50 frigates to rush the enemy flagships and you GET both infrastructure and population INTACT. Here some proofs.




Gameplay

Idea for phase-capable fighters (Link)
SoaSE should have additional choices of more advanced fighters, bombers and corvettes to choose from when deciding what type of strike craft will be built and carried in capital ships and platforms. Some of these more advanced strike craft should have the ability to Phase Jump and leave their carriers behind. Of course for long range strike craft raids to be feasible, their death timers will have to be reduced to almost nil.


Ongoing discussions:
Phase Highways in space is a bad game concept!
Point Defense system
Limitations of light speed detection...
Oh Em Gee! Megaships!





Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top
April 28-30

Gameplay

Request for the Kol to look manlier as should a ship as powerful as it is (Link)
its a wierd complaint, but I think the Kol looks too weapon-deprived to be the TEC's forward battleship.

for instance, the forward 4 pylons that are meant to be cannons... they seem like the feelers of a bug rather than the massive, powerful, forward ion cannons of the KOL BATTLESHIP!
amongst other things it just seems like the Kol has no weapons, when in truth its the most powerful single ship in the game.


Request for greater transparency variation in the skyboxes so more black space and stars show (Link)
well, not just because its alot of black, but the blending of them all makes it look alot better.
This image do look alot more spacey

...No matter where ever you look within a solar system its always the the same color. Thats why i feel that image is so special, since it also shows some of the blackyness of space oh and ofcourse the blending of the colors is just wow


Ongoing discussions:
Phase Highways in space is a bad game concept!
RTS Battle Mechanics and Ships
Limitations of light speed detection...
Phase Jump capable Strike Craft

Reply #17 from Sins Forums Top
May 1

Technical

A hotkey oddity and possible firing animation issue (Link)
5. The hotkey for exiting the menu for building fighters in hangars (and possibly capital ships, too?) is mapped to "t", and even says it is mapped to "t", even though it is in the "g" position. Not sure if this is a bug, but it was confusing for half a second.

6. The turrets on ships do not turn even though the muzzle flashes is not aligned with the turret. Is it because moving turrets are not implemented yet, or a bug, or not planned to be at all?


Gameplay

Ongoing discussions:
RTS Battle Mechanics and Ships
Phase Jump capable Strike Craft (and Missile Pods)




Reply #18 from Sins Forums Top
May 2

Technical

Ship models failing to appear when zooming in out of icon-mode. (Link)
I am about 3.5hrs into the game, a 4 galaxy battle with around 5 or 6 enemies (I like beign able to build up and then have mass battles), but now when I load the game, all the fighters have disappeared! It still shows their icon, but when you zoom in, they are not there...it just happened randomly, in between one of my savings and then coming back later.


Gameplay

Ongoing discussions:
RTS Battle Mechanics and Ships
Phase Jump capable Strike Craft


Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top
May 3

Gameplay

Request for sorting options on the empire tree (Link)
How about a means of sorting the planets/asteriods/fleets on the info screen? Including a sort that relates the position on the list to the location of the object in the system. (top to bottom - or just let us define a (multilevel) custom sort - e.g. star system/object within system)

Also how about the name of the location showing even when collapsed.


Request for better empire tree and order-placing feedback and interactivity while paused (Link)
How about having the info screen on the side continue to work while the game is paused? It's a serious PITA to have to keep hitting pause/unpause/pause just to refresh the info and my understanding of the current situation. Not all of us have the luxury of playing a game straight through.


Ongoing discussions:
RTS Battle Mechanics and Ships
Phase Jump capable Strike Craft



Reply #20 from Sins Forums Top
May 4

Technical

Shiny asteroids now appearing on nVidia systems as well (IC) (Link)
The known ATI bug where the asteroids seems to glow like a silver stone. Seems to happen with my geforce 8800GTX also.
Using Vista 32bit drivers 158.24
This was a bug? I never knew , I saw the glowing asteroid and was like whoa thats t3h awesome^^
nVidia 512MB 7950GT


Gameplay

Request to make detatching portions of fleets into new fleets easier (Link)
It's a pain to select a couple of units you need to detach and then reselect all of the other units in the fleet to redefine its identity (particularly if you have more than one fleet in a g-well). Otherwise you end up with fleet(s) spread across g-wells.

On a related note, unless the intent is to allow fleet/taskforce (or squadron) identifications, please remove the capacity for units to belong to more than one fleet.


Ongoing discussions:
RTS Battle Mechanics and Ships
Phase Highways in space is a bad game concept!

Reply #21 from Sins Forums Top
May 5-7

Technical

Request option to span across multiple screens but center camera and interface on one screen (Link)
I run a GeForce 7950 GX2 graphics card in a 3200x1200 resolution mode. First of all I really appreciate that "sins" runs in this resolution without bugging.

But since this usually results in a dual screen solution it should be possible to set the screen focus away from the center of the "bit-plane" since this (as with many dual screen configs) results in having the focus on the border between the two screens which reduces fun drastically.

of course switching one screen off does help but I really don't like to.



Gameplay

Request for a more loyal AI alliance behavior (Link)
One of the reasons why I left the fourms for while (a month or two... I stopped playing so I stopped going on the fourms) was because of the AI's issues with allegiances. EVERY, yes EVERY, time I had an alliance with the AI (only one of the two I was playing with wished to have one, whether I asked for peace or he/she/it did) would imediatley send a large force to one of my systems and then break the truce!?!?! Whats the point of peace if it lasts as long as a phase jump!?!?!?! I understand eventually breaking one, but right away? Thats kindof dumb.... (I KNOW its a beta...) This happened 7 or 8 times (around the fifth I gave them resources to see if that would make them lay off....), and on the last time I was fed up and I had my fleet there, waiting. They sent all (or mostly all) of their forces to that system and got their butts handed to them and that caused their downfall (they lost shortly after).


Request for tech tree to be fully useable while paused as well (Link)
The next patch allows you to use the Empire Tree properly when the game is paused, thx for the suggestion

aw, what about the tech tree...



Ongoing discussions:
RTS Battle Mechanics and Ships
Phase Highways in space is a bad game concept!



Reply #22 from Sins Forums Top
May 8

Gameplay

Idea for pirates to grow in strength over time (Link)
I hope the pirates go stronger the longer you leave them alone. As it is now, pirates in an unexplored galaxy will still be only a few ships strong. even if you're massiva armada is wiping them out with a single salvo.


Thoughts on 3D movement and tactics (or lack thereof) (Link)
I say for the full 3-D movement in battles to actually have an effect, there would need to be 3-D placement of buildings. As it is now, the attacking ships stay on the base plane to attack the buildings, so the defending ships stay on the base plane to attack the attacking ships.

Exactly. Sure we can move up and down, but as it is now we have no reason to. I feel a lot like Wraith does. I think the tactics in this game in general are weak. Your control of your ships is just so ... mushy. Most of the "tactics" that I use are just herding ships around to try and keep them together so that one or two brave little frigates don't decide to get themselves killed uselessly by attacking the cluster of gauss cannons on the other side of the gravwell by themselves.


Request for limited pauses in multiplayer (Link)
I would agree that pause is a necessity in multiplayer. As a father of four, I tend to find myself looking for the pause button rather frequently when playing multiplayer (I play only understanding, friendly games as I typically spend almost a third of the "game time" not at my computer, dealing with the kids latest emergency)..... Not to steal from others work too much, but SupCom implemented a clever means where the number of "timeouts" a player could take was set to a fixed number (or unlimited) as an option. This allows for the unplanned emergency bathroom break, or (in my case) the scheduled crisis of the minute.


Ongoing discussions:
RTS Battle Mechanics and Ships


Reply #25 from Sins Forums Top
May 11

The True 3-D thread continues.