Maybe improve AI diplomacy intellegence? I was attacking a hard AI in a 4 player map, and was about to bomb his last world, when i felt sympathetic (lol) and offered a peace treaty. it declined. that was a stupid thing to do, coz he got wiped out. All im saying is that the AI should handle diplomacy according to the circumstances.

Also, i was playing a game, and like 3 poeple got disconnected, and they all became AI. i happened to have treaties with two of them, and we were working together to press an attack. as soon as they became AI, they broke the treaty, and our fleets who only a second ago were allies, battled each other. When a player d/c, make the AI keep the treaties it has!!!

can you make it so that you can rejoin games you have dropped from? not sure how the connectivity in ICO works, but with the games often lasting so long, someone will inevitably drop/crash and there should be a way of rejoining so that everyone in the game doesnt continue without you

I may be alone in this, but the way i was thinking about it, was that you build one research station for military, and one for civilian research, yet when your queing your research it does one at a time, despite some may be civilian and some may be military.

Now i understand it does help slow down the game a bit, but if you had military specific labs, i'm unsure as to why they would be hindered if you had civilian researching in progress, as they are being conducted at different labs?

I'm open to constructive critism's, but it's the main thing that i've noticed with this game that i thought made little sense.

I realise about cap ship and fleet supply research is something else entirely, but was just a thought tho.

Nothing new, but just to show support for the idea: tweak PJIs somehow to make them more effective, make planets harder and orbital defenses more effective. All in all, like someone said before, improve the chances of successfully defend planets without fleets.

Loving the game already, though...

- Different winning options; especially a domination victoy with an adjustable amount of percentage of planets you have to own in order to win.

- a difficulty level more demanding than "hard"

Hello few suggestions on my part.

1) Make AI research more powerfull technology in military and in civilian

2) Fix stupid mission requests frm the AI player asking you to destroy X player's structures/ships eventhough you still didn't encounter the player in question

3) Make AI use guerilla warfare by attacking targets of economic intrest with smal fleet sizes

4) Allow us to have lockdown ability of the givenn system otherwise phaselane concept is completly useless

5) Make research options exclusive meaning if you pick up research on one technology you can't research another. Good exemple is PJI. If you research it you will not be able to research superweapons

6) Last butnot the least we should have diplomacy system with black ops options. Pirates were meant for that but past certain point they are not effective at all on that. Offcourse we should have counter-spy option as well. In Black ops we should be able to bribe worlds with the low alligeince and under high culture dominance. I know that this is too big for 1.03 but you should think about it for 1.04

I fully agree ! The best thing could be to implement it as optional: start in an universe at war or in a peaceful world.

1) I agree with making PJI's more useful as currently i don't ever see anyone use them in multiplayer games they just serve no tactical purpse at all. A way to get around this is to either make it 2x 3x as long for ships to jump out of the gravity well and/or make it so that ships can't jump out to a connecting system owned by the player or any of their allies.

2) Remove QUIT GAME from the options menu on multi-player it's a royal pain in the arse to have to go round and mop-up every single thing they own before i can win a game, only have the option surrender right in the middle, this will actually make the games more enjoyable.

3) On the unit information page (that comes up when you have a unit selected and highlighted make it so that there is a more detailed breakdown of what the research has done to the ships damage, armor, shields and antimatter.

4) this one is abit out there but i really would like to see another kind of combat ship like the cobalt that was lower on the tech tree (cruiser sized ship) which would act as an interim ship instead between the cobalt and kodiak, this would be an excellent way to stop the cobalt (and equivalant ship) spam tactic that seems to be employed alot - now i know there are already ways to counter it so don't tell me that i need to L2P. it's a suggestion.

p.s i use TEC ships as references because i only play as TEC

The only problem with making planets easier to defend with outfleets is that when you do have a fleet there it will be almost impossible to take the damn thing over. It will increase turtling up as people can win a game by waiting for the enemy to attack them once they've wiped them out then launch a counter-attack personally i think it's about right the way it is however i think the defence platforms should have a 10% increase to their rate of fire as on their standard setting they are complely useless.

Well its a great game and everyone has ideas of what they think will make it better, some of which seem overly critical but...

I'd like better defences, I know some sort of starbase is probably out of the question but maybe beef up existing defences.

I agree with most of the PJI points also.

You guys probably spent ages balancing them but I think both Pirates and Culture seem weak.

Theres probably no way to enforce fleet balance but it would be nice rather than facing a one unit fleet.

I'd like if destroying colonies, taking out a fleets support system had an effect and not just tied to credits.

A carrier / bomber fleet seems too powerful

More balance between the races

I know you've weakened siege frigates already but if theres anyway to stop the AI focusing on them that would be nice.

yes ..i saw that too..it get`s me very easy to actually win some maps due to this bug

These are good ideas....Also and i did not saw AI using superweapons. I managed to win a map against 6 AI where they were allied against me cause i was barely holding my front line while 5 novalith cannons took one by one all planets of all AI players. in the time i`ve built 5 novalith they should had built at least 1 superweapon and use it on me.

It's been mentioned a few times but not nearly enough for such an important and easily fixable issue. Teams in teamgames need to start close together. Fixed positions, not 100% random as it is now. Many of the maps are designed with fixed positions in mind and having your teammate in another solarsystem is no fun.

Here are my thoughts, maybe for this update, maybe for later but,

-The ability to take missions for reward / punishment or ignore them without the AI getting mad, instead of just having them forced on you with no chance to decline.

-AI that doesn't just pick one ship to attack and leaves the rest alone until it's dead.(although that is how players play so perhaps this is fine)

-AI that will stand and fight near their own planets. Perhaps only letting capital ships retreat to safety, letting the rest try take out as many of the players ships as they can if all hope is ~really~ lost.

-Pirates need to have a unit cap compared to players forces(maybe 2x - 2.5x any one player, 300+ ships around a pirate planet is not funny, but it was sorta fun to try to kill) and capital ships of their own to make up for it.

A general multiplayer lobby would be nice

Kye.

Allow import of ships made with GalCiv II   

Great Game play it more often then i should.   

-PJI tweaked
-more more time between pirate raids
-has anyone noticed how every raid comprises the same amount and type of ship as the last one. that seems a little to conformists for pirates.
-better formations
-ability to choose ship facing
- and i dont know if this is possible but for some reason i cant play saved game files that i had before i updated the game. anything like that happen to anyone else. if so it should be looked at.

besides that amazing game. thanks for it.

Yes!!!

this idea gets Twisted's seal of approval!

- also i forgot to say but pirates should either be weaker, or have to have the time/recources/facilities to build the fleets they build. that way they can be crippled production wise.

A couple of suggestions concerning pirates:

1) Give audio warnings concerning pirates priority in the sound queue. As it is, sometimes the announcement that a pirate attack is pending or that I've just been outbid doesn't play, and I end up having to fight off a bunch of pirate ships because I didn't up my bid.

2) Perhaps not necessary if 1 is implemented, but I'd like to see something in the main UI that shows a countdown to the next pirate attack and who their current target is. That way, I can tell at a glance if I'm in danger or not.

I agree with this. I was please with the ease of getting in to the editor, but surprised with how random it was after that. It would be good to allow for a very specific map to be creatable.

I don't believe inhibitors need to be changed though. There needs to be some flexibility for the hit-and-run type tactics that are possible if you don't try and protect key strategic areas with an actual fleet. Otherwise, it is too easy to turtle and gets rid of the idea that you need to be actually protecting your planets if you want to keep them

As an aside, does having a fleet in system affect loyalty? There is nothing like having a warliner floating over your head to ensure you stay on the straight and narrow

Something that I'm really missing is the ability to make ships join fleets. If I have my main fleet and a few ships that arent in it I have to select all the ships and remake the fleet. Itd be nice to just select the un-fleeted ships, right click on the fleet symbol and have them join that fleet instead of just moving to the fleet leader.

Hmm.. v1.03

Let's see:
Multiplayer / ICO:
- Automatic downloads of custom maps for joining clients. ATM theres little use in making custom maps, as you can only use them in arranged matches, where you can get the players to download them prior joining your game. This should definitely be looked into.
- Quitting should be removed from MP games. Consider any player who quits to have surrendered. As it is now, if a player quits when he is about to lose, you have to spend your time mopping up the planets of a bastard who isnt playing anymore, but wasnt man enough to surrender.
OR
- Allow players to rejoin ongoing games. Have the AI take over players who leave (hard random AI) and allow players to join the game they left if its still in progress. This way if you have a crash - which happens to me every now and then - while playing an MP game, you can still rejoin. Don't know how hosting is handled if a host of a game leaves, but in case someone else takes over the role of host, the above idea can still work. Otherwise, the host can just restart the game from the last savegame position.

Gameplay:
- Phase Jump Inhibitors: ATM they are a waste of space really.. okay, not necessarily, but even if you have some, the enemy can still come and go as they want.

Suggestion #1: Increase the penalty they give by a factor, so instead of 250%, make it 2500%.
Suggestion #2: (i would prefer this one) Prevent the use of any phase lanes you have under your control by enemy forces. (under control means completely taken by culture) This should only work for phase lanes between worlds colonized by you of course, so the enemy would still have a chance to withdraw (using the normal phase delay penalty) but it would effectively prevent the enemy from passing gateway systems without taking care of at least the inhibitor structure there first.
Additionally: The inhibitor should affect the whole area where it is built, not just a ridiculously small circle.

- AI behavior - fleeing: ATM the AI does weird things when fleeing from you sometimes, like moving way outside the outer ring of a planet/star. (the ring in which you can issue orders). I actually had a ship move from one planet to the other using regular travels once. Dunno if it could have attacked anything there, as it finally turned back when i stopped chasing him, but its still annoying. This is obviously only a case for the AI, as players cant issue orders outside the outer ring.
Also, as many already mentioned

- Pirate raids: There should be an indicator on who the current pirate target is on the main UI, right next to a button where you can add the standard bounty ammount to the player you last placed bounty on. You will place bounty on one player anyway.. most of the time that is, so having a full screen interface open for minutes to make sure the right person gets the bounty seems to be a waste of space for me.
Addition: Computer players should be made a bit more resistant to pirate raiders, as for now the pirates just walk through them. Even on hard AI.
Addition: The raiders of a finished raid should either move on until they are killed, or just go back from where they came. As it is now, if you keep sending raids agains the AI, most of the raiders survive and return to their home base, so after 10-15 raids there are some 200+ raider ships there doing nothing. This does not really make sense for me.
Addition: You could also delay the raids if a raid is still in progress. After all.. Like only start the timer once a raid has ended. (even though having multiple raids plague you in cases you mess up something can be a big tactical advantage to your enemies, so im not 100% sure about this myself)

- Ship behavior:
As someone else mentioned, the resource claiming ability of the vasari scout should take precedence over explore

The autocast usage of specials for capital ships need serious reworking. ATM they are using their abilities whenever they can, no matter if they need them or not. Like when out of combat, and one ship has a minor structure damage, they shouldnt waste antimatter on casting an AoE repair field. The ability usage should be more situation aware and weighted based on the size of the enemy fleet in that system. You just don't need to waste antimatter on abilities, against a single scout, when you have 10+ bomber squads and 100+ frigs with you.

Setting targeting priorities / behavior modes for fleets and ships would be nice. Like i would prefer to set my light carriers to evade at times, when they just try to move as far away from the enemies as possible. ATM i have to micro this myself. Other behavior modes would include:
Targeting priority: planet killers, capitals, carriers, thoughtest ships, most damaged ships. Maybe even allow for primary and secondary priorities. Like carriers / most damaged first.
Movement: Maximum weapons range, 0 range, Evade, stay in formation - movement orders other than stay in formation should override the fleet formation settings.
Offensive Ability usage: all / capitals only / none (tho this is equivalent of turning autocast off)
Defensive Ability usage: all / capitals only / none (as above)

Bombers should always follow the targets of their parents, unless specifically given different orders. So if i select 10 LCs and give them an attack order, then i want their fighters / bombers to do the attacking, not the ships themselves. The ships should just stay away, running from any enemies that might try to get to them.

Phase jumping should not be tied to a few departure points. As it is now, say my fleet is outside the gravity well right on the phase lane, when i give a jump order, they will head back to the edge of the well, either above it, or below it, or split to both sides, and jump from there. I ask myself: why move back to the edge of the well, when they are already outside of it. Additionally, why cant they just jump from anywhere if the general direction (in my case it is just the right direction) they are facing for the jump is okay.

Planetary defenses:
Defense battery ranges should be changed so, that in case you have 8 batteries evenly spaced around a normal sized planet, then at least 4-5 could fire on siege frigates no matter where they are attack from. I dont think they need too much of a range increase for that, but it would go a long way towards solving the 'planets die before you could react' issue. Not that it would be as severe as people describe it.
Obviously, for smaller bodies, like an asteroid, this would mean that all 8 can fire at them, but then again.. a well defended rock is hard to be attacked without taking fire from the full force of its defense structures.

---

Thats it on my part. I'm sure i could come up with some more, but there are the ones troubling me the most, especially the ICO part i would like to have in, this is primarily an MP game after all

Keep up the good work, and i definitely hope that the sales will continue to be fantastic.

csebal

A couple of things I'd like to request:

1. Don't be too hasty to make Phase Jump Inhibitors more effective, or make any other changes that make it too easy to completely 'control' gravity wells or phase lanes.

The mobility of fleets in Sins is one of the things that makes it different to ground-based games, and lead to it requiring different strategies and tactics. I can't help but feel that many of the players clamouring for more effective PJIs are simply trying to play the game the way they'd play C&C or Civ. Change the game so that the strategies that work in those games work in Sins, and I fear you'll lose one of the key elements that makes Sins unique.

2. Likewise, don't be too hasty to make stationary defences more effective. Personally, I'm a big fan of the current philosophy - defences should slow a fleet down, but shouldn't be strong enough to defeat a determined attack without the support of defensive fleets.

Again, this is one of the things that makes Sins unique, and I think it would be a sad thing for Sins to end up playing just like any ground-based RTS or strategy title simply because people aren't willing to take the time to adjust to a different form of combat.

(Please note that I'm not saying that everything is perfect, just that there are some unique elements to Sins that I'd hate to lose through knee-jerk reactions from a playerbase that hasn't had enough time to work out how to adjust to them.)

Interface/settings change : I'd like to be able to specify which audio alerts I hear. Example - I don't need to hear when every frigate is created, however, I would like to know when a capitol ship is complete.

I'd like to play against an A.I. that doesn't spam the most basic type of frigate =|