BinaryAlgorithm

OK. I did some in-game testing (1-player mode, nothing to stop me, can speed up the game). All values are for a planet with 100% allegience; the game was on "normal" economic setting; these values are for a planet that has reached its max. pop. for the specified level. Note that the net income is not always what is expected when a planet is underdeveloped; the penalty is actually greater than the number listed in the upgrades section; for Ice/Volcanic planets, at LVL 0 the disparity is about -0.

I read about ship upgrades, but I'd like to know if anyone has a conception of the data for when to upgrade planet populations. Each planet type benefits differently due to population limits, but I believe the upgrade cost per level is the same for all planets. I'd like to know about how much each planet generates in taxes at each population level; for instance, terran planets are the best "deal" for pop upgrades. On other planets, it may be more efficient to only do one upgrade to eliminate the

The fleet did have a mothership, but even with 1 of each cap ship focus firing I didn't kill it in time. It really synergizes with a swarm of Illums. In other experiences, I've fought the Visari where they kept healing 500 hull damage instantly over and over (whichever cap ship I focus fired on); I haven't found out what ability does this, but it looks graphically like a halo around the healed ship. Now I understand all those arguements about repair bays being a major advantage. It's ju

I love capital ships, but using them as my main fleet only works against the AI who can be intimidated by static defenses. I played my first MP game the other day knowing that I would probably lose, but I did NOT expect to see and lose to 80+ illuminators. I thought I was doing pretty well having 5 capital ships out but they were absolutely worthless against this force (plus I was TEC, who is said to have weaker cap ship abilities). The problem I sup

I experimented with that, but didn't see a change. When doing the options though, I changed to the context-based empire view and was very pleased because this is a "feature" I have wanted but was already there!

That's why I was thinking the flak defense should have an area of effect (normally flak bursts do sort of explode everywhere hoping to hit the fast ships). Strategic placement of these would mean that the attacker needs to be more cautious and it's harder to "swarm" someone. The missile platforms are simply there to make sure the attacker "can't hide" in a corner while his bombers pick off your defenses; perhaps rangeless homing missiles are more appropriate for this purpose. My favorit

To encourage the other AIs

Adding a research tree for static defenses (several levels) would also let someone keep up with tech advanaces for other ships. Static defense should be able to occupy a primary fleet long enough to get some of your own ships to that location, and discourage mass-bomber tactics etc.

I find it particularly helpful that the position of buildings and abilities displayed correspond to the keyboard layout for the hotkeys (QWERT and ASDFG, respectively). This is definitely a tool when you're doing mass planet upgrades. I would like a way to tab through my colonies a bit easier though (all planets only appear in the empire list under a star sometimes, and I don't know why; this is the only time I can tab through colonies when all have been selected).

You are really good with doing frequent patches I posted what I have so far in my Sins Beta Log . PM me if you confirm any bugs or want me to explain something further. My goal is to make it FAQ-style soon with sections, but I only have weekends to test the game and update it now (got a job recently <img src="http://images.stardock.co

Yes I found the "RecordedGame" folder and it looks like it dumps the data for each session. I originally thought the recorded games were the tutorial files. I can only run it at 4x at the most; is there a hotkey to fast forward a certain amount? It still would take hours to get through it lol This feature now allows me to share gameplay segments of a reasonable size Thanks for the tip.

Consider balance from a multi-player perspective rather than the current AI. You have to think about ways that players can (and will) abuse any type of structure or ship. It's tough. One advantage to specialized defenses (like anti-bomber flaks) is that if you overspecialize, players will adapt in a rock-paper-scissors fashion. The idea is to make none of the defenses the "best", but simply good for a specific situation.

I have been able to cut my game time in half by not waiting to take planets (the culture regress is slow). I am starting to just come in an annihilate everything with several trained fleets. Even with their consolidated remaining ships, the AI doesn't understand "power at location". Simply targeting manually would deliver some kills at least, but it only autotargets (this only works with superior numbers).

I've been taking pages of notes on game mechanics, bugs, balance issues, and strategies (with a detailed eye). It's buried deep in a thread now, but I think I'm going to post all that stuff to my website and link to it; might get seen more easily by the people who need to see it. I really feel like a beta tester now lol. Wish I were a game designer though... I love seeing all the details. Anyone suggest a free tool to create gameplay videos? It's easier to show bugs that way than explai

I don't think the developer is interested in balance testing yet. I'm sure there will be more of these kinds of things later on. Planetary defenses are one of my favorites, since it just makes sense.

I have the latest version, but what I am experiencing is very similar to his issue. I don't think there's a specific circumstance I can provide, but it seems to be a general problem. You could probably see similar results if you look closely: (1) Surround an enemy structure with cap ships, then tell them to attack it. If you leave it alone, you will notice weapons (usually the autocannon) firing at other random targets. They will shoot slowly. (2) Try it again but click to atta

Particularly if the flak cannon has more range than the guass cannon, it's fairly easy to cover your base. Would also be interesting if it had a splash attack (like the Kol flak).

OK. I figured that was the reason. I think it's all up in the air right now, but figured in the final version cap ships will have some natural anti-bomber capabilities.

LOL - It's also phase-inhibitor immune. It jumped back after attacking me for a few seconds.

I think the AI is becoming desparate. I guess it's a bug?

Capital ships not using all their weapons is a major weakness of the combat engine. They do not consider targeting sometimes when performing other actions (such as moving, or even during attacking a target manually). Pressing "stop" or clicking to attack a target causes a volley to be fired, showing that certain weapons have been randomly idle but could have been firing. The autocannon is probablly the most reliable weapon to autotarget, but it should focus on a manually selected target like all

I think having pirates guard planets initially is an important part of the colony rush. It requires some effort to expand

I know the flak frigate can attack bombers, but I thought that all autocannons are supposed to be able to hit them (fighters have them). Will the Kol especially and other cap ships be made to use autocannons to target bombers?

I'd like to see: a long-range missile platform that deals less damage than the guass cannon but has twice the range (you can't run around it!); a flak cannon that shoots bombers (and may or may not target ships, but isn't good for that). Both would cost 1 tactical point, increasing the variety and strategy of static defenses.

Tried a large map with max players on hard, but since the AI never allies against me, the difficulty didn't increase by adding diplomacy back in. In fact, it was a bit easier because I disabled flagships and was the first to rush capital ships (for the Akkan to colonize faster). I was slowed a bit when I decided to destroy the closest AI, but I still ended up with 25% of the map because of how efficient and fast the Akkan does the colony rush, and the AI's 2 terran planets were a good prize. I w