the_only_normal_1

yikes. that is remarkably inconvenient.

My brother and I just went to play a game on our LAN of the 1.01.026 version of entrenchment (both with verified, most recent updates), but were unable to join one another's games because we apparently have different 'meshes' or something. Oddly enough, we were able to get games going back in late December with one of the Betas, but now it seems broken. Hopefully this won't be a long-term problem... Look forward to any advice.

Yayyy!!! great work on what I already know is a great product!

Question for all.. I know this has been addressed in another thread, but I still don't get it. The Frontal shield for the vasari SB.. it reads 100% dmg reduction for its first upgrade lvl.... does that not mean it is an invincibility shield for the front-facing part of the SB? Please, explain this to me anyone who knows, because at present it seems a totally absurd super-power.

Well I am certainly glad to see all the positive response.. and the heads-up from Annatar that IC has got this on the development map moving forward.. but, I am left wondering two things after all this collective thought: does IC put much stock in our creative opinions regarding the game, or is it mostly a 'I have this bug, here is my minidump' kinda forum. Also, do they read these kind of posts, or is this just a bunch of blathering between interested players that will go unseen by

[quote]They would do this, not for conquest, but because it was a sweet place, with all they needed.[/quote] Arrrr me maity!! them be sweet digs!!

[quote]maybe a Percheron Carrier Cruiser with that Ogrov Torpedo Cruiser please?[/quote] Since I think the best pirate fleet would be unique and not simply 'refurbished' Tec units .. maybe the pirates could have a mixed torp cruiser/fighter-carrier unit (with HP somewhere between the two... as we surely don't want them as weak as torp cruisers or as strong as carriers). I definitely agree with this idea (at least, for the later-lvl/higher-bounty) pirates.

[quote]It could be a workaround to make sure that you can't Mind Control a constructor, build a Starbase, and start cranking out TEC ships.[/quote] Ya, I have tried to take over enemy constructors before, they don't grant you access to any construction capacities -- so it appears that this prospective problem has already been addressed.

[quote]And my resistance to the rolling over of cap-ship xp is that it makes them more like a faction and less like a mechanic.[/quote] Two questions.. One: is this a problem? --> that pirates could become a demi-faction in certain games depending on their level of financing/success seems intriguing to me, but would like to hear more about your objections. Two: if their drifting away from being a 'mechanic' is a problem, then do you think that the idea of their colonization of defeated col

Amusing story (and I assume a really fun game), though I don't take this as a reason to tone SB's at all. The AI may fall for that because of a poor judgement of the value of your heavily defended asteroid, but no human would. Try pulling those shinanigans on a 'Natural Intelligence" and I think your economic woes would have proved your undoing [e digicons]x_x[/e] . The Vasari SB, fully upgraded with vortex is really fucking awesome ([e digicons]:cylon:[/e] ), but hardly invincible. Consider

Thanks all for positive feedback..certainly nice to know that the community is responsive to new ideas and that I am not alone in my present frustration with the underwhelming pirates. One thing that i am uncertain of is my own suggestion of pirates starting a new base at defeated colonies.. this idea could be fleshed out more I think, and if it became slightly more 'developed', it could lead to some really neat scenarios in-game. Any creative ideas?

I think that this relfects a larger problem with the pirate system. Namely: at present I find it fades quickly to irrelevancy following the initial phazes of the game. I doubt you would be wishing pirates on yourself in the early stages where it is tough enough fending off the incursions of a competitve AI (that is to say, an unfair AI) -- but from about the 30 minute mark onwards I find myself in the same boat: not only not caring who gets assaulted by the pirates, but hoping that I find the

Interesting, I just went back to my VISA statement and found the same charge of $12.36. I don't really mind, though in principal I don't understand how it can be charged as anything more than $11.19--that is 9.99 + all applicable (BC PST and CAN GST) Canadian taxes. I know all you yanks are much accustomed to taxes on sales being very high, but here in Canada we pay near 15% (12% in BC, where IC is based) in most parts of the country on all purchases... the costs of a just health-care system

I don't understand what the logic would be behind losing those upgrades from ships you steal with the rapture -- where exactly are the technology upgrades going? Most of the stuff is structural improvement, so it seems kinda silly that once mind control was utilized the technology would simply vanish..

[quote]Starbases are auto-pinned. If you would like to remove the planet/grav well from the tree, manually un-pin the starbase located there.[/quote] Ah. Thanks for the tip.

[quote]To get Scouts to be mine clearers don't set them to auto attack, instead just have the mine detection skill set to auto cast. The Scouts will then detect and then automatically attempt to kill the mines and ignore all other targets.[/quote] Ahhh. Thanks. I think that must be a change for Beta 3, as it used to be necessary to have auto-attack on as well.

One more thing I thought would be a really neat option for the sins start-up at the beginning, really just for kicks and not a particular beta-improvement (though it would allow me to employ some vasari AI right now without fear of minidumps...): "Capital Ships On", "Capital Ships Off". I know that I for one would rarely use this, as I am a cap ship fiend, but once it a while it may be nice to have only MASSIVE fleets with no leadership presence to speak of. Just a thought -- don't know if it

Alright, so I have finally got a really good, long game in without mini-dumps or any crashes at all with Beta 3. It ended up being a long 2v2v2 medium-large map with 4 unfair and one hard computer (all TEC, hence the lack of crashes). I was Vasari, which was a rarity for me. So I have piled up a number of notes from this game that I hope will be useful, most just small things, and should be able to be addressed before wednesday (nothing real big, and from my game experience everything seems v

good to hear about the hour-long game -- but I get the feeling that it was luck. From what I have gathered and been told by devs it is both advent AI (deploying mines) and the vasari AI (marauder's subversion ability) which will cause the minidumps. So, until wednesday I think we may just be testing against (and with, because presumably allied AI also have the same problems) the TEC.

or vasari - their marauders use an ability which causes known crashes in this build as well.. looks like we are all united in the effort to crush the trader's emergency coalition! [e digicons]:cylon:[/e] [e digicons]:borg:[/e]

So I have deleted all old custom maps, and I am playing games without any vasari to speak of, let alone marauders (as I can't control what vasari AI do and do not build, I figured it prudent not to allow them to build anything). Still, about 20 minutes into the game I am getting this wierd mini-dump without apparent cause. Is seems that the time is the only similiar point of connection between the crashes. Seeing as how 20-minute games aren't the most fullfilling of all, I think I will

Will AI use of the marauder also cause a crash? (and therefore should we all stop playing with/as Vasari until wednesday?)

OK. Custom maps deleted. Other, more irritating problems remain though... I just ran into my third in-game mini-dump in a row.. it seems to take less than 10-20 minutes of play now for them to happen. Game does it really efficiently too though -- no slow-down or show of problems until it happens and then BAM, minidump!

Hey, just trying to work through Beta 3 right now, which I am super stoked for -- but keep running into bugs. Just tried opening map designer and got a run-time C++ error right from the first click! Also have had a game crash to minidump twice near the very beginning, without showing any signs of slow-down or any issues all the way to the sudden, inexplicable crash. No apparent cause (though there obviously must be one). Here goes to a third try -- let's hope I can do SOME 'te

I have also had the minidump issue early in-game. Strangely enough, game seems to be running smoother than ever -- right up until the crash real early on. Bizzarre (and frustrating, as I was really ready to test this thing out tonight!) First time actually submitting a bug -- but don't really know if this is the right place or if I should send it right to IC through a more direct method? Anyone playing a game out there that isn't crashing inexplicably?