Bombers are awesome as they are. Overpowered bombers , because fighters can counter them. Its good balance!


I think they should make the bombs smaller , but add more glowly blue stuff and call them Plasma Bombs. Making smaller , and you run the risk of not being able to see them for aesthetic sake. So smaller but with more glowly stuff.

This is a suggestion for Ironclad concerning pirates.

Sometimes, pirates should simply hang out around stars instead of attacking planets. Often, when a player gains 2 phase lane access points to his home star, his trade ships start to really use the star as a shortcut. Additionally, in later game stages, trade ships frequent the star constantly as they jump in from other star systems.

Pirates should take more advantage of these trade lanes (you'd figure that would be what pirates do). They can rack up some serious bounty by killing off undefended trade ships. They can also make the player come out from behind his defenses to deal with the problem.

Also, I hope that pirates will be able to travel from star to star in the new patch. Otherwise, once you wipe them out in a star system, no pirates will be able to show up (in that star system).

Finally, nobody answered my question about whether pirates will have their own capital ships in the new patch.

I don't believe they have capital ships, but I'm not 100% sure. If the new pirate dynamics work out well, we can look into making them more badass.

 

Cool!

Maybe they can also have a flagship and if their base(s) get destroyed and he doesn't he can still carry out attacks with the remaining pirate forces. If hes not alive (and there are no bases) then they loose all their moral and disappear...or something.

Pirate carriers attacking your shipping around stars would be so cool. Even if they don't get capital ships, they could still use light carriers.

Also, it might be more challenging if they are smart enough to run back to their base if you show up with a powerful enough force to wipe them out.

Hmmm, that might actually just irritate a lot of players. But I have trouble accepting the 100% suicidal pirates found in the game so far.

Maybe you could have a game toggle for Pirate AI (easy/medium/hard). Hard AI pirates will only attack your weak points (if you have any) and will run if you are too powerful.

I like this idea - and its implementation around the star. Will check it out.

Yay! I got me a cookie.   

Darn, I'm not at my grandma's house anymore. Now I'm going to have to earn my cookies again.

I like most everything in the new patch, except one big mistake. now not only are you limited in the number of ships you make, but the ways you spend those points (towards caps or towards frigs) is also limited. I've argued against this "one size fits all" attitude since we've started slipping down this slope, but now its gone WAY too far.

It's only capitalships that are limited by the new research, not frigates. They were getting out of control (especially in multiplayer) so we're trying it out. If it doesn't work out, it's easy to try another approach.

still, I dont think its original or flexible enough to be used in such a pivotal element of gameplay. I can understand where things may get out of control, but I think the fix here is worse than the problem. maybe an alternative would be something that enlightens gameplay more, maybe a "cap ship killer" type of frigate/cruiser, or maybe diversification in the cap ships themselves.

I'll keep the thread going for the patch, I think I'm first with a comment (just started a game). It's nice to have a choice of flagships, What really threw me was the change of military/civilian research stations. That's really going to slow down development to save up for both. Or, slow down the intial land rush if you have to research infrastructure upgrades first. So far, my feelings are mixed.

Being able to choose your insignia is cool. When I've finished a game I'll post some more comments. Or sooner, if something really agitates me.

pek


Edit The upgraded interface with more info on the popups is good too. More of a one stop lookup.

pek

Do you guys think it would have been better if Ironclad had just raised the fleet point cost of capital ships instead of separate points?

no, i cant really justify my point, but i feel that no

I agree with squirls, but I dont think this is the way to go about fixing it.

My only real complaint with that approach is its inability to scale. Well, that and the fact that I prefer "soft" caps, rather than hard ones.

Am I the only one that thinks all this micromanagement might be on the border of too much (not as far as ships but as far as research)? I don't think the devs should add any more non-combat related stuff. Also, it is kinda hard to get all the research stations that you need to research everything.

In response to the current conversation: who has been playing multiplayer? Just a few devs in the office or like 50 or 60 exclusive beta testers? (aka not open beta)

touche! I dont think there is NEARLY enough research going on!

in the smaller games (20-30 planets) this is true, but its not an obstacle in larger games. perhaps you should choose wisely when deciding which upgrades to buy.

Ok, well maybe there isn't enough going on. Its just.. idk. Not enough research, I agree with. I think that A space station for A "tech level" is just weird. I think I'm just used to tech levels and there only being four to six tech levels. IDK. Now I'm confused. And since when are you wise, Schem?

Also I only research ships or stuff that I need. Not upgraded lasers or hulls or stuff like that (or advanced trade or stuff).

BTW, I don't remember if I've asked about this yet... but given that you now have two totally separate set of labs, why can't you have combat / civilian researches going concurrently?

Edit: Also, do the crystal / metal upgrades effect exhausted asteroids, or just ones that still have material in them? Is it an increase in output from the asteroid, or do you just burn through its natural reserves quicker?

I don't think anyone has mentioned the fact now with 2 types of research station, military and civilian, we can still only do research one station at a time. So when the civilians are doing research on X, the military is sitting on their lab stools twiddling their thumbs....

BUG ?

damn the forums!!!!!!!! double post......

Double post with really ugly text, at that.

they are taking the day off

I hope they let both work at the same time, cant have half my research team getting lazy and im paying them huge amount of SD's