I was just wondering... are there any discussions about adding a minimap? Some way for us to see the entire zoomed out view in the corner of the normal screen?

Oh yeah, by the way... I'm the new guy... Hello all!

One more thing - what about having the management pane (on the left) be auto-colapse/expand upon planet selection?

<<< I moved this particular thought to another thread where a compass idea was brought up >>>

if you want something like that, ur better off just using the selection based empire tree



well since the entire zoomed out view in some maps is just 5 stars, it would be kinda useless... also theres a button that lets you instntly adjust from planet view to galaxy view

Can you elaborate on this? I'm very new to Sins, so maybe I haven't stumbled upon this yet.

options -> user interface -> check selection based empire window, ull love it

Yeah, I found that after I got back into the game - the only thing is that I would prefer that I had the planet selection options there as well as the small unit descriptors - in the mode as you suggest, you don't get that aspect of the panel... I would think it wouldn't be too terribly difficult to have the normal menu auto expand/collapse as you select planets... but that's just my 2 cents.

just put your planets that you are constantly using into control groups

Ok, thanks, I'll give that a try.

Welcome Braddock!
There will be more advanced empire tree options in the final release that will give you more than you are looking for

Regarding the mini-map - Personally I feel this is an outdated UI crutch that will soon become a thing of the past as games become more zoom friendly.  I think after a few more games you will see that there is little need for a seperate map in the game

 

is that a good thing or a bad thing...?

agree with him on that second part, i mean, anyone ever actually use the minimap on supcom?

I'm in perfect agreement with that, unlike your compass reasonings

I'm in this camp as well. Now if someone would be so kind as to start a fire because it is damn cold here. :HOT:

WE DIDNT START THE FIREEE

Overall still having some problems with gameplay, as to How To play. I think the final really needs some sort of How to guid. As a player we a presented with an overwhelming amount of options (which is a good thing) but somtimes its hard to figure out what to do, or what to be consintrationg on. Its very tough to decide what to upgrade and when, when to research, how fast to expand, what ships to build ect....

I think campaigns for the most part help a player devolop this kind of know how, so please, just some guidlines on how to play the game.

there are four tutorials you can use.

As Schod said, there are four tutorials, each of which has been expanded for the final release. You'll also have the manual to read through.  Of course, when and how to play is still up to you. It's a game after all.

Because everyone knows space is navigated by using a compass to pinpoint North, South, East, and West.. right? Right?

Obviously not. But the fact is, in a team game people tend to want to use those directions to pass information. And since there isn't any way to determine north, south, east, west in game, they just use their own personal bearings... which may, or may not, match up with their teammates. I saw it happen just the other day in a game with Eets and Para -- one of them wanted to give directional directions, rather than positional directions, and having a compass really would have helped because what they were saying made no sense... unless you assumed we didn't share a common "north".

It's simple actually, Hubward, coreward, turnwise and widdershins.

The tutorials focus on how to controll the game more then how to play it. Im not having difficulty doing the thingd that i want to do (move a ship, researh, build things, ect.) what i am finding difficult is knowing how to go about things. I do understand it a game and sence of open endedness is a great thing, Im not asking for a liniar experience. However, somtimes I feel like Im in a permenant sandbox mode, with no guidelines as to what to do next...

This problem is normally adressed in TBS games by limiting income per turn but in SINS your in a ral time environment with no such limitations. I think a big part of this cunundrum is that SINS is really the first RTS/4X hybrid. I want to know what was meant to be doneby the dev'd, not a walkthrough. Just a short page with mabey 10 steps to getting started. Should I build an army first? reserch? colonize? Focus on newer ships? Like I said before, just somthing to take away that sandbox mode feeling where the game is so open ended you dont feel you really have anything to shoot for.

@Logic - that is a big part of why I suggested a built-in encyclopedia and reference section for ship, planets, races, techs and development paths. It would start with limited knowledge and new entries get "enabled" as you trigger them within the game.

I think thats a great idea too. Just somthing to help us to know what to do next. Very often I find myself confused deciding between research and expanding my fleet. Or what to research or how often to take new planets. Somtimes its obv. Like if I have a close by Ice planet, I know I need to research the appropriate civ tech to colonize it. But when should I be going for new ships? When are the econ upgrades worth it? How soon do I need a new capitol ship?

There has to be some sort of "optimum" stratagy here. Research is my biggest problem i tink, as far as how sson and how often to build centers, and what and when to research. Like trade for example, should i be doing this as soon as i have a few planets? or is this late game? And what about exploing planets?? Often? Late game? Always?

Just feeling lost in a sea of options. Perhaps when the AI is better, we'll be able to look at what its doing...but i really think a list or some sort of campaign, or Gameplay tutorials that say ok first you need to build an army and uograde, or first colonize some planets, then build an army, or set up trade, or research new ships, or whatever...just somthing...

Or mabey comment on this. its what i thought worked but many of the of the origonal beta testers said I had it all wrong, and on maps where I start close to the AI, I get ovewhelmed easly....Just a comment or 2 from the devs on what Im doing right or wrong

1. Mine HW Astroids

2. Buld Flagship (normaly the one that colonizes)and a scout

3. Send scouts in opposite directions, build a civic research plant

4. Research adv metal mining and somtimes probes if an arrid planet is next door research terran

5. Build Military Research

6. Build a few fridgates

7. *this is about 4-6 min in* Now i send my 4-6 fridgates nd colony ship to the closet planet with the most crystal (unless my HW has alot)

8. Build 2 defence platform on new planet get PU pop cap and fleet cap

9. send fleet to other close roid or planet

10. Build another civ bace and get adv crystal and 2/2 metal

11. **about 8-10min in** Get second colony take same steps as firs(defence pop cap fleetcap)

12. Build 2nd mitary platform and start on getting flak and javlis (only get the Protov Seige if needed)

13. *15-20min* Now I have 3 planets the basic military upgrades, all the econ upgrades a small fleet of about 7-10 ships, Now that my econ is going I start pumping out more ships (javlis and flak) I normall build a second lt. factory too.

14. Upgrade the planets alittle more with logistcs, tacticle and fleet slots

15. Now about 20-25 min I go out looking for a fight. From this point stratgy depends on whats going on in the planets and astroids around you. I have no problem if i get raided because defence platforms are up and running on all planets and My ships are upgraded. I also have a stable economy to produce more or buy fleet spots.

i genraly start by using up all my fleet points on frigs then expanding and (if vas) going culture shock to get the gates (cos i do so love vas culture   ) then playing a very reactive game so if tehy attack i attack back and therefor concentrate on military if they leave me alone i relax on the military and do mostly culture to get a good solid ecenomic base in my oppinion getting a good economy going is very important and i try to do it as soon as posible... i might make a post about theoretical tactics later

also some actual feedback i think that the returning armarda autocast should be off by default because when you are trying to get capships or somthing you never have any fleet points

Steps 1-3 are solid in just about any game. Step 4 varies by which race you're playing as the tech trees are totally different from what's in Beta 4, as is the resource/economic system (well not totally different on these, but somewhat changed) - plus which planets are closest to you. I would do 6 before 5 always - again, depends somewhat on the race you're playing and the map. Point 7 is no longer valid as a general strategy, depending on the map. Point 8 is good, but planets no longer control fleet cap.

The rest are somewhat wishful thinking. Again, it comes down to the map and odds are you're going to be in a fight well before you get that far. ;)  If you want more time to expand, then stick to the small maps (with 1 AI player). After you step-up to Medium and Large maps, it gets a lot tougher.