Yarlen Yarlen

Diplomacy v1.2 Preview

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Diplomacy v1.2 Preview

from Sins Forums

Happy 2011 to all the Sins players out there! :)   It's been quiet on the Sins' front for a while now due to other business, but as I promised late last year, we're working on a new Diplomacy update for everyone.  The update will be released in beta first due to a number of changes we're making in the game, probably in the next two weeks.  Once we're happy that everything is working as expected, we'll release a final version for everyone.

So what's going to be in the update?

  • Balance changes:  We're making a number of gameplay balance tweaks based on player feedback. These will include changes to both ships and tech tree items.
  • Various bug fixes from reported issues.
  • New Pirate System:  This is a pretty big one, so I'll detail it a bit more below.
  • Memory optimizations:  This is one of the key reasons for starting this update as a beta.  We'll be tweaking the game's memory use for greater performance.

Currently the Pirates can either be non-factors or incredibly nasty early on given how their upgrade system works and how their fleets are composed. If you get a streak of bad luck, you end up with Pirates that have an insane power curve that makes the game very unfun, very quickly. To fix this, we're switching the Pirates to a series of fixed fleet compositions and upgrade paths.  What this means is that early on, if you get tagged with a Pirate raid from bounty, you'll find them annoying but easy to deal with.  As the game progresses, the Pirates abilities and toughness will scale over time based on the amount of credits they collect from missions, bounty, their planet, etc.  The Pirates will no longer simply scale in power, either!  We're giving them unlockable special abilities that will give them an edge in late game situations. ;)   On the flip side, we don't want situations where in the late game, a player can send a massive Pirate fleet at another player by simply dropping 100 total credits on bounty.  So we're adding in a new system that will scale back Pirate raids levels if the bounty isn't high enough to warrant a big deployment.

Basically, the Pirate bounty system will be a bludgeon, whereas giving the Pirates missions via Diplomacy will be a scalpel. ;)

328,418 views 188 replies
Reply #26 from Sins Forums Top

What Thomusin suggests will often cause those two AIs to bid against each other. That, of course, doesn't guarantee they'll ignore you.

Reply #27 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting boshimi336, reply 24

pirates continue to spam wave-attack the player, launching a new raid against the player (never against an AI, why not!?

 

This is a big problem when playing single player. The human player ALWAYS gets targeted by the pirates. It's hard to pay off the pirates when the AI can't spend their money fast enough and always managed to out bid you.

 

It is frustrating when you put a 100 credit bounty on another AI, it is ALWAYS the human that gets the bounty placed back on them every single time. How'd they know it was me? Frustrating.

I'm not completely sure, but I think the AI chooses who to put bounty on based on who it perceives to be the "strongest." Since you're the only human, and humans are (generally:P ) smarter than the AI, you're probably playing better than them, so they see you as the biggest threat. Like I said, I'm not completely sure, but from my experience, if you're not doing very well, they don't put bounty on you.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #28 from Sins Forums Top

Ya this is why the few games i saw hosted had the pirates turned off since just by wasting some credits early on you can swarm the pirates on one very unlucky player or if in single player get swarmed all game long by massive pirate fleets

 

I hate to say this but I am looking forward to the update just so I can play single player and not get mobbed by the pirates

Reply #29 from Sins Forums Top

Hey Yarlen,

 

Any chance that we can see SINS getting the Impulse Reactor overlay? Like Elemental? Or at least get the in game option to upload and download maps like Elemental has.

Reply #30 from Sins Forums Top

I have played enuff single player to know as it stands if you want to stand a chance of winning against the AI you have to leave the pirates off or they will just wipe out your fleet and defenses and kill the planet

 

They as it stands are Very much broken since the pirates ships have better armor and weapons and sheilds then my full lvl capital ships do thrown in that they can take out a fleet 10x their size and they may as well be using a Death star to mass a attack rather then the smaller ships that it shows :(

 

I have made it a point of even trying to send them after the AI players to try and even it out some what but well that does little good if the saber never moves

Last I checked I was not paying them to attack me but some one else >:(

Reply #31 from Sins Forums Top

Don't get me wrong I love sins but I think I will wait at least for the Beta version patch since as it is it well if you forget and leave the pirates on you have a death wish and then there are the random crashes do to running out of ram for the game to use and I mean the game crashes not my system and between my cards and the 4 gigs of ram i have I have around 6 gigs total ram so I should have way more then it needs to run

Memory optimizations:  This is one of the key reasons for starting this update as a beta.  We'll be tweaking the game's memory use for greater performance.

 

That means the above

 

Reply #32 from Sins Forums Top

Noa, currently there is a hard 2gb limit. It doesn't matter how much ram your system has, as soon as Sins hits that 2gb limit due to high graphics on large maps and a combination of other things, it will dump. I've run 10 player games (9 AI and myself) with graphics on low without much problems.

 

Currently the Sins Optimization Mod drastically helps reduce the amount of RAM that the game uses. It reduces some late game lag as well as allows the game to run smoother for longer. You might want to try that out until the 1.12 patch is released.

Reply #33 from Sins Forums Top

I am in no hurry I have a ps3 and also 3 to 4 other games on my pc so I think i can wait for the patch at least the beta version that is

Reply #34 from Sins Forums Top

@Noa12390

PLEASE, get your font in order, it is a nuisance to read it the way you post!

Reply #35 from Sins Forums Top

I agree. He likes screaming in his posts  >:( .

Reply #36 from Sins Forums Top

I am so excited for this patch... hands up y'all who are checking every day, maybe twice for news or a possible download!!

\o/

Reply #37 from Sins Forums Top

Agreed!!!

Reply #38 from Sins Forums Top

hands up y'all who are checking every day, maybe twice for news or a possible download!!

Even a patch change list would be awesome.

Reply #39 from Sins Forums Top

With testing, I wouldn't expect even a change list terribly soon.

 

:fox:

Reply #40 from Sins Forums Top

At least they will give us the chance to help them refine it.

Reply #41 from Sins Forums Top

bring the beta after all the games I have played more bugs will be nothing new to me

I should be use to them by now since I have played some that had more bugs then any thing else but at least they try to keep them to a min when it comes to Sins of a Solar Empire

Reply #42 from Sins Forums Top

Low blow: I beta-tested Elemental, ain't nothing gonna faze me. O:)

 

:fox:

Reply #43 from Sins Forums Top

With testing, I wouldn't expect even a change list terribly soon.

I mean a tentative list when they're getting ready to launch the first iteration of the beta-patch.

Reply #44 from Sins Forums Top

Great news! Thanks much! I'd much rather you take your time and get things nice and solid than rush a patch out -- we can wait!

Reply #45 from Sins Forums Top

So, will there be any technical fixes that should also be ported over to Vanilla and Entrenchment? It sounds like this is a Diplomacy-only patch.

This is a Diplomacy only-update. The code base as moved on so far from the original Sins and Entrenchment that it's not really practical to try and back-port updates, especially with the underlying engine changes.

Reply #46 from Sins Forums Top

Any chance that we can see SINS getting the Impulse Reactor overlay? Like Elemental? Or at least get the in game option to upload and download maps like Elemental has.

It's something we're looking at, aye. Can't say when that might happen, however.

Reply #47 from Sins Forums Top

Great news! Thanks much! I'd much rather you take your time and get things nice and solid than rush a patch out -- we can wait!

Good, cause we're still 2-3 weeks away. :P

Reply #48 from Sins Forums Top

Good, cause we're still 2-3 weeks away.

Oh well, something to look forward to.  Keep us posted on relevant updates!

Reply #49 from Sins Forums Top

Not sure if this was asked, so if the changes in beta 1.12 are successful will they be ported over to the other entrenchment and vanilla?

Reply #50 from Sins Forums Top

so if the changes in beta 1.12 are successful will they be ported over to the other entrenchment and vanilla?

This is a Diplomacy only-update.

Seems pretty definitive to me.