I posted this in the release thread, and was asked to place it here for review:
Ok, I've played this a few times through and I need to comment fully, for better and for worse:
1) Excellent endeavor, very nice so far -- however:
2) The tech system is rather worthless. Making weapons and armor be merely unit upgrades makes them a joke when they can only be applied as combat experience upgrades. It's much more intelligent to simply tech up to the next ship class and take the preset attack/defense numbers and ignore the other 3/4 of the techs dealing with minor 10% bonuses.
Suggestion: Why not have certain weapon/armor upgrades be prerequisites to unlocking larger ship classes? This forces more techs to become viable.
Example:
Scout (default) -- no req -- nuclear missile (default) -- no req
Frigate -- req laser cannon -- req merculite missile -- req titanium armor
Hv Frigate -- req fusion beam
Destroyer -- req mass driver -- require pulson missile -- req tritanium armor
Hv Destroyer -- req neutron blaster
Cruiser -- req ion cannon -- req anti-matter torpedo -- req zortium armor
Hv Cruiser -- req graviton beam
Battleship -- req phasor -- req zeon missile -- req neutronium armor
Hv Battleship -- req gauss cannon
Titan -- req plasma cannon -- req proton torpedo -- req adamantium armor
Hv Titan - req disrupter cannon
Doom Star -- req mauler device -- req plasma torpedo -- req xentronium armor
HV Doom -- req death ray
This forces your techs to be directly related to the ships, just like in MOO2. Then make your techs that give combat bonuses make up the combat upgrades, example:
Weapon upgrades: piercing -> enveloping -> continuous -> autofire
System upgrades: battle scanner -> auto repair ->
Defense upgrades: jammer -> capacitar -> displacement device -> cloaking
That way as a ship levels, the upgrades unlock as well, which is probably about the time the research has unlocked them. That would make your game WAY closer to MOO2 and much more enjoyable to level, not to mention the AI would be much better.
3) Can you list requirements in the (moo)ilopedia? It would be nice to know what techs unlock starbases and other game improvements. I don't know if it's a bug or a requirement somewhere, but I've noticed I cannot build them or even shipyards on certain star systems (cities) regardless of my resources, techs, or connected starlanes (roads). It'd be nice to know what's required so the player can seek those needs.
Other than that, great game, I hope you take it to another level.
I can go into better detail if this interests the modders, but I was merely trying to add a quick suggestion to help my rant be more constructive at the time.
Ok, I've played this a few times through and I need to comment fully, for better and for worse:
1) Excellent endeavor, very nice so far -- however:
2) The tech system is rather worthless. Making weapons and armor be merely unit upgrades makes them a joke when they can only be applied as combat experience upgrades. It's much more intelligent to simply tech up to the next ship class and take the preset attack/defense numbers and ignore the other 3/4 of the techs dealing with minor 10% bonuses.
Suggestion: Why not have certain weapon/armor upgrades be prerequisites to unlocking larger ship classes? This forces more techs to become viable.
Example:
Scout (default) -- no req -- nuclear missile (default) -- no req
Frigate -- req laser cannon -- req merculite missile -- req titanium armor
Hv Frigate -- req fusion beam
Destroyer -- req mass driver -- require pulson missile -- req tritanium armor
Hv Destroyer -- req neutron blaster
Cruiser -- req ion cannon -- req anti-matter torpedo -- req zortium armor
Hv Cruiser -- req graviton beam
Battleship -- req phasor -- req zeon missile -- req neutronium armor
Hv Battleship -- req gauss cannon
Titan -- req plasma cannon -- req proton torpedo -- req adamantium armor
Hv Titan - req disrupter cannon
Doom Star -- req mauler device -- req plasma torpedo -- req xentronium armor
HV Doom -- req death ray
This forces your techs to be directly related to the ships, just like in MOO2. Then make your techs that give combat bonuses make up the combat upgrades, example:
Weapon upgrades: piercing -> enveloping -> continuous -> autofire
System upgrades: battle scanner -> auto repair ->
Defense upgrades: jammer -> capacitar -> displacement device -> cloaking
That way as a ship levels, the upgrades unlock as well, which is probably about the time the research has unlocked them. That would make your game WAY closer to MOO2 and much more enjoyable to level, not to mention the AI would be much better.
3) Can you list requirements in the (moo)ilopedia? It would be nice to know what techs unlock starbases and other game improvements. I don't know if it's a bug or a requirement somewhere, but I've noticed I cannot build them or even shipyards on certain star systems (cities) regardless of my resources, techs, or connected starlanes (roads). It'd be nice to know what's required so the player can seek those needs.
Other than that, great game, I hope you take it to another level.
I can go into better detail if this interests the modders, but I was merely trying to add a quick suggestion to help my rant be more constructive at the time.
