Hi. I really enjoyed playing v15, you have put in so much amazing work. It is much more polished than the previous versions of Planetfall, and with a few tweaks I can see it turning into a seriously awesome game.
I have some minor bugs to report, and some thoughts on the overall feel of the game. Apologies if I am re-iterating things which others have already posted, or have been fixed.
Bugs:
1) [Deleted for being nonsense nothing to do with Planetfall]
2) I think that the word "Vendetta" should be substituted for "War" much more frequently.
3) Despite researching the Mag Tube tech, I cannot build Mag Tubes. No "build Mag Tube" button shows up for my formers, and clicking the "Route To- Mode" button doesn't do anything. I couldn't find any option for building normal roads either, and this made movement of units extremely difficult and frustrating, especially with the different hill sizes obstructing movement.
4) Text in the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty refers to nuclear weapons, rather than "Planet Busters".
5) The description/strategy tips sections for missionary units relate to Judaism and the Temple of Solomon, rather than the Planetfall religions.
6) I found that I had abstained from several council/Concordat votes, without being asked how I wanted to vote.
7) The combat odds are frequently reported incorrectly. I found myself winning a lot of battles, despite victory odds as low as 0.2 % being shown.
8) This might be my lack of experience in terraforming and building improvements, but I found that starting position really affects how well you do. Could this be better balanced?
9) This mod crashes in Ubuntu when running under Wine, as soon as I hit "Single Player" at the main menu. This happens in other mods too, and I don't expect it to be a priority for the Planetfall team, but if anyone knows what the problem could be, please PM me
10) Also, it would be cool if the difficulty levels were re-named....Thinker, Transcend, etc
Other thoughts/suggestions:
1) There should be some sort of tutorial to introduce basic game concepts. I am very familar with SMAC and Civ4, but felt lost at sea with this mod. I don't know if I should be building cottages or what! Just knowing what sort of balance of improvements bases should have, or where to build which improvements, would be very useful.
2) Ditto for the resources and technologies. There are an overwhelming number of different resources to take in at the start of the game. It would be better if these were streamlined, so you don't have so many resources which do the same thing. I think it would also be better if more resources were hidden at the start of the game and then revealed using different technologies. At the same time, there is a vast number of technologies available, and it is hard to see how these lead to different strategies. In my games it seems that everyone was rushing for inVitros.
3) You should get some benefit to destroying mindworms, as in the original SMAC where you were able to harvest Planetpearls for energy.
4) The map is really really busy. There is so much colour and mess on it it is difficult to see what is happening. It is very jarring.
5) I think that the rise of Alien Crossfire factions should be optional. Having such a large number of factions in every game becomes very confusing and less fun. Either that, or some of the Alien Crossfire factions should either be redesignated as City States or Barbarian factions (or even Corporations???). I like playing the odd game with them for the variety, but personally think that they detract from the themes of the game. See 6).
6) I felt that the major theme of SMAC was the ideological conflict between the factions. To an extent I feel that this is present in Planetfall, in that the Gaians like you more or less based on your Planet rating. However, I did not feel that similar modifiers were at work with the other factions - eg, the Morgans appreciating Free Markets and opposing other economies, Spartans appreciating Power over other ideologies, etc. In the original SMAC every faction had clear likes and dislikes, and one of the best parts of the game was the simple, yet
powerful symmetry between these that could be achieved by 7 factions choosing from 3 options in 3 different policy categories (followed later by the futuristic options, too). I think that this should be emphasised in the Civic options in Planetfall.
Having the Alien Crossfire factions always included also muddies the concept of the ideological conflicts a lot, IMHO.
7) Jungles are present at the beginning of the game. This does not fit with the storyline, and adds to the confusion described in 2) and 4).
8) There is very little focus on the Alpha Centauri storyline, which is very confusing for people who aren't familiar with the original story. I really liked the text interludes in SMAC which told you what was happening in the bases and how the technologies you were discovering were changing things. This doesn't have to be extensive or dynamic to have a massive effect.
9) There should be an option to turn of the different hill sizes that block movement. It is an interesting feature, but it has such a drastic impact on gameplay I think players should be able to leave it out if they wish.
10) I think the thing that 2) 4) 7) and 8) are all indicative of is that while all the techs and features are present in the game, the biggest thing that is missing is the feel of
development as the game progresses. In the original SMAC, you land on Planet and there is
nothing there but rock and fungus. It is down to you to cover the land in farms, forests and terraform it as you see fit - this in turn influences your research path, the social policies you implement and the units you build. It is the arrival of the humans that influences the flowering of Planet as much as anything else.
In Planetfall as it is, tons of stuff - jungles, fungus, twenty different resources, "advanced units" such as choppers and artillery - is already there from turn 1 when you land and stuff gets confusing, and TBH a little boring, quickly. I felt like I was just building bases and trying to get to the next improved infantry unit faster than the AI. The gameplay didn't really change as the game progressed. Changing this should be the Planetfall team's next major priority.
Thank you for reading this. I will play some more of v15 and maybe post some more thoughts later. I look forward to seeing the next version. Thank you so much for bringing Alpha Centauri back to life!!!!
