Re: Game Competition for August 2007

On 15 Aug 2007 19:14:25 +0000, "Angus Manwaring" wrote:

On 14-Aug-07 16:23:04, Seppo said
On 13 Aug 2007 20:22:24 +0000, "Angus Manwaring" wrote:
That's right, a game like this needs far more than the manual offers.

The nasty thing is that the poor manual could have had an
effect to the success of this game.


Definitely, but in one way, that's possibly why the game is still
mysterious to us in 2007.

Always looking for the bright side he is :)

Kind of like games like Red Baron being too slow to play in 1992 with a
68000, but years later with a "modern" Amiga it becomes a viable "bonus"
Amiga game when nobody is writing Amiga games.

....well, I know what I mean. :)

Understood - I am just saying that with proper manual and some tweaks
in the gameplay the game could have been a success back when it was
released.

I agree the fourspace graphics are cool, but everything else
is not (IMHO, of course). Maybe it is the colour scheme used in them
or the general inconsistency in the menu windows? Or the way they
fail to provide information - for example, the damage control window
shows a rotating ship, but what do you gain with that? How do you
use it?

Its colour coded, when a system is damaged its flashes red, a bit like
Carrier Command. BTW, I think this bit must be hardcoded, because
Jean-Francois has got the game generally running nice and smoothly, but
this polygon ship still chugs slowly round. Its a shame because with
smooth animation it would look quite cool.

I think it is just a gimmick - a more comprehensive damage control
screen (maybe using percentages to define the level of damage)
would have been nice.

Speaking of damage control - can you actually control the repairs or are
they automatic?

I'm not sure what you mean about the icons. There are 8 of them and I
thought their appearance was quite effective with regard to their
function. A Spanner for the Tool Screen, a circle round the ship for
defences, concentric circles for the radar etc. Not quite as good as
Carrier Command maybe, but they're not that bad are they?

Personally, I would have liked a bigger fourspace window, and
smaller icons for the actions. Or they could have ditched the icons
all together for buttons with text.

Well, okay. I think Gravity is a bit of a muddy diamond, you can't see its
charms easily without looking hard. The GUI is not award winning, but I
think it hangs together okay - mostly. I can't see a problem with the
icons, but sure, they could be sexier I suppose.

Hmmm...not sexier, just more functional :)

you'll find yourself being attacked by Outie warships and the rules
of the game change.

Indeed they do - on second mission I was attacked the moment I
arrived to the system, and because the launch tubes were damaged for
some reason, I had no way to launch the defence drones. I was toasted
within seconds! :(

Are you sure about the launch tubes? Are you pressing D to launch the
Drones? I have not had this problem - yet.

Yes, I know the way to launch the drones and how to recall them.
They work fine before the launch. But when I enter the destination
through the black hole, and then try to launch them, I get a message
"launch tubes damaged". This apparently also prevents me from
launching missiles, as the 'M' key has no effect.

Have you been in a firefight yet? We need to talk about this. :)

The second mission seems to involve some dogfight, yes. My ship
against half a dozen outie ones and no defense drones available.
Not a fair fight at all...

What do you want, The Settlers? :)

Just a fully working ship would be enough, thank you :)

Don't forget this is not just brutal interstellar warfare, this is
genocide - and on a galactic scale. Fair play will be rewarded with
the extinction of your species. :)

I don't expect the enemy to die without a fight, but I do expect
to get a fully working battleship for the killing... :)

This is why you have a fleet and not just one ship. Your ship can take
quite a bit of damage and the Drones do a pretty good job of defending
you. Using the scanner

Erm, what scanner?

to target ships before you can see them on screen
is quite effective - and from what I've seen the additional weapons that
you can buy rip through Outie hulls even more effectively.

I have understood the Meson cannon can penetrate any shields - but
there is no such thing available at the beginning, I think.

I tried several ways of tackling the enemies - but in all cases, they
managed to run over me by numbers.

And you were unable to launch the Drones at all?

They work before the jump, but not after.

I have yet to experiment with the weaponry, for some reasons I could
not get the missiles to work. The Shafter sounds like something to try
:)

(Swedish moment........) Yes. :)

:)

I'm a bit confused about buying new kit. For the purpose of research you
can generate a bit of money by shooting up your buddies in the StarCom
system, then if you go to the resupply screen, you can ermmm.... resupply.
The thing is most of your systems are full already, so is there a way to
discard equipment, or does it have to be destroyed in battle?

I need to know!

Read the manual...oh, wait, that won't help... ;)

I have not yet completely understood the Holomap, but I think its pretty
cool, allowing rotation in 3 planes, as well as magnification.

Cool, but pretty much useless to me at the moment. Again, the manual
does little to help here...

I have great faith that your strategic mind will unlock its secrets. :)

Not sure I have the patience... :(

It might even end up being a bit similar in style to Operation Conquest in
F16 Combat Pilot?

Hmmm...maybe, have not dwelved into the game deep enough to comment
this. Would be cool if it worked that way.

Well you are right, its early days, but from what I can gather it sounds a
bit like it.

Is there actually a way to command the other ships? I have not run
into this, as I have played the game only a short time.

On final note, have you run into singularity? I did, and the ship was
like, well, toasted :)

Do you mean those VarSing (Variable Singulariy) things? You just see their
gravitational footprint next to you in four-space and then BANG! :)

Yup, that's it :)

I like launching my Drones, zooming on to complete my mission and hearing
all the firing and explosions in the distance as the Drones get into an
almighty scrap with goodness knows what.

I've seen a few cool Outie ships on my travels, but usually I either don't
hang around long enough to make a full visual survey, or I get squashed
before I get the chance.

There's actually quite a good section in the book on Outie identification,
everything from Engineer ships to Carriers, and more besides.

Mind you I don't have the full manual, only the one that comes with the
WHDLoad install.

Bye,

Seppo

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