Ready to give up

[Wheres My Snack]

I've played almost every game Paradox has ever produced or published. I could grasp even the complex and convoluted AGEOD wargames, but I can simply not wrap my head around Sword of the Stars 2.

The complete lack of contextual feedback is completely insane.

Why do I have more command points with my cruiser command ship than I do with my Armada CnC?

How much endurance does each supply ship give?

Why can't I use all my available fleets in a battle sometimes?

No feed back from the game...

 

[Atlanton]

Tooltips certainly need to be updated.

However:

1. That sounds wrong. Dreadnaught CNC should give 100 CP and Cruiser should give 60 (or is it 66)
2. Supply ships have as much endurance as they are designed to have. You can design a supply ship with higher or lower endurance based on your wants/needs. Your fleet endurance is averaged among the ships.
3. You can only use one fleet at a time, and the only time you see more than one fleet in combat is when the attacking player brings two fleets.

 

[Blackwarder]

Have you read the manual?

 

[unmerged(511322)]

3. You can only use one fleet at a time, and the only time you see more than one fleet in combat is when the attacking player brings two fleets.

If you send 2 fleets to attack an enemy system, do you get a combat phase for both of those fleets? Or thats just an advantage the AI gets..if it was smart enough to do so...

 

[Wheres My Snack]

So how do I design a supply ship with more endurance? What is the best way to supply my ships? I read the beginner's guide all the way through. Why do I not get a choice to auto-resolve any battles after the first one?

 

[Goomich]

So how do I design a supply ship with more endurance?

Use more energy weapons, diffrent sections, fit more caravan or something furnaces (green, antimatter era, engine section only) modules, play as Hiver.

Why do I not get a choice to auto-resolve any battles after the first one?

You do. Investigate pre-battle screen.



On pre-battle screen you have those things. For multiple things. Click where white points to change battles.

 

[Alex_brunius]

Have you read the manual?

It's not 1990 anymore.

You expect to be able to have fun (playing) while learning a game now...

 

[unmerged(473072)]

Standard with Cruiser Command Ships No C3 Research for Combat Algorithms is 54 Command Points with a Cruiser CnC w/ C3 Tech it increases it by 2 Cruisers thus 66 Command Points.
Dreadnought CnC should up it to around 106 Points
And with the Advanced C3 Tech it will max at a 124.
I saw this only when playing Morrigi, for some reason my Armada CnC on a Dreadnought its maximum Command Points was 36 and I was thinking. What?!

 

[Blackwarder]

It's not 1990 anymore.

You expect to be able to have fun (playing) while learning a game now...

Maybe, although the current "lets dumb down the game" fade over the last decade is somthing I don't like at all, Especialy when it comes to strategy games.

Warder

 

[Wheres My Snack]

I'm 100% in favor of gameplay complexity. I love deep, complex games with lots of intricacies. Thus... I love paradox games.

My main problem with THIS game is that there is no feedback from the game itself. When you try to do something, like move your fleet, there is no explanation in game as to why it is impossible to move one particular fleet or another. Or why my fleet won't engage this swarm even though I have it patrolling the area. Etc.

 

[DaNuker]

Yeah, the feedback system could use some work, it is really tricky for your first couple of games or when they patch some new feature, but you get used to it over time.

1) Unable to moving your fleet. the usual reason is out of fleet endurance range. The problem is, how much more endurance you will need? You have to manually figure it out yourself by either some multiplication, or dropping in ships with more supplies into your fleet. (In the updated version of the previous game, the game tells you your range off the bat).

2) Unable to relocate your fleet. This one is usually due to lack of support points available at the destination system. 6 ships CP = 1 planet Cruiser support point. You gotta do some basic math yourself to make sure you can relocate your fleet to the destination system.

3) Swarm: I never ran into your problem before. Are you sure you have not blown the swarm up already or is it that the wrong fleet turns up for battle?

It'll be some time for the devs to go before they get around fixing some of these UI and interface tool tip information ...

 

[unmerged(213178)]

Took me around 20 hours to get most things down but in the end it was worth it. The game itself could do with lots of interface upgrades but what is under the hood is something special.

 

[HighLigerBimBam]

Took me around 20 hours to get most things down but in the end it was worth it. The game itself could do with lots of interface upgrades but what is under the hood is something special.

Sounds like talking about a ugly person with inner value, which infact nobody wants.

 

[Nasarog]

Sounds like talking about a ugly person with inner value, which infact nobody wants.

Ahahaha, so true.

 

[Acularius]

It's not 1990 anymore.

You expect to be able to have fun (playing) while learning a game now...

I enjoy reading the manuals...

For me, if I didn't have to read the manual to understand some finer points... then the strategy game isn't worth playing and probably relies on a very straight forward rock-paper-scissors system that I got bored with when I was 10 I think.

Granted, this is all a matter of opinion at this point.

 

[unmerged(402260)]

I Think an easy way to explain your lack of feedback is... the games release issues.. and im sure feed back is not or was not the priority for a long time since.. they still fixing the game play itself. I mean if you saw it on release you would understand why there is not a lot of game feedback cause there was not originally much of a game lol.. but its obviously become much better since...

 

[unmerged(15561)]

Ive been like that with some games. Sometimes for me I have to leave a game even for years before I can have a really good crack at it.

I suggest that if you cant get to grips with the game, leave it for a few weeks, a month or longer until the time that you find yourself wanting for something you cant quite put your finger on. Then if the game springs to mind, install it and see if you can get back into it.

I buy so many games that I rarely have time to play all but one and Im a stickler for completing games so for me I even play games I brought 5 years ago!

 

[Pandadan]

"Maybe you should try reading the manual" is an excuse that's trotted out constantly, especially by Mecron. In a game as complicated as SotS2, memorizing the manual (and the tech tree, and patch notes, and...) is not a viable method to understand the game. The game needs to present information better. Unfortunately, Mecron also ascribes to a philosophy that it's better to completely hide anything that the player can't directly act on yet. Trade mapmode is hidden until you research FTL Economics, for example, and techs are hidden until you research their prerequisites. Even once you discover a tech, the tech tree may not make it clear what additional prerequisites (besides the visibly linked one(s)) you needed to get it in the first place.

Very poor presentation of information. If you say so on the Kerberos forum, though, Mecron will insult you and sneer at you for not reading the manual and/or say it's "fun" and "realistic" to not know how the game works.

EDIT: just to be clear, I think there's a pretty fun if not-yet-quite-complete game in there! Just frustrated by terrible UI and developer vitriol.

 

[Illanair]

"Maybe you should try reading the manual" is an excuse that's trotted out constantly, especially by Mecron. In a game as complicated as SotS2, memorizing the manual (and the tech tree, and patch notes, and...) is not a viable method to understand the game.

I respectfully disagree - any strategy game that you can dive right into without having to refer to the manual is far too shallow to be considered. And lets be honest - you don't even need to memorize the manual to do well in SOTS2.

As for your personal issues with Mecron - if you don't like the smell in the bakery, leave. Mecron and Co. have made it very clear that they like having a less formal and professional atmosphere where the only feedback you will ever receive is a cold "Your concerns have been noted." response from a moderator every once in a blue moon. Both Mecron and the regulars are more than ready to take a calm, well thought discussion about game elements if you don't come off as whiny or too impatient to try even the simplest questions out for yourself.

/personalrantoff

 

[Goomich]

Problem is rather with fact that current manual at some places doesn't have explanation for confusibg stuff (ie. how to set fleets for multiple battles or how change direction where fleet faces) or is plainly misleading (feasibility).