I'll not burden you with feature requests as I enjoy the game as it is and I'm sure whatever else is added with time will be just fine. The option to save during long battles is appreciated.



Supernova 2 is an excellent "beer-and-pretzel" strategy game, and again, thanks. This game has great potential if marketed well to gamers. Have you marketing plans beyond the manner in which Winter Wolves previous games have been marketed?



Always willing to offer ideas.



Thanks again.

Hello,

well currently sent out a few review copies to some wargame-friendly sites. Have to look for more, I think this game would be good for wargamers looking for something else beside a WW2 scenario

Still reccomending random events. This would require more strategy for macromanagement mode as the user would have to weight marginal cost versus marginal benefit based on how random events change things. Also, in future games, the user would have to determine the Probability of certain events and change his behavior based on that.



The difficulty levels also offer a lot of risk for no additional reward. In the technology screen, how about a new "Omnipotent" technology branch? After battles, you have a chance to get data crystals from the older races of galaxies past, the chance of a data crystal is based on the difficulty level, the higher the difficulty level the greater the chance of receiving a data crystal. The only way to buy points in the Omnipotent technology branch is via the data crystals received randomly from battle.

Hi everyone! I'm a newbie here and I have to completely agree that some level of random events, situations, or even changes to available technologies would be a must-have for me. I'm kindof sitting on my $25 right now because the demo I played was so very, very short and I didn't get any real chance to see what the game was like in detail. I see here that there is a strong sense that the game is missing some random elements. From what little I was able to play it looks like you can pretty much follow the same tech build cycles as a matter of course, once you find the one build combination that works. Better is if the technology available was slightly different each game you played, like Sword of the STars. Having random events and situations though would go a very long way to convincing me to pick up the title.



-cc

Hello,

well since so many are requesting random events I'll add them for sure on next update.

What you mean if the technology was slightly different every time you played? I don't understand this part

I based the game on classic technology development trees like Civilization: you have to research first the basic stuff and then build the advanced one. There is some variations in the full version since you have the Alien Technologies that are different from one side to the other, and also they start randomly placed on different stars every time you play the game.



I'll add the random events, but also make the change requested by wolfdaddy, that is the custom ship building. Right now, if you want to discover a particular ship like the interceptor you need to research certain technologies. Instead if you can customize the ship equipment, you could even use the interceptor blueprint and place on it 5 long-range bolt, so that you don't need to research the missiles/torpedoes. (maybe this is what you mean for different technology)



I think this simple variation could change completely (in a much better way) the game, and that's what I'm going to do next, together with a skirmish mode that will be available even in the demo (with some limitation) so people can play the battles, which I think is the main focus of the game. Right now isn't really a "space strategy/colonization game", but more a wargame with a resource management backbone. Indeed as someone else posted here the game is way more similar to the SSI game Star General than Master of Orion series.



Hope I managed to solve some of your doubts about buying the game in any case remember that, as happened with my past games, I'll continuously add improvements so in 4-5 months you could end up having a completely different (better) games from today.



I might also consider allowing more playing time in the demo.

That's really great news! To be more clear on the random technologies, the notion that Sword of the Stars had implemented was fairly cool. The idea was that you might have a dozen or so branches of technology to explore (shields, armor, missiles, etc.) by default. In each game one of those branches was not available at all. So you might need to go one game without missiles or shields. Though I prefer to have the random events and situations much more than this notion of random technology branches, it still was a pretty interesting twist. For me, I like having my shields and nifty shield effects, so if I started a game without that branch, I usually started over. I might be over simplifying this, but hopefully the point is coming across.



Me personally - I'm a huge fan of random events, so I am very pleased and encouraged with your message.



-cc

Ah now I understand what you mean. Interesting, indeed

However before I start implementing such thing I need first to program the "customize your ship" screen, because that way I can exclude some technologies at all and in general allow more freedom on what the player can research. Some ships like the special ships or the mothership will be dependendant on a specific tech, but apart for that you can have any other combination of weapon. I don't think would be fair for example to allow the player to put 4 acid cannon gun on a battleship - this would mean that the ship could potentially burn a ship armor within 1-2 game turns and that could put lot of unbalance to the game (even if could be fun). So initially the special weapon will remain fixed on the unique ships of each faction.



Also I agree that for now is more important to add random events during the main management game. I'll have to think about stuff either bad / good, that can speed up or slow down your game progresses.

It would be fair... just make 'em pay a high price to do it!

Random event Suggestions:

1. Rebellion: Connect the likelyhood of this to Empire happiness. A system just up and rebels, so you loose that system.

2. Pirates: This is a touch more complicated. You end up loosing money due to piracy. The computer can tell you generally what area the pirates are in (say, a cluster of 3-5 systems) but you have to hunt them down. Pirates should have some sort of unique pirate ships, built for speed, turning, and serious damage, but low on hit points.

3. Supernova: A system of yours (NEVER the home system of course) just up and explodes. Hell you could even have a black hole form in that system, forcing the players to go around it. (any ships passing to close are automatically lost, sorry, no saving throw)

4. Wormhole. Two random systems are now connected with a wormhole that allows instantanous travel between them. I'd suggest that there be two types: Stable, and unstable. The unstable collaspes after a certain number of turns.

5. Coallition: 3-5 systems, (they have to be close to each other) decide to join together and form a coalition. Invade one system and they invade back.



Another thought: Forget an OMNI tech. Personaly i tend to find it a let down if there's a tech that lets you kill everything. It's cool at first, but in the end it doesn't add to game play. The game becomes a race to see who can get the OMNI tech first. I do like the idea of ruins that let you research different techs. Ones that aren't avalible normally. I'd suggest that you make 5 new techs, that can only be found on ruins, and they are avalible to both sides. And perhaps only have 1-2 show up in a game at all. Well maybe 6 new techs. Here are some thoughts for new techs. (Yes i'm stealing them from different sci fi shows and games, if you want the serial numbers sue me)

1. Time. Time weapons don't do damage, but they cause the enemy ship to freeze for a turn or two. Long recharge time, no missles. No shields either. (that would be too powerful)

2. Psionics. Long range, missles and beam weapons. Long recharge. ignores sheilds, doesn't damage ship, kills off crew like nobodies business. Sensor range seriously incresed

3. Dark Energy. Power source only, a dark energy power source can power anything. This would mean you'd only need one power source in a ship instead of multiple ones. Which means lighter, faster ships. I'd also suggest that it automatically upgrade all weapons so that they are lighter and take up one less point of space.

4. Crystal: Armor: any ship with crystal armor becomes much more resistance to beam weapons, all beam weapons gain range upgrade. Thus if you find say, two ruins with crystal, you'd gain two range upgrades. up to a max of +50% range. No other effects.

5. Living ships: Your ships always have crew, and your ships will regain crew (upgrade level) per turn, and heal 10 times the upgrade level. (Just as above, so two ruins with Living ships would be 2 crew a turn and 20 hp per turn.)

Note that two of these open up entire tech trees, while three just provide a bonus. I didn't want to suggest anything too complicated simply because the simpler it is, the sooner we get to play with it. I'm greedy that way.

Some good suggestions indeed. The new techs can be implemented easily enough, global events instead require more time and some probably would be hard to make the way I programmed originally the game. Anyway I had already in mind to do the time and psionic stuff (with different names) in the original game, but then I decided to finish it and release version 1.0.

My goal is to add the new techs and also the skirmish mode before end of this month - hope to make it

New techs and a skirmish mode by end of month?! Yowzers! That's impressive! On the random events topic I would also like to contribute a few suggestions as well...



I would add, in general, events that can influence production, relations, technology, economy...



Economical: Events that influence economy in the following ways:

- Temporary boost to economic output (robust economy)

- Temporary reduction to economic output (recession, depression)

- Increase in materials processing due to mineral finds

- Decrease in materials processing due to planetary conditions, mine collapses, ...

- Decreases in economic output due to labor disputes or politics



Production: Events that influence production (military or research)...

- An event that causes a research project to be completed early or delayed significantly

- Accidental discoveries of technology

- Delayed or early completion of military vehicles



Relations: Events that influence either the relationship you have with opponent or the loyalty of your folks

- Political dissagrements causing negative loyalty during the current administration and vice versa



Miscellaneous:

- Poor space weather causing delays in travel

- Space lanes that get temporarily closed due to various stuff



Just a few random, er, thoughts...

-cc

Well don't kill yourself doing it. I do like the idea of creating several new techs, but limiting the number that show up. 2-3 techs that are found in ruins, when the list is 6-7 is pretty good. Especially if you limit the scope of the new techs, and DON'T feel like you have to make a whole new tech tree. MANY sci-fi writers introduce a tech and deliberatly leave it vague. Here's another thought, though there might be a copyright problem. Uniques Systems

1. Ringworld.

2. Dyson Sphere.

3. Worlds arranged in a perfect pentacle while in the same orbit.

4. A moving world.

5. A world orbiting a black hole.

While each would look interesting, you could also have them be a location for ruins, randomize which ones appear in any given game (perhaps making it limited to one or two?) Each system could provide some sort of unique bonus to ships defending it, and to the empire that holds it.

Hehe no don't worry, won't kill myself of work

Adding new techs shouldn't be hard. Global events a bit more, and skirmish probably long to write but not really hard to make since it is basically a new screen where you can build your fleet with a certain percentage of money.

Thanks for the ideas, some of them are both very good and easy to implement. Will try to add as more as possible, but of course next update won't be the last so I can always add even more through the course of the year.

I second all of CatiousChoas' reccomendations for random events.



Also, it's a little annoying for it to pop-up all the time that I can't have less than 5% or more than 60%. Maybe just a red beep and if it happens twice in a row than it pops up. It's easy to do it over or under accidentally and it's a pain for it to pop up all the time.

Ok, indeed maybe that pop-up isn't needed everytime, only if the player really insists

A quick update... as I posted in my blog, I'm trying to release before end of this month the version 1.0.3 that will contain custom ships design, random global events, and a interesting real-time macromanagement part (in practice you don't have to click end of turn all the time! ).

I left skirmish mode to be done later because I'm making the custom ship screen, and would be cool to be able to reuse it even in skirmish mode, rather than using the standard ships. So the skirmish mode will come later this year

Hi all,



I've been playing the 1.02 version on my Mac laptop for a few days and I have a few comments along the line of what started this thread.



1 - I agree with that it seems to take far too long to get the game started. How about starting with at least some material or money or even a ship or two?



2 - It would be helpful (especially at the start of the game) not to have to fight for every neutral system. How about some systems being uninhabited?



3 - I'm still mulling this over but are there too many technologies? I get the point of it but I'm not sure what it adds. So far I just develop them by building new ship types so I haven't really seen the strategic or tactical purpose to them.



4 - Why does one ship in my fleet flash when the enemy is moving in the battle screen?

5 - The enemy ships move too slowly - half teh time I can hear them moving but I can't see them so it feels like a waste of time.



6 - There needs to be a zoom out available so that you can see the full map - especially in the battle screen.



7 - The side panel that comes up when you select a ship in the battle screen is too big and obscures too much of the screen space. Most of the time it either obscures the space I want to move too or the ship I want to attack. There should be a way to toggle it on or off or put it along the bottom of the screen maybe?



8 - I hate the screen re-centring that happens when a ship is selected in he battle screen. 90% of the time I end up having to scroll back to what the screen was like so that I can do the move or attack I wanted to do when I selected the ship in the first place. This would be somewhat solved in the ship info panel was changed as I mentioned above.



9 - I'm not sure what the advantage is in capturing a planet during a battle when you always need to kill the enemy ships to win the battle.



10 - When I capture an enemy ship why doesn't it get added to my fleet for the next battle?



11 - The spinning spinning "blue team turn" text takes too long at the top of each battle turn - since there is only me and the computer playing I'm pretty sure when my turn is so it feels like a time waster - plus you can't start scrolling the screen when it's happening. Just flash it up quickly and be done with it.



12 - Can you move the "end turn" button from top centre of the battle screen - I keep hitting it when I'm using the cursor to scroll up. Perhaps it and the Options button could go to the bottom corners just like the options and end turn buttons on the other screens.



13 - I'd love to be able to group ship movements - especially for slower ships that have fallen behind the main battle.



14 - In the fleet placement screen just prior to the battle, I think it would be helpful to grey out or disable the "next" and "previous" buttons when there are no ships in inventory on those pages since there are no more ships anyway.



15 - Love the custom ship and random events ideas that others have spoken of. Random events would certainly spice up the macro aspect of the game.



16 - How about adding stationary defences (mines) that you can research and build to protect your systems?



17 - The green window that pops up when you start researching a ship telling you that you will now be researching all the necessary technologies is a bit redundant in my opinion. Maybe add a "don't show this again" check box?



18 - In my last game I exited and quit without being prompted to save the game. What's up with that? Yes I got a warning about quitting but never any indication that the game wouldn't be saved or an option to do so.



19 - I've read about being able to save in the middle of a battle but haven't seen any way to do that in the manual or tips. Did I miss something?



20 - I find that many of the tips pop ups are really badly written. Almost like there were translated into English. This may be the case and I mean no disrespect but all of the other written elements are fine so I'm not sure why the tips are so badly done.



Lastly I'd like to say that I enjoyed the game and the work that was put into it enough that I didn't mind paying the $25 shareware fee (although I think the demo could have been longer) and I was interested enough to comment to help make it better. Thanks.

Hello,

I'm working frenetically on version 1.0.3 with many new features, but I'll try to reply to some of your questions here:



1. I could indeed have the game start with some materials and money already, and a few ships. In 1.0.3. there will also be a real-time management that will solve the problem (you can always pause the speed if you need to think)

2. I didn't thought about it, but there are so few stars already... don't know about this one, you can select a smaller galaxy (with less starsystems) if you want to start fighting sooner with the opponent faction

3. Ah no, actually there are even not many considering the kind of game! the good thing though is that you really don't need to research them all to win, if you're good in the wargame part (or choose easy level)

4. The flashing ship is your active ship, it flashes even when is your turn (so you know which one you're moving)

5. You can speedup the movement using the + and - numeric keyboard, probably would be better to set it at max speed by default

6. yes, zoom will be added, probably on version 1.0.4 though

7 and 8. this is a known problem (another user reported it) and indeed I'm thinking what to do, if to put it on the bottom, or make it disappear if you just want to move the ship (it would appear only if you target an enemy)

9. well planets give regeneration to HP and crew, so if you have damaged ship/transport is good to capture one and station a few ships around it

10. because otherwise the game would be too easy

11. yes, I agree, will make it faster already in next version!

12. problem is that moving on those part, could be hidden by the ship panel. I have to think where to place them though, since that is a known problem too

13. yes, group movement would be a cool addition, I wrote that down for a future update

14. good idea, will add this in an update for sure like above

15. working on it right now

16. yes, another good idea, I took note!

17. yes, for some windows like this one I need to put the checkbox, true

18. hm so you want an auto-save option if you quit? I think could add this as well, would just store the last position if player quit without saving.

19. yes to save in middle of battle you just click option (top of screen near end turn) or press escape, and click save

20. I've asked an american friend of mine to fix them - I wrote all the texts of the game but I'm not a native english speaker, so surely have some problems with language, no offense taken!



Lastly thanks for all the feedback. If you're new to my forums and my games you'll see that I'll probably implement 90% of your suggestions (expecially since are very good and make sense). Surely will take a while, but be patient and I'll get there...

Thanks for the quick and detailed reply. A few further comments on may and your replies.



1 - Since you can't do anything without ships, materials, and money I think it's good to start with something otherwise you're just clicking for m,any turns until you can actually start playing.

2 - Actually it's not so much that I want to fight the opposing faction sooner. It's that I'd like to not have to fight for every star system. (As an aside - how about some kind of colonizer ship that you need to build to actually colonize a star system once you control it).

3 - I guess I'm still learning about the technologies and how they affect the game.

4 - OK, I wasn't sure why it was flashing during the opponent turn.

5 - Ok I'll try that. This is the first that I have seen about how to do this. I don't think it's in the game or the manual.

6 - Yay!

7/8 - Great to hear this.

9 - Ah now I understand. Thanks.

10 - hmmmmm ok maybe

11 - Great

12 - Great

13 - also great

14 - cool

15 - also cool

16 - thanks

17 - great

18 - That would be very helpful. Or at least a reminder that the current game hasn't been saved.

19 - interesting - pressing escape doesn't work for me. I'll try the option method.

20 - Cool I thought that might be the case. Your posts are very well written by the way so I wasn't completely sure.



One last thing. I was playing yesterday and my home system was invaded by the opposing faction. I successfully fought them off but I still had a screen come up saying that I had lost because my system had been invaded. If this is the case then there is no point in fighting that last battle because even if you repel the invasion you still lose the game. It also means that all I need to do to win is send a single scout into the enemy's home system and I win the game. I haven't tried this yet but something doesn't seem right about it.



Looking forward to the next version. Thanks.

One last thing. I was playing yesterday and my home system was invaded by the opposing faction. I successfully fought them off but I still had a screen come up saying that I had lost because my system had been invaded.

Ah no, this is not right, is a bug I'll do a test here to see why that happened, could be that you started the fight the same turn that the invasion was over, so the bug appeared, but of course that is not the regular behaviour of the game!