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Neverending Wait - 4/28/2003 10:06:15 PM   
EricLarsen

 

Posts: 458
Joined: 7/9/2002
From: Salinas, CA Raider Nation
Status: offline 		Yet another week has gone by and no one at Matrix has botehred to post the SUDG 2.1 patch that was available to be posted for over two weeks now. All I can say is this is the last Apezone game I ever buy and if Matrix doesn't get on the ball I may not bother to buy any other Matrix titles. It's nice to know Matrix cares so much about us SUDG customers.:p
Eric Larsen
Post #: 1
- 4/28/2003 10:43:47 PM   
David Heath


Posts: 3274
Joined: 3/29/2000
From: Staten Island NY
Status: offline 		Hi Eric

I had a very bad family issue I had to deal with. Bottom line it will get posted as soon as we can.

David

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 2
Thanks - 4/29/2003 9:06:10 PM   
EricLarsen

 

Posts: 458
Joined: 7/9/2002
From: Salinas, CA Raider Nation
Status: offline 		David,
I hope your family issue works out well. Thanks for the update.
Eric Larsen

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 3
- 4/30/2003 11:52:39 AM   
madjoseph

 

Posts: 20
Joined: 10/22/2000
From: fairbanks, ak, usa
Status: offline 		Yes David. Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Whatever it was, I wish you the best and hope things work out for the better. Darn it all, Life just has the unfortunate consequence of getting in the way of good gaming. So I wish you the best anyway.

madjoseph

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 4
- 5/2/2003 3:29:19 AM   
Andrew Ewanchyna

 

Posts: 229
Joined: 8/24/2001
Status: offline 		I've actually used the time to discover and fix another bug, so the delay really falls back to me. Sorry about that.

_____________________________

Developer of Starships Unlimited

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 5
- 5/2/2003 11:46:43 AM   
madjoseph

 

Posts: 20
Joined: 10/22/2000
From: fairbanks, ak, usa
Status: offline 		Great to hear!

Andrew, I hope you'll continue to look for improvements. SUDG is a great game and certainly one of the best in the 4X field. Although I suck at it, I certainly enjoy it, and hope to continue doing so for some time to come.

Any chance of some add-on's or something like that in the future?

best,

madjoseph

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 6
- 5/2/2003 9:46:27 PM   
Andrew Ewanchyna

 

Posts: 229
Joined: 8/24/2001
Status: offline 		What specifically do you have in mind? Always open to suggestions.

_____________________________

Developer of Starships Unlimited

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 7
- 5/3/2003 1:54:22 PM   
madjoseph

 

Posts: 20
Joined: 10/22/2000
From: fairbanks, ak, usa
Status: offline 		Well, I'm such a clutz at the game, I hesitate to say. I think this has perhaps been discussed on the forum before. You, no doubt would be a better judge of what would work than I.

However, I guess the usual things. A new race? New universe shape? New random events? New artifacts? Other smaller races that just appear in the universe? New ships? New technologies?

As I've said, I like the game very much. But I seldom win and I'm not very good. I do think the game stands up very well with the current competition. I'm just hoping more can be done with it, and that it'll become more popular.

so, keep up the good work, and we're all looking forward to the next patch.

madjoseph

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 8
- 5/8/2003 7:43:44 AM   
SideshowBob

 

Posts: 24
Joined: 3/27/2002
Status: offline 		Yeah, still hoping for this patch soon - I've gotten too **** good and the game is no longer a challenge.

For future improvements, I'd like to see fuller development of the star systems, so they are harder to conquer, and much more detail in the star systems, along with larger ships to assult these tougher defenses.

I'd envision this being in a 2nd edition add-on version that would cost more, like some more commercial releases have done (ex: Empire Earth Gold Edition graduates to space)

The star systems can have moons for the planets, asteroid belts, more planets, and different size stars.

You could then colonize all the planets and moons in a star system. You wouldn't want to until near the end of the game. When you do, you should be able to research a star system defense system that links the shields of all the planets/moons, and maybe has the asteroid belt act as an even tougher linked shield with generating stations scattered on larger asteroids. The star system defense system would tap into the star's energy (again after researching some associated technologies and building some sort of elaborate power transfer and shield system), and would depend on the size of the star for effectiveness. This would give you another factor to consider when colonizing systems early in the game.

Then, you'd need better ships to assult these tough defenses with. Say, ships with several extra notches or special ships carrying regenerative capabilities for components (more or less aircraft carriers) or be able to repair other ships/replace finite weapons, and maybe a mobile "death star" small planet or moon. You'd need to gather quite a fleet of capable ships to penetrate a defensive shield that tapped the energy of the system's sun. Again, it's resistance to attack would depend on the size of the star and the amount of defenses developed ringing the star and it's planets/moons/asteroids. I'd envision the normal Generators on each planet/etc contributing to powering the shields/weapons, but the star tap would be the primary source. The only downside would be if you tap out the star, the whole system dies, maybe with the chance of a supernova, even destroying the invaders, so as an attacker, you would have to pursue a clever conquering strategy to not supernova the star.

You could have improved weapons, such as a "cluster standoff" weapon that is fired from a large ship, warps cloaked through a shield system, then scatters a dozen or so standoffs to wreak havoc inside the system defenses. Of course there's the "planet killer" and "invincible shield" artifacts, which would become available through research and production. There could be an aircraft carrier-like ship that carries many fighter squadrons, and fighters are improved, with more shots before returning to reload, or different kinds of interchangeable weapons ("fighters" vs "bombers" more or less).

I dunno - maybe I have too much time on my hands . . .

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 9
- 5/8/2003 10:04:25 PM   
Andrew Ewanchyna

 

Posts: 229
Joined: 8/24/2001
Status: offline 		The cluster standoffs sounds cool. As for tapping a star, technically speaking, I don't think there's as much power there as you might think. You really need more exotic power sources like Anti-matter. I did have a "Star Tap Generator" in the 1st draft of the game, though.

A friend was telling me about an article he read in Scientific American that talks about the possibilities of interstellar travel. It mentioned something to the effect that it would take the mass of the *sun* to move a spaceship to the closest star. And this is with a rocket engine 100 times the efficiency of todays and we wanted to get there in 50 years.

Here's an interesting audio link on space travel:
[URL=http://www.radio.cbc.ca/programs/quirks/archives/02-03/apr12.html]link[/URL]

_____________________________

Developer of Starships Unlimited

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 10
Destiantion Space - 5/9/2003 9:33:00 PM   
EricLarsen

 

Posts: 458
Joined: 7/9/2002
From: Salinas, CA Raider Nation
Status: offline 		Originally posted by Andrew Ewanchyna
[B]It mentioned something to the effect that it would take the mass of the *sun* to move a spaceship to the closest star. And this is with a rocket engine 100 times the efficiency of todays and we wanted to get there in 50 years.[/B]

Andrew,
There are some really good space shows on the Science channel and Discovery Wings. I like the Destination Space shows. One actually mentions that "gravity" drive that would require the mass of the sun to work. There are some really ingenious propulsion techniques being studied now and I wish I could be alive to see the first interstellar space flight. There are also a lot of good astronomy shows on that detail the creation of the universe, and solar systems and planets. I saw one where one of the moons of Jupiter has liquid natural gas and where it rains the same. It said there's a 50 million year supply there. It would be interesting to see how they'd tap that resource without frying the moon to a cinder.

Could you please ask the folks at Matrix to post your 2.1 SUDG patch? It's been a month since you told us you sent them the files and we're still waiting for someone there to wake up and post it for us. They are not doing you or us any favors sitting on it. Patches are not like fine wine and do not get better with age. But customers may well get fed up with being ignored after paying their money and not getting their fair share of service.
Thanks,

Eric Larsen

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 11
- 5/9/2003 10:24:18 PM   
David Heath


Posts: 3274
Joined: 3/29/2000
From: Staten Island NY
Status: offline 		We are testing Andrew update to the patch. Once we are done it will be posted.

David

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 12
- 5/10/2003 1:22:38 AM   
Marc von Martial


Posts: 10875
Joined: 1/4/2001
From: Bonn, Germany
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]They are not doing you or us any favors sitting on it. Patches are not like fine wine and do not get better with age. But customers may well get fed up with being ignored after paying their money and not getting their fair share of service.
[/QUOTE]

Nobodies sitting on it, there has been a hold up and we posted that here in a reply.

_____________________________

Marc von Martial
instagram stream

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 13
Post it and we'll test it - 5/11/2003 8:00:22 AM   
EricLarsen

 

Posts: 458
Joined: 7/9/2002
From: Salinas, CA Raider Nation
Status: offline 		Marc,
Post the patch and I'll bet you find lots of eager testers.
Eric Larsen

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 14
- 5/12/2003 12:15:35 PM   
madjoseph

 

Posts: 20
Joined: 10/22/2000
From: fairbanks, ak, usa
Status: offline 		Well personally,

I'm just happy there will be a patch, because patches (almost always) are happy things. :)

Perhaps that's because I'm just such a klutz with the game. Yet I spent a very ejoyable afternoon playing (and I'm still at it) even though I can't seem to find the right artifacts to update to the next level, or get a planet killer...sigh. Still, I'm having a lot of fun. The game is still impressively deep, and wonderfully replayable. I'm havin' fun!

mad;) joseph

better a good patch, then something that will make problems.

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 15
- 5/13/2003 7:25:25 AM   
SideshowBob

 

Posts: 24
Joined: 3/27/2002
Status: offline 		Hey Mad J - sorry to hear you are struggling with the game - check out some posts here about a month ago - scroll down the subject headings - there are a bunch of lengthy posts containing a wealth of strategies employed by myself and a bunch of others, including Eric - that may help you a lot.

Now if only I could play Empire Earth this well . . .

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 16
- 5/14/2003 2:06:50 AM   
Voidhawk

 

Posts: 120
Joined: 5/14/2003
Status: offline 		I take it you (Eric) don't own MOO3.

Now THAT'S what I call a neverending wait. At least SUDG is fun. And it actually works properly in it's current state (oops, is that a can of worms I heard opening in the background?). Hehe.

Actually, I was surprised to hear about a 2.1 patch for SUDG. Is there a list of changes/bug fixes that are being addressed somewhere I can look at? Or is it a surprise? I hate surprises. :D

_____________________________


(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 17
having fun - 5/14/2003 11:43:51 AM   
madjoseph

 

Posts: 20
Joined: 10/22/2000
From: fairbanks, ak, usa
Status: offline 		Thanks SSBOB,

I'll check out the posts as time permits. But right now, I'm having fun learning the game simply by playing it. I'm in a fifty system game and I'm more than holding my own. Bottom line, I'm having fun. That's what the game is for, anyway. :) Know what you mean about Empire Earth. I'll get back to that one eventually, after I finish the Blitzgrieg demo, and after a few more games of Galactic Civilizations.

Void, Have you tried GalCiv? I skipped Moo3 because of the comments on their forums. But GalCiv rocks, and it's substantially different from SUDG. Less strategy with the fighting, but excellent diplomacy and some really cool random events.

Still, certainly I hope as you do that Matrix continues to develop and move forward with SUDG. I'll be playing it for a good while even so.

:D madjoseph

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 18
- 5/15/2003 11:20:51 AM   
Voidhawk

 

Posts: 120
Joined: 5/14/2003
Status: offline 		I don't have GalCiv yet, madjoseph, but it's definitely on my "to get" list. I'm pretty much dividing my gaming time up between SUDG and SEIV at the moment, so I'll probably get GalCiv in a few more weeks when I get tired of those again. I'm also wrapped up in a couple of AoW2 PBEM games, so I've got plenty to keep me busy for the moment. :)

And then there's always the MOO3 patch to think about. I'll probably try playing it again when it comes out, but I don't really have high hopes.

That's funny about the MOO3 forums, all the bad karma flying around in there had the exact opposite effect on me as it had on you. I was thinking to myself "man, there's no way it can possibly be THAT bad..."

So I just had to run out and buy it to see for myself. No such thing as "bad" publicity, I guess. :D

_____________________________


(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 19
- 5/16/2003 2:26:20 PM   
Phreddo

 

Posts: 19
Joined: 5/16/2003
From: Columbus, MS
Status: offline 		I've been eyeing this game up for a long time. William Trotter had many good things to say, but I couldn't bring myself to drop $40 on it. I saw it in GameStop for $20, and I jumped. The graphics are near shareware, but the parallax scrolling effect is pretty cool and dizzying. However, I rarely get out of the galaxy view. so much for my ti4400.
The game is very addictive. I usually hate RTS and strategy games because I get my *** handed to me and I never know why. In this game I feel like I have a chance. I have many options to deal with my enemies, but it is odd the way everyone goes to war at the same time, like dominos.
I do like the fact that this game is quick and short, like a board game. However, as much as I loathe multi-player, i would LOVE to see this in MP.
My major nitpicks are the occasional

Runtime Error!

Program: ...trix Games\Starships Unlimited Divided Galaxies\SUDG.exe

R6025
-pure virtual function call

crashes and the little thing where one ship just seems to get stuck on a planet or something.

Otherwise, this is a brilliant little title, and if there are to be fixes and improvements, I wouldn't have known to ask, but I would be glad to see them happen.

I think one improvement would be with the menus. they tend to cover half the screen, like if i want to raid a system or something, i have to close the menu, select the system, then open the menu. can't they be dragged or something? I would also like to see more logical grouping of ships or what have you, perhaps by dragging a square or something, or hotkeys. otherwise I just use one big fleet. Not that I ever have that many ships.

Hope to see more from you and yours!

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 20
- 6/1/2003 9:05:47 AM   
Synicism

 

Posts: 18
Joined: 4/27/2002
From: South Pasadena, CA
Status: offline 		Can we get a status update on the patch please? :)

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 21
- 6/1/2003 11:35:59 AM   
David Heath


Posts: 3274
Joined: 3/29/2000
From: Staten Island NY
Status: offline 		We are looking at June 9th to be done testing and released around then.

David

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 22
- 6/13/2003 5:29:29 AM   
Phreddo

 

Posts: 19
Joined: 5/16/2003
From: Columbus, MS
Status: offline 		June 12

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 23
Confused - 6/15/2003 5:09:22 PM   
Darkspire


Posts: 1986
Joined: 6/12/2003
From: My Own Private Hell
Status: offline 		I bought SUDG in GAME UK on 12 June. Its the 2.1 version, on the CD are a number of extras, wallpaper, buttons, banners, website kit and a number of PDF's detailing changes. Am i correct in thinking the peeps who already bought the game are still waiting for the 2.1 update?? If so that sucks big time, and probably why ive had so little respone from my posts, its a cool game but to think the 2.1+extras is sitting there in the shops because of the peeps that already bought it via the net or whatever is IMHO a real disgrace and a real insult to those that have surported the game. :(

So come on peeps that wrote SUDG (Matrix(?)) whats the story??

_____________________________

Darkspires's File Repository

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 24
- 6/15/2003 11:26:06 PM   
Phreddo

 

Posts: 19
Joined: 5/16/2003
From: Columbus, MS
Status: offline 		Well, I live in the US, for all the good that does me. I love the game, and I wouldn't care if I didn't think they were going to patch it. But now that I know of an upcoming patch, I've been not playing the game, so I don't get burnt out before all the improvements come along. at least this has been giving me an opportunity to go outside for a change.

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 25
- 6/15/2003 11:49:23 PM   
David Heath


Posts: 3274
Joined: 3/29/2000
From: Staten Island NY
Status: offline 		Hi Guys

It will be up and posted on Monday. I was away on business and could not do it last week. We wanted to give this a good long tet before we released it.

David

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 26
- 6/17/2003 7:18:02 AM   
Phreddo

 

Posts: 19
Joined: 5/16/2003
From: Columbus, MS
Status: offline 		Monday
and there are 1008 views to this thread.
Take that as you will

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 27
- 6/17/2003 2:04:30 PM   
David Heath


Posts: 3274
Joined: 3/29/2000
From: Staten Island NY
Status: offline 		Hi Guys

Sorry I forgot Sunday was Father's Day and my family had other plans then for me to work all weekend again. The patch is posted on the servers. You can download it via True Update or our public FTP servers.

It will be listed soon in our download section as well.

David

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 28
- 6/17/2003 4:11:47 PM   
Phreddo

 

Posts: 19
Joined: 5/16/2003
From: Columbus, MS
Status: offline 		Hey, we got it now.
you poor guys must be getting hammered with downloads.
Umm, at the risk of sounding ungrateful (thank you, by the way), what has changed from 2.0 to 2.1?
i don't see anything different?

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 29
- 6/18/2003 1:00:32 AM   
David Heath


Posts: 3274
Joined: 3/29/2000
From: Staten Island NY
Status: offline 		I do not have the list I am sure Andrew will post something soon on that.

David

(in reply to EricLarsen)
Post #: 30
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