I'm really disappointed

Matrix Games Forums

Forums Register Login Photo Gallery Member List Search Calendars FAQ

My Profile Inbox Address Book My Subscription My Forums Log Out

I'm really disappointed

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [Science Fiction] >> Starships Unlimited v3 >> I'm really disappointed

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

I'm really disappointed - 10/1/2003 6:44:47 PM

Moraelin

Posts: 5
Joined: 8/18/2002
Status: offline

As a fan of Steel Panthers and Steel Panthers World of War, _and_ of the star colonization sim genre, I was really looking forward to this game. Well, looks like I was wrong.

Even in version 2.1, the game has serious problems. Especially in the interface area.

For example:

1) It's the 3'rd or 4'th time in two days that the game gets stuck in a loop, requiring that I acknowledge some communication end. Well, great, I've acknowledged it 20 times already. Can't it just bloody let me play the game now?

I consider it to be a serious bug. In fact, a show stopper, since there seems to be no obvious way to continue the game at all (short of reloading a saved game from an hour ago), once that happened.

2) It's probably the 30'th time (again, in two days!) that I double-click on some star system, but instead of being taken to the planet, I end up chasing some scout across the galaxy. Is it really that hard to grasp the notion that, when double clicking on a system, any sane person probably wants to get to their colony there? No, seriously.

3) It's a pain to tell what the heck do I have selected at the moment.

4) There's no obvious way to tell when some important stuff happened, like a planet growing from a colony pod to a colony with one city. Or when it sprouted a second city. Clicking on all colonies to check for such stuff, gets really old really fast.

And so on, and so forth.

Post #: 1

- 10/1/2003 11:31:39 PM

dragoniv

Posts: 60
Joined: 1/10/2003
From: Albany, NY
Status: offline

You're not much into micromanagement, are you? :)

Yep, notification of certain events like you mention would be nice...at first. But it gets very old when you have 20+ planets. Still, it would be a nice option for certain players.

The "loop" you describe regarding communication is fairly well known--easiest way to get out of it is to continue clicking the check button in the center of the menu button bar at the top of the screen. Two clicks generally does the trick. You absolutely do NOT have to exit the game to get around this.

You can tell what you have selected by looking at the name in the upper left hand corner of the screen--what ever you have selected will be acknowledged there.

The "click on a star system, get taken for a ride" is a real PIA. I'm sure there was a noble reason behind it, but I have the same opinion of that "feature" as you do.

Basically, I can sum it up like this: I have played Stars! (another 4x sim) extensively. Many others, too (Spaceward Ho!, Master of Orion, Civ, and more). If you though STUN was painful, don't go near Stars!. Stars is far deeper, far more complex, and is SO FREAKING FULL of micromanagment that even I don't enjoy it much (and that's saying something).

Andrew created a novel game here--if you've played a bunch of 4x games, I'm surprised you didn't pick up on it. He managed to gracefully weave real-time into a genre that pretty much lacked it, and to be honest this is probably one of the most enjoyable 4x games I've ever played. Sure, there are a few bugs, and the interface could use some (ok, a lot) of work. It's still among the best 4x space sims ever developed.

If you don't believe me, go find yourself of copy of MOO2. I got bored with that in about a week. Stars! made it about a month. There have been a handful of others..most so unremarkable I can't even recall their names right now.

I still play Master of Orion and Spaceward Ho!, both great games in their day, and SUDG is also on my "frequent play" list.

(in reply to Moraelin)

Post #: 2