Alpha 2 (state of the game)

How does one do justice to all the work and changes that have gone into Alpha2, in a single post or two?

I thought about that and decided against it. Instead I will play this through and tell you all what I find along the way.

Starting a new game is similar to past releases but we have more options now, we can set per player difficulty level, frequency of events, tech trees, etc. This is a plus in my book as more tastes will be satisfied. A purist for example, could decide on few or no events where someone else will want more of them. ISG now caters to both.

But for this exercise, I want to discover all the new goodies that were added, but more importantly test the AI. The setting is Huge, max difficulty, max settings for all AIs. I’ve kept the standard tech tree as I want to see how the changes affect the game and events are set on normal. I’ve also set 7 players, my custom race (which is outfitted well but not op) against the stock races, and begun my adventure.

I spawned in a remote corner of the map, which gives me both advantages and drawbacks and went to work.

The early part of the game played out pretty much as in the past (with two exceptions). While exploration continues to shine and offer an outstanding example of how it should be presented in a TBS 4X game, I also found the events meshing in quite nicely and making the ISG universe feel more alive. On a more practical level, the events offer additional choices that a wise player can leverage to help their Empire grow and prosper.

Now about those two exceptions

Leaders now automatically got a raise with each level up on top of the occasional request for a merit raise (which brings a painful penalty for refusal, +5 if you accept, -20 if you decline). This very quickly put me into the red, forcing some tough choices. Eventually I got into the black by clearing a system with a monster, and settling some worlds with profitable specials, (trade and to a lesser degree tourism, was not an option as I was already at war with the only AI I met, but they are over-all viable ways to deal this).

The other thing I’ve noticed so far is that at these settings, the growth has slowed down a bit, certainly this is a plus in the mid to late game, but early on it may not be for every taste. In defense of this however, I will point out that at the settings I chose, one should expect a rough ride.

In any case, speaking for myself, I’m happy thus far and liking what I’m seeing,(was actually smiling a few times as I played), it feels harder, (which it should) and I’m looking forward to sitting down with it again tomorrow night.

 

I got home and resumed my game, and while I only played an additional forty turns or so, I saw quite a lot that I want to discuss.

First I’ll begin with diplomacy. I’ve been at war with the Draguul since before we made contact, (I attacked one of their ships), and even though we quickly made contact after that (they became visible), our state of war continued. There were a few skirmishes involved but they withdrew each time. In the middle of our war they sent a tribute request, and threatened that our relations would suffer when I turned them down… well, while I understand what they meant and the reasoning behind this, it seemed kind of off. Perhaps if a peace treaty were included in the request it would be more palatable, I don’t believe that a tribute treaty should be presented in the same manner when you’re at peace versus when you are at war.

So I turned down their request and a few turns later offered peace, they turned me down… only to offer peace themselves about five turns later. This seemed a bit inconsistent to me, but they’re Lizards after all, who knows how they think.

Next up a few words about espionage… I was framed twice and the report came in that the Kaek and Moltar are now pissed at me. The only problem with that is that I haven’t made contact with either species yet. As far as I know, as far as my race knows in-game, those two don’t even exist. As far as the Moltar and Kaek know, I don’t exist.

So Eventually I make peace with the lizards but they move to colonize Juy, this is where things got interesting. I decided that this wasn’t to be allowed and sent a Destroyer to the system, when the Draguul arrived I attacked them and we were now at war for the second time. A few turns later I see they are coming back with a Battleship… my entire fleet consisted of the sleeper Cruiser and two DDs. I thought about calling it quits then, (lagging behind in tech, no fleet to speak of, overall doing poorly), but at the last second I decided to fight it out.

I’m glad I did

Up until now I could see from the map that the AI was handling itself very well on the strategic level, and slightly less so on the operational, now it was time to see how it handled itself on the tactical. The enemy BB was a home designed job, not a found ship, and it employed effective long range direct fire weapons combined with volleys of missiles…nice! I won the battle, (I shouldn’t have, more on that later), but lost my Cruiser in doing so. The plus here is that the AI fought better than it ever has at the tactical level, the minus is that had it closed and targeted the DDs first, instead of keeping distance and focusing on my Cruiser, I would have lost all three ships. My Cruiser had worse tech in comparison to the DDs (weaponry wise, shields were the same), but was able to absorb a lot of damage before going down, This meant that my three ships were able to fire for a long time, had the AI reduced my numbers quickly be hitting the DDs first, all would have been lost.

Still, I am very impressed at the improvement shown in AI ship design, great job there.

With the battle over I was down to 2 Destroyers and more enemy ships were approaching, so I queued a few more DDs. The Draguul asked for another tribute treaty and got nasty when I declined… so nasty that a few turns later they asked for peace.

I accepted of course as I need the time to complete some threshold research before cranking up my own ship production, but I do question why the AI let me off the hook here, most likely they are at war elsewhere, I’m not sure.

So take a look below to see how things stand now, it isn’t pretty for me, but I’m enjoying the game quite a lot, even with its few questionable moments.

P.S.

A minor point, but I’ve spent a considerable number of years around naval vessels

The naval abbreviations for ships is as follows

Frigate FF
Destroyer DD
Cruiser CA
Battleship BB
Titan does not exist but my guess would be TN

Overall great job guys, until tomorrow then

 

In a word... outstanding! Take a look below, this is a few turns later and I am clearly the runt of the pack. It's going to take considerable effort on my part to get out of this... I'm going to hit it more after dinner.

 

Congratulations Adam, I concede this session. While i'm doing ok against the Draguul, even pushing them back somewhat, the Sulak and Nova have such a commanding lead, that I don't feel I can win. Clearly I've underestimated the potency of the current AI.
Below is the state of my session at turn 200 when I called it quits, I'll start another session of course, same settings with a slightly more powerful custom race. I'll also try and play mistake free to see where that takes me.

P.S. maybe tone down the tribute requests a bit, It was like as soon as I met a race they were... "hi, nice to meet you, give me money"

 

ROFL!
No! Get a job you bum...hey, I guess we are family

Tell you what, In the above session I'm dead last in tech (by a lot), and second to last in production. More than that, the Sulak and Nova have commanding leads according to the graphs. However there is a single area where I'm in first place... you guessed it, my fleet.

So, being a glutton for punishment, I'm gong to continue it after all, I don't expect to survive, much less win, but it will be a good exercise in seeing if I can beat them with superior tactics. Somehow I doubt it as I think they will overwhelm me, but maybe if I can get the Humans to ally with me, (we're on decent terms and have trade established), I can pull it off.

 

Yes this perfectly illustrates how so many aspects of the game that weren't as useful or needed in the past, can be vital now. I've been playing mostly with brute strength, now I need to leverage diplomacy and some espionage to succeed on the harder levels, I can't simply outgrow them in this session.

Here’s some more observations from the latest on my game. I resumed where I left off, hoping to make the best of it and the action was non-stop.
First let me say that the game is in excellent shape overall, but the point of my doing this is to discuss a few things that still need some adjustments.

I’ve been fighting almost nonstop so we’ll start with that.

In one battle, I was clearly losing, so I auto resolved midway. Not only did I win the battle, but I captured two Cruisers as well, I think this needs some more adjustment. Operationally the AI is doing good most of the time, sending strong fleets to attack my systems, however, occasionally it will still send a single Destroyer or Frigate against my well guarded worlds. As these are the same worlds that were attacked by fleets at other times, I don’t believe it is a case of the AI not being able to see me, (though I can’t be sure)

The diplomacy is still coming off erratic. Yesterday I complained that everyone was pan-handling and asking for money, today must have been Christmas. The Nova, who I have barely adequate relations with, decided to gift me a system. I accepted and this isolated defenseless system on the border of Draguul space has not been attacked yet…

My situation is moderately better now, I’m 5th in tech and production with the number 1 fleet, yet I still have a lot of work to do.

Some other notes

Two leaders asked (leader desire),for the same building… no matter what I do, one will be angry, some players may not like this, I find it realistic

The standard tech tree has weapons and shield tech going to level ten, everything else caps at either seven or eight. Has any thought been given to maybe spreading out these techs a bit? This wouldn’t really affect the number of techs but it would give the appearance of better balance.

Also, for the humans. We know it is easier to heat a planet than cool it down, easier to set a dome on a barren surface versus the corrosive surface of Venus. I find it a bit immersion breaking in the way colonization techs are ordered. Our current science would dictate an order of Swamp, Desert, as level one, Icy and Barren as level two and Lava, Acidic as level three. Right now, I can colonize Acidic quicker than barren and it just feels weird.

Espionage, my leader was targeted successfully and his opinion dropped, I’m not sure if there was a warning and I missed it do to all the action going on, but some alien will pay.

It’s really a good session and the huge map is not only extending the game tremendously, it is putting many aspects into a different perspective and making exploration feel beyond epic.

 

I'm way passed that I'm afraid, but I just gave you a save for a bug that may give you some opportunities for further combat, I noticed the same thing when I fought against Cyrus Olken. He commanded a Battleship and my single Destroyer and two Frigates were able to defeat him, though I did lose one of the Frigates.
This was fairly recent, I'll go check to see if the autosave is still there.

Edit
I missed the autosave by a single turn.
Here is more info.
The Cruiser had long range direct fire weapons and Missiles, the Battleship did not have long range weapons, only missiles. Between those two cases, it would have been more urgent for the Battleship to close. I was able to defeat it by moving close enough where my own direct fire weapons were in range, this allowed me to fire my own missiles, bring his shields down quicker, and ultimately destroy him before he could get his second kill on me. Had Cyrus closed so that his own direct fire weapons were in range, his missiles would have had less distance to travel, (striking quicker), and he would have brought additional firepower to bear on me.

 

Eventually I wasn’t able to continue this session as I kept running into a frustrating issue. After a while, I was able to come up with my own work-around, but by that point I had already deleted this session and a few more.

Still, I’ve been able to observe a few things that seem fairly consistent in all my sessions, right about to the end of the early game. I want to discuss some of that now and later on tonight, I’ll provide more details and feedback.

I now see the AI factions expanding very well, at least on when they are set to very powerful or all powerful. In most sessions it was the Sulak and Nova that would be in first place, but not exclusively so. For example, in the session I will detail tonight it is the Humans and Draguul who are in the lead.

I’ve consistently seen the AI factions outpace me, (by a lot) in all areas… save one. Regardless of the fact that I am usually dead last in production, it turns out that I always have the largest fleet. In my current session, I am using 20 out of 50 SSPs and have the largest fleet anyway. Personally I am beginning to suspect that the AIs will need to focus a bit more on building up there fleets.

Technology wise, I am also dead last, but again, I think that may be misleading. Having seen the AIs outpace me quickly, I was forced into focusing on weapons and shields more than I usually do, That means that where it counts, I don’t think I am that far behind. In either case we shall soon see if I am correct as I am now gearing up ship production and preparing to launch a war of extermination against my immediate neighbours.

Diplomacy wise, I’ve seen the AI declare a lot of wars on other AI factions and once against me. These seem more like border skirmishes though and it was easy for me to gain peace without losing anything. After that, I find it very easy to establish good relations with trade treaties and the occasional strategic resource. I’ve been offered mining treaties and research treaties as well, but turned those down. With the research treaties, it is imperative for me to see if being so far behind in tech (according to the graph), means what it meant in MoO2

Combat wise I have mixed findings so far. I find enemy ships do not close with me in combat, even when they should. I’m starting to suspect this is a bug.

I’ve noticed the space requirements for bomb racks seem to have gone up considerably. The cruisers I use to build that had good weaponry and bomb racks are no longer possible. It may be that I need to create two types now, a standard cruiser with bomb racks, and a battle cruiser without, we’ll see.

Fighters continue to underwhelm, still too slow, (my fast missiles are faster) and you can only have a single bay regardless of the fact that they don’t take up much space.

Battle pods seem too expensive for the benefit. For example, a Frigate with battle pods costs a little less than a Destroyer without. The Destroyer however still offered more space, and stronger shields. I still use Frigates, but in fewer numbers and plan to phase them out entirely if this session goes to the late game.

Anyhow, that is all for now, I’ll pick this up tonight (hopefully)and offer additional thoughts.

 

Hmm, I see after a few rounds of war among one another they did increase their fleet strengths, in the mean time...

I’m ready.

Here is the situation. I control 11 systems consisting of 10 colonies and six outposts, in other words, when we take into account the number of visible stars plus the systems that need to be discovered via remote exploration, less than 8% of the map.

My opponents are all doing very well with the Human and Draguul in the lead. Since my last post, I see the AI factions have increased their fleets but mine is still the single largest, everywhere else, I am dead last.

I’ve decided that it’s better to attack my weakest neighbor first, the Nova, they recently got the worst of a few wars and it makes sense, besides, I need their territory.

My first attack will target three systems on the same turn, I am slightly outnumbered at Brect and considerably outnumbered at Ichac. However, I have two small advantages. My only ship leader is a leveled up Pike and his flagship is the “Punisher”, I believe these two factors will aid me greatly.

My remaining strike is at Lenus, there are no visible defenders there but I want the system and need to insure the Nova don’t use it as a base to attack my flanks.

Oh yes, I’ve left some small garrisons at Terra, Enzade and Suborix, hopefully they can hold the line if the nova move against me in those areas.

Judging from the number and type of ships I see arrayed against me, I'm expecting difficult fights, this should be a good test and provide us additional feedback

 

While I only got a single turn in before deciding to wait for next patched version, I can share some more details now.

A tactical battle occurred at Brect and was quite informative. The Nova had two colonies there, one of which had a star fortress in orbit and gave me a glimpse of what their research priorities were. Naturally I avoided the planet with a fortress and attacked the other. The battle saw my force of 1 Cruiser, 1 Destroyer and 1 Frigate facing off against two Nova Cruisers and a single Frigate.

At this point I can confirm that the AI usually fields missiles, (and they should), and can even add that they mostly use them well, (Targeting two ships simultaneously rather than just focusing on my tank (Cruiser).

Of course, all my ships had PD weapons as well, (which work), but still took significant damage. Where the AI again failed to take maximum advantage of its ships was in closing the distance with me. Those enemy ships had direct fire weapons as well but they never used them as they kept range, I on the other hand had no such worries and destroyed the defenders without losing a ship. Had the Ai closed the gap, I would have taken losses or possibly lost the battle. Still, this is an improvement over earlier releases.

The battle at Ichac went well with the Punisher, 2DDs and 2FFs under pike, taking on a similar number of Nova ships, however, prior to my arrival the Nova Battleship and at least one Cruiser left the system, it was a slaughter. My take from this is that if you get the Punisher keep her, she is quite formidable. If you have to face the Punisher, bring lots of ships, swarm her with missiles, and expect serious losses.

Some other observations.

On the harder difficulties, I love how asteroid exploitations have become so vital. Large asteroid belts I reserve for production and the rest go to either trade or research. In the early game, with a few leaders and buildings constructed, you can easily start draining money, especially if you don’t have trade treaties. Also, you may find yourself lagging in research, again, asteroids help. To be honest, where I use to barely build any asteroid outposts, I now don’t leave a single one without some sort of exploitation… Nice touch Adam.

 

Just a quick thought on Fighters for the future. I thought it best to write it down lest I forget.

There are two tweaks that would enhance their value.

Increasing their base speed, even by a factor of .25 would help (.50 max), This should be easy

More difficult would be to allow the installation of more than one bay, but it would still launch as a single squadron, The squadron strength would increase (as it would represent more fighters), but during battle, it would still be executed by selecting the special and selecting a target. This would give you more fighters without having to re-design too much. Perhaps we can even set base capacities per hull. This means that a cruiser for example could still be limited to a single bay but a Battleship to two and Titan either 3 or four. Something along these lines may give meaningful impact to the fighters then without treating them as another weapon slot (like MoO2 did)