Have to confess, I was curious from the get-go, but what sold me is the continued earnest responses from the devs on the thread here. Unfortunately, I'm going to need to put you guys to the test: I'm running into the same gray screen error. I have an Air 2, running the latest iOS build, have 3 GB free, closed a ton of games and I restarted the device. Twice. That about covers it. ;p Any idea what could be going on? Thanks in advance!
Sorry to hear you're having an issue. Email us at support[at]gamernationx[dot]com and we'll troubleshoot with you. Thanks! John
Has annyone (Dev's included) got any plans for an extended gameplay vid? I'm swaying on the fence here and would like to see i in action. The trailer vids are a nice intro but not informative enough for a real look at the gameplay. Thanks
Hey all, A few balancing notes I thought I'd pass along; early in my 2d "normal" game, before the 1st council, I got two maxed out tactical officers out of escape pods and this completely unbalanced the game. I was one-shotting the Ai with skill shot and both barrels up into the 3d enemy base battle or so. It also removed any need to upgrade weapons and tech, as I seemed to be well ahead of the difficulty ramp-up. Hard to say whether it's the maxed skill tactical officer being too great a prize, or both barrels and skill shot just being too good at hitting and damage, probably a bit of both. Seems like both barrels could stand a bigger accuracy hit and skill shot could lose some damage. A maxed out tactical officer is pretty big deal. Really enjoying the game so far...can't stop playing!
Thanks for purchasing the game, glad you are enjoying it! Great feedback on the tactical officer abilities, we'll be doing a gameplay balancing release very soon and this is very helpful.
I like this idea. Once I get the gameplay balancing release submitted to Apple, I'll put a longer gameplay video together.
Do the shields have to be completely down before you can target specific parts, for example to target the armory before boarding? Or is it possible to lower the % armory when shields are not completely down?
I've definitely targeted armory and critical systems while shields were still up BUT am not sure if damage done was only based on the damage remaining after the shields were overcome. On an unrelated note, while I'm enjoying the game, I think Owen of PocketTactics made a fair point that this game is a lot more about reacting and defending than acting proactively, or as Owen put it, "Just about every game makes you the striker, the hero that everyone is watching. Sentinel Command makes you the goalie, the sucker who only gets noticed if he messes up."
You can always do the 'Target [component]' commands, but the shields will absorb damage equal to the remaining shield strength, with the remainder bleeding over to damage the targeted component. So it's possible the shields could absorb the entire attack if they are high enough.
So, after my previous impressions I decided to go back and try the game on hard. I lost one battle, on purpose, that's it. I also missed a refinery being taken at one point. For Hard, it, well... Wasn't. The AI did seem solidly improved over normal. Most of my feedback remains the same. The game IS enjoyable, and I spent several hours on it. I was cheesing the game, doing every exploitative method I could think on. In the hardest battle, a lvl 4 installation, I lost a single ship. I only lost it because I really wanted to capture the Tier 5 ship on screen. I finished the game in just over three war councils time. Humorous bug: http://i.imgur.com/sLvnD93.jpg End game pictures: http://i.imgur.com/nMsdv9D.jpg http://I.imgur.com/H15DanU.jpg http://I.imgur.com/CWU8luF.jpg
Thanks for the detailed feedback! The end game screenshots are especially helpful for us to reference on balancing. To think I was worried that 'Hard' would be too difficult!
Forgot to mention that there is a huge damage bonus (+150%) if you use a 'Target [component]' ability on a ship that has 0 shields.
I still haven't played any more than I did before, but Maglor's stats mirror sort of what I feel my own probably would by the end of the game. Especially the helmsman. I almost never use evasion over shield boost, and if I do, it's the captain sustain evasion skill. I think I probably scan more, but usually just for cinematic and role playing effects, and in the beginning, there's absolutely no downside to using your Marines because you get most of them back, and they act like an unblockable poison affect in the typical rpg sense. Have not gotten far enough to see what repel borders would do. Based on those stats I think I'm just going to start a game on the hardest setting. But again, I consider myself a seasoned strategy game, I think for more casual fans, Maglor's hard stats probably reflect their experience on normal. Although this is just my educated guess.
Just want to give a quick update. If anyone has been unable to play the game due to the 'gray screen' bug, we have a fix ready and we've asked Apple to expedite the review to get it out as quickly as possible. Some of the gameplay balancing changes were included in this version - not as many as we plan on making but we did not want to delay getting the fix for the 'gray screen' bug out. I'm going to work on making the Hard mode more difficult in v1.4, which we should have deployed in the next 2 weeks. Here is the list of changes for v1.3: Bug Fixes * Fix for the 'gray screen' issue that some users have reported at game launch AI * Decreased AI target selection randomness from 40% to 10% Game Balancing * Increased Overcharge accuracy penalty from 25% to 30% * Increased Both Barrels accuracy penalty from 10% to 20% * Improved benefit of Divert to Shields ability * Decreased initiative benefit of Haste ability from 50% to 25% * Increased damage absorption rate for Absorb Fire ability from 30% to 40% * Increased Scan ability component damage from 200% to 250% * Reduced chance to block Shield Syphon ability from 20% to 15% * Increased Transfer Energy ability from 300% to 350% of the shield generator rate * Increased Gravity Field ability projectile penalty from 15% to 35% * Increased Automated Turrets ability intruder casualty bonus from 200% to 250% * Increased Reserve Forces ability reinforcement count from 20 to 40 * Increased Evasion ability dodge benefit from 10% to 12% * Increased Rally ability shield regeneration benefit from 20% to 25% * Increased Rally ability to avoid component damage from 10% to 20% * Increased Divert to Weapons ability damage bonus from 35% to 40% * Increased Reactive Damage Control benefit to 100% to 200% repair rate * Increased Scramble Targeting ability benefit from 15% to 30% * Increased Energy Barrier armor rating from 4 to 6 * Decreased the cost for Damage Control upgrades * Increased the cost for Weapon upgrades
I like a lot of those changes. (Not sure how that AI randomness will work, we will see). I normally don't like giving public design feedback, but I feel I need to state this. The one change I would make is Overcharge having more of an accuracy penalty (or a damage to own ship chance, like Emergency Shields), and lower the accuracy change you've made to Both Barrels. The reason for this is that the only time I ever use Both Barrels is to take out emplacements. I've never used it against a ship because overcharge simply does more damage more reliably. This means I'm using a Skill 3 skill over a Skill 5. In the hard game you have those images for, I didn't even touch Both Barrels until I went to tackle the Strength 3 and 4 bases. You've increased Overcharges accuracy penalty LESS than Both Barrels, making Overcharge still the far superior skill to use. --- For a version 2 change, or whenever you think of tackling some core gameplay changes, here is something I want to mention for your consideration. Each successive Tier of weapon should move faster. I love a lot of the design choices there, but if I'm going to be waiting for animations the entire time I'd like the animations to be faster. It's really annoying to get a brand new weapon that takes LONGER to reach its target than the last Tier. (The agonising speed of the Tier 3 Missiles for one thing). There are a lot of other changes I would make, but that's me changing your design, which isn't the best thing in the world. Ultimately there is a lot to love about your game. And I look forward to watching it improve.
I like adding the chance to damage your own ship - maybe even just the weapons system. I'll try to get this in v1.4. This makes a lot of sense. As you get more comfortable with the game the pace of combat should pick up. Look for this in the v1.4. I appreciate the suggestions and am glad you like the game!
Lost the game after the new update. Mission accomplished, I'm loving it. Bout to go update my review. The new AI feels much more realistically aggressive without being cheap.
