Thoughts

from Offworld Forums

Ok, played a dozen games between yesterday and this morning, so here are some thoughts:

 

- UI Performance drops like crazy in endgame (offworld + having absorbed other players). There is a huge delay in operating the UI, like opening the research/offworld/hacker interfaces. Very possibly you have a memory leak.

 

- Robotics have a huge advantage, as they can produce food and sell it, which the game loves to buy at excessive prices (I had 4 hydroponic farms and bought out 4 players with just the cash I got from it).

 

- There should be a penalty for building the expansion on top of mineral, not a bonus. In a couple games there was just 3 tiles of iron, all packed together. A quick player saw that and built on top of it, gaining a good amount of starting iron. Noone else could make steel cheaply for the rest of the game.

 

- I understand it is a lot to ask, but I would prioritize adding a host migration system. Or at least a message on the lobby that says something on the lines "Match host is the server. If host leaves, the game ends".

 

- Electronics are too easy to produce, with a major boost to the economy

 

- Buying stock can be done too early. T2 in some cases. I suggest putting a cap or making it more expensive, extending the game duration. Maybe T4-T5? If so, offworld trading could provide even more cash, as it's usually a race to get there.

 

As a Unity developer myself I can provide some more tech-y suggestions, so feel free to send me a PM with a skype username and we can discuss :)

Lastly, what Unity version and UI package do you use? NGUI? UGUI? In-house? It might be the reason for slowness...

23,941 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from Offworld Forums Top

I agree that a memory leak seems likely, in fact this game makes my PC behave very similarly to Beyond Earth before the first major patch.  The whole system locks up for about 1 second then runs 1 second then rinse and repeat.

 

I can last roughly 30 to 40 minutes before this happens, and I'm running a system well above the recommended specs.

 

Reply #2 from Offworld Forums Top

Yeah, around 30 minutes mark seems about right. My system is also well above requirements

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Reply #3 from Offworld Forums Top

Wonder if the devs actually read these. On the first 24 hours after release they should have 50 thousand eyes on the forums...

Reply #5 from Offworld Forums Top

We have a UI fix that should be in the next patch that should greatly reduce the latency experienced in the late game. We don't know how it'll effect ATI drivers though and we don't want to push up a patch that improves the performance for 80% of the players while the other 20% get nothing. We're going to put it through QA today and early next week. We want to get this version out as soon as possible, but we want to at least maintain our current stability level.

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Reply #6 from Offworld Forums Top

Sorry, when I say "get nothing" I mean the UI won't render for them. We'd rather have poor performance for players than them not being able to play at all.

Reply #7 from Offworld Forums Top

Please, PLEASE add a window/section in the UI where I can see the ping.

 

Last 2 matches lost because it took 10-20 seconds to do anything as the hosts had a connection quality dating back from before the Bronze Age.

 

EDIT: no comments relative to anything else I said, aside from the UI?

Reply #8 from Offworld Forums Top

Patience. Fixing crash/game breaking issues is more important at the moment. Most of those have been commented on at least once somewhere.

There is a penalty for founding on the resources. you cant mine them. You only get the very small fixed amount up front.Painful when resources are short, as you noticed. It's a choice, found on them, or found to mine them. Short term vs long term benefit.

I'm assuming you have played mostly robotic. since most of your comments are directed at that. Other players could have made food too. The AI is somewhat dumb and doesn't specialize though if you were playing against AI.

Electronics are produced very slowly. .17 base per second, and require 3 inputs (4 claims for poor production). They require significant investment to produce enough of, which robotic is a little better suited for. Others types have other needs stressing claim use so I don't think its "too easy"

As for stock, Why shouldn't you be able to spend money early game to buy some? It does noticeably interfere with your own growth after all as 5-10k is usually enough to upgrade... Restricting it to late game for the sake of longevity is rather arbitrary, no?

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Reply #9 from Offworld Forums Top

Quoting indczn1, reply 8

Patience. Fixing crash/game breaking issues is more important at the moment. Most of those have been commented on at least once somewhere.

Noted. Thanks for answering

Quoting indczn1, reply 8

There is a penalty for founding on the resources. you cant mine them. You only get the very small fixed amount up front.Painful when resources are short, as you noticed. It's a choice, found on them, or found to mine them. Short term vs long term benefit.

Unfortunately, for the time being, that choice can completely break a game


Quoting indczn1, reply 8

I'm assuming you have played mostly robotic. since most of your comments are directed at that. Other players could have made food too. The AI is somewhat dumb and doesn't specialize though if you were playing against AI.

Indeed. I love the simplicity of the expansion and the resistance towards EMP (which I find myself to be the often target). Also, just played the tutorial VS the AI. All games are VS humans, as IMHO it's the best game to learn new strategies and speed to adapt gameplay.


Quoting indczn1, reply 8

Electronics are produced very slowly. .17 base per second, and require 3 inputs (4 claims for poor production). They require significant investment to produce enough of, which robotic is a little better suited for. Others types have other needs stressing claim use so I don't think its "too easy"

I honestly did not notice that they were produced slower; interesting. That being said, I still think that they have a significant advantage over the other choices.


Quoting indczn1, reply 8

As for stock, Why shouldn't you be able to spend money early game to buy some? It does noticeably interfere with your own growth after all as 5-10k is usually enough to upgrade... Restricting it to late game for the sake of longevity is rather arbitrary, no?

 

I guess more matches will make me shift my opinion (or not). For now, I see myself buying out many players rather quickly.

 

Bonus question: any ETA for the post-game awards?

Reply #10 from Offworld Forums Top

Well, during the scanning phase you can figure out if an important resource is in very short supply. If iron is missing, pick scavenger, if water is missing, pick robotic. Or gamble and pick one that relies on iron and claim those tiles and profit. Not sure I'd call it game breaking since you have every opportunity to gather information and adapt accordingly before founding.The variance does make the game more interesting, although frustrating at times as well.

Being able to buy stock early is likely a reflection of difference in player skill at this point. Perhaps robotic has an advantage mid game, perhaps not. Time will tell. I saw several players stagnate at level 1 last night. The initial learning curve is tough. Eventually players will start emping early steel mine clusters or nuking iron tiles for robotic.

Reply #11 from Offworld Forums Top

I havent played a multiplayer game because im not the mp guy so i speak for the sp part only, but how about a dynamic stock price for offworld shipment? The static version that it is now is just too easy to win, Its just a race to tech 5 and then spam whatever thats make most money fastest before you get bought off by the AI.