October Vault is up!

The Title track.

Listened to it non-stop for about 10 times. LOVE IT!! Memorable, catchy, not over the top, just right!! I approve it being serious, dark and gritty!!! Keep the drama in the game! Gave me goosebumps!

Thumping is stupendous!! Dirty, ragged distortion sounds SICK!! "Middle-Eastern" harmony adds mystery and menace - just what Space feels like to me when I play Star Control.

The first 2 minutes are the best game OST I've listened to since Endless Legend - War of the Sundered. I don't know if Riku will ever see this, but the second part of the track could benefit from more pronounced (dirty, high pitched) snare drums fading in from 2:30, fading out at 3:08 and fading back in at 3:50. Make an accent on the rhythm there and vary it a tiny bit to break a monotony of it.

This track is on par (if not better) with Mass Effect title track and almost Civilization 4 level (nothing beats Baba Yetu to me yet).

Melee wars.

100% wud bang.

The rest. 

The prelude story seems legit. Soaked in every bit of it.

MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT!!!

The species names!!! Why are they ALL, but one, TWO SYLLABLE? How? I mean EVERY. SINGLE. ONE OF THEM, but Scryve (unless it's S-cry-vee, then it's ALL OF THEM!)!! I don't count Jeff 'cause he's not a real race. Were all these specie names designed by a singular AI entity? Where's our Arilou Lalee'lay, Slylandro, Orz, Shofixti, Exquivan, Daktaklakpak, Clairconct..what I can't even spell it, let alone say it?? Can something be done at this point? This stands out like a sore thumb to me! Feels very wrong? Lazy creativity? I don't know how to describe it... Very disappointed if nothing can be done about it. FML!

Yep! Was figuring Brad or Andrew would start an update thread. Still curious why they leave it up to us...

I really like the update but to be honest, it's sort of challenging to give feedback on. I appreciated the small bit of backstory and I like the preview of all the ship abilities. The preview of the intro theme from Riku was a nice surprise and I like the sound of it. It is a bit on the bleak side compared to the more adventurous, sweeping epic sound of SC2's intro though. I'm still curious as to whether or not he is the only person involved with the soundtrack; doesn't Stardock have any other artists contributing music?

I feel you guys made the right decision to honor the established melee formula, although I'm not opposed to seeing alternate play modes with multiple ships in larger arenas in the future. It sounds like we're being prompted for some input on ship weapons and abilities, but for me at least, it's a challenge to think up something new and different when we haven't had the chance to see how the ships described here actually play. The abilities definitely sound like interesting mashups of classic abilities from different ships throughout both SC2 and SC3.

I could be wrong and will reserve judgment for January when melee is released for testing, but my overall impression is that these ships seem defensive in nature and none stand out as dedicated combat ships designed for dogfighting and assault maneuvers, which I'd like to see more of. I'm thinking something along the lines of the Yehat Terminator, Utwig Jugger, or Kohr-Ah Marauder. Ships that are very clearly assault-oriented with aggressive profiles.

One of the things that bothered me about SC3's ships was that they also seemed to focus on defensive tactics and abilities that made combat protracted, uninspired and underwhelming. I don't know if that was a result of bad AI design or bad ship design, but SC3 combat was just a chore and I don't have fond memories of it like I do of the combat from SC1 and SC2. One example that always irritated me was the Clairconctlar Pinnacle (with both a high crew count and a warping ability) which always took a long time to deal with because the AI was constantly warping away. The Arilou Skiff could also warp in a similar fashion, but it could be taken out with a lucky shot or two in most cases.

Not trying to accuse, but I'd just hate to see a selection of ships with mostly defensive strategies turning melee into an unengaging experience or a boring stalemate like SC3. Then again, it could have just been the awful migraine-inducing combat music that soured the whole experience for me.

Wow... that was quick!

have to check it out now! =D

Thanks for better ship pictures.

My overall opinion is that I need to see the ships in action before I can say if I like the abilities versus those of SC2. For example, I don't know what a laser ribbon bola is or how it would work. Is it like those tethered missiles in SC3? (Probably one of the few abilities in SC3 I liked.)

The "Famished" seemed like they had an interesting Syreen/Orz combo, though, which sounds fun.

Regarding the rest of the update... Looks like I'll need to come up with a filler killer mod after all. Soulless PG husk remover.

I always thought that the Mauler was on the extremely defensive end. Compare it with the Broodhome, which was very much a long range attack ship.

Anyways, what abilities in the SCO line-up were overly defensive? You had a teleport, a regeneration, some short range purges, sure, but you don't have any shields or evasive maneuvers.

Could we get a ramming ship that is fast, but not so great at turning when at full speed?

My first impression (forgive typos, grammar issues and etc. as i do not have much time to work on this one):

1) The music sample is awesome with subtle references to SC2. Amazing. The best thing I have heard yet out of all SCO soundtrack that devs have presented to us. kudos to Riku.

2) Lore is ok. I would use some other name than the "UN" as this organization is in its decline (at least in our universe :)). Something like Reformed United Nations or League of Nations Reborn (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations) would fit better IMO. I also think that one could add some basic lifeform to one of the Solar System planets (a plant or amoebae or something). To satisfy our search for an alien life. So Sol is still boring but shows that life can be somewhere out there.+ One should be able to encounter some "mining outpost" in the Sol  to justify references to development of space industry. Some abandoned mines or research outpost (used to be populated by Synths). I would be a bit careful with using the term singularity as Synths might become godlike in comparison to us humans. Anyways, I would suggest the following idea - when synths "departed or left" - they took most of technologies, know how and etc. and deleted a lot of shit so that humanity was pushed back by several decades and decided to implement laws on limitation of Synths and AI development in order to avoid same developments and confrontation in future. + Synths story might be a separate DLC

3) origin universe vs. other universes - i am fine with the explanation. Just make sure that SCO universe might have some layers on top and below of it, like "infra" and "supra" (latin) space (aka Quasi space and Orz space or whatever). Like underground or cloud maps in Might and magic or age of wonders. Some space might be used in futre to connect SCO universe to other Universes (mods, conversions). I will call it "thin space"

4) Galaxy and quadrant maps. What can i say... great potential. I would change the colour to a bit (more into blue) and use some "fog" or something (HOMM2 type of map border) to denote unexplored regions. Devs, would you give us some comments on what circles and dots above stars mean. + If circles means spheres f influence - it would still be good to encounter alien vessels beyond their spheres of influence. Btw. what is the maximum number of moons that one planet can have? At the moment I saw just one. And what is the maximum number of planets that on solar system can hold? + Will space station "replace" moons or might orbit moons too?

5) I am happy with Melee Wars outcome. Back to the roots.

6) Ships - I like the ships. It might be interesting to see them in scale comparison (Shofixti vs Ur-Quan dreadnought). I still would like to see some flying saucer or triangle type of UFO ship... may be as a derelict or crash landed game asset with your missing grand-grand-grand father frozen in a cargo pod . We have to justify alien abductions :)))).

7) Schedule - the game should take as long as it is needed to be a product of high quality. just do not cut some content from the game because you are rushed so that you immediately add it as day 0 DLC (ME 3 Prothean thing.) If you have cost overruns, then you might ask Founders for another round of financing and I am sure that even lifetime founders will be ready to pay extra buck to cover some costs, even if they get nothing extra in return (save for a super quality game) .

I hope this will help.

P.S. I have not commented on August and September updates but i will try to find some time (provided my comments are still of some value to the "outdated" reports). Main concerns - crew shall not be denoted by bars make it dots or whatever.+  Is it that difficult to make several color schemes for the interface so that some might choose orange, some red, some grey, some blue, some purple? + Plz. work more on backgrounds when one is navigating in the solar system. I am a big fan of pixel graphics so i would prefer pixels to 3d in 80% of cases, but just look at the amazing backgrounds of SC2 (when in a solar system or what one can see in the porthole of Utwig interaction screen). They are not too over saturated with colours (nebulae and etc.), not too empty, just the right mix.

Review of October Update:

1. Title music is pretty cool and should appeal to today's gamer market.

2. The Lore is what I expected it to be given the circumstances. It's neither good nor bad, but a logical step in the evolution of this title.

3. The map is ok in appearance. Until I can muck with it and test it's functionality, it's hard to give an opinion that renders merit. I won't waste time here picking it apart because there is not enough to really get a feel. (Not a Knock)

4.Super Melee Wars gameplay is reasonable and I just look forward to moving on with it so we can play.

5.Ships For Super Melee Wars are neat to look at , but I'm not sure that I like all the weapons. This is another case of, I have to play it and see how they balance each other and how they appear and play on the game itself before I really say what I think may not work so well or works really well.

6.Posted tentative schedule is fair enough, but what happens is what happens at this point.

***Disclaimer***

All above statements are direct feedback to the developer's monthly update and for their benefit.

Ok, I managed to find another 5 mins to type something (this is not the appropriate place for August and September updates but...).

Having examined all written and discussed re August and September updates I can say the following:

Solar systems seem a bit small and one can cross them very fast (at least this is my initial impression).

Temperature-Weather-Gravity-Biology bars - should have 7 sections. -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3. 0 or -3 (numbers are given just for illustration purposes). Depending on the actual bar, sections might mean no danger or no resources and etc. Or one can simply stick to numeric system from 0 to, say 9 (somewhat similar to SC2).

One might add the following effects-hazards to the planet (in addition to what has already been discussed) - permanent fog (like on Venus), winds, acid rain (clouds of dangerous precipitation). Has anyone asked -  what happens when our lander encounters, say, a canyon? Will it fall and "die" and etc.

Is planetary environment destructible (to some extent)? (sry for NMS reference... or Scorched Earth... Worms?).

Shadows do not matter that much, one can add a dark spot under some objects and that would be enough, don`t waste time on shadows, esp. dynamic ones.

Quoting Hunam_, reply 1

Short ranged gun and an auto-aim turret? Sounds like what a console player would play.

(That's an Overwatch reference, btw.)

Edit: Remember that at one point they had 3 turrets out. They are similar to the Avatar. 

Also, note that image quoting is broken. I had to edit the post to add your image in manually.

^ Yeah, except Avatar is better, 'cause drones followed your ship. And this is made to where your opponent has a huge chance to avoid them completely since they are drop-off and stationary (?). The main gun being short ranged doesn't add to versatility at all. The only way I see this being played semi-effectively is running away, plopping drones behind yourself and letting your enemy chase you. Another, not a much better strategy is plopping drones around yourself and turtling up (effectively turning into a sitting duck that eats lead or photons from longer ranged ships). As I said - totally fine to have some inferior ships. Somebody has to take one for the team.

(1) Riku. Riku, Riku, Riku. My heart melted a little when I heard that riff from the SC2 intro. I was well on my way to remixing that exact track, but now it feels pointless because you've done it perfectly (that's even the direction I wanted to go with it). Thank you, so well done.

(2) I really enjoy the lore as it's been presented so far. I was legitimately (and pleasantly) surprised to find that we're keeping the Androsynth story nearly intact. I mean, they could even technically be called Androsynth outright, since that's a logical combination of greek roots. Anyways, it feels right.

(3) The more we can do to distance this from the lore of SC3, the better.

(4) I'm a bit confused. Most of what was revealed about combat was inconsequential, what were the results of camera angles and such?

(5) The ships look great. Especially the Zork Worm . I'm glad that SOME of the combat mechanics from 3 are coming back, because some of them were really fun and meshed well with the classic ships. (The rest of those attacks can stay in SC3).

(6)I'm not saying I'm  a pessimist, rather that I'm a pessimistic optimist. Schedules mean nothing to me until I see tangible output

I just wanted to throw in a quick feedback  on the music title.   LOVE IT!!   I have it playing on loop right now in my media player.

Definitely loving it.  Keep up the good work on that.

Happy with the final choices of Super Melee.    Makes sense to me.

The Tywom drones orbited the ship. Check the combat video from Feb 2016.

The Avatar may be a better ship, though, because the tractor beam feature was more deadly than being able to regenerate drones/zapsats.

^ Yeah, but i think they "evolved" into drop-off drones after internal testing. Unless drop-off means something else like deployment?.. And yeah, tractor beam made Avatar a complete ship.

I'm gonna blast it out of my truck speakers on the way home today.

It is likely an unfortunate choice of words. But this is why we need a video demoing all the abilities. You can't describe them all without misconceptions.

Yes!

1. I listened to the soundtrack while reading through the news. Perfect.

2. THANK YOU for sticking with the tried-and-true Melee formula.

My excitement level just ratcheted up several notches!

Quoting Hunam_, reply 11

^ Yeah, except Avatar is better, 'cause drones followed your ship. And this is made to where your opponent has a huge chance to avoid them completely since they are drop-off and stationary (?). The main gun being short ranged doesn't add to versatility at all. The only way I see this being played semi-effectively is running away, plopping drones behind yourself and letting your enemy chase you. Another, not a much better strategy is plopping drones around yourself and turtling up (effectively turning into a sitting duck that eats lead or photons from longer ranged ships). As I said - totally fine to have some inferior ships. Somebody has to take one for the team.

I haven't had time to look at the new stuff yet, but I am a big fan of ships with mines:-)  Their "Drone" is what we would call a "Captor Mine".  A ship that can drop a captor mine and then knife fight well is very powerful if you are dumb enough to try and knife fight (stay at point blank/short range) with it.  You leave a captor mine and then stay with it.  It's also OK for discouraging pursuit, but nowhere near as good as a "gravitic mine" in that regard.  I will probably like this captor mine ship a lot, even though it is pretty helpless against something with a long range weapon:-)

Don't assume anything, yet. They still haven't answered if they are sticking with the ships-are-always-on-screen-until-adjusted-manually camera angle. Nor have they clarified 1-vs-many planets. And there's still the gravity well issue hanging over our heads.

Loved the music. Feet couldn't stop popping.

Enjoyed the bit of detail in the Lore/Backstory. 

I liked the SCO maps as they really give a sense of immensity and...opportunity! I can't wait to play with them.

Super-Melee! I like the choices that you made.

Love the ships. For a ship suggestion, what about a gelatinous space-cube? Stuns and causes damage by slamming into its opponent at high speed and then slowly engulfs its victim by extending pseudopods to pull the targeted ship into itself. For a twist, inorganic material gets absorbed while the crew ends up stuck in the gel-o until expelled into space. Big cube. And it has to be of a very slightly translucent green color. After all, you want to see what's inside.

Schedule and dates - it's good to have a plan but if it takes longer to get the quality and experience, then so be it.

Least we have some general timelines for stuff. I'm not holding them to it as teh gamedev gods are capricious. But still its exciting stuff

Also since I actually like sausage and charcuterie is it weird that I 'like' how the sausage is made?

Also, regarding the team's apparent discomfort over "unrealistic" edge wrapping, I always viewed it like a map projection of spherical space onto the 2D playfield—for example, it certainly IS realistic to fly from Alaska to Russia via edge-wrapping.

Very true. However:

1. I can't imagine how edge wrapping would be functional with a manually-aimed camera system, so I'm making an assumption there. Could be proven wrong.
2. Although the jury is still out on obstacles/features in the arena, I feel like multiple planets, etc. could potentially be added without breaking the core gameplay. I personally think they're minor issues compared to 1v1, pick-your-ship, and edge wrapping.

I started thinking about what was left out of the list of ships...

We saw the Dan'Scryve / Scryve'Nath ship in September, but it was left out of the linup in October. (If the abilities are not locked down for it, it should shoot out an incredibly long, violet, dark energy beam that pulls enemies toward the beam. It would be so OP fun.)

The synths are obviously important to the story, but they have no ships. They must be an expansion race. Or they are the Dan'Nath (since we suspect that the Dan'Scryve / Scryve'Nath are the end-game menace). Or they were eaten by the Orz.

The Mowlings and Jeff are listed as two different ship types in September but now share a single ship slot in October.

The Greegrox was missing in September. Are they "YouCantTrustHim"? I thought they were going for the cartoony kids show look for that guy, which is why I asked.

These must be the Phamysht...

I skimmed through the new release, I'll make a post about the ships later.  I didn't really even look at the ships yet.

Thank you for the 2D galactic map.  I really despise confusing "3D star maps".  

The original wrap around map edge of SC2 is a very freeing thing, the ships will be much easier to design this way.  Speed is no longer that big of an issue, you can even have a super fast ship now... the map will just bring it right back to the enemy again.  You need a ship with "screen shaking rocket boosters" now!  The screen wrap really makes "balance" of this brain dead simple, you almost can't go wrong as the screen wrap solves most of the difficult problems related to speed.  It's weird, but it's also Star Control.

I'll look at the ships tomorrow.

It's doable, but I wouldn't like it. Imagine viewing the game at an angle. The camera moves with your ship. You're heading toward a planet. You fly by the planet. You pass the planet. You then see the planet again in the distance. That's how it would have to work with warp edges without totally borking your camera view.

Again, I don't like this, but this is how it would work.

Consider the combat video shown in February. The planets are huge compared to the ships, and it makes the zoom level critical. We haven't heard if they are reducing the sizes of the planets, either. We need to find out more about the arena and the scales of objects in it before we can declare things safe.