The Windows hot key for pasting things without formatting is Ctrl-Shift-V. Works in emails and all over. Very useful.

Something has struck me as being odd about the resource collection that I only alluded to briefly in the Beta 1 thread.

I mentioned that it was strange that we couldn't get any uranium from Earth, for example.

What I find really strange as the beta experience has sat with me for about 10 days now and the setting of the game has begun to sink in is that the things asked to be done at the beginning of SC:O are very similar to SC2, but there is really no reason why this should be the case.

In SC2, the Earth is slave shielded and its wealth and resources are completely inaccessible to you; however, in SC:O, the Earth is completely "normal" and so we should be able to rely on its industry and capabilities to further our needs. Especially since the Scrvye threat is now realized by humanity.

Think about it this way: our very existence has been called out and is now in jeopardy - is our planet really going to just sit by and not offer any of its resources to aid in our survival? The Commander says that building the spaceship used a lot of resources, but there is no way that is anywhere close to the capability of what we have on this planet (even if we were really wasteful for the next 70 years).

I realize the establishment of RU as a form of commerce is what was done in SC2, but you have to remember that's because the Starbase had very limited resources in that game. This simply is not the case with SC:O!

I'm kind of not really sure what to do here. On the one hand, you have created this style of gameplay with the Beta, but on the other hand, it is totally not really suited for the setting of SC:O. It's like you're pounding a square peg into a round hole - it simply doesn't fit!

Part of Star Control history is that mankind's resources were used pretty heavily up until we lost 20 years or so before the beginning of SC2. Ignoring it here just does not seem right to me and really SC:O is set in SC1's time frame, not SC2's as the beginning of SC2 is after we have lost!

I'd really hate to say this at this point, since the game is pretty far along, but I really think you need to significantly retool this part of the game.

There should really be no need to pick up any common resources early in the game. I know this might sound even "sacrilegious" at this point to even suggest such a thing, but we should be able to get virtually all the common resources on Earth. Rare things (like exotics and rare Earth metals) could possibly be the focus to help with generating more advanced technology (most likely with the help of the Tywom).

Rather than having RU's driving the game, it should rather just be time (at least at the beginning). The time it takes for the Earth / Starbase to build things, etc. (especially after knowledge of the Scryve and their intent has been discovered) could be the pacing element. At first, it'd be slow since we need to ramp up, but then there should be a point at which we can crank out a lot of space ships, etc. to deal with a growing Scryve threat.

At a certain point in the game, there could possibly be a point where our resources are being exhausted just trying to hold back the Scrvye. We've expanded to using the solar system's resources at large, but even this is not enough. This could be the point in the game where RU are introduced as a way for humanity to properly apportion its resources to fighting the Scryve, while still supporting the Starship and its exploration as the sort of "Hail Mary" option. This, in effect, would be the transition from SC1 to just before SC2 as SC:O could encapsulate both game's histories, possibly (well, except for the losing part!).

I realize this would be a weighty change at this point, but it would really set SC:O apart from SC2 and just make sense (well, at least to me, anyways).

Thanks again for allowing our comments to aid you in shaping the game!

Matt

Remember we also use RU at the precursor starbases right from the start and that makes sense.

I think RUs at the human starbase make sense until the RTS expansion.  Think of this like doing SCII before SCI.  I also heard that the sublight engines (the EMDrive in one of the developer diaries) of the vindicator are experimental, so that is why no one else has mined the solar system.

The vindicator is clearly a mining ship so I assume the original plan was have the vindicator pay for all of it's needs through mining.

But I think we should be able to outfit the human starbase just like outfitting the vindicator.  An upgraded human starbase abstracts massive Earth resources being pulled into the program.  For example if you install an academy in the starbase then crew refills are free (Earth has billions of people).  But don't do too much of that because we need to save some for the RTS Eternal and Infinite.

Maybe the Eternal and Infinite expansion could add outfitting the starbase (the vanilla release before does not have to have this) as an option you could do anytime.  It would be really expensive to outfit the starbase during the Scryve conflict but would be possible but much easier after.

The "Earth problem" exists in most sci-fi, its not unique too SCO.  This is something that is "wrong" in just about every sci-fi story you've ever read or game you've ever played.  Think of a space trading game, for example.  For the sake of the game you have a transport network between Earth and its colonies.  This is familiar too everyone... and wrong, just as Matt is pointing out.  In that space trading game all "trade" should be entirely one way, and from one source.  From Earth too the colonies.  Nothing moves from the colonies too Earth, or between the colonies.  Realistically there is no "trade", just Earth supplying everything including itself.  "Space trading games" that include a homeworld (presumably Earth) make no sense, the Earth would supply all of human civilization and the colonies would depend entirely on Earth for even the most basic survival needs usually including even water.  They would have nothing to "trade", just an endless need for supplies from Earth.

And this is just a single example, the one Matt is pointing out in SCO is another example of this same issue that most sci-fi stories have.

I’d like to humbly request an ini option for tweaking lander and/or planet scale. I know you guys don’t like the idea of a smaller lander, but I (for one) would still like the ability to tweak that.

We just added a Uranium request to the Commander.  So you will be able to try that path.

Thoughts on the Beta:

1. Enjoyable game play. This is what I expected.

2. The Commander, I like her. Can I get her number? 

3. The in system zoom is a great boon. Thanks for that.

4. Still not sure how I feel on the landing mini game. However, I know upgrades are supposed to improved lander performance how many engines are you supposed to be able to purchase? I have two, are the improvements cumulative for those? Did I buy two without needing to?

5. The roaming Tywom should be only after you visit their home world. Is this done for the sake of the beta so we have a feel for the encounters?

6. Thanks for tweaking the gas giants so we can orbit but not land. Very SC2 like

7. Sometimes after backing out of orbit you get stuck going back into orbit. Can be annoying.

8. Still suffering from some elements being buried and unattainable no matter how many times I run over the area. Yes, the rover is empty when I do. Especially the more rocky terrain.

So far I like what I'm getting. Being in the Beta stage and playing pretty cleanly, bodes well for Stardock's commitment to this project. Thanks for all the hard work.

Thoughts on Beta 1:

Positives:

1. I like the art choices of your models and the direction of the overall design and feel the UI and creatures.

2. The fleet battles feel very much like the old Star Control which was quite nice. I know you've had plenty of feedback on the fleet battles but it worked well enough for the style of SC2.

3. Roaming on the planets with the Not-Called-Mako was easy to maneuver. I loved seeing the bigger planets in the sky. I couldn't figure out how to rotate and look around.  

Negative:

1. The things I have to do with the Not-Called-Mako was fairly boring. The resource collection didn't feel anymore fun than Mass Effect 1 planet collecting. At least in that one, I got to get out of my vehicle and shoot things. I did find having to get Uranium for the moon mission to be interesting but there wasn't more to it besides getting a weapon. I kinda wished it had more lore.

Regarding, the resources though, SC2, I feel as if the resources could be collected in 1 minute or less for one whole planet. I can't tell you how many times I collected a resource and had to go back to my ship then drop down again. Maybe it would be less of a problem if dropping down from the sky was a little safer. It probably shouldn't be that safe though. 

2. Speaking of dropping onto planets, my first experience was dropping down around the icy moon around Saturn I believe. It would have been nice if I was "advised" that it'd likely result in my landers doom. Those landers aren't cheap.

3. Selling at the earth base was confusing. It seemed like I could only sell all of one item. I couldn't figure out how to sell one of each item at a time.

4. It would be nice if there was an auto-load for right before a fleet battle. The first and second Scryve battles are forced and if you lose then you have to go through the whole conversation again. Suffice it to say I lost like 5 times on the second battle and had to go through the whole Tyrom or Scryve conversation that many times. Not fun at all. Was the battle hard, meh... the earth cruiser doesn't fare well against the Scryve ship. 

5. The conversations between my captain and others felt rather flippant. I know that Stardocks style so it didn't bug me too much. It just felt a little too over the top with flippancy at times. I'll try to add examples if I can.

6. BIG ONE: Please add in the ability of to select a planet with the mouse so the ship can go there directly with a click. It wasn't fun for me to use the up, down, left, right arrows to maneuver in the solar system. By the way, I haven't played in a few days, but I thought I saw that there was a way to zoom in the solar system too?

=====

Yeah I had more negatives than positives but I'm looking forward to the game in the end. I like a game that challenges me to use my limited resources to defeat something.

I agree.  I found out I could skip through the conversations more quickly, but since I suck at these battles and have to play them over to win, an auto-save just before the battle would be a big help.

There already are options for that.

For planet scale look in the file gameparameters.xml for planetPlanetViewScale.

The default is planetPlanetViewScale ="500.0"

This is for 1000

This is for 10000

50000, I wanted to see if it could go this far.

I don't recommend the really high values, the planets just become featureless spheres. There is also the side effects that resource placement gets changed and landing takes longer.

For those of you who want to mess with gameplay, the various parameter.xml files at the root of the assets directory are a modder's dream.

Thanks Brad.  I have been playing with it this morning and have quite a bit of fun with it.

I just tried to run the beta for the first time, but just got this error with a crash.

I'm running on a Lenovo Thinkpad S230u on Windows 10, Intel i7-3517U, 8GB RAM, Intel HD 4000 Graphics.

OK, just now getting into chapter 1 and my big question is how do I fire the laser on the lander? I've tried the mouse buttons and just randomly trying keys and I can't figure it out. I don't know if I'm missing something obvious or not.

No, I understand that. I used uranium at the ruins on the moon and the dialogue said the laser cannon was installed and told me to go try to shoot some rocks, but I couldn't figure out how to actually do that.

control key.

So apparently there was a bug in my playthrough. I had tried control before I posted here, and tried again just now and it didn't work.

I started a new game and tried again and this time the laser worked!