oooook.... i may have a screaming face but im cool man. take a joke

Take some constructive criticism.

it is not, of course, however it reminds on Homeworld2 and has many similarities ... there is no wonder for that if we have in mind that significant group of SINS developers have been developing Homeworld 2 too ...

Boys.

Again I would like a reason to dock/undock s/c.

I think ship movements in battle could be more dynamic.

All effects should be more >true< and less gamey?

I would like to have SteamCloud feature in Steam version.

This is not going to be a 'steamworks' game from everything I have heard so far. It will likely be sold on Steam, yes. It will NOT be a steamworks game however.

Thank god. If Sins2 comes out on Steam only, I'm not buying it. End of discussion.

Dock s/c if teh enemy has overwhelming flak or fighter presence. Even if they only have moderate fighter presence, wait for their s/c to pass so you can reduce them via flak and then release yours so they don't suffer losses on the first pass. I know people hate kiting, but it is a logical strategy which very much depends on using said methods to keep your dps high.

Ship movement could be more dynamic, but it depends on how and whether or not it makes sense. HC and LC are forward firing and lose firing opportunities with dynamic movement. LRM and SB killers wouldn't lose firing ops, but might fall into enemy range and get wiped. Really, the only movement I might enjoy seeing is the ability to strafe/reverse or for fighters to take evasive action, the latter being the only of real consequence.

I'm okay with 'gamey' effects as every game has its own style. Some are better than others, but then some of the abilities don't make sense from a realistic point of view or wouldn't have visual effects anyway (such as EMP). There are a few mods that change up the effects. Whether they are more real is debateable.

What if there was a third very rare mineral which was needed to build Titans?

Like having a relic on DoW to create the uniques. I could see it for strategic/control purposes. May or may not make for issues. If you choke someone off, you have a major advantage. But then it places importance on a given spot and reduces either side's chance of securing enough material too early. Hmm, maybe.

Then again, I'm the type that can have 20something resource types in a strategy game and not get pissed or flustered. Most that really sink their teeth into Sins seem to like the scale of the Total War series, but the resource control of SupCom.

agreed. i like steam for the fact its got SOME good stuff and it works SOME-times, but if something gets updated, like "Shogun 2" for example, it gets messed up, you cant play it, and you either have to wait for a patch or for some random good Samaritan to post on a steam forum how to fix it.

i can take criticism, its just him saying he wants to skewer me that doesn't seem very "constructive".

I think the problem is the lack of ability to read sarcasm. Jokes get lost easily enough in text.

And Steam's patching/server issues aside, I think it's a fine platform for those who want to buy it that way, but I hate DRM, and most often I prefer having a hard copy anyway. And yes, sometimes I play games in places where the internet does not exist. The Negev is notoriously barren.

ouch. and all in all, steam or no steam, having a hard copy is mandatory for me. even if i have to burn it myself.

Having some limiting element to creating Titans is definitely needed, but that will probably just come in the form of training crews. Not to mention everything about Titans is going to be incredibly expensive. I wonder if they'll be more expensive than the existing super weapons? They seem more powerful. Holy crap it's going to take a lot of time into the game play to get a Titan. Then again, there's something to do when you have all that money laying around and maxed out fleet points.

One thing I would reeeeeeeeeally like to see, but probably wont, is moving turrets. Seeing some of the videos from Homeworld, they look really cool. Actually tracking their targets, and then the ship won't fire through it's self.

That brings to mind another thing. When using anti-structure frigates, they tend to fire through, say, one side of an Advent starbase just to actually blow up on the other side. They should make munitions only impact on the nearest side of a ship. That's how it would be in real life.

Otherwise... I can't wait.

Two catches. One is that we've already discussed the turrets with devs and the engine isn't designed for it. Maybe Sins2.

The second is that weapons register an impact for particles. The actual decision concerning damage is usually made before weapons impact. It's not so much about geometry and leading a target as it is a roll of the dice and animating accordingly. Sometimes the dice is rolled closer to the target depending on the weapon.

1. Another starbase blueprint for each faction. I have some suggestions buried in old threads.

2. More upgrade options than levels for capital ships to force specialization, like starbases. Nothing against 'uninventive' upgrades like +armor, +shields for tanker-style capships, for example.

9. Better, less exploitable AI

15. Improved role of neutral systems and pirates. I have plenty of ideas on this, also on old threads.

19. Non-capital ships able to level-up by gaining experience (at last few levels). Advent could have a star base upgrade which can crank out a resurrected ship with all upgrades in place, like the capship skill.

Quite a few games use Steamworks only for their Steam version, so I dont see reason why it would be problem - those buying via Steam would get Steamworks features, while everyone else would get exactly same game, just without those features....

OK I've only just started playing this game but here are my thoughts on changes I'd like to see for rebellion

1) The fortifier AI strategy seems very weak and exploitable to me - the AI seems to invest virtually all its resources in static turrets and starbases that just get blown away by bombers and structure busting ships - I would like to see some changes to help the fortifier AI. Some thoughts include:

1a) boosts to starbases: such as cheaper build and upgrade costs, flak defences, and maybe all the starbases should be allowed to move within their grav well - at the moment the fortifier AI wastes loads of resources on these and builds them as glorified turrets that just die to bombers.

1b) have strikecraft that are based on planets and asteroids as home defences that improve with planetary infrastructure - I'm thinking 1 strikescraft squadron for every 2 tiers of civilian infrastructure plus a squadron for each tactical capacity upgrade so a highly upgraded planet could get 4/5 squadrons

1c) a mid-late research tech that gives flak defences to turrets - I know the AI should use flak frigates to defend it's turrets but it doesnt so to keep it simple for the AI I'd like to see flak on the turrets themselves

2) A boost to the Advent - they seem relatively weaker than the TEC and Vasari to me both economically and in terms of an early military push so here are some of my thoughts on how to boost them.

2a) economic boost for being in your own culture - maybe +10% allegience and +5% resource gathering

2b) allow the advent to harvest resources from asteroid belts in the same way that the other factions can build refineries to harvest them - the resource focus should allow the trade port to function like a refinery

2c) the advent need more military labs to research both flak frigates and long range frigates so they seem to get shafted in the early game - to redress this balance I would like to see the Advent getting easier access to the corvettes compared to the other 2 factions.

2d) The deliverance engine seems really weak compared to the novalith and particularly the kostura cannon - I think it should buff friendly ships and debuff enemy ships too

3) Nerf hoshikos please - these things are amazing as mobile repair bays but then they also have the demo bots ability that totally gimps fleets too! Come on, tone down the demo bot ability please - immobilizing fleets and disabling their weapons is too much - how about a non-stackable 25% reduction in speed and rate of fire instead? They are already great as repair bays, the demo bots ability makes them broken in my opinion.

4) I would like alterable combat stances that can be toggled for ships in the tactics section - if anyone has played Xcom Apocalypse then you will know what I'm talking about - the aircraft had alterable engagement stances in the cityscape battles that ranged from aggressive to evasive - I would like to see something similar for Sins too. These are the combat stances i would like to see:

HOLD POSITION - the ship remains stationary

EVASIVE - the ship avoids combat and will move away from enemy ships

CAUTIOUS - the ship will engage enemy ships at a distance - moving within extreme weapons range and not closing the distance any further

AGGRESSIVE - the ship will move as close to the enemy as possible in order to use all its weapons

ESCORT - the ship will remain near target ship/ group of ships and will defend them

5) More planet types and a way to secure control of gas giants (maybe using orbital structures) - they could include water worlds and toxic/radioactive worlds which you need to research colonisation techs for

Well that's 5 so I'll leave it at that

All of the AIs are very "weak and exploitable" to a multitude of strategies used by a human player. Starbases and bomber spam are the two most common.

They're AIs. They're horrible at strategic decisions. If you want to play a decent opponent, come online (onto ICO) to play against brains instead of silicon!

Cheaper costs I'm not sure of, but starbase flak upgrades definitely sounds good to me.

A good suggestion, I made a very similar one a couple months ago. It would be nice for planets to have some sort of built-in defense...

Although the Advent are said to be somewhat weaker than the other factions, they can still be quite fearsome when used properly. In terms of DPS and durability per resource and supply cost, Advent frigates are the best of all the factions'. Illuminators in particular are unparalleled at taking out enemy fleets, due to a significantly higher overall DPS - so perhaps the Illuminator's research cost is justified.

All factions get flak frigates at the same tier, tier 2.

That said, it would be nice for the Advent to get some sort of economic boost... and their superweapon is horrible as well.

That wouldn't justify 100 AM IMO... demo bots are strong but the opportunity cost is around 600 hull on friendly frigates. That cost wouldn't be worth it I think if the ability only mildly impaired the enemy.

If you're worried about your ships not doing their job properly, put them all onto Hold Position and then manage their movement yourself. If you want your fleet to be as effective as possible, you should not be depending on the computer to move your ships for you.

Use a fleet of your own to defend it and the territory is yours.

Build a starbase there if it's so important.

I agree with this as well. I might suggest it for the Distant Stars mod. We have planetary defense stations which allow the planets to fire from the surface, so that takes care of close in combat. I think I would push to have fighter bays on mining rigs.

I wouldn't mind seeing some semblance of this. Not because I want the AI to fight my battles for me, but sometimes you're micromanaging one fight and there is an assault elsewhere. Would be nice for cruiser carriers to know that they should get out of the hot zone on their own.

Distant Stars mod. Look it up.

Hi Wrath and Draakjacht, thanks for responding to my post - I'll try to respond to all your points although I can't see the quote button so I will copy and paste

Wrath wrote: "All of the AIs are very "weak and exploitable" to a multitude of strategies used by a human player. Starbases and bomber spam are the two most common.

They're AIs. They're horrible at strategic decisions. If you want to play a decent opponent, come online (onto ICO) to play against brains instead of silicon!"

I have only been playing the game for a couple of weeks so I havent really sussed out the other AI strategies although the fortifier AI seems glaringly weak to me - by contrast the aggressor AI seems much more challenging - I have started playing against unfair aggressor AIs and I find these to be very challenging and I have to try hard to win. I don't think I'm ready to play against other humans yet, I'll probably get my ass handed to me and trash talked if I do

I'm glad you both want to see built in fighter defences too - Draakjacht, if you modded something like that I would be keen to try it out - the hangar bays would probably need a boost/cost reduction too as they would become relatively less valuable otherwise - the mining rigs could certainly work too although building mining rigs is a bit of a no-brainer whereas investing in extra civilian infrastructure and logistics slots will involve some opportunity cost in the early game.

Wrath wrote: "Although the Advent are said to be somewhat weaker than the other factions, they can still be quite fearsome when used properly. In terms of DPS and durability per resource and supply cost, Advent frigates are the best of all the factions'. Illuminators in particular are unparalleled at taking out enemy fleets, due to a significantly higher overall DPS - so perhaps the Illuminator's research cost is justified.

All factions get flak frigates at the same tier, tier 2.

That said, it would be nice for the Advent to get some sort of economic boost... and their superweapon is horrible as well."

I didnt know that the Advent gets higher DPS and more efficient resource costs - it's good to know that something goes their way. If they made the culture mechanic more significant then this would help the Advent indirectly - are there any mods that have boosted the impact of culture? Oops about the flak frigates, shows how much of a new player I am I guess.

With regard to Hoshiko demo bots - it's the effect I find so obnoxious and overpowered - how about they drop the antimatter cost down to about 35 for the effect that I suggested? That way they still have lots of antimatter left for repairs too.

Thanks Draakjacht for agreeing with point 4; my view is that anything that reduces micromanagement is a good thing - I don't like babysitting all the ships, especially if there is more than one battle going on - I do micromanage ships but it's something I prefer to minimise. I don't think it would be too difficult for the programmers to implement this but I think it would make a big difference. Xcom Apocalypse is a really old game now and they made a good attempt at it.

Draakjacht, I'm keen to try out your mod although I'm not sure how to install mods for Sins as I can't find a mods folder in the game and I hae checked all the files

highlight text and go to the bottom righ tof the post. the button appears when your cursor crosses over the area.

In DS, we already have a tactical structure and ajoining research that takes care of planetary defenses. But like I said, it's a short range solution. I like the idea of added hangars, but don't want to see it too easy or overdone. Plus, by adding them as an extension of the mining rigs, the number you get from planet to planet can vary in a way to make things interesting. As for flak, I like the system on hangars as is, especially since (I don't remember how much is DS alone) we have a Meson Bolt Cannon (long range) and Rocket Bursts (short range) on orbital turrets. Just pair the two right and you have a potent defense.

Go here Distant Stars. Read the post thoroughly. It gives you the correct version for whatever you have, warns you to ge tthe latest 7zip and has a link to advanced instructions for installation in the FAQ.

I wouldn't be to keen on recommending balance changes with minimal experience against the AI and without any competitive Sins experience...

but if you're scared at not being skilled enough for multiplayer, if you can beat Unfair AIs, you'll certainly be welcome online as long as you know to:

* build mainly long range frigates

* develop civilian infrastructure of your planets when you colonize (else you lose tons of credits to planet underdevelopment)

* spend most of your income on your fleet

There are even a few regular players online who've been playing for a very long time but don't do much more than that.

Bottom line is that it isn't hard to not be a complete noob online.

2) A boost to the Advent - they seem relatively weaker than the TEC and Vasari to me both economically and in terms of an early military push so here are some of my thoughts on how to boost them.

I agree with mostly everything ecsept the boost to the advent!

Everytime i play against the advent the build an ensaine amout of mines, and they follow you so i die in about 3 seconds....

I think they should get rid of the moving mines the bug me............ alot

Yeah, don't play DS if that bugs you. Our mines are meaner.

And Advent are strong in the early game. Against TEC they can hold their own long-term, but the Vasari easily outplay them with PM. Then again, the Vasari and TEC are both gunning for each other while the Advent just came in to mess with the TEC, so it makes sense that they didn't put much work into dealing with PMs.

A few scouts and a few flak frigates will clear any number of mines as fast as you can move your ships through the minefield, clearing them as you go.