Alpha feedback from new player

from Stardock Forums

Just became a founder last night. So far I've played the tutorial and three Skirmish matches on the three maps (Easy, Medium, and Hard respectively). Some of my feedback will echo what others have said on these forums, so I know you've already thought about some or all of this.

When I first played, I was having trouble controlling my units, base-building, and using the Servo powers. I have past RTS experience, but literally no MOBA experience, so the Servo powers were the biggest adjustment. But thanks to the hotkeys, and me dedicating time to force myself to use them, it's really starting to get easier. I crushed the AI in all three skirmishes. There are still a few instances where hotkeys are not quite there yet:

1. I have to click factories to queue new drones

2. I have to click the armory to queue upgrades

3. When I use the 'z' hotkey, it does not select all units. It seems to leave some out, as if there is a selection cap. I have to direct those units left out separately.

With respect to #3, I'm wondering if the play style I've used so far is conflicting with game design. Do you want us to have multiple dozens of drones, or do you want us to be applying constant pressure with drones and Servos so that there really aren't all that many drones at one time?

Now I used the strip-mine my enemy's Bloom strategy to essentially cripple the AI. They didn't seem to be using that tactic against me. It is definitely overpowered without cast time and cooldowns. I'm also worried that it might be game-breaking. Typically RTS games are supposed to ramp up in scale, but with strip mining there is a high risk that games will start to scale down in the middle game as players are getting less Bloom coming in. Don't get me wrong, I actually love the idea of destroying resources as a strategy mechanism.

I'd definitely like the ability to queue unit movement waypoints, because sometimes the best path between my factories and the battle front is the long way around Bloom monsters.

If possible, I'd like to zoom out a little more. Mostly I would use this to figure out where to place new buildings, since it's a little hard to understand the map context with the max zoom out so low.

The reward for skirmishes was some XP and some credits. I'll get to the XP next, but as for credits, it seems anti-climactic. It looks like I have to win a bunch of games in order to buy gear. I don't necessarily care if loot drops as a skirmish reward, but it would be nice to be able to upgrade a piece after every skirmish or two. That's currently not possible.

As for XP, I see that at 180 XP I'm level 1. I have no feedback for when I'll be reaching level 2. I also have no indication of what level 2 opens up gameplay-wise. Does that just open up access to the next tier of gear, because that would concern me. Even in gear-grind RPGs like WoW, leveling means you fight with and against increasingly interesting abilities and battle mechanics. What exactly is the vision for progression beyond increasing gear stats?

Lastly, I want to say I think you have a great foundation for a potentially great game. I don't like MOBAs, and this is clearly MOBA inspired, so I won't say this game is right up my alley. But it should be fun and worth some playtime, so I look forward to the game's progress.

servo
3,354 views 2 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks for the feedback!

There are still a few instances where hotkeys are not quite there yet:

1. I have to click factories to queue new drones

2. I have to click the armory to queue upgrades

You can set the buildings up in control groups. That's what a lot of our folks do. Next update will come with multi-building selection, too.

3. When I use the 'z' hotkey, it does not select all units. It seems to leave some out, as if there is a selection cap. I have to direct those units left out separately.

With respect to #3, I'm wondering if the play style I've used so far is conflicting with game design. Do you want us to have multiple dozens of drones, or do you want us to be applying constant pressure with drones and Servos so that there really aren't all that many drones at one time?

This is simply a "game not done" thing. Once the pather gets faster/better and movement doesn't suck so much, we'll remove the selection cap.


Now I used the strip-mine my enemy's Bloom strategy to essentially cripple the AI. They didn't seem to be using that tactic against me. It is definitely overpowered without cast time and cooldowns. I'm also worried that it might be game-breaking. Typically RTS games are supposed to ramp up in scale, but with strip mining there is a high risk that games will start to scale down in the middle game as players are getting less Bloom coming in. Don't get me wrong, I actually love the idea of destroying resources as a strategy mechanism.

It's OP in the current build (both in terms of numbers and, IIRC, the cooldown is busted in the build you have), particularly against the AI. We like the idea of an econ power, though, so that's why it's in. Of course, if we can't balance it, yeah, we'll pull it. But, we want to try.


I'd definitely like the ability to queue unit movement waypoints, because sometimes the best path between my factories and the battle front is the long way around Bloom monsters.

Coming. Probably not in the next update, but soon.

If possible, I'd like to zoom out a little more. Mostly I would use this to figure out where to place new buildings, since it's a little hard to understand the map context with the max zoom out so low.

We actually haven't gotten much feedback on this. Still waiting for more folks to weigh in.

The reward for skirmishes was some XP and some credits. I'll get to the XP next, but as for credits, it seems anti-climactic. It looks like I have to win a bunch of games in order to buy gear. I don't necessarily care if loot drops as a skirmish reward, but it would be nice to be able to upgrade a piece after every skirmish or two. That's currently not possible.

The next build will be more generous. That said, the expectation that you're going to be able to upgrade a part after every skirmish or two is not super sustainable at the high end of the game. The idea that you're getting more stuff after a couple of games is doable, but it might not always be a better piece. I'd be concerned about making the gear feel throw-away if you really were literally upgrading a piece after each couple of games.

As for XP, I see that at 180 XP I'm level 1. I have no feedback for when I'll be reaching level 2. I also have no indication of what level 2 opens up gameplay-wise. Does that just open up access to the next tier of gear, because that would concern me. Even in gear-grind RPGs like WoW, leveling means you fight with and against increasingly interesting abilities and battle mechanics. What exactly is the vision for progression beyond increasing gear stats?

Yeah, we don't have all the content in for the leveling system yet. The leveling will do a couple of things... One, it will allow the rest of the game to keep pace with the Servos. If the drones don't get better, then they will become useless. So, if you're level 2, your drones will be a bit better than at level 1. Leveling up will also unlock other things. Better gear is one of them (not sure why that's a concern?).


Lastly, I want to say I think you have a great foundation for a potentially great game. I don't like MOBAs, and this is clearly MOBA inspired, so I won't say this game is right up my alley. But it should be fun and worth some playtime, so I look forward to the game's progress.

Cool. The game isn't exactly MOBA inspired, in actuality. It's really more borne out of what we liked from when we worked on AOM and a big dose of a hero system similar-ish to War3 (to help carry the progression). We certainly get the MOBA comps given how important the Servos are, but we view them as "very powerful RTS heroes" in terms of design intent. But, that's very close to six on one, half dozen on the other relative to a MOBA. In the end, Servo will fall somewhere in the middle, I think.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting BXP_Godgib, reply 1

We actually haven't gotten much feedback on this. Still waiting for more folks to weigh in.

Whenever I zoom out I want it to go further.  I probably need to get better at using groups to move around.  I sometimes use the minimap to avoid scrolling around too much, but moving from selecting a unit to the minimap also feels slow.  This is especially acute at the start of a game where I'm sending drones out to capture wells.  Bias: I've spent the past year on the Planetary Annihilation forums, a game/community strongly in the strategic zoom camp.

The servos do look really good when I do zoom in, though I'm not sure there would be a game play reason to get that close. 

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