Thanks for the streams. It is great that you guys would even think about being on a hot seat every Friday.
I haven't got a chance to play that much of beta 2, but there seems to be numerous text display issues. I didn't really see that addressed in the stream. It is very annoying while playing. I am sure it was probably because of the large font option you added, and it doesn't really have an effect on game play, but drives me nuts. Perhaps I need professional help with that, but please make that a patch 1 or at least patch 2 fix.
Nice to see you talked about the approval bug of 512%. Thanks for fixing that ASAP next week (fingers crossed)
Now comes my real concern. I see promise in having the ai use user designs for ships, but it has to choose the right ones.
This may be more LHFE but, it seems the AI is worried in the early game about winning a battle, which throws away units that could level up. It "won" but in the long term, when I counter with new units with upgrades, it will lose the survivors too. It kinda feels like old school games where the trick is to survive the ai advantages in the early rush. Once you have done that, with a little caution, the ai will never recover.
I guess some folks like if I can't win, kill me early so I can start a new one. I like the idea of a long, slow, difficult claw up that is challenging past that midway breakpoint.
As an example, I have been replaying FELH. Great game in the start, full of tension. Once I hit that mid-game spot, I know it is game over. The other AIs may complain about me, but they don't all band against me. I may get a 2nd tier or two faction attack me, but the lower factions don't think "this is my chance, otherwise I will lose".
The ai dog piles when you are on the bottom, but doesn't dog pile when you are on the top. Which, for them, is their best (and last) chance. They shouldn't ever trade with me once I am running away unless they are an ally or friend. Not a friend because I am powerful, a friend because we have similar goals and history.
That is why I will be hesitant on "Sorcerer King" because it really looks like a game where the AI starts really strong and you once you hit that point, the AI folds. I hope I am wrong. GalCiv2 AI was pretty good. FELH ai is meh. Since this is GalCiv3 I expect the AI to rebound. However, AI is tricky. The more features added, the harder the ai to counter. It is why there are great chess games out there, but rarely a good strategy game ai. That said, if anyone could pull it off, it is Stardock. May the coding force by with you!
Well, thanks again for showing and listening. Please fix the ui text bugs, you are killing my OCD