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[Zelnik]

I don't know exactly what you were thinking when it came to combat readiness... but it should be re-considered as a part of the game.

I just spent a half hour trying to work my way up through the game (oh yeah, you can't actually trade *** yet, so you have to fight). Combat readiness is a cool concept but guess what, it sucks the fun out of the game.

If you EVER take control away from the player, it's no fun. If I have to sit and watch a ship fly in a straight line again because "all my crew are out sipping tea somewhere", while a much smaller ship proceeds to break me in half (seriously, couldn't even activate shields). You have failed at the goal of the game (fun).

If this were a retail version, I would never buy it, and I would tell all my friends to avoid it.

Also, the sudden (stupid) dip in combat readiness after each fight is totally stupid, as are the results of 'low combat readiness'.  Sudden weapon flare outs? engine failures? What the hell is the ship doing in between combats? Do my engineers simply take apart every weapon on the ship, and dump all the fuel out the back for no good reason?

To be frank, this game currently sucks. Alien:Colonial Marines is a better experience compared to this. I would rather play Zork without a keyboard and any super nintendo game without a controller then play another minute of this game until this is addressed.

If you wanted to add in things like this, you should have finished the rest of the game first, before finding new ways to screw over your players... because guess what, that's what this does. It has no effect on the AI, it's just there to keep us from powering to the biggest battleships.

Try harder in the future.

[BillyRueben]

Oh, look, it's this thread again...

[Zelnik]

I hate to say it, but if threads like this are appearing a lot... it's not a good sign. It means people are not happy with a design.

If you want to take control AWAY from a player, go make a quicktime event game instead.

[ValkyriaL]

All it means really is that this update was obviously too advanced for the majority of people to mentally grasp, but i believe there is an "ez modez" mod around somewhere that removes combat readiness, supplies, fuel, crew, everything and all ships cost 1 credit. the game suddenly became a lot more interesting didn't it?

Get a feeling i'm becoming a very depressing person nowadays.

[Erick Doe]

It could be argued that the CR forces the player to do just that: take control of the situation.

Some people expect an arcade shooter. This is not it. A lot of players enjoy some form of micro-management. I know I do.

It is true though that this is not a finished product. You said so yourself. There is no trade yet or other things to make up or provide an alternative for the 'punishing' combat.

In the famous words of the postman (or the Beetles, if you prefer): "Stuff's getting better. Getting better all the time!" 

[Wyvern]

No, it means the game is alpha.  If you find CR to be that much of a flaw, go play missions instead until trading has been implemented - many of us were here when missions were all there were, and I, personally, found the game well worth my $10 even in that state.

Or play one of the mods that implements trading.

Or play one of the mods that gives you a stronger starting point so you don't have to deal with the initial frigate issues.

Or play one of the mods that makes CR a non-issue.

Or learn how to deal with CR - yes, yes, it's a fairly nasty learning curve right now, we know, but it's quite doable; on my most recent playthrough I literally didn't notice or care what my CR was at, because I'd adjusted my playstyle enough that it simply never came up - when in a single frigate, return to port every fight, repair, sell loot - and I upgrade from there directly to an Apogee, which is quite capable of handling multiple successive battles; the only gotcha is if you try to upgrade too early and can't afford the initial chunk of supplies needed to get your Apogee crewed and up to max CR and back over to where all the pirates are.

[ValkyriaL]

Yeah, right now, there is just combat really, and by god is that combat good, the AI will actually, for once, kick your ass if you don't know what you are doing (the harsh part i guess), But at the same time, when you start out, you are probably not very good at the game, this applied to all of us, but we had to spend time in the missions and simulator to hone our skills, until we set sails into the campaign, id suggest doing that for some time until you feel confident that you can own the AI in every single ship on every map at any given time. =)

[Ordanen]

The game's in alpha, some things are bound to be rough around the edges.

I strongly disagree though. I have no issues with CR, and like the direction it's going in.

[Megas]

I dislike CR.  Even though I play and bear it, I prefer the game without it.

[Doogie]

The game is incomplete people. What you have now is little more than a demonstration of what can be done, rather than a fully fleshed out game. This is why we have mods to make it more playable.

[Megas]

Alpha status is no excuse for us not to express our displeasure if the game gets worse as a result of poorly executed new features.  Mods should not be required to fix fundamental problems with the game.

[Cycerin]

Actually, when a game is in alpha, mods should and can be expected to fix fundamental problems with the game. Not sure why you have some sort of beef with the idea that you can, given some rudimentary knowledge and access to OpenOffice, edit CR entirely out of the game, or play a mod that grants the player a steady drip of resources and stuff to do (Exerelin)

[Megas]

Because I pay money to play a game that is supposed to be made by pros.  The game being an alpha means it has a chance to be fixed and polished up by said pros before release.  It does not mean I will not write unfavorable things about the game if I find things I dislike.  0.6 is a mixed bag.  It fixed a fatal memory leak bug that killed 0.54, and adds nice new features, such as hyperspace and invulnerable fighters.  On the other hand, CR and boarding are terrible fun-killers as they are.

It is the same reason why people at tabletop forums invoke various fallacies.  For example, just because the DM can fix the rules does not mean the game is not broken.

[Cycerin]

The problem is that CR isn't meant to be just "fun". CR's a necessary mechanic that arguably came out earlier than it should because the alternative is to have a complete dearth of content while the devs work on hard-to-get-right mechanics that tie the campaign and combat layers together. The game sort of has mechanics right now that get a pass because we have faith in the idea that Alex has a plan for them to fit into a bigger picture down the road. In the meantime, treat it as a challenge, mod to your tastes, etc.

Personally I think CR is pretty fun because it lets me conserve supplies if I take down superior enemy forces with weak task forces, directly rewarding me with the freedom that spending less money on supplies affords. It also doesnt take a lot of imagination to figure out why CR could be awesome down the road, why cap ships will have a role and not just be supply sinks, etc etc etc

Rather than whining about CR, you should be peeved that it got developed before industry and procedural sector generation, faction politics, economy etc did because with that, and no CR, combat would be an utter faceroll

0.6 was necessary for the game, but it would never have been labelled a content update in anything but a public alpha.

Also, merry xmas, can't goddamn sleep because of the storm outside.

[Megas]

The problem is that CR isn't meant to be fun.

That is a problem.  The point of a game is to be fun.  The game was fine without CR.  Fleets and combat in 0.54 were more fun for me than in 0.6, until the memory bug caught up and killed the game.

Since the game is in alpha, I will reserve final judgment until it is officially finished.  Maybe CR will be less onerous in an update, but maybe not.  Either way, I will write against CR, or other badly executed feature, if it kills fun for me.