Posted June 04, 2017
I've completed the campaign, pacified the map, and while I'm planning my next tour through Gemini, I figured I might as well reports some of the oddities I came across. Without any particular order...
- The Baeldor Gladiatrix had a fight where the opponents were not taking damage from my plasma cannons at all. I had to dispose of them with Skills and Heavy Weapons.
I assume this is a glitch, since no other "trick fights" were encountered so far.
- Captured ships, if transferred to the garage, are stripped on any and all equipment, EXCEPT the fighter slots. Those, for some oddball reason, remain and can be dismounted/sold/used somewhere else.
- The ship sales prices shown in the Garage are off. It's annoying enough that ships and equipment magically lose 75% of their value just because I touched them, but please show at least the proper amounts.
- Syndicate ships cannot be bought anywhere. Which is kind of funny, since they're the only faction sold exactly nowhere. Yeah, I know, they're Outerlands ships with a spiffier paintjob, and can be captured, but still...open a dealership somewhere...
- L3 boarding upgrades are seriously out of whack. 700K gas for what is basically just a minor upgrade seems a tad bit...overblown. Speaking of which...
- Boarding itself has WAY too many perks associated with it. There Negotiation, the perks you get by boarding ships, the pirate perks, and all in all it seems like 2/3 of my perk points went in there, and I still can't reliably capture ships my own size. I get that boarding is a big deal, but this seems a bit excessive...
- The Warhead and AOE explosion skills need work. The Cooldown on both is extremely long, the damage is not that great. The Warhead is especially egregious since by the time it actually arrives near the target (does that thing even track?), it's most likely dead. The Sniper skills in general could use way more range, as it is they're outranged by your light weapons.
- Stealth doesn't work in the Gladiatrix. Given the cooldowns involved, I can't see why.
- Among the consumables, there are several which serve no real purpose. The torpedos (EMP; Shard, Disabler) have too long cooldowns and too little effect to be worth a slot. The biometric shielding defends against something that isn't even implemented. Others are highly situational, like the mines and deployable turrets. In general, the only things that see regular use outside of the resource gatherers and t-drive charges are the hull and shield repair items, up to the point where most vets slot both medium and heavys to reduce cooldowns...
- The generated missions would profit from a wider range of possible targets. Once you reach a certain level, it's carriers all the way, with only their support fleets providing a little break in the monotony.
- In general, leveling up in part feels like a punishment. The moment you field a bigger ship, the enemies will field bigger ships as well. And if you can't afford to upgrade, well, pain follows.
- On the same note, battleships phase out far too quickly. You'll likely be able to fly (and thus, also face) dreadnaughts long before you can afford one.
***
And, since all that might come across as a bit harsh...
I totally enjoyed the experience, and I think this is definitely one of the better space games out there, especially with the faction management and strategic parts added. The core gameplay is fine, the visuals are decent, and the framerate is stable even with dozens of ships duking it out. And hey, the AI doesn't smear your expensive capital ships across stray asteroids like in "that certain other game".
But there's room for improvement, still.
- The Baeldor Gladiatrix had a fight where the opponents were not taking damage from my plasma cannons at all. I had to dispose of them with Skills and Heavy Weapons.
I assume this is a glitch, since no other "trick fights" were encountered so far.
- Captured ships, if transferred to the garage, are stripped on any and all equipment, EXCEPT the fighter slots. Those, for some oddball reason, remain and can be dismounted/sold/used somewhere else.
- The ship sales prices shown in the Garage are off. It's annoying enough that ships and equipment magically lose 75% of their value just because I touched them, but please show at least the proper amounts.
- Syndicate ships cannot be bought anywhere. Which is kind of funny, since they're the only faction sold exactly nowhere. Yeah, I know, they're Outerlands ships with a spiffier paintjob, and can be captured, but still...open a dealership somewhere...
- L3 boarding upgrades are seriously out of whack. 700K gas for what is basically just a minor upgrade seems a tad bit...overblown. Speaking of which...
- Boarding itself has WAY too many perks associated with it. There Negotiation, the perks you get by boarding ships, the pirate perks, and all in all it seems like 2/3 of my perk points went in there, and I still can't reliably capture ships my own size. I get that boarding is a big deal, but this seems a bit excessive...
- The Warhead and AOE explosion skills need work. The Cooldown on both is extremely long, the damage is not that great. The Warhead is especially egregious since by the time it actually arrives near the target (does that thing even track?), it's most likely dead. The Sniper skills in general could use way more range, as it is they're outranged by your light weapons.
- Stealth doesn't work in the Gladiatrix. Given the cooldowns involved, I can't see why.
- Among the consumables, there are several which serve no real purpose. The torpedos (EMP; Shard, Disabler) have too long cooldowns and too little effect to be worth a slot. The biometric shielding defends against something that isn't even implemented. Others are highly situational, like the mines and deployable turrets. In general, the only things that see regular use outside of the resource gatherers and t-drive charges are the hull and shield repair items, up to the point where most vets slot both medium and heavys to reduce cooldowns...
- The generated missions would profit from a wider range of possible targets. Once you reach a certain level, it's carriers all the way, with only their support fleets providing a little break in the monotony.
- In general, leveling up in part feels like a punishment. The moment you field a bigger ship, the enemies will field bigger ships as well. And if you can't afford to upgrade, well, pain follows.
- On the same note, battleships phase out far too quickly. You'll likely be able to fly (and thus, also face) dreadnaughts long before you can afford one.
***
And, since all that might come across as a bit harsh...
I totally enjoyed the experience, and I think this is definitely one of the better space games out there, especially with the faction management and strategic parts added. The core gameplay is fine, the visuals are decent, and the framerate is stable even with dozens of ships duking it out. And hey, the AI doesn't smear your expensive capital ships across stray asteroids like in "that certain other game".
But there's room for improvement, still.
Post edited June 04, 2017 by vonHardenberg
