a newcommer's feedback

Describe your experience with the latest version of FreeOrion to help us improve it.

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freem
Space Krill
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Jan 05, 2020 12:30 am

a newcommer's feedback

#1 Post by freem »

Ok, it took me too long to write my 1st feedback so the forum disconnected me, loosing all my comment in the process (probably because of my settings), so let's restart (on vim, then copy/paste, limited phpbb markdown), but way shorter (because I'm annoyed to redo that):

Intro:

Finally played it few days ago (less than 4), already spent 2 nights on the game. What a boring game :)

Technical stuff:
Using Debian buster's build on amd64 on a crappy screen and old low-end GPU.

Good points:

* good enough to be a version 1 imo;
* nice translations (french at least);
* impressive inteface (despite minor bugs and annoyances);
* fast to run;
* stable;

Bad points:

* it's hard to understand how to move fleets at start;
* AI do not group fleets often enough, it's hard to see which ships are in a system (maybe having a "virtual" grouping that only affect view would fix that?);
* using LANG=C does not allow to have raw strings, which would help for reports;
* default settings are too hard for newcommers:
** starting units die *way* to easily;
** AI is by default either aggressive or maniac;
** disk galaxy with 6 AI means you're alone the fascism;
** possible technologies are not shown;
* SMG (or whatever the weapon before lasers is known) is useless:
** because it cost almost nothing to reasearch laser
*** which is only good for starting turns, can barely damange monsters;
*** which is also superseded with plasma for low cost;
* robots only have advantages (specific shield not usable by others);
* exobots are said useful on asteroids, but can't colonize them without research
** which are all about genetic stuff, that's quite counter-intuitive and not realistic (yes, I know, realism is not a target, and I do like that);

Ideas of improvements:

* add a table with default maximum populations depending on planets/modifier, example at end of post;
* improve window system usage:
** draw window decorations above window content, not under (see after);
** draw active window borders with a "stronger" color;
** increase visual feedback of borders/buttons:
*** resize area is hard to notice, improve contrast;
*** draw borders around buttons to simulate pushed/released states (especially in research);
* do not annoy in starship conception if duplicating an existing one (this one is *really* important imo), just overwrite for that game;

About default (without researches) maximum populations, here is an example (values are crap, I don't know those, I would probably not think about that otherwise...):

Code: Select all

+-----------------+---------+------+--------+---------+
|      / modifier | hostile | poor | decent | perfect |
|size /           |         |      |        |         |
+-----------------+---------+------+--------+---------+
|  minimal        |    -6   |  -3  |    0   |    3    |
+-----------------+---------+------+--------+---------+
|  small          |    -3   |   0  |   3    |    6    |
+-----------------+---------+------+--------+---------+
|  normal         |     0   |   3  |   6    |    9    |
+-----------------+---------+------+--------+---------+
| big             |     3   |  6   |   9    |   12    |
+-----------------+---------+------+--------+---------+
|   giant         |    6    |  9   |   12   |   15    |
+-----------------+---------+------+--------+---------+
I hope I have not forgotten something. Guess then I'll just have to reply to this. Anyway, great game, for graphics, translations, stability, etc. I was surprised when I noticed the version number (too much used to semver, I tend to consider stuff under 0.5.0 as prototypes, not even alphas).

User avatar
The Silent One
Graphics
Posts: 1129
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2003 8:27 pm

Re: a newcommer's feedback

#2 Post by The Silent One »

Hi freem, welcome to the forums and thank you for your feedback! I always appreciate a fresh perspective on the game.
freem wrote: Sun Jan 05, 2020 2:19 am* SMG (or whatever the weapon before lasers is known) is useless:
** because it cost almost nothing to reasearch laser
*** which is only good for starting turns, can barely damange monsters;
*** which is also superseded with plasma for low cost;
(specific shield not usable by others);
From experience from multiplayer, I don't agree. An Eaxxaw-Mass-Driver early push can be quite deadly.

freem wrote: Sun Jan 05, 2020 2:19 am* robots only have advantages
Robots don't have excellent pilots, and organics have the laser supercharger.

freem wrote: Sun Jan 05, 2020 2:19 am* add a table with default maximum populations depending on planets/modifier, example at end of post;
* improve window system usage:
** draw window decorations above window content, not under (see after);
** draw active window borders with a "stronger" color;
** increase visual feedback of borders/buttons:
*** resize area is hard to notice, improve contrast;
*** draw borders around buttons to simulate pushed/released states (especially in research);
Please provide mockup(s) with your suggestions.

freem wrote: Sun Jan 05, 2020 2:19 am* do not annoy in starship conception if duplicating an existing one (this one is *really* important imo), just overwrite for that game;
Please open a feature request on Github.

freem wrote: Sun Jan 05, 2020 2:19 amAbout default (without researches) maximum populations, here is an example (values are crap, I don't know those, I would probably not think about that otherwise...):
Also a feature request please, and specify where you would place the information.
If I provided any images, code, scripts or other content here, it's released under GPL 2.0 and CC-BY-SA 3.0.

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