Will There Be One More Patch?

[Atrocities]

Please for the love of God let there be one more Patch for SEIV.

Please let Aaron feel the need to incorperate a few more of the great ideas that people have had into this new patch and release it any time this year or next. PLEASE PLEASE of God Please!

[bearclaw]

activate Open Warp Point Event!

[Fyron]

I thought that event worked fine?

[parabolize]

Its called SE5 and for the love of strategy let him work on it.

[Atrocities]

Originally posted by parabolize:
Its called SE5 and for the love of strategy let him work on it. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Ah man, SEV will be out in about a year or two, in the mean time... if he could find the time, a Last Last patch would be sweet right?

[Paul1980au]

If we were looking at 6 months away from SE5 i would say leave it but 1 -2 years is a bit long - im sure sales would hold up of SE4 in the interim if we were to see at least 2 monthly patches until the SE5 comes out. Even minor patch fixes and fiddling around the edges - im sure sales would hold up more.

We should get a petition and email campaign going here folks to put some good old fashion pressure on MM to keep us happy - we will be more likley to buy SE5 that way. There are still many game aspects i would like to see enhanced etc.

[bearclaw]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
I thought that event worked fine? <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Don't belive so. Didn't before, but I haven't tried it since the 1.84 patch came out, to tell the truth http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[bearclaw]

Originally posted by Paul1980au:
We should get a petition and email campaign going here folks to put some good old fashion pressure on MM to keep us happy - we will be more likley to buy SE5 that way. There are still many game aspects i would like to see enhanced etc. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">IMO, given the choice between another patch or a few months off the time for SEV, I'm all for the SEV option.

[parabolize]

Originally posted by Atrocities:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Originally posted by parabolize:
Its called SE5 and for the love of strategy let him work on it. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Ah man, SEV will be out in about a year or two, in the mean time... if he could find the time, a Last Last patch would be sweet right? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Look at it this way:
You (Atrocities) are always posting about ways for MM to make more money right? Patchs dont make money sequels do. The combat for se really needs to be redone with smarter AIs.

[Paul1980au]

Im sure there are enough people at MM to do both.

The fans have so many suggestions that could be worked into SE4 and to leave it at 1.91 is making it unfinished potential.

Oh well im sure some will agree and others disagree on this but im still going to try and get email campaign to aaron going here.

[Paul1980au]

You know that perhaps charging $5 for each major upgrade - say every 2 months would satisfy all camps - those that want upgrades would be willing to pay for it - MM would have an income stream while developing SE5 which it wont have as much if it just leaves SE4 dead in the water and 2 years on development will hit hte profit margins.

Its a dual solution - work on SE5 - work on SE4 and charge $5 for Users to download each major patch say 4 or 5 more patches 1 every 3 months would give us a year of upgrades. Average of $25 per user over that period.

[Fyron]

Originally posted by Paul1980au:
If we were looking at 6 months away from SE5 i would say leave it but 1 -2 years is a bit long - im sure sales would hold up of SE4 in the interim if we were to see at least 2 monthly patches until the SE5 comes out. Even minor patch fixes and fiddling around the edges - im sure sales would hold up more.

We should get a petition and email campaign going here folks to put some good old fashion pressure on MM to keep us happy - we will be more likley to buy SE5 that way. There are still many game aspects i would like to see enhanced etc. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Leave the man alone! He has supported this game for 4 years now. It is time to move on.

[Fyron]

Originally posted by Paul1980au:
Im sure there are enough people at MM to do both. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">No, there are not. MM is a one man operation. Aaron Hall hires people for graphics and sound, but all of the programming is done by him.

[Imperial]

i would rather have some decent weekly or monthly progress reports on SE-V than another patch from shrapnel or Aaron --heh

[Atrocities]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Originally posted by Paul1980au:
Im sure there are enough people at MM to do both. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">No, there are not. MM is a one man operation. Aaron Hall hires people for graphics and sound, but all of the programming is done by him. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">And this is why pirating his games really does hurt him and why many of us, if no all, seriously frown upon pirates of his games.

[Paul1980au]

So we would prefer no new Se4 work and weekly updates on SE5 ? but supporting paid upgrades - only if every 3 months in the interim to give MM a revenue stream. Well either way its looking good though. Best publicity is to link the webpage to forums on the net so people come through.

[Fyron]

I would prefer that Aaron stop distracting himself with SE4 and get to work on SE5.

[Paul1980au]

So another one in support of SE5 work.

Is it going to be a whoel new game engine or will it use SE4 as a base with massive improvements ie 3D combat etc. ?

Aaron might be more wise to stop support for SE4 at Version 2 and make the next upgrade a big one and rebadge it SE5

[Roanon]

If "massive improvement" for SE IV -> SE V just means 3D combat and other eye candy, he can keep it.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

he's made good games so far. good track record.

[Fyron]

SEV will be to SEIV as SEIV is to SEIII.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

i'm not trying to raise or lower expectations, i'm just saying se3 is good, se4 is good, se4g is good and therefore, se5 will be good.

[Atrocities]

SE V is the only gane that I would pre-order a year or two in adavance.

[Roanon]

Originally posted by Atrocities:
SE V is the only gane that I would pre-order a year or two in adavance. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">A lot of people have said that for MOO III too...

Let's face it, we, prefering games like that, are an absolute minority. And we must be very thankful if Aaron doesn't try to turn to the bigger money of colorful real-time clickfeasts.

[gregebowman]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
SEV will be to SEIV as SEIV is to SEIII. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That doesn't help the ones like me who never played SEIII. I have faith (I don't like using the word assume) that Aaron will produce a much superior product for SEV. But I can't make the comparison you're using, Fyron. I'll just have to wait and see how much better it is, even if it is 2 years away.

[Atrocities]

You can't please all of the people all of the time either <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well why the hell not? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[DarkAngel]

I've noticed a lot of pessimism with some people concerning the future outcome of SE5.I figured I'd put my 2 cents in....CHILL OUT!,you've liked everything so far right?You enjoy playing the game?You're going to continue to enjoy playing the game?THEN ENJOY THE RIDE!.Nothing wrong with speculating how SE5 will turn out,but till then,enjoy what you have and have fun,that's what SE is all about http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Saber Cherry]

Are there any official details on SE:V anywhere?

[Fyron]

Originally posted by Roanon:
Let's face it, we, prefering games like that, are an absolute minority. And we must be very thankful if Aaron doesn't try to turn to the bigger money of colorful real-time clickfeasts. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Good thing Aaron has assured us on many occasions that SEV will be in no way a real-time clickfest.

[David E. Gervais]

Originally posted by Roanon:
A lot of people have said that for MOO III too... <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">IMHO, it's very hard to compare the desaster that was/is MOO3 to SE:V. Why? Well, MOO3 was developed by a TOTALLY new dev team that as far as I know did not work on the original MOO2 (Or the MOO Original) What's worse is that I'm convinced that many of the MOO3 Dev team never played MOO2. (this is really evident in the total lack of continuity between the two games)

Aaron is the primary designer/programmer for all the SE games, and he is working on SE:V with the full knowledge of it's history, and no doubt has his own ideas as to where he wants to take this series. But unlike MOST game dev companies Aaron also listens to the end-user and goes above and beyond reasonable lengths to please his fans. (aka customers)

Stop worrying about IF SE:V will be good and start feeling the excitement of what will the next game in the Space Empires Universe. The future will come fast enough, trust that Aaron will make SE:V the best that he possibly can, and know that he has heard many of your heart felt wishes for SE. And finally, trust that the beta testers will help to improve the game even more, because as it has been in the past, Aaron will most assuradly select his beta testers from amoung you the fans. And if the fans don't know what they want then I don't know who does.

Sorry was I ranting again? I digress, sometimes when I see SE and MOO3 refered to in the same thread it realy grinds on my nerves.

Nuf Said, Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Atrocities]

I am going to send this suggestion to Aaron for SE V, but I wanted to run it by you guys first.

Have a "One per Empire" Requirement ability so that when modders build a special facility they can set it up as a ONE TIME only facility.

An extra File system for adding such things as Nomadic races, or space monsters that the game can then be set up to use X amount of in a game much like the Neutrals are set up now.

Addressable Tech.
Basically you add one Racial trait, say Neutral Tech to the racial trait file.

This Neutral tech will then use the file Neutral Tech in the Tech Area folder. It will have a special ability that will tie into the General Settings for each race with a specific number that will then give that race access under Neutral Tech to any number of sub techs or components that share that races unique ID number.

For example:
Neutral 1 - has a unique ID of 1
Neutral 2 - has a unique ID of 2

In the Racial trait both races are set up to use the Neutral Race Racial Trait which gives access to the Neutral Race Technology.

Under Neutral Race Technology each races Unique ID number will give that race access to any component, facility, other that also has the Unique ID number.

So Neutral 1 will have access to any Component or facility that shares its unique ID number.

Neutral 2 will have access to any component or facility that shares its unique ID number.

But both share the same racial trait and TechArea tech that separates them out by their Unique ID numbers.

[geoschmo]

My predictions, I have no direct knowledge other then being a beta team member and long time fan:

1. We won't see another patch for SEIV. If there were any "earth shattering" bugs in 1.91, he would do another patch. But if there were any, we would have heard of them by now.

2. SEV will have many similarities to SEIV, but will be different enough that it will be a totally new game. It will require entirely new code instead of just a progression of patches to SEIV code, as was the case going from SEIII to SEIV.

3. Many SEIV fans will not like SEV because of the differences. Just like many SEIII fans did not like SEIV.

4. Many more SEIV fans will love SEV, and many new people will be brought into the game as well.

5. While a few will hold out for a while, most of the SEIV fans that don't like SEV at first will eventually give it a fair chance and they will grow to appreciate it as well.

6. A few will not, and will be very bitter about it and say all sorts of nasty things about Malfador and Aaron before finally giving up and going off to play some other game.

You can't please all of the people all of the time either

[Roanon]

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
I digress, sometimes when I see SE and MOO3 refered to in the same thread it realy grinds on my nerves.<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">LOL. I can understand this, very unsettling to think about MOO3 and then about *any* other game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif .

Anyway, we will have to wait a long time for SE V - and it's always better if expectations are not too high, disappointment will be less likely then. I really do not think SE V will be a complete catastrophy like MOO3, but as Geo mentioned there will be many dislikings, some even just because of the differences to SE IV.
Acceptance will be better if expectations are less close to that SE V will be the optimum game perfectly tailored to everyones tastes and needs - which is impossible. Reality will kick in and there *will* be features missing, improvements to be desired, and bugs to be patched.
I just prepare for the average and will be very happy if it turns out to be better http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Suicide Junkie]

In the meantime, SE4 mods!

I can't wait till these big school projects are over with, and I can finally get back to working on an update for P&N and get my new mod finished.

[Khemul]

I'm new here but I am looking forward to SEV. I'll wait till it comes out to pass any judgement. But for now I must agree that the mods need updating http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

As for the Moo3 comparison...Bah.
Speaking as someone who kept up with Moo3 from the beginning...I heard about SEIV after it was clear Moo3 was dead so I am rather new. But I do not think its failure applies here at all. (I'll avoid the rant I usually do with Moo3)Moo3 Alpha was an overly ambitious game that got its development team fired. The current release of Moo3 was built overtop the alpha Version by a team who did not understand half the coding and cut most of its features. After a weak attempt to fix the game it was abandoned. It on the other hand is a perfect example of what not to do when making a game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[ March 04, 2004, 15:25: Message edited by: Khemul ]

[spoon]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
1. We won't see another patch for SEIV. If there were any "earth shattering" bugs in 1.91, he would do another patch. But if there were any, we would have heard of them by now.<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Isn't there an Out of Memory crash bug with this Version, or is that just hearsay?

[Baron Grazic]

Originally posted by spoon:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Originally posted by geoschmo:
1. We won't see another patch for SEIV. If there were any "earth shattering" bugs in 1.91, he would do another patch. But if there were any, we would have heard of them by now.<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Isn't there an Out of Memory crash bug with this Version, or is that just hearsay? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Yes, I've encounted that, but only in the simulator, so it can be worked around (ignored)

[Atrocities]

Originally posted by Atrocities:
I am going to send this suggestion to Aaron for SE V, but I wanted to run it by you guys first.

Have a "One per Empire" Requirement ability so that when modders build a special facility they can set it up as a ONE TIME only facility.

An extra File system for adding such things as Nomadic races, or space monsters that the game can then be set up to use X amount of in a game much like the Neutrals are set up now.

Addressable Tech.
Basically you add one Racial trait, say Neutral Tech to the racial trait file.

This Neutral tech will then use the file Neutral Tech in the Tech Area folder. It will have a special ability that will tie into the General Settings for each race with a specific number that will then give that race access under Neutral Tech to any number of sub techs or components that share that races unique ID number.

For example:
Neutral 1 - has a unique ID of 1
Neutral 2 - has a unique ID of 2

In the Racial trait both races are set up to use the Neutral Race Racial Trait which gives access to the Neutral Race Technology.

Under Neutral Race Technology each races Unique ID number will give that race access to any component, facility, other that also has the Unique ID number.

So Neutral 1 will have access to any Component or facility that shares its unique ID number.

Neutral 2 will have access to any component or facility that shares its unique ID number.

But both share the same racial trait and TechArea tech that separates them out by their Unique ID numbers. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Any one read this?

[Atrocities]

Originally posted by Khemul:

As for the Moo3 comparison...Bah.
Speaking as someone who kept up with Moo3 from the beginning...I heard about SEIV after it was clear Moo3 was dead so I am rather new. But I do not think its failure applies here at all. (I'll avoid the rant I usually do with Moo3)Moo3 Alpha was an overly ambitious game that got its development team fired. The current release of Moo3 was built overtop the alpha Version by a team who did not understand half the coding and cut most of its features. After a weak attempt to fix the game it was abandoned. It on the other hand is a perfect example of what not to do when making a game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">MOO3 is to the Masters of Orion Series as Attack of The Clones is to the Star Wars Saga.

If they wanted to fire someone, they should have fired those programers, if they were to blame, before they hired them and kept the people who knew what in the hell they were doing, if they did.

Whatever the reason for release of that coaster, there can be no excsuse for or two step around what is inargueably the worst game of the Century to date!

Thanks for posting the info. I was really wondering what in the hell happened.

[ March 05, 2004, 00:42: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

[Khemul]

I personally think they should have just kept more control over the project and not let the developers speak so much. Infogrames (now Atari) and Quicksilver wanted a simple advancement to the series. The development team wanted a revolutionary game that would make all the fans happy. They let the game get all the way to alpha (known because an Australia gaming magazine accidently released the alpha thinking it was a demo for review) before someone realized that it was getting out of hand and the developers were getting too friendly with the fans. Sadly this game was a success from a corporate standpoint so it won't change Atari constant mishandling of game development.

Anyways...I'm just saying worrying about SEV as some people do because of Moo3 is silly. The two situations have nothing in common.

[ March 05, 2004, 15:25: Message edited by: Khemul ]

[spoon]

Originally posted by Baron Grazic:
Yes, I've encounted that, but only in the simulator, so it can be worked around (ignored) <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">You know that, and I know that, but Joe Shmoe who picks up the game and has it crash on him might be inclined to give up in frustration rather than figure out how to work around it. I think it is a big enough issue for MM to take a look at -- if it is a fairly easy fix, then another patch would be good - but purely as a "fix", not as an excuse to add more content... (though it sure would be nice to have the new resource Point Generation stuff displayed somewhere and figured into your totals on the Empire management screen!)

[Desert Fox]

Originally posted by Atrocities:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Originally posted by Atrocities:
I am going to send this suggestion to Aaron for SE V, but I wanted to run it by you guys first.

Have a "One per Empire" Requirement ability so that when modders build a special facility they can set it up as a ONE TIME only facility.

An extra File system for adding such things as Nomadic races, or space monsters that the game can then be set up to use X amount of in a game much like the Neutrals are set up now.

Addressable Tech.
Basically you add one Racial trait, say Neutral Tech to the racial trait file.

This Neutral tech will then use the file Neutral Tech in the Tech Area folder. It will have a special ability that will tie into the General Settings for each race with a specific number that will then give that race access under Neutral Tech to any number of sub techs or components that share that races unique ID number.

For example:
Neutral 1 - has a unique ID of 1
Neutral 2 - has a unique ID of 2

In the Racial trait both races are set up to use the Neutral Race Racial Trait which gives access to the Neutral Race Technology.

Under Neutral Race Technology each races Unique ID number will give that race access to any component, facility, other that also has the Unique ID number.

So Neutral 1 will have access to any Component or facility that shares its unique ID number.

Neutral 2 will have access to any component or facility that shares its unique ID number.

But both share the same racial trait and TechArea tech that separates them out by their Unique ID numbers. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Any one read this? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Big quote there sorry! I am still kind of new to SEIV, these forums, and to modding. This idea seems to be a great one, you must mean for SEV? I mean no more patches will be released for SEIV which is to bad, there are some odd things if you happen to let the AI design a ship they always seem to add something illegal. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I am here because I was told Moo3 would be a great thing. I picked it up, I liked the basic idea, but the game was horrible as everyone knows.

I am a recovering civ addict since 1996! LOL http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif I tried out Galciv, (so-so game IMHO, their website advertised SEIV Gold, a fellow staff member at CDG said yeah, SEIV is a great game check it out. That was 6 months ago, and now I started a website, a Mod Project, and finding the best gaming community I have ever stumbled across. Thanks to all of you. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

[ March 06, 2004, 11:10: Message edited by: Desert Fox ]

[Paul1980au]

It just means that instead of getting new patches/ content etc for SEIV - most of those ideas will probably be incorparated into SE5 but it might mean a wait of up to 2 years for the next installment.