Fed Up

[spillblood]

Originally Posted by Malfador Machinations

Hi All,

Just wanted to put in my 2 cents. I have received only 1 email regarding problems with the game. We addressed those issues in the 1.09 patch. I waited 2 weeks on the release of the last patch version for bug reports and got none.

If you'd like another patch, here's what you need to do. Create a list of specific references to bugs, or detailed descriptions of poor AI performance. Back these reports up with savegames. Just saying the AI is "bad" is not enough. Send these to ws@malfador.com.

We will do another patch if there is demand for it. Quietly posting in a forum is not enough. We require your participation in this process. Only you know the problems.

Aaron

OK, seems Aaron doesn't read the forums. I think we need to send bug reports via E-Mail directly to Malfador.
Don't use customer support, don't use the forum bug report threads anymore.
I think this is pretty bad because Shrapnel set up these threads in order to let people post bug reports and suggestions there. But I think he's expected us to send bug reports directly to him and he obviously didn't read the forum threads.

There seems to be no other way of making sure Aaron is informed. I've gone forward, compiled all bug reports of the beta patches and 1.09 in the forum, and our suggestions, and emailed it to him as a rtf-file, if he doesn't wanna spend time reading the forums. Please mail him some more manifestos, JCrowe, if you read this. By the way, me, JCrowe and maybe one or two other guys were the only people who actually posted bug reports and suggestions during the beta patches and after V 1.09 was released, didn't read any bug reports from you, ScottWAR. Did you test the 1.09 patch?

To ScottWAR: I think you're going a bit too far, after they've finally broken the silence and suggesting us to post more bug reports. Try to be constructive and just send Aaron all your bug reports and suggestions in E-Mails, directly to ws@malfador.com.

[ScottWAR]

Yes I tested the patch. Basically almost all the problems that existed before still exist as far as the AI goes. The AI still makes stupid moves. Not as many as before the patch,...but still far more than is acceptable from an AI. Why should I repost the same problems?

You bring up a good point. So far we have been told 3 different ways to get support,....of which none have worked. Posting the bugs in forum post we were asked to post in didnt get them fixed. Using the support ticket system of Shrapnels didnt work. E-mailing aaron didnt work. What else is there?

Again,...I am not a beta tester. I should not have to test this game. But I have already done that. I have already posted the problems. Those problems have already been mailed to Aaaron. But those problems still havent been fixed.

There is absolutely no way Aaron could think this game is finished. There is absolutely no way he doesnt know of the problems. So him not fixing it is his choice. He doesnt want to fix it otherwise he would without us having to beg and post about it for months on end.

I've done all I can to help get this game fixed. If you wish to sit back and wait another 6 months for nothing to be fixed,...go ahead. I'm tired of waiting on empty promises to not be kept.

[JCrowe]

The sad irony here (I think), is that the anger steaming off this forum is coming (in part) from the fact that the product could be such a great game - one this genre hasn't seen live up to full potential in a very, very long time. And here it is, yet another strategy game of global domination, riding on the edge of glory but never quite making it over to the promised land. So close, so far. Combine this frustration with what appears to be a wall of uncomprehending silence, and the fur begins to fly.

I gotta say, though, that I find the response from Aaron / Malf difficult to believe. After the last blow-up, we were instructed to post bug issues / AI problems / etc. to this thread. Copy-paste-done. To ad infinitum, no less. Since that post, there are at least a dozen following that discuss very specific failings in the AI's approach - many of which, I'll add, remained 100% unchanged since v1.01.

I'd also add that I - ALONE - have submitted a small book of specific suggestions and problem notes, direct to Aaron, before and after Blow Up #1, and only a fraction of those seem to have caught notice. And when you consider how much material others have contributed ... we're not talkin' "book", we're talking "epic novel" on the order of "War & Peace - The Extended Director's Cut".

So, where are we supposed to be now? Ditch the thread and submit direct to Malf and hope they don't switch the policy again? Wait six months and see what one or two suggestions / fixes out of 4,000 submitted "make the cut"?

Look - full admission. I don't know how to write software code. I don't have the skills to read the lines and offer suggestions for rewrites to transform this AI from a dead frog in a barrel to Erwin Rommel. Guess you could call it a personal failing of mine. I expect I'm not alone in that. So, I followed the guidance, and in concert with all the other fine, devoted folks on here, offered the best theoretical guidance and real-life examples I had for support. Theory, practice, and documented "real life" events, filed and submitted in no less than three different formats.

What else can we do?

Open question to the peeps from Shrappie - the Admins, Prelates, Overlords, etc. of this board - am I being unfair?

I know you guys are kinda stuck in the middle of this, but if you tone-out the vitriol and just stick to the bare facts, what conclusions do you draw?

I'm feeling generous, so I'll admit to something else - I won't ask for a refund. It was $30, not my life savings, and yeah, I could have played the demo and ducked the bullet on day one. So shame on me, and a plague of fleas upon my house if I'm less than overwhelmed. But in business, it's not the dollar spent yesterday that matters quite so much as the dollars yet to come - or not, as the case may be. I've bought stuff off Shrapnel before and liked what I got. (SpaceHorse - too awesome.) Keeps me coming back. It was the confidence I built up from those past buys that had me skip the demo and go direct to 'sale'.

What lesson am I to have learned?

?

Avoid Malf, and give any new offering on Shrapnel a wide berth until others have vetted it in depth with their dollars, first?

Fair? Unfair?

[spillblood]

Yeah, I think we've already detailed the post patch 1.09 AI flaws in enough detail in the threads that were made for this purpose by Shrapnel. It sucks that we have to repeat all stuff several times before Malf notices it. Makes things a lot harder. I hope he reads the compilation of threads I sent him.