Growing concern - but optimistic

[arthurtuxedo]

A lot of people have posted a lot of negative sentiments that were way out of proportion to the actual problems, and as I predicted would happen a couple of times on this board, people were starting to listen to them and get bummed out on the game, even if those problems didn't bother them much before reading those posts. Thankfully, most have gotten used to the new interface and stopped complaining so much, so it looks like my point about SEV being smothered in the cradle by its own fans the way Fallout Tactics was will prove to be happily wrong.

[Major_SNAFU]

So I finally got the demo and installed it. After playing for a bit I will have to throw my hat into the UI needs improvement ring. I won't go into details, but I will say that I missed the clean, crisp SEIV interface. The only thing I didn't like about the SEIV interface is that you can't re-arrange the windows.

I found building a ship to be quite time and click consuming - but I will keep at it and see if it is a perception thing.

I do like the multi-deck thing, although I'm not quite sure I understand the reasons for it.

[Phoenix-D]

Just to have more slots on the ships. That's it.

And the SEIV interface was..er..not crisp. Especially if played at 800x600.

[Major_SNAFU]

Phoenix-D said:
Just to have more slots on the ships. That's it.

And the SEIV interface was..er..not crisp. Especially if played at 800x600.

Crisp isn't perhaps the correct term. I liked the look, it was spartan and futuristic.

For instance, in the ship design UI it felt to me like I had to move my mouse a great deal more, and over longer distances to put componenets on my ships.

So for 'crisp' perhaps I was really looking for 'efficient'.

I don't mind the more cartoonish look over all, but I wouldn't mind the mouse cursor being about 1/4th the size it is.

Anyway, I can now see what some people have been on about concerning hard to see through the icons. I can live with that because you can tilt the map to see 'under' things. Cumbersome, yes, but not a deal-breaker.

Returning to ship building, does anyone know if you can, say, hold down a key and retain the component currently selected so as to quickly put multiples of the same componenet on a ship. If this is possible, a good part of my concern with this specific UI goes away.

Thanks,

[FaultyAirlock]

Major_SNAFU said:
Returning to ship building, does anyone know if you can, say, hold down a key and retain the component currently selected so as to quickly put multiples of the same componenet on a ship. If this is possible, a good part of my concern with this specific UI goes away.
Thanks,

Holding down shift should let you place multiple components;
ie. select comp. -> hold shift -> place as many times as needed
edit: whoops, looks like Santiago got it before me

[Santiago]

Well then thousands will fit in a hex and the opposing player will never see them.

[Fyron]

I don't have any trouble seeing ships. Maybe you just need to play at a higher screen resolution? They are nice and big at 1600x1200, and I can see the whole map still.

[RonGianti]

Ok, so I've seen around 10 distinct "complaints" about the demo.

Around 5 of them turned out to be just changable options, (flag size, etc) that the poster(s) chose to complain about in overly forceful words ("I'll never buy this piece of crap, blah, blah until this is fixed!) rather than just poking around or asking a simple question.

2 or 3 of them boil down to "I'm used to SEIV and now I can't find stuff". Again, some posters choose to get out the big guns and start blasting away with "buggy piece of crap! I'll never buy this game, EVER!", instead of just asking a question.

Yea, fine, people are entitled to their opinion.

Heres mine: if you have to blast away with "I hate this buggy piece of crap and I'll never buy it EVER!" instead of just asking a question then you are being too negative.

There are so many new options and stuff to do and stuff that makes Space Empires LESS annoying that I cant believe the negative-fest here.

You know what I find annoying? When in SE4, one of my "allies" colonizes all the planets in MY systems! ARRRRGGGHHHHH. I'll never buy SE4 until they fix that buggy piece of crap. Oh yea, it IS fixed, in SEV.

You know what else I find annoying? Fighters are just one stack in SE4! Its not fair that a battleship can plow through my stack of fighters because the game conciders them one big stack! I'll never buy SE4 because its a buggy piece of crap! Good thing its fixed in SEV...

There are a couple minor, niggling little things in SEV that will probably be "updated" anyway, and don't HOLD A CANDLE to all the stuff thats been fixed, updated and just plain improved in SEV.

[Artaud]

arthurtuxedo said:
A lot of people have posted a lot of negative sentiments that were way out of proportion to the actual problems

Let's please be respectful of each other's opinions.

My "negative sentiments" were and are NOT "way out of proportion to the actual problems." My negative sentiments are a reflection of ACTUAL PROBLEMS. I think you will find most people who expressed negative things were indicating what they honestly believe to be real, actual, game-frustrating or game-breaking problems.

arthurtuxedo said:Thankfully, most have gotten used to the new interface and stopped complaining so much, so it looks like my point about SEV being smothered in the cradle by its own fans the way Fallout Tactics was will prove to be happily wrong.

Perhaps "most" have gotten used to the new interface. I don't know. I can't and won't try to speak for most people in this forum. It's a bit forward for you to attempt to do so.

But I HAVE NOT gotten used to the new interface. I don't like it. I tried to like it. But I don't. I set the demo aside and then went back to it. Nothing. And it's not just a matter of 'liking' it or not--in some respects (the ship size, for example), it's hard on the eyes. The need to zoom in or zoom out to see the ships or see the system is a real hassle. It's more trouble than it's worth. 3D? So what.

I have not posted any more complaints about the SEV demo out of respect for those who do like it or have come to like it. I expressed my own opinion about it several times in several threads. I said what I had to say. I'm sure you and others do not want to hear me endlessly repeating myself.

There's no need for me to make the same complaints over and over and over. I don't have the desire nor the energy to come here day after day and argue about a computer game.

Besides, others have said the same things much more forcefully and in considerably more detail than I did.

I hope you are not implying that people should only post comments about SEV if they are positive comments. I hope you understand that many of us who have been posting here for years and years and have less-than-positive things to say about SEV are not just complainers. We really, REALLY want(ed) SEV to be a better game than SEIV. We want(ed) to have a great game to play and we wanted Aaron to be well-rewarded for his hard work.

As far as SEV in its current form goes, Aaron can make changes or not. It's his game and it's not up to me. If you like SEV, then great. Maybe someday I will change my mind about it. But for now, it's just not my cup of tea.

[Phoenix-D]

Arg.

I'm going to repeat this again. You don't need to see the ships!

If you -want- to break your fingers on an aethetic issue, that's fine, but I find it really amusing considering how many complaints were made over the move to 3d being about "flashy graphics not good gameplay."