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djf
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frustrations and suggestions
« on: January 02, 2004, 05:38:34 pm »

Greetings!
As a proud owner of SC1, and having copied it from the  5 1/4 disks to 3 1/2 to load on my laptop about a month ago, I made a BIG MISTAKE!

Took an hour to download SC2, a mere pittance of time since I first started playing it about a week ago...

Highest accolades and praise to the designers, it contains both the play and the flavor of the original (the comments you might see when you meet alin races match well the disk code key! FLEE FAINT SULK PITY.

BUT.
I ended up downloading the cheat and have not made it even a large percentage through that, as the UR Quan cousins have started to invade my space, and I am about a year out into the mission, sometime in DEC, 2156.

But this is about my fifth attempt at a full game, the most frustrating was the third, when I lost after 4 years, I didn't realize it was a time based game, and often, if I was travelling (hyperspace) from star to star, I would walk away, make a cup of coffee, whatever, and not hurry back.
suggestion: if their is  no keyboard, mouse, or other input 30 seconds or so after the last task is completed, the clock suspends.
It is not obvious that you can warp away from those dam probes. I wasted alot of RU's early on, and at one time was travelling with 4 earth cruisers, because they were able to fight the probes fairly well.

I have yet to be able to get to the zok foq pik homeworld without getting eaten alive.

I DID discover the star on the 17th, I was looking at a star map, when it appeared out of nowhere, I put the crosshairs on it and it was described as UNKNOWN.

I wish there was a way to turn the clock speed down (or off entirely) so that one could explore more.

Nothing seems to me to make it obvious that the landers can shoot and collectt bio's. I wasted alot of time going around and letting various lifeforms touch (and harm) me trying to communicate with them or something. Wasn't until I helped the Spathi and then saw the trader I made the connection about biological data. I kept returning to Sol and asking questions because one of the questions is "can you tell me about the sophisticated bio sensors" to which he replies "this is not the right time"

Downright depressed their are no Mmrnmhrm ships. These are some of the best tactical fighters in SC1 (and I would always pick them over Yehat or Arilou skiff). I very much enjoyed that part of SC1 that certain ships had certain weaknesses and strengths, so it wasn't just a might makes right kind of game.

The lightning etc is a major problem, maybe the trader could sell a catalog (for a hefty fee), at which point, if you have the catalog, you get to CHOOSE which technology you buy.

Anyways, kudos to the designers and the group, this is the most addictive game I have ever played, I have pages and pages and pages of notes on star location, number of planets, treasure worlds, etc.

Also, it would be very nice if the starmap would somehow indicate which stars you've been to. When one scrolls through the save games, the armaments and ship congif mean far less than where you've been to.
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Lukipela
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Re: frustrations and suggestions
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2004, 06:27:28 pm »

Alright, even though I'm not amember of the core crew, I think I may be qualified to answer some of your questions, so here goes.

First off, UQM is supposed to be a straight conversion of the old SC2 game, so AFAIK the core team aren't planning to change anything. That may or may not happen after we see a stable 1.0 version of the game, but as people are currently ironing out kinks in how the game functions, don't expect these improvements now, if ever.

The pause issue. Well, while a timeout like this could be helpful, it has the potential to be greatly annoying. What if you are in Hyperspace, and going somehwere far off? Every 30 seconds the game freezes, and you have to turn off autopilot? Besides, if you know you're going to be gone for a while, just go to the menu. That stops time.

Warping. The captain mentions it at the strabse. How much clearer could it be? Seeing as we don't have a game manual (yet) I don't really think there is much that can be done about that... Was it even mentioned in the original manual?

Zoq-Fot-Pik... You need a fast ship. Invest in thrusters and turning jets, and you should be able to get there without problems. Getting these early on also give you a good chance of finishing the game quick, since your travels don't take as long.

Regarding the bio question... Well first off see point 1, conversion, not reprogramming. and even so, is this a common problem? I can't seem to recall having any trouble with it, but perhaps others have? Are there a lto of people out there who have had this porblem?

Mrnhrm question, what do you want done? We can't really rewrite the story can we? And they are in melee anyway, so you can play with them...

Trader catalogue, again thats reprogramming, and it somehow makes the game too easy if you can just pick and choose... Btu again, that's my opinion. If I could, I'd never buy any weapons upgrades, only fuel tanks and lander stuff, but that'd make the game insanely easy as well...

Starmap issue.. Try being systematic. Whilst mining, visit one constellation at a time, and keep track by going alpha, beta, gamma and so on. That way you wont get easily lost...
« Last Edit: January 02, 2004, 06:29:25 pm by Lukipela » Logged

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Re: frustrations and suggestions
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2004, 06:48:09 pm »

Thanks!

No, I agree, the captain does mention the warp, I was just too frustrated by the probes to even try it.

And when I mention a suspend, the example you talked about is exactly when it got me. Hyperspaceing to beta corvii, then when I finally get back to the machine, it's like a year later. the clock should have stopped when i got there and stayed stopped till I did anything.

Made it to bug squirt. Is that purple babe (The Syreen) related to the green babe Captain Kirk got all in a tizzy abour?

A randomizer for the minerals wouldn't change the basic flow of the game, but might add enough variability that old time gamers couldn't take anything for granted.

And I would like to say kudos for the soundtrack and the alien dialog. I busted a gut more than once, even ended up with coffee on my keyboard! Even with the cheat, it will take me awhile to win, that is why changing the clock rate might be nice, as it would give more time to explore and build up RU's.

regards,
djf
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meep-eep
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Re: frustrations and suggestions
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2004, 07:06:17 pm »

Quote
Warping. The captain mentions it at the strabse. How much clearer could it be? Seeing as we don't have a game manual (yet) I don't really think there is much that can be done about that... Was it even mentioned in the original manual?

We *do* have a manual, and since 0.1 I think. I'm strictly unix myself, so I don't know where it's put on Windows, but I think there's a link to it in your start menu.
This manual mentions the warp, what it's for, and what key activates it (per default).
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Re: frustrations and suggestions
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2004, 07:36:29 pm »

Fair enough. I've never actually read the manual since I know the game pretty much insdie put, so I wasn't sure. btu great, that's one more thing solved then.
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Re: frustrations and suggestions
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2004, 09:26:16 pm »

The OSX version of UQM places the manual in a highly conspicuous location, as a means of lowering the barrier to entry for RTFM'ing.

Perhaps the PC version should follow suit?
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djf
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Re: frustrations and suggestions
« Reply #6 on: January 02, 2004, 10:36:36 pm »

My question would be, is the goal of the project to simply duplicate SC2? Having never played SC2, I still am confident that UQM .3 is very, very close. It seems that it could well become and expanded project, I have not seen the source, but can deduce some of the algorithms and structures by the play.  For instance, I'm sure my trader catalog suggestion could be implemented in a heartbeat.

It very well might be something to ponder to have the project split in a sense that one focus works on duplicating SC2 and another one is to make an expanded, possibly multiple-ending deluxe edition. I know if it hit the shelf, and had alot of things that were different from the gnu version, I'd probably cough up the bucks.  The basis (the terror, the humor, the subplots) is there for what could be the best game ever done, a game that might take months to play.  
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Nic.
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Re: frustrations and suggestions
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2004, 01:54:47 am »

Quote
My question would be, is the goal of the project to simply duplicate SC2?

Yes.  From the Project FAQ:

Why aren't you adding netplay/multilingual support/etc. to version 1.0?
  • One of the goals is to have a "straight port" available, which means no frills.  Also, most of the interesting changes would necessitate major rewriting of the game logic.  We want to avoid this, given that most of the game actually works great as it is.
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Michael Martin
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Re: frustrations and suggestions
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2004, 07:12:58 am »

Also, a finite goal means the end is visible, and a 1.0 becomes not "if" but "when."
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