Impressions and questions from an old SE fan |
I tried the demo for ca. 60 turns, then it crashed. Lots of changes from SE4, but it's still a LOT of mouseclicks. For example, I wish I could drag and drop cargo or drag items around a construction queue. The mouseovers with keyboard shortcuts help, but there's room for a lot of usability improvements.
But some rightclick menus are back. HOORAY!. That was the feature I missed THE MOST from SE3 to SE4, where the UI was severely changed (and downgraded in usability IMO).
In general, the game looks good, though it's bound to take some time to play and to get into all the many bitty details.
A couple of questions:
Do I need sensors on all ships, or can I just add one or a few of my explorer designs to a fleet and let them do the "sensing"?
What's the effect of the three hull layers (upper, middle, lower)? It's confusing to have to click btw. them to check components on a ship when (re)designing it. Can I just use them top down?
What's the difference btw. inner and outer hull? Is there a benefit to placing e.g. crew quarters in the inner hull and weapons in the outer hull? Is it a defensive difference (outer hull gets damaged first, after armor perhaps?) Should I just fill her up from the inside out when possible?
I gather that all ships can resupply on all planets now (up to the supply limit of the planet) and that a resupply depot is only needed when you need to supply large numbers of ships or do it often. Correct?
Thanks in advance.
sensors on all ships? nah,
sensors on all ships?
nah, just a handfull (or even only one) per fleet.
plus the odd scout, just make sure you have something at the warp points, other wise something might sneek through.
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an se5a is a ww1 fighter, it is also a car.
Sensor use
There's two kinds of sensors: Basic sensors and Combat sensors.
Basic sensors provide scanning range on the system map and, like Kwok said, it's a good idea to have them on all ships. I even put them on Colony ships, so that they can help scout a system and won't run into opposition as blindly.
One basic sensor per fleet, though, is enough to provide full sensor range, additional basic sensors in the fleet won't provide any benefits.
Combat sensors increase the to-hit-rating of the ship that has them; their bonus won't count for any other ships in the fleet or task force, only for themselves. Because of that, you won't want to use those on ships that don't use direct fire weapons, but be sure to put them on every combat ship.
Sensors are necessary
I'll go with Kwok and Skynet, Unless you are ready for some nasty surprises, I think sensors are needed on most ships.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks a lot. There's obviously more to this game than meets the eye. Time to take a look at the install directory and see if htere's a text file I can tweak. It'll probably crash the demo, though. Am I the only one who misses an Explore Ship type?
Thoughts on Resupply
As Kwok mentioned you will likely need multiple resupply depots per system if you intend to maintain large fleets. One resupply facility (lvl 1) does not produce enough supply for a large fleet.
This brings up a potential bug. I have noticed that once ships don't get fully resupplied in a system they never will as long as they sit there. I would expect to see an increase each turn until they are all topped off as long as they are just sitting there not expending supplies.
Ship Resupply
I've seen my ships top off. I do take them back to a planet in a system with a supply depot. I have to let them sit for a long time but eventully they fully load up.
Ship Resupply
But that is my point. It shoudl not take a long time. If they get filled up 3/4 of the way on turn one then they should get topped off, with supplies to spare on turn 2. I think there is a resupply priority setting, like repair priorities, but I have not messed with it yet. That may be the answer.
As a note I have one ship that has been sitting for several turns at a planet that has a resupply facility and 9600 units of supply in storage and yet this ship is only at 7450 of a possible 9500 supplies. I should not have to manually top this thing off. I'm calling it a bug!
I look forward to see what
I look forward to see what SEV will become as time goes by.
Decks and more...
The decks are there to provide additional slots if you need them. The order of damage goes Shields - Armor - Outer - Inner; with the the inner and outer layers susceptible to directional damage.
It's a good idea to have basic sensors on all ships.
You'll probably need a couple resupply depots per system to restock your planets as they do not create their own supply.
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