Hamilmac

Join Date 04/2006

+27

Shipyard Initial Impressions (also posted in Steam)

After creating 5 different ships in Ship Designer (BTW, how do we post screen shots from our hard drives; keeps asking for a URL):

Main Screen

A “Klingon battlecruiser” I created shows up as a “.” In the Ships Name list in the right hand panel.
A part I attached to the ship (above mentioned) changed orientation (stayed in same place but rotated 90 degrees) when I started a new game.

Design Mode Screen

I LOVE the “Offset” feature!
Often, after clicking to highlight a part and then trying to click on the Scale/Rotate/Offset screen, the screen disappears if I do not click on a tool precisely. Making this menu and associated tools larger (or the mouse target areas at least) would really help me.
Place a “Save” option on the “Design Mode” menu (like on the “Equip” menu)?
Selecting “Proportional Scaling” causes X/Y/Z axis to be set to same dimension. Would prefer setting X/Y/Z dimensions myself and have a “Lock Aspect Ratio” function instead.
Just mentioning an “Undo” feature here as a reminder even though you said in the stream that this is planned.
While manipulating a part, being able to hit <escape> to cancel immediate changes would help.
I love the “Ship Designer Options/Show Parts from Other Styles” option. I was able to figure out the menu options after about 15 minutes trial and error.
When I “Use Design” and make changes, I don’t seem to have the option of saving the changes without creating a new Ships/Name entry.
Okay, I’m having trouble explaining this one. When I set one set of parts to oscillate, then attach another set of parts to a different area on the hull and set that to oscillate, the oscillation of other parts (not selected) changes too. When there are three separate oscillating areas, changing one changes both of the others. (I was trying to create a ship that “swam” like a fish with moving fins, tail, and mouth.)
Symmetry is both a good thing and a bad thing. After I use it to create a symmetrical structure, any new parts added automatically become symmetrical. I would like the ability to turn it off for new parts added if I want to create an asymmetrical addition. (For said “Fish” ship above, after using symmetry to create the fish-like body from Altarian Model 03, I tried to add a dorsal fin (top) and it would not let me add just a single fin.) It also adds a copy of a weapon mount but not the actual weapon.
A "Copy" feature for a part that's been modified would help (this was easy in GC2: clicking a modified part caused new parts to take modified part's characteristics).

Main Game

I had a strange glitch occur. I lost the ability to drag the map. I don’t know what caused it and exiting and reloading the game fixed it.

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econundrum1

Join Date 04/2007

+36

Good feed back one thing I forgot to mention in my feed back was a request for an undo key or button, for when I break my ship.

Selecting “Proportional Scaling” causes X/Y/Z axis to be set to same dimension. Would prefer setting X/Y/Z dimensions myself and have a “Lock Aspect Ratio” function instead.

Goog idea I agree though I also think the whole UI for doing this is currently rather clunky in general.

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Also just discovered that we can type in numerical values on the Scale/Rotate/Offset menu. This is a good feature but wasn't immediately obvious.

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mormegil

Join Date 03/2001

+74

Thanks for the feedback.

- The part flipping on the main map, and should be fixed in the next build.

- The Design palettes are being redesigned quite a bit but we will try and make sure they are easier to hit. This will also be addressed when the multiple UI sizes are in. There is also a bug were the sliders and wheels lose focus, so you should be hitting them but you're not. This might be a lot of what is making it feel awkward.
- New UI always has save as a option.

- Proportional scaling is misbehaving at the moment, so but a aspect lock would be nice, i will play with the idea.

- Undo is planned but may be a few versions before we have it in the public build.

- Escape to clear a peace would be helpful. good idea, unfortunately in stardock games we like to have escape bring up the main menu, but i'm sure we can find somthing like it.
In addition, there is a clear button on the palette that will do this now.

- We hope to have better filtering for parts in general, at the moment if you show all parts it can be quite overwhelming. We dont want it by default because ships made out of multiple styles tend to be for more advanced designers, and are slightly less efficient to render on the game side.

- you will be able to save at any point in the new UI.

- This oscillation issue sounds like a bug, but may just be because you were accidentally counter oscillating, we will try an make this a bit more clear. Unfortunately the Animations can get out of hand really fast. Which is why we want to add undo, and i like your escape button Idea.

- It is planed for you to be able to “break symmetry” which means you will be able to put a piece on one, and have it no longer mirror parts added to that. We have a few things we would like to do to make symmetry a bit more flexible. But we wanted people to be able to play with it ASAP.

- A copy feature would be cool, but is getting pretty advanced, we may add that in polish.

Hope this helps.

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Helps a lot. Rapid responses and listening to player feedback is one of the reasons I really like Stardock. Appreciate the hard work. Looking forward to spending way too much time with this game.

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