Impressions after the first few hours

[theBlind]

Hi!

First of all, I think 1.1 is an improvement over 1.0. There are a number of small things that I will point at later, but especially the better mission pricing (I have yet to see a cargo run for more than 15k) are good. Hopefuly, those runs are not only unavailable because I'm still relatively new with this pilot.

While going through the game so far (that is, I have left Troy and have made a few steps outside, still have the Tarsus) I made some notes. I'll present them as a simple list, please do not think that I mean to downvalue your work in any way.

The good:
-FAST! loading. (also, the game no longer stops for a few seconds when jumping)
-much better flight characteristics for Talon (at least until now)
-no more docking points to approach
-limited scanner range (very good)

The bad:
-Is filtered big bases no longer available?
-big white cross over long distance - while not that bad, I still prefer brackets.
-green tractor beem (I mean - green... :p )
-when exiting autoppilot, the ship should be on a forward only vector, not moving sideways
-loosing target-lock when the target gets behind me (non-Omnidirectional targeting). If this is back in the high end scanners, it's actually good.
-Bount Targets should not run away. Not fair. Stand and die!
-time between end-of-fight and autopilot re-enabling could be a bit shorter
-Faction should be displayed when targeting a ship (esp. with Talons)

Bugs (?)
-Iron and Thungsten Ore are for sale (I post this as a bug because Ialso saw them in VS but never in Privateer. Maybe in RF?)
-You can have both a Plasteel and Thungsten Armour as well as Hull installed at the same time
-You can have Shield level 1 and 2 installed at the same time.
-with both above bugs, I think that they don't stack the damage protection. If the Plasteel armour is damaged and I repair it, the Thungsten armour is also partially repaired. If I repair the Thungsten armour, the Plasteel is completely repaired. So I think they simply change the max armour value and it is checked against their max value to see if they are damaged?
-I'd guees it's the same with the shields, but I have no way to test that.
-if you have both armours/hulls installed, they all show up in the in-flight damage report
-kilrathy shoudl not get a relationship bonus from killing pirates/retros.
-Orion sales text (the one you get when you have enough money) not displaying. Could not yet test the other ships.
-Patrol missions are generated where their descriptive text talks about more nav-points than there are in the system.

A single bug I encountered with no idea how to reproduce: I took on a bounty mission in troy, starting from achilles. The target was by the jumppoint close by. When I started, I got his message (my name is now on his list), I flew to the target nav point but he wasn't there any more. I never found him again.

Last but not least, the purty:
-Signal lost screen when a ship exploed in mid-message (Deliver us, oh Lord for we are in BOOOOOM!). Nice.
-new Mass-Driver projectile (right?)
-"Scanning" Message when scanning a patrol point.

Well, off to bed with me.
best,
-theBlind

[MamiyaOtaru]

-loosing target-lock when the target gets behind me (non-Omnidirectional targeting).

Press 'l' to lock onto your target. This is as it was in the original. Doesn't make it 100 percent the right thing to do, but it isn't really a radical departure

-Bount Targets should not run away. Not fair. Stand and die!

haha they are only doing what the player does so often.

-Faction should be displayed when targeting a ship (esp. with Talons)

As in the original, this requires you to communicate with them, or check them out with 'v' camera view. Again, if that's the best way to go remains up in the air.

-You can have Shield level 1 and 2 installed at the same time.

As you suspet, you only think you do. Lvl 1 isn't doing you any good.

A single bug I encountered with no idea how to reproduce: I took on a bounty mission in troy, starting from achilles. The target was by the jumppoint close by. When I started, I got his message (my name is now on his list), I flew to the target nav point but he wasn't there any more. I never found him again.

He got away!

I was wondering how the mass driver would be received. 1 vote for Thanks for feedback.

[hurleybird]

Just started it up, I've played for about 10 minutes, and I already like it better.

First off, I dont know how, but it feels a lot more privateer-ish, kudos.

I did notice a couple of things though.

If you target a planet and press 'c' you get a bunch of options with the text '...' and the last one is 0 - 'request docking clearance', however, with the new docking system that option doesent do anything.

And one gripe, If you die and restart, You should have all your purchases and missions from before, you should not have to go back and do everything all over again.

I actually like the new crosses as they remind me more of the original, perhaps make it an option though, as some might like the old way better.

[MamiyaOtaru]

If you target a planet and press 'c' you get a bunch of options with the text '...' and the last one is 0 - 'request docking clearance', however, with the new docking system that option doesent do anything.

unless you are playing at a higher difficulty level. Would you prefer the docking squares to show up even if they aren't used at lower difficulty levels?

And one gripe, If you die and restart, You should have all your purchases and missions from before, you should not have to go back and do everything all over again.

If you save your game after making those purchases and taking those missions, you won't have to again. The game just doesn't have a rolling save point, it can only go back to where you create a save

I actually like the new crosses as they remind me more of the original, perhaps make it an option though, as some might like the old way better.

good to hear. Looking forward to how opinions on those stacks up.

[hurleybird]

unless you are playing at a higher difficulty level. Would you prefer the docking squares to show up even if they aren't used at lower difficulty levels?

I dont see how the docking approach has anything to do with difficulty, well actually, you need to fly further in without the brackets so if anything brackets should be at low difficulties

Anyhow, I like it better with auto-docking, closer to the original.

[MamiyaOtaru]

you don't have to collide to dock.. you can press 'd' still, like before. You can actually dock farther away on easy than you can with docking squares Just that most people coming straight from Privateer won't be hehe