Constructive criticism: name one thing that annoys you most

General discussion about anything related to Transcendence.
JohnBWatson
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RPC wrote:The time it takes to finish one game.
I've played at least ~3-4 full games and my average time to finish is 24 hours. I know that other games like RPGs have long gameplay times but when I first came into T I thought that the game would be a ~3-4 hour endeavour and not a full day. You can probably argue that the 1-2 hours I spent mining Eridani could be cut off but that's still ~22 hours for a complete game. I'm pretty sure a lot of players still haven't seen Heretic or a Phobos yet.
That's already planned for the future, actually. I think George intends to let us start from different points with different ships. I believe Juno and St. Katherine's are the points we'll end up getting.
Combat
A lot of time most of the combat is just gaming the system by parking yourself on planets or the sun(I don't think that's changed in 1.6) and gaming the bad AI by baiting them and just shooting back (and your ability to fire back is limited by facings).

I think combat should be a *little* bit deeper than just skirmishes with bad AI.
I agree with the AI improvements. Planets and the sun could also do to be placed in the background as scenery rather than bullet shields. Sort of begs the question of why nobody just builds stations on top of them, as it is.
-get the AI to cooperate with each other/ run away if they might die
Squadron - based AI would be amazing if it's possible to implement with this engine. Fleeing is also something I'd like to see, when it makes sense. An Ares squadron is expendable, and should never retreat. Phobii and Deimoses could stand to run in some scenarios, probably fleeing for a stargate. Pirates like the Marauders, Centauri, or Rogue Fleet have no reason not to run when it suits them.
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pixelfck
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Just a friendly reminder:

Rule 2:
There may be some temptation to jump to the defence of Transcendence and argue about the posted annoyances. Arguing about personal opinions is not all that helpful and could easily spiral down into the flamewar. To prevent this, I would like to ask everyone to refrain from arguing the points posted here.

Let me rephrase that: do not comment on other peoples posts in this topic.

~Pixelfck
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sun1404
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Location: Heretic. (Finally!)

The linear nature of the campaign. I really want Trans universe to have more than one path from start to end. Preferably, have multiple regions (like the New Beyond, Ungoverned Territory etc.) that are parallel to each other, not linearly connected.

I'd propose this layout:
- Have each region fairly linear, with some possibly containing parallel paths, or minor branches.
- Let the New Beyond be linear as it is, serving as a relatively simple, balanced starting point, a tutorial or a warm-up.
- St. Kats then connect the New Beyond with multiple regions, one of them the Ungoverned Territory. The name might be changed to be less encompassing. Each of these regions would have unique characteristics of their own, for example, one might have more Sung presence than others, one might have more nebulae than others, each might offer unique quest lines (The Huari being one such, and others added) or, simply, one might be an easier path, offering less resistance but also less rewards, than others.
- Some regions might even be dead ends, or even loops.
- The Outer Realms too, would be accompanied by parallel regions, perhaps connected at Pt. Juno and Heretic.
- It shouldn't be easy to jump from a region to another, except from the branch points (St. Kats and Pt. Juno), but perhaps there might be relatively hidden stargates in a few systems bridging each region together.

And then I'd to mention it again: More quest lines. Perhaps telling the Xenophobes' story, or the Ringers, or the Dwarg. Or, even, telling the war from the Ares' view.
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JohnBWatson
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pixelfck wrote:Just a friendly reminder:

Rule 2:
There may be some temptation to jump to the defence of Transcendence and argue about the posted annoyances. Arguing about personal opinions is not all that helpful and could easily spiral down into the flamewar. To prevent this, I would like to ask everyone to refrain from arguing the points posted here.

Let me rephrase that: do not comment on other peoples posts in this topic.

~Pixelfck
I was commenting that a suggestion was planned, describing what I heard about it so that the person who gave it could voice their opinion, and agreeing with some other peoples' suggestions. If it really bothers you, I'll not quote anyone else in the topic.

Also, the lack of more than one militia mission at the second highest rank.
Ultimate Chicken
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My one and only annoyance is currently "why do I have no retrorockets".
Also, I had to reassign my Brake key in the text config after downloading a new build. Pressing Down accelerates (the actual Brake key is Full Stop, but my muscle memory uses Down). Small irritation tho, luckily this is much less dangerous than driving a car. ;3
Neuromancer
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The only major irritation that's kept with me since I've started this game is loss of a promising game after a crash. I know myself that I didn't die, but it's still counted as a death, and that kills a good run. If this was changed, then for me at least it would help a lot.
Adventwings
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A minor annoyance (or really, just a scratch that seems to be itching now and again) is how Omnifire weapons have turrets that are capable of instantaneous turning. For energy-based weapons like the Omni Turbolaser, I could chalk it up to it being on a very high-powered turret mechanism and light-weight collimator. For the heavier Akan 600 Turret, though, being able to swivel it around to hit nimble fighters like an Omni Turbolaser is a bit unbelievable. Sure, it's very helpful when dealing with a swarm of Sandstorms, but I'd expect a heavy artillery turret to turn quite a bit slower than that omni turbolaser turret. At the very least, it shouldn't be capable of near-simultaneously hitting two targets on exactly opposite sides of the ship.

RoT handling for individual turrets on top of ship RoT, you say? Yeah, that'd be a helluva coding nightmare, I'd imagine...
AdmiralZo
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One thing that could be improved is how you can't register a game in the multiverse if your name in that particular game does not match the username of your account.
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catfighter
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I think the lack of utter randomness is a bit of a downer. Sure every system is randomly generated each time, but you always follow the same path, always meet the same people, always run the same missions, etc. I think an addition of several random events and missions throughout would go a long way...
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kay.py
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Dealing with capital ships is a serious chore:
Line up guns...
Hold down fire...
Turn on autopilot...
Take a nap...
I think the whole internal damage thing still needs a serious rebalance.
On the other hand, I think military bases could stand to be tougher- I would have expected them to be bigger(ie this is where the internal damage stuff should really be) and more heavily armored than ships (given no worries about mass vs propulsion)

Its awfully fiddly getting your ship pointed in a precise direction. Some possibilities:
  • A control for 'change direction by exactly one facing', preferably in such a manner that you can eg tap it 3 times and it will turn exactly 3 facings (which may take longer than it took you to tap 3 times). Maybe also a control for 'turn at half speed'
  • Analogue joystick controls?
  • I would love a mouse option along the lines of: The mouse moves an onscreen cursor. Left button turns toward the cursor till it reaches whichever facing is closest. Right thrusts. Middle brakes. (You'd probably want these to be all remappable of course). Turrets could fire at the mouse cursor if no target is selected, giving much more utility in ships without targeting computers
Neuromancer
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I'll add another point. I like that the graphics are getting a pass at the moment, they needed a bit of updating. However, the one part of the game that's glaringly lacking at the moment is the sound and I don't think that's been touches since the game was first released. There's that single click sound for every single howitzer, a vaguely laser like sound for every laser and particle beam in the game, and then a third sound for a few of the kinetic weapons.

Nothing sounds all that satisfying, and the lack of variety is really apparent when you haven't had several years to get used to it. I think that the weapon and ambient sounds will need to be one of the most important aspects of the game to get a pass over in the near future if the game is going to reach a wider audience.
Bruno
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The fact that the game is developed at a snails pace, and is never truly finished or bug-cleaned. It turns people away and has to be bad for business, so I cant understand why this is happening.
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