Not logical aliens + bugs + feedback

[AlHazrad]

Game version [0.3.23-Normal]
First of all - Thank you very much for your game. This is the best game in the last 10 years! I haven't played this game in such a long time! Your team is very great fellows! I am a game developer myself and I understand how difficult it was to make it! = )
Yes, the message is long. Sorry, but it didn’t work out less. I hope the Lord developers will be able to be patient.
For earlier I apologize for my English, I will use google translator as he knows English better than me. Also, I haven't read many of the threads on the Discord servers and on this forum. There are really a lot of them, and if someone has already written about this, I apologize, but I cannot remain silent. This is a very cool game and I want it to be even better old!
I will try to describe in as much detail as possible what is happening and what looks strange or even does not work as it should work. Maybe I'm wrong and did something wrong, but I played more than 150+ hours.

Bugs/rework:

a. 100% game crash when at the end of the turn (when it is possible to issue missions to agents again) an "auto save" is created. If you immediately start loading this save - the crash of the game and the desktop.

b. Until now, there are reports of the arrival of alien ships in places where there are no my bases / stations. For example, I do not have bases in the Jupiter system, but alien ships fly there and go into satellite orbits. Very annoying.
c. VERY long loading time. I have a good PC but it takes 2 to 5 minutes to load a save. It is too long. I'm sure this can be fixed. Perhaps you have some kind of protection for saving MD HASH or Unpacking or something else. But Recording is much faster than downloading. I'm sure you can handle it.

d. Globe optimization. Freezes and FPS drop when using ZOOM or rotation on the ground. I do not understand why there is so much memory to use. It certainly can be optimized. Maybe the camera doesn't need to render the ENTIRE UNIVERSE at once? For example, as an option, if we are focused on the Earth, then the camera (distance) should not render other space bodies? I bet your camera renders both Jupiter and Satrun and all stations/hubs in Focus on Earth mode. But I'm not sure =)

e. UI optimization. When you open the UI for example "ship editor" there is a very long freeze. Although there is an EMPTY WINDOW and TWO buttons in the UI. Opening such a simple window should not take up so much memory and such a drop in FPS. Almost all UI panels open with a delay of 0.5f - 1.0f seconds. (I understand that optimization is usually postponed until last but still. Not a normal FPS drop)
Tip: (don't be offended)
Maybe when you open the UI, the “For” or “Forach” or “While” loop works in the main thread? Maybe redirect this to another thread (Coroutine /IEnumerator/other)? This will smooth out performance and fix FPS drops.
Never use "Forach" if possible (in 99.99% of cases you can AND SHOULD be replaced with "For") Do a simple experiment and you will see the performance! =)
Never (or very carefully) use a "While" loop in the main thread. It is not necessary. It takes all 100% of the resources by blocking (for the duration of the work) the main thread, which causes a freeze.
Maybe you have some Pixel Perfect option in the UI (there is one in the Unity engine). This is also very expensive and in a game like yours it is not necessary at all.

A computer:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-3220 CPU @ 3.30Ghz
RAM 12 GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650.

Oddities:

1. Aliens are not behaving logically.
When I did not understand the game and did everything wrong, everything went fine and consistently. (I had several small countries). The aliens first spread their flora, sometimes giants crawled out of the water. Later, the aliens began abductions. Then they began to build small bases that could be destroyed by weak agents. Everything was going well with alien research as well. (when I killed too many alien agents, they declared a holocaust to me and destroyed all my bases and stations in space. I realized that I was mistaken and started a new game)
BUT when I started playing again I started to conquer more countries. The largest USA, China, Russia, India - Aliens began to behave strangely. I did everything carefully (killed only 1 alien agent). The aliens were only engaged in abductions, but in 2035 they sent 3 ships with armies on board and began to conquer countries. I responded with 14 nuclear strikes from the US and Russia. At that time, I didn’t even have “Catching the Hydra” studied. And after the strikes (I destroyed ALL alien armies on Earth) I got a lot of messages about new types of aliens, about capturing some of them alive, about finding alien buildings and about finding new alien technology. A lot of technologies have been discovered at once.

I think this is weird and not normal. It should not be. I was only researching abductions for the whole company and then I was faced with a massive conquest of the planet by aliens. Lost intrigue. And by the way, I did not notice any consequences from nuclear strikes. Even the population of those countries that I bombed (conquered by aliens) almost did not suffer. I thought there would be no one there at all. SEVEN nuclear missiles per small country. And they are doing well there, almost as it was. -10 million people and all. After that, I started a new game in the hope that everything would go as it should. Consistently and with an increase in the aggression of the aliens, and not right away in the forehead.

2. What to do with Mongolia (and other similar countries)?
There are countries that "hang out" no one needs in the game. For example Mongolia. I tried to conquer it with tanks. I tried to attach it peacefully. I tried to bomb it with a nuclear weapon. But it still stubbornly remains independent (and does not want to join any federation in order to unite later). It cannot be "INVITED to the FEDERATION" (and in general, no one can be "invited to the federation" or I'm doing something wrong). And here I have this Mongolia hanging. And you can’t give it to the enemies because they grow alien fauna there. And it is a pity to spend the resources / time of agents on it. What to do with these? Why can't I just make a desert there and declare with some fines that these lands are mine (of China or Russia, for example, border)? Maybe I have not yet developed to that, but in this case it would be good to introduce such technologies a little earlier.

3. Why at the beginning of the game, Russia and China are almost the most backward in terms of military terms IN THE WORLD? This is completely untrue. They have very good armies. Well, probably 4.0 Russia and 3.9 China. But this is of course judged by the people who are responsible for the balance. It's just not realistic.

To be continued

[dan1109]

1. Logical Aliens
"They Have A Plan" - the aliens will be passive, until the Servants finish research of Alien Nation, which causes landings of armies. They are very difficult to kill, unless you catch every 3 armies at 50% (even then, it depends on how many armies you have and what Miltech - they start at MilTech 7.5). Nuking is an option, but shoots yourself in the foot. The best strategy is to have the US, and get its MilTech UP. Also, another meganation like Chine/RUS/EU should get some more navies, and a modest miltech boost. The US may not be able to reach the aliens in 30 days, especially if inland. Your other country may be able to do so. However, remember to retreat before they die (lord help you if they are bombarding you while attacking, single armies can die in a day).

For me, I have the US/EU/RUS - RUS miltech is BAD, so I didnt bother upgrading it, just enough armies to constantly go out and kill xenoflora, My 8 USA Armies at MilTech 6 and 6 Armies for the EU (all have navies, and EU has 5 more armies without boats) are at MilTech 5. Those 14 armies can kill a stack of 3 Alien Armies at 100%, but usually dont have the health to stay to occupy the land (for some reason, occupying the alien nation lands IS TOUGH AF). You can retreat back home, and try again. If you dont lose armies, you will eventually wipe them out, although it might take a few months. Keep an eye on alien troop carries, to make sure all of you naval armies on are borders ready to go.

2. Mongolia - You need to research Social Science techs to obtain claims on nations to expand your "empire". The simple example is the forming of the EU, but thats easy because most claims are already available. However, for Mongolia as an example, that is the the Pan-Asian Combine (Ulan Bator is the Mongolian Capital) tech, which requires Great Nations, which requires Unity movements. Also, note that you MUST be China in order to use Pan-Asian Combine - the tech says which country GETS the claim, so you really need the source country first. The Caliphate tech is for the arab world, however there is a bug and it does not state that Jeda (in Saudi Arabia) is the SOURCE country of the caliphate (I wasted 2 years, figuring that out). With these techs, the US can absorb Canada, you can make Africa a powerhouse one day (there is lots of raw pop, just needs decades of peaceful development). LOTS of options for you - there might be a few overlooked, but Mongolia certainly has a solution (not for Russia though, unfortunately).

3. China/RUS military being backwards? Forever and up until this year, everyone assumed Russia was still WAY better man for man than China - China has ALWAYS historically relied on numbers. The game should however give China AND Russia more armies - but they arent very good. Their tech is still decades behind NATO - yes they have hypersonic missiles, but they probably have severe weaknesses...like guidance. The SU-57 Felon might be competitive with the F-22, but still isnt even on the mass production line - they only have 3, and one of them crashed in the past 12 months.

So, have you WATCHED the news this year? Russia is proving to be lower MilTech than this game shows, from its performance in Ukraine. They are HORRIBLE. The ONLY thing Russia has going for them, is that they have the world's largest nuclear stockpile (most probably wouldn't work, but you only need a few to launch to cause WW3 and the end of the planet).

[AlHazrad]

So, have you WATCHED the news this year? Russia is proving to be lower MilTech than this game shows, from its performance in Ukraine. They are HORRIBLE. The ONLY thing Russia has going for them, is that they have the world's largest nuclear stockpile (most probably wouldn't work, but you only need a few to launch to cause WW3 and the end of the planet).

Let's not talk about it here. Although we all follow the news in the world, we are Gamers and will be Neutral HERE. I just expressed my thoughts and they are not without soil. But let's put an end to this, shall we? Anyway, thanks for posting =)

[AlHazrad]

Game version [0.3.23-Normal]

1) The points should be highlighted when hovering over them (those that are in the priorities of the country one and three). And now it is not clear that they just do interactive. Any interactive UI object should be highlighted when you hover over it, thereby making it clear that you can interact with it!

2) The salamander looks like a hydra. Both on the portrait "Hydra" and below the name under the portrait - "Hydra" After killing the salamander, they gave the "Hydra Biology" technology. (this was the first alien agent I killed)

3) After the destruction of the hub of one of the factions, the sounds of the negotiations of the inhabitants of the station went in cycles and did not tame no matter what I did. I listened to these "crew conversations" all the time until I reloaded the game. (destroyed with the help of his docked ship). There are thoughts that at the time of destruction I singled out this hub. The same is true for enemy tanks. Destroyed the army and the sound of the battle remained. Only restarting the game helps.

4) After landing on the surface of the Earth, in the report of the agent about the end of the mission, the icon "Incite disorder".

[AlHazrad]

I also started a new game. And again they came in 35 and landed armies. this is normal? I barely disturbed the aliens and went into the shadows when the agents sent me warnings that the aliens would focus on my organization. I also tried to leave their growth of "Servants" and just do what is connected with them for 1-2 months.

[neilwilkes]

I also started a new game. And again they came in 35 and landed armies. this is normal? I barely disturbed the aliens and went into the shadows when the agents sent me warnings that the aliens would focus on my organization. I also tried to leave their growth of "Servants" and just do what is connected with them for 1-2 months.

If The Servants get their 'Alien Nation' project completed then yes. That would be normal.
The big trick is to learn how to walk the fine line with Alien Hate - too much poking the bear & they stomp you, too little & the Servants will win
You need a plan, and have to stick to it - there are no easy wins on this game and that is how it should be to my mind - winning should feel like an achievement as opposed to something that will just happen, albeit by a different path. I like the challenge, as if this ever happened in reality we would have no chance at all unless we all worked covertly to resist (which still probably wouldn't work but hey)

[dan1109]

Well, i can attest the alien hate bar is USELESS after the first time you hit level 5. It never goes down, it never updates. After the first alien invasions which I beat off, the aliens changed tactics. They ignored EVERYTHING in the solar system except LEO - anything I put up, they crushed. Years later, I was able to make a fleet to secure LEO. Now, 12 years later, I am on the offense, the hate remains the same, and the update time is from 12 years ago. WTF...so hate doesnt matter at this point? I've had to roll back several years...I wasted years of research, researching tech and engines that were FAR inferior to the Zeta Z-Pinch technology. I needed tech which could get me a good warship with +17 acceleration to do intercepts. Z-pinch tech is FAR from end game, but several engines and plants which are 1 column away from endgame (Icarus Torch, FireflyTorch, and all their prerequisites) are far much worse than the Zeta Z-pinch tech. Whata joke, especially when you cant see the stats of the engines until after you can begin the final research.

[Martenzo]

2) The salamander looks like a hydra. Both on the portrait "Hydra" and below the name under the portrait - "Hydra" After killing the salamander, they gave the "Hydra Biology" technology. (this was the first alien agent I killed)

All Alien agents are Hydras. They have an Alien-only Org called Salamander Shock Troops, but are not Salamanders themselves. You will unlock Salamander Biology when you first investigate a terror attack (or, less likely, capture an Alien Orbital/Settlement with troopships)

[AlHazrad]

2) The salamander looks like a hydra. Both on the portrait "Hydra" and below the name under the portrait - "Hydra" After killing the salamander, they gave the "Hydra Biology" technology. (this was the first alien agent I killed)

All Alien agents are Hydras. They have an Alien-only Org called Salamander Shock Troops, but are not Salamanders themselves. You will unlock Salamander Biology when you first investigate a terror attack (or, less likely, capture an Alien Orbital/Settlement with troopships)

I unblocked it. and live interrogation, too, when he destroyed the ground base of the aliens, along with the armies, with a nuclear strike. and there, when I took a live Salamander, she looked like a normal lizard with a tail standing on her back legs. And during the interrogation, the living hydra told me that they enslaved several races, including the salamander race.

[AlHazrad]

Well, i can attest the alien hate bar is USELESS after the first time you hit level 5. It never goes down, it never updates. After the first alien invasions which I beat off, the aliens changed tactics. They ignored EVERYTHING in the solar system except LEO - anything I put up, they crushed. Years later, I was able to make a fleet to secure LEO. Now, 12 years later, I am on the offense, the hate remains the same, and the update time is from 12 years ago. WTF...so hate doesnt matter at this point? I've had to roll back several years...I wasted years of research, researching tech and engines that were FAR inferior to the Zeta Z-Pinch technology. I needed tech which could get me a good warship with +17 acceleration to do intercepts. Z-pinch tech is FAR from end game, but several engines and plants which are 1 column away from endgame (Icarus Torch, FireflyTorch, and all their prerequisites) are far much worse than the Zeta Z-pinch tech. Whata joke, especially when you cant see the stats of the engines until after you can begin the final research.

And I'm talking about the same. I can't NOT fight them, especially when they start taking over one country after another with their armies and the rest of the factions don't care. EVERYONE WITHOUT EXCEPTION. You have to fight on your own so that the Planet is not corny captured. by 2040 I don't have 2k damage ships. but they have. And they all the same as before destroyed ONLY my space objects. ALL!
And so I don't pay attention to it anymore. I just don't build anything else in space but annihilate ALL factions on the planet without exception. Especially aliens. I kill agents as soon as I see them. And unite countries. So far so good. All factions have calmed down. They sit in small countries and with vanilla agents from 0 lvl. Aliens after 6 attempts no longer want to land because I still have a lot of nuclear strikes =)

[AlHazrad]

I also started a new game. And again they came in 35 and landed armies. this is normal? I barely disturbed the aliens and went into the shadows when the agents sent me warnings that the aliens would focus on my organization. I also tried to leave their growth of "Servants" and just do what is connected with them for 1-2 months.

If The Servants get their 'Alien Nation' project completed then yes. That would be normal.
The big trick is to learn how to walk the fine line with Alien Hate - too much poking the bear & they stomp you, too little & the Servants will win
You need a plan, and have to stick to it - there are no easy wins on this game and that is how it should be to my mind - winning should feel like an achievement as opposed to something that will just happen, albeit by a different path. I like the challenge, as if this ever happened in reality we would have no chance at all unless we all worked covertly to resist (which still probably wouldn't work but hey)

Yes, I do not mind. I understand that you need to look for the mud. But it is not clear what will be the reaction of the Aliens to certain actions. This 5-box scale is really useless. you need a whole LOG where it would be written for example like this.
11/09/2025 - we killed the "Hydra" and we think this will make the aliens very angry (10 alien evil points)
11/25/2025 - we seized control of Mongolia, which was previously occupied by "Servants". we don't think this will really piss off the aliens (2.5 alien evil points).
11/09/2025 - we killed another "Hydra" but immediately went into the shadows. and we think this will anger the aliens but not much (8 alien evil points)
That would be some sort of performance. And then there is a line, but where it is not clear. And how do I know that because of some technology of the Servants in 2035, 100% will be the landing of Aliens? It would be nice to talk about it too =)

[ecpgieicg]

in 2035 they sent 3 ships with armies on board and began to conquer countries.

The first initial invasion is scripted. Either that or the minimum number of years before initial invasion is allowed; but the Servant will trigger it as soon as the minimum is past.

Either way, the result forms an integral part of the gameplay narrative, no?

2. What to do with Mongolia (and other similar countries)?
There are countries that "hang out" no one needs in the game. For example Mongolia. I tried to conquer it with tanks. I tried to attach it peacefully. I tried to bomb it with a nuclear weapon. But it still stubbornly remains independent (and does not want to join any federation in order to unite later). It cannot be "INVITED to the FEDERATION" (and in general, no one can be "invited to the federation" or I'm doing something wrong). And here I have this Mongolia hanging. And you can’t give it to the enemies because they grow alien fauna there. And it is a pity to spend the resources / time of agents on it. What to do with these? Why can't I just make a desert there and declare with some fines that these lands are mine (of China or Russia, for example, border)? Maybe I have not yet developed to that, but in this case it would be good to introduce such technologies a little earlier.

You will get projects to form bigger nations after the global research is unlocked and if you still occupy the required capital regions to trigger the projects at that time.

You can browse the tech tree and look for then. Go to View Full Tree. Search "Pan-Asia" for example. But I think players generally encounter such options organically. The initial options come from early game research after all. I didn't have to investigate anything to encounter them and thus take advantage of them myself. I am a bit surprised you haven't encountered them organically. You can also just leave Mongolia alone -- why the hate(/love?) on Mongola...

3. Why at the beginning of the game, Russia and China are almost the most backward in terms of military terms IN THE WORLD? This is completely untrue. They have very good armies. Well, probably 4.0 Russia and 3.9 China. But this is of course judged by the people who are responsible for the balance. It's just not realistic.

Agree. Especially since the game penalize early army deployment rather heavily, there is no option to model Russia and China with a large number of army units either. Instead, their overall military fighting power is represented by military "tech" in-game and being too low makes no sense.

(I would say though, saying Russia is above China is not giving off clue of knowledge IRL.)

for some reason, occupying the alien nation lands IS TOUGH AF

Regional defenses have miltech of the host country. Maybe it's that plus a modifier?

Alien Administration in my game started with Africa... so ya. Taking their land was trivial even when they took China and US afterwards.

Well, i can attest the alien hate bar is USELESS after the first time you hit level 5. It never goes down, it never updates.

It does come down. You can google and see people describing it.

But the usual reduction of hate (e.g. destroying your habs) does not apply if Aliens have declared total war on you.

It never goes down, it never updates. After the first alien invasions which I beat off, the aliens changed tactics. They ignored EVERYTHING in the solar system except LEO - anything I put up, they crushed.

I wish Aliens in my game did that. Instead, they destroy anything I put up on earth orbit on sight -- depriving me of the various bonuses from research modules, including alien detection, which further removes useful agent turns from me as I have a harder time in detecting alien agents -- having to spend time surveiling and re-gaining control on nations --- on top of the usual expected effect of slower national development.

I had a large stockpile of materials one way or the other. So building ships were not an issue either way.

[neilwilkes]

↑Thu Oct 13, 2022 8:40 pm
3. Why at the beginning of the game, Russia and China are almost the most backward in terms of military terms IN THE WORLD? This is completely untrue. They have very good armies. Well, probably 4.0 Russia and 3.9 China. But this is of course judged by the people who are responsible for the balance. It's just not realistic.
Agree. Especially since the game penalize early army deployment rather heavily, there is no option to model Russia and China with a large number of army units either. Instead, their overall military fighting power is represented by military "tech" in-game and being too low makes no sense.

I disagree here.
The Russian Military is large but at the same time largely useless being based on conscription and Soviet era tech.
Ditto the Chinese - they want everyone to think they are advanced, but how advanced they are will to some extent depend on just how much they have managed to steal since the 'Confucious Institute program started (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius_Institute) where if you just assume all Chinese students are spies you will probably not be too far wrong. Yes, they are catching up in leaps & bounds but they are not there yet. I recall the footage when the Soviets & the US were reducing Strategic Weapons by removing the missile/warheards & fuilling the silo with concrete - around 60% of the Soviet Silo's were flooded. I doubt they could have reliably hit Kansas on a clear day.
Not that this is really relevant, but given there are things out in the Western US deserts that are 50 years ahead of anything you can even imagine I reckon the balance is probably about right.

[AlHazrad]

↑Thu Oct 13, 2022 8:40 pm

Not that this is really relevant, but given there are things out in the Western US deserts that are 50 years ahead of anything you can even imagine I reckon the balance is probably about right.

Yes, this is very, very funny.
Now seriously.
But if we start from the gameplay, then I'm already 46 years old. and due to the unification of Russia with other neighboring countries (ALL of the European Union on the mainland of Eurasia except Turkey), I somehow gained 5 military power (every turn I keep an agent with 25 military power in Russia and with 20 US military power). China has 5.3 (it gradually rises by itself). The US has barely 6, but that also fell 3 per merger.
Nevertheless, as ALL countries except the USA were useless, they remained aliens in the fight. In general, I am still not satisfied with the starting military power of Russia. she is too weak. But Japan is too quickly raising military power. It's kind of unbalanced too. With the proper skill at the right time, having captured Japan and doing everything right, you can mourn its ruler =)

[AlHazrad]

You will get projects to form bigger nations after the global research is unlocked and if you still occupy the required capital regions to trigger the projects at that time.

You can browse the tech tree and look for then. Go to View Full Tree. Search "Pan-Asia" for example. But I think players generally encounter such options organically. The initial options come from early game research after all. I didn't have to investigate anything to encounter them and thus take advantage of them myself. I am a bit surprised you haven't encountered them organically. You can also just leave Mongolia alone -- why the hate(/love?) on Mongola...

I have neither love nor hate for Mongolia. It's just a hassle in this game (I meant similar small countries). "Servants" or "protectorate" constantly monitor them at my borders and grow their fluorine there. as well as alien agents like to start from there to walk, for example, throughout Russia and engage in abductions there. I think it should be allowed to unite such small countries a little more in the earlier game. they cause a lot of inconvenience. But yes, in the late game, Mongolia is a long time ago - Russia, like London and Berlin =)

[AlHazrad]

So I continue Essay.
I'll try to be shorter. (I still play as "Resistance")
Once again, I started a new game and approached the issue with experience. I realized that the MOST IMPORTANT thing is to KILL AGENTS! EVERYONE (well, with the aliens a little carefully). Just everyone who was calculated - to kill. And if you do not see - seek and kill. Thus, I completely cut down any attempts at development. 2045 and already 6 agents (but they have nothing to do). "Servants" have not yet learned the "Language of Aliens" and the "Protectorate" cannot "give territories to other nations." Of course, between killings, I sabotage their scientific projects ("Servants" and "Protectorate"). I cleared completely Mars and now there is no one there except for my faction. Also, there is not a single station in the Earth's orbit except mine. Under the control of Russia (Berlin, London, and elsewhere), USA + Canada, China + Japan + both Koreas. Fleet 3+k on Earth and 1k each on Mars and the Moon. The aliens don't even try to come to Earth.

Very annoying Auto-switch to the next agent after I give the order to the previous one. IT IS VERY UNCOMFORTABLE!

I would also like to see that in the search filter on the left it was possible to separately turn on / off stations (in orbit) and settlements on planets. I have the whole of Mars populated and there is a lot of everything. but I don't want to see all my settlements. they are engaged in the extraction of ore and I am not interested in what happens to them. But I watch the stations every turn! =)

to be continued

[AlHazrad]

A bug with the study of technology for combining.
Bug. (example Paris AND Russia) build - 0.3.26
I researched a technology that says that Paris has a claim on Turkey. But Paris has been Russia for a very, very long time. Why does this technology not work when merging? What do I need to give back independence to Paris, then separate Paris from Turkey and then take it all back to Russia. This is nonsense, it shouldn't be like that.