Update on client?

[ChickenHawk07]

I'm a huge supporter of this game and series, but come on, we need to know something about the next client. How far out are you from release? Please, otherwise I think you're going to lose your core players.

[Supamand]

I'm wondering if they are waiting for all servers to die out before releasing a new client. Wish there was more information on this :D

[WhiteLion]

Agreed.

I'm still playing on Irkalla as a trader, I just knocked out the last active player.

Now I'm going to try and win with the Trader win condition. Going to skill up Money Laundering and other warp speeds and see if I can win before server ends.

Every now and then I discover large bugs/exploits and report them… there's a little fun in that… but otherwise the game is getting dull.

[Space_Doogie]

I haven't played in forever, can't wait for some news! I get a little sadder every day when I check the forums...

[Wrath]

... I'm still playing on Irkalla as a trader, I just knocked out the last active player. ... Now I'm going to try and win with the Trader win condition. I don't know, that struck me as kind of funny - being able to win by trading with yourself, since there are no more active players, lol. Is that technically still considered as 'trading' at that point? hehe

Yeah, I haven't checked the forums (or logged in to the actual game) for what seems to be quite a while now, but still no word about, or actual client version 1.0.8? Doesn't sound promising...

[Space_Doogie]

There's a lot of change coming in the future, I bet they're just super tied up in that. It is sad, however, that they don't have a PR person to keep an eye on the forums during busy times. With this game being kind of an unknown to most people, and most of those people who do know of the game not knowing what's going on, a creeping feeling of 'dead in the water' hangs in these forums.

[WhiteLion]

It's not that they need a PR person, but they do need a community manager. Someone who can be the go between them and the community. This way they can keep on track and worry about the things they need to, and still be involved without feeling like they're neglecting the community… and the community will still feel like there's life behind the scenes.

The community manager can also help escalate issues that are deemed significant so that during busy times the devs don't have to deal with trivial issues…

This is all just a suggestion regarding organizational processes and how to better streamline workflow.

[WhiteLion]

I don't know, that struck me as kind of funny - being able to win by trading with yourself, since there are no more active players, lol. Is that technically still considered as 'trading' at that point? hehe


Well I can't trade with myself… my plan was to basically take everyones home worlds and colonies so that no one can build anything anymore. Thus no worry about fleets and attacks… By this time I suspect I'll be at war with everyone… so there's this skill that I noticed that lets you trade with enemies. I'll simply skill it up and start trade routes with every outpost/planet owned by anyone who has me as an enemy/embargo'd.

[ChickenHawk07]

Yeah, I really wish they would have someone online to just say "hey, we're still alive and kicking... Don't worry, your year subscription will not go to waste." However, all we get instead is the silent treatment :-(

Not a great way to treat the core (oh, I mean, only players) they have.

[WhiteLion]

At least we can now enter the centre of the universe… there's no artifacts though… I checked every sector in a particularly small server (Irkalla)… and NPC's are non-attackable.

[Tsagoth]

I don't get that because I can see the artifacts being placed during the universe spawn and Raven has sent us many screenshots showing them. The graphic is larger than most of the damn planets too.

Anyway, as far as the client goes I don't know what Z is doing with it. I've been limiting the game launches since combat is so problematic and I'm going to be starting testing on the new system tonight. It's taking a lot longer now because we aren't pulling 100+ hour weeks any more, that's over. I spent yesterday baling small square bales of hay and by the time I was done at 7pm I wasn't too interested in debugging, lol.

[Space_Doogie]

I'm not sure I feel any more reassured now that we have a response. It feels as though you guys are following the same development process as Minecraft, allowing players to pay early for access to the game. Of course, the only difference is Notch had a lot better interactions with his player base. I bet even a weekly update on the front page would go a long way, as I'm sure you'd like to hang in to what few fans you have.

[WhiteLion]

Ok I'll conduct a center sector by sector search for the 3 artifacts on irkalla, but I am pretty sure there's a problem... unless there's more to artifacts then just uncovering territory and searching from the map view... It's becoming a tedious process trying to figure it out.

[Tsagoth]

Ok I'll conduct a center sector by sector search for the 3 artifacts on irkalla, but I am pretty sure there's a problem... unless there's more to artifacts then just uncovering territory and searching from the map view... It's becoming a tedious process trying to figure it out.

Since I can just look in the db to find them, I flew to the first artifact. Planet_196 on Irkalla and I can see it fine. It's at G 1,0 S 3,23 the yellow sun with one planet in the very bottom left of the map. If you don't see it, then I'll have to do some digging.

Edit: According to the db, Irkalla has 11 artifacts.

[Tsagoth]

I'm not sure I feel any more reassured now that we have a response. It feels as though you guys are following the same development process as Minecraft, allowing players to pay early for access to the game. Of course, the only difference is Notch had a lot better interactions with his player base. I bet even a weekly update on the front page would go a long way, as I'm sure you'd like to hang in to what few fans you have.

Well for me, I don't post if I don't have anything to say. I could post and say "Today I drove for six hours and installed MS SQL Server on the database server.". Would that help ? I just happen to believe nobody cares about boring stuff like that, but if people want to hear about all the bullshit that goes on in the background, I'll post it.

[Space_Doogie]

It may or may not be boring, but having your presence known on the site would be the main idea. Knowing you're still around goes a long way and it may even be fun for you, you never know!

[WhiteLion]

Since I can just look in the db to find them, I flew to the first artifact. Planet_196 on Irkalla and I can see it fine. It's at G 1,0 S 3,23 the yellow sun with one planet in the very bottom left of the map. If you don't see it, then I'll have to do some digging.

Edit: According to the db, Irkalla has 11 artifacts.

Interesting... For me it's G1,0 S4,23 and I only see one planet to the left of the Sun.

At this planet there's a bunch of NPC's and I can see your planet killer there as well. I notice for you it says Tech10 while the NPC's and myself say tech0. Furthermore I have not been able to interact with these NPC's. In the past I've been able to colonize and outpost these planets but it had no effect on the NPC's. I tried to attack as well to no effect.

If the NPC's are the 'artifact' then I can see them but not interact with them. if there is supposed to be a different visual or graphic or something in this system then I certainly do not see it or I am missing something.

[Tsagoth]

Interesting... For me it's G1,0 S4,23 and I only see one planet to the left of the Sun.

At this planet there's a bunch of NPC's and I can see your planet killer there as well. I notice for you it says Tech10 while the NPC's and myself say tech0. Furthermore I have not been able to interact with these NPC's. In the past I've been able to colonize and outpost these planets but it had no effect on the NPC's. I tried to attack as well to no effect.

If the NPC's are the 'artifact' then I can see them but not interact with them. if there is supposed to be a different visual or graphic or something in this system then I certainly do not see it or I am missing something.

Hmm, that's interesting. When I flew there I didn't see anybody there, just the artifact. There's no reason that the npc's should be invis to me. I don't understand the different grid reference either, that is very strange. That sounds like the right system, there is just the one planet on the lower left of the sector.

Edit: Ok, I was just being dumb, it is in fact 4,23 for me as well. I also see your probe but not my PK. So there is something whack here.

[WhiteLion]

If you see the NPC's then just scroll down. Your PK is under the 2 NPC' PK's.

Also note my probe is a fleet of 1 ship around the sun. This isn't really relevant but I though I should mention it because I found ship positions to differ depending on fleet vs regular and a difference depending on ally vs foe.

Take your PK and turn it into a fleet and it would show up next to the NPC's I think.

Edit: P.S. On the issue of community management… I could possibly help with that. I have some experience with Customer Service and PR. I could provide my Linkedin profile if this was something of interest.

[Rat]

I don't get this game

[Space_Doogie]

I don't get this game

It can be confusing, try looking through the forums and check out the wiki. Of course, nothing helps better than just playing the crap outta the game. We'll be seeing a lot of changes in the future, hopefully a few to provide much need info on what's happening as you play, but we're all a bit confused so don't worry. ;)