Feedback from a newly returning player

[Nemoricus]

Mmm...it's been a while since I've last played Creeper World, but I had an urge to fight an oozing blue menace, so here I am.

On the whole, it looks like things have come together nicely. The campaign is interesting, and for the most part it's been a nice, pleasant reintroduction to the game. Farbor is one hell of a difficulty spike, though, and I'm going to have to think about how to best approach this map on my next go around.

Seeing what can be done with CRPL is rather neat, even if the campaign only provides a taste of what's to come. Mistet is probably my favorite map so far, since watching the Creeper follow the motions of the magnetar is downright cool.

Of course, there's also a number of things I've noticed that could use some improvment. Some of the big ones:

1. Frykt looks like a branch point in the campaign, but isn't. I don't really like this, because it implies that you could bypass Cliff and Apex, when in fact you can't.

2. Related: It's not immediately obvious that the Meso referred to in the shield of Farbor is in Apex. Since you need the keys from Meso and Krig to access Farbor, it should tell you that they're in another star system.

3. I'd really like the ability to lock down specific DMD settings when generating a random map. Specifically, I don't want void on my maps, but almost every map I generate will have it. So, it would be nice if I could tell the DMD to never generate any.

I've more thoughts, but they're minor and are hidden behind the spoiler.

Spoiler

• 'Return to Origin' isn't entirely clear, since you're not returning to the start of a sector, but rather the title screen. This should probably be 'Return to Title Screen' instead.
  
• It would be nice if you could navigate between adjacent star systems without having to go into the full sector map. Like, if you're at Frykt, you could go directly to Egos, Cliff, Apex, and Andere without having to step into the sector map.
  
• It would be nice if you could pan the sector maps with the mouse, and not just the arrow keys/mouse. I keep trying to do this, only to find that it doesn't work.
  
• An 'All Enemies have been exterminated on this map' message would be cool.
  
• When units are split between a setting, like having a group of bombers where some have auto-relaunch on and some don't, it would be nice if it showed a single slash in the setting box instead of an 'X'. This way you'd know that not all are on the same setting.
  
• I'd like to see the maximum AC/Energy that you can store in each Command Node. Right now I have to wait until they fill up to find out.
  
• If you haven't completed the inhibitor map in Tormented Space/Prospector Zone's first system, you can't open the system by clicking on it in the sector map. This seems odd and inconsistent, since you can do this afterwards.
  
• If I hold down the arrows in the Dial Map Device, it should continue to adjust the setting until I let go.
  
• In the forge, it would be nice if it showed how much of an improvement to each start each upgrade is. Like, Firerate +5% or something.
  

[close]

[Asbestos]

When you've completed a map, the planet gets a little green circle around it. When there's an auto-save on the map but it isn't completed, it has a yellow triangle around it. When you haven't started it yet but it's available, it has nothing around it. Just FYI.

[Nemoricus]

Okay, I take back my comments about Farbor being a difficulty spike, since I beat it handily on my second try. I came very close to taking out the Prism Ship before it launched, too. If I'd been quicker, I think I would have, too.

I didn't really do anything different, either. I just made sure to manage my energy much more carefully at the start, and hit the central area hard from the northwest. Berthas on power zones and shields are excellent at forcing openings, if you time them right, and then it was a fairly typical fight to reach the totem.

Asbestos: What in my post is that a reply to? I'm aware of that, but I'm not sure what it's relevant to...

[Asbestos]

• An 'All Enemies have been exterminated on this map' message would be cool.
  

[Nemoricus]

On many maps, it's possible for Creeper and such to remain even after all mission objectives have been completed.

[Tjgalon]

Okay, I take back my comments about Farbor being a difficulty spike, since I beat it handily on my second try. I came very close to taking out the Prism Ship before it launched, too. If I'd been quicker, I think I would have, too.

I didn't really do anything different, either. I just made sure to manage my energy much more carefully at the start, and hit the central area hard from the northwest. Berthas on power zones and shields are excellent at forcing openings, if you time them right, and then it was a fairly typical fight to reach the totem.

Asbestos: What in my post is that a reply to? I'm aware of that, but I'm not sure what it's relevant to...

I remember how hard it was my first time too. Taking out the ships, helps buy you more time too, lol. and maybe, even beat it early.

[Nemoricus]

Attacking the ships may have been a waste of time and energy. Snipers are very expensive, and shooting down the ships doesn't save you that much time. Speaking of which, I was rather put out when I noticed that Particle Beams couldn't shoot the ships down. Isn't AA defence what they're for?

It may be much too late for this, but would it be possible to get another setting for Pulse Cannons: Shoot closer of Digitalis/Creeper? I find that in many situations I don't really care which the Pulse Cannon is shooting at, and in most cases shooting at Creeper gets you Digitalis free in the bargain.

But there are circumstances where this can really bite you in the butt, such as fighting on terrain with a lot of ridges and chasms. On those maps, you can clean out high elevation Digitalis of Creeper, but still have the Digitalis spreading into cells your units are occupying. Also, I had boosted range, so the pulse cannons could see a lot of Creeper in range, but the Digitalis was the more pressing threat.

Actually, would it be too much trouble to have the pulse cannon's default behavior simply be 'Shoot Closest Hostile'? That seems like it would cover the majority of use cases, and when you need something different you have the priority settings.

[steelwing]

On many maps, it's possible for Creeper and such to remain even after all mission objectives have been completed.

Creeper by itself doesn't count, since without emitters to replenish it, the Creeper will eventually fade out.  Requirements for victory in a campaign mission are:

• Elimination of all enemy units/structures, to include:
  
  
  
  • Emitters
  • Spore Towers
  • Runner nests
  • Inhibitors (destruction eliminates all other enemy units/structures that would otherwise prevent victory)
  • Special CRPL towers as otherwise required
• Collection of all tech artifacts
• Collection of all shield keys

If I missed anything, someone correct me. :)

[Nemoricus]

To be clear, I know what the requirements for victory on a mission are. What I'm proposing is that, as a nice little bonus for the obsessive completionists who hunt down every last trace of Creeper and other hostile forces on a map, a little message pops up to say 'All Hostiles Destroyed!'

Also, I'm amused that one of the things I labeled as 'relatively minor' seems to be getting the most attention from the people reading this thread.

[Tjgalon]

Attacking the ships may have been a waste of time and energy. Snipers are very expensive, and shooting down the ships doesn't save you that much time. Speaking of which, I was rather put out when I noticed that Particle Beams couldn't shoot the ships down. Isn't AA defence what they're for?

It may be much too late for this, but would it be possible to get another setting for Pulse Cannons: Shoot closer of Digitalis/Creeper? I find that in many situations I don't really care which the Pulse Cannon is shooting at, and in most cases shooting at Creeper gets you Digitalis free in the bargain.

But there are circumstances where this can really bite you in the butt, such as fighting on terrain with a lot of ridges and chasms. On those maps, you can clean out high elevation Digitalis of Creeper, but still have the Digitalis spreading into cells your units are occupying. Also, I had boosted range, so the pulse cannons could see a lot of Creeper in range, but the Digitalis was the more pressing threat.

Actually, would it be too much trouble to have the pulse cannon's default behavior simply be 'Shoot Closest Hostile'? That seems like it would cover the majority of use cases, and when you need something different you have the priority settings.

Shooting the ships do save you time, because each time the ship returns, it adds 1 % to the timer, so when your stoping the first two ships, or 3, depending how you handle the top row, that buying you 2-3 % per cycle, that adds up, and gives you more time, to get to where you need to go.

Pulse cannon on default attack creeper first, but can be changed to all 3 off, which will only care what closest to it, but I feel that a bad option for taking care your needs.

[planetfall]

On many maps, it's possible for Creeper and such to remain even after all mission objectives have been completed.

Creeper by itself doesn't count, since without emitters to replenish it, the Creeper will eventually fade out.  Requirements for victory in a campaign mission are:

• Elimination of all enemy units/structures, to include:
  
  
  
  • Emitters
  • Spore Towers
  • Runner nests
  • Inhibitors (destruction eliminates all other enemy units/structures that would otherwise prevent victory)
  • Special CRPL towers as otherwise required
• Collection of all tech artifacts
• Collection of all shield keys

If I missed anything, someone correct me. :)

You missed message artifacts.

[Mefi]

Attacking the ships may have been a waste of time and energy. Snipers are very expensive, and shooting down the ships doesn't save you that much time.

eee... no


Cannons have options to switch. You can switch it to digitals and they will clear it fast. 2 canons switched to digitals hold it nicely.
Air units are good for digitals too. Good amount can cut off source.

[steelwing]

You missed message artifacts.

Thanks for catching that.

[Nemoricus]

Shooting the ships do save you time, because each time the ship returns, it adds 1 % to the timer, so when your stoping the first two ships, or 3, depending how you handle the top row, that buying you 2-3 % per cycle, that adds up, and gives you more time, to get to where you need to go.

I haven't replayed the mission, nor do I really feel like doing so at the moment, so I haven't experimented to see how it would turn out.

Pulse cannon on default attack creeper first, but can be changed to all 3 off, which will only care what closest to it, but I feel that a bad option for taking care your needs.

Now that's something I didn't know, and will certainly be trying out. I think it will work out well, too, since the closest enemy is almost always Creeper, or a Creeper covered cell. And in circumstances where I have Digitalis creeping up on my positions without bringing Creeper along, they'll take care of that without me needing to micromanage them. At least, that's what I think will happen. I'll see how it works in actual play.

[Nemoricus]

Well, that was a bust. It turns out that unselecting a targeting option doesn't work as a 'Shoot nearest hostile option', because it automatically sets the Pulse Cannon back to 'Shoot Creeper First'.