Galactic Ruler EA in 2021, a year in review

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Balthagor
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Galactic Ruler EA in 2021, a year in review

Post by Balthagor »

There is a chance that this post will be irrelevant to many, but some on our Discord channel might find it relevant. The story begins the day we launched GR into early access (which was actually Nov. 2020). Some users were very concerned about how "feature light" the game was at that time, concerned we'd not be able to bring it all together. We're a bit more than a year out now, and the game is still in Early Access, but I'm confident saying it has changed immensely in the year (+6 weeks) that it's been out.

At release, WarlordToby user took time to post their initial though on our discord (Original posts here). I kept a copy of their feedback and referred to it a few times this year to keep a focus on the long term needs of our players. I think now is a good time to revisit their comments and talk about what we've addressed and the work that remains to be done. This is also an opportunity for any of you to let us know which of these issues you feel is not yet significantly addressed in the updates we've done this year.
...The game is clearly missing features. Matters like research are extremely simplified and have little content to them.
All research lacks descriptions, many of them even lack a purpose, as a ton don't have any effects
Currently we have a mix of completed descriptions and partial descriptions. We still see writing final descriptions as low priority right up to full release. With the addition of the "Leads to" feature, players can see the long term related techs to decide what to research next. Mostly it seems to be about unlocking ships, buildings capabilities and some effects. A few techs to still lack effects, those that relate to planned features around social aspects of a faction in particular.
...with most of the unit research being in form of tiers. "Tank chassis I", "Tank chassis II", "Tank Chassis III" and so forth...
I really don't think we'll change this. I've seen lots of game use this approach. Random unique names could easily communicate less to the player.
...All in all, research is really basic and there's no real purpose to get invested in it...
This has changed significantly. With FTL, FTL range, Shields, system level harvesting, spaceships, ship improvements and more to come, research is now a fundamental part of the game.
...All materials can be found on your homeplanet in very plentiful amounts...
Resources have been rebalanced to create scarcity of a resource. Right now it's almost always energy, and the balance is off (it's much too harsh currently) but we always planned to do balancing in late stages of development, ideally balancing multiple areas at the same time. Balancing is currently our expected focus for Q1 of 2022.
...You can build space buildings only on a single tile...
Again, lost of changes since that first build. Your engineering ships can create space docks and allow you to spread through out the galaxy. Buildings at system level exist for spotting, weapons, unit production and resource exploitation.
...Currently you have one ship of each type...
Also expanded and rebalanced. Factions begin with 3 fighters and must build the rest. More ship types where added (with new models to go with) and this ties back to what made research meaningful again.
...Ships travel extremely slow in space...
This is an interesting comment, one that I'm not sure we have reacted to - or should. How fast should ships travel within the system? It's somewhat subjective. This is an area we could use more player feedback.
...minus FTL, which is an instant jump to another system, though you can't choose where exactly. It is a drag to mount any assaults on enemies...
Another area with big changes - FTL beacons were implemented and totally changed our design. This change came directly out of analyzing player experiences.
...Talking about enemies, there really are none. Your foes, the AI, have not reacted to anything...
Partially fixed. Both the pirates and the AI factions can pose a serious threat. A key limitation is still planetary invasions by the AI, but that's also due for Q1 2022 so won't be long now. AIs definitely expand/explore in the current version.
...All resources are local to planet, but this amount is never indicated. Anywhere. You have to guess the amount of resources in store on a planet. You can move materials using cargo ships between planets, but I never figured that out. Infact, I already found an exploit...
This is another that is mostly improved, but has a few remaining issues. The changes to the diplomacy system, trading and making resources planet bound should be making trading necessary and meaningful. One big issue that remains is the exploitation of non-habitable worlds. That's about 80% working with the related tickets being actively tested by the team.
...You can just colonize a planet, gift them large amounts of materials and then instantly annex them. The materials are moved over instantly and you don't have to bother with cargo ships at all. Then you can just build a small hexagon and some buildings of each material production type...
This definitely plays different now, with each world establishing a colony status immediately and annexing is simply removed, it doesn't fit the GR game mechanics.
...The game is extremely unoptimized aswell...
Large scale optimization is still something we're holding off while so much of the underlying code is still being written, but there have been many fixes that address the bigger performance drains.

So that should hit on the major concerns brought up by this user's post. What do you think? Anything here seem like it's not being fully addressed? Any areas that you have concerns about? We look forward to more feedback from everyone.
26021
Chris Latour
BattleGoat Studios
chris@battlegoat.com
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