Solar Empires 1.2b

[Bawbz]

Game is fun! And it's really cool to see a total conversion of the Warcraft engine into sci fi. It often doesn't work, but here it does.

Also great that the map scales with the number of players. The level generation feature is great.

 

[UndeadImmortal]

Is this playable solo?

 

[Bawbz]

Is this playable solo?

Yes, there is AI.

 

[Daratrix]

Indeed! Currently the AIs are really aggressive, but they don't take full advantage of all the economic tools just yet, and can fall behind heavily in the late game. Checkout a 5+ players FFA with AIs, they will try to ally each other to be more successful

Next version should have the AI start using the Extractor, which should make them better in the late game.

 

[semzer12]

For some reason the map doesn't show up in my folder.

 

[Daratrix]

For some reason the map doesn't show up in my folder.

Are you using the latest version of Reforged? The game won't work if you are using an older version.

 

[semzer12]

Are you using the latest version of Reforged? The game won't work if you are using an older version.

I'm using the 1.35 version, is it too old?

 

[Daratrix]

I'm using the 1.35 version, is it too old?

Latest version is 1.36. You will have to update to try the game out, sorry for the inconvenience.

 

[semzer12]

Latest version is 1.36. You will have to update to try the game out, sorry for the inconvenience.

Ah, okay got it then, thank you.

 

[deepstrasz]

Lovely stuff overall. A bit sad all ship battles are static.
Hero ships could have glow for easier differentiation: How to add Hero Glow without Modeling

Approved.

---

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If you're not satisfied with the review and wish another opinion, contact the other reviewers or use the staff contact:
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[Daratrix]

New version released! Added new features and reworked some aspects of the game, which can be summarize by:

• More build options for the early game
• More options to contest Planets and close out the game
• Slightly better economy, base-building and techtree
• More polish

Full changelog:

v1.1​

FIXES / QOL IMPROVEMENTS

• Advisor voice-lines are more audible
• Tooltips for Atomic Crucible and several structures have been fixed
• Hero glow added to all Flagships
• Removed unintended +20% Minerals income for Hospitable and Magma Planet; periodic income now matches the tooltip
• Supply Relay texture issue fixed
• Model for The Embassy was replaced
• Model for the Aegis (hero) was replaced
• Model for Home Planets was replaced
• Model for Frozen Planets was replaced
• Model for Hospitable Planets was replaced
• Model for Ruined Planets was replaced
• Model for the Disruptor missile was replaced
• All Planets show more clearly which player is controlling them.
• Adjusted the Pioneer build menu to more accurately hint at the techtree/unlock flow
• Adjusted some of the UI tooltips/feedback
• Fixed the broken media images on the Hive page

TECHTREE CHANGES

• (-) Pioneers can no longer build the Synthesizer
• (+) Pioneers can now build the Tradeport
  • Requires a Supply Relay
  • Limited to 1
  • Can exchange Minerals and Hydrogen at a varying rate; the more one resources is exchanged, the more expensive it becomes
  • The price variations are synced for all players
  • Serves as an alternate requirement for The Embassy
  • Unlocks the ability to send resources to other players via the Ally (F11) menu
• (-) The Embassy can no longer research Environmentalist Federation
• (+) The Embassy can now research Trade Emporium
  • Team Bonus: Planets and structures regain health over time
  • Personal Bonus: Tradeport offers improved resource exchange rates; Tradeport periodically generates resources depending on resource exchange rate
• Export Venture now requires an Assembling Facility instead of the Capital Ship Design research
• Fusion Core now requires a Research Center instead of the Ultra Capacitor research

REWORKS

• Supply Relays bonus movement speed range and effect has been reduced
• (+) Supply Relays can now be individually upgraded:
  • Improved Speed: larger area and stronger effect
  • Repair: no more movement speed bonus; nearby ships and structures regain health over time
  • Recharge: no more movement speed bonus; nearby ships, structures, and Planets regain more Energy over time
• Rebalanced the Planet uncap/contesting mechanic
  • Base uncap threshold increased to 80% up from 60% (Planets become neutral when under 8000/4000 health)
  • Level 1 Colonial Drafting Center uncap threshold increased to 60% up from 40% (Planets become neutral when under 6000/3000 health)
  • Level 2 Colonial Drafting Center uncap threshold increased to 40% up from 20% (Planets become neutral when under 4000/2000 health)

BALANCE / OTHER CHANGES

• Home Planet armor reduced to 10 down from 15
• Home Planet health regeneration increased to 2.25 hp/s up from 1.5 hp/s
• Multiple Extractors can Harvest the same Asteroids or Gas Cloud
• AI players will now create Extractors to boost their economy in the mid/late game
• Players can no longer send resources via the Ally (F11) menu until they build a Tradeport
• Sending resources to another player is no longer instant; instead a Cargo Ship will transport the resources from your Home Planet to the target player Home Planet
• Scientific Conglomerate final-tier research now has the additional personal bonus to improve the reward tiers of Anomalies (see below)
• (+) Anomalies added:
  • Peculiar, invisible phenomenon randomly scattered around the map
  • Have no effect until scanned by a Probe
  • Upon being scanned, the Anomaly will disappear and another will be randomly generated
  • Upon being scanned, the Anomaly will offer a random reward to the player. Those can be:
    • Resources
    • Ships, including unit ships the players can't normally build
    • Unique structures the players can't normally build
• (+) Probes have a new ability: Scan Anomaly
  • Requires a Research Station to use
  • Upon use, the Probe will become visible and immobile for 1 second
  • Upon use, if an Anomaly is close enough, it will be scanned. A scanned Anomaly will grant the player a random reward
  • Upon use, if no Anomaly is close enough, the direction of the nearest Anomaly will be revealed; the faster the "ping", the closer the Anomaly is from the Probe
• Probes price increase to 80/80 up from 50/50
• Probes health increase to 80 up from 50
• Players now start the game with a Probe in Competitive Mode.
• Magma Planets produce more Minerals, at a rate of 300/minute up from 225/minute
• Reworked Frozen Planets
  • Now produce both Minerals and Hydrogen, at a rate of 150/minute and 60/minute instead of 90/minute
  • Now also increase Fleet Limit by 5
• (+) Added Gas Planets
  • Only produce Hydrogen, at a rate of 120/minute
• Hospitable Planets income left unchanged

 

[Dark-Zalor]

Hooo man.
This map is cool.

And you putted starcraft Terran musics

 

[Daratrix]

Thanks for checking out my map

Quick update:

v1.1b​

HOTFIX

• Disabled the custom player trading system as it would cause the player receiving resources to crash/desync. Players in team games can simply send resources without requiring a Tradeport

BALANCE CHANGES

• Tradeport Resource Trading fee increased to 40% (15% with Trade Emporium) up from 15% (0% with Trade Emporium)

 

[cleavinghammer]

I've had a situation twice now where a computer player's units attacked me, it asked for an alliance while still attacking (co-dependent game AIs, what a time to be alive), then kept attacking the initial target even after I'd accepted the offer. It was a planet and these were early units, but they only stopped after I lured some mutual enemies into their range.

 

[Daratrix]

then kept attacking the initial target even after I'd accepted the offer

Hey, thanks for the message! I will fix this in the next version, as I have been improving several aspect of the AIs, I will tackle this issue as well.

 

[cleavinghammer]

In that case, can we get some defensive structures?

I keep getting curbstomped by AI alliances even with three planet guns and a Raider factory, they just run out of energy too fast for the two dozen units that show up on my doorstep.

 

[Daratrix]

In that case, can we get some defensive structures?

I keep getting curbstomped by AI alliances even with three planet guns and a Raider factory, they just run out of energy too fast for the two dozen units that show up on my doorstep.

A lot of balance changes are coming in the next version, here is a small list:

• rebalanced economy (more minerals income, hydrogen is more valuable)
• stronger Planetary Modules that do not rely on Energy to function
• reworked planet uncap system
• less punishing creeps
• fighters generally better in the late game

Regarding the version you are playing, there are some unintentional design traps (those should be fixed with the next version)

• Once upgraded, enemy Raiders will drain planet energy, rendering GS Autocannons and Planetary Factories nearly obsolete
• Planetary Factories are fairly weak, they take a while to pay back, and are only really useful for extreme cheese strategy, or with strategies based around maximizing them (stacking all possible Energy regen bonuses make them decent) BUT Raiders are still the worst fighting ships in late game fights so it's tough to pull off
• GS Autocannons are mostly good in the very early game, and in the very late game, where they give a sizeable defenders advantage as long as you have a fleet to protect your planets from being drained by Raiders
• Planetary Modules in general are very expensive and should usually be avoided until the "mid game" (30+ pop, all 7 planets from your initial system conquered, at least two T2 structures (Research Center, Assembling Facility, Military Laboratory, Tradeport))
• The Embassy is very expensive and should be avoided until the late game (80+ pop, 11+ planets, several researches done, most or all ships unlocked, several production facilities), except for very specific cheeses or team strategy (1v1 AI Uprising timing, Industrial Dominion team turtle)
• Early heroes are usually bad, unless you are already ahead
• Ship health/attack speed upgrades are not too impactful and should be avoided unil the late game (except for the odd cheese like AI Uprising into mass battlecruiser)
• The AI has a very generalist playstyle and takes a while to expand its economy and increase its ship production, so it can be beaten easily by focusing on either aggression, expension, or teching up quickly (as long as you keep producing ships of your own), but trying to do everything at the same time is not too efficient and the AI is probably doing this better (and it is getting better at it in the next version!)
• All fighters are pretty bad unless you are aggressive early and stop the enemy from amassing a fleet
• Raiders are wasted resources if you are not active with them; focus on Defenders in the early game if you want to play more passively, as they can easily defend early aggression, they can clear most creep camps once you have 5 or more, and they can handle the AI's transition to Destroyers thanks to their defensive ability.
• Hydrogen is worthless in the early game unless you are going for a high-tech strategy (fast Research Station, fast Assembling Facility, fast Embassy, fast Hunters...)
• Mass Destroyers is super good (melts everything with high single-target damage)
• Mass Phalanx is insane (melts everything with AOE damage if positionned properly)
• AOE damage in general is really good
• Battlecruisers are better at being tanks than DPS, so manually moving them to the front is important to maximize their values
• Supports are very good

There used to be static defences, but they were "too good" and did not encourage good gameplay. The short version is, the GS Autocannon was the most elegant solutions: no arbitrary build limit, no clunky blight-style "zone control" mechanic where the turrets have to be built. GS Autocannons are extremely strong in the early game and will save you if you have a ship disadvantage, but you will need to transition to an actual fleet for defence and to be active on the map. It is not possible to both allow players to build enough static defence to not die to someone with 5 times the income (which is not desirable anyway) while at the same time not allowing them to be griefing tools.
In short:

• towers bad
• ships good

I am not trying to be condescending here, I am just trying to explain that the limited amount of static defences is by design, in an effort to encourage more active play styles.

 

[cleavinghammer]

I get that, and I've experienced most of the points you made, but given the food costs it feels risky to send a fleet in one direction if it makes you defenseless from the other (especially in the case of enemy alliances where you're outnumbered in any case).

 

[Daratrix]

I get that, and I've experienced most of the points you made, but given the food costs it feels risky to send a fleet in one direction if it makes you defenseless from the other (especially in the case of enemy alliances where you're outnumbered in any case).

It is a risk, but income is infinite so turtling just doesn't work well, as taking cost effective fights doesn't help you long term if your economy is too far behind (obviously it is different in FFA...). There are ways to manipulate the AIs (it's mostly behaving like the standard Warcraft AI), for example they will always go back to defend their own base (or ally base) so you can virtually stop them from ever attacking with a handful of Raiders. But ultimately, if multiple AIs are focusing you, then you will have a bad time and not much can be done about it. The thing about AI players is that they pair up in FFA, trying to ally with the first player they fight with, and only accepting a single ally, so if you have an even number of players (i.e you + 3/5/7/9/11 AIs) there is at least one AI that doesn't have an alliance, and they will automatically accept an alliance request if you send one. If instead your issue is that you started a Team Game with unbalanced teams (not the same number of players in each teams) then there is no fix to a team having more fleet than the other unfortunately. Maybe I can make something happen with player Handicap, I'll have to experiment, but that's not a priority at the moment.

You seem to be playing a lot, and I appreciate the feedback Would you like to try a preview build of the next version? (unstable but playable)

 

[cleavinghammer]

Ahhhhh. That explains why in one FFA game I sent requests to every single AI and only one responded.

Sure, send away.

 

[cleavinghammer]

Weird one, possibly a "too many units at once" bug: towards the endgame, I gave move orders to a group (the regular way, not the "Move All" ability) including a flagship, and while the units headed there the flagship didn't, heading in another direction entirely.

Flagship is often last in a unit group.

Once a player is defeated, can they come back? I noticed one player with a dead homeworld could still capture planets.

 

[Daratrix]

Weird one, possibly a "too many units at once" bug: towards the endgame, I gave move orders to a group (the regular way, not the "Move All" ability) including a flagship, and while the units headed there the flagship didn't, heading in another direction entirely.

Flagship is often last in a unit group.

Once a player is defeated, can they come back? I noticed one player with a dead homeworld could still capture planets.

• I didn't setup-up properly the Army Command system, and the fastest ships are ignored in by the all-army commands (Raiders and Havoc) This is fixed in the next version. If you give Hold Position, Patrol, or channelled orders (such as Bombard) to ships, they will ignore all-army commands.
• Selection priority should be fixed in the next version.
• No a player cannot come back, what you observed happens when a defeated AI had a Pioneer on its way to claim a Planet just before it is defeated; the Pioneer would complete the colonization even though the player was defeated. This is solved in the next version.

I'll send you a preview version shortly.

 

[Daratrix]

At last! Here is a new version of Solar Empires:

v1.2​

BUG FIXES

• Supply Relays aura no longer affect nearby enemies
• Removed skybox animations, fixed to night time
• Tradeport income is no longer active before Trade Emporeum is researched
• On defeat, turn all player Planets to Neutral Passive
• On defeat, turn all other player units to Neutral Victim
• Fixed missing audio and visual feedback when a Planet is uncaped
• Fixed a bug preventing Cargo Ships from being Plundered (Pirate lord Player Bonus)
• Remove many leftover debug messages
• Fixed Industrial Complex Team Bonus armor aura to properly affect all structures
• Planets information and terraforming abilities are now properly hidden while the Planetary Infrastructure menu is open
• Galactic Tools tooltip now specifies that the Extractor are built from the Home planet.
• Fixed Pirate Lord aura tooltip
• Fixed Pirate Lord Team Bonus movespeed aura to be 15% as advertised by the Research tooltip
• Destroyers no longer use the Rifleman soundset
• Disabled Stars generation due to an unresolved graphical issue
• Fixed an issue in the damage calculation that was resulting in incoherent damage numbers when armor type multipliers were involved
• Fixed a bug where Defender missiles would travel further than intended

QOL CHANGES

• Improved selection priority to have Flagships and spellcasters appear earlier in the tab groups
• Adjusted weapon upgrade names and tooltips
• Added new custom voice lines for the Hunter (thanks @Bawbz!)
• Reduced the file size of some models
• Unlocking Advanced Target Relay (with Repulsive Ability Cache - Level 1) turns on autocast for all existing Hunters
• Added visual feedback when a unit is hit by a missile
• Pioneers harvesting Bonus Resources will now follow shift-commands after the current harvest cycle is done (similar to Acolytes)
• Supply Relay names now indicate what is the current upgrade, and the model also display extra information about the upgrade
• (+) Added a game-time display, located where the Day Time Clock usually is
• Creeps now sleep, and wakeup when a nearby Planet or resource node is interacted with by a Pioneer
• Creeps are less likely to wake-up when building Structures near them.
• Researching AI Uprising now makes Improved Life Support Systems and Habitation Bubbles unavailable
• Slightly adjusted map generation
  • Reduced potential number of neutral planet clusters
  • Increased minimum distance for a neutral planet cluster to spawn
  • Fixed an issue preventing the 1v1 generation to result in anything other than a wide map

TECHTREE CHANGES

• Battlecruisers now use Kinetic Weapons upgrade instead of Explosive Weapons upgrade
• Phalanx now use Explosive Weapons upgrade instead of Energy Weapons upgrade
• Export Venture (Planetary Module) now requires a Trade Port instead of an Assembling Facility
• Scan Anomaly (Probe ability) now requires Voidstride MK-II (Observatory technology) instead of a Research Station
• (+) Added the new research Planetary Ballistics (Research Station) that unlock an Energy attack on all Planets.

ECONOMY CHANGES

• (+) All players now Plunder 50% of the resources transported by destroyed Cargo Ships
• Pirate Lord player bonus now increase Cargo Ship plunder to 100%
• Increased Minerals income from all source by 20%
• Adjusted the cost of all researches, bringing down the Minerals cost to the same as Hydrogen cost (1/1 instead of 2/1)
• All Planetary Modules are now Cooldown based instead of Energy based
  • Planetary Factory now creates a free raider every 60 seconds, reduced to 40 seconds at Level 2
  • Export Venture increase resource produced by 40%, increased to 60% at Level 2
  • GS Autocanon has 900 range, 1 second cooldown, 100% and deals 30 damage, increased to 45 damage at Level 2
  • Colonial Drafting Center now increase Fleet Limit by 10 and Armor by 2, increased to 15 Fleet Limit and 3 Armor at Level 2
  • (-) Fusion core removed
• Home Planet
  • Module Slot count reduced to 2 down from 4
  • Health reduced to 10000
  • Armor reduced to 10
  • Energy reduced to 0
• Other Planets
  • Module Slot count reduced to 1 down from 2
  • Health reduced to 5000
  • Armor reduced to 5
  • Energy increased to 1000
  • Dealing any damage to a Planet will reduce its Energy by the same amount
  • No longer uncap upon taking a certain amount of damage
  • Now uncap when Energy reaches 0

BALANCE CHANGES

• Structures no longer block projectiles (Planets still do)
• All ship stat upgrades normalized to provide 10%/20%/30% bonuses
• All Flagships cost 500/500 down from 1000/500
• Passthrough damage reduced to 50% across the board
• Reduced base armor of all Planets by 5
• (+) Industrial Complex Team Bonus Armor aura now also applies to Planets
• Pioneers
  • Attack damage increased from 10 to 15 (+50%)
• Raider
  • Attack speed changed from 0.75 to 0.65 (+13%)
• Defender
  • Cost increased to 200/30 up from 200/20
  • Attack speed changed from 1.65 to 1.6 (+3%)
  • Attack range reduced to 400 down from 500
  • Attack projectiles speed increased by 25%
  • Increased turn rate
  • Repulsive Coating
    • Kinetic damage reduction increased to 30% up from 20%
  • Deuterium Booster
    • Lasts 8s instead of 5s
• Hunter
  • Attack damage increased from 10 to 12 (+20%)
  • Attack speed changed from 1.2 to 1.5 (-25%)
    • -4% DPS overall, but more effective against armored targets
  • Attack range increased from 450 to 500
  • Advanced Target Relay:
    • (-) Removed explosive projectile
    • Armor debuff increased to 2 up from 1
    • Duration set to 20 seconds (10 against flagships and capital ships)
• Ravager
  • Attack speed changed from 1.65 to 1.7 (-3%)
• Destroyer
  • Health increased to 400 down from 450
  • Cost changed to 400 /70 from 450/60
  • Build time increased to 35 up from 30
  • Armor decreased to 2 down from 3
  • Shredder volley:
    • No longer affects fighters
• Support
  • Build time increased to 30 seconds up from 25 seconds
  • Armor reduced to 2 down from 3
• Battlecruiser
  • Build time increased to 50 seconds up from 45 seconds
  • Armor reduced to 4 down from 6
• Disruptor
  • Build time increased to 35 seconds up from 30 seconds
  • Armor decreased to 2 down from 3
• Phalanx
  • Build time increased to 40 seconds up from 35 seconds
  • Armor decreased to 2 down from 6
  • (-) Removed Dense Shield
  • (+) Added Citadel Plating
    • Cap incoming damage to 20 (after armor)
    • Does not apply to Planet Killer damage
    • Requires Adaptive Ability Cache - Level 2

AI CHANGES

• Fixed AI colonization priority to improve early-game development
• Fixed an issue causing AI players to spam Alliance Requests
• Prevents AI players from further attacking allied units when they were engaged in combat before an Alliance is formed
• (+) AI players will now build Tradeports to balance excess resources
• (+) AI players now choose randomly between 2 build orders/strategies

 

[Daratrix]

Quick update to fix a few bugs!

v1.2b​

HOTFIX

• Fixed a bug allowing Planetary Factory to create Raiders past the Fleet Limit
• Fixed the tooltips for Covert Ops
• Fixed an issue where Player 1 starts the game with Adapative Ability Cache Level 1 and 2 unlocked

AI CHANGES

• Prevent AI players from allying themselves with the last player in the game
• Added a short grace period after allying an AI player during which they will not declare war if you accidentally kill one of their ships
• AI players now clear up creeps camps to gain access to more Planets and Resources