Smothering Sphere of Influence Overdone

[solops]

As of Beta 1702 the sphere of influence seems vastly overdone. I have tried playing bigger maps to restore fluidity and a sense of the vastness of space but the blasted thing seems to scale up. This is not a plus, Matrix. I very much would like to see a slider in the game set-up for "sphere of influence" because it now feels more like a land war than a space game. The whole blasted map gets colored PDQ, which makes no sense at all. Hell, sensors don't even cover much of the space that will generate a diplomatic warning. This feature is not well done at the moment.

[Erik Rutins]

Hi Solops,

Thank you for the feedback. This is part of why it's a public beta. [8D]

Could you post an example in the form of a screenshot or upload a saved game showing what you feel is excessive?

Regards,

- Erik

[MasterChief]

Intersting perspective. I am enjoying the sphere of influence and actualy would love to have more associated diplomatic options. For example, I would love to be able to "plant the flag and declare this system in the name of (you supply the race)" even if it is outside your sphere. Or be able able to diplomaticaly challenge a race for a system they have placed squatters rights on.

[solops]

Erik, the screenshot is too big to post, 1.2MB. The save game is 17 MB.

[2ndACR]

Save games need to be zipped and uploaded to support forum. Screenshots can be uploaded here.

[Erik Rutins]

Hi Solops,

Please see this thread on how to upload a saved game:

tm.asp?m=2415085

For screenshots, if you convert them to JPG format, they should be fine in terms of size. If you don't have anything that can do that, try this:

http://www.getpaint.net/

Regards,

- Erik

[solops]

ORIGINAL: 2ndACR

Save games need to be zipped and uploaded to support forum. Screenshots can be uploaded here.

Don't know anything about zipping and the upload box tells me the screenshot file is too big, (500K max). It is a 1.2MB jpg file.

Opened it with Paint and re-saved as a jpg...now it is 591K, still too big to post.

[solops]

OK, re-saved the original jpg and got it down to 591kb. Edited that down it by trimming the edges. Here it is. Crowded. Claiming systems and trying to make the claim stick is fine, but all that unmonitored space? Uh-uh... turns the war into the Eastern Front.

[blastpop]

Well you kind of know where you stand....

[solops]

ORIGINAL: blastpop

Well you kind of know where you stand....

LOL! Yeah, but still, on a 15x15 of interstellar space...really now. This is silly!

[feelotraveller]

That does seem rather excessive. [:)]

By the way what year is it?

[solops]

ORIGINAL: feelotraveller

That does seem rather excessive. [:)]

By the way what year is it?

2868.12.19
Vast war is imminent. Silvermists have turned a large region into a dead zone (off map to the lower right). Too bad the whole map did not show.

[dawilko]

Hi Solops, email me the file, dawilko @ gmail com, i'll wack it up on my webserver so we can see the file(s) in their full glory. This way Erric can also get your save.

[feelotraveller]

ORIGINAL: solops

ORIGINAL: feelotraveller

That does seem rather excessive. [:)]

By the way what year is it?

2868.12.19
Vast war is imminent. Silvermists have turned a large region into a dead zone (off map to the lower right). Too bad the whole map did not show.

Well letting them breed up should create some regions without influence!

[HectorOfTroy]

It looks messy, but there are quite a few empires there and they all have their spheres of influence. Solops what do you think they should do about it?

I guess you need to get rid of few empires and expand yours by increasing your power.

[Baleur]

That is why i usually play with that filter OFF... It looks far more natural to just have the owned systems have that tiny circle in the empire color, rather than a huge blob covering the empty space in between.
After all it is the systems where stuff happens, the space around is always "no-mans land" regardless of who's color it is painted in
I mean, there is no way you're gonna cover all of that empty space with monitoring stations, just focus on your colonies.

But YES i definetly agree about the request for diplomatic options regarding the territory. Much like the planned features in Sword of The Stars 2.
Options to like, hand over ownership of systems (even if not colonized) would be awesome, and would obviously have a massive value attached (say, idk, 5 mil value for an average system requiring alot of tech traded in return to buy it).
Or simply more states than peace, war and trade. Like declaring closed borders or even territorial sharing. Personal unions, succession wars, OH god sorry this is not Europa Univeralis 3, i keep forgetting [:D]

Overall, i love the system influence, but yeah i also dislike the general overlay. I do love the lil colored dots over each system when it is turned off though.
Perhaps in a sequel the influence could be drawn with splines, forming smooth curves between your colonies, rather than blob after blob occasionally intersecting.

[Gelatinous Cube]

I, for one, think the new influence is just right. I mean, spot on perfect. Ever since the original DW I would think to myself "Gosh.. just gimme some real BORDERS!"

Now, I have real borders. I am happy. Best feature of the expansion, and if they are going to be toned down from 1702, I hope it's not by very much.

[HectorOfTroy]

Baleur, good point which we all forgot [:D]. You can always toggle off spheres of influence and turn it back on when we want to check which colonies belong to which empire.

[Gelatinous Cube]

ORIGINAL: HectorOfTroy

Baleur, good point which we all forgot [:D]. You can always toggle off spheres of influence and turn it back on when we want to check which colonies belong to which empire.

Not even that. If you turn it off, each system will have a distinct halo of color for the empire it belongs to, even if there is no colony there. Pretty neat, actually.

[HectorOfTroy]

ORIGINAL: Gelatinous Cube

ORIGINAL: HectorOfTroy

Baleur, good point which we all forgot [:D]. You can always toggle off spheres of influence and turn it back on when we want to check which colonies belong to which empire.

Not even that. If you turn it off, each system will have a distinct halo of color for the empire it belongs to, even if there is no colony there. Pretty neat, actually.

Yeah I love that halo effect.

Well when you play with another 19 empires in the game you have to expect that borders might look messy. Just turn them off if they are an eye sore.

But they do work as intended and we have been asking for them for a long time [;)]