Colonizing currently invaded independent world

[Robik]

Hey,
i just noticed strange behavior in my game.

There was independent planet in one non owned system. I sent colony ship and fleet there and at the same time, Ikkuro Nation sent fleet and troops on the same planet. We arrived at the same time, Ikkuro managed to land troops first, but before they conquered planet, my colony ship arrived and independent nation joined my Ackdarian Republic. Ikkuro troops continued the fight and they conquered the planet eventually. It didnt resulted in war or in worsening diplomatic relationships.

We were on good terms with Ikkuro - Free trade agreement.

I was not happy with outcome, so i loaded (i saved few game days before, when i noticed their fleet in the same system) and i checked my diplomatic options. Sadly i didnt find anything to repel their invasion peacefully, so i just shot down their transport, colonized, and used diplomacy to ask them to stop shooting at me. They accepted and eventually leaved my new system. This resulted in -11 penalty in relationship between us though.

I think that either:
a) game should not allow to colonize invaded but not conquered planet
b) once independent planet joins empire, landed troops should leave, unless both empires are at war

It would be cool if there was some diplomatic options regarding discovered independents. Like sending message that this independent planet is under my protection and their attack on it would be considered an act of war

What do you think?

[Kayoz]

Old known issue - it's been documented. Nothing has ever been done about it, though.

[Robik]

ORIGINAL: Kayoz
Old known issue - it's been documented. Nothing has ever been done about it, though.

That is sad, a) variant should be very easy to implement.

Any words from devs regarding better diplomatic options for dealing with independents?

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: Robik
That is sad, a) variant should be very easy to implement.

Yes, there are several options open to Elliot to address this. The simplest would be to disallow colonization of an independent if there are non-resident troops on the planet (ie: under invasion). But for reasons only Elliot can explain, it was never done.

ORIGINAL: Robik
Any words from devs regarding better diplomatic options for dealing with independents?

Not that I've heard. Though I imagine there's potential to "farm" the independents for resources/slaves if you're a pirate type empire (fingers crossed that the beta testers have tried to exploit this). Erik has released few details on how things will work (mostly limited to generalizations, which is probably because Shadows is still in beta and subject to change).

[Erik Rutins]

Guys, we've made countless fixes and improvements over time, we just haven't been able to get to every single corner case that's been reported, for the simple reason that development time is finite. The feedback is noted and not ignored, but we have to make a choice every week which are the highest priority issues and improvements and which are not. Over time, we improve the game as much as possible and we've addressed many corner cases as well, just not this one unfortunately, as yet.

Regards,

- Erik

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Guys, we've made countless fixes and improvements over time, we just haven't been able to get to every single corner case that's been reported, for the simple reason that development time is finite. The feedback is noted and not ignored, but we have to make a choice every week which are the highest priority issues and improvements and which are not. Over time, we improve the game as much as possible and we've addressed many corner cases as well, just not this one unfortunately, as yet.

Regards,

- Erik

I accept that there are limited resources to throw at a seemingly infinite list of change requests, bugs and tweaks that come up... but...

But there's no transparency. People post defect reports on the forums and there's no indication from Matrix that the defect has been logged, much less that it will be addressed when it comes up in the queue of the defect list. My issue isn't with the work that has been done. DW has undergone quite impressive changes since its initial release. Rather, it seems a lost opportunity to engage with the player community with small gestures - acknowledging a player's defect report with a simple "defect noted #12345" would go a long way to show that Matrix is indeed listening and that these defects will be addressed when resources and severity warrant.

That said, this is (or seems to me to be) a trivial fix.

[dostillevi]

I greatly appreciate the time spent on fixing bugs and improving the game, knowing that some things must take priority. In this case, the easy solution is to implement option A yourself and not try to colonize a planet that is already being invaded. Or treat it as a feature.. the owners of the planet are being invaded by a hostile force when you show up.. the owners are ecstatic and want to join your empire, but it turns out they aren't the owners anymore and have no say over the matter. By not landing your own troops, you're conceding the planet to the invading race.

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: dostillevi

... not try to colonize a planet that is already being invaded.

Unfortunately, you can't stop a computer controlled empire from colonizing a planet you're invading - unless you happen to have military ships right there and are willing to shoot it.

I hope this gets fixed some time soon. While Elliot is at it, he might consider also addressing a planet under invasion rebelling from its owners and going independent or joining another empire - I think this also can happen (and thus getting your invading troops to inexplicably join them as well).

[jpwrunyan]

Surely Matrix has a bug tracker system. Can't they open it up to registration so that interested people can sign on to it? Outside users don't have to be able to modify tickets, but they could at least see what tickets there are and what the priority for fixing them are.

Adobe has a bug tracker that people can actually report bugs to, comment on, etc. Maybe doing something like that would require more time than its worth going around and deleting duplicates and so forth. Adobe has many more employees than Matrix, I'll wager.

But just making the tracker visible to registered users might be nice. Apologies if this is already the case. I haven't checked.