Can’t build Planetary Fighter Bases!?!

[100thMonkey]

Platform: Steam
Build version: 1.2.2.0 Beta
Severity: Medium
Annoyance factor: High
Confusion for new players: Very High
Saved game:

The Culture - Ackdarian - 2814-05-09.7z

(7.26 MiB) Downloaded 21 times

Even though I’ve researched the Orbital Escape Launchers tech, I can’t build Planetary Fighter Bases.

Got the tech.png (84.2 KiB) Viewed 773 times

I can build Hive Fighter Base (my spies got the tech from the Gizureans before I got rid of them). And I’ve built 9 of them (at least according to CC’s Planetary Facilities list). But Planetary Fighter Bases don’t even show up in the buildable facilities on colonies info panels. Even for colonies where there isn’t a Hive Fighter Bases.

No buildable PFB.png (493.08 KiB) Viewed 773 times

As for colonies where there are Hive Fighter Bases, I’ve tried deleting it, to see if Planetary Fighter Bases would appear in the buildable facilities there. And no, they don’t. After deleting the Hive Fighter Base, that’s what becomes available again to be built (the Hive Fighter Base). No Planetary Fighter Base in sight!

It’s annoying for many reasons. One of them is that I don't know if it’s worth it or not to research the Planetary Aerospace Force and Massive Fighter Bases techs. I’d lilke to be able to build the more advances fighter bases these techs unlock, but I don’t want to lose research on those if they won't allow me to build those more advanced fighter bases.

I wonder if the problem is related to the bug I’ve reported about a wonder being destroyed instead of being upgraded (https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 6&t=404273), in the sense that something is not being tracked properly. In this case, it’s a facility that should become buildable after a certain tech has been discovered. And if it is related, than it might indicate a deeper problem than just the advisor not keeping track of stuff properly. Because in this case here, the advisor is not involved.

[100thMonkey]

I’ve continued the game and researched the tech unlocking the next tier of Planetary Fighter Base (Mk2). And once I got it, two things happened:

• I’m now able to build Planetary Fighter Bases (Mk2) at colonies where there were no Hive Fighter Bases

• On colonies where there are Hive Fighter Bases, the icon for Planetary Fighter Bases (Ml2) now appears in the buildable facilities in the colony info panel, but it’s greyed out. If I place the mouse pointer above the icon, a tooltip explains why the Planetary Fighter Bases (Mk2) can’t be build there (screenshot below). And if I destroy the Hive Fighter Base, then I can build the Mk2 Planetary Fighter Base on the colony.

Mk2 tooltip.png (242.99 KiB) Viewed 737 times

So now, everything’s the way it should have been with the first tier of the Planetary Fighter Base:

• The icon for the Planetary Fighter Base should have appeared in the buildable facilities section of the colonies’ info panel

• It should have been greyed out on colonies where there were already Hive Fighter Bases, and a tooltip should have been available to explain why the PFB wasn’t buildable there.

This might seem like a little insignificant thing, but as someone who would like to see Distant Worlds become tha game it could be, and, by doing so, increase its player base, these type of things aren’t insignificant.

I have enough experience with DW2 to know that there was something wrong. But a new player, when encountering a multitude of situations like that one in the game, might easily conclude that he or she doesn’t understand how the game works and that it’s too complicated. And stop playing.

Just saying...

Here's the save for the current situation:

The Culture - Ackdarian - 2815-03-09.7z

(7.37 MiB) Downloaded 26 times

[MaximKI]

Thanks, we've had some similar reports like this. We'll look into this.

[MaximKI]

After investigating, things are working as designed, but there are some UI issues that are creating confusion.

Looking at your 2nd save - yes, you''re unable to build the Fighter Facility Mk2 on a colony with a Hive Fighter Facility from the colony facility build screen. However, if you click on the Hive fighter facility the button to upgrade it to the Mk2 fighter facility is available. Ultimately, the facility is upgradeable, but the UI isn't making it immediately clear, so this is an area where we're aiming to improve on in the future.

[100thMonkey]

Looking at your 2nd save - yes, you''re unable to build the Fighter Facility Mk2 on a colony with a Hive Fighter Facility from the colony facility build screen. However, if you click on the Hive fighter facility the button to upgrade it to the Mk2 fighter facility is available.

That is true for the second save, in which I had acquire the Planetary Aerospace Force tech, which unlocks the Mk2 tier of the planetary fighter base. But in the 1st save, with only the 1st tier of planetary fighter base unlocked, it was not possible to upgrade to it from the Hive Fighter Base. And since the PFB has a 36 fighter capacity, versus the 24 capacity of the HFB, one should be able to upgrade to the PFB.

So before the Planetary Aerospace Force is unlocked, it's not only a UI issue.

[Sabranan]

I see what's going on there, the facility levels just need adjusting to account for the Gizurean's getting an early fighter base. Then it should always be possible to upgrade to the better version.

I'll sort that out today, for existing games it should be fine once you get to Planetary Aerospace Force, even if you steal later Gizurean versions.

[100thMonkey]

@Sabranan [Presuming you're part of the Devs team]:

Thanks. Will the change(s) be included in a forthcoming public beta (if any before the expansion), or only once the expansion comes out?

[MaximKI]

As we said before, we're prioritizing development on the upcoming expansion. If an opportunity arises to put out a public beta with some fixes then we will do so. However, we don't have a concrete ETA on that.