Kudos to the devs!
Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:46 pm
Good morning.
I have played (and modded) DW1, as well as quite a few other 4x games, all the way back to the original MOO. I couldn't count all the hours I've spent exploring, expanding, exploiting, and occasionally exterminating over the years. The first release or three of DW2 was a bit rough around the edges. Interestingly, I never really had crash issues, but I found the gameplay frustrating or lacking in some areas.
All that has passed now. I can't say exactly where the change happened (I'm currently on the 1.0.8.4 beta), if there was even one big pivotal moment, but I'm well into the endgame currently and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Here and there the game struggled when I hit a big event that changed a lot of things (like killing my first hive carrier), and it did crash once or twice, but everything else has been smooth sailing. DW2 has arrived. Congrats to those who put in many late nights to make it happen!
One specific thing I can point to is colony invasion. Previously, I COULD NOT get the AI to invade colonies for me, so I had to do all the tedious troop-building, loading, transport, and deployment manually. And, frankly, I find that level of micro-management quite tedious. But now, I just declare war on somebody who really deserves it, wait a bit, and there go my troops, invading away! There are still a few small glitches, like when the AI tries to invade a second colony with the same fleet/troop loadout that just FINISHED an invasion, and they're too depleted to succeed. But, honestly, that doesn't bother me much. I'm much more concerned (and happy) that it works without a ton of meddling on my part than if it works "perfectly."
I have no doubt that a great deal of balancing still needs to be done, and I have confidence that it WILL be done. The game has come a very long way from its initial release, and I'm thrilled to see it in (IMO) an enjoyably playable state.
Now what I'm looking forward to is, what's next? I can imagine all kinds of cool additions coming out as DLC in the model of another large 4x game that I won't advertise for. The future is bright, and my ships are ready for the next challenger.
Rochndil, who still has a couple of other empires that think they can mess with his...
I have played (and modded) DW1, as well as quite a few other 4x games, all the way back to the original MOO. I couldn't count all the hours I've spent exploring, expanding, exploiting, and occasionally exterminating over the years. The first release or three of DW2 was a bit rough around the edges. Interestingly, I never really had crash issues, but I found the gameplay frustrating or lacking in some areas.
All that has passed now. I can't say exactly where the change happened (I'm currently on the 1.0.8.4 beta), if there was even one big pivotal moment, but I'm well into the endgame currently and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Here and there the game struggled when I hit a big event that changed a lot of things (like killing my first hive carrier), and it did crash once or twice, but everything else has been smooth sailing. DW2 has arrived. Congrats to those who put in many late nights to make it happen!
One specific thing I can point to is colony invasion. Previously, I COULD NOT get the AI to invade colonies for me, so I had to do all the tedious troop-building, loading, transport, and deployment manually. And, frankly, I find that level of micro-management quite tedious. But now, I just declare war on somebody who really deserves it, wait a bit, and there go my troops, invading away! There are still a few small glitches, like when the AI tries to invade a second colony with the same fleet/troop loadout that just FINISHED an invasion, and they're too depleted to succeed. But, honestly, that doesn't bother me much. I'm much more concerned (and happy) that it works without a ton of meddling on my part than if it works "perfectly."
I have no doubt that a great deal of balancing still needs to be done, and I have confidence that it WILL be done. The game has come a very long way from its initial release, and I'm thrilled to see it in (IMO) an enjoyably playable state.
Now what I'm looking forward to is, what's next? I can imagine all kinds of cool additions coming out as DLC in the model of another large 4x game that I won't advertise for. The future is bright, and my ships are ready for the next challenger.
Rochndil, who still has a couple of other empires that think they can mess with his...