DrDread

all messages by user

8/22/2019
Topic:
What the hell does "coroporation" mean?

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
Daniel wrote:
Are you guys inventing your own words now? Where do I get the dictionary?
edited by Daniel on 8/21/2019



I assume that's a typo, where did you find that one at?
8/22/2019
Topic:
We are going live on Saturday May 13th!

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
Daniel wrote:
You should do a big, phony active users count like they have on Omegle. Just say start by saying there's ten thousand active players, and for every time somebody questions it, multiply by ten.



Barons of the Galaxy has had several thousand players concurrently in the database at some point in time! Currently AAA titles on steam don't that have many active players! The game has been viewed in a browser in some form over a MILLION times!
8/23/2019
Topic:
Spaceport Update

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
Spaceport mechanics have been changed. An underwhelming update for sure since there is maybe one viable spaceport around earth owned by Boldor right now.

Spaceports can now be sold to like a city. The spaceports demand is the weighted demand of the planet it is in orbit over. The volume is the sum of all the volume. To see the specific number per product you can view the planet in the viewscreen and look at the average demand and volume. They should now be the weighted average also. Selling to a spaceport causes all the demand to lower appropriately across the cities by a weighted amount. Using a spaceport and selling to the city also you can drop the demand by 2 points a turn.

The owner of the spaceport get 0.1% of the value of the trades. Upping the Spaceport level does nothing but increase its hit points and firepower at the moment, But its attack type has been changed to that of a shipyard. The More Info tab on the spaceport shows some basic buy sell information for the owner

I might make upping the spaceport allow for even more volume to be pushed through it, possibly being 10x the planes volume at level 10. That could allow for 10+ points of demand a turn to be moved.

The last thing I will work on now before a reset of the game will be the political prestige stat. Hopefully that will be easy to implement. The political stat will be based on the titles you hold and Megastructres you own. At first all it will do is add a bonus to your existing logistics cap and increase your voting power by a percentage. In the future i can become a little more interesting.

The Missions and anomalies feature is going to also be fleshed out more. Currently it only does transport missions in a few test locations. It will be modified to be randomized across the galaxy and more missions types will be added before a reset. I'm still shooting for end of September to get these last features in and stable before announcing a reset .
9/17/2019
Topic:
Game stopped progressing

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
Paokan wrote:
I am watching the game the last hour and it seems that the progress of the orders has stopped. Time is running, turns are ticking but nothing happens.



There was a glitch preventing the turn from flipping without an error. It was corrected the same day/ Sorry for the inconvienence!
9/21/2019
Topic:
The Downgrade Update

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
Also probably known as the "F This Game!" Update to those who like high numbers!

The haul missions pay has been changed to be more in line with reality (groan) . Generally they start out at 5% of the value of whatever you are carrying and that percentage goes up with distance. Quickly at firs then slower and slower, at distance 25 its at 10% and like 500 distance its at 15% at 10,000 its at 20% and 25% past that. Longer distances probably need a warp gate to be viable when hauling tier 1 goods (and theres only tier 1 goods right now) You can still make several million on a long haul with a ton of product, but not the billion you were making before. Now the short range missions are a better deal, but the scale of mission is small, the HIGH end missions don't pay well considering the distance but if you have fast ships and the right gates, they are quite viable. Higher missions made more for higher level players

The Warp Gates have gotten cheaper to use (yay). They not operate against the warp Level , not the multiplier. SO warp 10 gate usage is 10x the cost of warp 1. Like spaceports there is an aggregate of what is being moved through the gate on the More Info page of the gate itself (for the owner).

Artifacts were scaled down a bit (groan) the Dimensional AX artifacts the Longdoor movement is at 15 reduced from 25. The Cargo boost is 200% reduced from 500% and the capacity boost is 100% reduced from 250%. I have scaled down a lot of things because they all multiply eachother and make units that are 20x more powerful than the original.

The raiders and pirates raiding should be fixed (Yay / groan) . There was a bug preventing them from actually raiding your goods for quite some time. Feel free to take them all back from their base

Nanite swarm artifact effect now does 25% across 2 turns to do damage faster than it can be repaired.

Asteroid mining has been NERFED! (*screams* *gunshots*) The overcrowding rate on asteroid mining has been changed to something more logarithmic so you get an exponentially lower output the more power you have past 100. Pretty much can't get anymore than 10x the resource value per turn no matter how much military power you throw at it,. You do still get your research bonus against the total though which now plays a bigger role.. Asteroid mining is meant to be a place to get some small amount of critical or missing resource without having to take territory and setup factories. It very viable on small scales but you can't replace your industry with it. That breaks all the games base mechanics.

All the special units are getting scaled down in stats by something like a third. I haven't pushed this change yet, i'm waiting till tomorrow to give players a chance to dump their units before their capacity drops makes them go into space. Almost all of the special units,the ones you find on mysterious missions are being scaled down. usually the attack multiplier. The biggest one you will see now is 3x not 5x . Hitpoints come down about that much also. Some speeds were lowered. Space train took a hit from 25K cargo to 15k cargo warp carrier capacity lowered etc. There is good news though. The upkeep of the units have all been lowered to be just a little higher than normal. the Cyber and AI units usually had their upkeep even lower than their normal counterparts. No exactly a logistics boost, but a significant reduction in cost for people with these units.

A stealth update from weeks ago made it so you can load units onto a carrier even if that unit i loaded with cargo itself. This was done make Haul missions and such a little easier since youcanload a haul mission onto a transport, then load it and fly it to the destination and search with the carrier and it should do every thing correctly. Is a little wonky because there's no way to actually add or remove cargo from those until you actually unload it.


This is all being down to try to get all money booms out of the game before we reset it

And as for a reset, that is NOW what I'm working on. I'm going to get things ready to reboot the game, offer all previous players boosts. Change some of the available starting boosts. When I have that ready to go I'll announce it with probably a week warning.
9/29/2019
Topic:
Game Reset planned for Saturday Oct 5th, 2019

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
We have made a lot of changes and fixed a lot of exploits to the game in the last several months. A lot of these problems caused most of the player base to become disenchanted with the game By popular demand of the existing player base we will be doing a total reset of the entire game next weekend while inviting everyone who ever played back in. Everything will be wiped out the game turn will be reset to 1 and everyone will start over fresh in a brand new galaxy.

If you are an original founder or have paid into the game, don't worry, you will be getting a starting boost equivalent to the amount you have already paid in. All players who have ever signed up, whether they ever paid anything or not are going to get at least one month of paid subscription. If you have paid into the game in any way that meets or exceeds an existing accelerated start package, you will get that package. So if you've put $30 into the game in any way, you will get at least the $30 accelerated start package. If you've put in $90 or more, you will get the highest level package. Original Kickstarter Founders will get the same founders package they got when the game originally launched. Everyone will get a new subscription that they can activate after creating their corp from the Homepage >> View Profile

We're planning to initiate the game reset next weekend, on Saturday October 5th, 2019. There is no exact time but we are shooting for between 3-4pm PAC time. You are invited to come to the discord channel in the the hour before the reset. I plan to be around all evening to insure a smooth launch and re-launch again if there is a major issue.
10/3/2019
Topic:
Sell values

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
CptCommanche wrote:
Lol good catch. Those both appear wrong. Actual values are:

Raw Materials - 1
Components - 2.5
End Products - 5
Civilian Services - 7.5



By some strange quantum entanglement I saw this on my development machinea couple days ago and already corrected it there.
10/3/2019
Topic:
Game Reset planned for Saturday Oct 5th, 2019

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
Zip444 wrote:
Um, There is no $30 accelerated start package.
Which is unfortunate because I see that I have paid $30 for 12 months subscription in the past, is there a cheap way for me to get the $40
accelerated start package? I expect a lot of people have a total spend of $30



If you buy 2 months for $10 right now, you would have spent $40 ever , and you will get the $40 accelerated start when I reset.

Whatever package you end up with is going to to add ADDITIONAL months to your subscription if you are currently paid into the future. That's true regardless of a reset. So if you did this right now and were paid up until ~12/4/2019.. After the reset when you punch your $40 start it will give you the starting money on your new corp and pay you up until 12/4/2020 .

If you spent $50 is the past however all you're going to get is the $40 accelerated start and not an extra 2 months of sub. There are a tiny number of people who fit that scenario
The founders from the kick starter are getting their founder package regardless of what extra they spent also. There are only a small handful of people like that anyway.
edited by DrDread on 10/3/2019
10/4/2019
Topic:
Game Reset planned for Saturday Oct 5th, 2019

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
PanicJack wrote:
I heard about this game from the board in a different game and wanted to understand it before the rest (tomorrow). I have a basic grasp of the game, but is there a different tutorial anywhere besides the in game tutorial or any kind of reference guide to look at that helps explain what everything does or why it could be needed.


Main issues I have so far, a few days in, are: 1, knowing what areas on Earth (other than Cities) have demand for items or what their resource values are. I spread my ACP during the tutorial and it recommended an area with 13 agriculture, but as I look for other areas to send to, I dont see this value or can not understand where it is located when I zoom in on a location. I see a check box on the left that says 18 agriculture but that isnt the local value.

2, what other structures do, like a shipyard? I imagine it builds ships. Do I need it? Why do I need it? Should I build it near my main HQ or is it better to build somewhere else. Why?
3, what does upgrading actually do? On my transports, are they faster, able to carry more things? I dunno, but I know its better to upgrade them. If the capacity is better when upgraded, by how much? How much should I be producing at my ranch before I need to upgrade the transport that is selling at another city? I dont know


There are more questions and things, and I am not looking for an answer here, but just pointing out that I dont know where to find this info if it exists.



There is a "Guide" from the homepage which explains just about everything in detail. Its like 40 pages long. But it isn't as easy to search as a Wiki. A new wiki recently went up for Barons of the Galaxy but it isn't very populated yet.

To look around use the Viewscreen , It gives a vague graphical representation of things, there are Sub tabs like Overview, Resources, Industry Demand, Military but if you want a LIST of actual things there, hit the "Show Data" button on the right side next to the zoom buttons. It will essentially change the view screen from a graphical representation, which is very vague, to a list of everything in grids. Again the different sub tabs like Overview, Resources ect will display different types of grids as appropriate.

The prices of everything is on the demand sub tab. But when you are looking at the screen zoomed out it gives you an average, if you want to see the actual price of goods you have to zoom into a specific location OR look at the Top 10 grid in the lower left. It points out specific cities and products when youre looking at an entire planet (like earth)
10/6/2019
Topic:
What should we work on next? 10/2019

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
The game has just been reset this weekend and many of the things on the previous WSWWON (working title). So now I'm positing another another one but with mostly the same features. I was able to get these features in but they are pretty rudimentary so if voted for I can work on them more to expand the existing feature.

Anomalies / Quests: These are in but only the Haul mission is implemented. This was a bare minimum to get anomalies into the game, re spawning and picking random missions appropriately but there's only one mission type right now. A vote for this means I'll prioritize adding all the other missions types I had in mind. Transport, Combat, Exploration etc.

Guild Bank: Currently you can set a tax rate across your guild members to take their profits and put into a guild bank. The guild leaders can go to their guild mates assets page and check off their assets that the guild will pay the upkeep on. A vote here will prioritize me expanding the guild system in general which would include moving money directly into the bank, taxing members (probably by guild rank) different tax rates and making more ranks that are editable in name.

Strategic Locations: These were never implemented but they would be places / structures that you can capture from each other (never destroy) that give your corp some kind of perk. It could be a prison colony that provides free infantry. It could be a special geological site that give your corp a special bonus to a particular category of materials or even products. It can be something that allows all your ships to engage low level warp anywhere without a gate etc.

Political Score: Currently there is a political score based on your titles which only gives a boost to logistics. A vote here would mean you want me to expand the political score into the actual voting system and re-work some of the political voting system also. Perhaps allowing for Whitelist/Blacklist of other corps at a rulers sphere of influence which can prevent them from buying selling, constructing in that leaders area. Earth would always be allowed even if you are a ruler there. That's just a couple of examples

Unit Order Features: This would be things like a buy sell price kill switch setting to prevent units from buying or selling when the demand is too low or high. It would also include working on the much asked for "How long is this order loop going to take?" feature.

Remake the Website Modern: A big ask but this would be too spend time re making the entire games UI into a more modern format. The layout of the game is a design from nearly 10 years ago. I would slowly recreate the game in a new framework where things would still be familiar but it would work much better on all devices and probably run smoother also.
10/8/2019
Topic:
What should we work on next? 10/2019

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
Zip444 wrote:
I wanted to vote for Unit Order, but you missed it out of the poll



Wow you're right. I'm so sorry
10/10/2019
Topic:
Cannot access any of structure assets

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
JasonDinAlt wrote:
Since this morning I cannot access any of my structure assets. I can go into military ones, but not to my HQ or production buildings. Tried on 3 different browser wit 2 different Internet providers.
edited by JasonDinAlt on 10/9/2019



There was a problem in the database that cleared up after a day.
10/10/2019
Topic:
How to Handle raiding of Items

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
Currently you cannot "Raid" (via the option in the attack order) items from another player. You can raid product at a location, And I don't think you can raid form ships at all. There is a fear about allowing people to raid items because large items and artifacts are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But stealing artifacts is a highly desired feature. We can perhaps allow stealing of items in total annihilation situations. Where if you are raiding "items" you get all items at the location for whoever you attacked provided there is no longer any opposition to your attack. In a normal product raid situation you have to have a certain threshold of military power over the defenders, About 2x I believe to take what you want, less than that reduces the amount you can raid. With items I don't know if we can do something similar because of the wild price difference between items. Although we can make some sort of scale on Item "size" (Cargo space) or "Value" (Item cost) where taking something bigger or more valuable is harder somehow. Which way do you think Item Raiding should be handled?
10/11/2019
Topic:
How to Handle raiding of Items

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
nynobernie wrote:
Maybe only make fragments raidable? So once combined into an artifact they are safe?

Arguably the only thing else one would be interested in would be megastructure acps. Personally I would be fine if those could not be raided.
edited by nynobernie on 10/10/2019


I think that if you have a lot more military power than the opposing side you should be able to raid an item. The easy way is to just say if you wipe them out or if there is no military power on the other side. you can take all items you can carry.
10/12/2019
Topic:
HypernetTower effectivness

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
The Megastructure cost per turn has been reduced for all the megastructures. Hypernet Tower / Arcology is now 1000, Mobile Fortress is 5000 (its 25 artillery at base) So you can divide everything on that grid by 5 and it makes a lot more sense.

We can tweak the cost of megastructures right now because its very early in the reset and no one has any. The military ones are kind of based off their equivalent, the production structures are the easiest ones to put against a grid of cost efficiency. The Pop boosters are a little more subjective. Your HT tower cost should be changing on next turn flip
10/18/2019
Topic:
Order templates and custom variables

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
nynobernie wrote:
Loading templates with custom variables doesnt work correctly.

Example:

- Move order with custom variable set to New York
- Save as template
- change the custom variable to another city
- load the template
- It will still move to New York although the varaible points to another city



This is on the top of the bug list right now. Hopefully seeit corrected this weekend
10/21/2019
Topic:
Post Launch Update

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
This is the first update after the Reset. Mostly minor changes and some bug fixes.


Default Corp Bonuses was increased +5 to 20,15,10 for Your CorpHQ, Planet, System.

Storage cost was reduced to half of what it was before. Product at Corp HQ only costs 10% of what it was before.

The Haul Missions were tweaked to put out more money, have a shorter average distance to haul and a much lower scale of quantity to Haul.

The Guild Tax now only applies to money earned from selling product to Cities. The "Sold" column of your accounting.

NPC Raiders, Pirates, Kaiju, Aliens event no longer give out 10% of their bounty when damaged bu not destroyed. Some tweaks to the spawn amounts and levels was done.

Custom Variable - Production Rate was never added, it should be there now.

A couple of unnamed exploits were patched.


The major thing I'm working on first is guild features. Mainly allowing for separate tax rates and some more customization. Then Political Score will be implemented into voting. I also want to try to correct the Drop off All and Pick up Everything orders so they can do it in one turn
10/25/2019
Topic:
Barons of the Galaxy Essential Guide

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
The Effective attack PDF. You inspired me to actualy query the database directly in this manner. Something I never really did. I'v been toying with several different comparisons including yours by cost per turn. Interesting results. I might incorporate it into the combat matrix and allow you to do different comparisons on a drop down. I also might tweak the stats some.
10/30/2019
Topic:
New Colony in Sol

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
What exactly is the "Primary Colony of Sol"?
10/31/2019
Topic:
Intermittent error clicking on unit

Doctor Dread
Doctor Dread
Administrator
Maeorpa wrote:
I was getting a "website error" page (served by the game, not a low-level webserver error) when trying to learn more about some of the Raider units on Earth. I'm not getting it now, so it may have been an ephemeral error condition.


Here's what I was doing when it happened: From viewscreen, pick "military". Click on "Show Details" for a planet/location that has units in it (e.g., Earth). Click on Details next to Raiders (for example). Click on the "+" next to a unit fleet/group (e.g., next to Charlie5932). Then click on an individual unit name (e.g., MER1113) from the unit list.



I found the error I just haven't fixed it yet. It will only happen when viewing a unit that doesn't have a location itself, because it is part of a group or carried in a hangar. And then it will only happen if you have never gone down to a specific location previously in the viewscreen while in your same web session. I know that sounds strange but you view other units on the viewscreen and not the assets page and the viewscreen needs to have the locations set to the units location.l A carried unit isn't doing that because technically it doesn't have a location. Long story short it should be corrected by the weekend. If you want to work around the problem, then click on the group itself first, go back and then click on the units. That will work until you zoom back out on the map again




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