Junction Gate
February 7, 2015 6:07 PM Subscribe
Oh yeah! Pay attention to the log files.
posted by boo_radley at 6:21 PM on February 7, 2015
posted by boo_radley at 6:21 PM on February 7, 2015
Ooh. A Pretty cookie clicker. With a story. Keen.
posted by chainlinkspiral at 6:23 PM on February 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by chainlinkspiral at 6:23 PM on February 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
So far, so good, xenomorphs haven't shown up--WHAT'S THAT NOIS
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:41 PM on February 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:41 PM on February 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Now working on station anthem: "What A Friend We Have In Landru."
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:44 PM on February 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:44 PM on February 7, 2015 [2 favorites]
> So far, so good, xenomorphs haven't shown up--WHAT'S THAT NOIS
I CANNOT STRESS IT ENOUGH: PAY ATTENTION TO THE LOG FILESS--ARRRRghhh
posted by boo_radley at 6:45 PM on February 7, 2015
I CANNOT STRESS IT ENOUGH: PAY ATTENTION TO THE LOG FILESS--ARRRRghhh
posted by boo_radley at 6:45 PM on February 7, 2015
Just above the control panel is lettering that reads, 'JG-007'.
Gond. James Gond. Secret Station 007 ...
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:48 PM on February 7, 2015
Gond. James Gond. Secret Station 007 ...
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:48 PM on February 7, 2015
New info: Centauri Vikings = Chicago Cubs.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:54 PM on February 7, 2015
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:54 PM on February 7, 2015
I just spent a lot of time on this without even realizing it. Although is anyone else having trouble getting the game to pause? It says "game paused" and then seems to go twice as fast.
posted by teponaztli at 8:19 PM on February 7, 2015
posted by teponaztli at 8:19 PM on February 7, 2015
I want to read more of the story but I spent all of my credits and there's no "sell this thing you bought to get some working capital" button sooo I guess I'm done.
posted by spitefulcrow at 8:54 PM on February 7, 2015
posted by spitefulcrow at 8:54 PM on February 7, 2015
Yeah, don't spend your initial credits, or rather, invest them all in the bank right away.
posted by chainlinkspiral at 9:02 PM on February 7, 2015
posted by chainlinkspiral at 9:02 PM on February 7, 2015
Yeah, economic ragequit here. One minute I'm playing a space survival game, next minute I'm skint and can't progress because all of a sudden money is really important but we've gone from 'you are running out of air, build an air-making thing' and 'you are running out of food, build a food making thing' directly to 'you have run out of money, haha, fuck you, you can invest your remaing 4 credits in a low-yield long term account or you can try buying rock-bottom shares in companies that may disappear on you, but there is certainly no way of taking out a loan, what do you think this is, science fiction?'
It'll be a beautiful game when it is finished but right now the money thing is way out of whack and it is very easy to take the game to an unplayable state by not noticing how important that is until it is too late.
posted by motty at 10:19 PM on February 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
It'll be a beautiful game when it is finished but right now the money thing is way out of whack and it is very easy to take the game to an unplayable state by not noticing how important that is until it is too late.
posted by motty at 10:19 PM on February 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
see also my whole life...
posted by motty at 10:20 PM on February 7, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by motty at 10:20 PM on February 7, 2015 [9 favorites]
Yeah, my first game tanked because I didn't have enough credits. Once I restarted and teched straight to economics though ... suddenly it's four hours later and I'm still playing.
(Also, if you don't want to play the stupid stockmarket minigame, you can go for diplomacy and trade ore/food/air for credits.)
posted by Xany at 10:57 PM on February 7, 2015
(Also, if you don't want to play the stupid stockmarket minigame, you can go for diplomacy and trade ore/food/air for credits.)
posted by Xany at 10:57 PM on February 7, 2015
I can't get into this, I'm still trying to overflow double float on Tangerine Tycoon.
posted by ckape at 11:17 PM on February 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ckape at 11:17 PM on February 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
Blech.. fun but I had to quit.
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:30 PM on February 7, 2015
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:30 PM on February 7, 2015
By which I mean your internal committee. I'm enjoying slow investment in the bank and economy side of things. But I did save 1.5k to start with.
posted by Braeburn at 2:14 AM on February 8, 2015
posted by Braeburn at 2:14 AM on February 8, 2015
Hey everyone, I'm the developer for Junction Gate. I saw this post in my analytics, so I created an account to say hi and answer any questions you might have about the game.
First, thanks for sharing and I hope you enjoy playing!
Second, the game is still in development and in an alpha state, so there are bugs, features missing, and the story isn't all there yet. I'm close to another release which will add combat and hopefully fix a lot of the economy issues. However, just as a heads up, because the game is in alpha right now, each new release will reset saves because a lot is still changing behind the scenes. Eventually that won't be the case, but I'm prioritizing new features and bug fixes right now. (If you want to skip past the beginning when a reset happens, you can start a new game on the load screen under settings.) I'm hoping the next release will be this week sometime, then after that it will probably be every month or so.
I'll be around for the next few days to answer questions, but you can also check out Junction Gate on reddit at /r/junctiongate or on Twitter @junctiongate.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 2:35 AM on February 8, 2015 [24 favorites]
First, thanks for sharing and I hope you enjoy playing!
Second, the game is still in development and in an alpha state, so there are bugs, features missing, and the story isn't all there yet. I'm close to another release which will add combat and hopefully fix a lot of the economy issues. However, just as a heads up, because the game is in alpha right now, each new release will reset saves because a lot is still changing behind the scenes. Eventually that won't be the case, but I'm prioritizing new features and bug fixes right now. (If you want to skip past the beginning when a reset happens, you can start a new game on the load screen under settings.) I'm hoping the next release will be this week sometime, then after that it will probably be every month or so.
I'll be around for the next few days to answer questions, but you can also check out Junction Gate on reddit at /r/junctiongate or on Twitter @junctiongate.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 2:35 AM on February 8, 2015 [24 favorites]
@Halloween Jack - They epitomize every sports team with horrible luck or just a history of incompetence. Source: I'm a Vikings and Timberwolves fan.
@motty - After reading your comment, I made a change to the game. Now, when you unlock the economy, you'll get a free 10K in your savings account so that shouldn't happen anymore. The change will be live with the next release.
@Xany - Stock market changes are forthcoming next release, hopefully making it better. There are other ways to make money without having to "play" the market. You can just buy stock and get dividends without having to worry, there is the savings account (it's capped, though), you can create a corporation, or trading. Trading will also have a few tweaks next release to make it easier. The best way right now, though, is probably just collecting dividends.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 3:22 AM on February 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
@motty - After reading your comment, I made a change to the game. Now, when you unlock the economy, you'll get a free 10K in your savings account so that shouldn't happen anymore. The change will be live with the next release.
@Xany - Stock market changes are forthcoming next release, hopefully making it better. There are other ways to make money without having to "play" the market. You can just buy stock and get dividends without having to worry, there is the savings account (it's capped, though), you can create a corporation, or trading. Trading will also have a few tweaks next release to make it easier. The best way right now, though, is probably just collecting dividends.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 3:22 AM on February 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
I couldn't figure out how to launch ships. Also, the fact that there are buttons you can click on that don't do anything (for no apparent reason) is really frustrating.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:05 AM on February 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:05 AM on February 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
@Joe in Australia - Sorry about the frustration. The exploration is getting some fine-tuning this release as well, but I can give you a quick guide on how to build and use ships, though not all of them are useful until the next release (only the scout and miner can be used right now).
1. Research the ship designs.
2. Create a hangar under the station tab.
3. Customize a ship blueprint under the science tab (you'll need blueprints before building). Start off with the scout blueprint.
4. Build a ship in the science tab by clicking on "New Construction".
5. Go to the Exploration tab and click on the "Commonwealth Frontier" button in the sidebar. Choose any of the planets and click on the link to open up the planet modal.
6. Once the planet modal is open, click on the "Your Fleets" tab and "Dispatch" your scout ship and then close the modal.
7. It'll take a little while for your ship to get to the planet, but you can see the location and travel times of every ship from your hangar in the station tab.
8. Once your ship arrives, you can open up the planet again and click on the "Actions" tab. You'll need to use your scout ship to scan the location first, but once it's scanned, you can also use mining ships to mine, depending on the planet type.
9. Once your ship is done at the planet, you can recall it from either the hangar or the "Your Fleet" tab in the planet modal. Travel time will be the same on the way back.
10. When your ship returns, you'll need to refuel it in the hangar before being able to use it again.
It's a little clunky right now, but it'll get easier with each release as I improve the flow of it. Some of the buttons or tabs on the planets may be disabled depending on the type of planet, if a colony is at the planet, or on the type of ship you have orbiting the planet. Right now you can only explore the Commonwealth Frontier planets and not the system planets. Hope that helps and thanks for the feedback!
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 4:35 AM on February 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
1. Research the ship designs.
2. Create a hangar under the station tab.
3. Customize a ship blueprint under the science tab (you'll need blueprints before building). Start off with the scout blueprint.
4. Build a ship in the science tab by clicking on "New Construction".
5. Go to the Exploration tab and click on the "Commonwealth Frontier" button in the sidebar. Choose any of the planets and click on the link to open up the planet modal.
6. Once the planet modal is open, click on the "Your Fleets" tab and "Dispatch" your scout ship and then close the modal.
7. It'll take a little while for your ship to get to the planet, but you can see the location and travel times of every ship from your hangar in the station tab.
8. Once your ship arrives, you can open up the planet again and click on the "Actions" tab. You'll need to use your scout ship to scan the location first, but once it's scanned, you can also use mining ships to mine, depending on the planet type.
9. Once your ship is done at the planet, you can recall it from either the hangar or the "Your Fleet" tab in the planet modal. Travel time will be the same on the way back.
10. When your ship returns, you'll need to refuel it in the hangar before being able to use it again.
It's a little clunky right now, but it'll get easier with each release as I improve the flow of it. Some of the buttons or tabs on the planets may be disabled depending on the type of planet, if a colony is at the planet, or on the type of ship you have orbiting the planet. Right now you can only explore the Commonwealth Frontier planets and not the system planets. Hope that helps and thanks for the feedback!
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 4:35 AM on February 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
@teponaztli - I think the pause issue is that the game automatically pauses when a modal opens and unpauses when it closes. I did that so the game doesn't do things in the background when you can't see, but it can get a little frustrating if you don't know about that or just want to keep it paused. It probably won't make this release, but I'm going to make a setting to control that behavior.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 4:40 AM on February 8, 2015
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 4:40 AM on February 8, 2015
VirtuosiMedia: You have Memail. Nothing special but check it if you want the (hopefully) constructive thoughts and a mini-bug report.
posted by RolandOfEld at 6:41 AM on February 8, 2015
posted by RolandOfEld at 6:41 AM on February 8, 2015
@RolandOfEld - Thanks, just responded!
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 7:03 AM on February 8, 2015
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 7:03 AM on February 8, 2015
I picked up this game a couple days ago and I too found it really fun and well-made until right around the time the economy started going. I appreciate the level of detail in it, but like others I found it totally overwhelming and too easy to screw yourself with credits. (Plus, I just didn't/don't understand the purpose of half of it — some extra tutorial content or hand-holding around stocks/companies and exploration would be helpful.)
I also had some issues with keeping resource generation balanced. It felt like even once I was well past the "you need air/food to live" stage and had moved on to managing more complicated things I would still randomly and unexpectedly run out.
It has a ton of potential though. I appreciate the level of depth that's already there.
posted by annekate at 9:16 AM on February 8, 2015
I also had some issues with keeping resource generation balanced. It felt like even once I was well past the "you need air/food to live" stage and had moved on to managing more complicated things I would still randomly and unexpectedly run out.
It has a ton of potential though. I appreciate the level of depth that's already there.
posted by annekate at 9:16 AM on February 8, 2015
This is a wonderful game and, for an alpha, really enjoy it so far—thanks! My one complaint is that I found myself flipping back and forth between the Resources and Rates tabs a lot. It would be nice to see both sets of numbers at the same time.
They epitomize every sports team with horrible luck or just a history of incompetence. Source: I'm a Vikings and Timberwolves fan.
Or the Twins, or the Wild, or… *sob*
posted by traveler_ at 10:28 AM on February 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
They epitomize every sports team with horrible luck or just a history of incompetence. Source: I'm a Vikings and Timberwolves fan.
Or the Twins, or the Wild, or… *sob*
posted by traveler_ at 10:28 AM on February 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Is there any way to stabilize population? I swear there was an option that gave you a slider for population growth, but I don't see how to unlock that in the notes.
posted by eisenkrote at 12:14 PM on February 8, 2015
posted by eisenkrote at 12:14 PM on February 8, 2015
@annekate - Thanks for the feedback. As mentioned above, I'll be adding an automatic 10K to your savings account once you unlock it in the next release, along with some other economy fixes. However, I'll look at trying to make it even easier. The resource generation does mostly balance out once you get research and especially if you have the right commanders, but maybe there are a few other things I can do earlier. I'll take that into consideration for future releases.
@traveler - As a fellow MN sports fan, I feel you. :( At least we'll have 1987 and 1991. The resources and rates issue is a tricky one, simply because of space and the balance between not overwhelming the user and providing all the necessary information. I'll be doing a UI overhaul in a few releases, though, so I'll see what I can do then.
@eisenkrote - There is! You'll have to upgrade your government facility (Station tab) to 8 and then it'll appear under the Command tab. In this next release, I actually split the workers and the station policies into separate facilities so that you have access to the policies sooner.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 1:35 PM on February 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
@traveler - As a fellow MN sports fan, I feel you. :( At least we'll have 1987 and 1991. The resources and rates issue is a tricky one, simply because of space and the balance between not overwhelming the user and providing all the necessary information. I'll be doing a UI overhaul in a few releases, though, so I'll see what I can do then.
@eisenkrote - There is! You'll have to upgrade your government facility (Station tab) to 8 and then it'll appear under the Command tab. In this next release, I actually split the workers and the station policies into separate facilities so that you have access to the policies sooner.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 1:35 PM on February 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Massive kudos to VirtuosiMedia for showing up here and responding so awesomely and constructively to our criticisms. Will certainly check back on the game and try again with it soon.
posted by motty at 1:57 PM on February 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by motty at 1:57 PM on February 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
@motty - And thank you for checking out the game and posting your feedback. I don't really view any feedback as bad because it all helps make the game better. I won't always be able to please everyone, but I'm definitely listening and appreciate people taking the time to let me know what they think. I'll post a comment here when the game is updated as well.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 2:04 PM on February 8, 2015
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 2:04 PM on February 8, 2015
- Is there any way to bring your population down without starving people to death?
When you assign people to a corporation they disappear from your assignable roster, but they still remain on the population total, even if I sell my shares.
- Incidentally, to sell shares I need to go to the horizontal economy tab, click on the vertical
corporations,portfolio tab, click on the corporation I want to deal with, go to the modal box and select the"your shares"broker tab, and then type in the amount I want to sell - or click a button to sell all of them I guess.This is a lot of buttons and tabs and the names are not very intuitive.
- I have 135 people on each of air and food, and about thirty on everything else put together. I am at the top science level in both air and food, and most of the way to the left in the socialism slider. This can't be right.
- Why can't I open communications with any more civilisations? The button just seems to blink.
- How do I open a trade route? I saw an option to offer to do that, once, but now I can't get to it.
Fewer tabs would make things more intuitive, as well as giving some clue as to why you can't select particular options
- Why can't I see which planets have my ships on them?
- If we can't explore commonwealth planets, why is it the default tab? In fact, why do they even have their own tab?
- Why can't the "
The multiplicity of tabs is a common theme here.
@Joe in Australia - Thanks for the feedback and questions. Some of the issues you're running into will be addressed in future releases, but I'll run down the list.
When you create ships, the crew is removed from the population and no longer counts. In the future, there will be other ways to offload population. All corporate workers are still on your station so they count against your population. There is currently a bug right now, though, that won't remove workers if the corporation bankrupts or gets take over. There is a fix in for that for the next release.
I can see what you're saying about the flow and the number of clicks as the game is complex. I don't have a solution right now or for next release, but it's something I'll try to make better for the future.
I will look at easing survival requirements as the game opens up. For now, there are a few other ways to cope: trade and commanders, in particular commanders. Command, Hydroponics, and Atmosphere commanders all provide significant bonuses per worker, especially if the commanders are trained. Trade is still a little funky.
You can open up communications with other factions by upgrading your diplomatic facility. The blinking button on hover is a rendering bug that I'll add to my bug tracker. If you click a few times, though, it should open.
As mentioned above, trade routes need some work still. This will be more transparent this next release, but until then, the approximate ratios for trading are:
* Ore:Credits 1:2
* Air:Credits 1:7
* Food:Credits 1:7
* Helium:Credits 1:20
That's the baseline for trading, but there are other factors as well. The faction also needs to be able to afford the trade, you need to use the right messaging and have a good relationship with the faction, and there's also a little bit of chance involved: sometimes you can get a better deal than the baseline, sometimes you need to pay more.
You can propose trade routes by contacting a faction after introducing yourself. Once you have a trade route going, you can see it in the diplomacy tab under 'Trade Routes'.
This next release will allow you to see which planets have ships on them from the hangar screen.
You will eventually be able to mine the system planets, it just didn't make the cut for the previous release.
____
Overall I realize there are some issues with the game, but please in mind that it's still in alpha, so it's very early yet. I've been concentrating on adding features more than polish, so it's still rough in places and I've intentionally not broadcast the game very much publicly (I don't mind that it was shared here, though). The polish will come. Each release gets a little better and I plan on overhauling the UI and making sure everything is as smooth as possible before the beta. So please don't get too frustrated yet. :-) And the feedback really does help improve the game!
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 5:05 PM on February 8, 2015
When you create ships, the crew is removed from the population and no longer counts. In the future, there will be other ways to offload population. All corporate workers are still on your station so they count against your population. There is currently a bug right now, though, that won't remove workers if the corporation bankrupts or gets take over. There is a fix in for that for the next release.
I can see what you're saying about the flow and the number of clicks as the game is complex. I don't have a solution right now or for next release, but it's something I'll try to make better for the future.
I will look at easing survival requirements as the game opens up. For now, there are a few other ways to cope: trade and commanders, in particular commanders. Command, Hydroponics, and Atmosphere commanders all provide significant bonuses per worker, especially if the commanders are trained. Trade is still a little funky.
You can open up communications with other factions by upgrading your diplomatic facility. The blinking button on hover is a rendering bug that I'll add to my bug tracker. If you click a few times, though, it should open.
As mentioned above, trade routes need some work still. This will be more transparent this next release, but until then, the approximate ratios for trading are:
* Ore:Credits 1:2
* Air:Credits 1:7
* Food:Credits 1:7
* Helium:Credits 1:20
That's the baseline for trading, but there are other factors as well. The faction also needs to be able to afford the trade, you need to use the right messaging and have a good relationship with the faction, and there's also a little bit of chance involved: sometimes you can get a better deal than the baseline, sometimes you need to pay more.
You can propose trade routes by contacting a faction after introducing yourself. Once you have a trade route going, you can see it in the diplomacy tab under 'Trade Routes'.
This next release will allow you to see which planets have ships on them from the hangar screen.
You will eventually be able to mine the system planets, it just didn't make the cut for the previous release.
____
Overall I realize there are some issues with the game, but please in mind that it's still in alpha, so it's very early yet. I've been concentrating on adding features more than polish, so it's still rough in places and I've intentionally not broadcast the game very much publicly (I don't mind that it was shared here, though). The polish will come. Each release gets a little better and I plan on overhauling the UI and making sure everything is as smooth as possible before the beta. So please don't get too frustrated yet. :-) And the feedback really does help improve the game!
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 5:05 PM on February 8, 2015
I did spend almost all of my credits before investing them, but credit growth is exponential, so it didn't take that long to go from starting with 100 credits to having 100K in the bank.
Buying out corporations is super easy once you've founded a few yourself. I have more credits than I know what to do with now that my dividends are averaging 10K. It seems that buying controlling stock does weird things to the population – I think they don't count toward the cap until you take the out of the corp? – but I'm not sure what the right behavior would be. Adjusting the allocations is wonky on acquired corps because they are usually not allocated in multiples of 5% when you gobble them up. A word of warning, if you care about diplomacy: It looks like there is a permanent status penalty for stealing a faction's corporation!
After about 4 hours playing at max speed, I'm at the point where my only real goal is to finish up the combat sciences. My main moment-to-moment task is offloading workers when I near the cap, mostly by building bombers. I guess I could be building a huge fleet of scanner ships, but I already have 5 and there are tens of millions of accessible tons of He3 available within 2 lightyears, so it seems kind of pointless to keep exploring. I'm guessing this is where the game would really open up once finished, and I see the potential, but for now it's a bit of an anticlimax, like the nag screen at the end of an old shareware game.
posted by WCWedin at 6:27 PM on February 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Buying out corporations is super easy once you've founded a few yourself. I have more credits than I know what to do with now that my dividends are averaging 10K. It seems that buying controlling stock does weird things to the population – I think they don't count toward the cap until you take the out of the corp? – but I'm not sure what the right behavior would be. Adjusting the allocations is wonky on acquired corps because they are usually not allocated in multiples of 5% when you gobble them up. A word of warning, if you care about diplomacy: It looks like there is a permanent status penalty for stealing a faction's corporation!
After about 4 hours playing at max speed, I'm at the point where my only real goal is to finish up the combat sciences. My main moment-to-moment task is offloading workers when I near the cap, mostly by building bombers. I guess I could be building a huge fleet of scanner ships, but I already have 5 and there are tens of millions of accessible tons of He3 available within 2 lightyears, so it seems kind of pointless to keep exploring. I'm guessing this is where the game would really open up once finished, and I see the potential, but for now it's a bit of an anticlimax, like the nag screen at the end of an old shareware game.
posted by WCWedin at 6:27 PM on February 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
@WCWedin - Thanks for sharing your experience.
The corporation population inconsistencies have been fixed for this next release, as has adjusting the newly acquired companies. And yes, if you do a corporate takeover, it does affect diplomacy. Once combat has been added in, that will have some real consequences.
Good feedback on the late game. I've actually toned down the planet resources because of that. The next few releases will be adding a lot more incentive for exploring. Eventually the game will have 3 start points: survival, economy, and exploration, so I want to make sure that exploring is a lot richer experience than it is currently. Thanks for playing!
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 7:24 PM on February 8, 2015
The corporation population inconsistencies have been fixed for this next release, as has adjusting the newly acquired companies. And yes, if you do a corporate takeover, it does affect diplomacy. Once combat has been added in, that will have some real consequences.
Good feedback on the late game. I've actually toned down the planet resources because of that. The next few releases will be adding a lot more incentive for exploring. Eventually the game will have 3 start points: survival, economy, and exploration, so I want to make sure that exploring is a lot richer experience than it is currently. Thanks for playing!
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 7:24 PM on February 8, 2015
This is the sort of thing I like, except that every tab on the bottom bar besides Station and Log is greyed out so I can't do anything. I'm using Chrome.
posted by mobunited at 9:45 PM on February 8, 2015
posted by mobunited at 9:45 PM on February 8, 2015
I bought the Actuary Report upgrade and was instantly bankrupted by what I assume were after-the-fact reports about stocks I was fully vested in. -80/1,000 credits and no way to make anything.
posted by flippant at 11:32 PM on February 8, 2015
posted by flippant at 11:32 PM on February 8, 2015
@mobunited - It sounds like you might just be starting out. If you click on the Station tab and then click on the button that says "Build Facility", that should start the game for you. From that point, keep building and upgrading facilities and you'll eventually unlock all the tabs.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 11:37 PM on February 8, 2015
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 11:37 PM on February 8, 2015
@flippant - Hmm, that sounds like a bug. I'll look into it. Sorry about that! If you want to restart, you can restart at the point of opening up the economy (just click the settings button on the load page and select advanced start). Otherwise, if you're up for it, you can cheat in your current game by hitting F12 and typing in the console:
data.stats.credits = 10000;
Hit enter and you should be good to go.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 11:40 PM on February 8, 2015
data.stats.credits = 10000;
Hit enter and you should be good to go.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 11:40 PM on February 8, 2015
Hm. I really like the initial presentation with the survival plot and things, but the transition into credits and Hedge Fund Manager 2085 feels really abrupt - it's a transition from 'do a thing, get some story/log' to 'perform actions, check your numbers and balance sheet'.
I'd love to see more content along the initial survival and station development lines, especially if it explored why a bunch of refugee-popsicles from Old Earth would want to keep a space drifter as Administrator.
posted by mikurski at 12:09 AM on February 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'd love to see more content along the initial survival and station development lines, especially if it explored why a bunch of refugee-popsicles from Old Earth would want to keep a space drifter as Administrator.
posted by mikurski at 12:09 AM on February 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
@mikurksi - Thanks for the feedback. Any suggestions on making that transition to the next phase of the game less abrupt? A lot more story will be coming in releases following this next one and all of those questions will be answered.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 12:48 AM on February 9, 2015
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 12:48 AM on February 9, 2015
I have no way of building ships. I've made close to 500,000 credits and have 150 people living on the station, but I can't seem to find anywhere to "research ships"?
I have a prerequisite of "Rocket Yard (1)" but no way to buy one, under resources. There's a "Void Bay" option on the Station page, but that didn't seem to do anything.
posted by flippant at 1:25 AM on February 9, 2015
I have a prerequisite of "Rocket Yard (1)" but no way to buy one, under resources. There's a "Void Bay" option on the Station page, but that didn't seem to do anything.
posted by flippant at 1:25 AM on February 9, 2015
@flippant - The ship construction is in the science tab. You'll need to make sure you have all 3 facilities in the Science Hub. Then menu options will be in the sidebar (there should be 4). #3 is where you research ships and #4 (the Rocket Yard) is where you build them once they are researched. You'll need to customize the design blueprints in the Rocket Yard before you can create a new ship, but that should be it.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 1:38 AM on February 9, 2015
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 1:38 AM on February 9, 2015
There's a game breaking bug as far as corporate raiding is concerned. Companies like "Hagen Capital" can be brought down to ~30cr per stock and then rejigged to instantly hit returns of up to 500% instantly—repeatedly.
posted by flippant at 2:24 AM on February 9, 2015
posted by flippant at 2:24 AM on February 9, 2015
@flippant - Thanks for the bug report. The next release will have a lot of economy fixes, so hopefully that won't happen anymore.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 2:32 AM on February 9, 2015
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 2:32 AM on February 9, 2015
Stopped playing at 15m cash on hand, and majority ownership in pretty much all the companies on the stock market. Dividend ticks were 100-300(?)k every time. I couldn't spend money fast enough.
I was fully researched (except whatever ship blueprint requires Concussive something-or-other to do; I don't think that one's in there). Ore was at 398/sec—setting the slider to full-on communism helped a lot; food and water was constantly maxed out.
Mining is a pain in the ass because it takes too many clicks to get around. The only reason to go for h3 is so that you can build more ships so that you can mine more h3 to build more ships to mine more h3. I had 4 miners, 2 scouts and 1 fighter (just for the hell of it).
Exploring needs to be made more intuitive. There's no way to know which of the "Unknown"s your scout is on its way to unless you remember exactly which one you picked. I reckon a patrol option to have a fleet of 3-5 scouts canvas a radius around your base would be good.
I couldn't get any trade routes to work, nor any diplomacy. Nor any combat (but that was expected).
posted by flippant at 4:54 PM on February 9, 2015
I was fully researched (except whatever ship blueprint requires Concussive something-or-other to do; I don't think that one's in there). Ore was at 398/sec—setting the slider to full-on communism helped a lot; food and water was constantly maxed out.
Mining is a pain in the ass because it takes too many clicks to get around. The only reason to go for h3 is so that you can build more ships so that you can mine more h3 to build more ships to mine more h3. I had 4 miners, 2 scouts and 1 fighter (just for the hell of it).
Exploring needs to be made more intuitive. There's no way to know which of the "Unknown"s your scout is on its way to unless you remember exactly which one you picked. I reckon a patrol option to have a fleet of 3-5 scouts canvas a radius around your base would be good.
I couldn't get any trade routes to work, nor any diplomacy. Nor any combat (but that was expected).
posted by flippant at 4:54 PM on February 9, 2015
@flippant - Thanks for sharing your experience. Exploring gets a lot easier in this next release with a few UI tweaks and I think combat will help provide some incentive for it while also being a good reason to spend resources. Trade and diplomacy will also feature some improvements. The late game is the most underdeveloped right now as I'm still adding pieces, so I appreciate your patience as the game goes forward. I'll post here once the update goes live.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 6:36 PM on February 9, 2015
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 6:36 PM on February 9, 2015
Cool concept, I'll definitely check it out again when it's a bit more polished. The only thing that stuck out to me that hasn't already been explicitly addressed (that I noticed) is a way to auto-pipeline funds in some fashion to science. It got real old doing so many clicks to put another $10k or whatever in the science funding bucket every two minutes.
posted by MillMan at 7:53 PM on February 9, 2015
posted by MillMan at 7:53 PM on February 9, 2015
@MillMan - Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have to think about how I would do that, but it's a good idea!
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 8:13 PM on February 9, 2015
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 8:13 PM on February 9, 2015
How come I can't explore or mine the Saladin System?
posted by anotherpanacea at 4:52 AM on February 12, 2015
posted by anotherpanacea at 4:52 AM on February 12, 2015
Also: in general if you let the other factions get ahead of you, all the systems within 2 LY are colonized and then there's no way to get more He3.
posted by anotherpanacea at 4:52 AM on February 12, 2015
posted by anotherpanacea at 4:52 AM on February 12, 2015
@anotherpanacea - Sorry about the late reply. The Saladin System will be explorable, it just didn't make the cut for the last release. In regards to the other factions, they actually don't expand. Every game they're randomly assigned planets, so it must just have been your particular game. However, you can trade for He3.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 7:46 AM on February 15, 2015
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 7:46 AM on February 15, 2015
Is there a rough guide to the trade ratios? I'm getting like 10:1 for ore to He3.
posted by anotherpanacea at 7:50 AM on February 15, 2015
posted by anotherpanacea at 7:50 AM on February 15, 2015
@anotherpanacea - Yep. As mentioned above, trade routes need some work still. This will be more transparent this next release, but until then, the approximate ratios for trading are:
* Ore:Credits 1:2
* Air:Credits 1:7
* Food:Credits 1:7
* Helium:Credits 1:20
That's the baseline for trading, but there are other factors as well. The faction also needs to be able to afford the trade, you need to use the right messaging and have a good relationship with the faction, and there's also a little bit of chance involved: sometimes you can get a better deal than the baseline, sometimes you need to pay more.
You can propose trade routes by contacting a faction after introducing yourself. Once you have a trade route going, you can see it in the diplomacy tab under 'Trade Routes'.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 8:11 AM on February 15, 2015
* Ore:Credits 1:2
* Air:Credits 1:7
* Food:Credits 1:7
* Helium:Credits 1:20
That's the baseline for trading, but there are other factors as well. The faction also needs to be able to afford the trade, you need to use the right messaging and have a good relationship with the faction, and there's also a little bit of chance involved: sometimes you can get a better deal than the baseline, sometimes you need to pay more.
You can propose trade routes by contacting a faction after introducing yourself. Once you have a trade route going, you can see it in the diplomacy tab under 'Trade Routes'.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 8:11 AM on February 15, 2015
If anyone is still following this, I just released a new version. You'll need to clear your cache and refresh a few times, but Junction Gate 0.8.8 - Combat is now live . You can see the release notes on the blog or under the "Release Notes" menu item under the Log tab in the game.
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 12:00 PM on February 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by VirtuosiMedia at 12:00 PM on February 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
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I'm in.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:13 PM on February 7, 2015