Astro Galaxy - a realistic space exploration game

Any chance we can get the same updates to Surface Control that we've gotten to enabling/disabling modules, personnel reassignments, etc? Much of the tediousness has been removed from the game, but assigning 50 ATH mk 1's to mine the same chlorine deposit doesn't need to take 8 minutes  :14:

Hell if he fixes this it might make me rethink mining.  It is one of the annoying things that drove me away from mining in the first place. I remember one planet I set up on once a long time ago that had like 90 something open slots. I filled them all with mining and harvesting stuff. lol.

Here again I can see the same problem I saw in X2: The Threat. On a vanilla copy of the game, automation scaled horribly as the player became more powerful. Early on, it wasn't too bad and felt natural. The early game was what the company banked on. In the later game, ships and "loops" of factories became useless because the player couldn't control all of them timely. BUT it eventually worked in X2: The Threat because there was an in-game scripting system which allowed players to create scripts for ships and stations. This allowed them to add automation to enable them to use their power effectively. Thus the company could ignore the later game and let the players fix it. Without the scripting system, the game would have been doomed to the same issues Astro Galaxy is having. BUT Astro Galaxy isn't actually doomed, since the maker(s) of this game have access to the "scripting system" because they make the code.

So what to do? Well, the maker(s) of this game need to focus on ensuring the later game plays just as smoothly as it does in the early game, despite the later game involving far more player owned ships and facilities. To do this they need to add automation capability as a player advances to enable them to use effectively those assets or powers they have.

Additionaly, some things need to have more automation in the ealry game AND late game. To prevent the early game from becoming too automated, the developers can add some more meat to previously repetitive processes. Generally, this applies to features which're repetitive because of insufficient development. The game maker should invest more time on them.

EDIT: Maybe another way to look at this is to think of it in terms of a business. Lets say there's one manager in a business and she uses paper for record keeping and other functions. With 100 employees she's able to do everything needed. However, what if 5,000 employees are added to this business overnight? Now she's unable to do her job because she's using paper. She could hire more managers to work alongside her or she could upgrade to a computer-based system. Either way, she needs help in order to use her new employees (AKA ships or mining facilities). In real life, without doing something, her business bankrupts. In Astro Galaxy, players simpy quit because they can't or won't keep clicking a million times an hour just to use their assets effectively. It's not fun and not practical.

I'm so tempted to just let my modules mine w/e they feel like, but I don't want to end up with a bunch of helium.

But I'm confident that this would be a very easy fix, given all the work Sir Emi already did on the other parts of the UI, and how beautifully they work.

Yeah, we'll add the same functionality to mining / harvester modules... multiple module command and unloading.

It should be relatively easy to do, and the mining could use a facelift.

Thank you.

And the "Deliver All" button for manufacturing, please.  :)

Thanks, Sir Emi! Also, I agree with Raph. Though I'm sure he could use it more than me....

 I wonder how many mods you have in production at this moment, Raph?

Just the usual.. Around 1.8k-2k modules at any given time..  :D

did not leave much place for anything else than factory ship lol

Deliver All Selected, please.

That happens if ever you ever get to my level and start aiming for 100,000,000 RP/hr.  :)

Oh the things I'd do with that kind of research :D

What's your single highest tech level Raph? I seem to remember either you or Mata has Mk MM in something. I'm curious as to what happens when anyone goes past mk. 3999, since that's the highest level that can be expressed in classical Roman Numerals. Will it cause the galaxy to collapse on itself? Will we all be swallowed by Sag A*, or go to another dimension? Or is the AG equivalent of the Y2K bug and sweet FA happens?  :P

I have tech past 3999 and the game did not crash, in the game 3999 + 1 is written MK MMMM

Thanks for clearing that up. :)

Mk. 12,000 would probably be like this then? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIbcqgXh5-4