07-08-2013, 03:34 AM
Sitting down, tonight, to try and sift through what I need to issue orders for my position, is wonderful - if the objective is to demoralize the player who is new to the game.
A little earlier, I loaded the Central Command software, to see if I could download a turn # 3, in case a new turn for the game had been processed. But, nothing new downloaded, and so I set about trying to figure out how to get started issuing orders.
Nothing about what I have encountered, thus far, qualifies as intuitive. I would rate the entry curve for the new and uninitiated as very high. This is exactly the opposite of what is desirable, if the objective is to attract lots of new players to the game.
What I, as ruler of this empire, actually controls is accessible, but nonetheless, it remains a mystery. Navigating this asteroid field of information is not without hazard. You can forget about just jumping in and role playing your position. A crash course in the basics is imperative.
The Central Command software is not my friend. It is as alien as any species in the game. It's crude. It's cumbersome. It also has a penchant for exiting entirely, when all that one wants to do is to just back up.
ACK!!
The "helpful" links in Central Command aren't really helpful. I want a rulebook and tutorials to download. Instead, I am faced off against a multitude of different web links. That approach all but ensures that learning the game from scratch will take longer than otherwise has to be the case.
Using Jay's "Introduction to the tutorial for Turn # 1 is a starting point - but after getting the Central Command software to accept 3 orders, I am ready to quit.
The process is tiresome. It's tedious. In Central Command, while in the Order Writer thingamadoodle whateveryoucallit, I have two numbers on the left hand side - 37 and 38. I don't know if one is a ship, or a colony, or if they are both ships or both colonies. Clicking one or the other makes no difference. In a nutshell, it's a horrid approach to presenting information of such a critical nature to the player. Before one does anything at all, confusion ensues. The one constant, it seems, is confusion.
I have to work in the morning, so staying up all night to try and figure it out, to fight my way through it, so to speak, is out of the question.
One of my orders is for 37, and two are for 38. Is it what I want to do? Nope! Not at all. But, it's what the crude tutorial says to do. At least, I think that it said to do that. Needless to say, I am not a fan of the tutorial. It serves to heap on further confusion.
My son wants me to put him to bed. That, at least, isn't confusing.
So ends my efforts at Cluster Wars for the night.
What do I feel that I succeeded in accomplishing? Nothing at all.
A little earlier, I loaded the Central Command software, to see if I could download a turn # 3, in case a new turn for the game had been processed. But, nothing new downloaded, and so I set about trying to figure out how to get started issuing orders.
Nothing about what I have encountered, thus far, qualifies as intuitive. I would rate the entry curve for the new and uninitiated as very high. This is exactly the opposite of what is desirable, if the objective is to attract lots of new players to the game.
What I, as ruler of this empire, actually controls is accessible, but nonetheless, it remains a mystery. Navigating this asteroid field of information is not without hazard. You can forget about just jumping in and role playing your position. A crash course in the basics is imperative.
The Central Command software is not my friend. It is as alien as any species in the game. It's crude. It's cumbersome. It also has a penchant for exiting entirely, when all that one wants to do is to just back up.
ACK!!
The "helpful" links in Central Command aren't really helpful. I want a rulebook and tutorials to download. Instead, I am faced off against a multitude of different web links. That approach all but ensures that learning the game from scratch will take longer than otherwise has to be the case.
Using Jay's "Introduction to the tutorial for Turn # 1 is a starting point - but after getting the Central Command software to accept 3 orders, I am ready to quit.
The process is tiresome. It's tedious. In Central Command, while in the Order Writer thingamadoodle whateveryoucallit, I have two numbers on the left hand side - 37 and 38. I don't know if one is a ship, or a colony, or if they are both ships or both colonies. Clicking one or the other makes no difference. In a nutshell, it's a horrid approach to presenting information of such a critical nature to the player. Before one does anything at all, confusion ensues. The one constant, it seems, is confusion.
I have to work in the morning, so staying up all night to try and figure it out, to fight my way through it, so to speak, is out of the question.
One of my orders is for 37, and two are for 38. Is it what I want to do? Nope! Not at all. But, it's what the crude tutorial says to do. At least, I think that it said to do that. Needless to say, I am not a fan of the tutorial. It serves to heap on further confusion.
My son wants me to put him to bed. That, at least, isn't confusing.
So ends my efforts at Cluster Wars for the night.
What do I feel that I succeeded in accomplishing? Nothing at all.