Future Tutorial Subjects

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Please could you post in this thread if there are areas of the game you want to see covered in the ongoing tutorial. I can then prioritise based on what is needed most.

Steve

[Elmo]

Task Groups screen
Galactic Map screen
Ground Units/GU Training
Wealth/Trade screen
Diplomacy (if implemented yet)
Designing a Missile Boat

That should keep you busy for a few hours...

[AtomikKrab]

Commanders/Officers screen would be my only other suggestion

[Magnnus]

Diplomacy, if its implemented fully enough.

[Father Tim]

Ground units / ground combat / conquering an enemy pop

[drbird28]

i would like the tutorial to have something about combat space and ground ( i have been getting my butt beat ).

[Litcube]

I'm going to be unpopular.

I've just completed the tutorials, so it's still fresh in my mind.  One thing I might suggest is missing is before Part 1.  I think a general write-up on the concept of the game, what some goals are, how it's played from a very general point of view.  For example, after completing all of the tutorials, I was still unsure if the game was just a prototype for a 4x game, or f it was fully developed, playable, etc.

One thing I'm learning is the time concept.  This seems to be absolute paramount to how the game flows.  I think Part 0 might benefit from describing exactly how this works.  I remember being totally confused during Part 1 when reading the description of the 5-day-increment.  Most 4x players are used to single turn increments or real time.  This game is neither; it's a real-time-variable-length-turn-based-game.

Anyway, that's my brain diarrhea for the moment.

[Balibar]

I am playing my first game and I followed, mostly, the Tutorial, so I think I have some perspective on what you are looking for.  

At the end of the Tutorial, the player is faced with many decisions and the Tutorial has left little insight as to how to proceed.  

1. We have quite a few unused Research Points.  Some general thoughts on where to put them would be in order.  No list will be the 'right' list, but some guidelines would be useful.  I tried looking at the forum on Ship Design and I basically had no idea what people were talking about.  A new player needs some advice on what he is going to need in the first game year.  

2. We have quite a few unused Ship points and completely unused PDC points.  While the answer to #1 would go a long way toward solving the ship question, the PDC was a mystery to me.  I tried looking at other player designs, but I got overwhelmed with concepts I had no clue about.  Examples include magazine, troops, fighters and missles.  

3. The Beam Weapon Tutorial was very thorough and helpful.  Something comparable for missles would be a good idea.  

4. We have to set up our industry.  After the tutorial, a new player has no idea whether his immediate needs are more industrial capacity, more research capacity, more mining on Earth or components needed to set up Sol system mining.  

5. The Leader interface was very confusing to me.  My biggest roadblock was filling the positions for 'Fleet Headquarters'.  I finally found the 'Staff Officers entry in a dropdown on the Leader Screen that worked.  A quick walkthrough on filling officer positions would be helpful.  It would be very easy to do after all the ships have been built in the Tutorial.  

6. The Tutorial sends out ships to survey.  It would be helpful if we knew what to do when we found something.  Tutorials on
   A. Remote Mining
   B. Jump Portals
would be helpful.  

7. You ought to mention the 'MSSTDFMT.DLL' issue right away in the first Tutorial.  

8. The instructions for downloading the game have some minor issues.  I found the wiki link to downloading the game to be easiest.  I had no problem downloading 4.75.  However, the link for 4.77 is a dead end.  There should be some way to direct newbies to whatever the most recent patch is and how to update from 4.75.

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

I am playing my first game and I followed, mostly, the Tutorial, so I think I have some perspective on what you are looking for.  

At the end of the Tutorial, the player is faced with many decisions and the Tutorial has left little insight as to how to proceed.  

The Tutorial is a work in progress and is really just getting started. I will add more sections when I get time.

1. We have quite a few unused Research Points.  Some general thoughts on where to put them would be in order.  No list will be the 'right' list, but some guidelines would be useful.  I tried looking at the forum on Ship Design and I basically had no idea what people were talking about.  A new player needs some advice on what he is going to need in the first game year.  

2. We have quite a few unused Ship points and completely unused PDC points.  While the answer to #1 would go a long way toward solving the ship question, the PDC was a mystery to me.  I tried looking at other player designs, but I got overwhelmed with concepts I had no clue about.  Examples include magazine, troops, fighters and missles.  

3. The Beam Weapon Tutorial was very thorough and helpful.  Something comparable for missles would be a good idea.  

4. We have to set up our industry.  After the tutorial, a new player has no idea whether his immediate needs are more industrial capacity, more research capacity, more mining on Earth or components needed to set up Sol system mining.  

5. The Leader interface was very confusing to me.  My biggest roadblock was filling the positions for 'Fleet Headquarters'.  I finally found the 'Staff Officers entry in a dropdown on the Leader Screen that worked.  A quick walkthrough on filling officer positions would be helpful.  It would be very easy to do after all the ships have been built in the Tutorial.  

6. The Tutorial sends out ships to survey.  It would be helpful if we knew what to do when we found something.  Tutorials on
   A. Remote Mining
   B. Jump Portals
would be helpful.  

Thanks, these are all good suggestions for future tutorial sections.

7. You ought to mention the 'MSSTDFMT.DLL' issue right away in the first Tutorial.  

The Tutorial isn't really the place for this. Only a small percentage of users have the problem and there is an appropriate FAQ section

8. The instructions for downloading the game have some minor issues.  I found the wiki link to downloading the game to be easiest.  I had no problem downloading 4.75.  However, the link for 4.77 is a dead end.  There should be some way to direct newbies to whatever the most recent patch is and how to update from 4.75.

I didn't even know there was a Wiki download link. That will be confusing to new users as it won't make probably sense in terms of versions. The only links that should be used are those in the forum. The link to v4.77 will be dead because that is an obsolete version I have deleted. I thought I had deleted the link to it to but as I mentioned I didn't know there was one on the wiki. Some of the complaints about install instructions and broken links are now making some sense. I'll try and find those wiki download links and remove them.

Steve

[Litcube]

Steve, I hope you take this the right way, and I've noticed in another forum thread that you're relatively indifferent as to wheather or not folks play your game, but I desperately want to love Aurora.  Here's to wishing you success with future tutorials.

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

I've just completed the tutorials, so it's still fresh in my mind.  One thing I might suggest is missing is before Part 1.  I think a general write-up on the concept of the game, what some goals are, how it's played from a very general point of view.  For example, after completing all of the tutorials, I was still unsure if the game was just a prototype for a 4x game, or f it was fully developed, playable, etc.

This covers a very wide area. The best way to handle this might be a strategy section to which players could contribute rather than me trying to cover everything. I'll give it some thought

One thing I'm learning is the time concept.  This seems to be absolute paramount to how the game flows.  I think Part 0 might benefit from describing exactly how this works.  I remember being totally confused during Part 1 when reading the description of the 5-day-increment.  Most 4x players are used to single turn increments or real time.  This game is neither; it's a real-time-variable-length-turn-based-game.

I think I have answered a similar question on turn-based vs real time on one or two other forums so I'll see if I can dig up the answer and add it to the tutorials

Steve

[sloanjh]

I think I have answered a similar question on turn-based vs real time on one or two other forums so I'll see if I can dig up the answer and add it to the tutorials

Just read the time tutorial Steve.  After reading this post, it occurs to me that you might want to put a paragraph or two in discussing the 5-day (economic) updates (unless you've discussed that in another tutorial).

John

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

I think I have answered a similar question on turn-based vs real time on one or two other forums so I'll see if I can dig up the answer and add it to the tutorials

Just read the time tutorial Steve.  After reading this post, it occurs to me that you might want to put a paragraph or two in discussing the 5-day (economic) updates (unless you've discussed that in another tutorial).

It's mentioned in the very first part but I have added it again as this seems like a relevant place to put it.

Steve

[polypusher]

A tutorial about what can be done with SpaceMaster mode featuring what purposes it may serve, from spending initial research points (which is covered in another tutorial, but redundancy is helpful in learning material) to setting up NPRs just how you want them.

That last topic is what I'm struggling with finding info on right now. A search of the term 'NPR" has 0 results on the tutorial and academy boards.

[Erik L]

A tutorial about what can be done with SpaceMaster mode featuring what purposes it may serve, from spending initial research points (which is covered in another tutorial, but redundancy is helpful in learning material) to setting up NPRs just how you want them.

That last topic is what I'm struggling with finding info on right now. A search of the term 'NPR" has 0 results on the tutorial and academy boards.

From the glossary thread. (viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1863)

NPR: Non-player Race. A computer-controlled Empire