A few issues

[Alex Gilbert]

I just played this game for the first time last night, so perhaps I am doing something wrong, but:

1. Reinforcements never seem to be available- I get the icon at the top of the screen that they have arrived, and I right click and see that it costs 3 AP to bring them in, but even when I have the AP available, there is no button or anything to call them

2. The "dummy missile" which is supposed to trade rapid firing for a decreased or zero warhead does the opposite: it takes twice as long to fire.

3. Paid for the location of a pirate base, went there with room in the hold and money to buy, and contraband was available, but it would not allow me to buy anything.

4. I can't swear to this, but it seemed a couple of times that when I was losing a combat and they should have punched through my shields and killed me, that the enemy died instead--it is possible that I hit a button to fire by accident though (I was playing with very short message delay).

5. I dont think this is a bug, but when you die, there is no penalty-- you lose a life, but you still have your cargo, your crew, and your money-- shouldn't there be some sort of penalty? I mean, at least lose the cargo when the ship goes "boom".

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Alex Gilbert
1. Reinforcements never seem to be available- I get the icon at the top of the screen that they have arrived, and I right click and see that it costs 3 AP to bring them in, but even when I have the AP available, there is no button or anything to call them

Once the icon shows up, they will attack on their own, I don't believe there's anything that needs clicking. You should periodically see a strike on the enemy ship with a note that your friendly reinforcements did some damage.

2. The "dummy missile" which is supposed to trade rapid firing for a decreased or zero warhead does the opposite: it takes twice as long to fire.

That may be a bug, Niels will have to check this one, I haven't tried the dummy missile personally.

3. Paid for the location of a pirate base, went there with room in the hold and money to buy, and contraband was available, but it would not allow me to buy anything.

Could you post a save? I've done this and had no problem buying contraband from the pirate bases.

4. I can't swear to this, but it seemed a couple of times that when I was losing a combat and they should have punched through my shields and killed me, that the enemy died instead--it is possible that I hit a button to fire by accident though (I was playing with very short message delay).

It's possible, did you perhaps have a missile on the way too?

5. I dont think this is a bug, but when you die, there is no penalty-- you lose a life, but you still have your cargo, your crew, and your money-- shouldn't there be some sort of penalty? I mean, at least lose the cargo when the ship goes "boom".

That's one of the game mechanics - but per Niels' recommendation perhaps you should try Veteran mode in the game settings.


[/quote]

[NielsB]

In the follwowing I'll be answering the ones not yet addressed by Erik.

ORIGINAL: Alex Gilbert
2. The "dummy missile" which is supposed to trade rapid firing for a decreased or zero warhead does the opposite: it takes twice as long to fire.

Now, well, I agree that the description of the missile is misleading. Actually it says that it can be fired faster than the normal missiles. Now what you understood is that it does take less turns for it to be re-fired again. What the game means is that it takes less AP to fire it. I still believe though that this should be changed so that it also can be fired faster. So that's on the list for a change.

3. Paid for the location of a pirate base, went there with room in the hold and money to buy, and contraband was available, but it would not allow me to buy anything.

I just checked it. It works here. If you have a savegame where it doesn´t happen, please send it through to Erik or directly to me.

4. I can't swear to this, but it seemed a couple of times that when I was losing a combat and they should have punched through my shields and killed me, that the enemy died instead--it is possible that I hit a button to fire by accident though (I was playing with very short message delay).

Remember the reinforcements (see 1.) => they might just have busted through the enemy shields.

5. I dont think this is a bug, but when you die, there is no penalty-- you lose a life, but you still have your cargo, your crew, and your money-- shouldn't there be some sort of penalty? I mean, at least lose the cargo when the ship goes "boom".

Well, if I remember the "lifes" are included in the Smugglers series since Smugglers 3. Back in Smugglers 2 the community complained that - like in many games - dying just means a simple "reload" & "repeat". That´s why I included the "life" idea. Instead of endless saving & reloading you do have a number of lifes where dying doesn´t has any negative impact except that you lose one life point. It´s actually a feature. [X(]

[Alex Gilbert]

Appreciate the responses.

Regarding reinforcements: If they are automatic, I would suggest 2 things: first, there should be some sort of more noticable flag/message to let you know they are doing something, and second, change the tool-tip, because right-clicking on the reinforcement icon (on the top line of the screen) brings up a message that it takes 3 AP for reinforcements.

Regarding the Pirate base, I do not have a save. I will try to reproduce it though when I next try the game.

Will let you know.

Alex