A power surge of great magnitude has been detected!

from Sins Forums

It happens when playing with real players too, but when playing against the AI, they seem to favor the long-range mindless cannon thing, regardless of what race or faction they are.

When playing against even one AI, let alone MANY AIs (which I like to do) the whole phrase:

"A power surge of great magnitude has been detected!"

It can happen five or six times a minute or even more.   You can turn down the volume for the talk, but if you do that then you miss out if you lose contact with a planet or other significant events that you can actually do something about AND that you should realistically know about.

The cannons of any race or faction should never work between star systems.  Only if some race or faction gets a foothold in your system should they be usable against you.

Also, the phrases that pop up periodically about "One of our enemies has just finished constructing a Titan!" or so-and-so discovered this or that make no sense.  There is no way we should normally know about these things at all even in this fictional universe, unless perhaps they were your ally, but it happens to them all.

To sum up there appears to be a lot of chatter by the game to you that is either extremely annoying or doesn't fit in even a science fiction universe.   Seems it would be easy enough to patch to remove these things or an optional chat menu where you can de-select certain highly-repeated phrases from happening at all.

Additionally, all the cannons seem greatly overpowered, unfair and take a lot of the strategy out of the game.  You can't win, but you can totally cripple your opponent just by 15-20 novalith cannons alone, and that doesn't seem right.

I think the cannons should be limited to one per race/faction, like the Titan.  And it should never have an "auto-fire" feature.  I suppose an auto fire to the SAME target as previously fired would be ok, but if you wanted it to fire at a different target you would have to change that target manually.  I really hate colonizing a remote star system only to have my planets pulverized by my own novalith cannon warheads (50 or 60 of the things incoming that I can't do anything to stop even though they're my OWN warheads).  Yes, yes planetary shields and starbases help but with the autofire feature and multiple cannons that you can create they really create untenable situations.

Just my suggestions.

21,878 views 22 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

They already limited to 1 per player before and everybody backlashed against it calling it too much of a nerf.

Now it's 1 for every 4 planets or something of the sort.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

I didn't know it was tied to owned planet count at all, that's something at least.   I'd still like to see it 1 per, perhaps a game OPTION that can be changed to the players desire, seems simple enough to implement.

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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

A patch made it so that it was a fixed number per player....the number chosen was 4, however it was modable so you could have made it any number (such as 1)...

Then in a successive patch, they changed the mechanic to x per y planets...with this mechanic, the player must have at least x number of planets in order to unlock the ability to build an additional y cannons....currently the numbers are 4 and 1 (you need at least 4 planets, then you can build one cannon...get 8 planets, then you can build a 2nd), though you could change them as you see fit via a mod...

Unfortunately, you can no longer limit the total number each player can have...through some tricky modding though you may be able to do something to reduce the problem....you could make it so that each additional cannon increases the ability cooldown on all other cannons, essentially maintaining the total "rate of fire" of cannons...there are other possible solutions but none of them are clean and none will work perfectly...

 

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

I've made an optional minimod for my Enhanced 4X mod that disabled all superweapons. I figured it the existing 1 cannon for every 4 planets was still too much for you, you wouldn't want them at all. ;)

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

I don't find the 'announcement spam' inappropriate at all.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

...

Either you exaggerate a lot or this is a troll thread...A player with no planets loses the game, so why say "You can't win, but you can totally cripple your opponent just by 15-20 novalith cannons alone, and that doesn't seem right."

And 50-60 Novaliths?  You really had that many?  And were taking enemy worlds so fast they were bombing the worlds you had control of frequently?Even 1/4 this number is too many unless you're actually trying to bombard everything on the map in one raid.

I do agree that we should not get messages about enemy Titan construction though, unless we can see the planet building it somehow.....And I've always hated that the cannons build with auto-fire enabled.

-Huzzah!

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

They are very expensive to construct, and have a long cooldown. You would be hard pressed to make more than a few of them. The biggest issue with the ai, is that even if you are at peace with them, they can keep firing the canon at planets you have captured from an enemy faction. FOr example, I amd at war with a, and at peace with b. B is also at war with a. they are firing the canon at A's system I then capture said system and be keeps firing at it. I cant attack b since weare at peace. Tis is probavly a bug. I am playing 1.1.

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Seleuceia, reply 3
A patch made it so that it was a fixed number per player....the number chosen was 4, however it was modable so you could have made it any number (such as 1)...

Then in a successive patch, they changed the mechanic to x per y planets...with this mechanic, the player must have at least x number of planets in order to unlock the ability to build an additional y cannons....currently the numbers are 4 and 1 (you need at least 4 planets, then you can build one cannon...get 8 planets, then you can build a 2nd), though you could change them as you see fit via a mod...
 
End of Seleuceia's quote

In a game of Rebellion that I am currently playing (as TEC Loyalist) I was able to build 4 Novalith cannons with only 10 planets.  Is it possible that the numbers you cite above vary by faction?

N.B. I play with pirates enabled, in part to get additional experience points early in the game when they raid one of my planets.  When they become too much of a nuisance/threat, however, it's nice to have a couple of Novaliths handy to eliminate their bases and shut them down.

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

The TEC Loyalists get the Novalith Deregulation tech, which cuts the number of required planets in half, so not a bug.

 

Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top

I guess I should read the fine print in the research documentation!  An unexpected bonus!

Hardly ever use the Novaliths after the anti-pirate phase, because all of my AI opponents deploy the anti-bombardment tech in their starbases at their critical planets.  But it does have its uses, especially when a pirate base is located someplace where you otherwise can't get at it.

 

Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Twilight_Storm, reply 7
...

Either you exaggerate a lot or this is a troll thread...A player with no planets loses the game, so why say "You can't win, but you can totally cripple your opponent just by 15-20 novalith cannons alone, and that doesn't seem right."

And 50-60 Novaliths?  You really had that many?  And were taking enemy worlds so fast they were bombing the worlds you had control of frequently?Even 1/4 this number is too many unless you're actually trying to bombard everything on the map in one raid.

I do agree that we should not get messages about enemy Titan construction though, unless we can see the planet building it somehow.....And I've always hated that the cannons build with auto-fire enabled.

-Huzzah!
End of Twilight_Storm's quote

I didn't say 50-60, I said 15-20.

It was a seven star map, 200 planets, I had taken over three star systems completely, the other four CPU players still had theirs.   Everyone had at least 15-20 cannons going all at once.

Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting cs17519, reply 12

Quoting Twilight_Storm, reply 7...

Either you exaggerate a lot or this is a troll thread...A player with no planets loses the game, so why say "You can't win, but you can totally cripple your opponent just by 15-20 novalith cannons alone, and that doesn't seem right."

And 50-60 Novaliths?  You really had that many?  And were taking enemy worlds so fast they were bombing the worlds you had control of frequently?Even 1/4 this number is too many unless you're actually trying to bombard everything on the map in one raid.

I do agree that we should not get messages about enemy Titan construction though, unless we can see the planet building it somehow.....And I've always hated that the cannons build with auto-fire enabled.

-Huzzah!

I didn't say 50-60, I said 15-20.

It was a seven star map, 200 planets, I had taken over three star systems completely, the other four CPU players still had theirs.   Everyone had at least 15-20 cannons going all at once.
End of cs17519's quote

I can understand the AI putting up a bunch of superweapons cuz it's a derp. But honestly, why didn't you just stick a few starbases w/ proxy governing council on key planets and use the rest of the money to buy some ships to go kill the other cannons, assuming you weren't maxed at fleet supply?

-Lord Brony

Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting cs17519, reply 12

I didn't say 50-60, I said 15-20.

It was a seven star map, 200 planets, I had taken over three star systems completely, the other four CPU players still had theirs.   Everyone had at least 15-20 cannons going all at once.
End of cs17519's quote

Last paragraph of the OP:

" I really hate colonizing a remote star system only to have my planets pulverized by my own novalith cannon warheads (50 or 60 of the things incoming that I can't do anything to stop even though they're my OWN warheads)."

...

15-20 is much more reasonable though.  My last post was in response to the OP...Which you should probably update...

And there are quite a few people wishing for a "Turn off super-weapons" button in this game.  Wish they would add it...

Quoting Oddski_Boddski, reply 13

I can understand the AI putting up a bunch of superweapons cuz it's a derp.
End of Oddski_Boddski's quote

AI is a derp...your avatar is Derpy...Therefore, using Maths and logic, you are or must in some form be associated with the AI!!!  :O

-Huzzah!

Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top

I can't imagine playing a game with 200 planets...unless it was a "first to MD wins!"...

Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top

I do 200-500 planet games frequently,  Minidumps happen less often in SP it seems.  I have had maybe 10 since I first bought Vanilla.

-Huzzah!

Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top

Most MDs are either hardware or ICO only...so I believe that...

Reply #17 from Sins Forums Top

Strongly against any changes to the superweapons as the current solution works quite fine.

Reply #18 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Twilight_Storm, reply 14

Quoting cs17519, reply 12
I didn't say 50-60, I said 15-20.

It was a seven star map, 200 planets, I had taken over three star systems completely, the other four CPU players still had theirs.   Everyone had at least 15-20 cannons going all at once.

Last paragraph of the OP:

" I really hate colonizing a remote star system only to have my planets pulverized by my own novalith cannon warheads (50 or 60 of the things incoming that I can't do anything to stop even though they're my OWN warheads)."

...

15-20 is much more reasonable though.  My last post was in response to the OP...Which you should probably update...

And there are quite a few people wishing for a "Turn off super-weapons" button in this game.  Wish they would add it...


Quoting Oddski_Boddski, reply 13
I can understand the AI putting up a bunch of superweapons cuz it's a derp.

AI is a derp...your avatar is Derpy...Therefore, using Maths and logic, you are or must in some form be associated with the AI!!! 

-Huzzah!
End of Twilight_Storm's quote

Uh-oh.........My other secret is out.

-Lord Brony

Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top

"A power surge of great magnitude has been detected!"
End of quote
That's what my girlfriend said last night!

Sorry, had to make the joke. The whole thread just begged for it.

Reply #20 from Sins Forums Top

It's okay, Teun.  We expect such things from you.  ;p

-Huzzah!

Reply #21 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Teun-A-Roonius, reply 20

quoting post"A power surge of great magnitude has been detected!"That's what my girlfriend said last night!

Sorry, had to make the joke. The whole thread just begged for it.
End of Teun-A-Roonius's quote

We try. It's our job in life.

-Lord Brony

Reply #22 from Sins Forums Top

:grin: