Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

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1473 days, 5 hours, 47 minutes ago

Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's post, hurried to join. Is there a short description of the rules Joshua stated, symbols and functions in the game?

1473 days, 4 hours, 40 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Indeed. I've been playing for years but if I were a beginner I'd be pretty lost with the current controls.

1473 days, 4 hours, 30 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I'll work on putting something together, and in the near future we'll have an assistant like we do for the full version. We actually aren't even going to open up academy games to totally new players until we get some sort of tutorial in.

That said, I also think it's interesting to just turn you all loose without any direction and see what you can figure out. I'm curious how well players with normal game experience can make sense of things.

But yeah, I will make some sort of doc. Especially for the differences that aren't given away by the interface. Until then there might be some surprises though :)

1473 days, 4 hours, 13 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I see that the "normal" web browser interface will load these games now. That sheds a lot of light on things up to now.

1473 days, 3 hours, 48 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Hurry Flaabes, end your turn please, weŕe all waiting for you! Greetings from the Con!

1473 days, 3 hours, 37 minutes ago

olegboleg

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

can anyone explain this academy to me or give me a link to a post/video ?

1473 days, 3 hours, 16 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Is there a link to the new app?

1473 days, 1 hours, 29 minutes ago

ndek

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

you find it in the google play store if you search for 'planets nu' and load down the game or get the update, if you already had it. Planets Academy will appear when you touch the upper left screen.

1473 days, 1 hours, 25 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

@Olegboleg Joshua introduced the academy today in the PlanetsCon keynote speech.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8jjZ_PNhLA#t=15m50s

1472 days, 23 hours, 18 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

OK, I posted a very rough outline of some differences at:
http://planets.nu/#/howtoplay/academy

I'm sure there's some things I forgot, and didn't really explain the interface much, but it's a start. I'll work with the doc team down the road to get it cleaned up. Also feel free to ask specific questions here, seems an appropriate thread for it.

1472 days, 20 hours, 31 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Maximum minefield radius is 4AU, but there's only a 10% chance per to hit a mine per AU? That makes it sound like you might as well not bother with minefields at all. Am I reading that right? Seems incredibly small.

1472 days, 19 hours, 52 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

You're reading it right, and they are lower odds than in the normal version. But because ships can only repair at starbases (since there are no supplies), the result of hitting a mine can be more significant.

We're going to see how the test games go, and then if we need to tweak some things we can do so. Of course it may turn out that lowering the importance of minefields is not a bad thing...

1472 days, 16 hours, 17 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

OK, sorry for my delay and thanks for the doc:

"- Anything that generated a supply now generates a MC instead, same for costs"
That is why there are factories to build: Not for supplies, but for MCs? I wondered about that.

"AU" = "Academy Unit"?

1472 days, 14 hours, 1 minutes ago

mcnimble

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

So that's what all the references in the code (nu.js) were for :)

1472 days, 8 hours, 1 minutes ago

singularity

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

@Flaabes
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit

1472 days, 5 hours, 40 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

The "torpedo" icon could use some work. Took me a bit to figure out what I was looking at.

Do Robots still get 4x minefields? Also, BB said that fighter building races get a discount since there's no lfm. How much is the discount? I guess I'll find out soon enough...

1471 days, 7 hours, 2 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I had a little bad information about ranges in the how-to-play doc that I've now corrected. In short:

- the sensor sweep range is 5 au (not 7 as I had before)
- the ship scan range (how far away you can detect enemy ships) is 7 au

Also added fighter sweep range (3 au), and fighter cost for rebels, robots, and colonies (5mc plus usual minerals)

Re: the torp icon... we actually spent an annoying amount of time trying to find a decent icon set and didn't find much we liked. So we just went with the icons from the web client, for the most part. Do you think it would help if we put a titles on the boxes where you buy things?

And yes, robots still get 4x mines. I believe all the abilities like that, where you don't have to do anything to activate them, will still apply.

1471 days, 1 hours, 39 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I'm already missing the Next ship button from the full size games. Any chance of that coming?

1471 days, 1 hours, 9 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I'd recommend to try out the "IDLE" button, if you haven't. It works like a simple version on Kedalion's Idle Visualizer script and will highlight on the map anything you haven't marked ready.

It's possible we could bring back the next button, but I found the idle feature felt really natural after a few turns. I just find myself going through things more regionally.

1470 days, 16 hours, 24 minutes ago

ndek

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

So that's what "idle" means. I didn't dare to use the button.
Thanks a lot, Big Beefer and Joshua, for the great game. It is so much fun I have to stop myself to join any possible game just to try all the races.

1470 days, 9 hours, 44 minutes ago

emork the lizard king

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Ndek, I think that - as a premium member - you can safely press any button.

1470 days, 9 hours, 34 minutes ago

ndek

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Yeah I`m quit sure they keep a backup for the more premium members.

1470 days, 3 hours, 44 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

What do I search for in the Google store?

1470 days, 3 hours, 40 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Search for 'Planets Nu'. There are two hits, the one you need is, if I recall correctly, the one with the logo that looks like the login screen.

1470 days, 2 hours, 38 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

@Dazdya thanks... I did that sorta nothing came up with "planets nu" or even "Planets NU" but your suggestion worked. THX.

1469 days, 19 hours, 3 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Some more feedback from the actual turn.

-Minescan range seams to be wrong. Can you check it again?
-Minescan messange says ly instead of au.

Can you add the total + to the resource pool on top. I would like to see the full amount of minerals and cash i receive the next turn.

I try to keep track of all the information we have for Planets Academy here:
http://www.planetsmagazine.com/uncategorized/planets-academy/

I still need some more details on the shiplist, please share yours with me.

1469 days, 18 hours, 48 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Did you get a minsecan message for a field too far away? I very recently put in a fix for that. It shouldn't show on the map though. You can send more details to the contact link if you don't want to give info away.

I'll look into the global +s, though space is tight at the top there. Maybe a button to show it or something...

Also, here is the full list of academy ships. Sorry for the giant paste:

Outrider Class Scout
Nocturne Class Destroyer
Nebula Class Cruiser
Loki Class Destroyer
Thor Class Frigate
Missouri Class Battleship
Small Deep Space Freighter
Medium Deep Space Freighter
Large Deep Space Freighter
Kittyhawk Class Carrier
Nova Class Super-dreadnought
Reptile Class Destroyer
Lizard Class Cruiser
T-Rex Class Battleship
Serpent Class Escort
Saurian Class Light Cruiser
Swift Heart Class Scout
Fearless Wing Cruiser
Dark Wing Class Battleship
Valiant Wind Class Carrier
Resolute Class Battlecruiser
Deth Specula Class Frigate
Victorious Class Battleship
D7 Coldpain Class Cruiser
Ill Wind Class Battlecruiser
D19b Nefarious Class Destroyer
Little Pest Class Escort
Madonnzila Class Carrier
Instrumentality Class Baseship
Golem Class Baseship
Automa Class Baseship
Cat's Paw Class Destroyer
Cybernaut Class Baseship
Pawn Class Baseship
Tranquility Class Cruiser
Falcon Class Escort
Iron Lady Class Frigate
Deep Space Scout
Patriot Class Light Carrier
Rush Class Heavy Carrier
Taurus Class Scout
Virgo Class Battlestar
Gemini Class Transport
Scorpius Class Light Carrier
Cygnus Class Destroyer

1469 days, 18 hours, 26 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Thanks BB, i sent you the minefield details directly.

If you can add the + below the resources it would be self explaining. You can make it a smaller size number in grey, just as it is on the planet icon

1469 days, 17 hours, 32 minutes ago

ndek

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Is there a way to host an own game, private or public in Academy?

1469 days, 16 hours, 35 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

On my 7'' Asus device the details in the bottom of the page are cut off by the android system tray, i.e. where back/home/task buttons are located, so that not all details can be read. Anyone else experiencing this?

1469 days, 12 hours, 37 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

1) Will my natives and colonist grow?
2) If i build a second base, and on this base a LDSF, where will the 1200 clans come from?

Can you rearrange the icons and move mcs to the left so that i see cash income next to the mineral income on the planet view?

1468 days, 21 hours, 32 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

OK, I think the minefield scan distance is fixed now. Not sure if what was scanned will disappear or not, but no new ones should appear outside range.

More info:
1. Yes
2. We try to obscure this by giving a max income value for the planet. Honestly, I don't remember if the governments differ or not. I just haul clans until I can get the max amount (which also includes factory output by the way)
3. Your ships will only autofill with clans at planets with 10,000 or more clans. So generally just your homeworld, and even there they will stop if your population gets below 10,000. So your ship wouldn't have clans on it.
4. No

We'll be looking into some of the other suggestions and issues. Also @Ndek, in the future you will be able to host your own academy games, but not yet.

1468 days, 20 hours, 34 minutes ago

faqudi

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I think it would make the Academy a tiny bit simpler if you would drop the Exploration mission altogether, and by default make ships use Sensor Sweep.

1468 days, 18 hours, 2 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Turn update:
-Minefield message is gone, but i can still see the field.

-My app crashed / closed today 4-5 times. Especially when i was sending messages.

-Can you add the planets notes? I would like to mark planets, at least a color code would be nice.

1468 days, 16 hours, 57 minutes ago

ndek

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I'm voting for notes, too...

1466 days, 7 hours, 42 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

What I am realizing only now ist that there are no "special missions" at all (rga, hisss, pillage, etc.)? So the most race advantages are not acitve?

1466 days, 7 hours, 21 minutes ago

acezzz

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I could note find in the reading , but on page 5034 Nuk will not attack rebels or klingons , They Are Active ....SEE GAME Part Of your World Sector

other pages...only on the inside of the forum state On Permanent.

looking for link...

1464 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

@BB Can you have a look at the Loki decloak range? It seems to be a bit high in the test game. As FED i would not mind :)

1444 days, 10 hours, 32 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Re-using this thread again for bugs or small issues:
- VCRs seem a bit too slow, fights take a minute or so.
- VCRs don't handle rotation nicely, all assets seem to be offset when you go from portrait to landscape or back.
- Ship Build screen: The resource summary is positioned wrong and too tight. The numbers overlap the Money icon if you need 4 digit amounts.

1434 days, 4 hours, 36 minutes ago

challengespaceyard

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I got a few questions to ask and remarks to make regarding Planets Academy.

* What impact does damage have on movement? (if any)
* What impact does the new academy mechanics have on the API?
* After seeing first-hand how closely packed the planets can be, I am scared to see what it would be like to see an Academy blitz...

1429 days, 13 hours, 3 minutes ago

challengespaceyard

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Found a bug while playing Academy from desktop (my phone died on Saturday, likely due to a damaged outlet)! When I mark my turn ready, it also attempts to execute Runhost, returning false with the error "Unauthorized".

1429 days, 12 hours, 38 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

From desktop? Do you run it in an Android runtime or how?

1429 days, 12 hours, 19 minutes ago

challengespaceyard

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Courtesy of the test subdomain (test.planets.nu), I have been able to do my turns from the web client. It's also no wonder I have not been noticing the restriction... I have been using only the test subdomain for quite some time.

I know that Academy is intended to be for mobile, but I am starting to like this sub-game (well, what little I can do so far, anyway) such that I somewhat wish it was official it can be contributed back to the web client.

1429 days, 11 hours, 22 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

If I only knew this earlier! In fact, I did most of my turns with an android runtime on my desktop. Typing in english in combination with german spell-checking on my android device wasn't fun. The test subdomain has all I wanted: planets IDs and names, time machine etc.

1429 days, 11 hours, 12 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

That was/is exactly what I was missing, @Flaabes. I've been sending most of my ships 'into the dark' during the whole game :)

1429 days, 10 hours, 9 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Sorry guys, but I'm going to block off the test.planets.nu subdomain for Academy games again. I had opened it to help some players view VCRs that were crashing consistently, but that bug has been fixed now on mobile. We do plan on bringing Academy back to the web client, but we want make sure everything is solid on mobile first so we are not doing rework in two different places. But for now, please don't use it. The implementation there is incomplete and can do some "bad things".

1429 days, 10 hours, 6 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

"Bad things" just makes me want to do it more.

1429 days, 10 hours, 4 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Yep. No risk no fun.

1429 days, 9 hours, 54 minutes ago

challengespaceyard

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Very well. Thanks for keeping us updated.

Circuitry is weird sometimes. I gave my Android phone one last chance to redeem itself before being traded away. Yesterday, it would neither start up, nor accept any charge. I will be testing it later on today. A netbook of mine was also affected by the very same suspected outlet, and it is still dead as we speak.

Good thing I took over an almost dead position. Thanks to the simplified ruleset, I believe my position is completely beyond redemption (assuming I do not cap several planets that have NO buildings whatsoever).

1429 days, 9 hours, 49 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

No base and not enough clans? Theoretically you could bribe someone to let you capture a freighter full of clans :P

1429 days, 9 hours, 35 minutes ago

challengespaceyard

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Yep. The position I took over had no planets (at the time)... never mind bases.

I only have a single starship to work with. It is powerful, but I have to be careful, as my ammo is slowly declining, and it is also damaged.

Yes, I theoretically could capture a freighter full of clans. Without a backup solution, I would rather earn it than ask for it.

Still, I do agree with Big Beefer. The less [re]work that has to be done on two platforms at once, the better.

1429 days, 9 hours, 16 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I have a Kindle Fire (and iPhone/iPad). Supposedly, 75% of Android Apps work on the Kindle Fire without any additional development work required. Not sure if this is one of those Apps or not. So should I keep my eye out for Planets Academy on the Kindle Fire or just wait until I can check it out on ios?

1429 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

The only apps that don't work right away on Fires are the ones that rely on Google Play services, since Fires don't have Google Play installed. I'd be super surprised if NU didn't run just fine and you should be able to sideload it. Let me know if you need the APK and I'll come up with something.

1429 days, 8 hours, 42 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I would really be interested in this. I don't see myself playing on a phone, but a tablet (Fire) - most certainly! So, if anyone gets this working, I hope they report it here.

Although, just as we have many players using mobile devices to play regular games, I'd love to try Academy version on my computer. I am visualizing it might play something like that old Prodigy game, Rebel Space. I do enjoy my game playing, but I have to think twice before joining another game that I know will last a year or more. Planets "lite" might be just the thing. :)

1429 days, 8 hours, 37 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

@Mule

I did most of my turns while commuting (train/bus) on a Nexus 5 and it took 5-15 minutes per turn, it was perfectly adequate. I've also tried a tablet, the bigger screen is a bonus but in no ways necessary.

1429 days, 8 hours, 36 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Yep .. lots of good times a long time ago with Rebel Space. What was really enjoyable with Rebel Space were Team Games. I am hoping that turns out to be the same with Planets Academy. I think a shorter and simpler game could be just what Team Games needs to become a more popular Nu format.

1429 days, 8 hours, 33 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I suppose that I should report my number one disappointment with the Academy game. I played on a Motorola Nexus 6 phone, which is decently powerful. The interface was annoyingly laggy. Every touch or swipe has a 0.25 second delay. Yeah I know that doesn't sound bad on paper, but it made me dread playing every turn compared to the really snappy full web NU. I have WAAAAYYY more graphically complicated and CPU intensive games than NU on my phones/tablets that all respond instantly. Great Little War Game comes to mind right away as a really big game that responds much better than NU does. The lag makes NU feel old and busted.

1429 days, 8 hours, 19 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

BondS: YUP! I really miss Reb Space Teams. I made real world friends there that persist to this day.

Re: phone play. I know this is great for some and no so much for others. Me, for example. Lots of reasons... screen size, response time, and so on. If nothing else, when I am out and about I just seldom want to sit down and play a game. When I am home, it makes no sense (to me) to play on a little and possibly slower device. One size does NOT fit all.

But, the format could still be interesting to many of us.

1429 days, 7 hours, 37 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I'm not really familiar with the Kindle and how it installs apps, but if anyone wants to try on it, or some other android-compatible device and doesn't want to (or can't) use google play, it is also available for direct download at:

http://planets.nu/_library/mobileapp/nu.planets.android-aligned.apk

I believe the only downside of installing this way is that you won't be able to auto-update. But I've been fairly good about announcing new versions here.

1429 days, 7 hours, 18 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

BB:
I tried entering the link on my Fire tablet and received no response, other than a google search page. So, I used my Fire to sign on here and clicked the link. I received a message that a download had started.

Is that what I should expect? So far, I see nothing new. Maybe it takes a while?

1429 days, 7 hours, 8 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Mule, you might want to try to install using these instructions:

http://www.ubergizmo.com/how-to/how-to-install-apk-files-sideloading-on-android/

1429 days, 6 hours, 8 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

@bondservant: Thanks for the link. But, it was sort of "generic android" to help a lot. With my Fire, here's what I had to do.

I had already clicked the apk link provided, but as far as I could see, it just disappeared. Little did I know it was waiting for permission to actually load.

On my Fire menu, I selected +(more) > device > allow installation ofapplications from unknown sources. Then I had to go to notifications and instruct "use package installer"

Now it is installed.
BTW: I think a similar process will also allow install of non-amazon approved browsers, such as Chrome and Firefox,for those of us that hate the "official" amazon browsers. :)

1429 days, 5 hours, 16 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Just a little "extra" feedback..

Although I do have Academy now working on my Fire (as described above), I still haven't given up on ultimately getting it to work on a computer.

When using Chrome and Arc Welder to try and "cheat" the system, I get "platform specific" bugs. I do know this will run some other android apps in a computer.

So, I just thought I'd post this in case anyone else is working on it and has found another fix. :)

1429 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes ago

challengespaceyard

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I believe Bluestacks could also be used to emulate the Android environment necessary to play Planets Academy.

Meanwhile, I tested my phone, and it works... strangely better than it was before, as the battery is draining much slower now.

1429 days, 3 hours, 13 minutes ago

challengespaceyard

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I believe Bluestacks could also be used to emulate the Android environment necessary to play Planets Academy.

Meanwhile, I tested my phone, and it works. At least I have something to continue Planets Academy with. I look forward to seeing the first Academy blitzes sometime.

1429 days, 1 hours, 43 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I joined an academy game and now see "This sector has star clusters, nebulas, cloudy ion storms and asteroid field debris disks." I'll play it anyway, but my question is if all academy games will be like this?

1429 days, 1 hours, 33 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Opened Academy game... and BOY do I have questions I would like to get answered before the game actually starts! :)

I am hoping there is a "how to play academy game" link somewhere. Anyone???

1429 days, 1 hours, 28 minutes ago

challengespaceyard

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Try this rough page: http://help.planets.nu/academy

It appears that every academy game so far has ONE star cluster and nothing else in the stellar cartography department.

1429 days, 0 hours, 9 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

I have managed to enter orders using my Fire tablet. (Bluestacks works nice too) But, I can find no "end turn" - maybe host just assumes everyone is ready? And I can't find an EXIT to stop the app. I have to power down my Fire to get it to turn off. Any solutions I am missing?

1428 days, 23 hours, 48 minutes ago

challengespaceyard

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Does your device have a sort of back command you can use? This will allow you to return to the dashboard. You can then exit the client, optionally marking your turn ready in the process.

1428 days, 22 hours, 50 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

OK... Here's the problem. On my Fire tablet I can't get out of the map. Tried everything I could think of. No back arrow, no escape, nothing to get a handle on to close map. I can turn the tablet off and then restart tablet and reenter the game. That's when I see the button that says End Turn. Finally!

On my computer (Bluestack app) I can hit ESC to get out of the map and back to menu and End Turn.

1428 days, 22 hours, 43 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Ah, that's good to know. I didn't put a back or exit button on the map for academy because android devices have a back button built in that people use pretty naturally. But I'll add it for the next version. I think we were going to need it for iOS anyways...

1428 days, 22 hours, 2 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

The back button is a good idea. For example the Nexus 5 doesn't have a dedicated hardware back button, but a soft one, and getting it visible from the full screen starmap is a bit cumbersome.

1428 days, 21 hours, 57 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

@Mule How do you then exit any app that goes full screen? Many games do that these days. There should be a way for a major device like Kindle.

Did you try swiping a bit up from below the screen? For me that brings up the android button menu as soft buttons: back, exit, task list.

1428 days, 20 hours, 29 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Swiping just moves the map around. top, bottom, and either side. Pinching, no effect. Spreading does zoom map. At the top I see resource icons or down arrowhead. Right side, arrowhead shows idle, connections, and zoom. No amount of tapping does anything. That's about it for things I can do.

Even wen I shut down, I have to make sure it shuts down completely (power off) and not just turns off. Otherwise, when I turn it back on, I'm still on the map.

Then there is a delay while it boots back up, until finally it turns on again.

Interesting side note, when I open a regular game on my Fire, open the map, and then squeeze down, I can find an Exit button at the top right. That's what the Academy needs.

1428 days, 20 hours, 23 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

continued...

Oh wait! Now I can get out of the specific game and exit out to the NU sign in screen, but can get no further out. Once again, I must hold in power button, get "Do you want to shut down" message and power off my fire to get out.

BB, are you getting this?

1427 days, 15 hours, 46 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Would it be possible to list Academy games on the Web page games listing? Somehow marked specifically or some such? Would be nice to keep track of how other players are doing in different games.

And now I just made a mistake I think because I joined Mule in the Crete Sector as Fed. But Feds don't have super refit here... Darn!

1427 days, 10 hours, 13 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

@mclaughlin:
1) I'd be a lot more worried about smn / fascists. I assume they still have double beams in academy? I'll be lucky to even get my ships faced in the right direction. Damned newfangled high tech stuff... (mutter, mutter)

2) Webpage game listing? If you mean GAME LIST - NEW / INTEREST / OPEN ...etc. I concur. There seems to be a tab (BLITZ) that is not being used at all. Add one for Academy or just replace the Blitz tab. :)

1427 days, 9 hours, 43 minutes ago

challengespaceyard

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Occasionally, a public blitz gets posted. They tend to be taken quickly.

It is worth pointing out that Academy games are considered a new game type for API purposes.

1427 days, 8 hours, 26 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Chuckling...
I sort of anticipated my comment on Blitz games might elicit response. :)

I do find it a little bit strange that only Champs and Blitz game types have a tab all their own and no other games do. Custom, team, etc. But, be that as it is...

I still agree with McL that a little more visibility on the academy games might be nice. Otherwise, it would be real easy for peeps to forget about them as an option. New game types might actually need a little MORE hype and not less.

1427 days, 8 hours, 19 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Academy, even if rules-wise pretty much ready, is still a bit unstable. We're in kind of beta-testing now, which probably is the main reason why there isn't much marketing / noise about it. Yet.

1427 days, 7 hours, 47 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

@SMN: Understood! Which is why I am adding a little "noise" from my end.

To anyone else interested...
I now have this game operating on my fire tablet and (with the aid of Bluestacks) on my computer. I know it was designed for phone use, so it should work (maybe with a few glitches) for everyone.

It looks like it could be a nice option for us. But, of course, we need 2 more players before my particular game ( http://play.planets.nu/#/sector/154015 ) can get going and I can find out for sure.

1426 days, 9 hours, 56 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Correct on the "unstable" side. The client crashes at least once for me during normal play. Usually if I am not patient enough or try to do weird things like pressing BACK while in the build screen and choosing Beams...

And rule-wise... I don't know. 500 ships as ship limit is a bit too much for 7 players. I doubt anyone hit that limit yet. We have 114 ships on Turn 34 here: http://planets.nu/#/sector/152632 and we are nearly done it seems.

I would say 150 Planets and 150 ships would be good for starters.

@Mule Double Beams???? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

1426 days, 9 hours, 50 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

@Mclaughlin, why would you want a ship limit? With the Academy rules there is absolutely no need for one, it would only serve to make the game format worse.

1426 days, 9 hours, 23 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

No Fascist double beams in Academy... That's good to know. :)

1426 days, 9 hours, 15 minutes ago

challengespaceyard

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Okay... Now I am sensing some dis-agreement regarding Double Beams.

I see this setting - fascistdoublebeams: true

... At least the victory countdown has been started for my own Academy game. Still, it could be easily stopped given the leader's planet count.

1426 days, 9 hours, 6 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Double speed beams were definitely active in Gorbi World

1426 days, 8 hours, 38 minutes ago

mule

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Ah....

So, perhaps mclaughlin's post was more on the line of, "say it ain't so" rather than actually saying it ain't so. Subtle difference in intent there. :)

But, I have now added to my meager store of knowledge. Always a good thing!

1426 days, 6 hours, 50 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

@Mule: I see, you are one of those who deny the existence of Star Wars Episode I-III and subsequently the worst scene in any Star Wars movie ever. Wise decision.
My long-stretched wail was obviously quoting Anakin after he appears in full Darth Vader outfit and finds out he killed Padme.
So yes, it is a wail of despair that the most devious feature of the Nuniverse made it into a game targeted at Newbies.

@Smn: Noniin. No shiplimit suits me fine, sure, but what's the purpose of PBPs then and of using the Production Queue mechanism in Academy? It might add a bit more strategy in the sense of "Do I rather build a mine layer next or a carrier?" instead of "Yeah, whatever, just build ALL of them".

1426 days, 6 hours, 43 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

My guess is that the production queue riles in Academy is just something the devs didn't get around to remove yet.

1426 days, 6 hours, 40 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Also, a very strong argument can be made that the ship limit mechanism actually decreases strategic thinking in standard games. But that is a discussion for a separate thread.

1426 days, 5 hours, 33 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Yes, fascists have double beams in Academy. They lose pillage and their glories become somewhat less effective, so that keeps them competitive, especially against the carrier races who have to invest in many more fighters. While all the races lose some things, and the tactics you know from standard games might not work as well (or at all), we haven't seen any glaring instances of race imbalance yet.

Effectively there is no ship limit in Academy games, and that is intentional and in line with our goal to keep things simple. If games actually started to hit the 500 ship limit, we would probably raise it (or reduce minerals), but none so far have come close. The PPs are just leftover in the code and should never come into play. I'll get around to removing them from the scores and messages sometime.

As to not having to make decisions about what to build, I find that there are actually more decisions to make in Academy. Since there is no alchemy, minerals limit what you build quite effectively. In my game, every turn I have to decide between more ships, fighters, torps for minefields, and new starbases. And I don't think there has been a turn yet where I could build everything I wanted. I'd say production is actually most similar to PLS games. The more planets you have and develop, the more resources you get, the more you can build.

1425 days, 19 hours, 40 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Fully agreed on the 'more decisions' part. Choosing between more ammo or more ships is actually quite hard in many situations. Or battleships vs cloakers.

1425 days, 18 hours, 47 minutes ago

RE: Planets Academy: Seen Joshua's introduction, read BB's...

Ok, now that you got me thinking you are right. With 5 Bases I could still only build 2 Virgos and 300 fighters, even with 59 Planets. That is about 1100 Moly after all...
I bow to the wisdom of more experienced players.
I suppose it just looks odd to have the combination of an unattainable ship limit and lots of useless PBPs. But since those will disappear at some point, all is good.