Some good news and bad news.
Thanks to everyone who pointed out the issue!
I did it on my first go, I had 65 adaptability, 56 leadership (don’t think it matters during the academy battles), and 41 tactics/intelligence, I had a very low amount of stress.
I think the key is to have a high adaptability stat
I think that in the prep time, spending time practicing helps as well, but haven’t checked this. That said, it says “your time in the sim” in the success blurb, so seems to check out.
So adaptation as the first skill, intelligence as the next?
Yup! Can’t go wrong in the demo with that setup.
I love it I how you keep going
Great demo! As someone that loves Ender’s Game & the Infinity Series this is right up my alley, the writing is enjoyable and the worldbuilding is great with just the right amount of info given without feeling like you’re info dumping.
A suggestion I would have is to increase the depth of the characters other than the MC in future chapters as they feel more like plot devices to propel the story forward right now rather than actual people. Other than that great job!
Prep time definitely matters for your fight with Valentina, especially if you go with the second option in your fight with Valentina, choosing to combat in long distance, I tried directly taking it to short distance combat but narrowly lost despite being better at it since I was at a disadvantage after the first round where she pulled ahead, then I tried doing long distance combat first, I did better at it, and then the battle went to close combat after that, and I ended up winning!
I wonder if it’s possible to successfully take over one of Valentina’s cruisers
It is you just need mid -high adaptability and intelligence I also had leadership watch fatigue get it as low as possible without fuck up your prep before the fight
I had low fatigue, 66 adaptability, 41 intelligence and 56 leadership and still failed, what’s the stat check? Do I have to have higher intelligence?
Thanks for the answers, glad it helped!
Really enjoyed the demo so far and man can I say it really feels like a reflection of Ender’s Game.
Some minor corrections:
Still, you manage to do quite well. You talk one of the cooks into making a couple batches of finger food. Ypu arrange to have the rec center cleared for an evening, and make sure everything is cleared by the instructors so as to not cause a stir.
While such a course of action would certainly be beneficial, it’s essentially a bride which means you’d either need to be incredibly persuasive, or have something of value to offer the instructor.
Some feedback:
I also believe I’ve found a mistake in the code. This happens when speaking to the other cadets Wagner has beat. If you pass the leadership 60 test, but don’t have wagner_study >= 2, the code sets wagner_study to 2. After this set, there’s extra flavor for wagner_study being set to 1 or 0. As it is, you can’t see this flavor text.
Yes, according to the code, the check is:
*if ((intelligence*2) + adaptability) >= 170
If there was one thing I didn’t expect out of this site on this year was a high-quality sci-fi strategy demo. Something that could finally scratch my LOGH Itch. Thanks.
The Good
I liked the writing and the prose. It has a sense of narrative to it that is usually lacking in most demos. I also liked the fact that your actual choices matter and it’s not just a matter of stats; while playing as an adaptability-maxxer I checked out whether training two times with the fleet in the final battle against Wagner would have an effect or if it just made a skillcheck easier, but from what I can see, it was able to flip it from a ‘normal success’ to a ‘complete success’
Overall, very noice.
The Not So Good
I’m going to be honest with you; although it might be a little too early for that, I just can’t help but feel like the setting itself is a bit ‘lacking in style’. Aesthetic? To put it simply, so far it feels like your usual ‘Early Sci-Fi’ setting with an United Earth, Station Colonies on Atmosphereless Planets…It’s not bad, really, not bad at all, but it doesn’t quite ‘scream’ much in the manner of memorable style.
To put it in comparison, anyone who’s seen Legends of Galactic Heroes can remember the ships and uniforms of the FPA And the Empire. From the very moment you start you can tell a lot from how they look. I suppose that’s a lot harder to transmit in text, but nevertheless, so far I can’t even really picture what any of what’s happening is supposed to look like. It’s all blank.
Another thing I should add, which I’m not sure of is; are all checks for ‘studying’ people leadership based? It would seem as though they are, which I understand in the sense of wanting to make stats important, but also feels a bit weird? While obviously being charismatic would be great to understanding people, it’s weird that having high enough intelligence couldn’t help you figure out some pattern behind their tactics.
Thanks everyone for all the kind words and support. It also makes me happy to see people talking about character builds. As someone who themselves has replayed my favorite games dozens of times to try and get just the right stats, I’m happy some of you feel the desire to do that with my own work!
Yeah, hopefully some more interpersonal scenes will help with this.
Great. Thanks! Easy fix for the next update
Yeah, this was by design. The explanation being exactly what you mentioned. But I think you’re right. I’ll consider adding some stuff for a 70+ stat in the other categories.
Huh, nice catch! I’ll give this a look once I get back to my computer. Thanks for all the feedback!
That’s fair. Hopefully once you get out of Academy and start actually seeing the Solar System, living on a ship, etc. it adds a little texture to the world. But regardless it’s a good thing for me to keep an eye on.
Yes, but not completely. You can either study Wagner by talking to other cadets which is a pure leadership check because it revolves around how willing they are to talk to you. The other way is by studying her old matches which is a combined check of intelligence and leadership. The idea there is that you need the knowledge to identify the patterns but you also need the social awareness to realize how she is using the personality of each of her opponents against them
Speaking of that, I’m surprised how quickly that part went. I expected there to have been at least one or two more battles between our first opponent and Wagne. I do understand not wanting to stay in the ‘School Arc’ for too long, of course, but it is admittedly a bit fast paced given how much focus and importance the story puts on the Battle Rankings initially.
This is a fantastic point. Two years passsed by very quickly, with just two matches spelled out, both even odds, and only six (maybe seven) matches total. I’d really love to see a second round with situations adjusted based on how well you did the first pass.
True. Again, while I really don’t like it when stories end up taking forever on the ‘Academy Arc’, I feel like the battle sims are the perfect opportunity to test out battles without having to worry about the consequences.
Honestly the Academy is meant to be something of a tutorial. An introduction to the world, characters and mechanics. The Baker fight is meant to show you how everything works and Wagner is meant to be your first real challenge (which is why I’m trying to get the balancing right. Don’t want her to be too easy or hard). I feel like adding more battles during the Academy stage would be repetitive and ultimately unsatisfying. The stakes are low, you’re not actually leading real people and are essentially playing a complex video game. I would rather introduce you to the game mechanics and then give you an actual command where decisions affect human lives and carry more weight.
The meat of the story lies beyond the Academy and I’d like to get you there relatively quick. That said, I’m not opposed to adding some flavor text to make it feel less rushed but I don’t think I’ll be adding another battle.
I do get it, though it must be said that getting too quick to the real battles might end up leaving the player feeling rushed.