Yes, right now in the beta you can name your faction...thing (in the beta its TEC only, but you can put in any name, the AI all have different names too).

You will also be able to rename ships and your planets!   

That was Craig who said that - but we are clones so close enough

You can't. The second you downloaded the game you were stuck.



No, its a beta. As in not a finished game.



Those will come when they actually get around to releasing those races. As in, sometime after they've ironed out the basic technical and gameplay issues.



Well, you need new eyes then. There are plenty of fixes in this patch. Ranging from no more insta-flipping planets to the vastly improved pirate system.

Edit: I think I need to clarify a detail some more:


This is a beta!

It is not by any means a finished product. You aren't playing to have fun, you're playing to help them create a fun game!

You know, just to inform you. If I had any power you would be banned for this type of comment.



Balance issues.



You can't have both. Players wanted the saves to be compressed, because they were so large. So Ironclad listened.



You can still modd the galaxy settings so you can play custom galaxies. But it's even better than that. It's no possible to design your own maps and play them! Quite an improvement if you ask me.

Besides, they made it in anticipation of the upcoming multiplayer beta.



Change to culture/pirates/research system/planet exploration/jump blocker/improved AI, etc. Really, you should play it a bit more before you complain so loud.



This patch is an improvement to the majority of players. Besides of this, it's imho unfortunate for Ironclad to call it a beta, since technically it's more of a very stable alpha, with major feature changes etc.



You're right, you can't speak for everyone. It looks more like you only speak for yourself. Since most others have a different opinion from you.



You have no right at all, whatsoever in this case. Ironclad decides what sort of game they make, not you or any beta tester. Where here to give them input, feedback, ideas. But the decision making is made by them, not us.



Look harder.

That rather defeats the purpose of a beta. If people aren't testing the latest version, they might as well not be testing at all.

Do keep in mind SDC's archive option for future updates though, if you fear post-patch problems. You can use the archive option to store the current version of the game before you update, and restore it if things go wrong.

In any case, it's a beta, as others have said. These things can happen. But I'm sure IC will have a hotfix as quickly as possible--it's obviously not helpful to them either if people are unable to test the other new changes due to crashes.



Many suggested changes have been implemented into the game. Granted there are a few vocally requested things that have not, but in many of those particular cases it's because IC *already did it*, found it to actually detract from the gameplay, and removed it.

We compressed the save game files because the unanimous opinion was they were too big. However, I'm not sure why you need to edit a save game to change your faction's information. The faction data is controlled via various the entity files in the GameInfo folder. For example, the basic layout for the TEC is in PlayerTech.entity. Be sure to back up any files before you modify them 

That is awesome I have every file i've downloaded.
Thank you very much for that information.

As far as Beta 3 i'm patient i can wait just need somthing to do in the mean time lol.

I'm really loving blowing up pirates in the latest patch, is there no other way to switch between your custom created civilization? Everything else I've managed to mod back into the game it was a long process but i managed.

I've also noticed the AI mimics you now it's almost like playing against a watered down version of yourself pretty fun going against yourself lol.

The whole idea of a beta is to have outside people play the game in it's current version to see what may break. And I think we've found a rew broken bits here and there (zooming on an enemy retreat) but the developers are trying out different things that they are under no obligation to keep in the gold version. They get to see if their code works and we get to play a game (well, we pay for it and hopefully we get to play what may be the game a little earlier than the proletariat). In reward we get crashes and disappointments sometimes. The next release may or may not have the features that are in beta 2. I've participated in betas of large commercial packages (those were free, btw, you normally got a discount on the gold version and a lot freebees at the next user group meeting) but they expect you to try and break it and let the dev know what you did and what happened. You may not like the way some feature are implemented, that's part of the feedback the dev need. The more something is disliked the more likely it won't appear in the gold version.

/rant on
Some beta tests don't give the testers the whole package and that will bite the dev right in the ass, like MOHA. They can't have tested a release that requires you to have the ICS service running so it can change ACL's without telling you it was changing anything IN THE INSTALL!!!!! Yes, it won't install without ICS running. You have to start ICS, install, then turn off ICS if you don't trust M$ to handle your security. Pet peeve of mine, changing security settings without telling you or letting you stop it.
/rant off

Sorry, for the OT rant, but if it was tested I'll eat my install DVD. But, the devs need feedback on the game as _they_ envision it, it is theirs, after all. The can ignore our feedback, but they take the risk of not selling any games.

pek

I've participated in to many Beta's to count lol, but 8 times out of 10 they never use the users ideas and remove things that made the game cool calling it a balance issue.

I'll use Delta force black hawk downs beta as an example, at one time you could carry a sniper rifile and car-15 and side arm. They later remove that option in final release why? Balance issues sticks it's ugly head up again.


ron Lugge:


We have the right to correct them when they do screw up. By me presenting them with the fact taking out the custom galaxy mis hap was a bad deal that was me saying they've screwed up correct it.

Also someone else mentioned about the limitation of capital ships if made permanent it would bite people who play large universes in the ass. Me personally long as this game remains completley open source i could care less.

But as far as yesterday goes Kyro resolved everything i had an issue with yesterday with the exception of the multiple factions i think there trying to hide that option lol.

I would like to re-upgrade to the newer version because last night I was in the middle of a battle and i turned autosave off because of the massive file size I of course under constant attack forgot to save while fighting for 5 hours non stop then lossing everything like that is not a fun thing.

The option to use multiple civilizations is hardcoded in the exe they need to provide us that mod the game with a code to enable us to use our own civilzations. That is my real primary reason for downgrading yesterday.

Anywho going to restart my game over from last night. grrrrr

i dunno about the code, but theres no textures that belongs to the Advent/Vasari.

Sorry, I didn't mean code so much as I meant game resources -- graphics, data files, race stats, etc etc.

DFM, sorry, was upset about another game and took it out on you. The only game beta I've participated in on is GC2, working with Stardock is why I took this beta shot. I've been involved in commercial beta's, where they actually give you the beta to see if it solves your problem/business need. When you're talking about a large scale busines app there's a lot of things to test and as in any development project, the devs are too close to the product to see potential problems. You write the way you play (or do a given process), so they need outsiders who think a different way. And from what I've seen on this board most of the members/testers think in VERY special ways.

pek