Expedition Playtesting Thread

[Slash]

Hello everybody!

A new version of "Expedition: The New World" is getting closer to release; this is a call for playtesters, if you are interested on trying out this version in order to assure its quality and request enhancements, just contact me!

What is Expedition? Check http://slashware.net/blog/expedition-the-new-world/ for further info. You can also download and peruse the manual from there if you feel curious

This version comes with two groundbreaking changes: The full mouse UI, allowing people to play the game using the mouse alone, and the Globe World Map, one of the biggest components on doing an accurate simulating of the XV Century World.

Your critical feedback in this private version will be much appreciated, and will help make the public version as solid as it must be.

Check out some a sample gameplay video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acwk1i47bMc

Thank you!

[reaven]

And where can one get said test version from?

Ups nevermind, didnt read the "contact me" part.

[Slash]

RC2, 3 and 4 have been released!

Here's a vid of the latest one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFC49cqflpQ

We still need yet even more testers! contact me if interested!

[jocke the beast]

I've just sat down and tried some of RC4 and I must say it's very powerfull and cool.
Right now I'm just playing around, without goal and mind so to speak, but I'll try more later on...more seriously playing 
Looks and feels very good so far!

[a1s]

expedition 0.4 alpha1 consistently crashes at sea. It happens both in the graphic and text version, and does not happen on land.

java.lang.RuntimeException: Item  not found
   at net.slashie.serf.game.SworeGame.crash(SworeGame.java:293)
   at net.slashie.expedition.item.ItemFactory.createItem(ItemFactory.java:20)
   at net.slashie.expedition.domain.Expedition.forageFood(Expedition.java:1558)
   at net.slashie.expedition.world.agents.ForageAgent$1.execute(ForageAgent.java:14)
   at net.slashie.serf.action.Actor.execute(Actor.java:87)
   at net.slashie.serf.action.Actor.act(Actor.java:127)
   at net.slashie.serf.game.SworeGame.run(SworeGame.java:101)
   at net.slashie.serf.game.SworeGame.newGame(SworeGame.java:160)
   at net.slashie.expedition.RunExpedition.newGame(RunExpedition.java:320)
   at net.slashie.expedition.RunExpedition.selectScenario(RunExpedition.java:279)
   at net.slashie.expedition.RunExpedition.title(RunExpedition.java:257)
   at net.slashie.expedition.RunExpedition.main(RunExpedition.java:453)

Also the transferring menu is a bit unintuitive for the keyboard user. I keep pressing left and ending up on a different page (you should press down)

[Slash]

Just released private alpha2, it fixes this bug so it should be playable!

[a1s]

Haven't managed to trade yet, but raiding definitely works.

[a1s]

Tested the trade offer feature. It's not in any way bidirectional... 

[puke]

Trading works for me.  You can ask what they want, tell them what you want, make an offer, and they will respond with the category of good you requested if they have it.

Ive only found hunter gatherers who want livestock, though I have not been near where larger native cities should be (pueblo, aztec, inca).

I have successfully traded livestock and colonists for other livestock (that I had previously given them) people, and goods.  I never asked for weapons, and was never able to get supplies.

Was able to raid and intimidate for same.  Was able to make friends through raiding.

Got no benefit from bringing natives back to Spain -- was able to sell goods and artifacts for a tidy profit, but there was no novelty to returning with the tribesmen.

Also, was unable to colonize Azores but was able to colonize Greenland.  I guess this is proper, as the Azores were settled just before Columbus sailed and Greenland wasnt rechristianized until the 1700s.  Nice touches.

[a1s]

Trading works for me.  You can ask what they want, tell them what you want, make an offer, and they will respond with the category of good you requested if they have it.

But that is the way it worked in 3.0, right? Aside from the sideways transfer of goods in the interface.

[puke]

well, this is .31a2 I'm talking about.  Was it different in the short lived .4 version?

There is no sideways transfer in the native trading, its a take-it-or-leave-it system.  sideways transfer is is most other transfer windows, like cache on ground, transfer to colony, or transfer to ship.

I actually ran into a couple named tribes that wouldnt tell me what they wanted, I'm guessing that information was just incomplete for those tribes.

[a1s]

So, I looked up the Obsidian "sword", and I retract my previous comment that the natives should be able to use swords. Turns out this sword was quite unlike the swords of Europe, and was in fact closer to a saw or a club, then to a sword, with, apparently, a very different technique of using it.

[puke]

Yeah. it was most like a large bat with nails in it, if I had to draw a modern analogy.  I would have said "club" except that Dwarf Fortress has conditioned me otherwise for the last 5 years.

On an unrelated topic, I'd like to see North American native population density increased a bit.  I know there are conflicting sources on what those densities were, but I think it's generally accepted that trade existed before colonization, and there were several early colonization attemts that failed because a beachhead was unobtainable.

[puke]

Has anyone successfully built large colonies?  Do they change name from "villiage" to something else as they grow?

I keep having problems that prevent my repeated return from the old world, so I have yet to see title increases and significantly sized colonies.

Also, it seems like on my first return to Palos, I am only named Hidalgo of the first colony that I founded on that trip, not any subsequent colonies.

I dont think there is presently a way to display your status and titles and things, so I dont know if the titles are not being assigned or if they are just not being displayed.

Anyone else have any experience with this?

[chaoyun2k]

I have another newbie question, should I be using the private version (RC4) or the new public version for testing or are they both the same?