I played the demo completely then downloaded some of the mods out there.


Some things I noticed so far:

1) I do not like how the computer pics your initial force of ships if you have too many. I would prefer an option to pick my starting ships as I sometimes have different things in mind.
2) Not sure if it's a bug or not, but you can't retreat space.
3) Some stations can not be completely destroyed by capital ships. Not sure if it's a bug or intentional. ALWAYS leave at least 1 set of fighters in reserve. Right now, if you have no fighters and you kill everything including all station hard points, but not the station AND you only have capital ships, you have to exit the game. (Can't retreat, can't kill some of the stations with capital ships) The marauder capital "may" be able to kill it will the barrage special.
4) Some maps are bugged. not sure if it's a demo or mod problem (Currently all planets use the same map). Some maps will have invisble buildings. They will show up in red on the map and your units will fire on them. They CAN be destroyed but it takes time. Constant bomb runs on the same spot or tanks switched to rocket mode can take care of them, but some will spawn enemy infantry/vehicles.
5) Some of the mods have the Imp AI on superhigh. They will kick your butt like nothing.
6) You can only seem to issue build orders while paused. Movement orders (including those in the galactic map) will not work. This needs to be fixed.
7) Speaking of the Galactic Map...A part of me thinks this should be turn based. In realtime, in the full game with working AI and all, I can see the map getting hectic. Way too much will be going on. I can see 2 player battles taking FOREVER. I think it will be EXTREMLY hard to organize any sort of front line. Some possible things to help.
A) Make the galactic map turn based. Have all builds take a certain number of turns as well as moves. Make sure the player knows the number of turns before hand.
B) Have a separate planet breakdown page. Something that has a list of your planets and the space/land defenses based there as well what is in the build que.
C) Enable a perpetual build que so I can select X-wing's,for example to constantly build without my intervention. Have an option to enable this on multiple planets at once.
D) Re-do the travel map. Right now, I think you can go to any adjacent planet. This leaves you with a lot more area to defend. Make it so that some planets need to go through 2-4 other planets to get there. Not all, just some....
8)An orbital bombardment option would be nice, but it may be too powerful in conjunction with the bombing runs.

That's about all so far. I played for about 4 hours straight today and didn't finish one full map. I pushed the Empire back to about half the map, then because save isn't working, ended up quiting.

Overall I like the game, but it definately needs some fixes already. I only hope that some of the things I mentioned were already fixed since the demo is actually several months old (which begs the question, why not release it sooner?)

(which begs the question, why not release it sooner?)
What, release it including the bugs from the demo?

I think you have to keep in mind that the mods are hacking an old version of the game engine, and probably aren't indicative of the real game (ie, 4, 5, 7D). I haven't had any problems issuing orders while paused. (Very useful in frantic combat situations!) For that matter, I haven't had any problem destroying that Imperial space station... The Petroglyph guys on this forum already said, in the "Demo Feedback" thread that everyone's been ignoring, that build times and travel times will be much slower in the full game than in the demo, so I don't think the galactic map will be that hectic. However, I like the idea of setting a shipyard somewhere to churn out corvettes or fighters--I remember being able to do that in Rebellion. An encyclopedic view of the planets and what forces you have on them would also be really good for coordinating large-scale strategies. On a related note, being able to name ships or fleets could be not only fun, but useful for organization (ie, "Ryloth attack fleet," "Hoth garrison fleet," etc).

Actually I meant release the demo sooner, not the game, since as you stated, the devs say it is based on a 4 month old engine, I am assuming the demo could have been released 4 months ago....

Also, in a few of my points, I mention that I don't know if it's a bug in the demo or the mod. I realize that the modders are forcing the demo to do things that weren't intended and that's why I don't make a big thing about the "bugs", but do mention them in case they are actual demo/game problems that haven't been fixed/noticed by the devs.
however, some of the items, such as build que are gameplay items.
Also, even if the build/travel times are slower, the longer the game goes on the more hectic it will be, especially with the move to any adjecent planet thing. The front lines could be 10 planets wide and if you have 4 different attacks going on, it could be confusing, especially since you have to goto each planets surface in real time to see whats there...

In reply to the first post;

1) I agree with you here, it would be nice to selectively choose my starting fleet rather than having to guess which ones will be brought in. But, I can live with it.

2) Afaik, that's been disabled for the demo and will be available in the full game.

3) A bug with the demo that many have pointed out. Personally I don't have it but I expect it won't be in the full game.

4) That's a mod problem. The demo only contains the maps from the tutorial, the asteroid field space level, Tatooine ground and the space battle in the background of the main menu. That means that mods have just repeated these levels. The full game will have a different map for each planet.

5) I think this is more of an issue with the mods, Hard to tell what the difficulty in the full game will be like, but it will be scalable if needed.

6) I've yet to issue any command in pause mode as I prefer to play the games in real time if possible. Not sure how exactly this will work in the full game, but I don't see any reason for movement commands while paused personally. But that may just be me.

7A) Please, no. I find turn based games tedious, and I quite enjoy the map working the way it is. Although it may get hectic, all the more reason to keep an eye on your opponents forces to know where they can attack.

7B) There is a planet breakdown page that shows the income from each planet, the amount it adds to your reinforcement pool, upgrades and what it's currently producing. Hit the question mark below the droid advisor in Galactic mode then choose the summary tab.

7C) Again, I don't like this. It takes away the control you have over the game and begins to turn it into an automated process. The Galactic map is designed to allow you to choose how to build things and when, rather than setting an automatic build que.

7D) I agree that some of the outer rim planets should be like this, making them ideal for a base as you can line up defenses infront of them. But again, I don't mind too much.

8) I don't personally see the point in this as Bombing runs will have nearly exactly the same effect negating the point of it.

And hopefully save will be working in the final product, as I expect it will be.