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Astro Empires - a flawed game
Elgemannen
Member Posts: 1
Unable to post a review, I've decided to put my thoughts of this game here instead. Despite there being a lot of criticism here, I still play the game, as this could actually have been a very good game if it had not been for a couple of very serious problems
To start off with the positive, this is by far one of the most in-depth strategy games I have played (at least as a browser!) and both short and long term, strategical as well as tactical thinking is very necessary to prevail in the game, to make the most out of what you have, and to beat your enemy in battles.
However,
Time consumption: It is as the title might suggest, very flawed. First of all, it is very time consuming. Sure, as the admins are saying you are free to spend as much time as you'd like on it - however it is a fact that you need to be able to spend a couple of hours a day if you want to get somewhere. Playing every other day, or just a few minutes a day won't cut it in the long run.
"Free game": Just as spending a lot of time, having an upgraded account (or at least upgrading every couple of months) is necessary if you want to get anywhere in this game. The admins claim that you can play this game for free, however that is only true to some extent. After a couple of months, you will be at such a disadvantage without an upgraded account that you won't stand a chance at competing with other players.
Noobs: This is without doubt the most noob-unfriendly game I have ever played. Once you have reached a certain level, you have no protection against merciless players (who will obviously be a lot more powerful than you) that you are unable to fight off, making the game and your life rather miserable. To get past this, you will need to play very well prior to hitting this level, and make friends amongst other players - and this isn't as simple as it may sound, especially late in a server. That is another problem for new players - if you start on any server (unless you're lucky enough to start just as they launch a new server - very unlikely) all other players will have a huge head start over you, which will be very hard, if not impossible to catch up to. (I've been playing for over two year and consider myself to be a skilled player, however I just recently entered the top 500 players list of my server.)
Servers: Under normal circumstances, there are no problems with the servers, however under the occasional big events such as big battles, the servers usually come to complete halts, rendering the game unplayable (you cannot play efficiently, which is needed in said battles at least). This has been a known issue across all servers since forever, yet the admins seem to be unable to address the problem, which in my opinion is unacceptable for a paid game.
Game Staff: The gamestaff has a terrible way of communicating with its community (to the extent that they communicate with us at all..) and most complaints and requests for help or features go unanswered, no matter how polite and serious players bring up critical issues as the ones I mention here. (If I had posted this topic on the forums, then it would surely be deleted and I'd be warned/banned in a matter of hours.) There has also been extensive problems with people having their accounts warned, fined and banned for silly reasons, and even false reasons and assumptions, especially around script usage. Even paying players have been banned from the game without any reimbursement of money without substantial proof. When real money is in question, I find this to be unacceptable. The waiting time when contacting costumer support is also very high.
Comments
I agree 100% of what is said here. I have been playing this game for over 4 years. I play one server and one server only, but instead of improving game features the Admin would rather focus their efforts on players who want to "Enhance" game play. When 70% of your players use some sort of aid to play this game it obviously shows thsi game is lacking in a lot of areas.
I am using an alias on this site in fear that my words would get the admin to ban my account as they tend to find reasons for people who speak their minds on their blog areas to suspend, fine or even ban accounts. If you ever have to appeal a decision made by the Admin.....Don't.....It's a waste of time. They think they are always right.
They claim they can see through computers. They make irrational decisions stating people don't exist even when offered proof of it they stick to their original decision. The Astro Empires Admin are a joke and until they treat customers (gamers) like actualy customers I can't full heartedly recommend this game to new players. I used to once, but the game has become a joke.
Game play, I have to admit there are things good about this, but once again what lacks in Game play is what hurts the game. They went 3 years between releasing a relevant game play update that helps players (Production page) and even that was such a minor thing and only came about because of the massive script ussage that thsi is all a mute point. Now this game has been around for the last 4 years. While it took almost 3 years to do any sort of change to the game that helps players it took them less less then 3 years to open 9 new servers. The focus on this game is more about making money then improving game play.
The only reason I still play this game is because there are players counting on me in this game. If not I would've left a long time ago.
Astro Empires this is a public warning these issues are no longer just within your own private blogs that only Astro Empire users can see this is now out there on a very respected page for gamers.....Might heed the warnings being said here.
Ive played this game for about 2 years and I have to say what these guys are saying is the absolute truth.
1. Without an upgraded account you cant get anywhere. You will always lose
2. Admins care more about translatinng this game into Albainan more then enhancing game play.
3. You will have to play this game non-stop to be competitive( this means many sleepless nights)
4. Updates that are made are minor and many times just unnecessary ( The dots on the systems maps and 3d images)
5. 90% OF THE TOP PLAYERS HAVE DATABASES AND SCRIPTS THAT GIVE THEM A MAJOR EDGE OVER ALL THE OTHER PLAYERS
6. Very unfriendly for noobs. If you dont have an experinced player u can count on your going to fail in a long run.
7. Accounts get hacked and admins say its the players fault.
8.Players get banned and fined for silly reasons.(including paying customers)
PROS
1. Fun
2. Interative
3. Invovles alot of tactics and stragdgy.
4. Get to communicate with players from all over the world.
5. Concuest
Con Points 1 and 3 are not ENTIRELY true. The upgrade does give an advantage in that you can build more construction and you can use scanners as a convenience. However, in an account where the construction already hit the soft cap, that is building another base or another level of terraform or another level of MLP is prohibitively expensive, the upgrade is no longer as vital. At that stage of play, you are researching LARGE researches, and building fleet. At that stage, upgrade is only useful for scanners, and a player who checks his base systems regularly, scanners are only a mild convenience.
on point 4, the dots are not useless at all. especially to a free player. you can use it to see at a glance fleets approaching and estimate your odds almost instantly.
on point 6, that is not a game problem rather than a player community problem, that started with players who did a cheat worse than scripts : multis for the purpose of infiltrating rival guilds, and sabotage. If there is a way to foster trust between old hands who know the game and new guys, it won't come from Wizard or Xaman. It can't come from them, because it comes from the PLAYERS.
on point 7, common sense, do not share your log in with others, change passwords every so often.
on point 8, you contradicted yourself concerning point 5. This is game enforcement trying to deal with the problem of cheating. Imperfect, flawed and well... the referee blows the call sometimes.
on your pro points :
agreed on all of them. and I can add a few more :
6. The chance to fight under different scenarios and have a reasonable chance of at least having a fun time if you know what you are doing.
7. simple game interface allows you to learn best practices
8. there are a few good players who enjoy teaching the new players. They mostly play Alpha.
I stop playing because I payed and then they ban me because I shared IP with someone XD and forced me to keep renewing my game despite no1 else in my house playing it.
So I stop playing after false accusations and for not receiving any respect for the money I spent.
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