just my 2 cents....
here a short summary of the Mac version of Pandora (after a few hours gameplay):
Installation without any problems
The game runs very stable, no crahes, no graphic-glitches... so very nice for a beta....
a texts are visible and fit to the dialogboxes...
in other beta-games a saw many bad versions things
At the beginning it is a very good feeling like "alpha centauri".
But after about, 1-2h playtime, i got the feeling of a slow gameplay... i didnt see the overall-goal anymore... .
it felt like: new research, with new research build new units or upgrade units... new research, new unit, update unit
thats all....
the diplomatic feels weak in this gameplay phase too.
trade a little bit, but not much...
Maybe because it is a beta, and this part of the game is not finished yet.
to the research:
i felt a little bit lost, what is good for me now, and what is waste of time, at the moment, for me...
It is a very military tech-tree.. just a few items for the population (more habits, ...)
i think the moral should be more important in the game... i had a city with very low moral, but nothing happend... they build in normal speed the stuff (maybe a bug).
when the moral is very bad, i would wish to have a riot in the city... maybe the bad moral gets widespread to other citys or so....
diplomatic:
indipendent of my answers to the NPCs they never react in the gameplay on that.
e.g. they want to praise me.. perfect..
5 rounds later they dont like me anymore and want money... i decline... no reaction
5 round later they praise me again...
Do they like me or not?... why no reaction of declining?...
it doesnt matter if i use diplomatic or not for the gameplay... specially at the beginning...
the research-pact is ok... the only benefit in the diplomatic-topic
summary:
i would say: a very good base for a good strategy game like alpha centauri... i like the setting of pandora...
i like, that there are no crahses or other bugs which i recognized!!! good job.
little bite more focus on civil topics
more explaination for the techtree to understand what helps me NOW and what is waste of time for the next phase of the game...
maybe more elements of diplomatic/espionage... i didnt found anything about espionage in the games. are there any elements?
Br
thebitlocker