Major flaw in "freeform" mode & other bugs

[PavlosA]

Hello,

I would like to report a major bug which has really killed the game for me and a friend. To avoid any misunderstandings, let me mention that BASPM is a great game for what it is. However, it has some fatal flaws. We've given it a go time and time again, only to find that our many hours of commitment have been, quite literally, wasted. Some of the issues (like inability to unlock lunar probes through alternate routes) have been fixed, but others still remain.

Me and a friend started a "freeform" (sandbox) game and set the following objective: the first person to achieve all goals in the 'goal comparison" tab of the PR building shall be the winner.

"Freeform" (sandbox) mode means that you can play endlessly and do as many projects as you like, and that the game does not end when somebody gets to the moon.

Well, at some point I did get to the moon, but we both had other missions to do. And guess what? My opponent got the message that I won, and that the game has ended, and we are unable to continue or even view any post-game statistics.

The exact same thing has happened in Cold War games; according to the official changelog of the game, "the race to the Moon campaigns no longer end after the Moon landing goal is accomplished. "
Well, guess what, we ran a Cold War scenario and again it ended when one of the players landed on the moon.

Apart from these issues, which can really be a game-killer, there's two other bugs that we found out throughout this extensive test, and they also take some of the fun away:
First off, in probe missions spanning multiple quarters, the assigned flight controller roster keeps getting randomly changed. In other words, if you launch in the first quarter, it is possible that your flight controller crew layout will be altered randomly when you get to the second quarter of the same mission. The player has to click 'assign flight controllers' button and ensure that his/her crew are to their liking, as the assignments may have changed. We have found this to happen particularly with the BOOSTER and FD positions.

Furthermore, a probe mission typically needs the booster person only in the first quarter, for the launch. This is also confirmed by the 'assign flight controller' button just before flying the mission, as if you go to re-assign flight controllers, the booster spot need not be filled. YET, when you go to your MCC building in order to train your flight controllers, you can NOT train your last remaining person, but instead get a message that (s)he is needed for an upcoming mission, while in fact (s)he is not (you can only train the person that was already assigned as BOOSTER if you leave another person available for the mission). And neither can you assign them to another mission....

I hope these issues are fixed......

[Nacho84]

Hello PavlosA,

Thanks for the feedback.

Hello,
The exact same thing has happened in Cold War games; according to the official changelog of the game, "the race to the Moon campaigns no longer end after the Moon landing goal is accomplished. "
Well, guess what, we ran a Cold War scenario and again it ended when one of the players landed on the moon.

The entry from the changelog was meant for single player games only, apologies for the misunderstanding. I'll add a note in here so that I can include the change for multiplayer campaigns as well.

Apart from these issues, which can really be a game-killer, there's two other bugs that we found out throughout this extensive test, and they also take some of the fun away:
First off, in probe missions spanning multiple quarters, the assigned flight controller roster keeps getting randomly changed. In other words, if you launch in the first quarter, it is possible that your flight controller crew layout will be altered randomly when you get to the second quarter of the same mission. The player has to click 'assign flight controllers' button and ensure that his/her crew are to their liking, as the assignments may have changed. We have found this to happen particularly with the BOOSTER and FD positions.

The game is meant to keep the Flight Controllers assigned to the same slot in subsequent seasons. I have never seen any scenarios where the layout gets randomly altered, though there might be a bug. If you can send me the savefiles for two subsequent seasons where I can reproduce the problem, I'll take a look at it.

Furthermore, a probe mission typically needs the booster person only in the first quarter, for the launch. This is also confirmed by the 'assign flight controller' button just before flying the mission, as if you go to re-assign flight controllers, the booster spot need not be filled. YET, when you go to your MCC building in order to train your flight controllers, you can NOT train your last remaining person, but instead get a message that (s)he is needed for an upcoming mission, while in fact (s)he is not (you can only train the person that was already assigned as BOOSTER if you leave another person available for the mission). And neither can you assign them to another mission....

I've tried a multi-season scenario on this end and wasn't able to reproduce the problem. Here's what I did: I scheduled the Mars-M69 mission, which requires 5 Flight Controllers for its first season. You can see the assignments here:

01-Initial Assignment.jpg (247.89 KiB) Viewed 3493 times

I ran the first season, which went well. Then I went to the Mission Control Center and filtered the employees so that it only displays the ones currently assigned to a mission. See the pic below:

02 - Second Season A.jpg (343.44 KiB) Viewed 3493 times

As you can see, there's only four of them. Just to make sure everything is working as expected, I then looked up for the 'BOOSTER' guy and found out he's showing up as available.

02 - Second Season B.jpg (344.14 KiB) Viewed 3493 times

Notice that the fact that the other four guys are unavailable for advanced training is expected behaviour, as you wouldn't want to pull them out from the mission.

I hope these issues are fixed......

Absolutely, yes. We'll continue issuing updates with tweaks and, when applicable, fixes. Feel free to report any issues in the forums.

Cheers,

[PavlosA]

Hello PavlosA,

Thanks for the feedback.

Hello,
The exact same thing has happened in Cold War games; according to the official changelog of the game, "the race to the Moon campaigns no longer end after the Moon landing goal is accomplished. "
Well, guess what, we ran a Cold War scenario and again it ended when one of the players landed on the moon.

The entry from the changelog was meant for single player games only, apologies for the misunderstanding. I'll add a note in here so that I can include the change for multiplayer campaigns as well.

Okay. Please do note that 'freeform' (sandbox) mode still doesn't work as intended in multiplayer (=game ends immediately after manned lunar landing).

Apart from these issues, which can really be a game-killer, there's two other bugs that we found out throughout this extensive test, and they also take some of the fun away:
First off, in probe missions spanning multiple quarters, the assigned flight controller roster keeps getting randomly changed. In other words, if you launch in the first quarter, it is possible that your flight controller crew layout will be altered randomly when you get to the second quarter of the same mission. The player has to click 'assign flight controllers' button and ensure that his/her crew are to their liking, as the assignments may have changed. We have found this to happen particularly with the BOOSTER and FD positions.

The game is meant to keep the Flight Controllers assigned to the same slot in subsequent seasons. I have never seen any scenarios where the layout gets randomly altered, though there might be a bug. If you can send me the savefiles for two subsequent seasons where I can reproduce the problem, I'll take a look at it.

With some preliminary testing we have been unable to replicate this problem in single player. Is it possible that it only happens in multiplayer, and if so, is there a way we could actually submit a 'save file'? Also, is it possible that it only happens in the following manner?
Let' s say you launch a 6-season Venerian orbiter in 1967.Q2 that needs 5 flight controllers, and then in 1967.Q3 you assemble a manned mission. Is it possible that when you click on 'auto assign best candidates', the 'booster' guy from the Venerian mission is re-assigned to the manned mission (assuming that he is the best choice), but the game still somehow thinks it has got to fill the slot in the Venerian mission?

Furthermore, a probe mission typically needs the booster person only in the first quarter, for the launch. This is also confirmed by the 'assign flight controller' button just before flying the mission, as if you go to re-assign flight controllers, the booster spot need not be filled. YET, when you go to your MCC building in order to train your flight controllers, you can NOT train your last remaining person, but instead get a message that (s)he is needed for an upcoming mission, while in fact (s)he is not (you can only train the person that was already assigned as BOOSTER if you leave another person available for the mission). And neither can you assign them to another mission....

I've tried a multi-season scenario on this end and wasn't able to reproduce the problem. Here's what I did: I scheduled the Mars-M69 mission, which requires 5 Flight Controllers for its first season. You can see the assignments here:

I ran the first season, which went well. Then I went to the Mission Control Center and filtered the employees so that it only displays the ones currently assigned to a mission. See the pic below:

As you can see, there's only four of them. Just to make sure everything is working as expected, I then looked up for the 'BOOSTER' guy and found out he's showing up as available.

Notice that the fact that the other four guys are unavailable for advanced training is expected behaviour, as you wouldn't want to pull them out from the mission.

Please, in this scenario you created, make sure that you can actually train the last 'BOOSTER' guy that is showing up as available. He did show as available for us too, but when we clicked on the 'training' button, we were getting a message that he can't be trained because if he is, we will not have enough available personnel for missions that are already in progress/scheduled.

[PavlosA]

Forgot to add one more issue -
As the game is turn-based, the person who plays first (I think it's the one who 'joins' a game, rather than its creator) essentially gets an extra turn, if the game is to end when a certain milestone is reached.

Obviously this is an inherent problem in turn-based games (like in chess, white has an advantage), but since in BASPM we are also dealing with actual time periods, perhaps both players should be allowed to at least reach the same quarter?

[Nacho84]

Hello PavlosA,

Apologies for my late reply. The single player and multiplayer modes share the same code. I'd be very surprised if there's a UI bug in one but not in the other, though it might as well be the case! Please drop me a PM with your e-mail address and I'll prepare a special build for you so that you can store savefiles when playing multiplayer matches.

I've tried sending the booster guy to training and I was allowed to do so. See the pic below. If you can send me a pair of savefiles so that I can reproduce the issue I'll take a look at it here.

Cheers,

01 - Mikheyev to adv training.jpg (431.86 KiB) Viewed 3423 times