the 32bit exe is slightly quicker at loading than the 64bit version, on startup and loading the game, strange but true on my system, timed them both a few times each time on the same system, the 32bit version loaded first (in seconds etc)

as no direction or comments have been made as yet, next test will be another faction on easy to test out that race ability against another for game balance, around about 2 hours as just finishing off test 3 atm, so check on race rebels etc, how easy to loose and get back etc after food disasters etc and riots

reasons for going back to easy are 2 fold, one i'm not the greatest player in the world, about average i'd say and 2 easy is quicker to get to mid or late game testing so i get more of a feel for it, hard just takes longer i picked humans as my only opponents on hard as i guessed they would have a harder time on it from there read me in the game saying they start with no home world planet, so as wanders i got more of a head start than them having a home world in the beginning which panned out so far too be correct.

as some of the story unfolds i learn more about the game, which makes me think maybe there needs to be more of an introduction on the races and ability and even maybe some story to start off with, if it's there i haven't got it or seen it or have access to it, but matters little as well as i'd guess it's still WIP anyway learning as i go is how i like it and are used to tbh

with the test 3 coming to an early end, i move on to test 4 cheated my way to end game maybe, but i've seen all i need to see and progress on the Terraforming is unseen as yet as it just takes too long imo

test 4 settings

no tool tips or pop ups on these items, so it's guess work or trial and error to work out which item is better or worse on a given platform atm, so again guessing it's WIP engines for example?

empire building is going very rapid on easy, UI works well on all levels of zoom, resources used with memory and cpu use is very low, very game optimized and stable, no matter how many units / ships / planets are on screen, makes me wounder why a larger universe wasn't planned?

food is much easier on easy, with planning you can build quite a fair sized empire and it's quite low MM, so UI is working well 2 hours, soon go by, this is one of those games that look rather basic and maybe somewhat a beginners game, then given half a chance you get sucked into it and a few hours later you wonder where the time has gone, very east to play and pick up and very enjoyable, still think the type of game it is will only appeal to a certain sort of player, but the graphics work, the UI really shines, plenty of races and tech to develop, space battles not so sure of as yet, but with everything else packages so well, who i'm i to complain, and that's not why i'm here anyway, it's to looks, see, report and help out, and enjoying myself is a bonus as i don't always enjoy testing some game, as you can find it hard to sometimes be nice to a not so well done game as this...

and another one done, and now onto a harder one and longer one to see what some tech does all logs and saves uploaded after and sometimes mid way through tests for data and proof etc

edited, you can keep playing on from here, as all it does it keeps saying victory on every new turn, for 20+ turns i tested it

Test 5 started quick one, as humans have no bases, chosen to be against the human AI on easy, so in theory both should have an equal footing.

tomorrow's test is a long one, going to see if Terra-forming works, and again looking for anything odd or bugs, both would be nice

seems if you keep all the humans on your ships they don't need food, but if you send them all to the first planet you take, they all starve in one turn, which doesn't give you enough time either to build, so maybe they should have some supplies to start off with? only an idea, seems odd to just drop them off and see them all die

the numbers almost match the amount that get dropped off, so it sure does look like they have no supplies to start off with either, making this race rather harder than most if not all, so will try again on test 6 and plan ahead for this, eg not drop them off and leave them on ships for now until some farms have come on line

test 6, same as test 5, but with what i've learned from it but something strange happens straight away

i get jumped on as i scout out the nearest planet, i avoid combat but loose my 3 colonizer ships in the process, with no messages about any losses or any action taking place

my bad, it does show you if you press on it, i did wonder, something else i haven't spent much time on, watching past events etc, but now looking at it and looking at the summary, it's clear to see what happened, my mistake, which now makes me think, if it's this easy to make, wouldn't it be a good idea to show the summary on auto in the logs on the right maybe only an idea, not a fault or error, apart from on my poor play style