Frustrating

Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager (SPM) Road to the Moon is the ultimate game of space exploration.

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DaveyJ576
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Frustrating

Post by DaveyJ576 »

If anyone who is involved in the development of this game is sitting around wondering why it isn't more popular, perhaps you should consider how frustrating it is! A game should challenge its player, but when you do everything right, develop all of your hardware to the highest degree possible, and you don't take risks your missions should succeed! I don't play this game to kill astronauts and blow up rockets. I play it to examine some of the what ifs of the space program. Constantly getting set back and constantly having to replace dead astronauts in completely unrealistic situations is dumb and extremely frustrating. I have been attempting to play this game since it came out. I have even extensively played its predecessor, BARIS. I want this thing to work because I think it is a great concept with so much promise and potential, but all I get from it is frustration.

Please don't lecture me about how dangerous spaceflight is. I GET THAT! I have been studying and watching the space program since Apollo 10. I fully understand how dangerous it is. We (the USA) experienced anomalies and problems on many missions, but we didn't loose a crew in flight until Challenger in 1986! In every case our superior technology, our top-notch flight crews, and our awesome flight controllers saved the day and brought the crew home. This game should reflect this! Penalize me for rushing or taking unwarranted risks all right, but don't penalize me when I do everything right because of some poorly designed probability calculations or some pessimistic personal outlook on behalf of the developers.

I realize in the big scheme of things that one person's opinion probably doesn't mean much, but here is an ultimatum. Fix this thing now, or I uninstall it and walk away from it forever.
Nacho84
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Re: Frustrating

Post by Nacho84 »

Hello DaveyJ576,

Thank you for the feedback. I'm sorry to hear you're finding the game frustrating. If you haven't done it yet, I suggest you to take a look at this comprehensive guide made by a member of our community. Notice that there's also a Monthly Challenge, where some players manage to achieve pretty impressive feats! Take a look at those threads, they might be useful to pick up some tricks. Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Ignacio Liverotti
Lead Developer of Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager

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Jimbonsx
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Re: Frustrating

Post by Jimbonsx »

I wholeheartedly agree with DaveyJ576 - sometimes everything you've done can't have gone better only for the f****ing helicopter pilot to land on the Soyuz capsule that's just returned from a lunar mission, or something else completely beyond your control. What chance do we have against something like that?
It would also help if every time a mission failed there was a reason given, instead of leaving you hanging, rather than the current, more-often-than-not-but-still-not always, occasional 'failure' message.
Another thing - during re-entry, if there's a problem flagged up, no Tiger teams are never gonna fix it - there's supposed to be a radio blackout during the 20 minutes or so of re-entry, so perhaps we could not have these additional pokes-in-the-eye to contend with. Don't say it can't happen in the game cos it did.
causus
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Re: Frustrating

Post by causus »

Jimbonsx wrote:I wholeheartedly agree with DaveyJ576 - sometimes everything you've done can't have gone better only for the f****ing helicopter pilot to land on the Soyuz capsule that's just returned from a lunar mission, or something else completely beyond your control. What chance do we have against something like that?
It would also help if every time a mission failed there was a reason given, instead of leaving you hanging, rather than the current, more-often-than-not-but-still-not always, occasional 'failure' message.
What can I agree only is the requirenment of explanation (assumption) what is the problem about when systems are not nominal and "tiger teams" are needed (and then the discription of outcome), what about failures: I notably decrease it using excel prepared controllers with 100% morale control plus high realibilty before manned launch made. If you add to this some financial reserves for tiger teams (for manned launches) your chance of solving a problem will be always about 92-95%. But yes - "shit happends".
Jimbonsx wrote:Another thing - during re-entry, if there's a problem flagged up, no Tiger teams are never gonna fix it - there's supposed to be a radio blackout during the 20 minutes or so of re-entry, so perhaps we could not have these additional pokes-in-the-eye to contend with. Don't say it can't happen in the game cos it did.
Yes, this quite reasonable. But there are much more strange things like pilots back alive after accident during lunar landing.. also I have never see pilots being saved while accident during launch or ascent which can take place (but may be this only about me)..
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