[PSN] Fat Princess

[Arwin]

Quickly picking up on a few points here:

- actually after the host quits, the game tries to replace the host ... doesn't always work yet, but it's a good mechanic. In this case though I don't think it worked, but people were leaving left and right anyway
- ranger is cool. Yes, the Priest at level two does great damage, and combos really well with say a level two archer. At one point we were two Priests and an Archer and really cleaned up.
- yes, you can charge (and also pre-charge for instance before you jump into a catapult). It's not always beneficial but most of the time it is. I finished top or near top in a lot of matches, so I guess I figured it out fairly early.
- yeah, I think I won twice turning into the grim reaper when the game was finished. This was a lot of fun, you can circle around one-hit killing people all over the map during the 45 seconds you have before the next game starts. Very nice reward .
- anyone who hasn't yet, just quickly browse through the manual in the game. It's the first thing I did and it definitely helped. This goes for you too pat.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I quit the game, and as I hosted, every other player did as well.

Really? That doesn't gel with what they said about games being handed over when the host leaves. Maybe there's a difference between a drop-out disconnect and a deliberate end of game? Oh, I see Arwin's identified this.

Patsu - your level depends on the hat you are wearing. An upgraded machine (collect wood and metal/rock. When you have enough, get a worker to build the machine) makes upgraded hats, but you have to swap to the new hat (even if one lying on the floor). If the Mage machine gets upgraded while you have a fire mage hat, you won't get the ice mage hat until you grab one. And if you're fighting and everyone else on the team is fighting and no-one's upgrading machines, you'll not get any upgrades!

Does anyone know how the flaming braziers work? I notice all weapons are set alight from them when they are lit, including the big bombs - be careful when moving and carrying a bomb! I walked past a brazier wtih some ammo, and next thing I knew, KABOOM! - but I couldn't see how to ignite them. My current guess is upgrade the mage and it's an awarded bonus??

 

[inefficient]

Credits are so awesome! It is worth the price of admission by itself.
.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Looks like I'm wrong about the mages smart-bombs . It was very effective in the Gladiator Arena, but in game, I see it's mostly freezing but not killing (which makes the arena a rather lousy training ground!). A quick guess, the time you spend charging is the amount of time the enemies get frozen for. Range may also increase with charge, but I'm not sure. This sort of thing normally comes out after a clan has done proper testing.

 

[patsu]

- anyone who hasn't yet, just quickly browse through the manual in the game. It's the first thing I did and it definitely helped. This goes for you too pat.

I did ! It's too brief. e.g., I don't know how much wood and metal to collect to upgrade the mage machine.

At first, I was very confused. I am getting better now (Got to be a grim reaper once). I agree communication is key to win this game.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I did ! It's too brief. e.g., I don't know how much wood and metal to collect to upgrade the mage machine.

Approach the machines and they'll show you. Or if not, hold L1 to target the machine you're by and it'll definitely tell you. The figures it shows is how many more resources you need to collect. In the top right corner are the current castle resources whcih can be used in any constructions by any teammate. This can make it awkward if you're saving stuff to build the catapult but someone else decides to upgrade priests!

Collecting resources quickly is key. That's where outposts come in. These are often near resources, especially metal. If you control one, you can deposit resources there, reducing the transport time to next to nothing. A concerted effort by a few workers could mine enough metal ready to upgrade 3 machines in only a couple of minutes.

 

[patsu]

What are the numbers across the top of the screen ?

I think one of them is the enemy Princess' weight. What about the other 2 ?

EDIT: Btw, I the catapult.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The top right numbers are wood and metal in the store. The top left is your score obviosuly, and I'm not sure about the other one.

Edit : I found if you put a bomb on the catapult unlit, it'll light when it hits the deck on the other side fo the map, so can be used as random artillery. I tried loading it up with several bombs but didn't see them land, so a huge cluster bomb doesn't appear to work.

 

[patsu]

The large increasing (and sometimes decreasing) number seems to be the Princess' weight.

EDIT: I tried to use the Chicken Potion on the attacking enemies, but turned all my comrades at the castle gate into chickens instead

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Just tested. You don't want the number to increase - it's your rank in the match!

 

[patsu]

WTF... I was trying to get it to increase all along. Kept feeding my Princess to make the number goes up.

 

[patsu]

A note from Titan Studios:
http://titanstudios.com/

Thanks to all of you who have downloaded the game, and for the great emails, forum posts and tweets. We’re hearing and seeing a lot of amazing feedback and are happy to report that people are having fun. As is often the case with new online games, a few problems have cropped up. We’re working to address them, and want to keep all of you informed of our progress:

Connection Issues

Connecting to games can take a little longer than we planned, and attempts to join games are sometimes failing. Some players report having to attempt to join 2 or 3 times before getting into a game. Once you’re in a game, though, things are smooth and people are having a great time. We’re aware of this problem and working on it. Part of it stems from a lot of players hammering the system all at once, and part of it comes from matchmaking logic. Until we have things fixed and optimized, thanks for your patience. Try joining a few times and you should be good to go.

Hosting a Game

When you create a new game, it can take a while for other players to join your game. Once they do start joining, though, and the population of real (human) players hits a threshold, your server will begin to fill up. This delay is caused by the logic that suggests servers to players looking for a game – it prefers higher population servers. The upside of the way this logic works is that most players will be concentrated in games that are relatively full. If you have a good connection, and you want to host a game – go for it. You may have to be patient for others to join, though. If you have a poor connection, your server may be ignored. Blinking player icons on the scoreboard indicates this might be the case. We’re going to work on tuning this logic so we still get the benefits, but others join games more quickly.

NAT 3

We’re aware that players who have a NAT Type 3 connection, in some circumstances, cannot join games. This problem, caused by certain combinations of router settings, is common to many games on PSN. It is possible to change your network setting from a NAT Type 3 to NAT Type 2 connection, and that should solve your problems. It requires some effort, but if you want specific information, search the web or Youtube for “PS3 NAT Type 2.” There is a lot of information out there.

Other Comments

We’ve gotten some comments regarding pricing for the game in different territories. Titan Studios did not have any role in setting prices outside the United States. We’re passing your comments along to Sony.

Use your Bluetooth headsets! We’ve seen and been part of some awesome games where people are communicating and coordinating. Teamwork is critical.

Stay tuned for updates. Thanks again to all of you. We appreciate the feedback. Enjoy!

 

[patsu]

Some more questions:

* Sometimes I see a grouchy baby-like character in the castle. Who is he ?

* In one of the maps, it is possible to "hide" in one of the tall towers of the enemy castle. As a Dark Priest, you can drain the life out of newly spawned players below you. How does one get up there ?

* After all the hat machines have been upgraded and the catapult built, I still see people busy collecting woods and minerals, why ?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

* Sometimes I see a grouchy baby-like character in the castle. Who is he ?

I haven't seen that one.

* In one of the maps, it is possible to "hide" in one of the tall towers of the enemy castle. As a Dark Priest, you can drain the life out of newly spawned players below you. How does one get up there ?

Maybe a secret passage, or a lucky catapult? Or just a network bug!

* After all the hat machines have been upgraded and the catapult built, I still see people busy collecting woods and minerals, why ?

They're confused . Or they want resources for building bridges/ladders/doors. But generally once everything's built that's the end to it.

Answering my own question, the braziers get lit with the archer upgrade.

The idea that higher-population games are filled first benefits private friend games. A few friends can get together and not worry too much about 'invaders'. Network issues killed the game last night. We couldn't all get on the same server (me and my 2 gaming chums). That always puzzles me, us being a few miles away but having network difficulties! Are locally hosted games still routed to Sony's servers? I suppose the stat tracking etc. is, which adds to the routes and causes more chance for faults. I also tried updating Home but couldn't connect. Also tried a Warhawk game to test and someone had trouble connecting. Two things that need to be fixed ASAP. 1) Get the online robust so people can join without many disconnects or jumps back to the menu screen. 2) Allow players to swap teams when they join. If we can swap with a bot at startup, we should be allowed to swap when joining a game. They're just bots - they don't mind. A third point is to add parties with open voice chat, so we can keep well informed without needing to press a button and without drowning out the main chat line.

 

[Arwin]

Problems where you and a few friends have trouble getting on the same server are usually on peer-to-peer user hosted matches (which is all of Fat Princess I think). Peer-to-peer games are more prone to network configuration issues - one of the people in the group may not have the proper ports open for outward connections on the firewall.

Another configuration you can do is change the networking type of the PS3 from 3 to 2 - this is actually mentioned by Titan themselves in a FAQ somewhere, and they suggest searching for changing PS3 network type on Youtube where you can find instructions on how to solve this issue.

That said, Titan mentioned there are a few issues with the game not being able to deal with the network load properly, and they are working on fixing those. Actually, they were very precise and open about the issues they've seen. Considering this was the first few days for this game though, I'm actualy impressed with how well it's been running - I've seen a lot worse on the first few days on any platform.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Well I'm NAT 2, set up all the ports already, and UPnP should take care of that anyway shouldn't it?

 

[Arwin]

Well I'm NAT 2, set up all the ports already, and UPnP should take care of that anyway shouldn't it?

Thing is, you're probably not the one with the problem in your group?

 

[JPT]

Well I'm NAT 2, set up all the ports already, and UPnP should take care of that anyway shouldn't it?

It should, but like all other softwares, router os are not immune to bugs either.
And if you think games code looks sloopy, you should se some lowbrand router os stuff, yikes....

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Thing is, you're probably not the one with the problem in your group?

Could be my end. I hosted the game and they couldn't join together. Friends hosted a game and other friend could join but not me. Joining other games had lots of kick-ous to the intro screen. I hosted Warhawk and they apparently couldn't join at the same time but both got in separately.

But it could be a million different factors. Could be my ISP. As I said in the RAGE thread, I can't access the Edge-Online website. Not from any browser over this router (two PCs and PS3). But the rest of the world can, so there's something iffy with the internet relaying or something. Edge is my only browsing problem but who knows what else may be affected? And then again, maybe my PS3 is working lovely and it's other people's, or networks in general? How can anyone know for sure?

 

[deepbrown]

I think I'm ready to play now CAKE!