posted 02-23-99 02:01 AM ET        

1. Autoplay doesn't work right if I click on the cd icon to run it, but does when I eject/reinsert the disc. It flashes to something fullscreen, then kicks out and puts an empty text file called logfile on my desktop. (This could be my system, but I've never had any trouble with my drive before)

2. Automated formers do next to nothing. The only thing I don't allow them to do is raise/lower terrain, but all they'll do when set to automate is improve two or three squares, then sit in place and never do anything else, even though 80-90% of my empire is totally undeveloped. Sea formers will just drive around, all over the planet if on full auto. Auto improve home base and auto remove fungus work fine though. Auto road causes the unit to immediately stand in place and do nothing (except waste its movement somehow, so that when I unautomate it, I have to wait a turn before I can use it)

3. Minor problem with isles of the deep that are moving at the edge of the explored map leaving edges in the black area. (Not that big a deal, doesn't affect gameplay)

4. When the university gets its free tech on the first turn, the auto-unit design does not come up. If you get industrial base, you have to manually create synthmetal sentinels, or wait until you discover something else that brings up the auto-design, at which time they are designed.

5. The auto-design still brings back designs that were previously refused by clicking cancel. (Which is a bit of a workaround. It should allow you to modify or scrap any auto-designs when it suggests them)

6. (I think this was mentioned) when units are made obsolete, either manually, or by the auto-obsolete (how does it determine what is or isn't obsolete? I've had it leave scout rovers and remove laser & plasteel equipped rovers), it may or may not suggest upgrading to a better unit type, seemingly at random. I thought that prototypes had to exist first, but this doesn't seem to totally explain it.

7. Which leads to playing as Spartans. There isn't supposed to be any cost to prototyping. While there's no actual cost, the game acts as if there is. It should act as though all units are already prototyped. Don't offer to use artifacts to complete prototypes, don't default to outdated defender units when a new base is created, Don't keep making impact rovers when superstring theory has been discovered, etc.

8. Last one (that I can remember at the moment, anyhow). Some of the 'bugs' i've mentioned so far are more design issues, but this ones definately a bug. About half the time when I try to send a unit on a trip by clicking and holding on the destination, the game decides that I'm trying to auto-forward units from a base to that location, and asks if I want to send air, land, or sea units to that location, even though I'm commanding a unit that usually isn't even in a base! This problem has only shown up in my last couple games, but I've also seen something that happened with the original demo too: sometimes when you order a unit to move to a location, the line appears, then doesn't go away when the mouse button is released. It just follows the cursor around, and goes away when the mouse is clicked again, at which point the order needs to be re-issued because the unit doesn't have one.