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Suggestions / General Suggestions
« on: November 22, 2019, 09:30:45 PM »
Some general suggestions for the game
Industry Growth
Some things about the Mining and Farming industry doesn't make much sense. Are you telling me the agricultural sector from the colony that touched down 60 days ago has the same size and output as the one that has existed since the Domain? The output/consumption of these industries should scale with the population growth of the colony and may be capped based on the farming/mining industry modifier inherent to the planet and/or at a general cap.
Real AI ships
The future update that is coming out for starsector adds AI officers, but let's take things one step further. During the AI wars, Tri Tachyon used what would eventually become the remnant to wage their war, but what about the Astral's and Paragons of which there was no remnant equivalent? I'm proposing that High Tech ships should all have AI compatibility where AI cores can be attached and, depending on how advanced, provide buffs to the overall performance of the ship. Some ideas for the said buffs could be:
-Gamma: +50% Maneuverability, the AI can make the thrusters and engines work together with the most efficiently, allowing for higher turns speed overall.
-Beta: +50% Maneuverability +60% target leading accuracy, The Beta core can not only increase the maneuverability of the ship but also assist the gunners with leading targets.
-Alpha: +50% Maneuvaribility, +60% target leading accuracy, +Class specific Buff, The assistance an Alpha can provide to a ship can vary from class to class, increasing replacement speed and rearming time for fighters on carriers, Ballistic and Energy weapons buffs for Destroyers, Cruisers, and Warship Capitals, Speed/Shield buffs for frigates.
More carrier variants
Falcon - The medium energy mounts on the arms of the ship are removed and dedicated to hanger space, and the medium ballistic mounts replaced with medium missile mounts. 2 fighter bays, one for each arm. The openings of the hangers face towards the space between the arms
Eagle - Similar to the falcon refit. Medium energy mounts are removed and the ship now has 3 fighter bays. There are two openings for the shared hanger on the sides of the ship, and another in front replacing the center medium ballistic weapons mount. The other 2 are replaced with medium missile mount.
Mora - should get 4 fighter bays instead of 3, which I think makes more sense in terms of size and comparing it to the heron.
Dedicated low-tech carrier
After the release and success of the Astral, it would make sense for rivaling corporations to develop a low-tech capital class carrier in order to compete. This new carrier would be matching in fighter complement size, but perhaps not in speed, shields, or flux efficiency.
Raid and Troopship rework
Ground support hull mod - Instead of providing a buff to raids, it should be the hullmod that decides whether or not the ship is capable of performing raid operations. This is similar to the Surveying equipment hullmod and others like it, only ships with these hullmods can perform the specific task. This plays into the description of the ground defenses (industry?) that says that it would shred any ship that got close enough to the defenses, meaning that only ships specifically designed to carry and land troops should be able to perform raids.
Independent Stations
There should be a different sprite or depiction of the habitats and stations that are not orbiting planets in battle. The center of the station should be much larger to accommodate the industry and civilian population. This is unless I'm missing something and the "battle station" (industry?) you see in the habitat's profile is a battle station orbiting the actual station that just isn't shown when not in combat. If that's the case, then it should be shown.
Faction Colonizing
Why is some estranged madman hunting trade convoys and engaging in illegal trade across the sector with a couple million credits under their belt able to colonize a planet, but established factions with millions of credits to spend, large fleets, and countless cycles of governing experience unable to? Factions should always be colonizing and looking to expand.
Also, there could be an interesting side to this regarding TT. They have locations of class V planets decivilized or lost during the collapse and AI wars. Wink Wink.
Core Story Developments
Whenever you visit a market, you may notice that there is a description detailing the story of the planet/station. This pirate station used to be a habitat that fell into warlord control, or this independent planet broke away from a major faction. Well, what if said major faction decided to cleanse the pirate station, or invade the planet that broke away? What's stopping them? I think there should be important story developments that happen randomly every 6 months-1 year, like the hegemony retaking Kanta's den. There could be a large number of these events (20-30) programmed in, and every new game they are randomly selected and executed at random intervals, the most time between "events" is a year. Building on this, there could be chain events/branching events, or "core" events with different setups and outcomes specific to certain planets or systems, one of which is always guaranteed to happen. A great example of this would be the Sindra system. There could be one programmed event that causes Sindria to launch a violent retaking of Umbara, causing Nortia to become worried and seek help from the Persean League, straining the longstanding Persean league/Sindira Diktat alliance against the Hegemony. Meanwhile, there is another event where Sindria's military dictatorship crumbles from internal fractures. The Sindria Diktat is severely weakened from a war between revolutionaries and the established government. The other 2 Sindrian planets likewise fall into chaos. Both the Hegemony and Persean League move into the system, the Hegemony to reclaim lost planets and the Persean League to stop the Hegemony. In a sneak attack, the Hegemony invades and captures Sindria. Nortia elects to join the Persean league for protection against the Hegemony. With both factions now having footholds in the system, war ensues between the Persean League and the remaining Sindrian planets against the Hegemony. While this is happening, TT sees their chance and quietly buys out the pirate leaders of Umbara, taking over the planet.
All ships deployed in combat
There's plenty of space in space, so right off the bat combat deployment points make very little sense outside of the need to not destroy the player's computer. So why don't we get rid of deployment points altogether and just have all the ships from both fleets be deployed? Now, you're actually concerned about one or two frigates ending up behind your warships, and might consider having escorts for your civilian ships or, god forbid, arm them. There's also a use now for the "civilian ship" waypoint you may have noticed.
Industry Growth
Some things about the Mining and Farming industry doesn't make much sense. Are you telling me the agricultural sector from the colony that touched down 60 days ago has the same size and output as the one that has existed since the Domain? The output/consumption of these industries should scale with the population growth of the colony and may be capped based on the farming/mining industry modifier inherent to the planet and/or at a general cap.
Real AI ships
The future update that is coming out for starsector adds AI officers, but let's take things one step further. During the AI wars, Tri Tachyon used what would eventually become the remnant to wage their war, but what about the Astral's and Paragons of which there was no remnant equivalent? I'm proposing that High Tech ships should all have AI compatibility where AI cores can be attached and, depending on how advanced, provide buffs to the overall performance of the ship. Some ideas for the said buffs could be:
-Gamma: +50% Maneuverability, the AI can make the thrusters and engines work together with the most efficiently, allowing for higher turns speed overall.
-Beta: +50% Maneuverability +60% target leading accuracy, The Beta core can not only increase the maneuverability of the ship but also assist the gunners with leading targets.
-Alpha: +50% Maneuvaribility, +60% target leading accuracy, +Class specific Buff, The assistance an Alpha can provide to a ship can vary from class to class, increasing replacement speed and rearming time for fighters on carriers, Ballistic and Energy weapons buffs for Destroyers, Cruisers, and Warship Capitals, Speed/Shield buffs for frigates.
More carrier variants
Falcon - The medium energy mounts on the arms of the ship are removed and dedicated to hanger space, and the medium ballistic mounts replaced with medium missile mounts. 2 fighter bays, one for each arm. The openings of the hangers face towards the space between the arms
Eagle - Similar to the falcon refit. Medium energy mounts are removed and the ship now has 3 fighter bays. There are two openings for the shared hanger on the sides of the ship, and another in front replacing the center medium ballistic weapons mount. The other 2 are replaced with medium missile mount.
Mora - should get 4 fighter bays instead of 3, which I think makes more sense in terms of size and comparing it to the heron.
Dedicated low-tech carrier
After the release and success of the Astral, it would make sense for rivaling corporations to develop a low-tech capital class carrier in order to compete. This new carrier would be matching in fighter complement size, but perhaps not in speed, shields, or flux efficiency.
Raid and Troopship rework
Ground support hull mod - Instead of providing a buff to raids, it should be the hullmod that decides whether or not the ship is capable of performing raid operations. This is similar to the Surveying equipment hullmod and others like it, only ships with these hullmods can perform the specific task. This plays into the description of the ground defenses (industry?) that says that it would shred any ship that got close enough to the defenses, meaning that only ships specifically designed to carry and land troops should be able to perform raids.
Independent Stations
There should be a different sprite or depiction of the habitats and stations that are not orbiting planets in battle. The center of the station should be much larger to accommodate the industry and civilian population. This is unless I'm missing something and the "battle station" (industry?) you see in the habitat's profile is a battle station orbiting the actual station that just isn't shown when not in combat. If that's the case, then it should be shown.
Faction Colonizing
Why is some estranged madman hunting trade convoys and engaging in illegal trade across the sector with a couple million credits under their belt able to colonize a planet, but established factions with millions of credits to spend, large fleets, and countless cycles of governing experience unable to? Factions should always be colonizing and looking to expand.
Also, there could be an interesting side to this regarding TT. They have locations of class V planets decivilized or lost during the collapse and AI wars. Wink Wink.
Core Story Developments
Whenever you visit a market, you may notice that there is a description detailing the story of the planet/station. This pirate station used to be a habitat that fell into warlord control, or this independent planet broke away from a major faction. Well, what if said major faction decided to cleanse the pirate station, or invade the planet that broke away? What's stopping them? I think there should be important story developments that happen randomly every 6 months-1 year, like the hegemony retaking Kanta's den. There could be a large number of these events (20-30) programmed in, and every new game they are randomly selected and executed at random intervals, the most time between "events" is a year. Building on this, there could be chain events/branching events, or "core" events with different setups and outcomes specific to certain planets or systems, one of which is always guaranteed to happen. A great example of this would be the Sindra system. There could be one programmed event that causes Sindria to launch a violent retaking of Umbara, causing Nortia to become worried and seek help from the Persean League, straining the longstanding Persean league/Sindira Diktat alliance against the Hegemony. Meanwhile, there is another event where Sindria's military dictatorship crumbles from internal fractures. The Sindria Diktat is severely weakened from a war between revolutionaries and the established government. The other 2 Sindrian planets likewise fall into chaos. Both the Hegemony and Persean League move into the system, the Hegemony to reclaim lost planets and the Persean League to stop the Hegemony. In a sneak attack, the Hegemony invades and captures Sindria. Nortia elects to join the Persean league for protection against the Hegemony. With both factions now having footholds in the system, war ensues between the Persean League and the remaining Sindrian planets against the Hegemony. While this is happening, TT sees their chance and quietly buys out the pirate leaders of Umbara, taking over the planet.
All ships deployed in combat
There's plenty of space in space, so right off the bat combat deployment points make very little sense outside of the need to not destroy the player's computer. So why don't we get rid of deployment points altogether and just have all the ships from both fleets be deployed? Now, you're actually concerned about one or two frigates ending up behind your warships, and might consider having escorts for your civilian ships or, god forbid, arm them. There's also a use now for the "civilian ship" waypoint you may have noticed.