16
General Discussion / Re: One mining can supply 20 colonies?
« on: July 07, 2022, 03:20:51 PM »
One thing is clear; the in-game explanation of this stuff needs dramatic improvement.
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17
Discussions / Re: Final Theory (tactical 4x-lite)
« on: June 24, 2022, 04:16:57 AM »
Base game is 80% off on Steam atm; £1.85 for me.
Though DLCs are only discounted if you buy them bundled; -10% for Deluxe(2xDLC), or -15% for Legendary(all 4 DLC).
If you already own the base game then you aren't charged for it again when buying the bundles, so you're only out of pocket a few pennies if you opt to give the base game a try before investing in the DLC.
:edit:
Gotta be honest, 2 hours in and I'm bored.
For what is touted to be lightweight, both the strategic layer & tactical layer seem unnecessarily slow & drawn-out.
Why is the galaxy map so big?
Why do the factions start so far from one-another?
Why are players limited to a single action per turn?
Why is there no drag&drop for giving orders?
Why aren't there any keyboard shortcuts?
Why are all the star systems so miniscule & generic looking?
Specific to the tactical combat:
Many actions are blocked by unskippable animations.
The tactical decision making process seems very rote; order your actions so you don't block your ships, focus fire, choose appropriate anti-shield/armour weapons, position your support ability ships correctly.
Planning your manoeuvres so you can utilize your fixed-forward weapons efficiently seems to be the most complex decision, but it's still rather simplistic.
This simplicity leads to every battle playing out the same; it gets very stale very quickly.
It's typically bad decisions by the AI, not finessing your own play, that delivers most victories.
Also, turn-based, largely deterministic, yet there's no undo to reverse mis-clicks? not a fan.
The vast majority of battles seem to be landslides, yet the way they've made the auto-resolve woolly and unpredictable, and the finite nature of galactic resources, encourages the player to play out every battle to ensure optimal outcomes.
The evolution of the Total War franchise over the past 20+ years has demonstrated how to do auto-resolve well; this isn't it.
If they wanted to deliver engaging turn-based tactical combat I think they should've gone for something more akin to Table Top X-Wing, or Battlefleet Gothic, (or the ancient PC game Critical Mass; look it up!),
- Lose the grid
- make manoeuvring a key consideration
- introduce battle damage mechanics so ships can lose capabilities in combat forcing the player to adapt their strategy on-the-fly (could even persist between engagements)
- give us some space terrain
- Admirals & captains would've brought some much needed character to 'battlecruiser #20', and seems like a natural fit given the strict fleet size/number limits.
It's a swing & a miss for me I'm afraid.
Not engaging enough, and too repetitive.
Though DLCs are only discounted if you buy them bundled; -10% for Deluxe(2xDLC), or -15% for Legendary(all 4 DLC).
If you already own the base game then you aren't charged for it again when buying the bundles, so you're only out of pocket a few pennies if you opt to give the base game a try before investing in the DLC.
:edit:
Gotta be honest, 2 hours in and I'm bored.
For what is touted to be lightweight, both the strategic layer & tactical layer seem unnecessarily slow & drawn-out.
Why is the galaxy map so big?
Why do the factions start so far from one-another?
Why are players limited to a single action per turn?
Why is there no drag&drop for giving orders?
Why aren't there any keyboard shortcuts?
Why are all the star systems so miniscule & generic looking?
Specific to the tactical combat:
Many actions are blocked by unskippable animations.
The tactical decision making process seems very rote; order your actions so you don't block your ships, focus fire, choose appropriate anti-shield/armour weapons, position your support ability ships correctly.
Planning your manoeuvres so you can utilize your fixed-forward weapons efficiently seems to be the most complex decision, but it's still rather simplistic.
This simplicity leads to every battle playing out the same; it gets very stale very quickly.
It's typically bad decisions by the AI, not finessing your own play, that delivers most victories.
Also, turn-based, largely deterministic, yet there's no undo to reverse mis-clicks? not a fan.
The vast majority of battles seem to be landslides, yet the way they've made the auto-resolve woolly and unpredictable, and the finite nature of galactic resources, encourages the player to play out every battle to ensure optimal outcomes.
The evolution of the Total War franchise over the past 20+ years has demonstrated how to do auto-resolve well; this isn't it.
If they wanted to deliver engaging turn-based tactical combat I think they should've gone for something more akin to Table Top X-Wing, or Battlefleet Gothic, (or the ancient PC game Critical Mass; look it up!),
- Lose the grid
- make manoeuvring a key consideration
- introduce battle damage mechanics so ships can lose capabilities in combat forcing the player to adapt their strategy on-the-fly (could even persist between engagements)
- give us some space terrain
- Admirals & captains would've brought some much needed character to 'battlecruiser #20', and seems like a natural fit given the strict fleet size/number limits.
It's a swing & a miss for me I'm afraid.
Not engaging enough, and too repetitive.
18
Discussions / Re: Which game is suitable for vacation?
« on: June 22, 2022, 07:27:04 AM »I find "Outer Wilds" to be a pretty relaxing and enjoyable game.
Yup, loved Outer Wilds.
I would similarly recommend The Witness.
19
Discussions / Re: Final Theory (tactical 4x-lite)
« on: January 11, 2022, 05:05:04 AM »
thanks, will give it a look.
20
Discussions / Re: Could we feed Starsector ship graphics into one of those Deep Learning AIs?
« on: December 09, 2021, 10:27:13 AM »
What would the selection criteria be?
21
Discussions / The Ascent
« on: August 09, 2021, 03:02:19 AM »
**** me! This is a visual & audible masterpiece!
After watching a stream, and then discovering it was on Game Pass, I couldn't resist giving it a try last night.
Mechanically it's nothing particularly spectacular, but damn it's such a visual treat; the detail & scale of the world, character designs, writing, voice acting, ambient music, and sfx are all top notch. Even the setting & lore are interesting & well fleshed out.
My enthusiasm might be tempered as I play more, and tire of the repetitive & simplistic combat, and if that's the case, it'll be a damn shame because this could've been a benchmark game for the future.
If you've got access to Game Pass I strongly recommend checking it out.
After watching a stream, and then discovering it was on Game Pass, I couldn't resist giving it a try last night.
Mechanically it's nothing particularly spectacular, but damn it's such a visual treat; the detail & scale of the world, character designs, writing, voice acting, ambient music, and sfx are all top notch. Even the setting & lore are interesting & well fleshed out.
My enthusiasm might be tempered as I play more, and tire of the repetitive & simplistic combat, and if that's the case, it'll be a damn shame because this could've been a benchmark game for the future.
If you've got access to Game Pass I strongly recommend checking it out.
22
Suggestions / Re: Increase the minimum and maximum amount of people at bars.
« on: May 24, 2021, 03:34:48 AM »Or we can just implement the idea (not mine) of contacts being capable of introducing the player to other contacts.
++;
I agree, it's an excellent idea.
The first (and only) procedural implementation I've come across is in Star Traders: Frontiers.
23
Discussions / Re: Total War Warhammer 3 Gameplay reveal starting now!
« on: May 15, 2021, 02:07:34 AM »
Shogun 2 reskin number No.8?
Feels like TW is the FIFA of strategy games; gotta get that guaranteed annual recurring income!
Feels like TW is the FIFA of strategy games; gotta get that guaranteed annual recurring income!
24
Discussions / Re: 3 way battles?
« on: May 13, 2021, 01:27:13 PM »
I imagine the biggest obstacle would be the AI.
25
General Discussion / Re: Complaints about CR and game design
« on: April 02, 2021, 02:37:15 PM »
How about a carrot, rather than stick, approach?
Renown.
You earn it by taking on hard fights, and lose it by taking easy fights. (hard/easy determined by relative DP cost of your deployment Vs theirs)
Higher renown grants bonus pay on jobs, access to more challenging jobs, and perhaps a gradual faction opinion uptick.
I seem to remember Gratuitous Space Battles did something similar; each encounter in the campaign had a set budget of 'Honor'
Deploying ships reduced the 'Honor' you could earn from the encounter.
Left over Honor was accrued, and could be spent to buy unlocks.
Such a mechanic would address the 'just deploy everything in every fight' issue that existed before CR.
Though I'm not quite sure how you'd tweak it to address the 'just have a single overpowered command ship, and chain-deploy it' strategy.
Perhaps that aspect doesn't need addressing, as it's simply a playstyle that some will relish while others won't wish to endure.
Though if you had to, you could apply a heavy renown cost to withdrawing.
Renown.
You earn it by taking on hard fights, and lose it by taking easy fights. (hard/easy determined by relative DP cost of your deployment Vs theirs)
Higher renown grants bonus pay on jobs, access to more challenging jobs, and perhaps a gradual faction opinion uptick.
I seem to remember Gratuitous Space Battles did something similar; each encounter in the campaign had a set budget of 'Honor'
Deploying ships reduced the 'Honor' you could earn from the encounter.
Left over Honor was accrued, and could be spent to buy unlocks.
Such a mechanic would address the 'just deploy everything in every fight' issue that existed before CR.
Though I'm not quite sure how you'd tweak it to address the 'just have a single overpowered command ship, and chain-deploy it' strategy.
Perhaps that aspect doesn't need addressing, as it's simply a playstyle that some will relish while others won't wish to endure.
Though if you had to, you could apply a heavy renown cost to withdrawing.
26
Bug Reports & Support / Re: Cannot complete delivery contract due to missing contact at destination
« on: March 29, 2021, 05:43:51 AM »
Obviously the underlying bug should be fixed, but I'd be inclined to make this sort of eventuality a feature.
The possibility of being stood up by the recipient of a delivery would make the world feel a little more real / uncertain / lived in.
So long as the game left the player in no doubt that this is intended behaviour, it wouldn't be repeatedly flagged as a bug.
e.g. "Hmm, there's no one here to receive the delivery. Looks like I've been left hanging"
Maybe a 0.1% chance or something of that order.
The possibility of being stood up by the recipient of a delivery would make the world feel a little more real / uncertain / lived in.
So long as the game left the player in no doubt that this is intended behaviour, it wouldn't be repeatedly flagged as a bug.
e.g. "Hmm, there's no one here to receive the delivery. Looks like I've been left hanging"
Maybe a 0.1% chance or something of that order.
27
Discussions / Re: Games that bring back memories
« on: March 26, 2021, 09:40:28 AM »
X-Wing, floppy disk version on my 486 DX2-66.
That was my first experience of a properly immersive 3D experience; prior to that all my gaming had been on my Amiga 1200/500+, or earlier still on my elder brother's Spectrum 48K.
Obviously I'd played flight sims, and Frontier: Elite 2 on my Amiga(s), but in comparison X-Wing was such a huge leap forwards in terms of cinematic experience, immersiveness & gameplay. Also being a huge sci-fi nerd gave it additional gravitas
Before that, I have very fond memories of The Settlers on the Amiga.
Nascent RTS, where success came through economy building & transport network optimization rather than direct confrontation.
I must've spent thousands of hours playing that game.
That was my first experience of a properly immersive 3D experience; prior to that all my gaming had been on my Amiga 1200/500+, or earlier still on my elder brother's Spectrum 48K.
Obviously I'd played flight sims, and Frontier: Elite 2 on my Amiga(s), but in comparison X-Wing was such a huge leap forwards in terms of cinematic experience, immersiveness & gameplay. Also being a huge sci-fi nerd gave it additional gravitas
Before that, I have very fond memories of The Settlers on the Amiga.
Nascent RTS, where success came through economy building & transport network optimization rather than direct confrontation.
I must've spent thousands of hours playing that game.
28
General Discussion / Re: Pixel perfect UI scaling on 4k monitors - working solution
« on: January 16, 2021, 08:00:41 AM »
Surprised nobody has implemented the Scale2x algorithm.
https://www.scale2x.it/algorithm
It's super simple, fast, and works quite nicely with pixel art as it maintains crisp edges without requiring an integer scaling factor.
Integer:
Scale2x:
I used it years ago when porting J2ME games to handsets with radically larger screen sizes (where it was cost prohibitive to redo the art assets)
https://www.scale2x.it/algorithm
It's super simple, fast, and works quite nicely with pixel art as it maintains crisp edges without requiring an integer scaling factor.
Integer:
Scale2x:
I used it years ago when porting J2ME games to handsets with radically larger screen sizes (where it was cost prohibitive to redo the art assets)
29
Bug Reports & Support / Re: Starsector crash on startup
« on: January 15, 2021, 07:07:27 AM »
Might be related;
Same CPU, same exception.
https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MCL-11693
Leading to:
https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MC-32606
TLDR; might be Intel GPU driver related.(yet again)
Same CPU, same exception.
https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MCL-11693
Leading to:
https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MC-32606
TLDR; might be Intel GPU driver related.(yet again)
30
Bug Reports & Support / Re: Starsector on the Microsoft Surface Pro
« on: January 09, 2021, 08:01:38 AM »
This isn't a Java problem, nor is it really a Starsector problem, it's Intel's shoddy Iris drivers.
I'd wager capping the framerate to 30fps (thus reducing GPU temps) will improve, perhaps even eliminate the driver instability.
I'd wager capping the framerate to 30fps (thus reducing GPU temps) will improve, perhaps even eliminate the driver instability.