Fractal Softworks Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

Pages: 1 2 [3] 4 5 ... 8

Author Topic: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission  (Read 43883 times)

736b

  • Lieutenant
  • **
  • Posts: 87
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #30 on: March 29, 2017, 05:19:50 PM »

This was an awesome read, thanks Dave!
Can't wait to try that playstyle myself. :)
Logged

Dri

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1403
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #31 on: March 29, 2017, 05:42:20 PM »

Hey Alex, are you gunning for all 4 aptitudes to have a full set of 10 skills like Combat currently has? I'm gonna guess that the answer is probably not, but Tech and Industry are still looking a mite sparse at least.

Now for something more on topic I gotta say that I've always enjoyed the "humble beginnings" stage of games, so I think I'm going to keep my fleet smaller for longer and really indulge in the feeling of setting off into the Great Unknown that is coming with this patch! Right now there's really no mystery to be had, so I basically just rush towards getting as big and powerful as I can...

May the good spirit of Salvage Dave be with me!
Logged

Midnight Kitsune

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 2846
  • Your Friendly Forum Friend
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #32 on: March 29, 2017, 05:43:16 PM »

A question: Are we able to pick and choose or at least repair only some D mods? Or is it an all or nothing thing?
Logged
Help out MesoTroniK, a modder in need

2021 is 2020 won
2022 is 2020 too

ANGRYABOUTELVES

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 592
  • AE ALTADOON GHARTOK PADHOME
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #33 on: March 29, 2017, 05:44:47 PM »

The anticipation is getting physically painful at this point. If you're doing gameplay testing, I sure hope the release is sometime soon. I mean, what is the point of having an early access community that has basically paid to be beta testers if you're not going to use them to beta test things?
Logged

Alex

  • Administrator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 23986
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #34 on: March 29, 2017, 05:53:24 PM »

Hey Alex, are you gunning for all 4 aptitudes to have a full set of 10 skills like Combat currently has? I'm gonna guess that the answer is probably not, but Tech and Industry are still looking a mite sparse at least.

... probably? Supposing outposts etc, a lot of the fleshing-out for those could come from there.

However, I think both Industry and Tech should be solid choices even as-is.


A question: Are we able to pick and choose or at least repair only some D mods? Or is it an all or nothing thing?

All or nothing, very much intentionally. Basically, you're not going to want to do it for anything but the rarest ships, and it costs significantly more than buying a brand-new ship.

I mean, what is the point of having an early access community that has basically paid to be beta testers if you're not going to use them to beta test things?

I can see why one might think that, but I think it's easy to underestimate just how much of the game being playable/enjoyable comes together in the last weeks before the release.

Logged

CrashToDesktop

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 3876
  • Quartermaster
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #35 on: March 29, 2017, 06:10:56 PM »

I can see why one might think that, but I think it's easy to underestimate just how much of the game being playable/enjoyable comes together in the last weeks before the release.
Just so you know, I've been through a lot of games that are still in development, yet have a small group of community members who test the next update to make sure everything checks out.  More often than not, they test everything from stuff as basic as simple balance changes to new content and then entirely changed mechanics.  Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if such a group secretly exists for Starsector out of view of our eyes.  Also; news ticker.

Oh, and just realized there's a seed for the sector generation that you can choose.  Nice!
Logged
Quote from: Trylobot
I am officially an epoch.
Quote from: Thaago
Note: please sacrifice your goats responsibly, look up the proper pronunciation of Alex's name. We wouldn't want some other project receiving mystic power.

Alex

  • Administrator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 23986
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #36 on: March 29, 2017, 06:23:02 PM »

Just so you know, I've been through a lot of games that are still in development, yet have a small group of community members who test the next update to make sure everything checks out.  More often than not, they test everything from stuff as basic as simple balance changes to new content and then entirely changed mechanics.  Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if such a group secretly exists for Starsector out of view of our eyes.  

I can see doing that, but it seems like a heck of a thing to do to one's most ardent supporters - asking them to burn out on the release while it's in bad shape. That said, there's probably some people that would be good with it.

The other problem, though, is that feedback's usefulness is questionable until stuff is in good shape to begin with. It would - entirely understandably! - range from "duh, I know that's broken" to "yeah, X makes no sense because Y isn't quite there". Signal-to-noise ratio would be low.

I mean, not saying it's entirely useless, but the bang-for-buck ratio doesn't seem to be the best. It's not like I'm waiting until it's perfect before releasing - just the first point where it doesn't feel entirely unreasonable to do so.


Also; news ticker.

Thanks, updated it!
Logged

CrashToDesktop

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 3876
  • Quartermaster
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #37 on: March 29, 2017, 06:37:22 PM »

I do suppose Starsector is a pretty extreme example of where the small tester group idea might break - with releases 6 months apart (or even longer in this particular case with 0.8a), there is a distinct possibility you could get burned out.  Although hey, it took me nearly two years of both modding and game development on the same project every day before I nearly had a mental breakdown and needed a break - take that for what it's worth, I suppose.  As for the signal-to-noise being low: if you organize it well enough (for example, using Trello, which I've used in the past for testing games), it's not too much of an issue.  But hey, you never know it's potential until you try it.  Maybe for a slightly less ground-shattering update, it might be worth experimenting with.

I was actually a bit shocked at how barren it was (and worried "oh god this is going to be the most boring blog post ever").
It was a wonderful blog post David!  You got to show off a lot of stuff we hadn't seen yet, especially some of the system generation and exploration from the player's perspective.  Even if the trip turned out to be boring, we would have gotten to see a lot of awesome stuff we haven't seen before.  Luckily, it wasn't a boring trip, and we all got to see some extra-juicy stuff. :)
« Last Edit: March 29, 2017, 06:48:26 PM by The Soldier »
Logged
Quote from: Trylobot
I am officially an epoch.
Quote from: Thaago
Note: please sacrifice your goats responsibly, look up the proper pronunciation of Alex's name. We wouldn't want some other project receiving mystic power.

Dri

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1403
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #38 on: March 29, 2017, 08:34:18 PM »

You know, reading the little tale David weaved into his salvage trip kinda makes me sad that unique characters/personalities are probably not gonna happen. If not officers then maybe your second-in-command could be a real character at least, eh? The leadership of the major factions?

The potential for banter, after battle shouts, amusing reaction quips, etc. is right up there! Them long deep space exploration trips might get damn lonely otherwise! Heh, I guess I just want a bit more "RPG" injected into the game in some form.

Logged

AxleMC131

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1722
  • Amateur World-Builder
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #39 on: March 29, 2017, 08:50:34 PM »

Aye, that's one of the reasons I've been thinking more and more seriously about installing the Battle Chatter mod. It looks incredible for assisting the immersion of the game, if only in combat.

EDIT: Excuse me. "Combat Chatter." http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=10399.0
« Last Edit: March 29, 2017, 08:54:24 PM by AxleMC131 »
Logged

Dri

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1403
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #40 on: March 29, 2017, 09:39:18 PM »

That is indeed one of the few mods I use! A few of the lines are a bit goofy but at the very least it totally helps you keep track of what's what!

I recommend it.
Logged

AxleMC131

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1722
  • Amateur World-Builder
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #41 on: March 29, 2017, 09:57:49 PM »

That is indeed one of the few mods I use! A few of the lines are a bit goofy but at the very least it totally helps you keep track of what's what!

I recommend it.

Thanks, one more reason for me to install it.  ;D
Logged

Voyager I

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 353
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #42 on: March 30, 2017, 12:06:24 AM »

Having seen the route planner in action, I can only imagine I will struggling to remember how I lived without it for so many years.
Logged

HELMUT

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1363
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #43 on: March 30, 2017, 04:34:37 AM »

I hope we'll have more blog posts of that kind in the future, David. That was quite informative, and entertaining. By the way, some (suspiciously named) person did something like that on the rpg.net forum. Did the inspiration for this blog post came from there, or pure coincidence?

Also, i'm really glad you reworked that Hegemony flag.

Now we just have to wait for BP's authorization to start our own salvage operations.
Logged

Jonlissla

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 258
    • View Profile
Re: Ship's Log of Salvage Dave's Final Mission
« Reply #44 on: March 30, 2017, 05:42:43 AM »

Great blog post, was fun reading through it. A little roleplay adds that extra spark especially with the use of the *redacted* censorship.

I've been hyped since August last year and I don't think I can get any more hyped about this release.

Logged
Pages: 1 2 [3] 4 5 ... 8