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

Author Topic: Testing Out Loadouts  (Read 4324 times)

ClosetGoth

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Testing Out Loadouts
« on: February 26, 2012, 01:56:03 PM »

One thing I would love is the ability to test out my weapon load out (in campaign). Currently, to get an idea of what my ship can do requires me to either:
A) Guess, based on previous knowledge and stats, and hope for the best
B) Chase down and attack a weak enemy (which is near-impossible with larger fleets/ships) to get time to mess around
C) Create/use a mission involving the ship that I am testing, which doesn't take crew skill into account.

Optimally, I think we should have the ability to run practice fights. It would be nice to fight against one of my own ships (AI-controlled), to test out my weapons or shield.

If the fight were explained as being in a computer simulation, then we wouldn't have to deal with the feasibility of shooting at our own troops, and causing expensive damage to our ships. Besides, even the most primitive factions have the technology to run a computer game. I mean, we can run said simulation on our home computers! ;D
« Last Edit: February 26, 2012, 02:38:30 PM by catattack998 »
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ClosetGoth

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Re: Testing Out Loadouts
« Reply #1 on: February 27, 2012, 02:28:54 PM »

Does... does anyone care about this idea? :(
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ArthropodOfDoom

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Re: Testing Out Loadouts
« Reply #2 on: February 27, 2012, 03:27:10 PM »

OH MY GOD YES WE CARE.
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ClosetGoth

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Re: Testing Out Loadouts
« Reply #3 on: February 27, 2012, 04:19:05 PM »

Well, tell me what you think of this idea! It has to get some support before devs see it, so just say something if you like the idea!
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ArthropodOfDoom

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Re: Testing Out Loadouts
« Reply #4 on: February 27, 2012, 04:42:45 PM »

Bloody brilliant, training missions are really cool, and the repeated concept of being able to set up specific fleets in a large battle would be AWESOME, and if there was one thing I would add, it would be the ability to pick from already-assembled fleets in order to test your effectiveness against, say, a Tri-Tachyon Cargo Convoy.
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RawCode

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Re: Testing Out Loadouts
« Reply #5 on: February 27, 2012, 05:55:33 PM »

debug mode?
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frag971

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Re: Testing Out Loadouts
« Reply #6 on: February 27, 2012, 06:16:09 PM »

Yeah, it would be realy nice to be able to test loadouts in an empty battle
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ClosetGoth

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Re: Testing Out Loadouts
« Reply #7 on: February 27, 2012, 06:20:55 PM »

debug mode?

While dev mode works okay, I am talking about a system that could be used in the campaign. To clarify, it would likely be accessed from the refit screen. This way you could learn the feel of your weapons and ships, and how well they work in certain builds.

Bloody brilliant, training missions are really cool, and the repeated concept of being able to set up specific fleets in a large battle would be AWESOME, and if there was one thing I would add, it would be the ability to pick from already-assembled fleets in order to test your effectiveness against, say, a Tri-Tachyon Cargo Convoy.

At first I was enthusiastic about your idea, but I think it would cause some issues. While it would be awesome to fight against randomly generated fleets, I think that puts too much of the actual campaign into a simulation. If it is too easy to practice every encounter, then actual encounters lose much of their drama, even though the stakes are higher. I would like to limit the simulation to include only ships that you have.
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leonvision

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Re: Testing Out Loadouts
« Reply #8 on: February 27, 2012, 08:10:54 PM »

i support this, though i wont expect this to be implemented soon, probably not atleast until beta.
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MidnightSun

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Re: Testing Out Loadouts
« Reply #9 on: February 27, 2012, 10:33:06 PM »

I think this would be a good idea, although I think it would be best kept to as simple of a tester as possible. What I envision:

  • From the regular refit screen, you can test out a particular ship you're refitting
  • The ship spawns in the middle of a small, empty map with a bunch of asteroids in a belt or something
  • You can then test out your current configuration and try out your guns against asteroids if you wish
  • When you press Tab, instead of bringing up the tactical map, a quick refit screen is brought up, allowing you to adjust key bindings, hull mods, weapons, etc on the fly

While I think the last bullet will be immensely helpful (instead of having to leave the test screen and going back to the refit screen every time to make a minor change), it will also take the most work, I think. The other bullets don't seem so bad, though, and would already be very, very helpful.
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Ishman

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Re: Testing Out Loadouts
« Reply #10 on: February 28, 2012, 06:29:05 AM »

There's already random battle missions and mods, but I feel an integrated test pilot mode for trying out your ships weapons/feel in campaign would be fantastic.

It would just dump you in a battlespace with your ship and a lone, relatively large, unarmed target (like an asteroid or derelict station), giving you free reign to empty your weapons and ammo into something with thick armor and a few dozen thousand hull points.
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