Will we be able to kill the smugglers who come to our planet without loosing reputation with the independent? Because as it stands, the independent are one of the best ways to get capital ships, given they don't require a commission. And I like having capital ships, but I don't like allowing criminals to undermine my own markets.
At this point, I'm not even sure that killing smugglers would have a positive effect. I do want to take another look at how reputation works especially re: independents and pirates, though.
Also, I am looking forward to this so much. There's something slightly painful about floating above a needle-in-a-haystack, completely-habitable, resource-rich world and thinking "yea, survey data on you will be worth a few hundred thousand to the right buyer, and then I'll never come back here again... what a waste." That'll completely change once this is added.
More than you think, I wouldn't expect to be able to sell the survey data for very much anymore
@Midnight Kitsune: I mean, no matter the design, even if it's absolutely amazing, there are still ways to screw it up in the execution. I'll do my best to avoid the various pitfalls!
-Salaries and newbies: SS already has a BRUTAL start, even with the tutorial that no one ever takes. And now with salaries, I feel like it is going to cause even more death spirals because now the new player is going to have TWO monthly supply drains to worry about at least. Many times I read about players that struggle to make ends meet. Now they are gonna have to worry about packing enough supplies, fuel and now credits.
Hmm, I strongly disagree here. Anecdotal evidence suggests lots of people do the tutorial and that it - alongside other things - has helped *massively* with the early game difficulty. Of course, some people still have trouble, but that fraction of people that does seems to be far less.
Also, how will salaries and monthly income be payed out? Per day? Week? Month? I would suggest that both of these be given at once and at the same interval so that newbie players don't screw themselves by spending all their money on supplies and fuel and ships and not saving for when that monthly paycheck comes due
It's monthly, both for income and expenses.
Copy the seed for that sectorgen and store it in a document someplace safe so that you CAN come back to it later!
Seeds from 0.8.1 are super unlikely to produce the same results in the next release, btw. That process is extremely fragile by nature and even a slight difference in Sector generation will cause the same seed to diverge completely from what it used to do.
... especially with aptitudes being a tax that NO ONE ELSE pays.
The aptitude tax is awful, and as Midnight says, no one else gets to pay it.
Hmm - I have to be honest, I don't really get the "no-one else has to pay it" sentiment - they're just different mechanics. Maybe the reason for a level cap of 20 is to represent that they do have to invest in aptitudes etc behind the scenes, but it's not something the player needs to be bothered with. But even that I think isn't a great way to look at it because, again, just entirely different mechanics. Apples and oranges, you know?
The main thing I am concerned about is skill changes. There are not enough skill points now, and we will get even less later?!
I don't want to talk about it too much, but the reduction of skill points alongside reducing the number of skills and the increase in the relative power of combat skills would be a very substantial buff to combat skills, which is part of the reason for the (potential) changes. Just seeing "less points" without thinking about how it relates to the other changes is going to give the wrong idea. I mean, if the reduced number of points gives you more or similar power across the board because you can get more per point, then that's an important part to consider.
It would also, naturally, result in a lower level cap for officers, since a cap of 20 would be kind of absurd at that point, both in terms of power relative to the player and in terms of absolute power.
Meanwhile, I look at my officers' ships with great envy and wish I can pilot them, but cannot because only I am allowed to take the critical buffer skills and not my officers. (And if I do not and get skills like an officer, my character is much weaker.)
Yeah, that's part of the driver for the changes. I'd like to make combat more appealing and fix a few cases where non-combat skills feel too must-have (such as Salvaging if you want to salvage, for example).
Maybe it's worth some thought to implement a mechanic that discourages exchanging administrators too frequently. Without that, I imagine there would be some scenarios where you had to switch them around for every minor shift in military thread or economic potential, if you want to play optimally. Something like a small "settled in" stat bonus that admins get after some time would help with that, as would a severance benefit you'd have to pay them for re-assignment.
Was thinking about this, yeah! Or something like an ETA of a month or so before the admin's bonuses start to apply. Don't want to do it until there's a problem to solve, though, if that makes sense.
I don't have much to add, I think it sounds all rather wonderful The beautiful artwork for the structures&industries deserves special mention!
I have to say, I'm quite a fan of those myself
(Don't tell anyone, but there are several variations for a number of these, depending on market size and a few other factors.)
Yo, been a while since i've said anything, but I've been keeping tabs on the development. Game is looking better than ever, and shaping up to be a game i've always wanted to play.
...
EDIT: wow, just looked and it's been over 4 years since i last posted. hard to believe it's been that long.
Hey, welcome back (and thank you)! ... has it been that long, really? Doesn't feel like it.
Anyway, i'm curious whether you'll implement some sort of measures to prevent players from scooping up some of the surplus, then selling it directly back to the market. Would you consider that viable, or would you try to act against that behavior? Didn't see any mention of that sort of thing in your blog posts, so i though i'd bring it up.
I think that'd be viable, yeah - if the LR market gives you stuff, then can't exactly prevent you from selling it. The key would be to make sure the player doesn't miss out on anything by not constantly going around to pick up and sell the surplus - so, either make sure it accumulates, or gets sold off at market value and produces more income if there's local Commerce, or something along those lines.
Also, if a market is producing much surplus, it means that the price will be lower.