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)

Author Topic: The countdown ring on intel bounties/missions should be made more obvious.  (Read 2955 times)

Tartiflette

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 3529
  • MagicLab discord: https://discord.gg/EVQZaD3naU
    • View Profile

Pretty much it, I was actually surprised to discover that the countdown ring is already a feature, but it's barely noticeable when zoomed in and plain invisible at the regular zoom. Additionally expired bounties should be clearly labeled as such instead of looking available. Maybe the timer ring should be blue and red, with extra red as it get closer to the expiration date, instead of blue and slightly darker blue.
Logged
 

TrashMan

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1325
    • View Profile

I'd also tweak bounty generation.
There are way too many "ranks" and the bounty difficulty spikes massively

You have your 50K bounties (a few frigates that are a b*** to complete if you fleet is stronger because they run and you can't catch them), then 100K bounties, than 150 and 200K bounties that are compromised either fully of carriers (NOT fun) or of capital ships.

The fleet compositions seem to jump between those with practically nothing in between.
Logged

Gothars

  • Global Moderator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 4403
  • Eschewing obfuscatory verbosity.
    • View Profile

Oh wow, I actually never noticed the timer rings! Last I remember thinking about them was when I was reading about them here on the forum. So, fully agree with Tarti.
Logged
The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

Arranging holidays in an embrace with the Starsector is priceless.

SCC

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 4112
    • View Profile

Indeed, I remember Alex's twit about them, now I read the thread and realise that yeah, it's a feature...

Megas

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 12118
    • View Profile

I have never noticed the rings, and still do not know where to look.

Re: Bounty Spikes
They still spike a bit too fast for comfort.  The progression seems right only if player plays correctly.  That is optimize for combat early (skills, and pick faster start if necessary), do not lose ships (reload if ships are lost), make money fast enough to afford ships, and avoid major colony building early.  If player does not play correctly, it is easy to fall behind.

There were some 200k fights that were easily a match for my not-quite endgame fleet.  I had to rely on tricks (e.g., form deathball, make my fleet hover next to my wall to cheese AI and retreat quickly when peak performance expires) to beat them without it becoming a pyrrhic victory, if I win instead of barely losing.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2019, 05:06:32 AM by Megas »
Logged

intrinsic_parity

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 3071
    • View Profile

I made a post in bug reports about the bounty generation because I found two bounties for mid-high 200k, one with 4 cruisers, 2 falcons and 10 other ships, and the other with 5 pristine capitals and 20 other ships (I didn't go to check how many cruisers, but there were at least 2 pristine ones from the intel). I think there is something wrong with the bounty generation code. There's no way those two fleets should be a 20% difference in price.

Additionally, I think that the increase in ship price has made the risk/reward of bounties significantly worse. I hope bounties get reworked/rebalanced at some point to address this because I really like the increase in prices (and I think some cruisers and most capitals could be worth more still).
Logged

Alex

  • Administrator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 23988
    • View Profile

Pretty much it, I was actually surprised to discover that the countdown ring is already a feature, but it's barely noticeable when zoomed in and plain invisible at the regular zoom. Additionally expired bounties should be clearly labeled as such instead of looking available. Maybe the timer ring should be blue and red, with extra red as it get closer to the expiration date, instead of blue and slightly darker blue.

Since my first reaction was "what ring", you've got a point :) It's coming back to me, though. Interesting idea re: color-coding the ring; going to take a look at some point. In general, it was tough to make it more prominent without making it feel cluttered/like it was overwhelming the icon itself.

Good point about expired bounties, too - made a note about that.
Logged

Tartiflette

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 3529
  • MagicLab discord: https://discord.gg/EVQZaD3naU
    • View Profile

I should add, one of the thing that makes it less readable is the fact that it is so close to the portrait, without any significant margin between the two. Depending on which one it is, the ring can look like a part of the portrait rather than a separate indicator.
Logged
 

Vayra

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 627
  • jangala delenda est
    • View Profile

There's a ring?!
Logged
Kadur Remnant: http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=6649
Vayra's Sector: http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=16058
Vayra's Ship Pack: http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=16059

im gonna push jangala into the sun i swear to god im gonna do it

Gotcha!

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1124
    • View Profile
    • Welcome to New Hiigara

I second Vayra's remark.
I'm looking around inside the game and have no idea what you people are talking about. ???
Logged