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Author Topic: Debris Field Improvements  (Read 1518 times)

Terethall

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Debris Field Improvements
« on: June 09, 2020, 05:35:03 PM »

Things I wish existed:
  • Area of effect looting of all nearby/overlapping debris fields. It is super frustrating when multiple debris fields overlap. Bonus: have it be a single click, or two (one to start salvage, followed by a risk/reward slider) to prevent having to loot every field like three times until you hit the "possible" or "unlikely" levels of reward that mean it's a bad idea to keep salvaging.
  • Elimination of the debris field, including static procgen debris, once you've made the call on how much to loot. Static debris acting differently than post-battle debris is weird. (Same also goes for procgen vs post-battle derelicts.) Trying to remember (or having to click through an ability and a bunch of prompts) is a hassle when you come upon static fields.
  • More interesting negatives to the "risk" variable. There are already lots of fun bonuses to looting debris fields and derelicts: commodities/crew, officers, intel pings, etc. But there are 0 risks to looting derelicts, and debris fields only ever cost a handful of crew and heavy machinery, which after 20 minutes of play is incredibly miniscule. This gets boring after a while. It would be nice if you occasionally got ambushed while salvaging, or took serious enough damage to a ship that it got a d-mod, or something else, if you decided to go after a high-risk debris field. You could get really creative and have some rare "something bad got aboard one of your ships" event from looting a high risk field/derelict, and have it give a ship a special "gremlins" d-mod or something similar.
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Alex

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Re: Debris Field Improvements
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2020, 07:01:38 PM »

Just FYI - in the next release, debris fields can only be scavenged once, and in the case of overlapping fields, it'll use the un-scavenged one, so there's no need to fine-tune the fleet position to get the right field. Also, iirc, whether a field has been scavenged or not is also shown on the map tooltip.
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Megas

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Re: Debris Field Improvements
« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2020, 07:32:51 PM »

My biggest complaint with the fields is I need to repeat salvage at least twice to get everything worth getting.  In case of research stations and the like, as many times as it takes until no more items are found.  Nice to see that repeat salvage will be gone.

I also suspect too many debris fields may contribute to slowdown and wished they disappear after salvage.
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Serenitis

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Re: Debris Field Improvements
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2020, 09:49:39 AM »

My biggest complaint with the fields is I need to repeat salvage at least twice to get everything worth getting.  In case of research stations and the like, as many times as it takes until no more items are found.  Nice to see that repeat salvage will be gone.

I also suspect too many debris fields may contribute to slowdown and wished they disappear after salvage.
Very much agree with this. Streamline the common tasks as much as possible.
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Terethall

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Re: Debris Field Improvements
« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2020, 11:16:09 AM »

Just FYI - in the next release, debris fields can only be scavenged once, and in the case of overlapping fields, it'll use the un-scavenged one, so there's no need to fine-tune the fleet position to get the right field. Also, iirc, whether a field has been scavenged or not is also shown on the map tooltip.
I'm going to post every other desire I have in the hope that it will magically mean it's already been fulfilled.
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Midnight Kitsune

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Re: Debris Field Improvements
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2020, 03:12:44 PM »

Just FYI - in the next release, debris fields can only be scavenged once, and in the case of overlapping fields, it'll use the un-scavenged one, so there's no need to fine-tune the fleet position to get the right field. Also, iirc, whether a field has been scavenged or not is also shown on the map tooltip.
Why not have the fields disappear after salvaging them? It would save on resources. And if you don't want them to disappear immediately, why not have a timer that makes them disappear if the player has been out of the system for so long?
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Alex

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Re: Debris Field Improvements
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2020, 04:57:14 PM »

Dynamic (that is, created as a result of battle or salvage) debris fields already disappear after a while, no? Looking at the code, they're supposed to.
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Terethall

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Re: Debris Field Improvements
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2020, 11:50:15 AM »

Dynamic (that is, created as a result of battle or salvage) debris fields already disappear after a while, no? Looking at the code, they're supposed to.
They do -- I think the idea is to have the static ones disappear too after being exhausted, rather than having them stick around but with an indicator. Unless they continue to have some use after exhaustion...
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Goumindong

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Re: Debris Field Improvements
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2020, 11:59:25 AM »

Dynamic (that is, created as a result of battle or salvage) debris fields already disappear after a while, no? Looking at the code, they're supposed to.
They do -- I think the idea is to have the static ones disappear too after being exhausted, rather than having them stick around but with an indicator. Unless they continue to have some use after exhaustion...

They do. Specifically they are sensor profile modifying terrain.
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Histidine

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Re: Debris Field Improvements
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2020, 06:36:23 PM »

Though it could be argued that if you scavenge your own cover you shouldn't get to use it as cover any longer.
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Megas

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Re: Debris Field Improvements
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2020, 03:36:06 AM »

Research stations disappear when looted.  So should debris fields, whether unstable or static/stable.  Will the player remember if that static debris field has been looted a few weeks ago?

If removing fields immediately is unacceptable, then make stable fields unstable after they are looted.  Debris fields should disappear the moment after they are looted, though.
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Serenitis

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Re: Debris Field Improvements
« Reply #11 on: June 13, 2020, 12:22:48 PM »

Though it could be argued that if you scavenge your own cover you shouldn't get to use it as cover any longer.
100% fine with this. Make a choice: Loot or cover.
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Goumindong

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Re: Debris Field Improvements
« Reply #12 on: June 15, 2020, 12:42:31 PM »

Though it could be argued that if you scavenge your own cover you shouldn't get to use it as cover any longer.

Well theoretically you are not scavenging every scrap of metal in the field. Just what is easily recoverable. There should be plenty still left over to provide sensor scattering benefits.
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iceball3

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Re: Debris Field Improvements
« Reply #13 on: June 15, 2020, 09:40:35 PM »

It would almost be tempting to be able to scuttle ships manually just to create a debris field for hiding in, were a thing possible.
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