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[Hardlyjoking67]

Just a list of things that would be nice to see sometime in Starfarer. Loving it by the way, Alex.

1. Ability to improve relations with other factions. I'd really like to see the ability to form alliances with other factions. I'm thinking of Total War Shogun II. If you've played it, you know that you can improve your relations with other provinces, but if you betray them, then they hate you all the more. Also, the enemies of the province you become allied with become your enemies as well. In extension of this idea, I think it would be nice if you could also set up trading relationships as opposed to just military ones. If a faction is "trading hostile" to you, then you sell lower and have to buy higher. The opposite would be true if you were "trading friendly". I guess this could be a step before the faction just starts attacking you head-on. I always think its a little weird to just attack a faction once and then they want to cut out your heart and leave you to die.

2. Just based on the alliances idea, multi-faction battles. If one faction is allied to you, then it makes sense that it would come to help you if you were under attack. Or the other way around I guess. They could function similar to the AI, except you couldn't give them commands and they choose who they deploy.

3. More interstellar politics I guess. If you can defeat a fleet, say the pirate fleet and take some of their ships, I think that if you only used those ships in a battle, you could shift the blame upon them and avoid worsening your relations with another faction.

4. Possible good-evil spectrum. Perhaps in the way that other factions perceive you and your actions. If a fleet attempts to flee or surrender and you let them go, you gain good, if you slaughter them, you gain evil. If you ally yourself with the pirates, then you gain a evil. Although that seems to be a bit too much like Star Wars, which may be something Alex is trying to avoid. So maybe a reputation system. If you repeatedly defeat larger or better equipped fleets, then you gain a greater reputation, or if you repeatedly slaughter entire fleets, even smaller ones that surrender, then you gain a reputation for taking no quarter. If only attack smaller fleets, then other commanders could become contemptuous of you.

5. Marine-training. You can trade in some of you normal crew to be trained as marines. This will cost either none or less than buying marines, but it takes time and you have to give up some of your crew. Green crew trains slowest and Elites would train fastest.

6. A better representation of accidents. While the amount of information shown on the tool tip is awesome, I have no idea what low, medium, high, or extreme means. Does low mean 5%, 20%, 33%, or even 50%? I have no way of gauging whether it is a sensible risk to try to make it back out to a trading post or if it would be better to just jettison the cargo.

7. Roaming Traders. While it is nice that there are all of these established space stations, I think it would be nice to be able to trade when you are far away from a space station. I noticed that there are independent traders roaming the system. Perhaps it would be possible to trade with them? However this could open up credit farming, if one traded with the traders, took the credits, and then attacked them, taking back the cargo.

8. Boarding in the midst of battle. I think that it would be cool if you could board other ships during battle. If you could get up alongside a ship for a long enough period of time, you could send marines onto the other ship. The longer you stayed, the more marines get sent over and the better chance of a take-over. I think that the Salamanders would see a lot more use and that perhaps the implementations of tractor beams might be needed.

Ok I guess that's enough for a first post.Thanks to anyone (especially Alex) who read through this post.

[CrashToDesktop]

Politics, politics, and more politics, huh?  I really enjoyed the Xplo mod with the ability to "join" a side, and I hope something like that can get implemented at some point into the game.  I also like the ability to trade with merchants.  To avoid farming, the traders might drop very little money and drop only supplied and the usual when killed.

[Catra]

1) since this is placeholder, i'm sure this is going to be in at somepoint.

2) already been talked about

3) until we get things like banners or paintshops or fake IDs, theres nothing to distinguish one ship from another other than which fleet it belongs too.

4) don't like it since you would need a clear cut good guy bad guy neutral guy, which would feel very artificial in starfarer.

5) no.

6) that's a recurring theme, if you look at the weapons they also have vague terms for accuracy.

7) there are roaming traders already, albeit they just deliver for right now.

could be interesting, something like a boarding pod into unarmored / lightly armored sections and attempt to take it, though IMO it could be hard to get the AI to do that to you.

[Hardlyjoking67]

4) don't like it since you would need a clear cut good guy bad guy neutral guy, which would feel very artificial in starfarer.

Well what about the reputation idea? Maybe not so cut straight down the middle. I guess some adjectives invariably will have different connotations, but I think it could work. The idea is that it causes the AI to act differently. If it knows you give no quarter, it will fight to the last man. If it knows you only attack smaller fleets, it will use those to lure you into larger ones. Etc. And also I think that the factions you attack should express your disposition on certain subjects. If you attack pirates, you care about preserving order; if you attack Tri-tach, you don't care as much about science; if you attack Hegenomy, you don't care as much about preserving order; if you attack independents, you're just looking to make a buck. Maybe?

[CrashToDesktop]

@Catra:
I love it how your number 8 turned into a smiley.
Yea, being good/bad depends on your point of view.  Not good if you're allied with the whole system except the pirates, makes you look bad with everyone if that were in.,\

[Hardlyjoking67]

More ideas:

1. Kamikaze ships. Might add a bit of value to those cheap tankers. Load em up with fuel and point em in the general direction. Might make a good diversion.

2. Stealth systems. Makes you invisible and prevents flux dissipation, firing of weapons (while in stealth mode), decreased speed, and possibly gradual increase in flux. Maybe just applicable to specialized fighters. Like a nerfed version of the dagger wing. Ships wont know to get their shields up and will take a direct hit. But they will be very expensive and only so strong.

3. Traitors. Dispatch specialized crew that through subterfuge, gets aboard enemy ships and wreaks havoc, possibly by dropping crew beneath skeleton crew level, making flameouts/ weapon disables more frequent, or even making the ship detonate mid battle. I think the last option should only be available to the smallest of ships. Won't work on fighters obviously. Especially wasps.

4. On map hiding. Hide on the dark sides of planets/asteroids and jump weaker fleets. Might be easier when you make the first tier jump on the minimap and can't challenge the larger fleets yet.

5. Miscommunication. Use whatever the form of communication is to lure in fleets thinking that you are smaller than you actually are.

6. Ship-Hiding mode. Use larger ships (i. e. Onslaughts) to hide smaller frigates and the like. Probably a large increase in supply consumption and a reduction in travel speed.

That's all I have for now.

[Catra]

1) eh, that would just cheapen the whole experience.

2) already in the works (assumedly)

3) already talked about, sorta kinda hinted at ingame aswell

4 - 6 given the level of tech, none of those seem feasible.

[Hardlyjoking67]

I think my stream of ideas is tapering off but...

1. More interactivity with other captains. In extension of my reputation idea, I think that it should also affect how conversations go and what options you have. Like if you are known to take no quarter and you ask a commander to surrender, then they'll scream wolf in sheep's clothing and try to fight their way out.

2. I also think that if you have an overhwelmingly powerful force in comparison to the force you are fighting, there should be a chance that they will surrender outright. It doesn't make sense that a captain who only has a fighter wing would try to escape from a commander that has a capital ship or two and far more fighter wings. I mean, for the sake of survivial, wouldn't they just be able to weigh the odds and just surrender? Although some commanders may be more arrogant than others (I'm thinking Tri-Tach).

That's it for tonight. Good night I'll be here all weekend.

[Hardlyjoking67]

Oh and thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read and offer some positive criticism on my ideas.

[Hardlyjoking67]

Just two today.

1. Changing the mechanics of how ships are destroyed and disabled. I think that the ships shouldn't explode if they are disabled. When they explode it seems to me that everyone on board would die and that there really wouldn't be any point in trying to salvage it. I think that disabled should mean that their engines shut off and they have several piercings in their hull making it inoperable. Its just that those explosions seem so... final.

2. A point of ethical concern. I think that we should be allowed to let ships go. While there aren't that many people who would do that, I think that if presented with a good enough storyline, convincing characters, or some kind of incentive, I could be compelled to do so. If you think about it, you kill 1000's of little virtual people in the course of playing this game. Why aren't we allowed to spare a few hundred? Do we have to kill them all? What would this look like? Just eject them all into the abyss of space? Line em up and shoot em all? These little points I think are really important to the Starfarer experience.

[Hardlyjoking67]

Oh another new one. if you have the adequate credits, when you hit repair but don't have enough supplies, they are automatically bought for you. Just something to streamline that menu. I don't like having to make like 5 clicks to do something that should take only one keystroke just because I don't have enough supplies.

[Hardlyjoking67]

New one! Being able to hire engineers who do not add to the actual crew of your ships, but add to your personnel count and decrease the amount of time it takes weapons systems etc. to come back online. It should take a fairly large chunk of them depending on ship size.

[WKOB]

I like that except..

It should take a fairly large chunk of them depending on ship size.

For two reasons, A) it'd be encourage farming the bastards and B) it doesn't make any sense.

Try getting a dozen engineers to work together to fix one thing.

I think engineers should just be rare and expensive, probably just go along with the fleet officers, however Alex decides to handle that.

[Hardlyjoking67]

I think engineers should just be rare and expensive, probably just go along with the fleet officers, however Alex decides to handle that.

I was just trying to make it hard to get the bonus. I don't think that this should be something easy, but rather something saved for the endgame, when you have all of the ships you want.

I think a cool idea might be a set of ships that combine. Like transformers! The sum of the parts should be greater than the ship individually.

Also a ship that has mounts that float around it. So like you put PD's on them and they orbit around your ship. Maybe a hull mod. I think that two would be adequate.

[Vandala]

I was just trying to make it hard to get the bonus. I don't think that this should be something easy, but rather something saved for the endgame, when you have all of the ships you want.

I think a cool idea might be a set of ships that combine. Like transformers! The sum of the parts should be greater than the ship individually.

Also a ship that has mounts that float around it. So like you put PD's on them and they orbit around your ship. Maybe a hull mod. I think that two would be adequate.

In the far future, mankind is lost amongst there failed gates that once fed their existence, they must struggle over limited resources and bloody war is inevitable.

*meanwhile*

"Tri-Techyon ships. COMBINE!" *cue catchy 80 music and transformation scene*

A voice echos across the solar system. "You have gone too far this time Tri-Bot, I will stop you. Once and for all!"

"Hege-bot! You will never succeed, you old fool."

*meanwhile on the dark side of the moon* "Yes, fight amongst yourselves, more for me to plunder. MWHA-HA-HA-HA!!" Pirate-bot exclaims.

(please don't turn ^^^ this into a thing everyone (with that I mean my own little post here), I'm just try to show the silliness of it.)