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

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Author Topic: Blog Posts  (Read 337552 times)

Alex

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #105 on: November 22, 2011, 08:17:55 PM »

New blog post is up: Crew Management and You. Talks about how crew mechanics work and why.
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Thana

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #106 on: November 22, 2011, 11:06:25 PM »

Okay, nice! You've managed to, from the sound of it (since obviously none of us have been able to test it out i practice yet), find a solution to a game design problem that strikes the perfect balance between immersion, game mechanical significance and practicality.

Again.

You know, you've really got to stop doing this - don't you realise how bad you're make all the other developers out there look by comparison?!  ;D
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Zarcon

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #107 on: November 23, 2011, 08:24:15 AM »

Okay, nice! You've managed to, from the sound of it (since obviously none of us have been able to test it out i practice yet), find a solution to a game design problem that strikes the perfect balance between immersion, game mechanical significance and practicality.

Again.

You know, you've really got to stop doing this - don't you realise how bad you're make all the other developers out there look by comparison?!  ;D

Indeed, lol!  :)  Great stuff, once again.
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Avan

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #108 on: November 23, 2011, 08:30:03 AM »

I'm just itching to start messing around with this.  ;D

theShadow

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #109 on: November 23, 2011, 09:40:26 AM »

can you add the ability to name your ships so I can name mine the I.S.S unlikely-to-survive :p
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Thana

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #110 on: November 23, 2011, 10:31:45 AM »

I'm just itching to start messing around with this.  ;D

One interesting implication of the system in question I can see is that as you decide the order in which ships are crewed with experienced personnel, there might be some interesting choices on whether you wish to crew, say, one cruiser or three frigates (or however the numbers work out in practice) with your elite personnel, or whether you want really hotshot fighter pilots, etc. All the choices, none of the tedious micro-management.
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Alex

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #111 on: November 23, 2011, 10:51:04 AM »

Thank you guys!

can you add the ability to name your ships so I can name mine the I.S.S unlikely-to-survive :p

That's already in the dev build. And I just checked, you can just barely fit that name in there :)

I'm just itching to start messing around with this.  ;D

One interesting implication of the system in question I can see is that as you decide the order in which ships are crewed with experienced personnel, there might be some interesting choices on whether you wish to crew, say, one cruiser or three frigates (or however the numbers work out in practice) with your elite personnel, or whether you want really hotshot fighter pilots, etc. All the choices, none of the tedious micro-management.

The other aspect is you're more likely to lose crew that's, say, assigned to fighters - so while having elite fighter wings is (or should be - still working on the part where crew affects in-combat ship performance) great, you're taking a risk with the personnel.
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Flare

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #112 on: November 23, 2011, 01:23:04 PM »

With the naming of captains and ships, can we also name fighter pilots who do especially well?
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Alex

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #113 on: November 23, 2011, 01:26:37 PM »

You'll be able to assign an officer to a fighter wing in the role of "wing leader" - so, yes and no :) Individual fighter pilots aren't modeled any more than individual crewmen.

Edit: that is to say, fighter pilots and "regular" crew members are the same thing.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2011, 01:32:02 PM by Alex »
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Zarcon

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #114 on: November 23, 2011, 01:31:58 PM »

You'll be able to assign an officer to a fighter wing in the role of "wing leader" - so, yes and no :) Individual fighter pilots aren't modeled any more than individual crewmen.

Ok so my excitement level is really getting high here.  :)  Any chance we receive an updated preview client as a Christmas present?  Or should I calm down and relax because I'm in for a longer wait?  :)  lol, this is gonna be so great when it is ready!
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Thana

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #115 on: November 23, 2011, 01:40:32 PM »

The other aspect is you're more likely to lose crew that's, say, assigned to fighters - so while having elite fighter wings is (or should be - still working on the part where crew affects in-combat ship performance) great, you're taking a risk with the personnel.

I was actually wondering about that - given the way fighters are replaced in-battle in the tactical battles, I was wondering if destroyed fighters would result in lost crew. On the other hand, it seemed logical, on the other... Well, the supply of fighters seems inexhaustible at present, so I was wondering if fighter pilots worked the same way.
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Alex

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #116 on: November 23, 2011, 01:49:38 PM »

Ok so my excitement level is really getting high here.  :)  Any chance we receive an updated preview client as a Christmas present?  Or should I calm down and relax because I'm in for a longer wait?  :)  lol, this is gonna be so great when it is ready!

I hate to say it, but that's looking unlikely. A lot of things need to come together before it's really playable - and fun. I appreciate the enthusiasm, though :D

Hopefully it won't be too much after that. It's a little hard to predict, because I'm finding myself building out a bit more than originally planned - all stuff that needs to be done, but may not directly show up in the next release. Putting down a more solid foundation, if you will. At some point I'll need to stop that and go into "ok, let's get this ready for release" mode, but it's not there yet.

Also, as a side note, I wasn't planning on officers being in this next release - probably the one after that.


I was actually wondering about that - given the way fighters are replaced in-battle in the tactical battles, I was wondering if destroyed fighters would result in lost crew. On the other hand, it seemed logical, on the other... Well, the supply of fighters seems inexhaustible at present, so I was wondering if fighter pilots worked the same way.

Ah, yes, that's definitely a potential inconsistency. Still considering how to resolve it, or if it needs resolving at all. It's just fun to have lots of fighters flying around, and I don't want to get in the way of that. Fighters will definitely use crew, though - except for drones, that is.
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Zarcon

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #117 on: November 23, 2011, 02:19:41 PM »


I was actually wondering about that - given the way fighters are replaced in-battle in the tactical battles, I was wondering if destroyed fighters would result in lost crew. On the other hand, it seemed logical, on the other... Well, the supply of fighters seems inexhaustible at present, so I was wondering if fighter pilots worked the same way.

Ah, yes, that's definitely a potential inconsistency. Still considering how to resolve it, or if it needs resolving at all. It's just fun to have lots of fighters flying around, and I don't want to get in the way of that. Fighters will definitely use crew, though - except for drones, that is.

Hmm, I wonder if maybe Carriers/Freighters could have mods that allow extra crew to be carried, sort of like spare pilots for the new fighters that are created to replace destroyed ones?  I would actually like it if carriers were limited in how many fighters they could replace and re-deploy by the crew that exists on the carrier itself to some degree, that way you would have to weigh the relative advantages to adding more crew space versus other mods like for armor and ammo etc, just a thought.  :)
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Alex

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #118 on: November 23, 2011, 02:59:27 PM »

Hmm, I wonder if maybe Carriers/Freighters could have mods that allow extra crew to be carried, sort of like spare pilots for the new fighters that are created to replace destroyed ones?  I would actually like it if carriers were limited in how many fighters they could replace and re-deploy by the crew that exists on the carrier itself to some degree, that way you would have to weigh the relative advantages to adding more crew space versus other mods like for armor and ammo etc, just a thought.  :)

Hmm. That makes sense - it'd be easy enough to have a mod that raises the skeleton crew requirement of a ship and improves, say, the fighter refit speed. I like that idea a lot.

I do want to stay away from actually making carriers unable to refit fighters in combat when they run out of <something>, though - that poses a slew of UI problems. I suspect the initial player reaction upon seeing the carrier stop refitting fighters would be "ugh, my carrier is bugged", and it's an uphill battle to make what's happening clear.
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Thana

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Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #119 on: November 23, 2011, 10:18:04 PM »

Hmm. That makes sense - it'd be easy enough to have a mod that raises the skeleton crew requirement of a ship and improves, say, the fighter refit speed. I like that idea a lot.

I do want to stay away from actually making carriers unable to refit fighters in combat when they run out of <something>, though - that poses a slew of UI problems. I suspect the initial player reaction upon seeing the carrier stop refitting fighters would be "ugh, my carrier is bugged", and it's an uphill battle to make what's happening clear.

So a limited pool of fighter replacement, unlimited pool of fighter rearmament? Yeah, that sounds good to me. Granted, it does fail the strictest of internal logic tests in the sense of "so why don't they simply launch the spare fighters as well?" but I can live with that.
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