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)

Pages: 1 ... 7 8 [9] 10 11 ... 50

Author Topic: Blog Posts  (Read 337605 times)

mendonca

  • Global Moderator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1159
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #120 on: November 24, 2011, 07:58:08 AM »

Just chiming in to say that I am getting excited to see the next build. A few questions:

Do crew members get experience outside battle? That is, could you have part of your fleet sitting in part of space protecting an outpost (for no other reason, let's call this place Chitzena). In the meantime, you are out kicking seven shades of the proverbial out of the evil queen's army over at somewhere-else-ville.

So, inevitably you lose a few ships so return to pick some up at Chitzena (because you like to operate with a lean force) and thankfully one of your officers (let's call her Ira) has been training your crew up from say green to regular, at a resource cost, while you have been gone.

Obviously I'm thinking about what Jagged Alliance 2 did with Militia (which was a different mechanic, but handled in a similar way, which made me think of this) but I could see that it might mitigate frustration associated with having lots of resources, yet potentially having to start from 'green' with each new ship.

Did you have any thoughts on this? Is there even going to this sort of 'sub-fleet' type of option (where you don't have direct control over them? Would you expect them to be involved in enough scrapes to get them up in experience anyway? What do you and Ivaylo want Santa to bring you for Christmas?
Logged


"I'm doing it, I'm making them purple! No one can stop me!"

Alex

  • Administrator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 23988
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #121 on: November 24, 2011, 09:03:19 AM »

Hah, had to look up all the JA stuff :) Sounds like a game I'd like. Not the first time hearing about it, of course, but never did play it.

Ok, with the usual caveat that we're talking about unimplemented features, and things could thus change...

Do crew members get experience outside battle? That is, could you have part of your fleet sitting in part of space protecting an outpost (for no other reason, let's call this place Chitzena). In the meantime, you are out kicking seven shades of the proverbial out of the evil queen's army over at somewhere-else-ville.

So, inevitably you lose a few ships so return to pick some up at Chitzena (because you like to operate with a lean force) and thankfully one of your officers (let's call her Ira) has been training your crew up from say green to regular, at a resource cost, while you have been gone.

Yeah, probably some function of the Command skill would let you and your officers train up crew. I doubt you could get them to veteran that way though, and certainly not to elite. If you're preparing for a major campaign, you could also train up some elite crew yourself in smaller battles, dropping them off at an outpost for safekeeping (and to let your green crew fly the ships).

Obviously I'm thinking about what Jagged Alliance 2 did with Militia (which was a different mechanic, but handled in a similar way, which made me think of this) but I could see that it might mitigate frustration associated with having lots of resources, yet potentially having to start from 'green' with each new ship.

Hmm. That's an interesting idea, I haven't really looked at it from that angle. It seems like you wouldn't have to start from 'green' unless you actually lost all your experienced crew, though. So when you buy/build a new ship, you could just put it at the head of the line and have your elite crew operate it. You have to keep extra crew on hand to replace losses, so you'll probably have more experienced crew built up than you strictly need if you're having good success in fighting. Then you could pick up new ships and run them effectively without having to compromise the rest of your fleet.

I really like the idea of falling back to an outpost to recrew and resupply after a tough fight. If the outposts can potentially build up their crew a bit, that helps flesh it out. Also seems to make the world feel a bit more alive - "hey, those guys gained experience while I was gone - they must have been doing stuff."

Is there even going to this sort of 'sub-fleet' type of option (where you don't have direct control over them?

Yeah, I'd like to have this. With outposts, you will be able to exchange crew & cargo explicitly, to let you do these kinds of things. As far as sub-fleets, that's a bit more nebulous for now. The same old problem of coming up with a way to do it that lets you do most of the things you want w/o it being a chore.

Would you expect them to be involved in enough scrapes to get them up in experience anyway?

Most likely, but again somewhat TBD.

What do you and Ivaylo want Santa to bring you for Christmas?

More time to work on Starfarer, definitely! I'll speak for Ivaylo here too, even if he would want something else :)
Logged

Flare

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 906
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #122 on: November 24, 2011, 01:27:21 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.

In that case, would there be roles or traits in which an officer would excel in the task of piloting one type of ship or another? I'm not asking about an all too specific bonus of several percentages when placed into a fighter or corvette for some abstract reason, but will there be traits that an officer can acquire that will give a predisposition in one sort of craft due to that craft's role in a tactical or strategic sense?
I generally don't prefer seeing a strange bonus we sometimes get like 25% more firepower inside of a fighter or 25% more firepower end of story, it seems a little shallow in some circumstances to provide these sorts of bonuses. Rather, are there a certain tangible behaviors that officers can acquire, like the preference for hitting and running for example in what ever ship he's in, or perhaps in applicable ships with a certain speed limit on the decisino if he or she is going to use this tactic. Reading your entry about getting acquainted with your officers and crew, perhaps this could also serve that function.
Logged
Quote from: Thana
Quote from: Alex

The battle station is not completely operational, shall we say.

"Now witness the firepower of this thoroughly buggy and unoperational batt... Oh, hell, you know what? Just ignore the battle station, okay?"

mendonca

  • Global Moderator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1159
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #123 on: November 24, 2011, 01:28:34 PM »

Thanks for the answers Alex.

JA2 v1.13 introduced the ability (via .ini tweaks) to train 'militia' up to the higher levels (I think vanilla was just 'level 2'). It always felt a bit 'cheaty' to me above standard, so I agree with you there.

Also yeah, never thought about it in the context of having quite a large pool of crew. I might be making an issue where there is none. After all, you want to be punished for making poor decisions, not necessarily be able to recover without feeling any real loss (experienced crew would be a valuable resource and if you are in a position where you have all the other material wealth, it might make sense to really limit this).

I can't recommend JA2 to you, it's an awful game. Although perhaps you should check it out after you have finished Starfarer ;)
Logged


"I'm doing it, I'm making them purple! No one can stop me!"

Ivaylo

  • Loremaster
  • Global Moderator
  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 230
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #124 on: November 24, 2011, 04:23:52 PM »

What do I want for Christmas?


I'm glad you asked me that question. I want a fresh Chipotle burrito.

See, Chipotle does not operate in Europe.  >:( THIS IS A TRAVESTY. I have sent letters to the (appropriate?) authorities, with no reply. My only consolation so far is some sort of pretend Mexican restaurant here in Sofia. They use local spices, not Mexican.


That's just plain evil, I say. So, the struggle continues...
Logged
Escort Ship-level forum support

Ivaylo

  • Loremaster
  • Global Moderator
  • Commander
  • *****
  • Posts: 230
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #125 on: November 24, 2011, 04:25:31 PM »

Oh yeah and for Starfarer to become, and be considered, the best damned game, ever.
Logged
Escort Ship-level forum support

mendonca

  • Global Moderator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1159
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #126 on: November 24, 2011, 11:53:18 PM »

Alright guys look first things first, I'm sorry for getting your hopes up, but the post office just aren't playing ball.

They didn't have a problem me sending some time to you, Alex, but the size and weight of the necessary containment field to make sure it didn't leak out all over the Atlantic Ocean was a bit cost prohibitive, postage-wise, I'm afraid.

And they stopped talking to me when I asked them to parcel up a burrito. Even when I explained where it was going.

So sorry chaps  :( Maybe I'll get you something next year   ;D
Logged


"I'm doing it, I'm making them purple! No one can stop me!"

Thana

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 289
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #127 on: November 24, 2011, 11:55:12 PM »

Oh yeah and for Starfarer to become, and be considered, the best damned game, ever.

Keep working on it and it may just become that, as far as I'm concerned.  ;D Certainly it's at the top of my games anticipation list and the groundwork - both in the preview version we have now and what we've heard about the work going on at your end - is promising. Once the next preview version comes out and if it lives up to the promise of what we have so far, I intend to advertise it far and wide on the forums I go to and to any friends I have who might be interested in it.

(Why the next version? Because the beginning of the strategic mode implementation should make it a far more appealing taster than the current collection of single missions as well as additional depth.)
Logged

Alex

  • Administrator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 23988
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #128 on: November 25, 2011, 09:16:39 AM »

After all, you want to be punished for making poor decisions, not necessarily be able to recover without feeling any real loss (experienced crew would be a valuable resource and if you are in a position where you have all the other material wealth, it might make sense to really limit this).

Hmm, yeah. Talking about this, I seriously can't wait to get to implementing outposts. Sadly, that's not on the list for the next release. On the other hand, I'm doing stuff now that's been planned since a year ago, and that's a neat feeling. "Hey, I'm finally actually *doing* this?"

I can't recommend JA2 to you, it's an awful game. Although perhaps you should check it out after you have finished Starfarer ;)

Funny story: it took me a minute or so to see what you did there.

I'm... going to believe you. For the sake of everyone involved.


They didn't have a problem me sending some time to you, Alex, but the size and weight of the necessary containment field to make sure it didn't leak out all over the Atlantic Ocean was a bit cost prohibitive, postage-wise, I'm afraid.

I guess I'll just have to make some, then. </bad pun>


Keep working on it and it may just become that, as far as I'm concerned.  ;D Certainly it's at the top of my games anticipation list and the groundwork - both in the preview version we have now and what we've heard about the work going on at your end - is promising. Once the next preview version comes out and if it lives up to the promise of what we have so far, I intend to advertise it far and wide on the forums I go to and to any friends I have who might be interested in it.

Thank you!

(Why the next version? Because the beginning of the strategic mode implementation should make it a far more appealing taster than the current collection of single missions as well as additional depth.)

Indeed - I certainly don't feel like it's ready for the spotlight in its current state. I don't know that I ever will, though - all too easy to see the flaws of something you're working on, harder to see the good parts...

Hoping to polish up some stuff here and there in the combat for the next version, too :)
Logged

Alex

  • Administrator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 23988
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #129 on: November 25, 2011, 02:19:18 PM »

In that case, would there be roles or traits in which an officer would excel in the task of piloting one type of ship or another? I'm not asking about an all too specific bonus of several percentages when placed into a fighter or corvette for some abstract reason, but will there be traits that an officer can acquire that will give a predisposition in one sort of craft due to that craft's role in a tactical or strategic sense?

I think "personality" fits the bill there, if you recall the blog post about it that from a little while back.
Logged

Flare

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 906
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #130 on: November 25, 2011, 06:57:29 PM »

Right, right. Forgot about that.
Logged
Quote from: Thana
Quote from: Alex

The battle station is not completely operational, shall we say.

"Now witness the firepower of this thoroughly buggy and unoperational batt... Oh, hell, you know what? Just ignore the battle station, okay?"

stonehand

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 45
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #131 on: December 02, 2011, 07:10:13 PM »

finally december looking forward to the Archives update :)
Logged

Alex

  • Administrator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 23988
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #132 on: December 02, 2011, 07:20:50 PM »

Not sure what you mean by "archives update" :)
Logged

stonehand

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 45
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #133 on: December 03, 2011, 08:31:43 PM »

Archive its on the sites main page top right corner new one every month that thing :)
reminds me every month how much i want this game

although you may just be trolling me
Logged

Psycho Society

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 121
    • View Profile
Re: Blog Posts
« Reply #134 on: December 04, 2011, 04:04:15 AM »

I don't think blog updates are specifically scheduled to be at the start of each month. Clicking on an archive just shows you all the articles posted in that month.
Logged
Pages: 1 ... 7 8 [9] 10 11 ... 50