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Author Topic: Starfarer 0.53a (Released) Patch Notes  (Read 368171 times)

icepick37

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #285 on: July 02, 2012, 09:58:07 AM »

I've been following Arcen Games too much, that creates unrealistic expectations. "So we released 1.1 last week, now we ripped out the whole progression system along with crafting and citybuilding and replaced them with completely new implementations."
They patch appallingly fast.  D:  It was off-putting for a while, haha.
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VikingHaag

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #286 on: July 02, 2012, 02:10:11 PM »

Thanks for the support, guys! Ultimately, all I can do is work at the best pace I can, but I'm glad to know that it's not universally considered slow :)

The speed of development is bound to be brought up again and again as people aren't familiar with indie development.  Afaik, Alex is the only dev.  Considering this, Starfarer is doing very well--there are regular releases and every one is very stable and complete feeling.  That's commendable.

Know that given the scope of Starfarer, it will take years to build the game to what most imagine it will become.  Some titles, such as Cortex Command, are ten years in the making...thank god Alex is more communicative than Data (CC's dev).  My advice is to pick up a few more games to follow or get a hobby--you will burn out long before Starfarer becomes what you want it to be if you're expecting miracles every release.  Welcome to indie game development, one developer style.

I thought there was a five men team?

Just to clear this up - I'm the only one working on it full-time, so I think that's where a lot of the confusion comes in. Matthew also isn't working on it anymore, but, of course, is still in the credits - at this point, four people are working on the game in various capacities. So, I'm definitely not the only dev - but at the same time, saying "five four man team" - while absolutely true - probably creates some unrealistic expectations, given the actual circumstances.

Btw: I've been without power for about two days now, and still don't have it back (posting this from relatives' house). Temperature's been in the 90s, too, so this is oh so very much fun.

Alex, pardon my possibly idiotic/assholish/younameit suggestion, but why don't you ask modders to help you develop the game?
Pretty sure many of them would lend a hand occasionally. If i knew how to code i'd volunteer tbh.
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Alex

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #287 on: July 02, 2012, 02:24:54 PM »

Alex, pardon my possibly idiotic/assholish/younameit suggestion, but why don't you ask modders to help you develop the game?
Pretty sure many of them would lend a hand occasionally. If i knew how to code i'd volunteer tbh.

No worries - this comes up now and again. Basically, coding/dev just doesn't work like that. The best analogy I've heard is "two women can't have a baby in 4.5 months". Corny as that sounds, it really is like that. Obviously, more people can be good - especially to get some skills/capabilities that you don't have - but it can also be bad. Adding people to a project to make it go faster is almost universally a bad idea - as long as I'm on a roll here with software-dev-related sayings, here's another one: "adding people to a late project makes it later". Never mind the legal issues involved (all surmountable, but as with everything, it just takes more time).

I really do appreciate the sentiment, though.
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Dark.Revenant

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #288 on: July 02, 2012, 03:24:27 PM »

I don't think more coders would be able to help Alex unless they work physically side-by-side and are top-tier programmers.

However, skilled modders would be very useful for content design and balance.  Rather than spending time testing your stuff for balance extensively, you can hand it to a team of dedicated testers with access to the data values so they can iterate on the actual numbers for you.  I've found in my own experience that this is a highly efficient method of refining the game once it gets large enough and saves the developer a lot of time.

This is assuming you don't already have something like this set up, by the way.
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heskey30

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #289 on: July 02, 2012, 04:54:07 PM »

Looking at most of the mods out there, letting modders balance the game is not a good idea...   ;)
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Thaago

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #290 on: July 02, 2012, 06:38:44 PM »

Looking at most of the mods out there, letting modders balance the game is not a good idea...   ;)

Hahaha yup ;)

The community in general does give lots of feedback on weapon balance though. When half of people are whining about it being overpowered and the other half declaring it worthless, you know a weapon is balanced. :P
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arwan

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #291 on: July 02, 2012, 07:08:03 PM »

Looking at most of the mods out there, letting modders balance the game is not a good idea...   ;)

Hahaha yup ;)

The community in general does give lots of feedback on weapon balance though. When half of people are whining about it being overpowered and the other half declaring it worthless, you know a weapon is balanced. :P

or so hopelessly unbalanced as to not be usable in a normal build but hopelessly OP when used incorrectly/against the spirit of the game/hacked.
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Alex
You won't be able to refit fighters and bombers at all. They're designed/balanced around having a particular set of weapons and would be very broken if you could change it. Which ones you pick for your fleet -out of quite a few that are available- is the choice here, not how they're outfitted.

Thaago

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #292 on: July 02, 2012, 08:37:55 PM »

True... I was kidding although it didn't come across right  :-\. The reality of what I wrote is more the classic sign of a broken weapon...
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Upgradecap

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #293 on: July 03, 2012, 01:30:40 AM »

When people say "I can't kill stuff fast enough with this gun!" Or " Why did that capital own my custom one? O_O" you know you have balanced stuff.
« Last Edit: July 03, 2012, 04:19:47 AM by Upgradecap »
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cp252

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #294 on: July 03, 2012, 02:16:03 AM »

People have said the former about the Storm Needler. It's still a bit OP.
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Strifen

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #295 on: July 03, 2012, 12:22:51 PM »

A few questions:

1)Any hints as to what systems the Phase-ships might be getting?

2)From the listed changes, it seems like Missiles are getting the short end of the stick in this patch; It seems most ships can out-run, shoot down, or shrug them off now. Between the high cooldowns, low ammo, Ordnance Point costs, and growing intercept-abilities of other ships, it seems fielding missiles is becoming a losing proposition, whose only real use seems to be herding enemies into lines of fire, distractions, and a 1-2 punch for some of the quicker ships who can sneak in Reapers and Atropos.
  Sure, missiles (will) have the ECCM Package and Extended racks option, and maybe the fast racks systems, if you wish to outfit one of the three hulls who have it, but it doesn't seem like it will be enough...anyway, here's the question:

Are you planning to do anything with missiles to make them more viable, especially for larger ships?
(Notes:I understand that missiles likely meant to be used in conjunction with Ballistic/Energy weapons/Fighters but they still feel underwhelming and costly to me)

3)How will Non-guided 'Missile' weapons be affected by things like Flare Launchers and the ECCM Package?

4)How is the AI Handling ship systems? I am particularly interested in how it handles the Burn Drive, Phase Skimmer/Teleporter, and High Energy Focus systems, and any significantly foolish mistakes it makes with regularity.

5)I don't believe this question -
These all look like a lot of fun :)

One comment though: should the Tempest really be getting Active Flares? With its high speed and omni-shield, it's already nearly invulnerable to missiles, unless fired when the Tempest ventured too close and is nearly overloaded--and now, in that case, it can just fire off its flares. I'll have to try it, but I think it might be OP and make it even easier for the Tempest to kite far larger ships.
- was ever answered, though I may have missed it in looking over this thread;

Compared to the other ships with Flare Launcher systems, it seems very out of place - it's a lean, mean fighting machine, where the others aren't, except maybe for the hound.

6)The Condor and Tarsus; With such a difference between their systems, I wonder if some humans out there still have a piece of advanced Dominion knowledge tucked away, or if I missed some detail about the refitting process involved; Did I? It seems strange that there would be those willing to improve ships like the Buffalo and the Tarsus, but not others - save maybe for the explanation of cost or abundance/scarcity.
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sdmike1

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #296 on: July 03, 2012, 12:51:55 PM »

-snip-
3)How will Non-guided 'Missile' weapons be affected by things like Flare Launchers and the ECCM Package?
-snip-
I don't think that they would be affected by flares but i think they would get all but the tracking bonus from the ECCM package.

Vandala

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #297 on: July 03, 2012, 12:57:44 PM »

Welcome to the forum Strifen.

The system choice for the tempest is an excellent one in my opinion. The tempest is an incredibly fast ship but not yet fast enough to completely outrun missiles, however due to it's system it will now be able to roam the map with impunity. I think it's speed will also allow it to use it's system to protect the rest of the fleet from missiles, though not as well as the Omen will.

If you look at the overall High-Tech ships and their systems you'll see that they make for a well balanced fleet, and a ship that has an active flare launcher is part of that balance.

Alex

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #298 on: July 03, 2012, 01:11:23 PM »

Hi Strifen, welcome to the forum!

1)Any hints as to what systems the Phase-ships might be getting?

Why, phase cloaks, of course. Assuming we can get the mechanics to work well.

2)From the listed changes, it seems like Missiles are getting the short end of the stick in this patch; It seems most ships can out-run, shoot down, or shrug them off now. Between the high cooldowns, low ammo, Ordnance Point costs, and growing intercept-abilities of other ships, it seems fielding missiles is becoming a losing proposition, whose only real use seems to be herding enemies into lines of fire, distractions, and a 1-2 punch for some of the quicker ships who can sneak in Reapers and Atropos.
  Sure, missiles (will) have the ECCM Package and Extended racks option, and maybe the fast racks systems, if you wish to outfit one of the three hulls who have it, but it doesn't seem like it will be enough...anyway, here's the question:

Are you planning to do anything with missiles to make them more viable, especially for larger ships?
(Notes:I understand that missiles likely meant to be used in conjunction with Ballistic/Energy weapons/Fighters but they still feel underwhelming and costly to me)

To a degree - I don't think the impact is all that significant. Missiles are already situational, and these systems generally don't affect a ship's ability to deal with missiles when they're overloaded or venting, which are the existing windows of opportunity. It will become more clear after 0.53a is out, though.

(I don't agree with your premise that missiles are lackluster, btw - for example, a pair of Harpoon racks can tear up a cruiser, and can be easily mounted on most frigates. They're just meant to be very situational, and exceedingly good when the situation is right. There's always room for some tweaks and improvements, but I think if you're finding missiles lackluster overall, it's a question of how you're using them.)


3)How will Non-guided 'Missile' weapons be affected by things like Flare Launchers and the ECCM Package?

Unguided missiles can still impact flares and blow up. The ECCM package still boosts their stats.


4)How is the AI Handling ship systems? I am particularly interested in how it handles the Burn Drive, Phase Skimmer/Teleporter, and High Energy Focus systems, and any significantly foolish mistakes it makes with regularity.

In my testing, it seems to do pretty well - but, again, this is something where player feedback will be really important. Generally the AI is coded to be conservative - i.e., avoid doing something that might be a mistake, at the expense of potentially passing up a good opportunity. I will say that the Hyperion is one of the most survivable ships in the hands of the AI just now.

5)I don't believe this question -
These all look like a lot of fun :)

One comment though: should the Tempest really be getting Active Flares? With its high speed and omni-shield, it's already nearly invulnerable to missiles, unless fired when the Tempest ventured too close and is nearly overloaded--and now, in that case, it can just fire off its flares. I'll have to try it, but I think it might be OP and make it even easier for the Tempest to kite far larger ships.
- was ever answered, though I may have missed it in looking over this thread;

Compared to the other ships with Flare Launcher systems, it seems very out of place - it's a lean, mean fighting machine, where the others aren't, except maybe for the hound.

Active Flares is actually a weaker system, all in all - that's why the Tempest is getting it, because it's already such a strong ship. But system assignments aren't set in stone by any means.


6)The Condor and Tarsus; With such a difference between their systems, I wonder if some humans out there still have a piece of advanced Dominion knowledge tucked away, or if I missed some detail about the refitting process involved; Did I? It seems strange that there would be those willing to improve ships like the Buffalo and the Tarsus, but not others - save maybe for the explanation of cost or abundance/scarcity.

Hmm, good point. I'll be honest here - I didn't consider that :) Refer to above point about system assignments not being final, though I think they'll stay this way for now, and we'll work it out when/if conversion mechanics are finalized. You can expect a bit of lore retrofitting there, if gameplay requires it.
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CrashToDesktop

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #299 on: July 03, 2012, 01:16:40 PM »

You just carved up and served Strifen's post, Alex. ;D  Anyway, I still think the Tempest will be a bit OP with the Active Flares, and unless I'm misunderstanding something, don't they have a greater change to distract a regular missile?
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