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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: Starsector 0.65a (Released) Patch Notes  (Read 257895 times)

Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #60 on: June 12, 2014, 03:44:54 PM »

Re: decoratives - they're not something that's planned. Might end up adding a few at some point, but imo it's something to be approached carefully and with restraint, if at all.


...
Then there's playtesting and balancing, which, given the sheer number of changes and amount of new content, is likely to take longer than it usually does.
...

Well you could always release it with only minor playtesting and let the community decide what to do. I'm sure we'll reach a nice happy consensus very quickly, with no bickering at all. After all, designing games by committee always works out great!

Note: I couldn't resist. Please don't actually do this.

Got me good, thought you weren't joking for about two or three seconds. Well done.
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BillyRueben

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #61 on: June 12, 2014, 07:05:24 PM »

A few things that weren't answered (at least not directly) in the patch notes are:

Are the prices for current items in the game going to be adjusted to better fit the implementation of the economy (weapons, supplies, ect.)?

Are the credit values for ships going to be adjusted?

Is the distance between systems going to be great enough that fuel is actually a factor now?

Is there going to be an option to start off a new game as a "trader", with a ship better designed for freight and a small stockpile of goods?
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Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #62 on: June 12, 2014, 07:11:34 PM »

Are the prices for current items in the game going to be adjusted to better fit the implementation of the economy (weapons, supplies, ect.)?

Supplies, definitely yes, since they're a commodity. Weapons currently use the same prices as before; eventually they probably will fit into a supply/demand economy somehow, emphasis on probably. And on somehow :)

Are the credit values for ships going to be adjusted?

Is the distance between systems going to be great enough that fuel is actually a factor now?

Is there going to be an option to start off a new game as a "trader", with a ship better designed for freight and a small stockpile of goods?

TBD - that depends on how balancing/playtesting goes.
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Bribe Guntails

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #63 on: June 12, 2014, 10:57:54 PM »

Ok, now I'm extra jelly for the new update!
I'm looking forward to the economy system and the game universe coming to life.

On a different topic, will there be consideration regarding introducing fanmade factions to the vanilla game? (Blackrock, Neutrino)
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Bribe Guntails

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #64 on: June 12, 2014, 11:06:16 PM »

Re: decoratives - they're not something that's planned. Might end up adding a few at some point, but imo it's something to be approached carefully and with restraint, if at all.


...
Then there's playtesting and balancing, which, given the sheer number of changes and amount of new content, is likely to take longer than it usually does.
...

Well you could always release it with only minor playtesting and let the community decide what to do. I'm sure we'll reach a nice happy consensus very quickly, with no bickering at all. After all, designing games by committee always works out great!

Note: I couldn't resist. Please don't actually do this.

Got me good, thought you weren't joking for about two or three seconds. Well done.


Why not have the community submit visual modifications of ships and QA them as they come in?
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Nanao-kun

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #65 on: June 12, 2014, 11:37:15 PM »

Ok, now I'm extra jelly for the new update!
I'm looking forward to the economy system and the game universe coming to life.

On a different topic, will there be consideration regarding introducing fanmade factions to the vanilla game? (Blackrock, Neutrino)
I don't really see that happening.
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David

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #66 on: June 13, 2014, 09:13:22 AM »

On a different topic, will there be consideration regarding introducing fanmade factions to the vanilla game? (Blackrock, Neutrino)
I don't really see that happening.

Short answer, though I don't speak for Alex: no. Because:

We did this for Dredmor for a few mod skills for the free expansion pack. The logistics of it only just worked there because mod skills in Dredmor are small coherent packages that modders were willing to let go of forever - we had to officially purchase the work from them, with supporting paperwork and a cash transaction (of $1, for the sake of legality), structuring their contributions like that of contractors. Plus, the mod authors had to completely and necessarily give up creative control and the ability to ever change the mods. Plus I had to heavily rewrite text and redo art on everything to keep the official style consistent. Plus... making them an official part of the product, even if given away for free, froze them in amber kinda, because once it was official then we - the company - had to officially support them not crashing or glitching, work any changes into our patch schedule & test cycle, etc.

It's a lot of work on the official end and it would kill (though preserve) the mods. I think their creative energy is better served by staying mods. (Besides, I'd rather make up new stuff for the core game myself! :D)
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Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #67 on: June 13, 2014, 12:15:35 PM »

I was going to go with "no, because for starters, it'd be a legal, logistical, and inter-personal nightmare", but David beat me to it.

The other side of it is, why do it in the first place? Tying different creative endeavors together doesn't necessarily make them better than the sum of the parts. One of the things that makes mods great is the amount of freedom they have in doing things, compared to core game, which has to be Responsible. One of the benefits of vanilla being, well, vanilla, is that it's a more tightly controlled and cohesive experience. Mods are also able to have their own release schedule etc.

It's also quite an assumption that mod creators would want to do that in the first place, given what it means for their mod.

There's also me not wanting to do it, for similar "I'd rather make up new stuff for the core game myself" reasons :)


I'm sure the suggestion came from a good place, but all in all, it's just neither practical nor desirable.
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Cycerin

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #68 on: June 13, 2014, 03:29:53 PM »

What's the real difference between having mods literally be part of the game, and having a mod that ensures it fits in with the game? I'd say there's hardly any difference. If a mod is truly vanilla balanced, and has good content, then you can view it as an optional "expansion pack" with its own release schedule.

If Alex and David want to make it easy for players to expand the game in the future by giving easy access to polished mods, there are a lot of better ways to do it than clap your hands together and go like - okay, now this stuff is part of the game, and then start the long and painful process that David mentioned above.
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GeometryPrime

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #69 on: June 13, 2014, 04:52:28 PM »

On the subject of Mods being part of the game, I use Blackrock Shipyards... and on my Vanilla save, when loaded, I cannot access the Gneiss System from Hyperspace. Alex, Cycerin, any way to fix this? I really hate having the mod if I cannot use anything from it in my main game.

Probably the wrong place to be posting this, come to think of it. ::)
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Blips

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #70 on: June 14, 2014, 02:16:28 PM »

Supplies, definitely yes, since they're a commodity. Weapons currently use the same prices as before; eventually they probably will fit into a supply/demand economy somehow, emphasis on probably. And on somehow :)

Wasn't the plan to have everything (ships, weapons, etc) all tied into mining, manufacturing, researching and economics eventually?
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Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #71 on: June 14, 2014, 09:04:35 PM »

@GeometryPrime: You'll need to create a new game; in most cases, mods that add new star systems add them to the sector on new game creation.


Supplies, definitely yes, since they're a commodity. Weapons currently use the same prices as before; eventually they probably will fit into a supply/demand economy somehow, emphasis on probably. And on somehow :)

Wasn't the plan to have everything (ships, weapons, etc) all tied into mining, manufacturing, researching and economics eventually?

More or less, though I wouldn't go as far as calling that a "plan", that sounds far too definite and I generally want to stay away from making statements like that until I have some degree of certainty about how something is going to work out, which usually means trying it out first. I'm not sure why research keeps coming up, btw, it's not something that fits into the setting very well.

Anyway, that aside, I think what I said pretty much aligns with what you said, so I don't understand the question.

(Edit: I think it's probably a misunderstanding rooted in my penchant for hedging when talking about stuff that isn't done yet :))
« Last Edit: June 14, 2014, 09:08:46 PM by Alex »
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Blips

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #72 on: June 14, 2014, 09:46:28 PM »

Just your emphasis on emphasizing the "probably" and "somehow" is what led to the question.

As for research, wasn't it one of the original features that was outlined when the game was still named Starfarer? I'm talking about 3 years ago or so.

I'm not up to date with the lore, but research seems like it would be right at home with factions and industry: expending resources to unlock better guns / tech / etc which leads to corporate espionage, piracy, economic changes and warfare. Aside from factions and industry, research was the feature I was looking forward to most which makes me a bit sad if it was never concept to begin with.
« Last Edit: June 14, 2014, 09:48:47 PM by Blips »
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Dark.Revenant

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #73 on: June 15, 2014, 12:13:47 AM »

Research to me is more like "research", i.e. a euphemism for tech mining.  It's not something you would do passively and wait on a progress bar for.
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Gothars

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Re: Starsector 0.65a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #74 on: June 15, 2014, 02:06:50 AM »

Yeah, at least in Ivalyo's lore research is pretty much treasure hunting:

Research has a different meaning than the word as it is known to us today. Research, the one done by Tri-Tachyon and others, is a process that involves a couple of things. First, techmining, or retrieving Domain artifacts to locate blueprints or working components. Second, analysis deconstruction and\or integration. Lastly, potential blueprints extraction. That last step is extremely rare though.

Hope it stays that way, it fits the setting perfectly and sounds as if it could be a ton of fun. In that scenario I would imagine a top researcher to be some kind of space Indiana Jones :)


Research outside the time and resource scales of 4X games, as featured in many strategy games, is pretty much bogus anyway.





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