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News:

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

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Author Topic: Abilities  (Read 48212 times)

ArkAngel

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #15 on: April 21, 2015, 01:24:11 PM »



The AI behavior is going to be the biggest factor in how much fun this is - I'm imagining things like a patrol fleet, seeing a friendly trader in emergency burn, going over to investigate and make sure they are ok. (Or just responding to a "distress beacon"?)

This reminded me of star controls distress beacon which you could activate if you ran out of fuel in hyperspace. Would be interesting to see a similar thing in starsector, have patrols fleets respond to distress signals.
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"Yes... Yes I -am- sending you, alone, unarmed, against the might of the Hegemony defense fleet.  Not to worry - watching how they obliterate your puny frigate will be most... enlightening.  I shall dissect their tactics and emerge victorious!  Any questions? Then get to your ship, you launch in 5."

kazi

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #16 on: April 21, 2015, 01:52:24 PM »

I'd feel a little bit silly if I have access to all abilities all the time, like in old style FPS games where the player character is basically a walking armory. I think you should do a similar thing to Guild Wars and make it so only a certain number of abilities (say 8?) can be equipped at a time. You could make up a silly lore reason for this (need to change/install equipment, train crew, etc.). Basically it forces players (and AI fleets) to specialize/decide what they want to be good at, and accept certain weaknesses in return. Combat fleets would take a whole bunch of perks related to hunting other ships down and engaging things, whereas trade fleets might be more aimed at avoiding combat and taking advantage of navigational perks (new routes, etc.). Players who try to have an optimal fleet that does everything well would have to accept a number of weaknesses in both departments.
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Alex

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #17 on: April 21, 2015, 02:09:59 PM »

That sort of thing would come very naturally if abilities were unlocked by skills, wouldn't it?

At this point, though, it's not even entirely settled how many abilities there'll *be*. It could very well end up being just these four, with maybe a couple more sprinkled in there that you gain along the way. So, this is very much trying to solve a problem that might not even exist :)

I definitely wouldn't want to overwhelm the player with abilities at the start, though. Even 4 feels like it might be a bit much and could do with a more gradual introduction.
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kazi

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #18 on: April 21, 2015, 03:27:19 PM »

I think you should make a lot. :D Have the player have to go hunting all over the sector to unlock/upgrade them for a feeling of progression during a playthrough.

Find an old Domain relic? The player gains an ability that allows a short-distance teleport.

Buy a rare hyperspace generator? The player can now enter hyperspace anywhere.

Defeat a big fleet? Maybe the player gains the ability to temporarily spread out all their ships in a search formation (increasing the size of the circle on the campaign map), making it easier to engage people at the cost of maybe being unable to deploy all your ships.

...You could really have some fun with this.
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Alex

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #19 on: April 21, 2015, 04:21:13 PM »

I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some of the same ideas :) However, I shall endeavor to exercise Responsible Development Practices and not just add things because they're cool.

... which, honestly, isn't the worst reason to add something.
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SafariJohn

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #20 on: April 21, 2015, 04:34:38 PM »

I'm nervous about abilities. :-\

The four in the blog post look good, but I echo Mendonca's caution about "gilding the lily". My gut feeling is that it would be very easy to overdo it.
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Dri

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #21 on: April 21, 2015, 05:48:48 PM »

So glad burn speed is becoming less extreme. How is Navigation skill going to be reworked? Is it still going to give Frigates a much larger boost or will it too be smoothed over?

Also, will tug mechanics remain the same? Granting 1 Burn Speed to the slowest ship?
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kazi

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #22 on: April 21, 2015, 06:10:18 PM »

I'm nervous about abilities. :-\

The four in the blog post look good, but I echo Mendonca's caution about "gilding the lily". My gut feeling is that it would be very easy to overdo it.

Wait, you don't want things to be awesome?
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SafariJohn

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #23 on: April 21, 2015, 06:35:32 PM »

I'm nervous about abilities. :-\

The four in the blog post look good, but I echo Mendonca's caution about "gilding the lily". My gut feeling is that it would be very easy to overdo it.

Wait, you don't want things to be awesome?

Of course I do, but I've learned the hard way to listen to my gut. That said, I trust Alex to implement abilities in a way that works great.
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Solinarius

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #24 on: April 21, 2015, 06:36:33 PM »

On AI "distress beacon" behavior: there could be alert status stages built into transponders. Status would depend on a fleet's situation. It should probably be automated but I think having the transponder be as versatile as possible is important.

By the way, the Emergency Burn's ship art is certainly abstract but it looks like a mix of a Mon Calamari Cruiser and an Odyssey. 8)
« Last Edit: April 21, 2015, 06:45:30 PM by Solinarius »
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Alex

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #25 on: April 21, 2015, 07:16:11 PM »

I'm nervous about abilities. :-\

The four in the blog post look good, but I echo Mendonca's caution about "gilding the lily". My gut feeling is that it would be very easy to overdo it.

We'll see, I suppose. I'll just say that I'm reticent to add more abilities "just because".

So glad burn speed is becoming less extreme. How is Navigation skill going to be reworked? Is it still going to give Frigates a much larger boost or will it too be smoothed over?

Right now, it's inverted - +5 to cap, +4 to cruisers, +3 to destroyers, and +2 to frigates at level 10. This evens all the classes out at burn 12 (with civilians still lagging 1 burn behind).

Still feels like it might be a bit strong, though. Reducing it to 4/3/2/1 might feel better.

Also, will tug mechanics remain the same? Granting 1 Burn Speed to the slowest ship?

Yep.


On AI "distress beacon" behavior: there could be alert status stages built into transponders. Status would depend on a fleet's situation. It should probably be automated but I think having the transponder be as versatile as possible is important.

Oh, neat idea! Hmm. The issue would be if it was desirable for a distress beacon to have extra-long range. Which it seems like it might be.

By the way, the Emergency Burn's ship art is certainly abstract but it looks like a mix of a Mon Calamari Cruiser and an Odyssey. 8)

... now that you mention it, an "It's a Trap" ability seems like it's pretty much a requirement. Doesn't even matter what it does.
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Solinarius

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #26 on: April 21, 2015, 07:45:11 PM »

... now that you mention it, an "It's a Trap" ability seems like it's pretty much a requirement. Doesn't even matter what it does.

Comic relief for a future tutorial on campaign Abilities. Do eeeet.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2015, 07:48:30 PM by Solinarius »
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Alex

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #27 on: April 21, 2015, 08:10:44 PM »

Ah, right, the elusive campaign tutorial... <goes to cry in a corner>
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SafariJohn

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #28 on: April 21, 2015, 08:11:24 PM »

... now that you mention it, an "It's a Trap" ability seems like it's pretty much a requirement. Doesn't even matter what it does.

Comic relief for a future tutorial on campaign Abilities. Do eeeet.

Ability:
It's a Trap!

Description:
It's a trap!

Effect:
"It's a trap!"

 8)
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Thaago

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #29 on: April 21, 2015, 08:17:10 PM »

Ah, right, the elusive campaign tutorial... <goes to cry in a corner>

Make a slideshow out of the blog posts? :P

In all seriousness, the campaign tutorial should probably wait for a while. Or at least the highly polished version. As long as the tooltips are good then people can figure it out.
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