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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: Abilities  (Read 48211 times)

Sproginator

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #90 on: April 30, 2015, 02:50:38 AM »

Fair enough :) "Sinking ships" is an especially cool one, if I ever manage to find time to add "breaking up ship hulks", I'll definitely look at that alongside it.

This is an especially fantastic idea, one I remember seeing a while back. Maybe chalk this up for the update after this one :3
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Clockwork Owl

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #91 on: April 30, 2015, 02:56:41 AM »

Is there a way to break the sprite up procedurally in game? Would be much better with some inner greebles(like FTL did) tho...

That's one of the tricky parts. Theoretically might be possible to tesselate using the bounds as a guide, but that might, in turn, put some extra requirements on how bounds should be specified. My gut feeling is it wouldn't end up being simple and lots of weird edge cases would come up. Then there's performance to consider.

Yeah, I can see it is either some extra works to all the sprites in game or some weird shaped debris from a Doom(or any modded ships with dark color scheme)...
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Megas

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #92 on: April 30, 2015, 06:43:02 AM »

I see industry as a possible way to declare independence from all of the factions, so I can wage war against all without depending on their resources.  Of course, if trade remains the way to powerlevel, I probably will play nice (grudgingly) with factions so I can get the most power.

My playstyle is quite opposite... I'd gladly get along with NPCs.
I got Starsector to blast ships.  If I become friends with everyone, there will be no one to fight.  Conversely, if I am enemies with everyone, I get to fight and enjoy more battles.  That does not mean I will play stupid.  If I need a faction's resources, I will get along and use them, grudgingly.  Currently, the only faction I can fight is Pirates because fighting anyone else locks out markets, which are the key to accumulating power.  The only consolation is deserter fleets are other factions under the Pirate flag.

Watching videos of ships blowing stuff up got me into Starfarer, as an alternative to Transcendence.  SPAZ competed with Starfarer at the time, and Starfarer won out due to being... more portable.
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SafariJohn

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #93 on: April 30, 2015, 07:00:10 AM »

As an aside to that, Alex, could right clicking on part of the UI bring up the expanded info (in addition to or instead of F1)? I think it would be very convenient and feel natural.

I don't really see doing that. Right-click is too useful for other things to take away across the board like that. Just one example: you use right-click on an ability button that's already got an ability assigned to it to bring up the dropdown to pick a different ability.

Do abilities have expanded info by hitting F1?

If not, I don't see why right-clicking couldn't do both. And those functions are only for a few small parts of the UI, so right clicking could still be used for a lot of other things elsewhere.


It's not a big deal, F1 is just somewhat inconvenient to hit at the best of times.
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Gothars

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #94 on: April 30, 2015, 07:36:52 AM »

operation time

As an aside to that, Alex, could right clicking on part of the UI bring up the expanded info (in addition to or instead of F1)? I think it would be very convenient and feel natural.

I don't really see doing that. Right-click is too useful for other things to take away across the board like that. Just one example: you use right-click on an ability button that's already got an ability assigned to it to bring up the dropdown to pick a different ability.

Why not just left click on the UI element to expand the info? All that does at the moment is to flash the info that's already there.

You'll have to expand that element a bit anyway to make room for sensor range and profile, right?
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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

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Alex

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #95 on: April 30, 2015, 09:31:10 AM »

Do abilities have expanded info by hitting F1?

They can have it, yes.

It's not a big deal, F1 is just somewhat inconvenient to hit at the best of times.

You can remap it! Not to right-click, though, and not to anything else used for anything anywhere in the game. So, not exactly a lot of options.


Why not just left click on the UI element to expand the info? All that does at the moment is to flash the info that's already there.

You'll have to expand that element a bit anyway to make room for sensor range and profile, right?

Sometimes the element is a button, and I'd like to keep this sort of thing consistent across the board.
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SafariJohn

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #96 on: April 30, 2015, 10:31:50 AM »

You can remap it! Not to right-click, though, and not to anything else used for anything anywhere in the game. So, not exactly a lot of options.

Curse you and your customizable controls! :P ;D
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Gothars

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #97 on: May 08, 2015, 02:49:56 PM »

Another idea for an ability that just occurred to me:

Blockade. Activate this and your fleet formation spreads out while the circle surrounding it grows. Depending on your fleet size, it can grow enough to cover an entire planet, wormhole terminus or similar objects of strategic importance. Of course you can now engage every fleet that wants to pass through.
Your fleet is unable to move though, and the supply consumption is increased to to the logistic challenge of coordinating over bigger distances.

Since your fleet is dispersed, you get a penalty in the deployment mechanics if it comes to a fight. Maybe some kind of time delay in getting deployment points.


I thought this might add nicely to the blogpost idea of watching for targets along frequently used routes instead of chasing them around.





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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

Arranging holidays in an embrace with the Starsector is priceless.

TheBawkHawk

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #98 on: May 08, 2015, 04:49:17 PM »

Another idea for an ability that just occurred to me:

Blockade. Activate this and your fleet formation spreads out while the circle surrounding it grows. Depending on your fleet size, it can grow enough to cover an entire planet, wormhole terminus or similar objects of strategic importance. Of course you can now engage every fleet that wants to pass through.
Your fleet is unable to move though, and the supply consumption is increased to to the logistic challenge of coordinating over bigger distances.

Since your fleet is dispersed, you get a penalty in the deployment mechanics if it comes to a fight. Maybe some kind of time delay in getting deployment points.


I thought this might add nicely to the blogpost idea of watching for targets along frequently used routes instead of chasing them around.

Your fleet would need to move though, as if it were stationary, the planet/wormhole/station would just orbit out from beneath you. A solution would just be to reduce your burn speed to one, so you can still move.
Maybe using the Blockade ability could also stop your fleet from interacting with non-fleet entities, so you can just click on the object you want to blockade and have your fleet follow it around as it orbits.
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Alex

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Re: Abilities
« Reply #99 on: May 08, 2015, 08:03:04 PM »

Another idea for an ability that just occurred to me:

Blockade. Activate this and your fleet formation spreads out while the circle surrounding it grows. Depending on your fleet size, it can grow enough to cover an entire planet, wormhole terminus or similar objects of strategic importance. Of course you can now engage every fleet that wants to pass through.
Your fleet is unable to move though, and the supply consumption is increased to to the logistic challenge of coordinating over bigger distances.

Since your fleet is dispersed, you get a penalty in the deployment mechanics if it comes to a fight. Maybe some kind of time delay in getting deployment points.


I thought this might add nicely to the blogpost idea of watching for targets along frequently used routes instead of chasing them around.

Hmm. Yeah, I could see this sort of thing working. I think this would fit in more closely with however more strategic combat ends up working (i.e. fighting to take a planet/outpost, say), though, so it might be more clear just how that kind of ability should work once that's in place.
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