Fractal Softworks Forum
Starsector => General Discussion => Blog Posts => Topic started by: David on June 24, 2017, 01:22:57 PM
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WARNING
(http://fractalsoftworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/comsec_redacted.jpg)
Blog post here (http://fractalsoftworks.com/2017/06/24/drawing-redacted-battlestations-part-1/).
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comment thread here link doesn't work.
lovely post though, always fun to see the BTS stuff from years ago
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Hopefully the Quartermaster has clearance level ALABASTER, otherwise I'm gonna have a nice talk with the fleet commander. :)
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I love this!
Pretty smart to use the stations as side encounters to "test" them to see if they were fun enough instead of implementing them in such a way that encountering them is inevitable.
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I will now accept the criticism that this ended up making the Derelict Mothership a bit boxy.
I don't see how the Derelict Mothership being boxy can be a point of criticism. It's a factory that manufactures space boxes, so it's thematic if it's also a space box.
Where we’ll also find out just how many times I restarted the design for the Remnant Battlestation before finding something I liked, and only later realizing that it was in fact a giant Tri-Tachyon logo bristling with guns and artificial malevolence.
And I love it because of that. It's exactly the sort of thing Tri-Tachyon would design.
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I loved everything about it. I also like how a Tri-Tachion Battle-station looks like the company logo, something a megacorp would absolutely do for promotional purposes, and damn any concerns of viability!
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Wow, i really hadn't looked at the [REDACTED] Battlestation that way. that's actually pretty cool.
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Good read, thanks for the post!
We’ve already established a bunch of different station aesthetics with the campaign-level side-view stations. This begs the question of being able to fight all of those stations in battle, each with their varied aesthetics and sizes. Would it be plausible to roll out an entire set of (very large) sprites and modules to roughly fit all of those at the same time as a completely new set of station battle mechanics? Maybe-sorta.
I'm thinking, if (in combat) you see these different stations from the top, they'd probably not look all that different from each other. As you said, to have interesting variability is the entire point of drawing them sideways in the campaign. You could probably have a central section that would be an entire small station, and then some ring layers to turn it into a medium or big station. That would have the added benefit that (player?-) stations could be enlarged as the campaign progresses.
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Kinda sucks that the mega station of doom never made it in as something like that was what I was hoping station fights would be, but these current fights though are a blast as well
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I have to admit, I was expecting the battlestations to be larger! But reading the blog has made it clear that there'd be serious performance issues going that large—ah well.
I assume each major faction will eventually have its own unique battlestation design—you looking forward to drawing them all, David? Hahah! :)
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That giant battlestation with all the concentric rings does look fun, though. Surely there's some way to break it down into reasonably-sized repeating sections rather than make the thing one ridiculous monolithic texture?
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That giant battlestation with all the concentric rings does look fun, though. Surely there's some way to break it down into reasonably-sized repeating sections rather than make the thing one ridiculous monolithic texture?
I THINK that would not make a difference as I think it already was made up of several parts
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That giant battlestation with all the concentric rings does look fun, though. Surely there's some way to break it down into reasonably-sized repeating sections rather than make the thing one ridiculous monolithic texture?
As the great David said:
(*Mod-makers, of course, have made no such implicit commitment and can do all sorts of crazy things that bring even the mightiest gaming machine to a shuddering crawl.)
For vanilla, not possible. But for some crazy-ass mod, definitely, with the proper knowledge. :) Though to be honest, a giant rotating station with multiple layers of defense to get down to the core to disable energy to it's weapon systems would have been possibly the most epic fight I've ever fought. Destroy each layer in detail or try to punch of a hole through each layer in the same spot to catch a fleeting glimpse of the core and get a torpedo in there all Star Wars exhaust-shaft style. Not only would it be simply an epic battle, but it would be the epic battle that marked the peak of the entire game. Or perhaps the end of a grand story line if there ever existed one - a rouge alpha or perhaps a more powerful AI jamming the gates of the sector hidden away in a dark, unknown star system pimped out with it's own battlestation worthy of a coalition to destroy it.
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That giant battlestation with all the concentric rings does look fun, though. Surely there's some way to break it down into reasonably-sized repeating sections rather than make the thing one ridiculous monolithic texture?
Wouldn't player just blow that up near instantly with Hyperion/Afflictor? Assuming there is sufficient gap to materialize in.
I suppose stations could have anti teleportation/phase fields to prevent that...
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That giant battlestation with all the concentric rings does look fun, though. Surely there's some way to break it down into reasonably-sized repeating sections rather than make the thing one ridiculous monolithic texture?
Wouldn't player just blow that up near instantly with Hyperion/Afflictor? Assuming there is sufficient gap to materialize in.
I suppose stations could have anti teleportation/phase fields to prevent that...
You can't unphase or teleport into the middle of a ship, even something like a paragon, so I doun't you could do the same with a superstation
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That giant battlestation with all the concentric rings does look fun, though. Surely there's some way to break it down into reasonably-sized repeating sections rather than make the thing one ridiculous monolithic texture?
Wouldn't player just blow that up near instantly with Hyperion/Afflictor? Assuming there is sufficient gap to materialize in.
I suppose stations could have anti teleportation/phase fields to prevent that...
You can't unphase or teleport into the middle of a ship, even something like a paragon, so I doun't you could do the same with a superstation
Yes, but that design was supposed to have gaps.
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That's some nice unused sprites there, it would be a shame if those falls into the wrong hands... And it's not like everyone signed the Ram Regulation Agreement either...
Anyway, i'm eager to see how the Remnant station came to be, that thing is pretty damn huge.
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Re. all the giant battlestation talk- If there's a modder or modders out there that wants to take on that idea, please do!
... Like, I'm trying to be subtle here, but if that's not working: Modders, please make a giant battlestation mod!
I assume each major faction will eventually have its own unique battlestation design—you looking forward to drawing them all, David? Hahah! :)
I wouldn't assume that they'd be unique per-faction, just as with ships. I'll discuss it more in the part 2 to this blogpost, but it's important to me that the factions have a more-or-less shared material culture (to abuse some anthropology jargon). And we're otherwise not in a state where we can comment on how non-AI battlestations would theoretically work in-game. So ... I'll leave it at that.
I don't see how the Derelict Mothership being boxy can be a point of criticism. It's a factory that manufactures space boxes, so it's thematic if it's also a space box.
I like your thinking!
Hopefully the Quartermaster has clearance level ALABASTER, otherwise I'm gonna have a nice talk with the fleet commander. :)
Ooh, you should double-check. Don't want to be called in for enhanced debriefing!
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Modders, please make a giant battlestation mod!
Crap, we don't have a choice now...
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Maybe Star Castle remake for Starsector?
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Maybe Star Castle remake for Starsector?
Wow, you mean Star Castle the very old vector graphics arcade game?
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The original 1980 Cinematronics arcade game. For Starsector, energy rings are the modules and the Star Castle is the core.
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Hmm... the large Remnant battle station ended up being akin to the Tri Tachyon Corporation logo, eh? Nice.
From another perspective... look! A giant blue fidget spinner!
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Hmm... the large Remnant battle station ended up being akin to the Tri Tachyon Corporation logo, eh? Nice.
From another perspective... look! A giant blue fidget spinner!
(Oh no, you preempted a joke I was saving for part 2!)
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As the great David said:
(*Mod-makers, of course, have made no such implicit commitment and can do all sorts of crazy things that bring even the mightiest gaming machine to a shuddering crawl.)
For vanilla, not possible. But for some crazy-ass mod, definitely, with the proper knowledge. :) Though to be honest, a giant rotating station with multiple layers of defense to get down to the core to disable energy to it's weapon systems would have been possibly the most epic fight I've ever fought. Destroy each layer in detail or try to punch of a hole through each layer in the same spot to catch a fleeting glimpse of the core and get a torpedo in there all Star Wars exhaust-shaft style. Not only would it be simply an epic battle, but it would be the epic battle that marked the peak of the entire game. Or perhaps the end of a grand story line if there ever existed one - a rouge alpha or perhaps a more powerful AI jamming the gates of the sector hidden away in a dark, unknown star system pimped out with it's own battlestation worthy of a coalition to destroy it.
I need this to happen now. I want to explore more of the AI part of the lore now because it's pretty amazing. My favorite part is that they are controlled by attaching explosives to them.
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So, Derelict motherships. I love their design, but actually fighting them (and their defense fleet) in their current iteration feels a bit underwhelming. This probably isn't a place to post this feedback, but it kind of fits!
Although fighting one was fun, it was kind of easy to defeat the mothership and all of its defense drones with a fleet of 8 ships ((3 carriers [mora, heron, condor], 2 destroyers [hammerhead, sunder], 3 frigates [lasher, brawler, monitor].
Though while I was fighting it, I just assumed it was thematic that it was really easy, considering how old and battered all of that technology is. However, I did have a voidcraft-heavy fleet ((those Khopesh Rocket Bombers seem to be the bane of their existence)) so maybe they need more anti-fighter anti-missile support drones mixed in there? In particular, those destroyer-sized drones with like 6 or 8 machine gun turrets and active decoy flares did not seem to be very helpful for the enemy. They were usually not in a position that would give support to their more vulnerable allies and even then those drones couldn't defend themselves against 2 squadrons of Khopesh Rocket Bombers. One or two attack runs was all that was needed.
It sure is satisfying when those things land rockets, though. Much more satisfying than Piranhas.
Oh, and the drones all scattered far away from the Mothership, outside of its firing range. What's more, it seemed completely defenseless against voidcraft as well!
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Btw David, since you are talking about "layered stations that you have to peel off to get to the core", have you read Glen Cook's The Dragon Never Sleeps? A good SF book, that contains what may be the most epic space battle ever.
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I love everything about it
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So, Derelict motherships. I love their design, but actually fighting them (and their defense fleet) in their current iteration feels a bit underwhelming. This probably isn't a place to post this feedback, but it kind of fits!
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Oh, it's fair. Motherships are intended to be easy kills with an fairly low level fleet, so your experience with the loadout you describe is intended.
Now whether it should be intended could be an interesting question, but I think it's good to give low-level (and possibly low-skill) players a battlestation fight to win.
Btw David, since you are talking about "layered stations that you have to peel off to get to the core", have you read Glen Cook's The Dragon Never Sleeps? A good SF book, that contains what may be the most epic space battle ever.
Haven't read it! Thanks for the recommendation.
I love everything about it
<3
I'm really enjoying all your advice on minimizing the labor of painting large sprites, since that's something I think about a lot, as I get back into the groove of painting.
Cool! I don't want to break down the entire process, mostly because it's super long, but I'll show a little more of this in part 2 as I go over a bunch of (failed) iterations on the Remnant Battlestation.