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General Discussion / Re: Expectations for 1.0
« on: May 23, 2023, 10:11:33 PM »
I think there needs to be one more balance pass to the in-game economy, before 1.0 is released. As it stands, black market trading is overpowered, relative to all the other economy options. If it is so profitable, black market use should also have greater downsides (greater relation penalty, fines if you get caught by patrols, etc).
Alex could do more to introduce more unique starts to add variety. Starfarer mode is interesting and should be in the main menu. Maybe a pirate/pather mode (permanent hostile relations with all factions).
The late-game definitely needs a patch as well. The current colony threat system is excellent and could be used to implement some kind of crisis mechanic. As the sector starts becoming more chaotic, a crisis bar ticks up in progress towards another AI war, economic collapse (like a bronze age collapse), or Pather terrorist events.
I think contacts and faction reputation need another look. Contact don't feel very important right now. Faction reputation also feels like a grinding chore with very little strategic choice. Both systems just involve repeating fetch quests for reputation gain without a sufficient reward at the end. Maybe one way is to tie faction relations to relations with contacts? For instance, maintaining high relations with very high/high importance contacts can lead to gradual faction reputation gain over time. The current agreement with the Pathers and Pirates could result from having very high reputation with a very high/high contact with either Pirates or Pathers.
More ships! I like the current roster, but it would be neat to get more ships in Vanilla.
Alex could do more to introduce more unique starts to add variety. Starfarer mode is interesting and should be in the main menu. Maybe a pirate/pather mode (permanent hostile relations with all factions).
The late-game definitely needs a patch as well. The current colony threat system is excellent and could be used to implement some kind of crisis mechanic. As the sector starts becoming more chaotic, a crisis bar ticks up in progress towards another AI war, economic collapse (like a bronze age collapse), or Pather terrorist events.
I think contacts and faction reputation need another look. Contact don't feel very important right now. Faction reputation also feels like a grinding chore with very little strategic choice. Both systems just involve repeating fetch quests for reputation gain without a sufficient reward at the end. Maybe one way is to tie faction relations to relations with contacts? For instance, maintaining high relations with very high/high importance contacts can lead to gradual faction reputation gain over time. The current agreement with the Pathers and Pirates could result from having very high reputation with a very high/high contact with either Pirates or Pathers.
More ships! I like the current roster, but it would be neat to get more ships in Vanilla.