Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Save/Load UI, Autosave, Intel Map Markers, and More (04/10/24)
Would be awesome, but Alex is specifically approaching the design of the game from a single player perspective. Perhaps in many years if the code is released some intrepid modder will make an add on, but I doubt it. Do a search for multiplayer and you'll see previous people saying the same thing.
@asdfg: Right – I see what you’re saying. I think those are good ideas for system – so, let me explain why not very many systems like that are in the game (in fact, the only one I can think of is the ECM Emitter on the Omen – which, lightning-based as it is, is functionally a field around the ship where stuff (missiles, fighters, ship weapons/engines) gets disabled).
It comes down to what you’ve said in the beginning – ” The reasoning is to have a true support or “force multiplier” type roles that opens up more complex and interesting tactics/strategies.”
Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that – but I think these types of tactics/strategies are more naturally suited to emerging in multiplayer coop game. I don’t think it’s something the AI could pull off – at best, it’d know a few canned strategies, and the player would be frustrated in not being able to get the AI to cooperate with them how they want, when they come up with something new they want to try. A potential answer would be allowing more explicit control of allied ships, but that’s not a direction I want to go (makes the game too much of an RTS and takes away from piloting your ship).
That said, some of these could work – say, a tractor beam version of the inertial dampener. But the more purely-dependent-on-effective-cooperation a system would be, the more likely it is to run into trouble. This is exactly one of those design issues that come up if you try to design a game to have both multi and single player in it. For a co-op multiplayer game, systems that allow/force the players interact with each other are a must. For a single-player game, I don’t think it’s such a good idea – again, can be done to an extent, but shouldn’t be the focus.
Decreasing accuracy is a buff.
I like the mark 9's and the mauler inaccuracy because my gunner don't lead fast ships quite enough; with a perfectly accurate weapon, they perfectly hit the wrong target.
. The reality of what I wrote is more the classic sign of a broken weapon...
Looking at most of the mods out there, letting modders balance the game is not a good idea...
