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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Anubis-class Cruiser (12/20/24)

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Author Topic: Orbital Stations in Combat  (Read 105534 times)

senhorpistachio

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #75 on: September 23, 2016, 09:36:33 PM »

What about a mechanic where troop transport ships carrying marines could dock with and board a disabled station?
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Dri

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #76 on: September 23, 2016, 09:37:08 PM »

Right now, I'm thinking it should be something that a player with multiple maxed out capitals can take on but with heavy losses, and it should be impossible to solo, although I'm sure that someone will find some way to do it no matter what. But this is talking about currently-hypothetical well-maintained stations that are defending populous planets; there could well be stuff considerably below that in power.

Of note, a station can have an officer and their skills will apply to all the modules, so that could influence its power level quite drastically.

Damn, thanks for the info on this. I'm glad to see that you intend for the major battlestations to have some serious clout concerning sector power and stability.

An officer in a battlestation...wow. Yeah, I can totally see how powerful that could be to say the least! The coming shift towards skills being more defensive in nature could turn a battlestation damn near invincible! :D
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Thana

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #77 on: September 23, 2016, 10:18:26 PM »

"Now, witness the firepower of this halfway decent but not entirely operational battlestation..? Hell, I don't know, just roll with it, okay?"
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CrashToDesktop

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #78 on: September 23, 2016, 11:30:01 PM »

All that's needed to accompany the ISS Placeholder is the ISS Slightly Lopsided Isosceles Triangle and we'll have a complete defensive line!

;)
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Cik

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #79 on: September 24, 2016, 12:34:23 AM »

It might be time for a new category of bomber, too :D. I wouldn't mind a 'strategic' bomber wing, something that wasn't much good against ships but could really maul a station.

piranhas literally are this. even in the old days they couldn't reliably hit an onslaught (curse you burn drive)

make them actually release the bombs dependent on the enemy's flak range, then break attack, make them and the bombs a little faster and you have an effective strategic bomber.
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Gothars

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #80 on: September 24, 2016, 01:43:31 AM »

You could also reverse the carpet bombing idea: With a stationary station, it now makes sense to have stationary defenses, too. I'm thinking of weapon platforms  and especially mine fields. Mines are already a market condition of some stations after all, it would only make sense to see them in battle.
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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

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WastedAlmond

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #81 on: September 24, 2016, 02:32:08 AM »

I'm super excited for the new stuff, enough so to pull me out from lurking! :P

What do you think of player commissioned orbital stations protecting a player outpost? It would have to be a massive investment, and it wouldn't be in the player's direct control but it could stand guard if you had a super valuable outpost you'd like to protect. Could these be a possibility or are player outposts generally so small they don't warrant such investments?

One last thing that comes to mind, is that with all this new stuff coming it could take a while to  polish it up for public consumption. Now I know dates and times can be iffy with games and it's not my place to demand them, but do you feel you could share something in general about what you plan on doing before you even consider releasing the next public build? Are there still some secret features you are experimenting on, or are you going to focus mainly on polish for a while? No time frames, just something in general. (Feel free to skip this bit if I'm too prying :-X)
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Tartiflette

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #82 on: September 24, 2016, 02:40:35 AM »

Okay, I can see you had a though about my mod when implementing this, but unsurprisingly I still have a couple of questions/requests since this is going to replace most if not all of TwigLib.

The big one is: Can modules be moved around? I know you loved Scy's Nemean Lion opening armor, so will it be possible to do that with the API? I see modules are spawned on top of "module" mounts, but those aren't movable (yet?). So if I manually move them via everyframe scripting will the game force-replace them on top of their mount?

How are collision handled with the modules? Are they on an intermediary layer between ships and fighters or do they need bounds that do not touch their core? Do ships and asteroids collide directly with the modules or only with the core? If they do, are collision forces and weapon impacts automatically transmitted to the core? Can weapons on the core fire through a module? (that was one of the biggest issues with twigLib, most of the issues it currently has stems from this)

I suppose the module's AI is a fair bit simpler than a ship AI, but can they still use ship systems?

You said the modules take time to repair, that is nice but will the refit UI indicate that? With Debido we had a nice system in place (it is not working in 0.72 because I'm nowhere near his coding skills and messed up his stuff but it was a thing previously)
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And how does the game handle repair cost? Are destroyed modules visible in campaign view?

How are modules stats handled in the ship codex info card? Are they added to the core stats? Or not displayed at all?

I'm not sure this one has been asked, but do emp weapons hitting a module arc only withing said module of do they hit the core too? Do they also hit other modules?

That should do it for now ><.
And in case anyone forgot, the hype train has no brakes
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Kanil

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #83 on: September 24, 2016, 03:18:02 AM »

This probably falls under the category of "a lot of work for virtually no reward", but what do you think of tugs moving these things around in battle?

It might be a little silly for the huge stations, but somewhat reasonable for the smaller ones.
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Cyan Leader

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #84 on: September 24, 2016, 03:34:46 AM »

Very exciting blog post, thanks for sharing Alex.

Now while I'm aware that you have perfectly good reasons not to be specific about the potential size of stations, would you be willing to comment on how much the engine can actually handle?
I mean if we are fighting a station that can dock the largest capital ships then they would have to be at least 10x the size of anything in the game at the moment. It could potentially cover 25-35% of an entire big combat map. Are units that large even possible?

As for suggesting/hyping things, it'd be amazing if these stations could launch from time to time ships that are actually larger than fighters. Frigate bays and such or hell, even Destroyer or Cruisers for the high-end ones.
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Gothars

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #85 on: September 24, 2016, 04:11:18 AM »

Potential: Spaceborn creatures with detachable limbs. Release the Void-Kraken!


I'm not sure this one has been asked, but do emp weapons hitting a module arc only withing said module of do they hit the core too? Do they also hit other modules?

It was asked, EMP arcs do not spread between modules.
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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.

Cycerin

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #86 on: September 24, 2016, 07:17:36 AM »

On top of all this, there is finally a definite, excellent reason to invest in capital ships: if you need to pound the *** out of some heavily fortified space stronghold.

Potential: Spaceborn creatures with detachable limbs. Release the Void-Kraken!

This does align slightly with some ideas I've had...
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Asauski

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #87 on: September 24, 2016, 07:49:41 AM »

Really... I love the direction that this game is taking :D

HYPE TRAIN !!
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Tartiflette

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #88 on: September 24, 2016, 08:04:29 AM »

Potential: Spaceborn creatures with detachable limbs. Release the Void-Kraken!
Can't wait to get back working on Seeker  ;)
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Gothars

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Re: Orbital Stations in Combat
« Reply #89 on: September 24, 2016, 09:08:13 AM »

Potential: Spaceborn creatures with detachable limbs. Release the Void-Kraken!

This does align slightly with some ideas I've had...

Can't wait to get back working on Seeker  ;)

Sure guys, just keep shoveling coals into the hype train's fire ;D

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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.
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