... The engagement curve can be fairly steep if you start the player with Destroyers ...
This is something I have never experienced when using previous mods which allowed you to start with a destroyer.
On the whole it made the early game far easier by; giving you a greater ability to fight while allowing for more "mistakes", gives you a far greater flexibility for loadouts, and it just flat removes the requirement to play a twitch shooter for those that don't like that kind of game.
Given the choice I would pick a destroyer start (any destroyer) just to avoid having to fly a frigate, which I dislike immensely.
Hmm, you think? Maybe I
do need to think about this a little more...
I really like what you did here. It may do remind me a little bit of Nexerelin start options but only because it was a first mod to offer something like this when SS itself wasn't giving us any options there really. Now it does, but they're limited - which is exactly what you have remedied. I do really like the options, starting with cerberus + dram was pretty unorthodox for me but was a nice change.
Glad you're enjoying it! Part of the point of the mod was to experiment with different combinations of starting ships, so it's good to see people trying new things out.
If I was to suggest something though, I would highlight the lasher for newer players, perhaps throw in some more cash along it etc. But that's the only thing I could think of.
Good call - it is a pretty low-brow ship, and good for beginners. I'll make a note.
To be fair the start ship choice is made within the tutorial's sytem salvage field. And since you have access to these ships wether you do the tutorial or not I'm not that concerned with the limited choice.
Hmm, good point. I suppose my biggest fear is that I'll give the player a ship option that allows them to fly through the tutorial without finding it challenging and/or fun at all. If the player chooses to play the tutorial, I'd rather keep it fun for them. But then again, I have weird fundamentals, so I guess other people need to tell me if that's a good idea or not. So far it seems not.
i like the idea of giving the Tempest option a d-mod or two, something that takes away some of its speed and/or flux stats. even if it's more expensive to field already, Tempest is just too good in comparison to the other ships on offer unless there are some serious drawbacks.
Perhaps. I could do that pretty easily with a custom variant (and almost did until I couldn't think of anything better to put on a Tempest than what it has already...). Still, feels a little cheap, to give the player what is a pretty darn good ship and then say, "nah, it's actually a slightly sh*ttier version, sorry mate." I guess I'd just need to come up with a reasonable way to do it.
So, interestingly, it seems that perhaps the Tempest isn't the best thing to give the player as an option, yet people want the ability to start with Destroyers. So, here's a question for you:
Do I redo Better Beginning to completely overhaul how the game starts you, and give the player bigger fleet options? There's a couple of ways I would consider doing this:
- The Nexerelin method: Give the player a selection of "fleet types", (single frigate, small convoy, military detatchment, etc.) each with a preset selection of ships, and perhaps a flag that specifies each fleet type as a difficulty level.
- The chain method (stockalike): Expand the number of times the player is given a choice when making their fleet, so the same as the current method but they could choose from different selections to get three or four ships in total.
- The "Bigger first" method: Similar to above, but make the players flagship something a little bigger. This would be the simplest "destroyer start" method.
- The career choices method: Instead of giving the player ship options, return to what was done a long time ago for Starsector where you go through what was effectively a questionaire that built up your past career and life in the sector, then decided on your ship(s) depending on that. At each stage (question) I could the player a ship without announcing it, then at the end show the player what their fleet and situation is. While this method sounds fun on paper, it's also the one that gives the player the least control over their ships, and would work best for a role-play scenario where the player takes what comes.
If anyone has a better idea for a method, please do share.
Bear in mind that I'd still prefer to keep things simple if at all possible.
