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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

Author Topic: Three last minute ideas  (Read 2153 times)

Gothars

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Three last minute ideas
« on: September 19, 2018, 09:32:51 AM »

1) Character creation determines initially available hullmods. For example, a bounty hunter would know auxiliary thrusters and safety overrides, a scavenger reinforced bulkheads and insulated engines. Of course all the other hullmods can still be discovered.
Advantage: More variety in early loadout design, more (lore and gameplay) distinction resulting from character choice.

2) Character XP gain increases with deploying fewer ships, within a range. The maximum XP can already be gained by a relatively small, but not too small task force that should still reasonably stand a chance against the enemy without the use of exploits or cheesy tactics.
Advantage: encourages restrained deployment, and thus interesting fights, against same-sized and inferior fleets. At the moment that is encouraged only by deployment costs, which is counteracted by the increased chance of losing ships.

3) Smaller fleets can get some loot from bigger fleets in an escape scenario, if they manage do destroy ships. Doesn't it feel unfair if you are caught by an overwhelming enemy and fight some heroic rear-guard action where you destroy a third of their ships, only to be left with empty hands? It doesn't even make a difference if you manage to destroy most of the enemy or none at all.
Advantage: Encourages small-fleet playstile und reduces reloading-if-caught-syndrome.
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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

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Megas

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Re: Three last minute ideas
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2018, 11:12:24 AM »

1) I prefer to have basic and vital hullmods useful for everyone, and we have a decent set for now.  Personally, I like to see Dedicated Targeting Core axed and ITU put in its place.  Reinforced Bulkheads could be a vital hullmod due to guaranteeing hull recovery.  Hardened Subsystems may be vital due to how cowardly the AI is, and it loves to stall.  If the tutorial remains the default start by 1.0, remember that player will need to fight his way out of Galatia, so no pacifist/pure trader runs at first.

2) This is only good before endgame and level cap.  By endgame, player will be at level cap.

3) If you yield the field to the enemy, it does not make sense that you can grab loot on the run while the enemy controls the field.  Also, I would be very annoyed if the sides were flipped and surviving enemies automatically stole my loot.  Little more is aggravating than thieves stealing my loot.
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Tartiflette

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Re: Three last minute ideas
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2018, 11:53:41 AM »

1) I wholeheartedly agree with. Alternatively, "pick two hullmods among those five".

2) Even better, bonus +1 if it applies to officers too.

3) Okay now that one feels weird.
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TaLaR

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Re: Three last minute ideas
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2018, 12:13:36 PM »

1) I prefer to have basic and vital hullmods useful for everyone, and we have a decent set for now.  Personally, I like to see Dedicated Targeting Core axed and ITU put in its place.

Or maybe DE could get access to DTC, while ITU remains as superior option. The only DEs that can decently manage without ITU are player-piloted UI Medusa or player-piloted SO variants. AI-piloted ITU-less DEs just get slaughtered by anything with ITU...
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Gothars

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Re: Three last minute ideas
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2018, 12:48:33 PM »

1) I prefer to have basic and vital hullmods useful for everyone, and we have a decent set for now.

There would still be some basics hullmods available for everyone, the different sets would overlap. I wouldn't even change the current set too much.



3) Okay now that one feels weird.

Admittedly. Still, it feels wrong to inflict heavy damage on the enemy and gain nothing. Mhhh... maybe the wait time of the enemy fleet on the campaign layer could be increased when he takes losses while pursuing you? That would at least reward you with more time to get away, maybe even slip past him and, like, smuggle and raid on a planet he was protecting :)



I would be very annoyed if the sides were flipped and surviving enemies automatically stole my loot.  Little more is aggravating than thieves stealing my loot.

Are you usually losing ships when you chase down enemies? In my experience that only happens to NPC fleets.
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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

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Megas

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Re: Three last minute ideas
« Reply #5 on: September 19, 2018, 01:15:58 PM »

@ Gothars: I do not fight pursuits manually anymore thanks to auto-resolve.  If auto-resolve was not an option, I probably would be forced to use fast but weak ships, and the risk of casualties due to pilot error or something would be not insignificant.  Not usually, but probably not too rare.  Due to the risk and time saved, I always auto-resolve pursuit.

But it still makes no sense that the losing side running for their lives will drive-by loot.  They have no control of the battlefield to loot - they gave that up to the enemy.
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AxleMC131

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Re: Three last minute ideas
« Reply #6 on: September 19, 2018, 11:28:59 PM »

1) Yes bloody please! :D I love this idea. Even better, though I'm not sure how easy it would be, it might be nice to make such starts configurable for modders somehow. Thinking that those mods that add a "custom start" (like Dynasector and Nexerelin) would also be able to change up what hullmods the player can start with in each of their starting selections.

2) Sounds intriguing. As someone who likes engaging with smaller fleets and really wishes there were more reasons to, I'm all for this too.

3).... Yeah, agreeing with Tart here, this one's a little bit "eh?" Giving an escaping fleet the chance to salvage the battlefield doesn't seem right to me. If anything, this can already be a thing where the escaping fleet later circles back after the battle and picks through the debris field (if any), but beyond that I don't think it makes sense for an escaping fleet to have salvage "rights" after a fight they were pursued in.
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