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

Author Topic: Hull/Armor and CR Widget  (Read 1642 times)

BillyRueben

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Hull/Armor and CR Widget
« on: November 15, 2018, 07:35:58 AM »

A (hopefully) simple suggestion: Can we change the widget readings to be a little more useful/readable?

As of right now, I'm pretty sure the widget sums up the averages of the hull, armor, and CR for the entire fleet. That isn't as useful as if the widget only showed the average hull, armor, and CR for only the combat ships. When I'm fresh out of combat and there are more fleets nearby, I don't really care about the status of my cargo ships, since they are still at max (or if I just retreated, I'm still running away anyway). I've tried to use the widget to judge my status at a quick glace a few times, but then I'm surprised when I hit a combat situation and my combat ships aren't really ready like the widget made it seem.

Bonus suggestion: Could the color of the average CR bar on the widget reflect the status of the lowest ship in the fleet? For example, if I have a combat ship that is below 20%, the bar would be red, regardless of the total average, just to show that I do have a combat ship that isn't really combat capable yet.
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Gothars

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Re: Hull/Armor and CR Widget
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2018, 08:00:06 AM »

Mhh. A problem about that idea is that it would cut out the feedback when something does happen to a civilian ship, e.g. when it gets hit by hyperspace lightning. Maybe the contributions to the stat could be weighted, with military ships counting double or triple? They you'd still see the number drop a bit if a civilian ship gets hit in a storm.
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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

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TaLaR

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Re: Hull/Armor and CR Widget
« Reply #2 on: November 15, 2018, 08:04:18 AM »

Maybe the contributions to the stat could be weighted, with military ships counting double or triple?

Could weight by deploy cost. It's pretty much directly proportional to combat strength.
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BillyRueben

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Re: Hull/Armor and CR Widget
« Reply #3 on: November 15, 2018, 08:12:35 AM »

Mhh. A problem about that idea is that it would cut out the feedback when something does happen to a civilian ship, e.g. when it gets hit by hyperspace lightning. Maybe the contributions to the stat could be weighted, with military ships counting double or triple? They you'd still see the number drop a bit if a civilian ship gets hit in a storm.

True, but what would change if one of your civilian ships did get hit with a hull, armor, or CR degradation? Would you change course? Not fight a nearby fleet? Usually, I just shrug and think "Bummer, but I'm going to keep going". If a combat ship takes a hit, then my tactical choices are adjusted.
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Gothars

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Re: Hull/Armor and CR Widget
« Reply #4 on: November 15, 2018, 08:46:42 AM »


Could weight by deploy cost. It's pretty much directly proportional to combat strength.

Makes sense to me.


Mhh. A problem about that idea is that it would cut out the feedback when something does happen to a civilian ship, e.g. when it gets hit by hyperspace lightning. Maybe the contributions to the stat could be weighted, with military ships counting double or triple? They you'd still see the number drop a bit if a civilian ship gets hit in a storm.

True, but what would change if one of your civilian ships did get hit with a hull, armor, or CR degradation? Would you change course? Not fight a nearby fleet? Usually, I just shrug and think "Bummer, but I'm going to keep going". If a combat ship takes a hit, then my tactical choices are adjusted.

It could cost you that ship if you get into an escape scenario, or you could become unable to do an emergency burn. An then there are some ideas floating around about ways how civilians could be seen in combat more often.

But I think the benefit of your idea would outweigh these relatively minor problems.
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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: Hull/Armor and CR Widget
« Reply #5 on: November 15, 2018, 09:02:02 AM »

I deploy civilians to mop up enemies when auto-resolving pursuit.  They are an untapped resource otherwise, and saves CR of my main fighting ships (for more chain-battling).  That said, if civilians cannot auto-resolve in 0.9, then including their stats for the fleet average could skew results away from usefulness as the OP pointed out.
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