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

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Author Topic: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.  (Read 8480 times)

Gothars

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Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« on: March 31, 2012, 12:18:31 PM »

Starfarer is already a great game, but obviously theres still much room for improvements. One problem that I find is that there are not enough possibilities to make your spaceship unique. It's good that you can name and equip them, but there are always many very similar ships in the system. But in order to become emotionally attached to your vessels they have to be unique.

So I thought a Diablo-style item system would be great to individualize your ships (and fun in itself). Those improved items would  not even have to be that much better (that would screw up balancing), just make them rare so they feel very special (in that they would be very different from the diablo-style, where you absolutely need improved items).
I case somebody is not familiar with that kind of system: You could find or buy normal items with randomly generated improvements. Every improvement is associated with a pre- or suffix alongside the name. An item could have two improvements, the combination and the actual values of the improvements should be randomized.

For example there could be:
Chaingun (normal stats)
Fine tuned Chaingun (better precision)
Fine  tuned Chaingun of improved cooling (better precision, faster fire rate)

Maybe the same system could even be applied to ships.


What do you think?


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Iscariot

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Re: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« Reply #1 on: March 31, 2012, 12:21:02 PM »

Oh god no. All that does is encourage a lot of senseless grinding, and then what Yahtzee calls 'pants comparing'.
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The idea is that the various tech levels represent different - not "better" - ways to do things.

Gothars

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Re: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2012, 12:38:55 PM »

Well that is certainly not all it would cause. I think finding special items after a great fight or somehow finding them in the depths of the galaxy via exploring could be a very motivating reward. I personally don't care for "pants comparing", but if people like it let them do it, it doesn't subtract anything from the game for those who don't like it.

Besides, right now theres not much more to do then "senseless grinding" anyway. If new gameplay mechanics like trade and exploration are added they could provide those rewards too, so no reason to shift the players attention to grinding.
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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

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Shield

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Re: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« Reply #3 on: March 31, 2012, 12:42:33 PM »

No thanks all that will do is clutter inventory, you get better weapons through levels and hull upgrades, no need for random loot, which is the root of all evil.
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K-64

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Re: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« Reply #4 on: March 31, 2012, 12:43:30 PM »

I think that should only apply to salvaged weapons, where the weapon is damaged (as it would be, you blew the ship to a molten husk, after all), so its performance won't be quite as good until you get it repaired.
So you get Mr. Tachyon Lance from an unlucky Paragon, let's say. Now, we all know the base stats of this beast, but when salvaged, it may be x,y or z% worse in whatever attribute until you get it fixed, just like with a salvaged ship.

Now, that's by no means a perfect system, but in my opinion, I think it's a good way to get some randomisation in with mass-produced ship equipment and makes sure that you aren't fielding inferior kit forever
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lordgiza

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Re: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« Reply #5 on: March 31, 2012, 02:17:35 PM »

Well that is certainly not all it would cause. I think finding special items after a great fight or somehow finding them in the depths of the galaxy via exploring could be a very motivating reward. I personally don't care for "pants comparing", but if people like it let them do it, it doesn't subtract anything from the game for those who don't like it.

Besides, right now theres not much more to do then "senseless grinding" anyway. If new gameplay mechanics like trade and exploration are added they could provide those rewards too, so no reason to shift the players attention to grinding.
I think there would be great items in the galaxy that you have to find because the lore states that many blueprints were hidden by their owners.
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Vandala

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Re: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« Reply #6 on: March 31, 2012, 03:44:57 PM »

Oh god no. All that does is encourage a lot of senseless grinding, and then what Yahtzee calls 'pants comparing'.
^^^ This

evil713

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Re: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« Reply #7 on: March 31, 2012, 04:01:57 PM »

i dunno, eventually theres going to be building and leveling stats, this feature could be coming.

the plot may allow for this to happen, thoes blueprint design chips from before the fall were fiddled with in some cases.
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harperrb

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Re: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« Reply #8 on: March 31, 2012, 07:42:00 PM »

Screw Diablo.

Worked awesome for Space Rangers. I'd love to see something like that here.  If not equipment, I was thinking the similar, but with ships.
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factotum

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Re: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« Reply #9 on: April 01, 2012, 03:33:16 AM »

Surely the "emotional attachment" thing with the finished game will come from the officers assigned to each ship? It's not there yet because officers haven't been implemented, but I'm sure that's the idea of the whole officers with varied skills thing.
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Gothars

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Re: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« Reply #10 on: April 01, 2012, 05:03:44 AM »

Quote
Surely the "emotional attachment" thing with the finished game will come from the officers assigned to each ship? It's not there yet because officers haven't been implemented, but I'm sure that's the idea of the whole officers with varied skills thing.

Well, the attachment with the officers will be just that, attachment with the officers. To like the ship the ship has to be special.

Just think of likeable ships like the Serenity (Firefly) or the Millennium Falcon. If those were just run-of-the-mill ships seen everywhere on screen, it would be hard to feel about them at all.
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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

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Zilerrezko

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Re: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« Reply #11 on: April 01, 2012, 05:17:13 AM »

we should incorperate the herodric cube too...

Bonus prank call video xD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoammckI08E
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Vandala

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Re: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« Reply #12 on: April 01, 2012, 05:56:17 AM »

Quote
Surely the "emotional attachment" thing with the finished game will come from the officers assigned to each ship? It's not there yet because officers haven't been implemented, but I'm sure that's the idea of the whole officers with varied skills thing.

Well, the attachment with the officers will be just that, attachment with the officers. To like the ship the ship has to be special.

Just think of likeable ships like the Serenity (Firefly) or the Millennium Falcon. If those were just run-of-the-mill ships seen everywhere on screen, it would be hard to feel about them at all.
Were those not just run of the mill ships?

harperrb

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Re: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« Reply #13 on: April 01, 2012, 07:28:11 AM »

My vote for ship personality?

  • Enemy Kill list w/ what ship, where, when.
  • Damage and repair history
  • History of officers in command/crew loss/crew promoted/crew transfered
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Iscariot

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Re: Diablo-style randomly improved loot.
« Reply #14 on: April 01, 2012, 11:07:40 AM »

Quote
Surely the "emotional attachment" thing with the finished game will come from the officers assigned to each ship? It's not there yet because officers haven't been implemented, but I'm sure that's the idea of the whole officers with varied skills thing.

Well, the attachment with the officers will be just that, attachment with the officers. To like the ship the ship has to be special.

Just think of likeable ships like the Serenity (Firefly) or the Millennium Falcon. If those were just run-of-the-mill ships seen everywhere on screen, it would be hard to feel about them at all.

This is a fair point, but I don't think Diablo style loot is the way to achieve a sense of uniqueness. Checking whether every single battery on your Conquest battlecruiser is better than the floating bits of detritus in space after a battle is not a sense of uniqueness, it's a sense of tedium.

I think having 'unique named ships' show up in the vein of EV Nova, or rare, extremely hard to find ships with unique sprites, or personalized paint schemes and increased base OP or engine values (through character engineering skill)-- would be a better way.
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The idea is that the various tech levels represent different - not "better" - ways to do things.
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