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

Author Topic: Joining Engagements  (Read 2980 times)

armoredcookie

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Joining Engagements
« on: April 09, 2012, 07:35:51 PM »

Hey guys, what would you think about joining near the beginning or in the middle of a battle?
Engagements seem to happen instantly throughout space, but what if they took a little while? For say 5-20 seconds (depending on fleet size), and your fleet could come in and join a large scale battle fighting for either side, or if you really wanted to, go against both sides in a 3-way free for all.

This could probably be a way to help gain a better standing with factions, helping them win a battle, and add a lot more diversity to the game (especially early-mid game, having your lasher join in engagements between the Hegemony Defense Force and Tri-Tachyon Attack Fleets)
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Thaago

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Re: Joining Engagements
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2012, 08:26:15 PM »

I would love this but have no idea how much time it would take to implement... from the way we designate ships in making missions (player and enemy) I suspect the battles are coded for 2 and only 2 sides. Of course if the side you joined comes under your control than there would only be two sides.

+1 for idea, but I'd rather see other features implemented first.
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BillyRueben

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Re: Joining Engagements
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2012, 08:48:14 PM »

+1 for idea, but I'd rather see other features implemented first.
What he said.
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Shoat

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Re: Joining Engagements
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2012, 09:58:38 PM »

I think that is very likely to be possible in the more final versions of the game.


Right now all AI Battles just use the instant-autoresolve, but in the future it's likely that they'll just take place normally and take up some time instead of being instant.
Battles between AI Armies in the Mount&Blade series behave like that and you can join any ongoing battle, also AI armies can join each others (or your) battles to help either side.
Since it is not only interesting gameplay-wise but also helps with immersion and, more importantly, balance* it is very likely to be implemented at some point.


*
The autoresolve right now puts more weight into an abstract value for "power" than it does into correct ship choice and setup.
Taking a modded game as an example: A single Alien Behemoth ship (huge powerful ship) will very often win autoresolve battles, but if you fight against it manually it is very easy to defeat it (due to how poorly it's standard setup is and how the AI cannot handle it's flux correctly) even with very weak fleets that would lose every autoresolve fight against it.




I suspect the battles are coded for 2 and only 2 sides.

Fleets joining a battle would simply be given the option to join either of the sides, but only if that faction is at least neutral with them. And joining a battle between two hostile forces would simply not be possible.
And I doubt making the ships from the allied fleet not controllable by the player is that far away from the current implementation.


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Sladix

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Re: Joining Engagements
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2013, 01:56:41 AM »

I also think this is a good idea. Pretty much like in Mount&Blade. This add way more strategic opportunities even if there is a lot to implement first.

Think M&B is the reference and have many commons with Starsector.
Definitely 2 awesome games !
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Modest

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Re: Joining Engagements
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2013, 08:30:01 AM »

And I for one would love to see 3 way battles - something which I am missing in M&B strongly. I support this idea.
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Starlight

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Re: Joining Engagements
« Reply #6 on: June 02, 2013, 12:10:16 PM »

Given that this feature was in Mount & Blade, which this game takes a lot of ques from, it would make a lot of sense.  Particularly if we get to ally with the powers of space or set up our own little empire of outposts and set up our own fleets to defend them.  It would be pretty rubbish to watch our allies or worse, our expensive defensive fleets evaporate in a second before we could do a damn thing to save them.

For the time being, the feature isn't necessary, but when it does, I can see it becoming difficult.  I imagine quite a lot of work has gone into making the battles work as one side vs. another.  It may be more difficult then we imagine to implement multiple factions with differing allegiances on the battle grid. 
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Starlight; Vulpine Space-Adventurer.  Fond of lasers.