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[Blips]

So, got anything new for us Alex? 

[Alex]

So, got anything new for us Alex? 

Working feverishly! The curse of working on large features, I suppose - not an awful lot to report until they are done.

What I'm doing now is making changes to how the war room works - making real good progress, too. I think it'll only take a couple of days to wrap up the functionality - and then I'll ship it off to David so he can make it look good


The way the new war room works is you create tasks ("Assignments") for your fleet, and they organize themselves into groups to perform them. So in a typical start to a battle, you might order two objectives to be "captured" (sends a small, fast task force there) and one objective to be "assaulted" (sends a larger, beefier force there, of what's available). That's literally all you'd have to do, aside from picking which ships to deploy.

Later on, you might create a waypoint and order your fleet to "rally a carrier group" there. If it's getting a bit hot, you can order the carrier to be escorted. There's lots of these types of orders you can give.

You can also give direct orders (retreat, repair & refit, etc). In addition, you can use these to put a specific ship on a particular assignment, if you think it's important enough.

The number of assignments active at any one time is limited (currently 3, +1 per comm relay, +bonus from Command skill which is tbd). Very importantly, the number of direct orders you can give is also limited - to reflect that as fleet commander, you can do but so much micromanagement. Right now it's also at 3 per battle, and these don't regenerate, so you have to use them wisely. Again, comm relay bonus applies and skill bonuses will apply here.


Hmm. This just might merit being expanded and made into a blog post, once the feature is complete.

[Blips]

Sounds exciting. Can't wait to get some first hand experience. 

[Trylobot]

Hmm. This just might merit being expanded and made into a blog post, once the feature is complete.

+1

[SeaBee]

Thanks so much for the update, this is intensely exciting! I really cannot wait to see how it all turns out. The extra command and control features will be a big help.

[Avan]

Very interesting, I'm curious to see how these changes play out in practice.

[RooksBailey]

Wow!  That sounds great!  It's the type of C3 I always love to see in a fleet game!

[Alex]

Hah, "Command & Control" is an entirely cool name for the war room. Renaming it to that just might be worth the trouble of... well, actually re-naming it everywhere.

Didn't know it could be abbreviated to C2 (or C3, if you add communications), that also scores some cool points. It's amusing that adding an extra C (to get to C4) yields something altogether different

[RooksBailey]

Hah!  Yes, C4 does add some bang to the abbreviation.     Maybe we could get some C4 in the game? 

[JWNoctis]

Who needs C4 when we have antimatter for bulk demolition purposes?

Technically the war room is already a C4I system as it currently is, being computerized on both side of the fourth wall, with intelligence concerning all things moving and shooting.

Speaking of intelligence...I'm sure something like this is already on the list, but maybe there should be some sort of component that denies your opponents of such information as weapon mounts and flux/armor level, and more advanced things that would break/lag sensor lock, spoof missiles, create false sensor images/echos for your opponents to wonder about and waste a good amount of long-range munition on, or just strip them of their intership communication altogether along with sensor sharing, C&C, as well as screams for reinforcements of any sort, and finally components that would make it more difficult for others to do the same on you...Basically another layer of strategy, and another battlefield to fight on.

Maybe EW does not really fit in the atmosphere of Starfarer, or maybe it's just a bit too advanced given the dystopian nature of the ingame universe...Still fun to think about nonetheless. But anyway...It would at least be nice to have missiles that actually rely on sensor lock for guidance, and lead their course for interception instead of simply chasing the tail of their target. Would at least make the Bis'mar mission more challenging.

[Alex]

Just what I was thinking. C4? Much too weak!

About EW - there are definitely plans to get some of it in the game, both in the combat and the campaign layers.

By the way, the missiles do lead their targets - they'd be much worse if they just tracked the current position - but if you're trying to chase down something that's faster and/or more maneuverable, there's only so much you can do.

I have been toying with the idea of implementing the actual Sidewinder target tracking algorithm, though. What's in the game now basically does the same thing, but the way the real algorithm does it is just so elegant.

[theShadow]

Something else that could be interesting is AoE type missiles, that can do damage to a large area. Like a flac missile that explodes into a moving field of destructive particles, or a swarm missile that explodes into several smaler missiles that track any nearby targets.

[Blips]

I have been toying with the idea of implementing the actual Sidewinder target tracking algorithm, though. What's in the game now basically does the same thing, but the way the real algorithm does it is just so elegant.

It could be interesting to offer a wide variety of missile types in the game. Dumb fire missiles, simple guided ones, ones that actively dodge obstacles, etc. Also, cluster missiles could be exciting and could pose a problem for point defense systems.

[Alex]

There already is a MIRV launcher - the Apogee has it in Hornet's Nest, for one, and I think the Astral does too. And it indeed causes problems for PD

Dumbfire missiles are actually in the game too, just not in any of the missions in 0.34a - they are very likely to make an appearance in the next release.

But yeah, more variety in missiles is always good. I think there's already a good deal of it - the Sabot missile isn't something I've really seen in other games, for example - and there are plans for a few more unique types, whenever the schedule allows.

[Avan]

I have a bunch of missiles I've made (about 50% of my weapons seem to be missiles or torps), some merely launchers for existing ammo, and others new: the tsar MRM for example had AOE, as does the shard PDM (point defense missile): the former is a large and slow missile great for assaulting capships from afar, and the latter is like what you would get if you crossed a flak cannon and a swarmer SRM.