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[Doxs Roxs]

I really like where you have an open world in Starsector and the ability to explore different aspects of the game while trading, exploring and building a stronger character, fleet etc.
You have made an interesting system that is very fun to play in Starsector and I really enjoy all the aspects of the game, from building ships and testing setups and strategies to the exploration.

I am a huge Homeworld fan as well. But when I played the original Homeworld it was a bit constrained, the game was too linear and restricted even though the story was awesome.
I always wished for someone to make a bit of an open world mod for Homeworld to complement the excellent 3d combat. The open world part is more or less perfected in Starsector.

My suggestion is that if you ever decide to make Starsector 2, please have a look at using a 3d engine and steal some of the 3d combat and visuals from Homeworld.
There are multiple aspects of the 3d gameplay from the Homeworld universe that would fit perfectly in a Starsector setting.

Specifically I remember missions to secret research stations near a solar corona and sneaking through nebulas and asteroid fields to avoid detection or superior forces etc.
Those missions where beautiful even in the old Homeworld engine and I can only imagine the stunning visuals that would be possible today with even an off the shelf 3d engine.
Large fights with fighters and bombers vs capitals where also visually awesome in the Homeworld engine and it would be even better with Starsector.

So basically, the idea is for a later sequel with a modern 3d engine, thats easy, no biggie 
Please keep the roleplaying, ship building/customization, colony building, trading and exploration from Starsector though. The story and universe is very good!

[Yunru]

I will immediately point out that a 3d engine massively raises the skill threshold for making ship art, so there wouldn't be as big a modding scene.

[Farya]

Planet exploration similar to Crying Suns might be interesting. Explorers from crew, marine escorts, APC from heavy weapons - your exploration team sent to investigate the ruins while bypassing hazards and skill checks. And your officers could command them down there with some of their skills boosting ground operations.

[SCC]

I think it's more important to finish Starsector 1 first...

[koprus]

well given the minimum dozen or so years of small-team-indie-game-development times needed for complex games with depth like this one, its probable that even windows OS wont be around till a starsector 2 is completed. Id prefer to see this game ported to a more future proof software environment than see a banal 3d version of it. I wonder if in a few years there will be hardware left with drivers that will be able to run this one.

Also if you invest in proper advanced scaling mechanics, shaders etc, sprites become ageless.

[Embolism]

I think it's more important to finish Starsector 1 first...

[SonnaBanana]

Planet exploration similar to Crying Suns might be interesting. Explorers from crew, marine escorts, APC from heavy weapons - your exploration team sent to investigate the ruins while bypassing hazards and skill checks. And your officers could command them down there with some of their skills boosting ground operations.

It's doable right now, nothing technically intensive to require a new engine.

[Linnis]

Alex would be smart to use his earning to start a small studio to make Starsector 2. Prob a team a 5-10 people. Once that inevitably hits market then some big company might buy his studio. That's when you are set for life and your children aswell.

[Harmful Mechanic]

Right, because the ultimate aim of every hobbyist game dev working on a passion project is to totally lose control of their own work and become just another employee of a larger company.

That's the dream.

[Yunru]

Right, because the ultimate aim of every hobbyist game dev working on a passion project is to totally lose control of their own work and become just another employee of a larger company.

That's the dream.

I thought the dream was to upload your consciousness to something transcending the mortal shell so you can both keep working on it forever and remove one of the interface barriers?

[Doxs Roxs]

I think I need to add a few things here.

I'm only talking about the combat system, its separate from the rest of the game and as such can be exchanged much easier.
The way I see it a 3d combat module could be created that would take the input from the current game (ships and setups etc) and output the results back to the current core game once combat is resolved.
I am almost 100% certain that the current combat engine works in that way as well.
I specifically mentioned version 2 of the game, or perhaps a later update since I do realize it would be a quite large undertaking. But I also see that there is great potential in this game and money will come once it is published on larger platforms like Steam etc.

There are a large number of off the shelf 3d engines available. I have played around with a few of them and it is amazing how far the tools have come the last 10 years.

Notable example, Unity 3d. Here is a short tutorial showing what can be done in relatively short time. There are tons of other tutorials by Unity themselves and by other content creators that help people get started.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZvJvZA4nhY

I realize this is still a huge change and a large amount of time would have to be put into such a thing. However, again, that is why I said Starsector 2 in my proposal
Also keep in mind that this is just a random suggestion from me, a random player. I'm not putting in the work.

But I do see the potential here, I'm also a big fan of Homeworld and part of its combat system and the scale difference where fighters are tiny compared to capital ships.
I would also like to see background structures and stations that dwarf even capital ships
I got to add that I like some of the direct control of the flagship, that should stay since it is super fun.

[Igncom1]

I think 3d space games sound more fun then they end up being.

"You can up up and down and around!" but my target is a sphere at point a, so does it really matter?

[Embolism]

I think 3d space games sound more fun then they end up being.

"You can up up and down and around!" but my target is a sphere at point a, so does it really matter?

I realise SPAZ 2 doesn't actually have a 3D playing field, but I think it's a good example of how going from 2D to 3D is not necessarily an upgrade; especially for indie projects.

[Doxs Roxs]

I think 3d space games sound more fun then they end up being.

"You can up up and down and around!" but my target is a sphere at point a, so does it really matter?

Yes, weapon arcs matter much more in a 3d environment.
Blind spots open up for fighters and other small craft to exploit versus capital ships.
There is also much better scaling in terms of difference in size. Homeworld and its different maps is a great example of this type of 3d engine.

I specifically remember one mission in Homeworld close to a star where I had to navigate to a shielded research station by staying in asteroid fields to help shield from radiation.
Larger ships could manage it with shields for a while, but smaller ships could not and it was a covert mission.

That type of exploratory missions around different derelicts and huge ancient construction projects would open up the universe to new and interesting mechanics and missions as well.
One Homeworld mission was in a large graveyard with huge derelict ships and ancient stuff eclipsing my own ships in size, it was quite cool actually.
It has some similarities where one would explore the derelict structures and get attacked by ancient guardians.

[JudasIscariot]

3D graphics age horribly and they add a development overhead to a game without adding much to the game on their own. 2D games remain beautiful looking for decades, 3D ages like milk.