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Author Topic: Make visuals more responsive & a few gameplay suggestions  (Read 3090 times)

Alesak

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Make visuals more responsive & a few gameplay suggestions
« on: July 07, 2012, 12:34:18 PM »

Hi,

1) shields could slightly wobble under pressure. For example, if a small bullet hit them they would show barely any response, but if some large plasma ball hit them it would make some waves. It could be implemented with, for example, some numerical solution of 1-dimensional wave equation, but it would probably be a challange to implement. Or it could at least compress the shield texture a bit, make it a little eliptic under a hit.

1a) some ships could also have visible shield generator that would get more and more red as shields ate damage and then gradualy fade. Purely for visual purposes.

2) lasers should seem more alive as in Supreme Commander 2. They are slightly moving there all the time, as if wave of heat was passing through them. In the game it looked completely EPIC, easily the best lasers I've ever seen. It cannot be really described, and I cannot find any video on youtube. If devs were interested, I suppose I could make one.

3) one ship design with fixed weaponry: a small ship with two fixed, predetermined weapons. One weaker anti-shield beam and second some extremely high-damage(enough to one hit frigate) weapon with 1-5 charges tops. It's strategy would be first to get shield down with the beam or other means and then hit the bare hull with it's second kick-## weapon to kill it. The purpose of this ship would be to provide variety for more experienced players and some thrill with this high-risk/high-reward strategy. It also fits neatly with developers philosophy as described in blogs. Alternatively the powerful weapon could be ship system on small ship with otherwise very little weaponry.

4) weapons with powerful effects but switching off shields/paralyzing player for a moment. Also weapons dealing damage proportional to remaining energy(and eating all of it upon firing).

4a) beam weapon so badass, that it did hull damage to ship firing it. With nice visual effect, like sun-like turbulences occasionaly leashing out of the weapon! Whole ship could started glowing.

5) in each class there should be a very high-tech ships but for very steep price, meaning exponential price increase for linear increase in power. Maybe I just want to spend unreasonably huge amounts of money on small ship that can destroy much larger loafs.
« Last Edit: July 07, 2012, 01:08:01 PM by Alesak »
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Upgradecap

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Re: Make visuals more responsive & a few gameplay suggestions
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2012, 12:44:59 PM »

1a) some ships could also have visible shield generator that would get more and more red as shields ate damage and then gradualy fade. Purely for visual purposes.

I'd also expand upon this idea and make the vulnerable to destruction, much like the weapons are now. Say it would have the same Weapon HP as a large mount, but the time disabled would be a medium mount X 2.

Hi,

1) shields could slightly wobble under pressure. For example, if a small bullet hit them they would show barely any response, but if some large plasma ball hit them it would make some waves. It could be implemented with, for example, some numerical solution of 1-dimensional wave equation, but it would probably be a challange to implement. Or it could at least compress the shield texture a bit, make it a little eliptic under a hit.

2) lasers should seem more alive as in Supreme Commander 2. They are slightly moving there all the time, as if wave of heat was passing through them. In the game it looked completely EPIC, easily the best lasers I've ever seen. It cannot be really described, and I cannot find any video on youtube. If devs were interested, I suppose I could make one.


I agree with both of these ideas, they'd be really neat to see here in starfarer. :D

Also, welcome to the forums. :)
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Alesak

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Re: Make visuals more responsive & a few gameplay suggestions
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2012, 12:53:44 PM »

I'd also expand upon this idea and make the vulnerable to destruction, much like the weapons are now. Say it would have the same Weapon HP as a large mount, but the time disabled would be a medium mount X 2.

Perhaps some otherwise strong ships could have it as a weak spot(e.g. shield generator on the back but with shield without reach to the back. Horror!), and on some otherships it could be located on some unreachable places just for visuals. And some ships could have it inside.

Just imagine that. Cheap capital ship with lots of weapons... and unprotected shield generator on the back.


Also, welcome to the forums. :)

Thanks!
« Last Edit: July 07, 2012, 12:55:44 PM by Alesak »
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Alrenous

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Re: Make visuals more responsive & a few gameplay suggestions
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2012, 11:20:53 AM »

2)
If I understand you correctly, the lasers already do that, but the effect is subtle and very easy to miss. It looks kind of neat but is, for me, immersion breaking.
« Last Edit: July 08, 2012, 03:00:29 PM by Alrenous »
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Thaago

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Re: Make visuals more responsive & a few gameplay suggestions
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2012, 02:44:22 PM »

3) Try using the anti-matter blaster in frigate fights. I don't like it personally but a hit at the proper time can either overload an enemy for a looong time or go through all the armor and half the hull. Seriously - if you fire it such that the shot leaves you with nearly full flux it does almost 1500 damage.

4,4a) While these would be really cool to use, they would be awful to have used against us. When the AI outnumbers the player 2-1 it matters a lot less to them to be disabled for a little bit - meanwhile our ship eats a facefull of pwnage.

5) For frigates this already exists: both the Tempest and Hyperion are ~5 times more expensive than the nearest competitor and are a bit effective per OP, depending on role (I find the cheap Wolf to be more powerful firepower-wise than a Tempest and much more useful as an escort, but the speed puts the Tempest out of its league for point capping and harassment).
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neonesis

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Re: Make visuals more responsive & a few gameplay suggestions
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2012, 03:00:20 PM »

1a) some ships could also have visible shield generator that would get more and more red as shields ate damage and then gradualy fade. Purely for visual purposes.
This gives me an idea - (although it might have been written before) how about a hardcore mode, where you cannot see your target's flux, armor, hull integrity, weapon configuration and speed (last two available in command screen). Also, no friend/foe missile identification?

You can achieve this somewhat in current version by disabling entire HUD, but that makes things annoying, since you can't use command mode, and see your own flux levels et cetera,
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frag971

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Re: Make visuals more responsive & a few gameplay suggestions
« Reply #6 on: July 09, 2012, 06:31:38 PM »

I realy like your shield animation ideas, would love those
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leonvision

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Re: Make visuals more responsive & a few gameplay suggestions
« Reply #7 on: July 11, 2012, 10:53:09 PM »

5) in each class there should be a very high-tech ships but for very steep price, meaning exponential price increase for linear increase in power. Maybe I just want to spend unreasonably huge amounts of money on small ship that can destroy much larger loafs.

problem with this is some people will just farm cash from stray priates for hours, then faceroll through the rest of the game, then complain the game requires farming/grinding, and it's too easy.
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