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Author Topic: Joining Forces  (Read 4576 times)

Pendragon

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Joining Forces
« on: September 13, 2012, 01:31:07 AM »

There have been numerous thoughts regarding hot-joining of real time battles but I have not seen any about having fleets merge/split on the battle map (I ran a couple of searches, forgive me if I missed a thread where this has already been gone over).

My thinking is, there have been several occasions where I have had a fleet of two or three frigates and maybe a destroyer and at this stage I typically make my living by darting in to raid the pirate planet  snapping up their smaller raiding parties of one or two frigates which are slowed down by the support freighters that typically accompany them. During these times there are often four or five such fleets in the near vicinity and if they all joined forces they could easily drive me away but instead I am able to snap them up one by one. Similarly, there are other times where I am in the area and then a defense fleet spawns and I retreat, in no danger because I can easily outdistance the opposing fleet with its cruisers slowing it down even though their frigates alone would be a major threat.

I don't know how easy or even possible it would be to implement but what are people's thoughts on a system that would allow fleets on the campaign map to join or split forces based on context. For example, small fleets combine to combat a larger one that they outnumber when combined or frigates/destroyers split off from a larger fleet to chase a smaller one out of the area.

I think it would make the campaign map a far more interesting place as players would have to consider not only the size of opposing fleets but also the number of them in a particular area, the composition of them and similar factors.

Gothars

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Re: Joining Forces
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2012, 02:36:03 AM »

Hey Pendragon,

that Idea was already here, but it has been some time since it came up last. It would certainly be a cool thing to have.
As far as I remember Alex is planning to revise the whole factions system, and possible the handling of fleets as well . So there is a chance for fleet splitting, but nothing was promised. I would guess he wont touch it before the implementation of interstellar travel.

Since you seem to be fairly new: Welcome to the forums :)
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Rowanas

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Re: Joining Forces
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2012, 10:42:26 AM »

There's one problem with this, which i think I mentioned in the old thread as well. Unless someone is sitting right on top of your fleet at the time the combat starts, they're miles and miles away from the action. Given the disparity between Campaign speed (one day per 5 seconds-ish) and Battle speed (over in 10 minutes tops), everyone is absolutely vast distances from you on. To reconcile these time frames seems pretty impossible, unless travelling in-system takes vastly less time.
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xenoargh

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Re: Joining Forces
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2012, 10:46:25 AM »

Or perhaps what we're seeing in the real-time battles is a compressed time scale :)
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GUNINANRUNIN

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Re: Joining Forces
« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2012, 01:04:24 PM »

Or perhaps what we're seeing in the real-time battles is a compressed time scale :)
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Pendragon

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Re: Joining Forces
« Reply #5 on: September 15, 2012, 03:59:35 AM »

There's one problem with this, which i think I mentioned in the old thread as well. Unless someone is sitting right on top of your fleet at the time the combat starts, they're miles and miles away from the action. Given the disparity between Campaign speed (one day per 5 seconds-ish) and Battle speed (over in 10 minutes tops), everyone is absolutely vast distances from you on. To reconcile these time frames seems pretty impossible, unless travelling in-system takes vastly less time.

Agreed which is why I do not think having forces join a battle once it is already under way is a very good idea. My thinking though is that those fleets know I'm coming long before we actually engage each other. They can see my fleet approaching from across the system and once I am within half a day's travel or so of them I think it makes sense for them to start viewing me as a threat. This way they would join forces before the battle started in the hours leading up to the engagement, which, as you say would probably be over in an hour or so even if we're watching compressed time.

I can imagine there would be all sorts of complications programming the AI for this in terms of trigger events for joining/splitting but as I said, I think it would make the system map a lot more dynamic and give the player a lot more to think about.
« Last Edit: September 16, 2012, 09:45:58 PM by Pendragon »
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DelicateTask

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Re: Joining Forces
« Reply #6 on: September 16, 2012, 05:16:38 PM »

My thoughts:

Option 1
Along with Attack, Defend, and Escape, a fourth option Call Reinforcements (and possibly Distress Signal if attacked by pirates). This checks the game world for nearby allies (and neutral, if pirates) and their distance. If they are within a certain minimum distance, they may respond (depending on factors such as fleet sizes, fleet comp - a fuel convoy won't save you - and current damage). The distance from the player dictates how many minutes the player must wait for the third party to arrive and deploy ships.

Option 2
Very similar to above, but when selecting Call Reinforcements, if a fleet responds to your call, is starts the battle with a "Survive for X minutes" victory condition. Any ships that survive until backup arrives escape unharmed, but you only get to keep loot from ships destroyed before the ending triggers. This way, if you accidentally run into an enemy you can't handle, you have a chance of escaping with most of your ships and eliminating the enemy, provided you were close to friends when it happened.
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GUNINANRUNIN

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Re: Joining Forces
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2012, 10:47:22 AM »

My thoughts:

Option 1
Along with Attack, Defend, and Escape, a fourth option Call Reinforcements (and possibly Distress Signal if attacked by pirates). This checks the game world for nearby allies (and neutral, if pirates) and their distance. If they are within a certain minimum distance, they may respond (depending on factors such as fleet sizes, fleet comp - a fuel convoy won't save you - and current damage). The distance from the player dictates how many minutes the player must wait for the third party to arrive and deploy ships.

Option 2
Very similar to above, but when selecting Call Reinforcements, if a fleet responds to your call, is starts the battle with a "Survive for X minutes" victory condition. Any ships that survive until backup arrives escape unharmed, but you only get to keep loot from ships destroyed before the ending triggers. This way, if you accidentally run into an enemy you can't handle, you have a chance of escaping with most of your ships and eliminating the enemy, provided you were close to friends when it happened.
To expand on this..
Perhaps it would be a distress beacon that you could choose to deploy, with the chance of either spawning allied or enemy reinforcement, or a third-party (neutral) fleet that sides with neither of you, following a brief waiting period. Just something to consider.
« Last Edit: September 17, 2012, 12:51:21 PM by GUNINANRUNIN »
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Elate

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Re: Joining Forces
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2012, 12:39:04 PM »

My thoughts:

Option 1
Along with Attack, Defend, and Escape, a fourth option Call Reinforcements (and possibly Distress Signal if attacked by pirates). This checks the game world for nearby allies (and neutral, if pirates) and their distance. If they are within a certain minimum distance, they may respond (depending on factors such as fleet sizes, fleet comp - a fuel convoy won't save you - and current damage). The distance from the player dictates how many minutes the player must wait for the third party to arrive and deploy ships.

I think this option is quite robust, and offers much more protection around some of the main planets too (No more pirates jumping behind the main fleet to attack you when you just start.)
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