I've skipped the last few updates in order to let Starsector continue to mature, but I am sure glad I downloaded .65. Forgive me if I end up praising content from earlier updates because, as I said, I've skipped a few. This is obviously a first impression because I haven't played too much yet, but let me say that your event system is excellent Alex, very well done. It gives you tons of information about what is going on everywhere, but it's very easy to sort through and keep track of things. It gives you the information you need to set your own course, which is exactly what I had hoped it would do.
The flavor text and named bounties (it seems like such a simple feature right?) also adds something great for the player who is prone to imagining their own story as they go.
For example, I was exploiting a food shortage for profit bringing relief food supplies to Voltun (sp?) when I see a bounty come in for a certain Guy Chambers, issued by the Dictat. Who is Guy Chambers and why do they want him dead? I'm not sure, but there is tons of room for the imagination to fill in those gaps. Maybe he was involved in causing the food shortage on Voltun, as it is under Dictat control. Perhaps they want him dead for political reasons as the Dictat doesn't seem too accommodating towards dissenters. What if he is actually in the right but has had a price set on his head and been labeled a pirate simply for opposing the Lion of Sindria? Eager for answers (and bounty money) I finally tack him down at the other end of the sector, using my food shortage profits to buy fuel along the way. Finally, I find him half dead and alone, not at all what I was expecting, his seemingly lifeless ship stuck orbiting a planet in the middle of nowhere. What happened to the once great Guy Chambers, the 10,000 credit man, to leave him in such a state as this? Who was able to reduce him to this burned out husk of his former nefarious self? More importantly, what did HE do to them, as they are no longer anywhere to be seen? He must have been dangerous to have thwarted at least one previous attempt on his life, but there isn't much left of him now. He does not try to flee as I approach, instead adopting a neutral stance, as if he just doesn't care anymore. His half destroyed Hound is no match for my state of the art Wolf and he surely knows it, yet there are no signs of alarm on his part. Does he just want it all to end? Perhaps he is hoping for clemency? Is he critically wounded and unable to take command?
Our ships come into visual range, and his already critically damaged hound fires a few defiant, but obviously tired, shots from its auto cannon. As they impact harmlessly on my shields, I focus all weapons on his poor ship and quickly disable it. The disabled hound slowly spins to a halt, all signs of life having vanished from the exterior, Guy Chamber's halfhearted last hurrah having amounted to nothing. Eager for answers, we pull into boarding range of the once great Guy Chambers' hound, now motionless and soon to be looted.
Suddenly alarms pierce the otherwise silent approach; scanners have detected there are still 2 life signs on board! Guy Chambers MUST be one of them; he is STILL alive! He's surely crawling through the tortured and debris strewn bridge of his hound, his bloodied and broken body bathed in the glow of red warning lights and periodically sparking consoles, no doubt inching towards the self destruct button with a wild gleam in his eye. He intends to take me down with him! But perhaps he is bravely limping to an escape pod, hoping to continue his campaign for freedom against the Dictat. I would be monster to do anything more than I've already done if that is the case. The seconds tick by as I remember the fate of the previous bounty hunters. Guy Chambers proved he would kill once and, being backed into the corner he is, he no doubt intends to do it again! Out of fear for my own life at the thought of Guy Chambers detonating his ship at point blank range, I frantically open fire and reduce his already disable ship to dust. The alarms cease, as Guy Chambers is finally sent to his rest. Any hope for answers as to who Guy Chambers really was vanishes with the fragmented remains of his ship into the cold dark void of space.
Now, I am sick with a head cold, forget the other points I was going to make, and need to go to bed. So:
TLDR:
-Excellent update Alex! The event system, even in this early stage is really well done and, in conjunction with the way other factions react to these events, leaves tons of room for emergent player story telling through even the simplest events (like "Collect a bounty on Guy Chambers").
-If you run into Guy Chambers in your game...watch out.
Looking forward to playing some more tomorrow.
