Thank you all
When this new update comes out, being in campaign will be as interesting as combat.
I hope so! There's a *lot* of work left to do in tweaking all of the mechanics so they work together in a fun way, but at least the ingredients are finally mostly there.
Reading these blog posts is almost as exciting as playing the game itself.
Hah, that could be taken in two different ways
I'm going to assume the favorable interpretation.
Very cool. How do the nebula play out in combat? Did the change make a subtle difference, or are nebula the great equalizer between frigate zerging and capital ships?
Right now, the top speed is reduced to 70/80/90% for frigates/destroyers/cruisers; fighters and capital ships are unaffected. The numbers are exposed in settings.json for easy tweaking. I haven't done a lot of playtesting (ok, I haven't done any yet, besides making sure the changes actually work), so it's hard to say. What I *want*, though, is for the changes to be meaningful, but not as crippling as combat nebulas are to capital ships now. That is, I don't want "go into nebula" to be the go-to cheese for all seasons.
Nice, will mods be able to create their own terrains?
- I want to know about modding too! Seems a rather logical thing to add to the API but better be sure than disappointed.
Yes, terrain is done in a mod-friendly way, including rendering custom graphics. For example, the nebula rendering, both in the main campaign view and on the campaign map, is done *entirely* in plugin implementation code. There's even a nice API for creating custom tooltips.
One issue might be making fleet AI aware of new terrain types - looking at some options there.
* Space junk - like rings but with a different effect.
That reminds me, I've been meaning to look at assigning an effect to the hab rings around markets...
- What about hyperspace? Is it one of the "2 other terrains that might not cut it"? Would be sad to liven up the systems when fleets also spend an awful lot of time traveling in Hyper.
- Are Terrain automatically known or do you have to fly through them to find their exact type?
Automatically known - nebulas and asteroids show up on the map. Rings don't, but they probably/maybe will eventually. In any case, none of that is subject to sensor interactions, you just see it and can tell what it is based on the graphics. Once you're in it, it shows up on the "current terrain" list above the ability bar and you can see the exact effects in the tooltip there.
Suggestions:
- The return of the gravity well? Like you are faster while going toward a massive object than getting away. Would allow more maneuvers to intercept or avoid a fleet but might be tricky to convey and to code the AI for.
- Hydrogen nebula that slowly replenishing fuel as long as you are still. (can be expended but slowly replenish)
- Battle graveyards that allows to replenish some supplies (can be expended)
- Hyperspace instability that raise the fuel consumption but reduce the supplies use (because energy handwaving). Also reduce both Detection and Sensor ranges. (temporary)
- Different types of Minefields!
- Deep space, the space between the two stars of a binary system is quite empty and allows higher speeds and sensor range.
- Pulsar Gama radiation waves that kill some crew after you went through a few (temporary and does not kill them immediately) => this totally calls for a Medbay hullmod, and other deadly terrains.
Neat ideas, yeah. Trying to keep it simple for now, but can see adding more terrain later. (Particularly keen on "battle graveyards", though they wouldn't necessarily be expressed as terrain - but perhaps they could.)
