Suggest - Features and Improvements

[Arioch]

The one (very minor) addition I would suggest is to randomize the starting positions of the planets. Because otherwise every system with the same number of orbits looks the same.

Ok, sure. Should be working on dev (but I'm not marking the patch as stable, as I'm headed to bed, and if that just broke something, it won't be fixed till morning ).

(*also, as i read my old code here -- it's worth pointing out that in an earlier draft, i had the speeds of each planet randomized slightly. then, after staring at it for a while, i decided that that was very likely *wrong*. made them look like they were breaking kepler's third law )

You're surely right that the speeds should not be randomized, just the starting positions. I meant that each system should (ideally) have individualized randomized starting planet positions. In the new build, the starting positions are randomized, but every system still has its planets in the same position as every other.

If that's not easy to fix, it's not a serious problem. It's still better than static unmoving planets. But I don't think it's ideal.

[bcasner]

One feature I'd like to see is an accumulated damage health bar under the ships. I see the numbers from damage hits, but don't know how close each ship is to destruction. A damage bar would help.

Taking an item from Sword of the Stars I'd like to make some ships boarding ships. With multiple marine sections to board with, etc. (yes, I know we can design or refit ships with one or two, but I was thinking of making a dedicated ship with 4 to 8 marines...

If a ship doesn't have any PD weapons, missiles are an automatic win. That what you want?

Sometimes my systems got blockaded and I couldn't fight the ship blocking it, even with a fleet of ships present.... possible bug?

[mharmless]

Posting here because it isn't exactly a bug.

When you encounter hostiles at a system, you can choose to be either the attacker or the defender. The defender message shows up first in the logs, but you can click past that to get to the attack option. Choosing to attack makes you go first instead of them, which lets you immediately flee with a scout or transport. This makes scouting extremely safe. I feel as if the fleet already in position at the system, or the forces belonging to the largest colony in the system, should get the first choice to attack or not.

[sven]

Sometimes my systems got blockaded and I couldn't fight the ship blocking it, even with a fleet of ships present.... possible bug?

Likely bug. If you notice the behavior again, would you upload a save and post a report on the "current bugs and issues" thread?

[sven]

When you encounter hostiles at a system, you can choose to be either the attacker or the defender. The defender message shows up first in the logs, but you can click past that to get to the attack option. Choosing to attack makes you go first instead of them, which lets you immediately flee with a scout or transport. This makes scouting extremely safe. I feel as if the fleet already in position at the system, or the forces belonging to the largest colony in the system, should get the first choice to attack or not.

I like this idea. Right now, the game does include an "initiative" system. The option to attack, rather than defend, only exists if your initiative is higher than that of the fleet trying to attack you. And atm -- "initiative" is just a single number hard-coded for each empire. No reason it has to be though -- and one good, simple change, I think, would be to give fleets an initiative penalty if they're new arrivals in their current star system.

[mharmless]

Space Stations. The default design takes 414 industry, containing a marine bay and a nuclear reactor. However, the only source of power draw is the system module. Removing the Marines means you don't need the reactor either. Stripped of both (all) components, the station costs only 324 industry instead of 414.

So, three quarters the price, won't explode in your lines, and no tactical reason to board it anyway. The stripped down version seems clearly superior to the base design, and that seems like a problem.

This also applies to the Outpost. Possibly more so, as the Outpost slot can hold armor, so you can strip the reactor and keep the armor, losing literally nothing except some manufacturing cost and a bomb in your own lines.

[Arioch]

The costs of ships, components and techs are all badly imbalanced and will be substantially changed when we get a chance to do our Great Balance Pass(tm).

[mharmless]

Expanding the role of outposts could be interesting, particularly for enhancing the flavor the human empire has going on. Perhaps allow outposts to BE a kind of colony, with perhaps a population limit as high as a few million depending on technology. Allow the outpost to mount orbital weapons, like a colony, and otherwise function as one. Pop limit is strictly fixed, because the entire environment is controlled. No room for racial variance there. If any variation, perhaps by way of humans specifically using environment "Orbital Habitat" better than others. Disallow orbitals, the outpost itself serves as a basic space station. No ability to later add shipyards, shouldn't be better than a real colony.

Loss of the outpost is loss of the entire colony.

This would let humans do a gas giant start, as Arioch previously suggested. Modify the human start to include outpost ships. Perhaps cut the colony ships to one, or even zero. Let humans have one of the techs related to pumping up orbital colony population. Human start gets slightly easier because literally any planet will do, and no painful build of that first space station. Humans walk that thin line of extinction longer, as there aren't weapons to speak of at the beginning and you'd be vulnerable to a wipe out by a scout with PD weapons. Even once you get some ships, home defense becomes more critical than for other species.

Anyway, just been kicking around in my head while playing Humans.

[Arioch]

We've talked about eventually adding orbital habitats as something above and beyond an outpost (which is limited to "claiming" the planet in terms of ship range and potential special resource access). There would probably have to be something special in an otherwise uninhabitable planet or orbit to make the use of orbital habitats worthwhile, which is where special resources might come into play. The Tinkers (one of the two major races which will probably not be playable in our first release) are envisioned as a faction that can take special advantage of orbital habitats.

The gameplay that I'm trying to push with the Humans-with-no-Homeworld start is that as vagabonds, the Humans should have to move and quickly find a place to settle. I don't want them to be able to sit in their starting place as the other factions do.

[mharmless]

I like the vision for humans and think a no-worlds start would be fun. I'd miss Fargone, but not that much

[luciderous]

Nuclear Missiles not shown in "Avaliable" modules after having been researched

STR:
1. Start new game
2. Research "Guidance Systems"
3. Either try to refit your Scout Cruiser or select "New Design"
= there is no "Nuclear Missiles" module listed under "Available" pane

I understand that might have been a deliberate design decision to hide modules that cannot be used by current ship template due to the lack of needed hardpoints, but it's very confusing and unintuitive. I report it as a tentative bug. I believe that all the researched modules should be visible at all times -there is already a hardpoint restriction in the ship template, no need for additional info hiding.
BTW, other modules might have been affected as well - haven't tested the theory just yet.

[Big Imp]

When in combat and you have removed all ships, spacestations etc. You should skip out of combat mode and just be able to bombard, leave, retreat or invade planet.
What I really like is your techtree I like the description telling what you can get if you research a certain item/area. It is nice to be kept in the dark what you get when you research, so you don't go for for military straight away.
One of you big hurdles I can see is diplomacy. Only two options either pay or go to war, I guess you have something more in the pipeline later on for more options.

Combat is too much point and click, you should be able to move a group of ships instead of doing them one at the time. If you arrive with a big fleet it would drain the fun of using too many turns to move the ships with shooting range. When the fleet gets big it is nearly impossible to zoom out to select all ships.
You should be able to have template of your fleet when you attack.

Movement is inconsistent at the moment you do RMB/LMB depending on where you are.
It would be nice to have select fleet/ship by either LMB/D-LMB or RMB and when you want to move you just LMB on destination.

Building ships is fun in the start but when you get bigger ships the options are limited as I see it. Need more options for armour, speed, fuel, tactical computers, blackhole generator, jumpdrive when in tactical mode etc.
More slots to fill out on bigger ships, I would like to have more options to put more on bigger ships. At the moment I feel like when I have reached carrier and goes up to heavy cruiser/carrier I don't get that many options building a ship(it might just be me). I feel some of the ships are not worth having they don't give me anything extra.Also make the slots the same color of the items where you can add/fit them would be nice instead of guessing what goes where(or am I missing something here).

Planetwise when you get enviromental improvements you should open up for more options to build on the planet. I hope you don't just stick to 3 buildings on the planet like factory, Lab and defence. I guess you have something in mind later on for planet evolving. E.a entertainment center, farm, holo-theater, Palace etc.

Another thing I also like is having a planet which is like MOO where you find the motherlode of planets where you can get a biiig planet and some cool stuff.

I might asked for some of the things others also have asked for, so bear with me.

Just some thoughts after playing it for a couple of days. I hope you can use it. Keep up the good work

[Arioch]

If you show components that can't be equipped, doesn't that just create a different kind of confusion as the player tries in vain to drag it to slots that can't accept it? That could be fixed with a distinct and clear "not equippable" visual state, but is there really a need to show all the heavy weapons when you're outfitting a destroyer or light cruiser? In the late game that component bar gets pretty cluttered.

Another option would be to unlock anti-missiles in the same tech.

[Arioch]

The diplomacy system (in which you can interact with the other players) is not yet in the game.

The largest vessels definitely need to have their weapons divided into more slots and with more varied firing arcs. These vessels and the late game techs and weapons are not at all polished in the current build. In some cases the battleship-class vessels actually carry less armament than the battlecruisers, which is definitely not intended.

I think the ship builder UI could definitely be more intuitive, and I'll keep your suggestions in mind when we revise it.

[luciderous]

If you show components that can't be equipped, doesn't that just create a different kind of confusion as the player tries in vain to drag it to slots that can't accept it?

It would, if you didn't have any other way of displaying the compatibility between hardpoints and modules. But you DO have that visual distinction available, when dragging the module to the hardpoint. Therefore, hiding incompatible modules provides no additional cue, and at the same time - feels out of place. For example, I cannot install Nuclear Missiles onto Scout Cruiser, but I can install additional munitions for those missiles. It simply doesn't feel natural, and makes the player wonder - where the heck are missiles?