Suggest - Features and Improvements

A forum for chatting about in-development game features.
User avatar
PrivateHudson
Posts: 205
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2019 7:59 am
Location: Chelyabinsk, Russia

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby PrivateHudson » Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:06 pm

When the alliance is broken due to refusal to enter into war, suggest to not dissolve it to nothing, but reduce to open ports treaty if the latter was in effect at the time the alliance was forged, or even unconditionally. Thus you still help your former ally to reach his enemies, even if you are not willing or unable to fight them yourself.

User avatar
PrivateHudson
Posts: 205
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2019 7:59 am
Location: Chelyabinsk, Russia

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby PrivateHudson » Sat Feb 20, 2021 7:10 am

Please add notification "Colony is on a brink of revolt". Also I usually do conquered colonies "clean-up" (unload police units, send empty troopships to pool, fill build queue, free slaves, move people in/out, etc) based on notification "Our ships were victorious". But it's absent in the case when enemy had nor ships, nor ground defences. Suggest to show the notification anyway.

User avatar
PrivateHudson
Posts: 205
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2019 7:59 am
Location: Chelyabinsk, Russia

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby PrivateHudson » Tue Mar 02, 2021 2:28 pm

When AI is trying to buy peace offering star systems, it should prioritize player's former colonies, as their symbolic values could be far higher than the simple math. By the way, recently I had seen for the first time Haduir graciously offering peace for a couple of my systems! Didn't know it's also implemented.

zolobolo
Posts: 1544
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 3:49 pm

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby zolobolo » Tue Mar 02, 2021 9:41 pm

I think there is enough space to smack the ground troops carried by the Shuttles in the lower right corner

This way both the wonderful shuttle models as well as the useful info of what they carry is clearly visible, what do you think?:
Shuttles with Troop icon.png
Shuttles with Troop icon.png (78.89 KiB) Viewed 23186 times

zolobolo
Posts: 1544
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 3:49 pm

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby zolobolo » Tue Mar 02, 2021 9:50 pm

Propose to change the vill in background color of researched tech instead of changing the tect font
Example: fill in the backgground green and leave the tech name as white text to provide ideal contrast instead of changing the text color when a tech has been researched

This should provde a good contrast between researched and non-researched tech as well as keep the tech perfectly readable

zolobolo
Posts: 1544
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 3:49 pm

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby zolobolo » Wed Mar 03, 2021 9:28 pm

It was once mentioned a new invasion mechanic was thought at, just an idea I was contemplating today:
1. New tech: "Planetray Mass Invasion" with 3 tiers. Same category as tank battalion and milita upgrades
2. If tech has been researched a new "project" is made available on planets: "Planetary Invasion agains: PlanetX"
3. The option is available for every enemy planet the current empire is blockading. E.g: If player is blockading 2 enemy planets, thre are two such projects listed once for each planet
4. The project cost is 1pop/turn + as many transports occupies from the pool as the travel distance from source to target planet (the futher away the target the more transprot capacity is needed to ferry a constant stream of troops into the invasion)
5. New event message summarising the status of all ongoing invasions at the start of the turn: Planet A has been invaded by 2billions soldiers and has lost 3billion militia
6. A blockaded enemy planet can only be invaded by as many planets as the level of the tech: 1-3 (3 being the maximum amount of planets that can feed troops into the invasion and thus 3b troops per turn max)
7. Invading forces strenght should be x2 that of milita due to their better training and supply (the defenders are blockaded and cut off from supply)
8. If a planet is conquered, the surplus soldiers can either be consumed on placed on the planet and the planet(s) sending the troops get a production finished notification awaiting new orders
9. If an invasion cannot be continued as the conditions for production of the project are not met (insuffiienct pops on planet, transprots in poll or the enemy planet is not blockaded anymore) the planet stops production and generates a message of prodocution canot be continued

The above concept would be combining the current mechanic of planetary refitting ships "projects" and the trade pool
Building up surplus trade fleet pool capacity would be very beneficial beyond the current need for moving around colonists

The option would save a lot of micro around producing and moving invasion forces but would not make tank battlations obsolete as these woud doverall be still cheaper more flexible and faster for conducting lightning invasions or holding a critical planet for a while.
Tanks would be cheaper overall as the amount of pops lost during an invasion would be considerable for an average planet of 10: it should cost around 5pops in average to capture it
But would still be worth in most occasions as the factions dont have dozens of tanks waiting around in transports in most cases and thus the time for such an invasion should be shorter then producing tanks and ferrying them over ad-hoc + no bombing would be necessary to soften up the enemy forces for the tanks to have a chance . As long as there is sufficient manpower on the planets, the invasion can grind down the defenses with minimal infrastructure losses

Tanks and Mass Invasion can also be combined perfectly well as invasion would take the place of the initial softening of resistance via bombing and the tanks can be sent in once the planetary defenses are weakened mimicking the concept of wearing down defenses with low quality troops and sending in the high-value heavy hitters at the right time

The entire concept would also be quite immersive as there would be hard fought planets while the blockading fleet would have a purpose other then just starving out the pops or bombing them out of existence + this would fit in perfectly with a planetary fallout system which is discouraging bombing as it would provide a simplem easy to use and thematic alternative agaisnt enemy planets with high cocnentration of pops ann/or tanks

The concept also reminds be on the siege of Vraks from 40k which is also a plus in my books :)

zolobolo
Posts: 1544
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 3:49 pm

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby zolobolo » Thu Mar 04, 2021 8:44 pm

I really think that planetary defneses and bases (including asteroid base) should get a base insrease of range to any weapon mounted on them by at least factor x2

Defenses should be workign as force amplifiers, but currently the AI just rushes ahead of its defenses rendering their effect almost null as they can be engaged separately

They can also be sniped from the distance with any heavy gun or long range modified coilgun which has been an exploit since release

Plus if the player does wish to have their defnese fleet and starbases, PD fight together, they need to awkwardly turn around the defense fleet it move them behind the bases and tunr the aroudn again as defending ships start way to far from PD and evne bases to be effectively covered by their range (this would not be an issue though if their range was doubled at least

zolobolo
Posts: 1544
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 3:49 pm

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby zolobolo » Sat Mar 06, 2021 5:46 pm

Propose to have Outposts be captured automatically when attacked undefended like civilian transport s are

This would:
1. Save a lot of micro MGMT for players capturing the outposts (as these have lots of crew it take a lot of turns transfering troops and boarding till the deed is done per outpost while they have no chance of avoiding their fate)
2. Allow the AI to advance more rapidly during war as it would not undermine its own range potential but rapdily extend it by capturing enemy outposts
3. Make Outposts strategically more important to defend as they would not simply be destroyed when attacked but captured and their range extention effect turned against their former owner (currently it is pretty safe to place outposts all around ones border to provide dummy targets and range extension for own raiding forces while having no drawbacks to these bonuses)

User avatar
PrivateHudson
Posts: 205
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2019 7:59 am
Location: Chelyabinsk, Russia

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby PrivateHudson » Sun Mar 07, 2021 7:22 pm

zolobolo wrote:Propose to have Outposts be captured automatically when attacked undefended like civilian transport s are

This would:
1. Save a lot of micro MGMT for players capturing the outposts (as these have lots of crew it take a lot of turns transfering troops and boarding till the deed is done per outpost while they have no chance of avoiding their fate)
2. Allow the AI to advance more rapidly during war as it would not undermine its own range potential but rapdily extend it by capturing enemy outposts
3. Make Outposts strategically more important to defend as they would not simply be destroyed when attacked but captured and their range extention effect turned against their former owner (currently it is pretty safe to place outposts all around ones border to provide dummy targets and range extension for own raiding forces while having no drawbacks to these bonuses)

Unfortunately, this will bring micro of its own: tracking enemy movements to scrap threatened outposts. Depending on whether AI will do this, the change can also turn into another human vs AI advantage. Seems outposts have to be unscrappable to achieve aforementioned goals.

zolobolo
Posts: 1544
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 3:49 pm

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby zolobolo » Sun Mar 07, 2021 9:11 pm

PrivateHudson wrote:Unfortunately, this will bring micro of its own: tracking enemy movements to scrap threatened outposts. Depending on whether AI will do this, the change can also turn into another human vs AI advantage. Seems outposts have to be unscrappable to achieve aforementioned goals.

That might be fair yes but not sure its needed

The AI only has advantage the only downside might be if the player indeed wants to prevent the AI from taking over their outpost
This is fair if we assume the player does not want to recapture the outpost later - this is possible if player is fighting a loosing war

Another exploit might be for the player to capture enemy outpsts and them scrap them immidiately both getting resoruces and denying enemy range without the cost of time and micro to bring up the crew needed to keep capturing them

When comparing the micro with boarding these with having to scrap them if needed seems like a good deal though
+ players who want to salvage some scrap should already be scrapping them before they get attacked
A key factor here is also that the player does not always know which systme will be attacked (if route takes longer then 1 Turn, or fleet is not visible)

I would not recommend removing the scrap optin as wouldnt be consistent with how the game handles scrapping

There is another option: simply give outposts a minimal amount of crew something like 20 or so
Thus they can be captured in one swoop and most of the micro is gone (though the tactical combat and moving up to the outsot still needs to be done every time) - still it makes sense to have a skelleton crew on these as they are only refueling stations + the is likely no realy reason to have such a huge garrison on these - unless the goal ws to prevent their capture by necessitating a large number of crew.
Still: evne if so, the player does not have a hard time bringing up the necessary crew count while the AI will absolutely does not benefit from this option

So either:
A. Reduce crew size to minimal: Would lower but not minimise the micro but not benfit the AI in any way
B: Auto-capture: No micro unless player wants to scrap outpost before it gets captured (if they havent been doing so already) and the AI benefits in a fair way as well

User avatar
PrivateHudson
Posts: 205
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2019 7:59 am
Location: Chelyabinsk, Russia

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby PrivateHudson » Mon Mar 08, 2021 11:05 pm

Sometimes a fleet could be observed heading to a marauder system, and about 2 turns before its arrival the owner DoWs the marauders. It would be convenient if AI ally confided me into its plan of this kind as soon as it is conceived, so that I could join the fray in time.
Also, when someone invites me to attack someone, I would like to have an option "I agree, will be ready in N turn(s)", with the editbox for N in the range from 1 to 10-20.

zolobolo
Posts: 1544
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 3:49 pm

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby zolobolo » Sun Mar 14, 2021 12:28 pm

Are diplomatic incidents between AI empires based on one of the parties denying theother to establish a colony or outpost?

If not, it should be driven by those events and maybe even the name of the contested system mentioned so that the player knows that this is a dynamic and naturally sparked in-game event and not a totally random event to make sure that AIs are driven into conflicts

zolobolo
Posts: 1544
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 3:49 pm

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby zolobolo » Sun Mar 14, 2021 1:45 pm

The main problem with ion cannons are their relative strenght and position within the tech tree
Ion cannon is proceeded by laser and follwed up by Turbolaser right away

When comparing the 3 tehre are obvious issues with ion gun:

Laser
- Research Cost: no base cost (+780 for RP and RF mod)
- Damage: 1-10
- Mods: AC; AP; RF

Ion Cannon
- Research cost: 1270
- Damage: 6-18
- Mods: AC

Turbolaser
- Research Cost: 1790 (+780 for RP and RF mod)
- Damage: 3-14
- Mods: AC; AP; RF

The issue if the same for PD: Its easy to see that the base laser is clearly better with onyl the two mods then ion: less research to get there, higher max damage + AP

It of course makes sense to upgrade to Turbolaser once that is available as it makes modded laser objectively better - add to that that Ion usually becomes avaialble at aroudn the same time turbolaser is.

Ion only seems to make any sence if the player has been ignoring all of the energy weapon mods but this is very detrimental for PD and resutls to even higher outage for ship refits once modded turboalser comes available

I can understand that Ion runs dont get RF mod as it would question the use of turbolasers - though I would recommend it if nothing else can be done as Turbolaser would still have AP to make sense

Ideally Ion Cannons would be given their own Mod ENV, EMP or a bonus damage to shields - anything related to sucking up shield pwoer faster would be welcome anyhow as shields are very very powerfull in this game and there are very few weapons that are good against them

User avatar
PrivateHudson
Posts: 205
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2019 7:59 am
Location: Chelyabinsk, Russia

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby PrivateHudson » Sun Mar 14, 2021 1:55 pm

Suggest to make Orthin shield thing's action semi-automatic to reduce micro: you switch it into "transfer absorbed damage to..." either shields or guns and forget about it for the rest of the combat.

zolobolo
Posts: 1544
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 3:49 pm

Re: Suggest - Features and Improvements

Postby zolobolo » Sun Mar 14, 2021 3:20 pm

PrivateHudson wrote:Suggest to make Orthin shield thing's action semi-automatic to reduce micro: you switch it into "transfer absorbed damage to..." either shields or guns and forget about it for the rest of the combat.

Would be usefull to have for the AI: suspect it doesnt have this module at all as it wouldnt be able to use it - but it the effect is automated this issue can be sidestepped?


Return to “Testing”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 65 guests

cron