Good afternoon,
Okay, I understand the points about re-working and needing to appease everyone. New thoughts for the day...
It's around encouraging repeatability and replay.. the way that games encourage me to want to keep playing is in the rewards - especially unlocks.
Thus - a new feature which can be toggled on or off, so you don't upset player base that doesn't like the idea!
Similar to unlockables, a bonus system that you can spend mission credits on and give you an advantage.
(Note: Numbers below are examples only and are not cumulative, real values would be based on balance considerations)
E.g.
Ship hitpoints +1%, +2%, +3%
Ship speed +2%, +4%, +6%
Energy Weapons
- Range +1%, +2%, +3%
- Dmg +1%, +2%
- Fire speed +2% ...
Missile Weapons
- Range, Dmg, Fire Speed
.. Repeat for all weapon types
Fighter
- Spawn rate +5%, +10%
- Flight speed +5%, +10%
- Max +1 fighter per group
Bomber
- Spawn rate +5%, +10%
- Flight speed +5%, +10%
- Max +1 bomber per group
Starting credits +1000, +2000, +3000, +4000
Credit rate - +.1%, +.5%, +1%
Research points +5, +10, +15, +20
Research point rate +.1%, +.5%, +1%
Visibility: +1 tile, +2 tiles, +3 tiles
etc there are lots of different options for what could be classed as a bonus
Each bonus should give a small increase and make a campaign easier, but none of them should be a game changer - nothing too powerful.
It would mean jumping into Legendary with the bonus system turned on but not having purchased any of the bonuses would be a very difficult fight. Whilst legendary with a full compliment of bonuses relevant to your play style should be easier than current legendary playthrough.
Enemies would also scale, e.g.
Easy = no bonuses for the AI
Normal = AI had some of the bonuses
Difficult = AI had many of the bonuses related to their faction
Legendary = AI had most bonuses related to their faction (not all to allow the player to earn the edge over the AI for replaying the game)
