I suggest improving the game - Printable Version

I suggest improving the game - Printable Version

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I suggest improving the game - Koit - 09-09-2020

The game has a good idea, but after an interesting start, when 6 guns are installed, there is nothing more to do.
The line card turns the game into an arcade, which is an obvious miscalculation by the developers.
The lack of a well-developed AI and the lack of storylines from dialogues with factions makes the communication device unnecessary, you can trade without it, and all the dialogues are monotonous and give nothing in the end according to the plot of the game.
The radar is also a purely decorative device that essentially does not add anything to the ship, but takes away the points of one weapon, which are clearly more important for the game.
Shield - similarly useless, it is easier to install an additional hull stabilizer or a weapon.
The game is still very raw and unfinished, so far it all comes down to building a ship - a vacuum cleaner of resources that will fly on an almost linear map collecting everything in a row, which upon reaching a level of 10 team members with 6 guns becomes a purely repetition of the same actions ...
What would be wiser to do:

Map
A flat map of squares or hexagons with transitions to any neighboring polygon in any direction, and not to restrict the movement of AI ships to unsystematic wandering along the same polygons, but to lay out some routes for them on quests.
It makes sense to make the map a "sandbox" living autonomously from the player, where the AI constantly does something on its own, and the player only connects to the action where he can or wants, or is drawn into events by the course of the game.
You can not even make a map of the galaxy, but make a map of one but large planetary system, where you can either fly on ordinary engines on the cutter or jump several polygons, depending on the ratio of the ship's mass and the number of hull stabilizers.
Also, the goal of the game can not be set, how easy it is to fly the map from point A to point B, which can now be easily done with 2-3 systems and without interacting with intermediate systems between the extreme points of the line map, simply flying them in a row.

All the same, it is necessary to diversify the plot, change the map of the world and locations.

The ships
Make the ships moveable on the area map, and make the battles of the ships dynamic, not static.
To abandon the battle system for the total strength of the ship and replace it with a battle to destroy the blocks installed on the ship.
This will immediately give an interest in different models of building hulls, the use of armor, the placement of equipment in various ways, will give the development of the ship's design from the practical protection of blocks under fire.
HP of the ship and the ship death function, disable, the ship remains the ship as long as there are surviving blocks, add a damaged reactor explosion mode, and engines that will destroy the hull blocks around.
Refuse the status of the ship "abandoned", so that it could be assigned to any ship whose crew on board surrendered or is absent.
The only thing is to make the dismantling mode inaccessible by working capsules while there is an alien crew on the ship.
It makes sense to make the "hull stabilizer" a hyperjunction unit, which is limited by the mass of the hull translated into hyperspace, and leave the simple engine as a shunting engine in ordinary space, and completely abandon the "points" of the ship's equipment.

It still makes sense to abandon the stationary arrangement of ships in locations and battle ships according to the general HP, replacing the battle on the blocks of the hulls of mobile ships.

Capsules and shuttles.
Make capsules and shuttles randomized according to the installed equipment according to the slot system, for example, make equipment slots so that the capsule could be combat, transport, or mining as well as a shuttle.
Leave the capsules only for flights in space.
The shuttles will be able to land on planets and take off on additional single-use boosters.
In battle, capsules and shuttles are calculated according to the total HP as the damage of ships is now calculated.

Make stations and settlements on planets, add the ability to visit stations of other factions where you could hire a crew, trade, fight and receive quests.
Open construction on asteroids, even if it is difficult to give the player simultaneous control over several objects in different polygons of the map, then at least give the program a calculation of actions on these polygons in the absence of the player.
Make it possible to build mines, where the extraction of resources will be infinite but time-dependent control over the operation of the mine, for example, as implemented in Varzone2100
There is a sense of a war for the control of sectors, or raids on a mine where resources have accumulated, or to protect a mine where resources are accumulated from plunder.
This will solve the problem of emptying the card.

It looks incomprehensible to cancel the player's overload by microcontrolling the crew members at the level "did he have time to poop" and "did he forget to replenish the oxygen supply". What does it do?
Particularly strange is the constant attempts of the AI to take a unit with a minimum supply of oxygen to the farthest corner of the ship from the place of replenishment of this resource, and the team's ignoring of the fire that has arisen on board until the player pokes their muzzle into a source of danger or a refueling point in manual mode.

Personal weapon
Without landing on planets and asteroids, the variety of hand weapons is incomprehensible, in conditions of practical uselessness, nothing but shotguns, since all battles with insectoids take place in point-blank firing mode, and boarding, not only does not make practical sense (it is easier to wait until the crew of a lost ship will die on its own, and this is another reason why this mode should be canceled, any destruction is simply restored by the crew and the ship flies away), they still do not have any special battle tactics, it all comes down to chaotic crowd shooting, which is the same done from shotguns.
Or do boarding in a propelled mode with different characteristics of weapons, and with some sense other than to kill enemies until they die on their own.
or create battles in open areas with cover, where different effective firing ranges would make sense.

Ship weapon
it is good to make different on the principle of "rock-paper-scissors", for example:
Cannons - strike evenly on shields and hull blocks, dividing their damage in half, average aiming and rate of fire.
Lasers - ignore shields, since the beam is not matter, they have good aiming, high rate of fire but low damage. (will be good against shuttle capsules and missiles)
Light rockets - high damage to hull blocks, aiming range from medium to high (if homing is available), but fully repulse with shields (since they explode before reaching the hull while there is a shield) and are hit by lasers with a high probability.
Heavy rockets (torpedoes Or boosters for taking off the shuttle from the planet if installed on the shuttle consoles and fueled with fuel and not with a warhead.) - are piece goods, they are launched either from suspensions on capsules and shuttles or from special mines on the ship, they have a very high impact on blocks, but the impact is strongly absorbed by shields, vulnerable to lasers and a little to guns.
Shields - block explosive and kinetic damage, do not allow boarding while working.

The mechanics of block damage should be done according to the principle of hitting the blocks of the ship's side, it is impossible to pierce the roof or the bottom of the ship, you can only shoot the equipment protruding from the roof if the blow hits this equipment.
These changes will immediately make the game more fluid and interesting.

With the option of landing on planets, you can add a planetary vehicle, a rover, with its own random equipment slots, so that you can make both a transport and a tank with armor in the slots.

RE: I suggest improving the game - Segavi - 09-09-2020

(09-09-2020, 12:49 PM)Koit Wrote: Personal weapon
Without landing on planets and asteroids, the variety of hand weapons is incomprehensible, in conditions of practical uselessness, nothing but shotguns, since all battles with insectoids take place in point-blank firing mode, and boarding, not only does not make practical sense (it is easier to wait until the crew of a lost ship will die on its own, and this is another reason why this mode should be canceled, any destruction is simply restored by the crew and the ship flies away), they still do not have any special battle tactics, it all comes down to chaotic crowd shooting, which is the same done from shotguns.
Or do boarding in a propelled mode with different characteristics of weapons, and with some sense other than to kill enemies until they die on their own.
or create battles in open areas with cover, where different effective firing ranges would make sense.

this game are on alpha phase. I hope the next upgrade would be centered at combat mechanics. making the weapons better (can use ammunition, or be laser weapons that use rechargeable batteries) have diff damage, range and shot ratio. and add a few armor

RE: I suggest improving the game - Koit - 09-10-2020

(09-09-2020, 06:37 PM)Segavi Wrote: "this game are on alpha phase."
I have experience in game design, and based on this I can give advice.
Now you do not need to add new items, you need to expand the functionality of the already created one.
Otherwise, you will drown in details and miss the chance to develop the game, since there is always competition and, having interested people in an interesting beginning, you can lose this interest if it is not supported on time.
The first place in importance is to make a more interesting map, give up linearity, make a mesh of transitions if you find it difficult to make a map from solid polygons.
Solve the problem of depletion of resources or according to my proposed scheme for creating mines that extract resources to a warehouse from the time the player or AI control the object (warzone 2100) or otherwise.
In second place is the elaboration of storylines and quests with a non-linear plot tree.
Already these two points will help you get out of the arcade and make the game more complete.
In third place, I recommend making the ships moveable on the location map and redoing the combat mechanics according to the scheme I proposed in the first comment.
In fourth place, add the construction of mines and stations on asteroids, and make landings on the locations of the planets, where it will be possible to realize the advantages of long-range weapons over melee weapons (while battles are only on ships, there is little sense in a variety of weapons, since the battlefield is almost the same) ...
Take the example of chess, it is not so important to add new types of pieces to the board, how to think over the rules of moves of what is already there, there is one unit in checkers, but the game is eternal, draw conclusions from this.
I've seen three good game projects so far that have been killed by developers choosing to make items instead of gameplay, and this was a clear mistake.
Better a more developed gameplay with a small number of items and units than a sea of items and units with unfinished gameplay, I hope you understand this.
Better to make good chess than bad lego.

RE: I suggest improving the game - AdmiralGeezer - 09-11-2020

We'll be monitoring all feedback and doing our best to improve the game, that is the goal. But there's lots to do and it is time consuming, so patience is needed Smile

RE: I suggest improving the game - Steelcrow - 09-12-2020

Aaaaaayyy,
You sayin' some of the same things I been sayin'
Such as

(09-09-2020, 12:49 PM)Koit Wrote: Shield - similarly useless, it is easier to install an additional hull stabilizer or a weapon.

Shields and Hull Integrity are redundant, please merge.
Rather than all-at-once blowup,

(09-09-2020, 12:49 PM)Koit Wrote: To abandon the battle system for the total strength of the ship and replace it with a battle to destroy the blocks installed on the ship.

because,

(09-09-2020, 12:49 PM)Koit Wrote: This will immediately give an interest in different models of building hulls, the use of armor, the placement of equipment in various ways, will give the development of the ship's design from the practical protection of blocks under fire.

Armor is installed as an add-on to the hull structure, protecting from such things as weapons damage and some space hazards, but adds mass, so should be applied to the most sensitive areas.
For example, my instinct is to place the ship's command consoles in the center of the ship where they have lots of hull between them and space.
Pieces of the hull getting destroyed in battle are scars to the ship, adding character. Further, this would be tangible and undeniable damage to our ships, necessitating the production of new Tech and Energy Blocks (le gasp!) to repair the damage. We may have to temporarily leave ship(s) behind until sufficient materials are gathered. Imagine that.

Though I question whether ships should be mobile in the sector grid view. Let's not reinvent the wheel while we already have spokes and tires.

Then about the pacing of the game:

(09-09-2020, 12:49 PM)Koit Wrote: The game has a good idea, but after an interesting start, when 6 guns are installed, there is nothing more to do.
...
The game is still very raw and unfinished, so far it all comes down to building a ship - a vacuum cleaner of resources that will fly on an almost linear map collecting everything in a row, which upon reaching a level of 10 team members with 6 guns becomes a purely repetition of the same actions ...

As I've indicated before, the extrinsic goal, reaching Eden, is very simple and easy, while the intrinsic goal, building the fleet, occupies the vast majority of decision-making in the game,

even though we
convert everything in sight into ship
until it's done
then ride on energerium hyperium and ice
until we reach the promised land.

A word of criticism against:

(09-09-2020, 12:49 PM)Koit Wrote: completely abandon the "points" of the ship's equipment.

The ship points are a method to prevent us from cramming 8+ turret guns into a 1x1 size ship, or potentially dozens of turrets into a 2x2 size ship. On my first serious game, my goal was to build a 2x2 factory ship and then a 1x1 hyper-compact escort outfitted with 2 turrets, a shield generator, and a stabilizer. Had the gunship halfway done before I realized the snag, and then what I would be able to do if the snag weren't there: fill the square full of turret.

There must be offered alternative methods for keeping ships in proportion.

(09-09-2020, 12:49 PM)Koit Wrote: ...and boarding, not only does not make practical sense (it is easier to wait until the crew of a lost ship will die on its own, and this is another reason why this mode should be canceled, any destruction is simply restored by the crew and the ship flies away)

Ah yes, the point of boarding vessels is to make them surrender so we can keep them aboard our ship as prisoners until they join the crew. This is how 20+ member crews are possible.
Does that make sense? idontknow*shrug*

(09-09-2020, 12:49 PM)Koit Wrote: Make stations and settlements on planets, add the ability to visit stations of other factions where you could hire a crew, trade, fight and receive quests.

Yes please.

RE: I suggest improving the game - Koit - 11-04-2020

(09-11-2020, 03:09 PM)AdmiralGeezer Wrote: We'll be monitoring all feedback and doing our best to improve the game, that is the goal. But there's lots to do and it is time consuming, so patience is needed

It is very good that the game is developing, the developers have shown that they can make the right decisions, although not always successful ones.
We are looking forward to mobile ships on the map and battles of ships in motion, with damage to the hull blocks, over which it will make sense to think over the design and protection.
It makes sense in special blocks of armor, which can be performed with different levels of protection against different weapons and different indicators of protection against "accidental" hazards.
For example, one armor is good against the impact of projectiles and meteors, another against radiation and lasers, the third is fire resistant, the fourth is a noise absorber ... and let the builder think about which compartments are best to protect.
I also want to hope for the landing and takeoff of shuttles to the planets with their flora and fauna, quests and unique resources on the planet's surface.
Make slots for equipment on shuttles and capsules that allow you to change their characteristics, and, possibly, different types of hulls for these shuttles and capsules, with different characteristics and possibilities of their modification.
For example, the ability to install accelerators for landings and takeoffs from planets.
Good luck and new achievements!