Suggestions

Hi Bugbyte,

I was thinking maybe this could interest you:

• Mind Control:
  

         Some technology or alien ability can take the control of your crew and make them do some actions profitable for them. (to counter that, some equipment can be bought/built)

• Non-Lethal weapons:
  

         Some weapons can be non-lethal, to favors the capturing aspect.

• Detention:
  

         Once captured, we can try to make the prisoner join our crew, use him/her for experiments, or use him/her as a prisoner, having prisoner can be useful. We can trade them, give them back to their factions in exchange of something. Or we can use them as recon and force them to go explore a wreck with a potential alien presence. (If they refuse or try to escape we can use a necklace, The running man movie style, to neutralize them)

• Melee weapons:
  

         Lethal and non lethal

• Space environment:
  

1.     Solar flares: possibility to set on fire inside the ship. If one crew member is outside the ship, the member can just burn and die.
   
2.     Black hole: parts of ships are sucked into the hole. Creating big holes into the hull. Or losing parts of the ship
   
3.     Coronal Cloud: EMP effect in all the ship. (During a fight or a boarding it can affect systems, doors, weapons (energy system))
   

• Modules Upgrade System:
  

         For each room there can be different modules upgradable, better the level is, the room will provide better results. For example, in the navigation room (going to a simple navigation monitor to a hologram star system map), we can have a larger view of solar systems, so we can travel further in one jump. The new modules can be bigger, so we will need to enlarge the room to make it more efficient.

         For communication system, we can go from a simple monitor to talk by text to a big screen for video transmission. Improving communications system will increase the chances to be contacted by others ships and/or having better/more options during the communication.

         For farming system: we can have trays with just one floor, then 2/3 floors, to increase the quantity of production in the same amount of space. Then we can have trays with auto-watering system.

• Solar star energy:
  

         A very difficult system to obtain, but with the necessary resources and equipment, we can create a system which will have at its center a very small sun which will provide a large quantity of energy. The cons are it’s very difficult to maintain and can create radiations. If not maintain the star can enter in mini super nova state and destroy a big part of the ship.


All the best, and can't wait to see what will be the next news from you!

Thanks Grabin for all the suggestions! It's nice to have some ideas listed up here, so feel free to add more if something comes into your mind.

We will definitely look into player ideas as we progress with the game, and especially after release. As always it depends on how much work effort is needed to implement the idea and how much it gives in satisfaction for players. So we are looking for ideas with a good ratio regarding those qualities

Suggestions gathered from Discord chat:

Regarding game play re-playability and longevity:

I would suggest some rpg elements, like Diablo games, where a certain amount of RNG based discovery of items or elements of the game makes it hard to experience everything in one playthrough.
Also a certain amount of personal creation, eg Minecraft style crafting, or personalization of your characters, things like that can expand the playability.

I've been playing StoneHearth and their "well what now" answer is to re-embark on a new adventure, albeit with a select amount of people and items from your town. A new game but with a boost from your previous accomplishments.
Short of a complete restart / end game though, I agree its a tough place to be in. Replayability in this instance would be the focus - as @drunkard said, giving the player something to come back to, so they can do it all again.

Another idea is possibly different starting types? FasterThanLight and StoneHearth achieve replayability from the get-go just by having different ways to start, or dfferent factions / build types.

A "Nice-to-have" -- run into your past failed lives? A chance to encounter one of your ships in the state you were defeated in? I can't imagine it being much more difficult to implement than a random encounter - just take a snapshot of the current ship's state and have that spawn instead of one generated for a derelict / NPC.

Admiral Geezer,

I posted on your games Twitter page asking if it was possible to coexist with other races that are not exactly human. Such as robots or actual alien races that are playable characters. If the mechanic wasn't possible would it possible to add pets or animals that might be able to contribute our humans survival?

Here are also a few other ideas I wanted to suggest:

- if the playable "alien" or robotic crew members are aboard there should be different mechanics to how they operate on the ship in order to survive.
- Since you were adding moods I was wondering if you could add stuff like quirks. Negative or positive quirks that would make playthroughs interesting. It could also contribute to back story.
Ex. James is a cop before the apocalypse. After it he developed being a wimp, so he gets a quirk that would give him debuff in combat or stressful situation that would affect skills or happiness.

Ex. James - wimp (when scrolled over) - -10 happiness in crisis situation. -10 aim in combat. 10% chance to coward in combat raids.

Another would be space battles. Since were on a ship are we able to deck out the side or ports of our ship with major artillery or weapons? (I was thinking like the Star Wars Star Destroyer or the The Capital ships we usually see in space movies. Big cannons make for big explosions. Shield generators or even minigun turrets. Alien weaponry attached to our ship).
This can also contribute or reputation among faction. The more firepower you have the more likely factions are to notice and the less likely you are attacks by random raiders. The more alien tech you have the more alien factions will take notice and could be hostile or friendly depending on the tech you have if it falls in line with the tech they use or how much they respect you.

If we could since suits or costumes would be thing. Can they have benefits or actual use to make it more fun? Like wearing a Mech suit, a form of power armor or battle suit gives bonuses. Clothing just provides happiness for the crew. It would be awesome to dress someone like Master Chief or a clone trooper. Even having Cloud Strife on the ship for laughs and giggles. (Doesn't have to necessary be exactly those. I just like to dress up my crew the cooler they look the more devastating it would be for me to lose them to a broken hull on the ship or a random headshot from a raider raid.)

---

Hey Grabin and Admiral Geezer

Something came to mind when I read on the rooms and came up with some ideas on rooms based on that from other games.

In Xcom it is possible to capture live specimen and put them in a container facility that can monitor their behaviour. In the end this can lead to more upgrade for not only the ship but as well as the crew!

Mutations Chamber- Ever thought about having crew that could use alien abilities or even become mutated in ways that we only thought was possible for super heroes. (Of course this would be the point of coexisting with other races on the same ship so to avoid the aspect the mutations can be applied both ways or the benefits can be huge but not too game changing. Ex. Alien race that can breathe toxic fumes can lead to having crew that can breathe toxic fumes. At the cost of having this room it takes a lot of power and there is only a limited number of people that can be mutated at once. And the mutations to take effect can take a while depending on the mutation.

Robotic room- Remember when I said that the alien study chamber can lead to new tech. This room can provide it without having to take such risky lengths to actually change your crew. Specimen can breathe toxic fumes? Well we made gas masks that can filter and clean toxic fumes regardless of environment. Specimen can lift tons of weight. Well worry not we can make power suits that can do the same without having to genetically alter ourselves at any lengths.

The cons of having these rooms.

- Power usage is more
- Crew members with low science and engineering can't use them without risking hurting themselves or other crew.
- can't be build without the "Alien" study chamber. (I use the word alien very loosely.)
- comes with risks that can only be lowered or become non-existent through upgrades on the rooms themselves
- You can have only one of the rooms (this should prevent redundant researches) or if you want having both rooms can lead to clash in Morales from the two different groups that use them.
Ex. Scientist from robotics looks down upon human mutation because it make the crew less human than they originally started. Result in low relationships when coming across scientists or engineers from the mutations lab. (This can also open the door for new personalities or quirks (if you planned to implement the idea about quirks.)
- chance to fail the experiments based on stats that contribute to it?
- chance for the fail experiments to kill or possibly permanently alter the crew members that test the experiment. (Should be based on crew members who are conducting the experiment stats).

Pros
- these rooms can lead to new possibilities on your ship. (NEW ROOMS, NEW WAYS TO HANDLE YOUR SHIP, AND EVEN NEW WAYS TO DECK OUT YOUR CREW IN DIFFERENT STYLES OR TECH.)
- The difference in weaponry (possibility to make a plasma sword or plasma saber.
- Can lead to creating robot companions that contribute to the ship's integrity. This can also be one of the ways we can acquire robot companions??? Let's go C-3PO!
- Crew gain happiness and satisfaction from successful experiments. (Small breakthroughs gain small happiness and so on and so forth.)
- Crew can gain more information and details such as strengths and weaknesses of the alien races they have encountered so far.
- Possibility to domesticate alien animals for crew members to use? (Space cows or Alien Monsters to fight for us!!!) Lol.
- Different understanding in alien tech (acquired through robotics labs.

---

Admiral Geezer,

I posted on your games Twitter page asking if it was possible to coexist with other races that are not exactly human. Such as robots or actual alien races that are playable characters. If the mechanic wasn't possible would it possible to add pets or animals that might be able to contribute our humans survival?

Here are also a few other ideas I wanted to suggest:

- if the playable "alien" or robotic crew members are aboard there should be different mechanics to how they operate on the ship in order to survive.
- Since you were adding moods I was wondering if you could add stuff like quirks. Negative or positive quirks that would make playthroughs interesting. It could also contribute to back story.
Ex. James is a cop before the apocalypse. After it he developed being a wimp, so he gets a quirk that would give him debuff in combat or stressful situation that would affect skills or happiness.

Ex. James - wimp (when scrolled over) - -10 happiness in crisis situation. -10 aim in combat. 10% chance to coward in combat raids.

Another would be space battles. Since were on a ship are we able to deck out the side or ports of our ship with major artillery or weapons? (I was thinking like the Star Wars Star Destroyer or the The Capital ships we usually see in space movies. Big cannons make for big explosions. Shield generators or even minigun turrets. Alien weaponry attached to our ship).
This can also contribute or reputation among faction. The more firepower you have the more likely factions are to notice and the less likely you are attacks by random raiders. The more alien tech you have the more alien factions will take notice and could be hostile or friendly depending on the tech you have if it falls in line with the tech they use or how much they respect you.

If we could since suits or costumes would be thing. Can they have benefits or actual use to make it more fun? Like wearing a Mech suit, a form of power armor or battle suit gives bonuses. Clothing just provides happiness for the crew. It would be awesome to dress someone like Master Chief or a clone trooper. Even having Cloud Strife on the ship for laughs and giggles. (Doesn't have to necessary be exactly those. I just like to dress up my crew the cooler they look the more devastating it would be for me to lose them to a broken hull on the ship or a random headshot from a raider raid.)

---

Hey Grabin and Admiral Geezer

Something came to mind when I read on the rooms and came up with some ideas on rooms based on that from other games.

In Xcom it is possible to capture live specimen and put them in a container facility that can monitor their behaviour. In the end this can lead to more upgrade for not only the ship but as well as the crew!

Mutations Chamber- Ever thought about having crew that could use alien abilities or even become mutated in ways that we only thought was possible for super heroes. (Of course this would beat the point of coexisting with other races on the same ship so to avoid the aspect the mutations can be applied both ways or the benefits can be huge but not too game changing. Ex. Alien race that can breathe toxic fumes can lead to having crew that can breathe toxic fumes. At the cost of having this room it takes a lot of power and there is only a limited number of people that can be mutated at once. And the mutations to take effect can take a while depending on the mutation.

Robotic room- Remember when I said that the alien study chamber can lead to new tech. This room can provide it without having to take such risky lengths to actually change your crew. Specimen can breathe toxic fumes? Well we made gas masks that can filter and clean toxic fumes regardless of environment. Specimen can lift tons of weight. Well worry not we can make power suits that can do the same without having to genetically alter ourselves at any lengths.

The cons of having these rooms.

- Power usage is more
- Crew members with low science and engineering can't use them without risking hurting themselves or other crew.
- can't be build without the "Alien" study chamber. (I use the word alien very loosely.)
- comes with risks that can only be lowered or become non-existent through upgrades on the rooms themselves
- You can have only one of the rooms (this should prevent redundant researches) or if you want having both rooms can lead to clash in Morales from the two different groups that use them.
Ex. Scientist from robotics looks down upon human mutation because it make the crew less human than they originally started. Result in low relationships when coming across scientists or engineers from the mutations lab. (This can also open the door for new personalities or quirks (if you planned to implement the idea about quirks.)
- chance to fail the experiments based on stats that contribute to it?
- chance for the fail experiments to kill or possibly permanently alter the crew members that test the experiment. (Should be based on crew members who are conducting the experiment stats).

Pros
- these rooms can lead to new possibilities on your ship. (NEW ROOMS, NEW WAYS TO HANDLE YOUR SHIP, AND EVEN NEW WAYS TO DECK OUT YOUR CREW IN DIFFERENT STYLES OR TECH.)
- The difference in weaponry (possibility to make a plasma sword or plasma saber.
- Can lead to creating robot companions that contribute to the ship's integrity. This can also be one of the ways we can acquire robot companions??? Let's go C-3PO!
- Crew gain happiness and satisfaction from successful experiments. (Small breakthroughs gain small happiness and so on and so forth.)
- Crew can gain more information and details such as strengths and weaknesses of the alien races they have encountered so far.
- Possibility to domesticate alien animals for crew members to use? (Space cows or Alien Monsters to fight for us!!!) Lol.
- Different understanding in alien tech (acquired through robotics labs.

Hello, Ira671!

"I posted on your games Twitter page asking if it was possible to coexist with other races that are not exactly human. Such as robots or actual alien races that are playable characters. If the mechanic wasn't possible would it possible to add pets or animals that might be able to contribute our humans survival?"

It's possible but we do not have these at the moment. The game is so big that the core features alone take up a lot of time, but as the game is released and we are looking into expanding the game these things can certainly be a possible addition!

You mentioned quirks. We have traits and conditions and we can use these to create different personalities and quirks for sure I would say. It's a pretty neat idea!

Yes, we have ship vs ship and boarding implemented. The features are quite far along but we still have to think about how we approach and finalize those battle features. Perhaps the main problem with ship vs ship battle is the fact that you have to start panning the screen between ships to see what's going on in each one. Crew combat also has some problems, mainly tight spaces combined with real-time combat. This makes it a bit hard to come up with features that would bring a little more depth to the combat. We are working on it and ideas are welcome

And thank you for the other ideas, we will look here whenever we think about what could be cool to add! Keep em' coming guys.

Seriously guys this game would sell for ~29.99$ US on the Nintendo Switch and move +5,000 units in the first week with minimal advertising push.

Get it on there, don't leave a game like this for the mobile market (although I'll be getting it either way!).

I agreed with Phong. A lot of the games that do go mobile have to usually take out a lot of the possibilities or game mechanics to make the game fit phone capacity. There are also no possible additions to the game on mobile devices without having to consider said issues. It also leads to disappointment if there are some mechanics or additions that you do for one system but can't be applied to the other because of difference in operating systems.

We will definitely try to get it to as many platforms as possible!

Writing up ideas from Discord discussion.

* Oxygen and maybe some other gas affecting how flammable tiles are? Explosions.
* Alien infected crew members, not necessarily knowing that. Having to do surgery on them to save them.

Don't know much about the combat system, but firing a peircing round to the engine/oxygen tanks, than an Explosive/incendiary to cause a fire and kill the crew (with hopefully minimal damage to the ship) would be a cool combo to incapacitate a ship to salvage.

If there's a political/faction system you could introduce gas rounds that land in a room and try to make the air unbreathable to the crew, but if you're caught using it makes a lot of the factions angry at you.
Gas rounds from turrets or artillery, main goal of killing crew and recovering the ship.

Kinda want to see if an outlaw playthrough is possible where factions and there police forces hate you to the point they kill you on site, but you make a fortune stealing and reselling ships and their cargo (and even potentially contracts on certain ships and their crew)

A political faction system where people will have opinions of you so you can't shop at their stores/they do their best to hunt you.

If there are going to be cryopods, I guess players will find ridiculous way anyways... as Example, letting one of your crew get infected, putting him in cryo afterwards and sending him over to a enemy ship when you find one.. Watching them scream from a safe distance.

Hmm.. I wonder, if you are going to design encounter ships, does that mean there is going to be kind of a (dev only?) Shipdesigner?
good point, and if it's on steam are you going to use the workshop to allow players to share encounter ships to expand the ship database?
Ship builder tool.

From discord:

Well one idea I had was that say if it’s a longer fighter fight that the crew would get in cover (whether that’s a corner or crates) and peek out and fire. And also I think to make the combat feel real as can be is that their should be a lot of destruction around. What I mean is that whenever a crew member or enemy misses their shot, that shot creates sparks and other forms of cool lighting effects. Also there should be a accuracy stat. So if your character was a police officer, then that should be higher. Or if they were a cup cake maker then their accuracy should be well... cupcake aim.Well I hope this gives you some ideas!