Battlevoid: Harbinger Feature Requests

Given was the word i meant to use in that post, not govern. Anyways,

Here's my input for the day!

I've thought about this FOREVER but I never remember to mention it. We need some sort of warning when our hull integrity reaches a critical level. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten sniped by missiles and rockets halfway through the campaign because I'm paying attention to how my bolter drones are doing on the other side of the map. It's incredibly frustrating and I think it's probably an easy fix. It could be anything, red lights flashing at the edge of the screen, a notification from a crew member or Eden.

I haven't found any use for the plasma bombers yet. They are very slow, and have very low hull integrity, as they are only able to sustain a few hits from bolter or gatling PD. Maybe leave the speed how it is, but increase the hull integrity a bit? They could be useful additions to the fleet, but for now, I can't find an efficient use for them, as they usually don't survive the trip to the enemy fleet.

Will we be able to connect our Battlestation account to our app? This would be a really cool feature, because at some point, I could see the website becoming more of a community, where we could have our achievements on the site for everyone else to view. Also, I really just want the characters to call me Fleet Admiral Hood!

A slight update for the physical appearance of the ships would be nice. I understand if you think it's a waste of time and resources, but it's just something I've thought about a lot. I'm a very detail oriented person, so naturally, I zoom in on the ships as much as possible to see what they look like, but it's all pixels from up close, so it's sort of a turn off. Of course this is 100% my opinion, so maybe I'm the only one that feels that way. If that's the case, forget I said anything!

Pirates? There's been a lot of talk on the forums about pirates, and I think it would be a great addition. Human pirates in ships exclusive to the pirates could drop items similar to those dropped by the asteroids, or a large cache of research points or scrap. Just another way to add variety and spontaneity to the game. I could see it as a side mission (eliminate pirates in sector 4...) or random event (pirates enter the sector you are in currently). Argh.

The idea of a crew has been tossed around these forums more than a beach ball at a Nickleback concert, and I'm here to help pass it around some more. There's an incredible game called Artemis, where 6 people play as the crew of a ship, which is what I'm basing my suggestion off of 100%. Obviously, the ship needs a captain. While you are the captain of your flagship, your fleet will need a captain per ship. The captain oversees all of the other crew members, making sure everyone is working as efficiently as possible. Each ship requires a Helms Officer. Helms controls the ship's movement and warping. Next is the Weapons Officer. This position is pretty self explanatory, but for those who are unsure, this person is in charge of the ships weapons and shields. Next is the Engineering Officer. This officer is in charge of power management and integrity of the ship. Although this doesn't apply to Harbinger's current features, having a good Engineering Officer on board could just provide the benefit of reduced wait for shield recharge/weapon fire rate/etc. Next is the Communications Officer. The Comms Officer is in charge of all inter-ship communications. The benefit of a Comms Officer in Harbinger could be increased coordination between ships in the fleet, the ability to activate distress beacons, and increased fighter and drone coordination. The Science Officer is the last bridge officer. This officer provides scientific information for the rest of the crew, such as enemy shield levels, and "anomalies" (such as items or asteroids in the sector) scattered in the space surrounding the ship.

I'm truly sorry I wrote such a long suggestion. I will do my best not to do this to you again, I know you're pressed for time, with the new year sneaking up so soon. Good luck team!

@Fleet Admiral Hood. Great Suggestions! The warning thingie is something we have thought about for some time, we should definitely implement that. And regarding the fighters, drones and Bombers we will have a look at them and try to rebalance them some!

Community is very important to us, it is the best thing we have! One day we would like to create some cool system where you could log in to a Bugbyte system, that would give you access to many awesome things all at once. If we get the resources and time, and Battlestation keeps on growing (Which is our dream) that is something we want to do!

Like that pirate idea, will write it up! Maybe we will get time to do implement them.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! Keep em coming. We should have some new things to show you soon.

I'd like to point to SPAZ as a possible model for crew - they behave much like enchanted or enhanced equipment in other games. They have a basic benefit, like engineers (In that game) altering how fast hulls are repaired, but as they jump in rarity level, their effects are mor pronounced, or they carry a greater number of effects.

Rarity isn't something that seems to have a place in BS:H. Regardless, I think there is room for crew members that carry specific bonuses to various categories, and can be 'trained' (upgraded) with the resource of experience - gained as the ship makes kills with that crew equipped. This can be handled exactly like equipment is handled now. Each crew type would be like a piece of equipment, with the potential for growth in their own unique areas - areas like ship speed/turn rate, shield regen, damage mitigation, firing rate/range/damage, etc.

This has the benefit of utilizing, to a very great extent, the mechanics that ship equipment already employs, hopefully making it easier to implement.

Lurkily I think it's not so much that rarity doesn't have a place, but that there are not currently enough non rare items in the game to have rare items. This will hopefully change in EE, as they have said they are making many many more turrets and other goodies for us. However I think rare items should exist to some extent, because they make the game that much more exciting. Maybe hidden in asteroids like the current rare weapons, maybe at Battlestations.

Speaking of Battlestations, I don't think we should have to pay 2.5k scrap PLUS 100+ research points for items that are already upgraded. I always ebbs up grinding for 15 minutes trying to get a mega plasma cannon from the first Battlestation. I think if it already has the upgrades, we shouldn't have to pay the upgrade points. Or just sell them Vanilla. Regardless, trading shouldn't involve precious upgrade points!

Could we bring back the auto repair in first contact? That was a great feature, having auto repair as long as your engineers were available to do work. I think the engineer/scientist/marine crew would do well in this game, especially if you also bring back the work they did in FC (Repairs, boarding, research, etc)

Thanks again for being so attentive to your community. That's most of the reason why I supported you in the Kickstarter in the first place! Hope everything is still going well at Battlestation HQ and I hope we get to see that update sometime next month ?

Multiplayer

When I say rarity, I mean in the sense of diabo or other RPG's, where "rarity" isn't how often you find an item, but a class of item. Common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary, mythical Each class up has the potential to drop with more enhancements than the last, making a mythical item . . . not necessarily better than a mere rare, but those drops carry much more potential.

Thus, you could have a projectile cannon, then a rare projectile cannon with bonuses to various stats (Bonuses other than upgrades it may come with,) and a mythical with six different various upgrades, that, if you're really lucky, work together synergistically.

BS:H doesn't seem to be built on this model, which is why I said that it didn't seem to have any place here.

Honestly, the rare (as in, not often seen) weapons in BS:H are so damn rare, that I actually felt quite scandalized to discover that my energy cannon - one of the cheapest things I could make - outperformed celestial ion weapons and gatling energy cannons in combat. You only get these from asteroids, and most asteroids drop junk.

I've always found the energy gatlings to be highly effective. Usually when you fly upgrade their hull damage, they're a close range one discharge one kill.

I do see what you mean though. However, they might be working towards something like that, who knows. I kinda wish they would give us periodic updates on the new content and how it's all fitting together. As long as I don't die from the anticipation before the update is released everything will be fine.

Don't get me wrong, an energy gatling is a nice weapon - one of the best close-range brawling weapons in the game. But range is a serious factor in this game. Being able to strip shields at a range comparable to your anti-hull weapons is too valuable to swap energy cannons for energy gatlings, in my opinion.

I've never found a shield-stripper that I think outperforms energy cannons, or an anti-hull weapon that I think outperforms projectile cannons, for general application. There are a lot of weapons that offer incredible advantages in certain situations, but it is rare that I am able to engineer those situations, or avoid the situations in which those weapon's drawbacks become severe.

Will be releasing some progress material soon! Been busy setting a lot of things up. Just made a new teaser trailer this weekend, and will be showing off new screenshots as well.

That's what I use the fighters for. They can take shields down in no time, and meanwhile the projectile cannon is pounding away at the shields too and once they're gone it's a matter of seconds until the hull is destroyed.

That's great to hear Admiral! I can't wait to see how it's coming along.