Some notes
Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 5:26 pm
Playing 4.6, the stable release.
Played a couple simple games, mainly to reacquaint myself with the game. I do have some notes here, and most of these don't require their own thread, just simple observations, and we should be able to keep the discussion straight. A couple others I'll post in separate threads as they are quite focused. Most of these are just observations and suggestions, a couple bugs maybe too. There may be a coding reason why they would be a pain to implement, but if not, I think they will add to the game.
First off, you guys have been doing good work! I played around with 3.5 (I think) on my old laptop a few months ago, and I still had fun then. I was tickled to see the project is still going and the improvements are amazing.
The galaxy background is really neat, with the nebulas and such. My first thought was "eh, just some unnecessary eye candy, oh well, they're trying". Then I noticed the no shields in a cloud mechanic, and thought that makes sense, but none of the clouds are near any systems, so.... huh? Then I noticed they moved, that was cool. And then they created a star. I think I peed a little at that. That's really cool.
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Other Spinal Guns, perhaps a huge Mass driver. Allows for lower level techs to use Large hulls more efficiently. Also can save on PP's.
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Allow for changes in ship design for in production ships. If a design is changed, any ship currently in production that has had PP spent on it would pause for 1 turn and spend 5% of the total PP's for that one ship, as the necessary adjustments are made to the currently laid hull. Sometimes it may be cheaper/faster to scrap the ship and requeue, sometimes not. Any ships not currently in production, but are queued, would not receive any penalty. At the very least, have ships that are queued, but not yet in production (including the ships in a queue of which one ship is in production), reflect the design changes.
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Allow for retrofitting of ships. If a ship's design has been updated, allow ships already in existence to be refitted to reflect the new design. If a ship is out of combat, at a drydock with the appropriate facilities for the upgrade, then it should be allowed to be refitted. The ship will be taken out of service, and will remain in drydock for the numbers of turns the part is 'worth', plus 25%. It will also cost the PP for the new parts, plus 25%.
Mechanics wise, the ship could be removed from the game, and a new ship added to the top of the production Queue, with the appropriate amount of PP and time remaining. Designs that have been obsoleted would not be eligible for refits, only updated current designs.
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The item parts in the design screen do not reflect the current values for each weapon. Only after mounting each weapon does the true value show up in the 'ship summary' screen.
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Sitrep entries should have a checkbox to remove them from the list. This can be included in the filter list to show checked items. Allows for easier management of long sitrep lists. Possibly an option to automate this, when a player clicks on a link within the sitrep, it will automatically check it off, but not remove the item until another item is clicked on.
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Starlane Nexus and Bore buildings are a really neat addition. I would like to see focused bores though. Sometimes I don't want to build 3 or 4 bores to get the one I want. Maybe adding a mechanic similar to the Nova Bomb, where a vessel would have a Bore Target. I've read some sci-fi that uses this mechanic as plot lines. Balanced to cost more than a regular bore, also dependent on length, but less than a Nexus.
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I understand the need to connect to the net for multi player, but it won't load a saved game if I'm offline. Any reason why? I'm on a metered net connection and every byte counts.
--
The Terraforming mechanic bugged me a little. I was at a point in a game where I was able to have the spare PP and time to fully terraform a planet. I would have to add 2-3 buildings to the Queue, reducing the amount of PP's available to other projects. Yes, I could add them as it went along, but then those planets would take longer to terraform, or I could add another and move it up. I'd prefer a fire and forget method though. Just like you can queue up a series of ships to be built in succession with one production item, you should be able to do the same with terraforming. If a planet needs 2 to reach a good state, then you should be able to queue up one building, but have it repeat. The drop down box should not list more than it needs.
---
Production Point Decay. If an item in the production queue is not being actively worked on, but has had some PP spent towards it, the amount of accrued points should decay at something like 2%-3% of accrued per turn. So after 30-50 turns, a project would be back at square one. This would represent the production facility having to retool and replan the work done on the item. Modern construction projects that get halted/abandoned are never in the same condition they were left in, there is always something that needs fixed or redone.
---
Scrapping of a ship could return a small percentage of PP back into the system.
---
Played a couple simple games, mainly to reacquaint myself with the game. I do have some notes here, and most of these don't require their own thread, just simple observations, and we should be able to keep the discussion straight. A couple others I'll post in separate threads as they are quite focused. Most of these are just observations and suggestions, a couple bugs maybe too. There may be a coding reason why they would be a pain to implement, but if not, I think they will add to the game.
First off, you guys have been doing good work! I played around with 3.5 (I think) on my old laptop a few months ago, and I still had fun then. I was tickled to see the project is still going and the improvements are amazing.
The galaxy background is really neat, with the nebulas and such. My first thought was "eh, just some unnecessary eye candy, oh well, they're trying". Then I noticed the no shields in a cloud mechanic, and thought that makes sense, but none of the clouds are near any systems, so.... huh? Then I noticed they moved, that was cool. And then they created a star. I think I peed a little at that. That's really cool.
---
Other Spinal Guns, perhaps a huge Mass driver. Allows for lower level techs to use Large hulls more efficiently. Also can save on PP's.
---
Allow for changes in ship design for in production ships. If a design is changed, any ship currently in production that has had PP spent on it would pause for 1 turn and spend 5% of the total PP's for that one ship, as the necessary adjustments are made to the currently laid hull. Sometimes it may be cheaper/faster to scrap the ship and requeue, sometimes not. Any ships not currently in production, but are queued, would not receive any penalty. At the very least, have ships that are queued, but not yet in production (including the ships in a queue of which one ship is in production), reflect the design changes.
---
Allow for retrofitting of ships. If a ship's design has been updated, allow ships already in existence to be refitted to reflect the new design. If a ship is out of combat, at a drydock with the appropriate facilities for the upgrade, then it should be allowed to be refitted. The ship will be taken out of service, and will remain in drydock for the numbers of turns the part is 'worth', plus 25%. It will also cost the PP for the new parts, plus 25%.
Mechanics wise, the ship could be removed from the game, and a new ship added to the top of the production Queue, with the appropriate amount of PP and time remaining. Designs that have been obsoleted would not be eligible for refits, only updated current designs.
---
The item parts in the design screen do not reflect the current values for each weapon. Only after mounting each weapon does the true value show up in the 'ship summary' screen.
---
Sitrep entries should have a checkbox to remove them from the list. This can be included in the filter list to show checked items. Allows for easier management of long sitrep lists. Possibly an option to automate this, when a player clicks on a link within the sitrep, it will automatically check it off, but not remove the item until another item is clicked on.
---
Starlane Nexus and Bore buildings are a really neat addition. I would like to see focused bores though. Sometimes I don't want to build 3 or 4 bores to get the one I want. Maybe adding a mechanic similar to the Nova Bomb, where a vessel would have a Bore Target. I've read some sci-fi that uses this mechanic as plot lines. Balanced to cost more than a regular bore, also dependent on length, but less than a Nexus.
---
I understand the need to connect to the net for multi player, but it won't load a saved game if I'm offline. Any reason why? I'm on a metered net connection and every byte counts.
--
The Terraforming mechanic bugged me a little. I was at a point in a game where I was able to have the spare PP and time to fully terraform a planet. I would have to add 2-3 buildings to the Queue, reducing the amount of PP's available to other projects. Yes, I could add them as it went along, but then those planets would take longer to terraform, or I could add another and move it up. I'd prefer a fire and forget method though. Just like you can queue up a series of ships to be built in succession with one production item, you should be able to do the same with terraforming. If a planet needs 2 to reach a good state, then you should be able to queue up one building, but have it repeat. The drop down box should not list more than it needs.
---
Production Point Decay. If an item in the production queue is not being actively worked on, but has had some PP spent towards it, the amount of accrued points should decay at something like 2%-3% of accrued per turn. So after 30-50 turns, a project would be back at square one. This would represent the production facility having to retool and replan the work done on the item. Modern construction projects that get halted/abandoned are never in the same condition they were left in, there is always something that needs fixed or redone.
---
Scrapping of a ship could return a small percentage of PP back into the system.
---