Star Traders RPG Version 4.0

[dickythreesticks]

Jan 17, 2011 18:43:11 GMT -5 koles said:

Player outpost and bases will probably completly ruin idea of caches on planet

I agree, and that would be a shame.

To avoid that, one alternative to conquering an outpost is overthrowing the prince and installing someone from a more cooperative faction. That way you, the lowly captain, are only taking on one outpost at a time. With a couple ships loaded with goons and weapons, blockading and then conquering a small outpost doesn't sounds impossible, it sounds inevitable.

[silverfish]

1st post - great game guys. Has some really nice old school gaming going on.
My 2c, I'd like to see the conquest type scenario playing out. I'd imagine you would have a set of core worlds for each faction that would not change, but then a buffer zone between the factions that would ebb and flow slowly over time depending on a) the players actions and b) solar wars.
It could be a good way to win back good rep as well, ie you could fight to assist factions that you have a poor rep with and win them planets. "hero of the people" sort of thing
Pirate outposts might be interesting. Other games have had them as a faction in their own right, not sure how plausible it would really be but hey, we are talking sci fi here

[Cory Trese]

silverfish,

Totally what I have in progress! So I like your suggestion.

By having define buffers, trade routes and a few planets that change hands the game is still within the RPG (compared to 4x) genre. Not to mention being much easier to balance and support!

Special contracts, diplomacy, and trade activities will enable one Faction or another to take control of a territory or establish a new controlled route through existing red space.

-----

Pirate Outposts will allow a Captain to purchase a very rare and very expensive type of ship called a Constructor Sphere which can be flown to a Wild area and installed. At this point the Captain has a hidden military Independent or Faction base. These will be a third type of landing zone -- Urban, Wild and Base.

They will function similar to a ship and have a limited amount of Cargo Space, Crew Barracks, and the ability to take some basic types of RPG-genre instructions (again, not a 4x game where the Captain controls the economy)

----

Finally, a sufficiently advanced Captain will be able to retire to a Faction-friendly planet to become a "Boss" which is essentially a Faction-blessed under-prince. These retired (not playable) Captains will become part of the game and be accessible in different places.

For example -- if you retire a Cadar Syndicate Military Officer to Cadar Prime at Level 20 or above a new button will appear in the Starport granting access to the Cadar starship catalog.

[couscous]

Those new additions sound really good Cory. I like the option of owning a base, should be your place for dry docking ships i think, and has a lot of room for expansion in future updates. For example you could introduce rumors similar to the resource rush but for a base attack and you would need to go there and defend it, buy defensive improvements, new structures (spice hall, stardock, your own palace ), etc. This could be a heavy money sinking for high level players with lots of money, which currently there is none aside from buying ships which you could easily hijack.

Was gonna post it in the wishlist forum but anyway, yesterday playing as an explorer i realised one of the main flaws of the class is that you can simply explore ad infinitum the same planet. If you can get to max rep and money with the planet next to your starting spot it kills the gameplay. Planets should get drained from resources at least temporary after some explorations. Further more, there should be a reason to go to the more dangerous high level planets, a very rare resource, an alien ship or even a friendly alien officer wich improves stats or chances of finding something, maybe sounds nuts but just some quick ideas. If the player can get tons of artifacts and such things just by repetition in an 5-10 expl. quality and 5-10 difficult theres no reason to risk it with a 20+ one.

Just sharing some thoughts, but great work man. Regards.

[Cory Trese]

Planets do get drained of resources -- all have a richness attribute between 1 and 9. Exhaust it and expect to see 1-2 of each resources maximum.

---

Advanced Explorer finds including Alien, Narvidians, Bandits and the occasional unique treasure are in development

[oldalchemist]

How about a "deliver X tons of metal, crystal, weapons" type of contract to fund your Construction Sphere?

It's kind of a Fed Ex quest, but if you need 50 tons of metal, you could get it by piracy, harvesting, or simply trading for it. It might encourage players to make interesting choices.

[mikeronin]

I wasn't sure if this was mentioned already. I voted for Player Outpost and Pirate Bases. But I was wondering if it might be a good idea if a player were able to create their own Faction outside of the normal six and fight amongst the factions declaring Trade Wars/Embargos and such after some x level and become a prince?

Edit: Looks like it was already talked about somewhat.

[spike]

From a game marketing point of view you probably do need tutorial missions (for each character type, ideally) in order to help the new player. It can be quite confusing a game to start with.

I would second the suggestion to add some background flavour distinguishing the factions.

Also important for new players is to improve the in-game advice on whether they should Run / Acknowledge / Fight. There are a number of questions about this in the forums, it's quite confusing to a new player and bad mistakes can easily be made. E.g. suggest surrendering vs stronger Pirates; what to do when challenged by a ship of your own faction (fight? run? acknowledge? - I'm not sure myself).

For me, some features I would like are:

Ability to remove Upgrades and "upgrade" Upgrades. The current system is too inflexible, especially if you are new it's easy to make an irreversible mistake that handicaps you unless you change ship. On a related note, it would be nice to be able to bring your Upgrades with you when you get a new ship. Maybe that's unrealistic. So at least you should get a good "trade in value" for Upgrades on a ship you are selling. Maybe you already do?

Nice combat effects animations (like in Civilisation or Gratuitous Space Battles).

Some minor features that could go in any time, not just a major release:

Take guns and torps from defeated ships. Maybe with some losses. Or, failing that, when they defeat you, they don't get your guns. Maybe guns/torps can only be "destroyed (spiked)", not stolen. Either way, make the behaviour cut the same both ways.

Directly Cache resources gained from Explore/Harvest activities, without needing to go via the bottleneck of the ship's Cargo Hold. But you put this in as a balancing factor, so maybe not.

A "Bank" or warehouse in Urban areas that I can use like a Cache. Not risk free, not cost free, just saves me from needing to have Wild skills in order to be a Merchant.

[Cory Trese]

Tutorials, more advice and additional variations to the Factions -- I agree, all needed.

---

Directly Cache: Game balance issue. I assume the Captain has to fly from the find to a safe hiding location and therefore, needs the Ship. If you think about the game from a "Captain and Ship" standpoint it makes sense to me that a Captain with 100 Hold has advantages over a Captain with 20 Hold.

Bank: Coming Soon.

Loot Guns & Torps: Coming Soon (you can now see them in resources view!)

Better Animations: I'm working on it with Andrew.

Remove Upgrades: Game design flaw that cannot be easily fixed. I think the UX can be improved some to help the buyer know what is already upgraded.

It is like a car -- you cannot have the best performance and best efficiency engine in the car.

You have to pick one.

[spike]

Direct Cache. --

Fair enough, and the game balance reasons make sense. How about, as a compromise, I can fly away and Cache stuff, and then if I come back right away, some (not all) of the remaining stuff is still there. The stuff 'decays' with a half life, perhaps. What I'm trying to fix here is a sense of unrealism that all the stuff I Explored/Harvested just vanishes when I take off.

At minimum, give some explanation message like "alien fauna and indigenous life forms quickly scavenge the loot left behind on the planet's surface".

Upgrades and Animations --

So I was thinking something like you have a skeletal schematic for the ship. On this schematic, you add and remove, drag and drop, modules. Upgrades add new empty slots to the schematic (and change it's overall shape). During battle, you see modules being destroyed on the empty schematic (Animations).

However it sounds like there's a design issue (database issue?) with the upgrades. Either way, this is a big change and will no doubt wait for a Major Version.

I do think the opaque and slightly screwy Upgrade mechanic will be a turn off for a sizable number of players. It's good you are putting some more warnings and explanations in. For now, just a bit of explanatory text will help a lot, e.g. "there are X types of upgrade, namely A B C D E, only one upgrade of each type is allowed, and the upgrade is permanent for that ship - cannot be removed or changed"

[Cory Trese]

The decay feature is possible. I have added to my list. There are some upgrades coming that allow additional features for explorer and smuggler that may help everyone see this part of the game in a more favorable light. The wonders of an in-development game.

I like the suggested message when a stash is not emptied.

---

Upgrades...

I like your text suggestion. Look for it in the next release =)

I have had discussions with thousands players and read a vast amount of e-mail on both sides of the debate -- and I can tell you that upgrades generate a lot of commentary.

What you call "slightly screwy" has been called "amazingly brilliant" by players -- it has also been called "very frustrating."

Star Traders is the story of the Captain and his Ships and allowing both to develop a unique set of personalities and quirks is one of the things that allows me to enjoy building this game. I've had people send me detailed design documents on how they would implement upgrades with attached Excel files. I have read them all, each one.

I think once we fix some of the UX in the next release the grouping and exclusive nature of upgrades will be more apparent. However I have a responsibility to the game's long term vision and the game's players to deliver the best thing I can make.

And honestly the number of "slightly screwy" things that might "turn off a sizable number of players" is not short.

Lets see ... how about ...

- Lack of documentation and tutorials
- Ugly main menu
- Too much scrolling, tapping
- Not enough animation / sound effects
- Ship jumps around when turning
- Contract Waypoint too hard to find
- Too many buttons
- Interface too generic
- No Story

[Cory Trese]

Spike,

As a stop-gap while we work to address the larger issues I have added the toast and text you describe above. I hope it helps other players =)