A smaaall wishlist :-P

[Fenikso]

I wish that...

1) New game dialog remembers my last choice
2) I can choose my first officer (maybe a lvl50 retirement award?)
3) The game shows enough detailed information in-game so it doesn't seem random to new players, but complex as it is
4) The game has nicer Jupiter icon
5) There is a possibility to switch off tutorial and first contract completely
6) There are always contracts on the first planet in the beginning, especially on Impossible
7) There are some Impossible only awards
8) I can zoom map out and in fast and without HW buttons
9) Boldness of the Status button updates during blockades and surveillance actions
10) We can get to the rumors and conflicts directly from Status
11) Ship's log contains how have you died
12) We can filter upgrades to only available ones
13) I understand why should I carry luxury goods instead of fuel :-)
14) Empty stashes disappear from cargo screen
15) Rank ships improve with rank
16) We are warned before action which can lead to rank loss, especially when it costs 40k
17) We can execute self-defense without losing reputation
18) Can have something like sell/buy/take/move maximum possible by one click
19) Traders and smugglers did not carry one of each thing but for example 20 units of just two things
20) Smugglers could sneak into enemy's exchange
21) Doctor does not have heal button as there are no other options
22) It is not that hard to find some officers
23) Exploration window shows remaining fuel
24) Hide and find cache doesn't have second level button as there are no other options
25) There is something really expensive (1M+)
26) Enslave button is inactive when crew is full
27) Draw comes faster if there is no damage for more turns and no one can run away, 1000 is too much button bashing
28) Copy ship and captain info to the clipboard
29) Some rumors had bigger impact - especially the ones about fleets of explorers or traders with valuable cargo and extra security
30) I do not wish so much :-D

[Cory Trese]

I put some of these onto the todo list and some of them are questions you can ask or discover the answers to. Some of them are just confusion about how the game's rules work, which will probably be discussed by other posters.

Great post, thanks!!!

PS: I have found in forum environments that huge list posts get less feedback than average.

[Fenikso]

Thanks. Those are just random thoughts and I also wanted it to be a bit funny. I know that some wishes will never come true and some depend on my attitude completely.

But I am certainly interested in what numbers are considered a rules confusion =-O.

[slayernz]

Cory's statement that you'll get fewer responses is pretty true - but this time I thought to myself "Challenge Accepted", then suited up. Hopefully my responses are legend ... wait for it ...

1) New game dialog remembers my last choice
This is not a bad request - but captain name should still be blank

What would be really cool on top of this though is having some additional detail about each starting ship so you don't have to try and remember which ship has what specs. That might make the starting screen too long though.


2) I can choose my first officer (maybe a lvl50 retirement award?)
A starting first officer, or a first officer of your own choosing down the track? For the former, you can't really start with anyone other than old Turdlip because the game has the same story line for each start (and same start date for that matter). Your father is on his deathbed and tells you that he wasn't always a farmer with a penchant for gambling, but rather, he was one of the elite, a space ship owner, furthermore, the ship was carefully hidden in caves just to the west. It can be yours if you deliver a critical message to the local prince. (I think it was something to do with exactly what he could do with his latest land-tax increases).

With that, your father passed away, and over the following weeks you started to think less that your father was delusional and more that there might be a grain of truth to the story. So one sunny day you and your father's best friend, ole Turdlip went off to find the ship. After almost giving up multiple times, you found her! The ship your father spoke about. She was old, had a paisly paint job, and had a tape deck as the central part of the music system, but was otherwise in remarkably good condition. Then ole Turdlip dropped a bombshell. He was actually your father's first mate and was willing to take to the skies with you at the helm. You gain his significant wisdom and he gets to revisit his past.

So there is where you take up the story. You're on your way to the local palace to deliver your father's last messages (which coincide with the end to all galactic peace and tranquility), with ole Turdlip as your First Mate. You can't start the game without him ... but you can push him out the airlock at the first opportunity and hire someone hotter, younger, and ... well female.


3) The game shows enough detailed information in-game so it doesn't seem random to new players, but complex as it is
The game definitely has a very steep learning curve, but it is offset by the fact that both Basic and Normal levels are so wrapped in bubble-wrap that you can try stupid things, get shot down, and get right back up again to try mroe stupid things. I'm guessing from your other comments about impossible-level, you're not a novice - but I'd be willing to bet that you still have at least one Basic or Normal captain that was created when you first started out. It's a nostalgia thing - and sometimes you dust that captain off and fly around the galaxy destroying any opponent that dares cross your path.

4) The game has nicer Jupiter icon
You're lucky there's several different planet types <grin>. I'm thinking that the map you see on your mobile phone/tablet/device/emulator/doohickey is actually a feed directly off the MFD on your ship's bridge. They still use cassette tapes so you can't expect things to be holographic 3D imagery

Add this to the STRPG II wish list though. And while you're at it, let's have them animated too Andrew


5) There is a possibility to switch off tutorial and first contract completely
It would be nice to turn the tutorials off as an option in the .. errr options menu. you can't turn off the first contract though (see #2 response).

6) There are always contracts on the first planet in the beginning, especially on Impossible
Stop starting as Thulun ... most other factions have some contracts available on the first planet. Only those Thulun dogs seem to have a dearth of contracts. I'm guessing that they are either too cheap to pay people to do their dirty work, too stupid to understand that they CAN pay people to do their dirty work, or are too hoity toity and just expect people to do their dirty work for them because they are Noble.


7) There are some Impossible only awards
That would be good - there's a bunch of award ideas that have been put forward. Some of them will almost certainly have a reward tied to impossible difficulty. Also, there are bunch of existing awards with "Future unlocks". Any one of those could get an impossible difficulty unlock. We just have to ponder on what should be unlocked.


8) I can zoom map out and in fast and without HW buttons
Yeah that would be a limitation of the game engine. Pinch-zooming, and dynamic zooming is definitely on the cards for STRPG II ...


9) Boldness of the Status button updates during blockades and surveillance actions
Err ... why? In missions, the action (blockade or surveillance) is naturally bold. When you are just blockading or snooping in your own free time, you don't have to go into your status screen much at all. Especially now that you can see your W-F values and your crew morale from the main screen.

10) We can get to the rumors and conflicts directly from Status
If you are at the map screen, just click on the "Menu" button. You'll see rumors and contracts available straight away. To get to conflicts, click on Rumors, then the conflict button at the top-right side of the screen.


11) Ship's log contains how have you died
This has been requested a huge number of times and I'm sure that Cory said that it was done some time ago. You're right though - it's still not there yet. Cory to fix this one.

12) We can filter upgrades to only available ones
Yeah that would be nice ... but it shouldn't be the default option because sometimes you forget about some of the other upgrades that might actually be better than the ones available. Also, Cory's added some fanstastic new ones to the mix that you wouldn't get to see otherwise.


13) I understand why should I carry luxury goods instead of fuel :-)
Ah young padawan. It's not so much luxury goods but rather luxury food. It's anything that resembles real food (and not some reconstituted goop that resembles the stuff they ate on the Nebuchadnezzar[/] in the Matrix). Even canned food can count as luxury food if it's not preserved Spam . So why can you use luxury goods instead of Water-Fuel? Skillful use of a food processor will help turn the, pickled turnips into fuel for the void engines. Of course it's a lot less efficient as a fuel source, but when you're running on vapor and all you have left is the ice that has accumulated on your ship hull, beggers can't really be choosers.

On the other hand, when you are flying around with a good supply of W-F, don't forget that the luxury foods are actually a positive influence on crew morale. Even seeing a box of almost-expired Vat-beef wedged in the corner of the cargo hold gives them hope that they'll actually be able to bite into their food at meal times rather than sip it through a straw.


14) Empty stashes disappear from cargo screen
This is actually by design. Caches improve in effectiveness over time. A cache that you have had for a few decades will be a lot less likely to be raided than a cache that was only freshly created. Think of it as burying gold bricks in your back yard. For the first few weeks or months, there'll still be telltale evidence of your digging in the form of grass-less patches of ground or even dirt mounds. Over years though, even you'll forget that they are buried.

Now I'm not saying your caches are just buried boxes in the ground, but any storage facility that you build needs time to help it blend with its surroundings. Just because you've emptied the cache doesn't mean you want to tear down the structure and start again.


15) Rank ships improve with rank
Yeah this actually would be nice. I'm thinking that could technically use the honor/pride ships in tiered form. The Honor and Pride class ships are fantastic but you shouldn't be able to get them until you are Rank 8+. The Templar ships (when they actually become decent ships) should only be available for rank 12+.

HEY ... I'm half-way through your list!!!

16) We are warned before action which can lead to rank loss, especially when it costs 40k
This one I think is about right. You're the captain and responsible for your actions. You can't say to a Cadar court ... "Yeah I shot a few torps at your Cadar merchant ship, but how was I to know the torps would blow holes into their hull?". You've obviously played a bit so you'll have figured out what you can't do without consequences. There were only a few instances where you could get caught out - eg selling records in a spy war, but Cory's fixing that. Most other situations gives you the information in dialog boxes at the bottom of encounters, or through your political officer or even your wonderful Turdlip first mate.

17) We can execute self-defense without losing reputation
You can do this with pirates (just don't blow them up or enslave them). They're the only ones who will attack you without good cause. If a military ship attacks you, it's because you've obviously got a negative RP with that faction or are carrying restricted goods. The right of self-defence won't really hold up in court here.


18) Can have something like sell/buy/take/move maximum possible by one click
One of the selling features of Android devices is the ability to Swipe the screen ... are you saying that design is flawed?!? <grin>. Actually this has been requested before and is potentially doable with some tweaks to the UI.

19) Traders and smugglers did not carry one of each thing but for example 20 units of just two things
Yeah that would be nice too. Actually what would be nice is that you'd have some sort of indicator at the encounter screen "Sir, our sensors indicate they are carrying x". So many times I've attacked a ship only to find they are carrying nothing. Not even W-F or luxuries! I mean to say - that's just not on. They're surely breaking crew union rules by flying with no fuel! I would further argue that they should be fair game to blow up because you're doing that faction a service by eliminating their more miserly captains.

20) Smugglers could sneak into enemy's exchange
I've been bugging Cory for some time now about having a black market that is found through the Spice Halls. Pricing has a higher spread between buy/sell than you would find at legit exchanges, and you could buy/sell restricted goods without a permit. However, you wouldn't get any RP benefits from selling restricted goods, and there is the possibility that the authorities could do a random raid meaning you could get stung with large negative RP.


21) Doctor does not have heal button as there are no other options
Clicking on the "Doctor" button allows you to see prices. It's like going into the waiting area of the Dr's clinic where you are quoted a price. If you didn't have the additional heal button, you'd be automatically healed at whatever the price of that clinic is. That sucks on two counts
1) You don't get to see what price you are paying
2) You may not want to get fully healed in a single action. If you have 4HP remaining, you might want to heal one HP here, then 1 HP on another planet, etc. You'll save money this way.


22) It is not that hard to find some officers
Your basic officers (political officer and mechanic) are pretty much scattered throughout the galaxy so you'll almost always be able to find one of those guys pretty easily.

The other officers, such as Pilots, military, alien hunter, etc are a little harder to find, but if you keep an eye out for the right rumors, you'll find them pretty easy too. For example if you're hunting for a Pilot, keep an ear out for a rumor about the Spice Halls overflowing.


23) Exploration window shows remaining fuel
You shouldn't be doing more than a couple of explore actions in a row without going back to your cache. Otherwise either you're not finding enough at that planet (and should move on), or you are leaving stuff after you find it - which is a waste.

Each Explore action consumes 1 unit of W-F, and so if when you were last in your cache, you had 10 W-F units, you know you will be down to 9 W-F after your next Explore. Using your cache is invaluable when exploring - and keeping a healthy amount of W-F stored in this Cache is also very important.


24) Hide and find cache doesn't have second level button as there are no other options
The Hide Cache button can actually wipe an existing cache off the face of that planet - so you don't want to have that button automatically create a new cache (hence the confirm). It would be nice, I guess, for you to be prompted with "You already have a Cache on this planet, do you wan to go to it?" instead of the generic "Hide Cache" type button/dialog.

For the Find Cache thing - on the first press, you are saying yes, I want to try and find my cache. Then the second press is "I've found my map and am now going to look for it. Yeah it could be a single click so I won't push the justification of the two-button approach too much


25) There is something really expensive (1M+)
There's some shps that are over $500k but nothing for $1M. Down the track, Cory's going to implement planet bases. Maybe there is a large cost associated with setting one of those up. Watch this space -->
. no ... this one -->
. wait ... it's this one -->

26) Enslave button is inactive when crew is full
Yeah that would be nice. Also, the "Training" button should also be inactive when you don't have enough XP do increase a skill/attribute

27) Draw comes faster if there is no damage for more turns and no one can run away, 1000 is too much button bashing
In the OLD days (like a month or so ago), there was no limit. you could really be locked into battle for thousands of turns before just giving up and flying away (if possible).

I've found that 1,000 turns is a good balance. Sometimes it's a bit long, but I've had it where I am very very slowly whittling down the enemy, and by 970 turns, he is down to 1 engine. Hitting the guns button at turn 1,000 is a disappointment because I just can't get that last engine out. It would be great to allow you to continue in that instance.

The only solution here would be to change functionality so that if there is no damage to either party after x number of rounds (eg 100 or 200) then it becomes a stale-mate or draw.

So you can have some combats that can go on for thousands of turns but you are making progress (one bit of damage at a time), and some combats wind up after only a few hundred turns because neither ship can hit the other.


28) Copy ship and captain info to the clipboard
Stats and logs and stuff, or actual captain migration?

29) Some rumors had bigger impact - especially the ones about fleets of explorers or traders with valuable cargo and extra security
With fleets and merchants flying, etc it's going to increase the chance of encounters, but it's not a guarantee. Just try and find aliens whenever an alien attack has occured in space! Cory - make alien hunting easier darn it <grin>.

I'd like to see the rumors of new discoveries in wilderness to yield lots more though. Often I've gone to planets with this rumor and all that I've ended up with is a bunch of pieces of my crew as they vainly died searching for the supposed treasure.


30) I do not wish so much :-D
Noooooo ... the game doesn't improve unless people keep wishing for more stuff ... just next time wish for stuff in multiple threads next time <grin>

... Dary

[Fenikso]

Aug 9, 2011 19:33:06 GMT -5 slayernz said:

Cory's statement that you'll get fewer responses is pretty true - but this time I thought to myself "Challenge Accepted", then suited up. Hopefully my responses are legend ... wait for it ...

Oh my! I did not really think someone will comment on all of the wishes or want to discuss them any further. I will take the ones which have some value, break them to thematic groups and copy your response there, as there is no point in discussing such a long list in one thread.

BTW, "Challenge Accepted" seems to be more and more common in ST environment .

And I almost forgot: Thanks for your time!

[Cory Trese]

Well, SlayerNZ did not get to 700 Posts and 17 Karma by saying anything other than "Challenge Accepted" ... nice post, BTW.

Great FAQ entries about Rules. Thanks.

[Fenikso]

I have moved the points that I really care of to three smaller lists, so the ideas can be tracked and discussed easily:

New game … again?
A few UI improvements
Pirate's dream

There are also my answers to Slayernz's legendary post . I hope I won't be considered Rogue Spammer and thrown out of airlock. In a deep space .

It also may be a good idea to lock this thread.