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Post by ntsheep on Mar 22, 2016 16:54:43 GMT -5
There's one thing I think that should be free from bans\embargoes, water\fuel. That's been the one thing that has bugged me the most with ST. Being forced to lose rep, a trade permit, or worse when having to refuel. If I try to make it to another planet instead, then there's a mutiny. In some ways this no win situation makes sense which is why I haven't said anything before but with some of the very cool things I've read here the past few days I think in ST2 this could be a big turn off for new players. Water\fuel should be one thing you don't get penalized for buying.
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Post by Cory Trese on Mar 22, 2016 17:18:44 GMT -5
In ST2, Water-Fuel as a trade resource is different than buying it as fuel. In ST RPG players actually LIKE that W-F penalizes you for rep (majority of actual players, not sure about the forum population.) This seems to be somewhat related to people's addiction to the up and down nature of the game's cycle and how it draws you into a fluctuating political scene.
ST RPG is one of those games that generates 10x the e-mail compared to forum posts ... from the forum you'd think it was mostly dead but from my mailbox you know it remains one of our most popular titles.
So ... Water-Fuel as a trade resource will be Reputation penalized like any other trade resource. Buying Fuel (pumping it into your tanks) will use a unique set of rules, different than trading.
Often requested in ST RPG is that Solar Wars block, entirely, purchases of fuel for hostile ships and crews. Since this is so commonly requested, we're working on including it.
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Post by Cory Trese on Mar 22, 2016 17:28:45 GMT -5
For some reason the conflict system and it's relationship to captain/ship/crew/goods faction, in ST still seems a bit opaque to me. But I can see some ways that knowing the origin of goods could enrich it. I think it depends a lot on how much you play the game. Lots of people I talk to (covering both CK and ST RPG) tend to know the reputation penalties and bonuses ... sometimes to the point it scares me! ST RPG, because it is an Android game, depends on the Android OS. That means a lot of reactive coding -- action to reaction. I think this is what people interpret as opaque in the political system -- a new or inexperienced player will be surprised by the Reputation loss, which in turn creates confusion. In a way, this makes the game fun. In other ways, it can make the game frustrating for some people ... but not enough people to have a negative impact on the ratings. So our challenge is to blend our new capabilities (no longer depending on Android) with the things in ST RPG that people love ... the unpredictable nature of politics, the cruelty of the quadrant and the unyielding beliefs and behaviors of the Factions. Trade Alliances could provide an even greater bonus when you're trading goods of those two factions together. So if it's Javat-Thulun you would get a great bonus for unloading Javat weapons on Thulun as opposed to DV weapons. I think it makes the records business much more interesting. No more spying selling on faction's records right back to them. Obviously they're going to want records that pertain to their enemies. Which raises the question will records faction be the one that created them or the one they pertain too? Records, at this point, are being designed as pertaining to ... so spying on Cadar creates Cadar records and selling them hurts your Reputation with Cadar. It is possible that Records will not be able to be sold on the open market, that they're only a black market good. Haven't decided, still a lot of balancing work left to do there. In the real world there are more trade sanctions rather than total trade bans and in some cases these sanctions raise the value of particular items as well (Cuban Cigars?). Normally that pertains mostly to luxury goods though. It would be interesting to see sectorized trade bans, and I do think that raw materials trade bans are worth thinking about. Starving a faction of the materials needed to make weapons and ships is a powerful tool. Food stuffs should almost never be banned, at least not the basics. Looking at the current sanctions on Iranian oil is an interesting example. ST2 is a multi-planetary ritualized economic with a caste of privileged ship owning extra-territorial actors. Usually I avoid as much as possible trying to model it off earth's terrestrial trade struggles. If we had a good model of a Mars vs. Earth trade embargo, I'd look at that for sure. I'm looking at the list of conflicts in ST4X right now. The Trade Route is an interesting idea. I imagine these as basically guaranteed safe money makers. When there is a trade route you can be certain that there will be some profits and a well patrolled corridor to haul those goods. You would have almost no risk, but the rewards would be meager too. It would be fallback work if you just need to grind out some cash for repairs/upgrades. On the other hand Trade Routes could be very specific agreements with higher rewards. Rychart is taking Javat Electronics and Javat is taking Rychart luxury goods etc. Trade Alliances would be more general. Like in ST 4X, in ST2 the trade route is essentially a localized, weaker Trade Alliance. The supply and demand system provides a number of constant, predictable sources of incomes for Star Traders ... buying Fertilizer at an Industrial world, selling it to Farming. Or buying Ore of any type at a mining world, selling it to a Refinery. Those supply and demand universals will give the ST2 player a framework for the trade routes of the game. When it comes to crew, it seems like they should be respected as the crew of the Captain as long as they stay on the ship. If they are going to go after crew based on faction than they ought to go after the captain too. If anything it seems like conflicts should have more internal effects on the crew. i.e. they hate you because you're selling weapons to the faction that just firebombed their home world or they love you because you're carrying goods made by their grand-pappy in the factories of their faction and selling them to a friendly faction. Also any chance we would get to participate in Vax-Jak'tar Championship. Perhaps the crowing achievement or end-game for an accomplished bounty hunter? I agree about the Crew is respected by Faction so long as they're under the protection of the Ship and Captain. The Captain's crew is governed by the Laws and no Faction is so foolish as to violate them openly. Thus, if the Crew stays on the Ship (as they will ensure they do) they won't be arrested. The point about Conflicts and Crew loyalties is spot on. Imagine how your 3 Javat Officers feel if you're selling Cadar weapons to DV who's declared war on Javat. Those weapons are definitely going to be used to kill the Officer's friends and compatriots in Javat. Talk about morale loss ... Absolutely 100% Vax-Jak'tar will be part of ST2 in a way that is unique and special from the representation in ST RPG! Keep the questions coming, very inspirational! |
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Post by ntsheep on Mar 22, 2016 17:29:24 GMT -5
I understand that totally Cory Trese. I have often thought that myself. I've always flip floped on what side to be on. I figured with ST2 I should pick one finally. I'll just make a new clone of myself that's masochistic and enjoys being punished  |
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Post by Brutus Aurelius on Mar 22, 2016 19:23:31 GMT -5
Will the Captain's starting Faction and the Crew's Faction give in game skills and talents? Such as Cadar Captains having extra skill with Torpedo warfare, or Zenrin crew being resistant to Morale loss?
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Post by slayernz on Mar 22, 2016 19:56:29 GMT -5
Or a Steel Song crew be extra good at origami? And tea brewing? And yeah - trading in WF during an embargo should certainly be a penalty. IF you are trying to cripple your opposition by placing an embargo on trade, you would absolutely penalize people who are buying WF. Fuel is the very thing that keeps the economy going - kill fuel, and nobody can shift goods around at all  |
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Post by Cory Trese on Mar 22, 2016 21:55:48 GMT -5
I understand that totally Cory Trese. I have often thought that myself. I've always flip floped on what side to be on. I figured with ST2 I should pick one finally. I'll just make a new clone of myself that's masochistic and enjoys being punished While I probably didn't sound like I was agreeing with you, I was. The ST RPG model of combining Trade Resources and Fuel is being eliminated because it isn't as easy for the player to understand. If you want to trade in military fuel, that will be treated like a trade resource. There will be different rules for refueling ... which will give you, as player, different options. You won't have to face the more severe trade penalties -- different ones will apply to refueling. There may also be ways to buy fuel from Contacts or illegal markets. Either way, unlike ST RPG you'll be given clear warning about the potential impacts of your actions, rather than see them as a reaction. |
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Post by ntsheep on Mar 22, 2016 21:58:40 GMT -5
That sounds great too Cory Trese. Damn this getting better by the minute and we haven't even got the alpha yet! |
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Post by Cory Trese on Mar 22, 2016 21:58:41 GMT -5
Will the Captain's starting Faction and the Crew's Faction give in game skills and talents? Such as Cadar Captains having extra skill with Torpedo warfare, or Zenrin crew being resistant to Morale loss? Not skills and talents, but character Traits will be driven by Faction. Dead Aim, Stoic, Fearless ... these will be traits that are much more common for certain Factions. Starting Officers and Captains will derive their traits from Faction alliance and profession. |
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Post by ntsheep on Mar 22, 2016 22:01:56 GMT -5
So if there will be different types of fuel, logically that means your ship type will define what fuel you need\use. Military style ship would obviously need a military fuel while standard cargo ships would use something basic?
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Post by Cory Trese on Mar 22, 2016 22:02:07 GMT -5
Or a Steel Song crew be extra good at origami? And tea brewing? And yeah - trading in WF during an embargo should certainly be a penalty. IF you are trying to cripple your opposition by placing an embargo on trade, you would absolutely penalize people who are buying WF. Fuel is the very thing that keeps the economy going - kill fuel, and nobody can shift goods around at all The Starport AI will be much more sophisticated in ST2. Trafficking military grade fuel is certainly something the Factions will try to limit during times of conflict. Refueling a merchant ship that is allied with an enemy? That depends a lot on the power of the local government to enforce those laws with it's military and police force ... and the loyalty of the Starport's staff. If you're stopping by a backwater Cadar planet where you personally know the Starport commander ... and your Javat warship needs fuel ... you're probably going to be able to get some fuel. Different story at Cadar Prime's military base ... yes, the Laws protect you during landing but that doesn't mean anyone is going to be polite and sell you the Fuel you need. Does that make sense? |
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Post by Cory Trese on Mar 22, 2016 22:06:23 GMT -5
So if there will be different types of fuel, logically that means your ship type will define what fuel you need\use. Military style ship would obviously need a military fuel while standard cargo ships would use something basic? No, I think that falls outside the scope of ST2 -- while I do agree that it would make sense, we're going to stick with one type of fuel. The Void Engine / HWD modules all want the same basic fuel stuff. I'm just saying that your ship now has a fuel tank that is entirely separate from cargo. For example, the Scout Cutter carries 25 Cargo and 45 Fuel. You could buy barrels of Water-Fuel and store it in the Cargo Hold AND fill up the fuel tanks with W-F, giving you a backup reserve of fuel. However, you cannot just dump fuel into your tank in deep space ... you'll have to land somewhere (or dock with an orbital) shut down the reactor and refuel. Right now in the prototype you buy Fuel and Cargo on different screens (Fuel in Starport, Cargo in Exchange.) This also means that W-F as a trade good is supplied by certain economies and demanded by others. This supply and demand does influence the cost of pumped fuel for a Ship. By separating the refueling of ships out from cargo buying, we're able to have more nuanced rules about when fuel, fuel shortages, etc ... |
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Post by ntsheep on Mar 22, 2016 22:19:49 GMT -5
That sounds awesome Cory Trese. Hurry up and get the the alpha out. I've got to try this! |
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Post by johndramey on Mar 22, 2016 22:24:45 GMT -5
That is a very cool change, Cory.
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Post by mandomaniac on Mar 23, 2016 11:13:32 GMT -5
If you dismiss a member of your Crew, they will be gone. If you dismiss an officer, they might be available later or they might join another ship's crew. I haven't decided how Dry Dock Crew will work -- unlikely that it will be the odd system that ST RPG employs. momentarily moving back in time for this thread... Would it be possible to sublet your ship? I mean pick a captain from either your crew/officers or the spice hall and let them run your ship while your away then when you return motive/political/random engines determines what happened to your ship, i.e. destroyed, stolen, etc etc, or maybe he was honest and actually brings you a share of profits. |
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