Most Anticipated ST2 Feature?

[Cory Trese]

What the ST2 feature that you're most excited about?

[poryg]

Downloadability

[Cory Trese]

Jul 8, 2016 11:10:23 GMT -5 poryg said:

Downloadability

LOL, good one

[Deleted]

Cory Trese, I read the last ST2 update on kickstarter and was confused about the combat. It looked and sounded different from other progress updates in the past. Could you explain how combat works in ST2?

[Cory Trese]

Jul 8, 2016 11:46:54 GMT -5 Chance said:

Cory Trese, I read the last ST2 update on kickstarter and was confused about the combat. It looked and sounded different from other progress updates in the past. Could you explain how combat works in ST2?

I'm not sure what you mean about it sounding different that previous updates? The Kickstarter updates are definitely the best place to get information about the game's progress. We recently demonstrated the combat systems to the Executive Producers.

There are two types of combat systems in ST2, Ship Combat and Crew Combat, both of which have unique sets of rules.

I'm pretty excited about the ST2 combat systems, they are probably one of the top five features I'm most excited about.

[fallen]

Jul 8, 2016 11:46:54 GMT -5 Chance said:

Cory Trese, I read the last ST2 update on kickstarter and was confused about the combat. It looked and sounded different from other progress updates in the past. Could you explain how combat works in ST2?

The design has definitely evolved since the combat updates we have done in 2015. There were moments when we thought boarding combat would be a full Battleforce-like level.

Probably the biggest change is the visual perspective - we've moved to a side-on view over isometric for many different reasons.

We are working on making combat more playable by the day right now, so we anticipate that one of our next updates is going to go into detail on combat again!

[ntsheep]

The TB con that comes after

[AA]

Everything?

[Cory Trese]

This might be the update that Chance was confused about:

ST2 Combat Update for 2015

This update shows some mock up UI in isometric view. After talking to our Kickstarter backers, Executive Producers and prototyping a half-dozen different perspectives for combat, we ended up with a design that will really work -- and is based on more complete information about our budget and scope.

Ship to ship combat in Star Traders 2 will remain fast paced and action-oriented. The player will not be asked to place units in tiles, instead issuing a series of rapid fire orders to individual ships and officers. Among your options will be positioning choices (such as Advance, Retreat, changing lanes) as well as a set of actions that are defined by Captain’s abilities, Officer’s training, and the components available through your ship design (do you have guns, torps, a mix of both, special stealth components, and so on).

This remains our mission for Ship Combat. And for Boarding combat, the update is right on point in terms of the approach.

Boarding combat in Star Traders 2 will be arranged and paced similar to space combat, with a focus on action. Your officers will bark orders, plasma guns will fire and flare. Individual officers and crew will be important and as the Captain you’ll need to consider who on the map is brave, cowardly or a master brawler.

There are only a few reasons that a Captain or Officer would lead a boarding engagement, and they all involve a “checkmate” result. A boarding party goes for the jugular. Victory is assured if a boarding party can capture the enemy’s Engine Room, storm their Bridge and defeat the enemy Captain, or in a less direct route, disable enough of the Guns and Torpedo bays as to remove the ship’s combat ability. When boarding a ship, you’ll fight compartment to compartment to reach these victory goals. If you board the ship show below, you might end up in the cargo bay (biggest green box). From there, you are two short fights from the engine room. This “path to checkmate” concept within boarding engagements will help keep them focused and fast-paced.

Neither of these designs required any particular perspective, and when we created the mock ups we knew they were just one of a variety of options available to us. We're pretty pleased we had the time to create so many prototypes and try out so many different perspectives -- the one we settled on is definitely the best one for the players of ST2.

[Deleted]

Jul 8, 2016 11:53:02 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

Jul 8, 2016 11:46:54 GMT -5 Chance said:

Cory Trese, I read the last ST2 update on kickstarter and was confused about the combat. It looked and sounded different from other progress updates in the past. Could you explain how combat works in ST2?

I'm not sure what you mean about it sounding different that previous updates? The Kickstarter updates are definitely the best place to get information about the game's progress. We recently demonstrated the combat systems to the Executive Producers.

There are two types of combat systems in ST2, Ship Combat and Crew Combat, both of which have unique sets of rules.

I'm pretty excited about the ST2 combat systems, they are probably one of the top five features I'm most excited about.

Cory Trese, fallen, one of the earlier updates showed boarding combat as a top down side like angle view (not top down like Battlefront) with the opponents facing each other across the hold. Crates and such in the way. Ship to ship was the same way. This seemed really cool and unique, like the rest of ST2.
The latest update showed a line of men facing a line of men and a ship facing a ship (like in ST1). The update doesn't explain how combat works and visually seems, at least on the surface, the same as Star Traders.

[Cory Trese]

We will keep working on making ST2 the best game it can be.

I have faith that all our hard work will pay off, and that the game's design will speak for itself and convince players the game is unique and worth their time to play.

[fallen]

Jul 8, 2016 11:57:05 GMT -5 fallen said:

We are working on making combat more playable by the day right now, so we anticipate that one of our next updates is going to go into detail on combat again!

Also, still taking pledges for alpha

[Deleted]

Jul 8, 2016 12:17:10 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

This might be the update that Chance was confused about:

ST2 Combat Update for 2015

This update shows some mock up UI in isometric view. After talking to our Kickstarter backers, Executive Producers and prototyping a half-dozen different perspectives for combat, we ended up with a design that will really work -- and is based on more complete information about our budget and scope.

Ship to ship combat in Star Traders 2 will remain fast paced and action-oriented. The player will not be asked to place units in tiles, instead issuing a series of rapid fire orders to individual ships and officers. Among your options will be positioning choices (such as Advance, Retreat, changing lanes) as well as a set of actions that are defined by Captain’s abilities, Officer’s training, and the components available through your ship design (do you have guns, torps, a mix of both, special stealth components, and so on).

This remains our mission for Ship Combat. And for Boarding combat, the update is right on point in terms of the approach.

Boarding combat in Star Traders 2 will be arranged and paced similar to space combat, with a focus on action. Your officers will bark orders, plasma guns will fire and flare. Individual officers and crew will be important and as the Captain you’ll need to consider who on the map is brave, cowardly or a master brawler.

There are only a few reasons that a Captain or Officer would lead a boarding engagement, and they all involve a “checkmate” result. A boarding party goes for the jugular. Victory is assured if a boarding party can capture the enemy’s Engine Room, storm their Bridge and defeat the enemy Captain, or in a less direct route, disable enough of the Guns and Torpedo bays as to remove the ship’s combat ability. When boarding a ship, you’ll fight compartment to compartment to reach these victory goals. If you board the ship show below, you might end up in the cargo bay (biggest green box). From there, you are two short fights from the engine room. This “path to checkmate” concept within boarding engagements will help keep them focused and fast-paced.

Neither of these designs required any particular perspective, and when we created the mock ups we knew they were just one of a variety of options available to us. We're pretty pleased we had the time to create so many prototypes and try out so many different perspectives -- the one we settled on is definitely the best one for the players of ST2.

Yeah, that's the one I was thinking about. So then, alot of what happens in combat is going on behind the scenes,so to speak, so there really only needs to be a basic ui for the player.

[Deleted]

Jul 8, 2016 12:19:38 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

We will keep working on making ST2 the best game it can be.

I have faith that all our hard work will pay off, and that the game's design will speak for itself and convince players the game is unique and worth their time to play.

Don't take my questions the wrong way. I just wanted more information. I expect it will be a huge success and I'll buy the game when it comes out, same as I have for the other ones you all've created.

[Cory Trese]

Our goals for ST2's combat system haven't changed -- combat is fast paced, more under the player's control (than ST RPG) and exciting. After prototyping a bunch of different perspectives, we found that the one we highlighted in our latest update worked best for the player's ability to control battles.

In terms of what happens "behind the scenes" there is definitely a lot of math and dice rolling, but even that will be fully available in a combat log (for the people who love math.)