New (Elite) Player - feedback

[teecee]

I d/l'd ST and after a few days bought Elite. I've been playing for perhaps a week, so definitely a newbie, but then again, that's who will have questions. A few feature/clarification requests:

• When I have a course "plotted", I have to find the destination to "go". There must be shortcut but I haven't found it. Sometimes I want to use pilotage to navigate around areas, but sometimes I just want to go. How can I? Can we make it more obvious?
  
• What's the difference between "Acknowledge" and "Ignore" on the encounter alert screen?
  
• When I seize a ship, why isn't my cargo transferred automatically? I got the warning, but assumed I could move the cargo AFTER getting into the ship. A clearer warning (e.g. "You must move your cargo BEFORE seizing the ship") would be nice.
  
• I haven't figured out the rumor system. My initial assumption was that I could either pay for rumors and get potentially better ones (like "buying a round" in some versions of earlier games, vs just hanging out.) Later I determined it must be that I pay to get DETAILS about the rumor.
  
  But the last rumor, no matter how juicy, cannot be bought, and I can pay for rumors with no value (like "Carry luxury rations on deep space flights"), and paying for Alien notices don't result in them being logged in my rumors log reliably. So I'm still unclear on how it works.
  
• How does House of Thulin find out that I bought something from De Valtos? It seems unfair that my permit instantly gets yanked.
  
• The Map has a Zoom, which zooms in. Another zoom, for out, would be nice. I'm on a QVGA device (Backflip); there's a lot of scrolling needed to see much.
  

I like the game. Glad I bought it.

[HateSolstice]

1) Currently there is no auto-pilot feature. The developer is currently looking into it(and a million other things). It is a feature many of us would like to see.

2) Acknowledge occurs when the target is friendly to you, except for pirates. I believe it also occurs when non-hostile targets like merchant ships appear, regardless of faction rating. It also allows you to pass by without incident, like when trying to dock your ship.

Ignore typically turns you in the opposite direction, and I believe you can incur rep loss. I don't know the specifics on that though.

3) You can move cargo prior to taking a ship from your current hold, as long as there is enough room. I assume you're asking about an automated system? I don't really have an answer for you there.

4) The rumor system works like this. The free rumors will give you both flavor text and actual rumors. The $100 rumor button will first display all worthwhile rumors at that location. It will then begin giving out the flavor text rumors again(for free) once the good rumors are exhausted.

5) Because there is a trade embargo in effect against De Valtos by Thullun. Once you break that embargo, your rights to the restricted goods at Thullun's markets are revoked.

Sorry for the crappy reply, I'm currently on my phone. Hopefully I have helped a little.

[Cory Trese]

1: The next release should incorporate a working auto pilot feature ...

2: Acknowledge is only present when you have good relations. Use of Ignore will almost always cause reputation loss with Warships, Bounty Hunters and the like.

3: Cargo is not transfered automatically because it removes the player's choice. Cargo is dangerous (makes the ship harder to fly, more expensive to operation, more difficult to land) and can incur all sorts of problems (like Artifacts on board, or Electronics in hostile territory.)

I will look into improving the warning text, that is something that can always be made more clear.

4: The number of rumors (free or purchase) is determined by the quality of the spice hall. The range (in sectors) of the rumors is determined by the price or security forces of the planet (for palace or spice hall.)

5: Credits are automatic just like Permits. They're stored in the Central Database ...

[Cory Trese]

I have a test QVGA device now and I am working on improving the game on those screens.

The release after next should include a full mulit-level zoom feature

[slayernz]

Hey Cory,
For #3, I see a compromise to what teecee might want (automatic cargo transfer between captured ships), and the current implementation.

What I would like is after you capture a ship, you still get the "Cargo" button, but this time, the "Other ship" is your old ship, and "Our Hold" is the newly acquired ship. You still get the player to make a choice about items to carry, but they get to make that choice at a more appropriate time.

Also, do you still get the option of destroying your old ship for scrap? I can't remember because it's been a while since I last needed to "borrow" a ship from a fellow captain.

[Cory Trese]

You can destroy your old ship for scrap, yes. There are some pretty big database issues that block the ship switching. STRPG internals

[teecee]

Thank you. I had no idea "Ignore" would lower rep. So it's better for me to kill every attacking pirate (i.e. those without an Acknowledge button), regardless of House/Syndicate, than to avoid the battle?

[absimiliard]

Maybe.

Just be aware that of the pirate is a member of a faction on an alliance you will probably lose rep with the ally.

-abs

[HateSolstice]

I believe the rep loss is rather insignificant. At least, I've never noticed much of a hit to my rep with anyone over using Ignore. And if the faction in question is already enemies with you, then it probably shouldn't matter anyway.

Actually, I recall reading in another topic that you can ignore certain captains without rep loss, but that's all I remember from the thread. I'll see if I can dig it up, because I'm now curious myself on the details.

[absimiliard]

My point wasn't that you might or might not care about rep loss.

It was instead that some people might not be considering one step beyond the rule of "killing pirates doesn't incur a rep hit" to the next step, "BUT, fighting the ship of an ally of a faction will result in a hit in rep for that faction."

So if I'm fighting a DeValtos pirate I can kill it with impunity. But if DeValtos and Steel Song are Allied, not Trade Allies but an actual Alliance, then killing the pirate won't give me a rep hit with DeValtos but it WILL give me a rep hit with Steel Song.

Whether or not I care about that rep hit is a different story entirely. Maybe I don't follow rep that much (like if I play on a lower level), maybe I hate Steel Song and would welcome dropping my rep further from -120 to -121, maybe I figure I'm near a Steel Song world and I'll be able to buy a pardon with the goods I sell after looting the pirate. There's a host of reasons I might not care.

But it's good to be clear that I will take a rep hit for fighting an ally's ship even if that ship is a pirate.

Because now you know, and knowing is half the battle. {Straightens his red cape and flies off into the sky}

-SuperAbs

[teecee]

Okay, that's getting confusing.

If I'm in good (or trying not to be in-bad) with a house/syndicate or their ally, and I get attacked by a Pirate from them with no "Ignore", do I have any options that don't damage my rep with someone? A pirate attacks me and that makes MY rep drop because I have to either Ignore, Retreat or win, and all three are bad?

I'm having trouble NOT killing them at this point. I think I went into significant overkill in my armament department. Even shooting at "Engines" tends to obliterate their hull.

[absimiliard]

Sorry for confusing the issue, let me try again.

There's a general rule with pirate captains, the general rule is that you don't take a hit on your rep for whatever you do with them.

So you can "Ignore" a pirate, no rep hit. You can go to "Battle Stations" and you get no rep hit. Blow the ship out of space, still no rep hit.

The exception I'm talking about happens only if the faction the pirate is a member of is in an Alliance (not a Trade Alliance) with another faction. In that case you can still do what you want to the pirate, and his (or her) faction will not give you a rep hit.

But that faction's ally will, because you shot down (or fought) a ship of their ally. The allied faction might not know that ship was a pirate, or they might not care. But since you fought a ship under their ally's flag they'll give you a rep hit.

So, more concrete examples:
1. I'm a Steel Song bounty hunter. I'm travelling somewhere, to do something. Along the way I encounter a DeValtos pirate. I check and see that DeValtos is NOT allied with anyone. In this case I can attack or flee the pirate with impunity, neither action will garner me a rep hit with DeValtos.

2. Exact same situation, except . . .. that when I check I now see that DeValtos and Thulun are now allied. In this case I usually flee, because fleeing a pirate won't get me a rep hit from DeValtos and not shooting at an ally's ship won't get me a rep hit with Thulun. If I do engage the pirate I still won't get a rep hit from DeValtos since it's just a pirate I'm fighting. But if I fight the ship Thulun will hear of it, and since they are allied with DeValtos they'll give me a rep hit for fighting with a ship under their ally's (DeValtos's) flag.

Did that help?

-abs

[teecee]

Yes, thank you, it helps. But by "flee" do you mean you "Ignore" or you go to "Battle Stations" and then "Retreat"?

Does Retreating hurt? Another problem I have is that once engaged in battle, opponents (including Pirates) try to flee but fail... unless it's a really important contract, in which case they sometimes succeed. <grimace>

[HateSolstice]

My post was actually to Teecee. Sorry for that, Abs.

To add to the discussion, you can also technically fight any ship without rep loss. However, the moment you loot/enslave/destroy the enemy, you incur that negative rep penalty. Except with pirates, I believe.

[absimiliard]

teecee:
There is no difference in the game between choosing "Ignore" and going to "Battle Stations" and then choosing "Retreat". They are exactly the same thing, Cory just put an "Ignore" button in so it would be quicker for us.

-abs