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Post by John Robinson on Jul 24, 2018 12:10:34 GMT -5
Great post! As more and more Contact Traits only operate when they are known (Talent Scout, all the Recruit Traits) this is more and more important! Thanks for the complement  Contact trait development is so much fun. Very immersive, you get a real buy-in to the realism. "When am I'm going to get over 369?". Shut up Balgair, you just can't go wandering willy nilly between games. Get back to HoS and do your job, you lazy degenerate! |
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Post by John Robinson on Jul 24, 2018 11:25:01 GMT -5
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Contacts & Hidden traits:
All of your contacts have one or more hidden traits. Discovering them will open up many services you didn't
know they could offer. They might offer a Spy recruit, or bonus mission cash. You find out
they hate your home faction. The number of possible combinations are impossible to predict.
STF has reached the stage of development. Discovering your Contacts traits is essential
to success, and enjoyment. Here is an example of what you can see on the description screen for my Emissary contact.
She has 2 traits that I know, and 2 that remain undiscovered. I could be missing out on something really special until revealed.
In STF there are three Talents that can reveal a Contact's hidden traits.
| Spy(1) | Close Observation
| Wisdom % to reveal a Contact's hidden Traits, Selling to or purchasing from a Contact
| 18 wks | | Diplomat(1) | Expose Quality
| Wisdom % to reveal a Contact's hidden Traits, Selling to or purchasing from a Contact
| 18 wks | | Commander(8) | Shrewd Dealings
| When accepting a Mission (Charisma + Command %) = Contact's hidden trait
| 18 wks |
Spies & Diplomats: Contact Hidden traits.
Close Observation, and Expose Quality. Do not trigger when accepting, completing a mission, or trading at the exchange.
A personal exchange of money must occur. You are paying for or selling directly to the contact.
Selling: Intel Records, Weapons & gear. (might be more)
Buying: Introductions, Military Rank, Edicts, Trade Permits, Pardons, Weapons, and gear. Purchasing rare goods.
If the contact has the Data Hound trait, will always be willing to buy Intel and increases price of Intel by 15%
This is useful if your contact does not have the buy intel skill as seen in Wiki Contacts table
Keep in mind you can't buy anything from them without a high enough personal reputation. These are privileges reserved
for useful friends. Fortunately there are many talents that help boost your rating quickly.
Many talents use a (10% + Attribute test). But Close Observation, and Expose Quality only test for Wisdom.
You get one chance every 26 weeks. If you are willing to bring your Captain's wisdom attribute up to 30.
The maximum chance of success is 30%.
Commander: Superstar of trait discovery.
I've saved the very best for last. Shrewd Dealings is possibly the strongest talent the Commander has.
Frequency: You will be taking missions allot more often than selling or buying from you Contacts. After the 18 week cool-down,
the next time you accept a mission, Shrewd Dealings will be tested. You can't just sit on a Contact
and repeatedly click on "accept mission" until you succeed. The test will occur on the first contract you
accept.
If you really want to focus on contact traits, (and I do). A Captain or Officer, with Shrewd Dealings,
stands head and shoulders above the rest.
| Commander(8) | Shrewd Dealings | When accepting a Mission, gain a (Charisma + Command %) |
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| chance to discover one of your Contact's hidden Traits
| 18 wks |
Final Notes:
The Doctor, Merchant & Commander all have the Command skill. A Captain or officer with a
combination of these jobs will raise the chance of discovery more quickly.
Charisma has another important natural ability. While flying in a quadrant, Charisma is used to discover
the hidden traits of crew and officers.
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Post by John Robinson on Jul 23, 2018 5:13:18 GMT -5
Found an example of the text being cut off. This isn't the same screen as the one I noticed before but forgot to screen cap. This is on the factions sub menu. Still looking for the one on the quest results screen.  imgur.com/a/zK2lWvPHi I had the same problem but was able get around it. Try this. On the menu screen select Options. Go to default scaling. Reduce it from 111% to 100%. Exit game, then restart. Worked for me hope it does for you too. Fingers crossed. |
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Post by John Robinson on Jul 23, 2018 4:56:06 GMT -5
John Robinson - ok, thanks for the report. We've got some work to do on this screen I guess! Problem solved: I lowered default scaling from 111% to 100% in the menu options screen. Problem fixed. Text is no longer truncated. Looking really polished.  |
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Post by John Robinson on Jul 22, 2018 18:57:54 GMT -5
Sorry -- I was just saying it is a weapon thing, not a ship thing That makes sense. It has nothing to do with ship movement, it's ship weapons. Saved me some money on a unnecessary upgrade. I know you are crazy busy, thanks for making time.  |
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Post by John Robinson on Jul 22, 2018 18:35:31 GMT -5
Init doesn't come from ship Why is the Defense Pattern Matrix 3 ship component. Listing +2 Initiative? I might be missing out on something really cool, just because I'm confused. Thanks |
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Post by John Robinson on Jul 22, 2018 18:31:08 GMT -5
I don't that sounds very balanced. We can do some testing, but this Talent is already flirting with OP based on player data collected since it was released. The main issue that is logged about this Talent -- the priority fix I think -- would be to better inform players about "Doctor" NOT EQUAL "Medical" Given that is causing so much trouble I would be really hesitant to make a risky change like adding scope here since the base scope is so often misunderstood. I'm actually a fan of removing this Talent completely, for balance reasons, but players seem to find it fun as it is. Anyway, we will keep collecting data from players! Doctor Not Equal Medical. I fell into that one too. Built a whole team around Doctor skill thinking somehow it was related to Generous in Service. Do-over time lol. The Doctor only has 9 Talents compared to the usual 11 for the other characters. Maybe it's ok to make one of them really powerful? I hope you keep Generous in Service around for a little longer. I've spent allot of hours designing a hospital ship, team plan. Just about to create a new template. Can the brave Captain, and crew stop the Crimson Pox? Don't know, this will be my first try. Captain: Merch, Doctor, Diplomat. Majority of ranks going into doctor. I use 3 out of 9 during play. | Doc Talents I use | Doc Talents I don't use | Medical Staff
| Treat Wounded
| Life Saver
| Field Surgery
| Generous in Service
| Assisted Care
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| Medical Ward
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| Voice of Reason
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| Solace in Battle
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Post by John Robinson on Jul 21, 2018 15:56:34 GMT -5
I never thought about ship initiative until discovering the Defense Patter Matrix component-3 (+2 init) for sale. Ship Initiative: 1.) Does this mean the ship with highest initiative takes action first at the beginning of each round of combat? 2.) During battle does ship, and crew damage reduce initiative unless debuffed? Displaying Initiative on the Wiki sortable ship stats table.
Could you replace Total compartments with Initiative? Abbreviating to "Init" will fit into column heading. The column headings are out of space and cannot add any new columns. The number, and type of components are listed right after the total. The number of small, medium, and large compartments a ship has matters. Total seems a little redundant. Replacing "Total" with "Init" columns is probably the best way to go.  An optional method could be more convenient for the user, but a real pain for the coder. 1) Total column deleted 2) Cargo hold shifted to the left of Crew column 3) The engine column displays speed, agility, AU. Placing the new Initiative ("Init') column to the left or right side makes the most sense.  |
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Post by John Robinson on Jul 20, 2018 16:07:14 GMT -5
CurateNormal or Higher. Accumulate +40 Rep from Doctor's Generous in Service talent. No time limit. Recommended ship unlock:
A ship basically unsuitable for sustained combat.
Minimum weapons, perhaps 2 torpedoes. Light or no hull armor. (No armor preferred).
2 Installed Hospital Units.
1 Void Engine: Longhaul
1 Cargo Hold type 1
1 Sig Dampner
1 Passenger Cabin, plus assorted medium/small compartments.
4(5) Officers. 24(30) crew.
Further protections for hospital ships are provided under the Hague Convention X of 1907. Regardless of home port, every hospital ship must provide assistance to the sick and injured of every nationality and must be clearly marked and lighted as befitting a hospital ship. Inspiration for STF ship? Picture of U.S. Navy 1,000 bed hospital ship "Mercy".  Curate: The English noun curate, meaning “one who takes care of souls, a member of the clergy,” developed from this sense. Later the medical senses of cure became more common.
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Post by John Robinson on Jul 20, 2018 14:29:36 GMT -5
Agree, positive attitudes create momentum Just finished reading thread, I like this one: Trade suspended The exchange is deserted as a dust planet on an ion storm day. Now, which way is the black market again? |
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Post by John Robinson on Jul 19, 2018 18:34:37 GMT -5
Could we add an additional effect to the Generous in Service talent?  Generous in ServiceIf ships Medical Rating exceeds landing zone's Economy Rating, provides free care to
citizenry and gain Rep up to half medical Rating. Increases your Rep with local contact
up to half your Doctor skill.
The bonus personnel Rep kicks in if the planet has one of your contacts in residence,
and the other talent prerequisites are met.
I tested my first Hospital Team, from the ashes comes wisdom. I am already working on
my next hospital team.
Playing as a hospital ship captain, is probably not the road to riches, and fame.
But you know what? I'm just having lighthearted fun !
Although the health care is free. The smart contact convinces his
people, the extravagant cost, is being paid from his or her generous purse.
We really don't care as long as we can help the sick. Sealed lips,
naturally increases the esteem the contact has for us. Even contacts
that don't like us might change their minds. We try to create good will
wherever we go.
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Post by John Robinson on Jul 18, 2018 16:50:22 GMT -5
resistor Howdy Pardner Skills wiki link Stealth is listed under Crew Combat skills, not in Ship Ops skill pools. "Stealth If in Stealth Mode in crew combat, crew members gain a 10% + Stealth Skill chance of scoring a Critical Hit when attacking Increases rewards when trying access a Black Market Can be tested with Captain's Charisma to use Daring Disguise or Spice Hall Sneak to complete certain missions. Can be tested with Captain's Quickness to use Sneaky Slip to complete certain missions. Increases the effectiveness of some Spy and Sniper Talents Secondary skill to dodge ranged attacks in crew combat if higher than Tactics skill" Component Upgrades: I landed on a planet with Starport(10) "Legendary". Then went shopping. After examining all components for small, medium and large. I found no stealth or ecm components built for ship combat. There are plenty of defensive, and offensive components to make ships harder or easier to hit. There are none to make ship combat events invisible, like a Romulan cloaking device. I think Picard would prefer the Romulans, and Klingons had not developed these components. (version 2.3.15). Currently we can see what is happening during combat, and get the blow by blow details in the after action combat log. I think transparency is important to accurate play. I'm about to start a game on hard difficulty, and would rather not go in blind. Talents. I see no current talents that provide a reduced visibility of actions, and effects on your ship during combat. The Electronics tech would be a natural if required. At any rate, it is just an opinion. The final decision rests with Cory Trese ,and fallen . I'm sure whatever change occurs will be fair and balanced. I would appreciate reaffirmation if Quote-2 is final or not. Thanks everybody for your patience, slogging through the long read.
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Post by John Robinson on Jul 18, 2018 11:05:11 GMT -5
Quote-1 I have an idea that might better capture the feeling of "WWII submarines/battleships in space" in ship combat. What if we couldn't always see what talents the enemy is firing? If an enemy buffs itself, the tooltip would just say something like "2 hidden effects". There could be sensor Talents that reveal what Talents/buffs the other ship is using. Some ship Talents might be excepted from this rule, and always reveal their effect. Quote-2 I mean I thought it might possibly potentially work too. That's why I spent the time to code and test it just to see.The results were clear. We will accept them. quote-3 I wouldn't care for that. If the foe is using evasive maneuvers, it should be visible. If they were barking orders, then no. Either they'd need to differentiate between hidden and exposed talents/buffs or drop the idea.  Quote-4 It seemed to make combat look one sided. It wasn't clear what was happening. It appears to remove tension, you don't know they are using high level Talents since both sides are entering turns blind, it doesn't seem to change player strats it falls into a few anti-pattern categories from a game design standpoint - hiding important data - obfuscating key mechanics (symmetry) - reducing player agency - eliminating tension Quote-5 Still just adds a required step to be constantly trying to use Talents to spot enemy Talents. The test was highly revealing and its an anti-pattern we won't be adding. We've got a lot of other exciting things planned for ship combat. Thanks for the suggestion tho!
I read this thread several times. Put on another pot of coffee, and read it again.
Quote 1 & 2:
This is not WWII. This not like the movie "Enemy Below", with Mitchem and Jurgens. This is millions of years in the future
of the human race. In WWII, prior to asdic, sonar, radar, and aircraft carriers. For several years submarines were the ultimate weapons.
Submarines nearly starved Britain into surrendering.
Soon after submarines followed the "Das Boot" model, called the end of the "Good times". Radar could detect surfaced submarines miles away.
Battleship radar guided gunnery allowed american ships to fire over the horizon at night, and hit their targets.
Very few IJN ships were equipped with radar, and none with radar guided guns.
Once advanced aircraft carriers became available there was no where to hide, and carriers broke the back of enemy navies.
Something to keep in mind when STF introduces launching small ships into combat.
STF is millions of years beyond Star Trek next generation, advanced sensors commonplace. Under certain circumstances.
The automation could also detect and initiate a red alert without being commanded to do so. Bridge officers often
provided detailed information about the ships attacking them. It's reasonable to assume STF detection has advanced quite a bit since then.
At Starports. There are no ship components for sale that support stealth during combat. There are no ECM jamming components for sale.
There are plenty that provide enhanced accuracy and critical/crippling damage. There are multiple talents that give the ability to board at longer range.
Could you try that without a good intel of the enemy ship capabilities?
Quote-2
Quote 3, 4 & 5. Got it right the first time. It works don't fix it.
Quote-5. Yes!
Conclusion: Cut to the chase windbag!
It was once said that STF is, "so deep you can swim in it." STF today is so deep you can drown in it. The game has developed
a terrific easy to use UI. The elephant in the room. STF has developed a pretty steep learning curve for the new player. I'll count
myself a veteran player among the drowned.
Each new major content release is eagerly anticipated, and a true work of genius. The trade off is a whole new series of important things to remember
that result in success or failure. I've just spent two days on a wonderful design that became a dismal failure because of misinterpreting a single talent.
Hiding information from a new player during ship combat. Will create an atmosphere of frustration, and thinking the game is cheating.
That's a great combo for negative reviews. Ship combat is one of the best features of the game, and shouldn't be diminished.
With 511 Steam hours under my belt. Like crew combat, transparency of events, in ship combat transparency is crucial to fun factor, especially for
new players.
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Post by John Robinson on Jul 15, 2018 12:01:11 GMT -5
3. Once unlocked in a game, this reward content is available to any captain at any time, any difficulty. So, the challenge is to do the Expert Contractor *one time* in *one Hard game* and then you're set -- you've unlocked that content *for all captains forever*. Got a belly laugh out of me that time. All these years I've never attempted to play any Trese Brothers game above normal difficulty. It worked, you flushed me out of my comfort zone! I've got a real positive attitude about trying it on hard now. The achievement goals look challenging, and allot of fun. Instead of feeling sorry for my self about never getting any new ships. I'm really, really happy with this new system. You two guys never cease to surprise me. Great Job! Thanks |
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Post by John Robinson on Jul 15, 2018 5:46:51 GMT -5
Update #82 v2.3.11 Ship Status screen is truncating skill bonuses. I had to capture the image in windowed mode. But you will see the problem in full screen. Game options default scaling 111%. My monitor is running at resolution 1920 x 1200  |
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Contact trait development is so much fun. Very immersive, you get a real
