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Post by MintDragon on Sept 25, 2017 15:17:29 GMT -5
1. Ship Components will be limited by Faction. 2. Ship Hulls will be limited by Faction. 3. Starting Traits do give a reason to recruit one Faction over another. For example, Alta Mesa recruits are the only recruits who can get the Spatial Talent, for example. They are the best pilots, hands down. As suggestions, you SHOULD hire Alta Mesa Pilots, Cadar Soldiers, Javat Mechanics. Thanks for the feedback and we'll keep working to improve the game. While I understand the desire to immediately make the decision "strategic" I think the better priority for the moment is to ensure that loyalty to a Faction throughout a game has strategic impact. Would love to hear more suggestions! 1 & 2 are very cool, can't wait til we get there! 3. It's exciting to hear about talents that will be specific to a particular faction (your ex. above with the Spatial Talent). Honestly was completely unaware of all of these differentiators. I think my comment of 'Strategic' was misplaced. On the current rev [1.3.29], with same map I've been playing since seed generation started, and my merchant/spy build, feel/felt that I could play any faction/clan/house and would not feel a noticeable change in the game experience. But with the above knowledge of what's coming, feel a lot better about varied gameplay depending on faction. When other ideas pop up, I'll definitely add to the thread! |
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 25, 2017 13:58:52 GMT -5
At this time, we have no plans to replace the word Soldier. I smiled at how this re-percolated after 5 months  |
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 25, 2017 13:50:13 GMT -5
This is an offshoot of the discussion Cory Trese was having with contributor on Faction-specific terminology HEREI don't think we'll be trying to build character into the Factions with naming of the basic game functions. Those names are set by the Captain, as he or she is the one navigating the world. That's a Farming Zone in the Captain's Star Atlas, and that's what we're doing the UX about. There are just so many more interesting ways to differentiate the Factions -- and that's where I want to focus. Faction specific stories, Contact types, mission, recruits, items and unique places. I also think part of this is the need for the custom quadrants we are working on, both internally and with backers. The "new worlds and cultures" won't necessarily be the random Cadar Farming world that has flavor (aside from Cadar stories, Cadar contacts types, Cadar mission, Cadar recruits, Cadar crew gear, weapons, armor) but it will be the Tabor Outback, Rim and whatever else Andrew is going to name these places we're building. They'll be part of the carefully designed blend of procedural generated and hand crafted RPG elements. I am hoping that in addition to the cool things discussed above (and others in the thread, such as weapons, gear, armor specific to factions): Is there thought of ways to make the initial Faction choice at game start more compelling? Aside from the (+3 Starport, +2 Economy) differentiators, and number of quadrants/landing zones, I'm hoping that there are specific advantages/disadvantages to playing one faction vs another. Once I'm familiar with a particular map, I can pretty much play any faction on it, no compelling reason to pick one over the other.Also, if I need a mechanic, and I find one on another faction's planet, I'll hire him on the spot. No reason to want to keep all my crew the same faction, and no compelling reason to WANT to hire a CADAR mechanic (because they work faster and always lower maintenance cost by 10% -- example) SO, some food for thought/ideas: 1. A captain will have some high end talents available to him at level xx (ala ST4X), varies depending on faction 2. A captain will have some inherent advantage/disadvantage depending on his faction (ex. Alta Mesa captains will always have 10% more available mass on any given ship, since they are master shipbuilders 3. Regardless of the captain's faction, you really want to hire Steel Song crew for spying if possible, because they inherently have +10 stealth if they become officers. I'm sure you've already put thought in it, thought I'd add my 2 cents The problem I'm trying to solve is how can choosing a particular faction be a strategic choice at game start? |
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 25, 2017 0:26:09 GMT -5
MintDragon - perfect, appreciate it. Posting videos is huge, big +1 for planning it. Looks like the next update will at least have the tutorial framework in place, so we can start to talk about something more concrete. THAT would be awesome. With a framework, I think collectively we are a pretty good group for providing feedback from that. And also super-hyped that grävling is back, she always has an eye for what works. |
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 24, 2017 23:47:41 GMT -5
To answer my own question, it seems most important to help a new Captain connect with their contacts and start to use their missions and services. A second top priority would be to teach them how to care for their ship and crew. Well, I'm going to build on my notes, and try to make the best set of organized vids/screencasts to help new players learn the game. (I'm sure some others will be able to do the same). For someone who learns games like I do, I think that's the best way to share the depth and breadth in this amazing game. Outside of that, I'll keep scratching my brain for better feedback/input on a tutorial. |
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 24, 2017 23:22:46 GMT -5
coolio. seemed odd as I played through it. I was wondering what would happen if I didn't pass the 'tests'. Was expecting a fight, but... if its out, I'm ok with that too 👍
btw, thanks for putting the effort into making unique contact artwork. Really makes a difference in immersion (to me).
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 24, 2017 20:46:15 GMT -5
Remember this lady, the one with the rare goods slider issue?  Well, I accepted a 'personal nature' mission from her. The scenario was that something was stolen from her. I had to go to a distant planet, land in a wilderness area, take 'definitive action' (which I passed the test), then I was shown the same wilderness area with this screen:  Again, I had to take definitive action (passed that test as well). At that point, both the 'Stolen Cargo' missions disappeared (so assumed it was just duplicated in error).  The last step of the mission was to return the stolen goods back to her. I took a look in my cargo bay, and the description (probably preliminary) was missing a word or two, and was pretty non-descript.  |
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 24, 2017 19:24:55 GMT -5
That's true. I was aiming my suggestions for a forced "you must click here to advance" kind of tutorial, but thinking about it that sort of tutorial really bugs me! (and presumably many others) It would definitely be good to avoid do-or-die optional choices for new players! We won't be investing in a hand-holding force-you-to-do-such-and-such tutorial, so much as a "ask for help if you need it, we'll give advice based on what's up right now" kind of thing. Understand the dis-taste of forcing the button push tutorial thingy. Are you thinking of a tutorial choice from the launch screen (map, ship, really relaxed difficulty settings, pre-defined crew/officers with good set of initial talents, and a HELP button in the UX?) or something else? [This approach could also be used as the 'free' or 'trial' app, and wouldn't necessarily need to be upgraded over time with new features]. But man, it's going to be a challenge to cover so many concepts. And everyone learns differently. I'd like to provide better feedback, is there another game that you can point to that is kinda the tutorial that you have in mind? |
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 24, 2017 18:47:43 GMT -5
awww, thx for the vote of confidence John Robinson. Due to my projects earlier this year, I was able to get pretty good at ScreenFlow; looking forward to doing a series of vids (Let's Play-style) for ST:F |
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 24, 2017 16:06:30 GMT -5
Additional thought. I'd be happy to utilize whatever tutorial scenario you put together (map seed, template, pre-built crew, ??) and do a Let's Play using it, so I could do a walk-thru that new players could actually follow step-by-step.
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 24, 2017 16:01:29 GMT -5
I might suggest ...
1. Having a pre-assembled crew that has Merchant, Spy, Explorer officers (I'm predisposed to Merchant captain, but... whatever). Maybe a QuarterMaster could be
2. Walk-thru of hiring crew, show where pilot (or other) is understaffed
3. Walk-thru of promoting crew to officer, adding job and talent
4. Land on planet
5. Sell, buy at exchange
6. Meet contact on planet, accept mission (spy mission)
7. Travel to planet to do spy mission
8. Return to 'home' planet to complete mission
9. Go to orbit and land on 'other' landing zone (Wilderness)
10. Explore wilderness zone and get resources
11. Another turn to get fight with pirates
12. Walk-thru of fighting and win
13. Add resources from stash to ship.
14. Orbit, Return to home sector landing zone.
15. Pay crew, heal crew, spice crew. Point out that dashboard shows when crew can be upgraded.
16. Accept new mission (1 jump mission, maybe a one way delivery)
17. Travel through gate to new sector
18. Ship encounter enroute to mission planet
19. fight ship and win.
20. Encourage player to continue to travel to planet to do mission.
21. OK, you are out of the nest.... good luck.
Obviously, the ship used should be big enough to fit this scenario, starting credits should be enough to carry the new player for awhile post-tutorial, big enough crew to have most save talents covered from start. Perhaps even make it a custom 'super duper easy' difficulty.
Strong encouragement to join DISCORD and FORUM for guidance and help from us awesome folks. :-)
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 24, 2017 14:30:48 GMT -5
got it, no problem... was just assuming it was a mining heavy sector :-)
Plus, with the Atlas (from the Galaxy map), it's pretty easy to scan the landing zones. Just thought it unusual :-)
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 24, 2017 14:03:07 GMT -5
The CONTACT screen for the Spice Trader storyline states that a diplomat is involved.  But the initial dialog then states that it is a merchant?  |
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 24, 2017 13:58:07 GMT -5
I really need to unload some mining equipment, so I checked out the Galaxy Map, and viola, there is a MINING sector, let's go there!  But, when I open the Atlas of the landing zones, there aren't any MINING zones here. Zero. Zilch. Nada. There aren't hidden planets anymore, are there?  |
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Post by MintDragon on Sept 23, 2017 17:08:31 GMT -5
yes, ran into this as well. Best way I can describe is that the slider is non-responsive. I was able to purchase, but could not adjust the quantity.  |
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