Please vote: 2.01 game improvements

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Steve
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Please vote: 2.01 game improvements

Post by Steve »

I'm interested in everyone's opinion about several suggested game improvements. Should each of these things be changed? Even a yes/no vote would be helpful:

Issue list:
1. Enable the [X] to close the game window

2. Pirate encounters are too hard, less ships per encounter

3. Terrain Vehicle Combat Tweaks

4. Put initia back into ship movement

5. Too many linear quests

6. Reduce fuel usage, greatly reduce or eliminate fuel usage when landing


Detailed description:
1. Jonathan originally disabled the "X" button in case someone accidentally clicked on it and lost their current game without saving it. I could always reenable it again.

2. Currently the number of ships depend on your average equipment class.
If average class <= 4, the number of ships they will see is based on their average equipment class. (Class 2 = 2 ships, etc.)
If the average class = 4, 5, then 70% of the time you will see 1-3 ships, 30% of the time you'll see 5-10 ships.

Question: should there only be one ship per pirate encounter and should the player encounter them more frequently?

3. Lots of issues and ideas. See: https://github.com/Anarchian/starflightt-tlc/issues/23

4. This is a trade-off between ease of controls and "simulation realism" - If you have complete inertia, deciding to stop requires spinning the ship and applying thrust in the opposite direction. Currently the ship stops fairly abruptly when you don't hold down thrust. Some hybrid system is probably the best. Should the ship stop abruptly, cruise a bit, or cruise a lot before stopping?

5. Should we reduce the tutorial quests, attempt to shift some of the quests to being more unstructured: optional started with planet messages/alien races instead of starport?

6. no further description needed
Blake00
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Re: Please vote: 2.01 game improvements

Post by Blake00 »

Hi Steve,

I've posted a link to this thread on both the starflight fb group and discord.

1. Not really an issue for me as I always play fullscreen so I have no opinion.

2. I hear others complain about this but honestly I haven't got far enough into the game to be sure on this one. I had one pirate battle in my tour video a year ago and it didn't go well haha!

3. YES!!!! Omg yes!!! No more multiple mouse clicks to target and fire. Just change it to have the same fire keys as in space combat and have the vehicle fire forwards in whatever direction in faces (like on Genesis). The dangerous monsters are too hard and fast to kill with mouse clicks. When I spoke with Jon about this he seemed to agree but lacked the time to change it. And yeah in the github thread you link to we discussed a few other tweeks to help this too eg slower months fire rate connected to crew skills etc.

4. Yes please. I like lifting and coasting. The abrupt stops are weird.

5. Not sure about this one. An optional alternative sandbox unlocked start free of tutorials would be interesting.

6. YES!! The game start needs to be more noob friendly. Running out of fuel just going between the starting planets that are close to each other is ridiculous. I'd rather it be like Genesis with almost unlimited fuel in systems and heavy usage in hyperspace.
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Gamxin
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Re: Please vote: 2.01 game improvements

Post by Gamxin »

1. I would keep the X disabled honestly, not too big of a deal

2. I don't think encounters, especially with pirates, should be reduced to one ship per encounter. It would make sense for them to travel in fleets so multiple ships are still good, maybe just a little less if possible?

3. The dedicated fire button should definitely be a thing, along with higher durability preferably in the form of adding buyable upgrades

4. I believe the ship shouldn't cruise too much before stopping but I do think it should cruise a fair amount to be somewhat realistic without annoying the player. Also the overall speed and turn rate of the ship should be drastically increased as the ship is very sluggish unless I go into the script and change it up myself.

5. Possibly? It would definitely add another means of exploration.

6. Fuel usage should be significantly decreased, a full tank would last for a very long time in each of the other Starflight games and along with the slower speed of the ship in this game the inefficiency of the engines doesn't pair too well. As for landing fuel usage, maybe get rid of it but if it isn't using too much I wouldn't bother unless you kept the travel usage higher.

[Edit] I also recommend getting rid of fuel usage within star systems as it doesn't cost any fuel in the other games
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BlackTriad
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Re: Please vote: 2.01 game improvements

Post by BlackTriad »

Issue list:
1. I play in full screen so either way this does not matter to me. If some people want this and no people do not want it then this is a no-brainer.

2. Most encounters can be difficult as in TLC your skill in maneuver, evade, and fire are more dependent on your hand-eye coordination than in Starflight one and two. Balancing this better would require several players of varying skill in a pool detailing their specific combat experiences and their modifications to the globals.lua file, if any.

3. This is definitely needed. Slowing the creatures down would be of help here also. Artifacts that beef up the TV would be a nice touch as well.

4. I never liked the inertia physics, especially in combat. Fuel consumption was balanced with it in mind though and that is why there are so many calls to fix the consumption of fuel. As said though I also believe a hybrid mix would serve the game better.

5. A re-writing of the initial quests is probably in order. Making them more n00b friendly and relevant to discovery and mastery of ship and game systems would make them better.

6. Reduction of fuel usage across the board is needed. The elimination of fuel use for landing and system travel is a good thing as well.

7. Cargo capacity is far too small. Set the cargo pods to hold 50cm (Like in SF 1 & 2) instead of 10cm by default. Adding the pods to the globals.lua would be great as well so they can be configured not only for game balancing but to players tastes in their own games as well.
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