Re: Feature requests
 

Somewhere between a feature and a gripe is the fact that that blue/white items disappear if you leave the planet. This is a big fat teaser if the item is on an island and you have mountain climbers installed. As a feature, it would be nice if either items are more persistent or before you visit a planet you can get a clue as to what terrain is available (maybe an option to scan the planet from orbit and get something like 15% liquid, 10% mountains, 25% trees, 50% other.) That could clue you in to take something appropriate like scanners for heavily wooded landing sites.

Re: Feature requests
 

Yeah,
I really like the planet scanning idea. It should cost some supplies though.

Re: Feature requests
 

If it cost supplies, call it 'launching probes.' :-)

Re: Feature requests
 

I keep forgetting to mention this. I REALLY want a gamma slider or at least the option to have a lighter 'unexplored' color. Depending on the monitor that I use, it is very hard to determine what is explored and what is simply dark.

Re: Feature requests
 

I'll second that :up:

Re: Feature requests
 

Hi,

And a third.

Cheers,
Plugger

Re: Feature requests
 

And a fourth. The problem with distinguishing dark squares from unexplored squares on planetary surfaces is the biggest problem with this excellent game. On some planets it's virtually impossible, especially in bright sunlight.

A simple and elegant way to fix it would be to make the unexplored squares white, or to provide a key command that would toggle making them white. I'd rather have that then to have to fiddle with gamma settings.

Re: Feature requests
 

differentiating the "unexplored" and "known but not seen" squares with more unique tiles will be the chosen method. Giving players the option would be good as well.

But what is this "bright sunlight" you speak of?

Re: Feature requests
 

Can you please add a config option to switch the low oxygen warnings back to their original setting? The more or less constant alarm noise at 50% makes exploring planets in the early game when you're really limited by oxygen levels painfully annoying. I had to shut the sound off entirely...

Re: Feature requests
 

+1 to that. Started up my first game with the new patch and was really annoyed at getting a warning for every step I was taking back to the shuttle.

Re: Feature requests
 

(goes back to find all the posts about "there aren't enough warnings when my captain is about to die!"...)

An option it will be.
Your cries I have heard.

And I should add here, about the "GAMMA":
AI is made with third-party software, and there simply is no "gamma setting" option in the language.

Re: Feature requests
 

You mean you didn't write it all from scratch in Assembler?

1. As I said above, gamma tweaking is bad. But wouldn't it be easy to add a line that says, in pseudo-code, if user presses w, all unseen squares become all bright white?

2. On an unrelated note, are there some devices that can be obtained only after certain sectors, achievements, etc.? I ask because about the best device I've seen in many games is the Machine Shop, a ship device that can be installed to increase crafting quality. I've only ever seen it once, although I've seen other devices MANY MANY times.

In my current game, I'm at sector 44, in a super-sweet spot on a faction quest where I can keep quitting and saving and then continuing (with no cheating at all) and I have an INFINITE number of small ships that can't touch my shields, so I can chew up hundreds of them without breaking a sweat. Since I have the Profiteering 2 skill, and also because of the way these guys are programmed, I'm getting an infinite number of credits and an infinite number of devices, components, and sometimes schematics. Great exploit! I was supposed to kill 10 of the ships for the faction quest, and perhaps the designer thought I'd race back then to turn in the quest. He he.

HERE'S My QUESTION: Is there any point in continuing with this? Is there any hope of getting a Machine Shop drop from these guys?

Re: Feature requests
 

Sorry, I didn't mean to give mixed signals. In my case my away team had 100% health and between 50%-25% oxygen and it was alerting me every other step that my captain was in danger. Obviously context is important for these warnings, but I feel like in my case they were a bit aggressive. Especially in the early game you're regularly getting low on oxygen, and the low O2 warning already seems to serve that function.

You said you're making it an option, and that's much appreciated. Perhaps a High-Medium-Low setting so players with different risk tolerances will be happy?

Re: Feature requests
 

Hi, Felix,
1. I already mentioned in a previous post that I would handle it in (approximately) that way. When I mentioned "3rd party / gamma", it was only to explain to the community *why* I would not just give them a gamma setting.

2. yes, devices are "sector controlled" , with some variation / danger-weighting (being in a dangerous area or on a dangerous quest, gives a bonus to the 'level' of the things that you can find.

Hi, Phanatic,
I think this kind of back-and-forth haunts all game development... different people, different situations, different desires... Trying to listen to (and incorporate) player feedback has always been a high priority... it's just the question of what to do when that feedback is conflicting...

And thanks very much for your RPS support!

Adopt, adapt, and improve!

Re: Feature requests
 

Would like to have Spelunker have an ability to clear Cave-ins. I was in a cave that necked down to 2 squares wide, with 1 square being a trap, glad it triggered as I walked up to it even with Light Step, since it triggered a cascade of of other cave-ins that blocked access to the next cave. I would hate to have been on the other side and not be able to get out, though I did look longingly at the next cave entrance and dreamed about what I was missing out on :)

Re: Feature requests
 

That is a brilliant use for "spelunker 3" ... I put it on my list!

Re: Feature requests
 

That is an excellent idea.

I have had similar happen, but on a shipwreck, where a short circuit stopped me getting back to the airlock

Re: Feature requests
 

yeah, I've noticed that happening myself, and put in a little code to try to prevent it... NOT a good way to end your game...

Re: Feature requests
 

As I understand, the crew size affects only the size of away team. Maybe there would be another stats that crew size would affect? I don't know, something like ship speed, fire accuracy or something else suggested by logics - to encourage players to have their crews at max?
Another feature: I guess, the away team doesn't spend supplies on its mission (when firing, for example). But why?

Re: Feature requests
 

Well, and I think it would be logical to spend supplies while doing landing-departing-landing planet-exploring cycle (with Shuttle Ace chosen) - just for paying for such useful skill.

Re: Feature requests
 

Tarkh, you need to get update 1.1
It adds a supply cost to away missions. I wasn't going to bother saying anything, but since you've now posted twice about "away mission supply costs", I suppose I should tell you, "it's in there!"

Re: Feature requests
 

Oh, well... I thought that downloadable installer is up to date:re: But how can I see the current version number? There's no indication on the main screen, and there's no info about it in .exe properties.

Anyway, thanks for patient clarification and sorry for my unwitting ignorance!:o

Re: Feature requests
 

Well, message edit function seems not working as intended, so sorry for multiposting... It's there, the current vesrion indication (1.1.0) now is presented on the main screen, so thanks a lot and smile all day! :)

Re: Feature requests
 

I would like something to stop you selling what you shouldn't.

ie Data During a Data Gathering Quest

or saving an Artifact

Re: Feature requests
 

Well, sometimes you do want to sell artefacts, e.g. when they give you bad things.

And you can always get more data, so being able to sell it when you desperately need money in spite of having a quest to gather it is also sensible.

Now, an additional pop-up or something that tells you about the quest in case you forgot, sure, that might be nice. Though I don't see that as a necessity, but maybe that just has to do with my memory having yet to start failing me and with me having played quite some rogue-like games before that one.

Re: Feature requests
 

A graveyard feature, allowing us to view the final details of past careers?

Re: Feature requests
 

1. Perhaps a dump to text file when a game ends - so we can see all the stats of a captain (just dump the info from the screens shown after a death/win...)

2. A config option to set the directory where the game saves files/games. I hate having stuff put on my C drive ;)

Re: Feature requests
 

A small extra - for quests, please show where we got them from (eg. "Banker base sector 12" or "Firax Lounge sector 20" or "Satellite sector 7").

Having two quests looking for artifacts, but not knowing which race asked for them makes it a bit of a challenge... especially when one offers 100K reward and the other offers 16K... :confused:

Re: Feature requests
 

wow, that's a pretty big oversight on my part. I put it on the list.

Re: Feature requests
 

I'd like a way of keeping track of how much stuff I have picked up and if, when I return to the ship, the hold will be full or not. I try to keep count but when I am on level 30 of a cave and the action is hot, it is so easy to lose track.

Of course, you may have intended that it is hard to keep track ;-)

Re: Feature requests
 

I'd like a way to not (or just have it always not) install a ship system that I purchase at a base automatically. I find it a little bit confusing and could lead to problems, as I often buy ship systems for the purpose of dismantling them for parts or knowledge, rather than for using them on my ship.

Buying a cloaking device and having it install also reduces the shield level to zero, which could be a problem...

Re: Feature requests
 

ok, since I am being more liberal with "settings" in the option menu, this is easy to address now. will do. (this has been mentioned many times in the past)

... and ... several hours later, confirmed working.

Re: Feature requests
 

Yay! Sweet!

Re: Feature requests
 

Hi all,

I have been thinking about the possibility of promoting people from your crew to become officers. Obviously based on your survival rate in away missions. If crew "rotation" is high, the chance should be slim, but if it is high, someone could be promoted with a random chosen skill. The oficers promoted could promote randomly or depending on actions made that could increase experience of the actual officers. I am not sure how could it work but it could be interesting when crew costs begin to be really high.

Another idea about crew size. I read sometime ago some post about giving relevance to the crew size. Maybe the number of officers of a ship could be related to the crew size. I know this idea could generate a bit of controversy, given more adavantage to bigger ships, but could make the game more "interesting" (or tricky).

Re: Feature requests
 

I like both of those ideas, Baldrick.

The officer promotion from the ranks is a nice idea. I don't think it would particularly affect balance or change much, though, as it seems pretty common already to just find officers for free when visiting planets and shipwrecks, if you don't have a full cast.

Re: Feature requests
 

Hello ibol,

first of all - great game (much more fun than GTA V)

i have a few usability suggestions:

1. Would it be possible to add thousand delimiters (ie: credits 12.345.678.012) for all numbers at all screens like the few ones in the stat screen. But especially for the ships/AT equipment and install screen.

2. in the install equipment screen would it be possible to add the same "+" and "-" sign like in the starship outfitter

3. Could you also add a "reckless" option for going a more direct route with mouse (playing the game most of the time mouse-only) even if more than 1 tile away.
(especially with tiles that are not even "hostile" like the terrain "fire bush"<-maybe a bug/wrong data entry)

4. pay it forward seems to always produce that "cheating" msg. once it reaches around 28Million - could we have a generous 64bit variable for the most important stats like err. credits :D
just in case...(sold recently 13M Data - the credit stat doesnt have this problem at least not with 50M credits

5. add Data gained output in msg-log for killing aliens (planet+ships)

6. in the active effects-screen i see quit similar entries like "Improve Data Gathering+2" and "Data Analyst+2" since there is no working tooltip for this i can only guess that they seem to be 2 different types of effects - but if they are just different Text outputs from different source, maybe you could normalize and thus consolidate these

7. that LOS edge of space is really nice - maybe add another like "line of fire" to see valid fire solutions (space+planet)

8. Firing with "F" (just in case i get lazy and make a makro for my mouse) should account for a valid line of fire - with handscanners (LOS not blocked) it seem to select most of the time targets behind walls (alternately i wish for a walldestroying plasma shotgun ;)

9. i second that new bought items dont get autoinstalled replacing the old gear - makes shoping for spareparts a hassle

10. deep diving caves - could you increase the overall difficulty for the cavelevels after reaching every ie. 5th level.

11. would it be possible to dynamically create a shipwreck out of a destroyed enemy ship (while using maybe non-lethal weapons)
for the fun of pirate-like boarding

whoops slightly more than a few suggestion - i love this game !

Re: Feature requests
 

Hi, Dari, and welcome! Glad you're enjoying it.

I'm not going to reply to your whole message, but you should know that you have some good ideas there :)

In fact , #s 1,4,7,9,11 are already in the next update, which should be released this month.

:D
Bob

Re: Feature requests
 

I support idea of having a ability to save my 'not-so-infinite journey log' into some txt file.

Re: Feature requests
 

Maybe I've just been unlucky with the randomness or looking on the wrong planets, but are there any 'animals' that only exist in water or other liquids? Sharks, fish, that kind of thing.

Re: Feature requests
 

Er, hate to double-post but I can't figure out how to edit the one above. It feels a bit unfair to only show the corpses of the first "dead landing party" - I've buried half a dozen away teams in the caves on this latest planet, so there should be a lot more lying around by now. I guess the local fauna is eating them...

Re: Feature requests
 

Yes there are :)

Re: Feature requests
 

In the bottom right corner of each post there are four buttons. On your own posts the left hand one should say 'edit'. It can take quite a few seconds for it to take you to the editor. Clicking it a second time often helps.

Re: Feature requests
 

New player here...have not been in the shrapnel forums in a while. I have some questions and ideas (posted at 1:25AM...kinda sleepy):



Questions:

Plan to raise devicefile.txt cap past 99?
Plan to raise monsterfile.txt cap above 110?
Is the rarity file like diablo 2? (common, magical, rare, unique)? Ever thought about a prefix/suffix loot system?


Suggestions:
Planetside ruined towns like a cave/derilict ship? Multiple towns togther could form a city
How about more than one special ability for monsters?
Racial technologies--tech only found if you board a certain race's ship or kill a certain race on a planet (this may be implemented).
Turn on LEGAL--item may raise or lower infamy regarding a certain race if possessed
Cursed artifacts should have a low or negative resale value...maybe a quest to uncurse it to make it useable.
Race like the antarans in Master of Antares II?
More than one special ability for monsters?
Do gas giants exist? Have a gaseous race..high in defense.


New Concepts:
Enemy Ship Boarding
Armor in addition to interface of Shields, Hull, Supplies, and Crew.


New Suggested Effects:
Monster eats other monsters and/or player and gets stronger (Ithkul ala Master of Orion 3)
Reflect X% of damage back to attacker. X can be defined by modder.
Tractor beam--pulls enemies to you. Helps boarding.
Warp dissipator--stops enemies from leaving sector
Nemesis Monster, once it finds you, chases you from sector to sector until killed.
Monster which converts other monsters to its race (assimulates, if you will). If player is hit, player turns into assimulating race and gains fame/infamy of assimulating race.
Weapon which targets and kills crew.
Hard Shields which are immume to nebulae
Monster which after destroying planets, gets stronger. effect 447, but also adds monster Hit points.
Shield piercing weapons
Upgrade devices via miniturization.
Black Hole Generator--causes substantial damage to ships.
Area of Effect weapon--damages all targets within X radius.
[Assuming Armor concept implementation] Armor which reduces incoming damage by X%. All crew survives. Requires boarding to take ship.
Subspace teleporter--teleports to random part of sector. activated when hull goes to x percent.
Require X equipped device to enter a given sector.
Attacking planets from orbit (nuclear, biological, chemical weapons)?
Weapons always hit effect (if not already, of course)
Componant destroyed on use.
Cause random movement (for ship)
Shapeshifting monster--imitates one of the other major races...but always attacks. Destroying the shapeshifter has a chance to raise infamy with the imitated race.
Crafting multiple artifacts to make a dimensional portal (like a greater rift in Diablo 3). Dimensional Portal has special quest and artifacts as some loot..combined for additional gateways.
Limpet mines--attach to ship...drains one or more movement points, shields, supplies, hull, etc.



Suggested Planetary events/sector events:

Hyperspace Flux--cannot travel between sectors for X number of turns.
Events where you win/lose credits (only a percentage of credits).
Computer Virus/Breakthrough--Destroys/Creates data points.
Diplomatic Marriage (can only happen once)--Raises fame of X points to player by X race
Comet--Destroy comet to raise fame with X race (and raise infamy with another...)
Supernova--Destroys everything in a sector--countdown is given, of course.
Good crew member as loot on town/city
Sentient Planet--Everything is toxic--nothing will shield you...damage every step you take. boss loot.
Splinter colony/stranded beings/rescued beings as loot--raises fame with that race.
Tectonic Activity--Inflicts damage on away team and resets terrain on planet.
Random Meteor strike on planet. If you are under it, kills away team. If not...raw ore and other loot.
Atmospheric Instability--resets fog of war on planet.
Battle Damage--Radiated area, but also spawns items, supplies, and credits.


New Terrain Types: Quicksand, Desert, Town (generates a larger map like a shipwreck), multiple town blocks equal a city.


Miscellaneous Thoughts:

Key Binding (for those of us without a number pad), please!

Whew...a long post! Thanks for your time.

Please excuse me if these ideas are duplicated elsewhere...

GB

Re: Feature requests
 

Welcome, GeorgiaBoy.

Nice list of ideas. I especially like the idea of city ruins on planets, not just caves and planets that _are_ city ruins. Though, it makes me think of how probably exploring a whole planet by landing randomly and walking around seems rather silly, as at least for planets without blocking atmosphere, one should probably be able to get at least an idea of what's there by looking from orbit... or even from further away.

Boarding non-wreck ships and getting boarded could both be fun.

There is armor - were you suggesting to have it work differently?

Re: Feature requests
 

@PvK: Thanks for the response! Nice to see a veteran of the forums. I was referring to armor for the ship (not just additional hull points)? I know that there is armor for the away team...

I have played a grand total of three times, so I am not that experienced in the game.

Another idea I had was a criminal background for the player...having a security scan before docking and faking id, bribing customs officials, bribing judges to drop charges, imprison on a prison planet (like a shipwreck), running illegal cargo, random items, etc...

In regards to your comments to cities--not just city ruins, but alive cities with more population and unique buildings like a government HQ, etc...

GB

Re: Feature requests
 

Yes, I like your ideas, though I'm not sure exactly how all of them would work, and some of them seem easier than others to do given the way the game is set up so far.

There are both armored space suits for crew, and also armor components which can be installed on ships. Armor for ships adds to the total hull strength (usually significantly) and depending on the specific model, can also affect your speed or other ship stats.

Criminality is currently done by whether different factions like you or not, and some of the factions are hostile to each other. Especially in version 1.20, this means you have a variety of factions you can be in trouble with or not. You can befriend the pirates, or be a scourge to everyone. There are also fake ID's for getting into space stations that hostile factions control, even after they wouldn't let you in if they knew who you were.

I like the idea of living cities on planets, too. So far, all the active civilization hangs out in space on ships or space stations. All the planets are wilderness, ruins, with occasional bases on planets. I agree it'd be cool if there were civilized planets too, though I expect it'd be handled like having a base on a planet. There are faction HQ bases, too, BTW, but again in space.

I like the idea of possibly getting imprisoned or shipwrecked or stranded and having the game not end and there be some chance to commandeer another ship, though that seems a bit out of scope of the current design, it could be cool.

Re: Feature requests
 

Hi PvK,

I do not know how I missed the armor. It appears ibol uses a diablo like item generation model. Anyway, hopefully these posts will get 'eyeballed' in due course.


Gb

Re: Feature requests
 

just another usability and other additions:

1. pressing the same key again to enter an infoscreen like "t" for the stats or "o" for officer , the screen exits to the main interface - so no need to move hand to the escape key.

2. plz give the officer xp stats and the remaining infoscreens a thousand delimiter (including the million one :)

3. externalize the formula for armor repaircosts (to be able to mod them - they are insane even on medium) - accidentally hitting do everything in lobby can drain your funds seriously

4. possible to have more than the 6 officer occupations (not the amount of slots or starting officer selection) - i wanted to mod a few additional professions but i could not find my officerskill#7 in a lobby (and then it would still not have a name)

5. is there a way to mod the shields and cloak out of the game (for ie. using armors and repair)

6. the zrnboo.txt file doesnt work (neiter in modding folder nor the original folder) - nice idea to test higher sectors with modding plz activate it.

7. maybe reduce the amount of interference of artifacts - with 16 artifacts they switch on and off every few turns (its rather annoying with the real visible effects like noLOS, sight range, and things like hazmat shields)

8. could the "captain on away team could die" message be removed in options and especially in non-permadeath-games.

Re: Feature requests
 

Greetings and thank you for this incredible game.
I haven't stopped playing games for the past 35 years, and your game revived in me that long-lost feel of having to jeopardize my sleep just to play it... Mmm, I am unsure if I should be thanking you now.
Anyways, I skipped around and didn't see it mentionned so here goes : I'd love a way to reconfigure some shortcuts keys (even through some arcaney mean, like editing a text file manually) : I am using foreign keyboards, and some keys just aren't even pressable (the infamous “tilde” key which gives access to the backlog, for instance). Actually, that's the main key shortcut I have trouble with, so if there was just a mean to have an alternate key if only for that one, I would be most thankful.
Cheers!

Re: Feature requests
 

In several places, I see the suggestion "same key also closes menu". This would work in many, but *not all* cases. once place it would not work is "crafting" c=crafting, but c="craft 3rd item". would also not work for "install".

Saul,
Thanks for the kind words you've written in many places. your suggestion: "keybindings" : I don't think I will do it in this update, but you know you can click on the message area and get the message log? sometimes it is a pain to switch your controls, but at least it's possible for you.