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SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
OK, Aaron agrees that it would be fun to hear what kind of ideas you people have. So consider this an 'official' post, and please do tell what would make your 'Wish-List' in SE:5!
..Remember, Aaron will be lurking and so will I! Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif Mephisto: Small edit to Thread Subject [ May 30, 2004, 17:17: Message edited by: Mephisto ] |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
My biggest wish is that whatever new and cool ideas Aaron adds to SE5, the game still have a simultaneous turn, PBEM play option that is compatible with PBW. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
Geoschmo |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
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Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
there were several old threads along these lines, but im not sure where they went. a search for SEV or SE5 may turn some of them up.
One of the things that I (and several other people) wanted was open-ended research. instead of progressing according to statically defined components, each component would include a formula for improvement. maybe linear, maybe parabolic with deminishing returns. this would make component families easer to create and mod, and would provide truely 'limitless' gameplay without starting a new game. arm's races could Last thousands of years. in theory. another biggie, is vector based movement. thrust and velocity would be nice to have. but even without thrust and velocity, get us off the grid! for the candy factor, truely modled starsystems were frequently requested. planets that orbit. maybe outer planets orbiting slower than inner planets. more on the eyecandy factor, is planets that are animated pictures that rotate. even a rectangular bitmap that scrolls by, rather than a 3d rendered sphere, if thats too process intensive. another biggie that was on the old lists, was the ability to save your turn files before the end of the turn. you spend 30 minutes working on a turn, run out of time, and your not done. currently, you cant save the state of your orders and then come back to them later. It would be very nice to be able to do this. |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Briefly, thx for the opportunity to hear our ideas:
-Customizable turn simulation for non-human setups, like setup 10 ai races, let them grow for xxx turns or until a specific event has happened. This would make up a kind of scenario editor or ai test. -Fuel/Energy feature for components and facilities with abilities which depend on the level of energy, e.g. Talisman is filled with 100% divine energy (refuel at Fate Shrine or such), energy and to hit bonus decreases by ... I do not know yet -Ability to turn off/on facilities, would be a nice feature for finite resources games or for embargos against allies? Cheers http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Different kinds of shields beyond phased and nonphased.
I agree on openended technologies. Systems with orbiting planets would be cool. Make the system view similar to mooII's only with more planets. Make movement vector based to help ocomodate this. Replace atmosphere types with a slider. There would be the atmosphere types (oxygen none argon methane hydrogen etc,) each representing a number. Your race would then have a number on the slider. The closer a planets slider is to yours, the more facilities/population you could have, the easier it would be to mine, the faster your population would reproduce. Eventually, the planets slider gets so far away fromy your number the colony becomes domed, or you can't colonize at all. Space monsters, space pirates. Shipping lanes that appear as some dull line and go between the spaceport in a system, all planets in that system, and the spaceport in the next system over. Then the ability to blockade that shipping line and steal those resources. Make tachyon sensors have range like scanners. Switch the construction quee to be for one entire sector, and then make it similar to the research que. Change the research method back to SEIII's Keep warp points! Opening and closing warppoints. More to come. |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
oh yeah, i nearly forgot:
everyone has always been salivating over the idea of having colonies in deep space. building massive space stations (called 'sides' that will eventually break away from the Federation and form the Principality of Zeon...) that can hold population and generate research, intel, and resources. this could be addressed by having components of those types being added to ships, even without the ship actually holding any population. likewise it could be addressed by enabling some sort of 'lesser' stellar construction that did not have to be built around a star. or, perhaps in the far future of Space Empires, ships / bases will be able to hold population and have facility type abilities. |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Oh God... don't even mention it... I could go on for DAYS :insert smiley here, I ran out of smileys:
Just to start off the topic... "Off-road" travel (move in interstellar space without using warp points) Support for *.avi (or other animation format) in place of any *.bmp used in the game - probably unnecessary though if there is realtime 3D rendering! Even more moddability, made possible by plugins - you don't like the resource system? Implement your own in any programming language you like, just make sure it links to the rest of SE5 using some standardized API - or maybe something like Stars! Supernova Genesis' "RDL" (Rules Description Language) Realtime rendered ships & planets - yeah I know it's already in, but they're cool! (You say that cuts down on moddability? Just make it some standard format - most of us use some sort of 3D program or another, there's got to be a converter for Moray to DXF or whatever you use!) Better sound effects! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif Even SE4 Gold's "enhanced" sound effects, to be honest, aren't all that great http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif Some sort of prioritization system on the SitRep (stole that right off MOO3 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif it means the turn log) - color coding or different font sizes for different levels of urgency, perhaps? or filters - show only urgent Messages, etc. Ability to order cloaked ships/units not to fight when they enter a sector containing enemies they can see, or those enemies enter their sector... annoying when those fancy unarmed spy satellites initiate combat with an enemy battlecruiser http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif Ability to queue orders in turn-based games - "I want you to load satellites here, drop them there, and repeat - oh crud the ship already executed its orders! now it won't repeat anything! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif " Planet Classification Schemes, like in MOO3 - give a planet up to 3 (or whatever #) designators such as "Mineral Rich", "Frontier", "Research Colony", etc. and have AI templates for facility construction on those types of colonies such as "Mineral rich colonies get 1 spaceyard, 1 robotoid factory, and the rest miners" or "Frontier colonies get" - the trouble would be to get the AI to reconcile planets with multiple classifications - what proportion of miners vs. research facilities vs. farmers Facilities that take up multiple numbers of facility slots Combination of facility slots, cargo space, and maybe even population space on a planet into "surface area" - you CAN have more defenses on a planet, but you have to sacrifice facilities or population, conversely you CAN make it a mega industrial complex but there won't be room for weapons platforms Multiple spaceyards per planet! Realtime 3D combat! :insert smiley here, I ran out of smileys: No really, I'm serious, they're doing it with MOO3 (well not the 3D part) - the way it works is, each of your fleets is divided into 1-8 taskforces, and the taskforces are what you actually control in combat, instead of piddling with the individual ships, which can be a pain when you have 100 ships on the battlefield! So early in the game, your TF's might be 1 escort, but later on your TF's could consist of, say, a troop transport with some heavy beam battlecruisers flanking it and PD cruisers on the edges of the formation. Then you just order the TF around - "attack enemy taskforce X" and they attack it, but each ship chooses its own target without having it manually specified. Sort of like a more advanced Version of SE4's "Formations" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif Populations and facilities that actually consume resources! (Organics for most populations except mechanoids, none for autotrophs (populations that gather solar energy for food), and all resources for facility operation) Custom moddable resources - you want Ironium/Boranium/Germanium instead of min/rad/org? You want "special resources" that are found only on rare planets and required to build exotic technology? You want to model every element known to man in the game so you need Titanium to build armor and Hydrogen for fuel cells? You got it! Variable tech tree - like in MOO3 (a lot of my ideas are from there :insert smiley here, I ran out of smileys: ), just because it says you need level 12 Particle Physics to get Phasors doesn't mean you'll actually get it then - there's a random factor and you might actually get Phasors at level 11, or level 14! Ability to put multiple damage types on a weapon so it can be 1/2x to shields but once it pierces the shields it's armor piercing, or damages only engines - some sort of checklist in the data files like "Damages shields? Yes, how much? 50% of normal? OK, how about armor? Oh, it skips armor... Component/facility/unit(?) mods (generalization of weapon mounts) that modify any ability of a component, specified by name - "This mod increases the 'Firing rate' of your weapons, cutting it in half. (Works best with real time combat :insert smiley here, I ran out of smileys:) And this one doubles the 'Cloak level' of your stealth devices..." Firing Arcs and Shield/Armor/Component Arcs!!! My phasor can only fire 90 deg. forward and I'm shooting from an angle of 325 deg. relative to your cruiser, so I'm going to hit a hole in your shield and probably hit your engine, since it's on the left! Real leaky shields/armor - my shield has an 80% deflection ratio, meaning that on average, 20% of shots will pass right through! (or maybe 20% of each attack will penetrate) Something I've always wished for in a space game - the "Lego" ship design model! (I believe I suggested this when SE4 was in development :insert smiley here, I ran out of smileys:) Basically what it is is, your ships are designed modularly - you simply drag components onto a grid, where each component must be connected to another component at specified connection points. Each component has a size and shape in grid squares, so a laser gun might be a 3x3 square with a 5-square line projecting from one side, while an internal component like life support could be represented by a simple block. Each component would also have a weight, which may or may not be proportional to its size (a 20 kT cargo bay will be mostly empty space so it's larger than a 20kT meson bLaster). Then various calculations are done on the ship to determine its vital statistics - a to-defense bonus/penalty could be calculated from the overall size of the ship in grid squares, for instance, while the ship's acceleration would be the thrust provided by the engines divided by the mass. (Could even have retro thrusters for backwards movement and rotational thrusters for turning...) Then, when the ship is damaged from some particular direction, the components on that side are hit first. Of course, this is probably more trouble than it's worth to begin with, both from a programming and a gameplay perspective http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif More realistic/sophisticated planetary habitability and sensor models - take a look at http://sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc.php?docid=4154&group_id=17579 I cooked up for the "Universe" project - hey, even something like the temp/grav/rad model from Stars! would work, if atmosphere were thrown in as well! Remote terraforming! Planets, ships, and units of fairly continuously varying size - instead of planets being "Large", they would be "24,500 km" and population and storage capacity would vary as the square of the radius. Ships could be built in any size you want, with QNP (or even NP, for combat!) ratios calculated automatically, and shipsets would no longer be "this is an escort, this is a frigate" but instead there could be "lines" of ships (customizable in some text file of course) - standard ships, transports, carriers, colony ships, bases, etc. and your basic shipset would have pictures for various ranges in each of those categories - who needs a neostandard when you can say "this picture is for standard ships from 100-149 kT, this is for standard ships from 151-200 kT, etc." ... of course, this might play havoc with mods that change the basic component sizes for realism or sci-fi universe purposes - Aaah, I decreased the size of components, now all my ships look like escorts! :insert smiley here, I ran out of smileys: Realistic unit sizes - 20 kT fighters are ridiculous! :insert smiley here, I ran out of smileys: How about modelling down to the ton on units? That enough for a start? :insert smiley here, I ran out of smileys: |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Here's mine.
-Keep the modability, add to it. -Simultanious multiplayer, like SE4 is now only improved (save before end of turn ability, especially) -Real time combat is not worth sacraficing PBW style multiplayer. However, AI-run real time might work, and RT as a replacement for the current tactical mode would. As long as strategic is still there. Getting rid of the one fleet fires then the other situation is a Good Thing. -Ability settings for most/all abilities. Say you could make a Self Destruct that works 50% of the time when the ship is boarded, a better one that works 75%, etc. -Real-time rendered models are OK, but it's not important. Especially since programs like DOGA or Bryce will -not- be able to export to these (even with a filter- waaay too many polygons) -Better intelligence system -More free-form treaties. Say I want to offer just resupply and radioactives trade, for example. -Have the AI ignore things it isn't set to respond to. For example currently you can ask it to leave a system and it will say yes or no. However it never does anything either way, so it should just ignore. -The current system and planet view works fine. Maybe a few more (hidden?) details. Phoenix-D |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
I'm in favor of anything that increases modding options, pretty much. That's the best thing about SE, you get to cook it up according to your own recipe. On the real-time combat thing, I'm afraid that if any of this game goes real-time, I'll stop buying it. SE is the Last of the true turn-based strategy games, and I don't think it makes sense to vacate your niche to please a few gamers that could find what they're looking for elsewhere anyway. Maybe this niche is smaller than I like to believe, but I still hope that you'll stay true to the format.
The open-ended tech thing is a great idea, too. I also like the idea of planet sizes and conditions being more continuous, but I'm not sure about the same idea for ship sizes and unit sizes. More animation/artwork is a real good way to eat up development time, and I'm not sure it adds that much to the final product in this case. On the whole units too big thing, it just occured to me that fighters/troops/satellites can all be considered as representing larger groupings. One fighter may actually be a flight of fighters+support equipment. One ground troop may be a division, etc. So I withdraw my objections on that ground. Mostly, if any developers happen to read this, I love your work! I'm looking forward to seeing whatever's next. |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Wow, I thought I was posting first but a few people snuck in there ahead of me http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
Another thing from the SE4-planning days: Techs with "ors" and maybe even "nots" as well as "ands" in their prerequisites - so maybe you need either Particle Physics or Wave Mechanics to get EM Radar (I seem to recall posting a similar example a few years ago when SE4 was in development http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif ), or you can either research The Light Side Of The Force or The Dark Side Of The Force, but once you research one, you can't get the other! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Money. A more advanced economic model.
Diplomacy that actually works (steal the model from EUII): - Your ally has been attact, join the war or suffer the consequenses (drop in happines and reputation) - Peacetreaties where the winner of the war (need a point system) gets some concessions from the looser. |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
I'm for the research and intel comp, the space lanes, and a MOD script lang. Also I remember somebody wanting a tug ship ability, pull thing to other location like stations. Oh maybe fighter that can attack ships and troop targets. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif And also maybe use a number base for shield bypass level, like cloak has. That's all for now. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
[ January 24, 2003, 21:45: Message edited by: Crimson ] |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
I believe that the ability to mod the measurement units that are displayed for each number would be pretty easy to do, and it should solve any complaints about scale that people care to dream up.
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Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
1. Save mid-turn games.
2. AI's that don't forget about you after you've closed a warp point for 1 turn! 3. A 'programmatical' combat system and rules: IF...THEN...ELSE, CASE, etc. similar to VisualBasic or something like it) 4. Don't sacrifice any current gameplay for 'eye candy'. Graphics are nice, but most of us don't play this game primarily for graphics... Lot's more, but these are my 'biggies'... |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Ohhh....oh......oh... don't forget this thread, it may be the one that caused me to originally delurk.
old forum thread |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Cloaking that is percentage based instead of level based. That way, you never really know if your ship slipped past his sensor grid until his fleet pounces on it...
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Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Improved strategies and combat. SEIV strategies are not entirely intuitive (to put it diplomatically) and some of the selections don't do much of anything. Make more real options available like having a capture ship skirt around the battle to capture the enemy's repair ship or troop transports that will drop troops in the heat of battle. Make it more likely that several ships (not just one or two) will be targeted. Improve the combat movement algorithm.
And one little one. Add an order, something like the sentry order, that will attack enemies entering the system during the turn. This would be especially useful when warp openers are around. Does you no good to defend a warp point when the enemy is more likely to open his own warp point and ravage your planets while your far superior fleet stands by and watches. I like most of the suggestions so far, but I'm not keen on realtime combat. That's what turned me off Warcraft. Kim |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
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Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
"Diplomacy that actually works (steal the model from EUII):
- Your ally has been attact, join the war or suffer the consequenses (drop in happines and reputation) - Peacetreaties where the winner of the war (need a point system) gets some concessions from the looser." Maybe one but I don't want to see the second at all, except as part of a treaty system I mentioned earlier. No point systems for treaties! If one player wants concessions they should -demand- them. You can do this now in SE4 for example. Phoenix-D |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
The ability to keep a race's attributes when they become part of your empire! It was always fun (if a bit of micromanagement) sending all my Psilons to the mineral poor worlds so they could do research and spreading out the Silicoids so they'd take all the space nobody else wanted on the planets...
Parasite Spore Bombs that initiate ground combat as if troops were dropped - against organic races, at least... mechanoids would need special computer viruses... allow computer viruses to be used against units as well... |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Phoenix-D
Point system is for the AI. It realy bugs me that you never can end a war against the AI (at least I can't) If SEV gonna be a big seller it need to be more challenging in singleplayer mode. |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
How about Terra-Forming? Change a planet from one type to another? (not just the atmosphere!)
Also, I would like the population (and max # facilities) of a planet to be based on more than just the size of the planet and atmosphere. (I mean, even a moon sized planet (tiny) should be able to hold a lot more facilities!) Maybe some planets could be restricted to 'automated' facilities. (too hostile to hold population!) Just a few thoughts, Cheers! |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Grandpa Kim & Phenoix, YOU Have the Force.
I would like for SEV; (1)Research & intell componets - that generate, on orbital structures http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif .I wish it was in se4gold http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif . (2)Better AI - with diplomatic sense/ compassion/forgivness replys to human player?. (3)Better intelligence system - .See Phenoix. (4)Rouge alien trader - alien request 100000 minerals,and player selects alien componet/ship/or teck available. (5) Stars in background - of planet systems that flicker/go out. (6) Save/printout- of begining game settings setup.Example With this game setting then playing this game, i may Lose or maybe Win.Know i can go back to a saved settings file, to see what i set, and what changes i need to adjust, so i can play another new game with better performance. |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Make ftrs still worthwhile in later in game
AI's as strong or stronger then the TDM and the other mods... Some new additional races Neutral AI's having the ability to expand outside their home systems A very super Xenophobic Race, Hates everyone and everything, very seldom trades, makes deals, bent on total annialhation (sp) of all other races Keep Moddable new additional planet types and atmospheres new additional atmospheres new additional types of maps, including those like FQM, and others Pirates and Nomads just some ideas Mac |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
more realistic graphics. what the heck is a green giant, anyway? does it generate caned vegetables?
I would also like to reiterate the request for 'space lanes' or cargo / logistic routes for civilian / non-combattant traffic. these lanes should be able to be intercepted / blocaded. again, customizeable treaties. take all the components of each of the other treaties, and let the player mix and match. they can trade, but ships can still fight when in the same sector. they can share intel and resupply, but not trade. they can see each others telemetry, but do nothing else. and sliders for anything percentile, so trade can have teriffs where you are not willing to give more than x percent, even if you could be giving more. or subjugation/protectorate would have a user defineable percent of resources to cough up. |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
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You stepped into that one! lol Cheers! |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
I just remembered another one. It's pretty frustrating that the game has passive and active EM sensing, but they behave identically. I had a great idea for a mod wherein all ships naturally have some passive EM cloaking if they're not broadcasting, or targeting, or anything. If the Passive cloaking could be set to deactivate whenever any of those things happened, that would be awesome. Also, if the "drop troops" ability were implemented, that would be good, since of all the unit launches, putting troops on a planet is the only one that demands specialized equipment. Not so much for, say, mines.
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Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Oh yeah, here's another one. When moving cargo, there are options for move five and move ten. What I want is an option to move one hundred. Yes, I play this game too much.
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Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Here's my partial list:
Additional Resource types (money, SPice, etc.) added via mods. I think SE4 is close to being able to Mod the DUNE universe - SPice would be part and VERY rare, but you also need the ability to have an AI race that would act as Navigators. SHips would have no ability to warp - they would have to load aboard guild heighliners (Obviously this would need REALLY big ships) Obviously, Intel needs to be greatly improved. Saving Game in turn (as others state) needs to be in an upcoming patch. I spent 2 hours doing a turn the other day and got a phone call that made me run out - I left the PC on but it locked up while I was gone http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif I would like planets to actually ORBIT the stars in a system. Maybe not in Real time, but they would move around a bit in between turns. MOre Strategys that work. Abilityt o have sub-fleets (aka Task Forces, within fleets with different orders). Sats should spread evenly around planets! A note taking system built into the game - I want to be able to add notes to Races, planets/systems, fleets, I forget sometimes what my long term goals were for any given "thing" and this would help facilitate that. Especially in PBW, where some turns don't run for 2-3 days. I don't think that would need to be incorporated in the .GAM file obviously. Edit Messages already sent and be able to send multiple Messages to other players. Ability to export current tech levels. (the list that is, so I can print) Maybe even the ability to compare to a Partners for trading purpose. More soon... I'll probably have a TON of more ideas when MOO3 ever finally comes out... Binford |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Ok, here are two things I REALLY want out of SE5!!!
-Bring back the "Armor/Outer/Inner" Hull section for ship designs from Space Empires III! This was one of my favorite ideas from SE3 that I'm really mad that didn't get added to SE4. And to add to this feature, on damage points hitting Outer hull components, have an option in the game allowing the Last point of damage (if more then one point) "leak" through the Outer Hull to inflict damage in the inner hull. -Speaking of "Leak" Damage, it would be nice if their was some option to add "Leaky Shields" to the game so that a small portion of damage in a volley of fire could "leak through" the sheilds and hit the hull. The ammount to cause a leak would of course be optional in .txt files. -Bring back the old system of Fleet Management tactics from SE3!!! I like the new fleet formations and new tactics section from SE4, but I think the old SE3 tactical management of fleets was a little better then SE4 is someways. It would be nice if SE5 did base some of its Tactic options on both SE3 and SE4 and combine them together in SE5. |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Hi all!
Great to hear, that there is an "official-poll"! First, excuse my bad english, but... i try to do my best. Wouldn´t it be great, to get an option to build up the formation of my fleet individually? Say...,my battleship should be flanked by this two destroyers ... , and this battleship should always be on slot number 3, the destroyers on slot number 4+5.everytime, when it comes to battle, this specific battleship would be always guarded by this to destroyers, even if the whole fleet counts 100ships.... or in short words, it should be possible to give ships in a fleet a specific place/slot! The graphics in SEIV never bothered me - but it would be great to see graphics like in MOOII. The diplomatic actions should be reworked - more characteristics for the races. Pirates, revolutions/independence wars, better ground combat....still would be great! thx greetings from germany vonManstein7 |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
1) stronger AI. i like singe player very much so this needs work. maybe even a special mode where the choices are limited (limited tech, full resources and so on) so that the ai doesn't have to much areas where it can f*ck up. this can probably be done by making a mod?
2) improve the intelligence system of the game. Escpecially the defense system seems to be weird. You should be able to complete a defensive project that then would be stored. In other words, it doesn't disappear after completing but get stored. 3) in combat, turn the sats to face the enemy. i hate it when they appear on the other side of the planet. they are useless there |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Randomized damage--listed damage +/- X%. Adds at least a little variety in combat.
Someone in another thread mentioned external combat modules, possibly even for SE4. This would be great for SE5. |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
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Hey is ground combat becomes expanded, we will want the same thing for various troop types. |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
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Cloaking becomes a new ability tag "% chance to remain undetected", one for each type of cloaking (i.e. Active, Passive, Psychic, etc). It is, of coarse, a value. Cloaking components/sectors/systems have a positive value, cloak defeating sensors have a negative value. These values should NOT be cumulative (or better yet, make that moddable in settings.txt with a simple true/false line). The basic sensor ability (before any research) is just the cloaking tag attatched to the hull size. It should probably be about -50% (or 50% chance to detect normal ships). Colonies get an inate sensor rating of about -25% chance to remain undetected. That should be moddable in settings.txt as well. The values, of coarse, aren't set in stone.... If you wanted to get really elaborate, you could have seperate tags for "% chance to remain undetected" and "% chance to detect". Then you could make it so that (for example) the cloaking values don't stack, but the sensor values DO stack. (which IMO would be unbalancing, unless the sensors didn't have a high value...) I think it would also be kinda neat if there were two kinds of sensor tags, System wide, and sector wide. Then you could make all sorts of interesting cominations! (System wide sensors having a lower max ability than Sector specific sensors comes to mind...) Now comes my favorite part. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif A check is made each turn to see if your ship is detected using the following formula: A - B = C where: A = Highest available cloaking % B = Highest available sensor % C = % chance of detection. As an example, we'll use my numbers above. An uncloaked ship enters a system in which you have a single colony. 0%(cloak)-25%(colony sensor)=25% chance that you will detect the ship THIS TURN. The game does a quick random number generation, and determines whether or not the ship is detected. Next turn, assuming that the ship is still in system, the game goes thru the whole process again. That way, just because you slipped past the sensors Last turn, they might detect you this turn. The opposite is true, as well; just because you detected that star destroyer as it entered your system this turn, that doesn't mean that you will be able to detect it next turn!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif Even better would be to make the turns between sensor checks moddable, too. Yet another line added to settings.txt.... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif You could also mod a highly negative valued sector % chance to remain undetected tag onto Warppoints, if you wanted. That way, you see the cloaked ship enter the system (since it activated the WP, which would probably be notice). But as soon as it moves away from the warppoint ... I hope you had sensors researched... I provided a few examples of how versitile such a cloaking model would be. Hopefully, Aaron is convinced now. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif (yes, I know he probably will never see this thread...) [ January 27, 2003, 15:06: Message edited by: dumbluck ] |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Hi again I just remeber another thing, different types of warp points. I remeber there was a thread about it sometime ago, but I'm to lazy to look. Also I still the mod script lang idea.
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Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
In simultaneous single-player games, computer players that take their turns while the human player does!
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Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
The one thing I'd most like to see changed/added/improved, other than eye-candy issues, is: Race Habitability.
Take a look at Pax Imperia 2. Though most of that game IMO sucked (the demo was better, argh), race design is a true gem. First off, you could spend more points to breath more than one atmosphere type. Second off, a planet's habitability was based on comparing the planet's atmosphere and temperature against what your race could breathe (a simple yes/no) and against your race's temperature-tolerance band (a weighted value; the closer to centerline you got, the better). Thus, a world might be absolute hell for player A's colonists, and a pure paradise for player B's colonists. Player B will therefor value that planet more than Player A will, when negotiating colonisation rights in a border system -- though Player A would be best served by determining what player B likes, and pricing that world accordingly. And so on. ... So; comparing to SE4/Gold ... allowing the selection of (for race points) additional atmosphere types would be great. Inserting a habitation value for temperature would be great. You could even go a step further, and add one for gravity, and end up with three variables to consider. Next up, and also from Pax Imperia 2, is an issue I terribly miss in SE4: the issue of flag-versus-shipset. PaxImp2 has TWO seperate places to select those; your flag is one issue, your ship style is another. IOW, picking the (for example) Sallega shipset would not REQUIRE you (barring a customised copy) to use the Sallega flag. PaxImp2 has some 20-30 flags in it, most quite nice. Then maybe a dozen ship styles, also fairly nice (if only game play didn't suck). ... Now, on to somehting I desperately wish could be added even to SE4, but would wait for SE5 to get if I had to: NEGATIVE PREREQUISITES. Sorry for shouting, but this is something that most 4X games don't currently model: the concept that at certain key junctures (not every tech level, but every now and then), you get the option to "turn" your entire racial technology "paradigm" in one direction ... or another. You can't do both. You can't have it all; research is no longer like Pokemon ("gotta tech 'em all"). If you get component X, you will NEVER have the option to get facility Y ... or vice versa. ... Change the way minefields work. Make one "mine" built actually representative of a certain strength of minefield ... when it's laid into a sector (or whatever), that sector gets that strength of minefield. Based on the strength of the minefield, EVERY ship entering, or spending an entire turn inside, the field has a CHANCE, not an absolute, to take damage, based on the initial mine built. If they do, there's a (muchly reduced) chance to take MORE. And so on, until they stop taking damage. Each impact reduces the overall strength ofthe field by a little. Minesweepers reduce the strength within a random range. Um, here's an example, with out-of-thin-air numbers: Say each mine built at a world and deployed by a ship or base represents ... 20 points of "depth" for the field. Two minesweeper2 enter the field, able to sweep ... say, 4-6 apiece. Okay, let's say they get exactly average, and sweep 10 from that field. That leaves a "depth" of 10, still. If we suppose the chance for a ship to be hit is equal to the field's depth, then each of the sweepes now has a 10% chance to impact a mine while sweeping. Let's say both do, but aren't damaged (they're heavily armored). Now, they each have a 5% chance to strike a SECOND mine; let's say only the second one does, and it survives, but is crippled. Now it has a 2.5% chance (rounded however the program likes) to strike a THIRD mine (which might kill it); let's say it doesn't, however. Three strikes happened; field depth is down by 3 more, and stands at 7. Next turn, the defending player lays one MORE mine unit, increasing the strength by 20 more ... to 27. Obviously, those two minesweepers, ESPECIALLY the crippled one, are in trouble. You can then introduce "decay", and even dispersal. Presume some fraction of a field is lost every turn, at a minimum; let's say 1/20th, or 5%. A 20-depth minefield, not swept and not run into, becomes a 19-depth field for the start of the next turn. If a single ship hits a mine, that satisfies the minimum of one mine gone, so ... no extra loss occurs. Dispersal can be modelled by increasing the decay rate, for any non-ship entity in the field (planets, moons, asteroid belts, wormholes, etc, etc). And/or decreased by the presence of minelaying ships or bases (who can tend to the field, retrieve strays, and so on). Decay-and-dispersal represents mines simply drifting away, having their electronics packages go dead, hitting random spacejunk and going "boom", and so on. ... Other than that ... well, 3D graphics isn't really a big requirement for me; "pseudo3D" would be fine (3d-looking, but still using 2D graphics). I must admit I like the idea of an animated solar system (again, see PaxImp2 for an example, complete with Warp Points). Obviously, in a turn-based game, the animation would be sort of stop-motion, but ... *shrug* ... You could have the planets move at their own speed during the simultaneous-move replay. You could put a ring depicting the orbit of the planet, and brighten/darken/thicken/etc a segment to represent the planet's expected movement during the next turn. Lastly, KEEP THE MODDABILITY OF SE4. That's what prompted me to buy SE4/Gold, it's what keeps SE an actively-played game. I'ms ure my other wants/needs have been brought up by others, but I'll post again if I see something's been missed. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
By far the most annoying thing about SE4 is having a superior fleet beaten in simultaneous combat by the crap AI that takes over this. I would like more control over this. Such as when defending a warp point let me set my initial ships position. And somehow give me more control over what my ships do in the combat.
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Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
More options for stellar manipulations:
Create Stars from Nebulas (Hey, that's how they form in real life!) Create/destroy organic infestations/warp rifts/other new system types added in SE4 Gold Do not allow mining on ringworlds/sphereworlds. Farming is OK, but mining?!? you BUILT the thing and now you expect to MINE stuff out of it??? |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
ED... Yea...
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Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
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Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Nearly all of my wish list items fall under "population management". Here are the biggies:
-Population restrictions based on "population centre" facilities, not atmos type. Of course, non-breathing populations would need special domed "pop centres", which don't hold as many ppl... - Autonomous population migration: Civilians should be able to move around the galaxy without the help of Imperial Population Transports. For example, whole planetfulls of ppl might move away from conflict if they are peace-loving, or toward it if they are warriors/ beserkers=-). They could also be also motivated by things like plague, economic conditions, planetary conditions, overpopulation & the desire to explore. They should even be able to move across imperial borders if necessary, settling in neighbouring empires. -The above could lead to refugee crises- overpopulation of a planet should be possible, and it should lead to serious problems (Plagues, riots) -Underpopulation should also be a concern. Please enable the minimum population per facility! (although proportions mod does a good job of this already). -Plagues need to be more complex (ie less predictable) than just "level 1 medbay cures level 1 plague." -Captured populations should keep all of their racial modifiers! A planet full of one species shouldn't suddenly lose their +10% minerals extraction just because they have a new govenment! This would introduce interesting choices when it comes to relocating population. -More structured empires: Yes, I'm talking about imperial capitals, regional capitals, trade routes, cities, localised resource pools... Rather than micromanage these things, let the game decide where they are and how they grow. All the player has to do is defend them=-) -Less predictable intel: More factors need to be introduced to make it less cut and dried. -More complex and competitive ground combat. How about giving a positive modifier to races fighting on their "home" terrain? (ie gas races at an advantage when fighting on a gas giant). -Less rigid distinctions between different game objects, allowing modders to blur the boundaries between (for example) planets and asteroids, or between ships and planets, or between fighters and troops, or between ships and bases... the possibilities for modders would be limitless. -The ability to warp (ie denying warp travel to neutrals and fighters) controlled by a moddable ability rather than hardcode. This would be great for modders. -Ability to build treaties in the same way you build trade packages (I'll give you access to my resupply bases in exchange for research alliance.) -Advanced order queues for ships: adding boolean operators into order queues would enable us to automate loads of ship operations and reduce micromanagement. Over the Last few years I've posted lengthy monologues on how most of the above things might be implemented. I'd be happy to dig up some links if necessary. [ January 29, 2003, 15:42: Message edited by: dogscoff ] |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Apologies in advance for the lengthy quote:
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Just one other idea which has been suggested: Damage Family X,Y,Z damage types. Then we wouldn't have to give the Boarding Defense ability to Component X in order to have a weapon to specifically disable it. |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Oh, here's another one... don't know if this will apply since I don't know how SE5's combat will work out, but how about ships and planets that take up different number of squares/hexes/whatever on the combat map? Currently all ships are 1x1 and all planets are 4x4... MOO2 had 1x1, 2x2, and 3x3 ships, and 3x3 through 7x7 planets, IIRC... SE5 could go one better and have moddable ship sizes that don't even have to be squares! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif
Oh, BTW, is all this just speculation, or did Aaron specifically state that there WILL be an SE5? (pleasepleaseplease http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif ) |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
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Geoschmo |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
"How about a little variety in production anyway? I mean, the +10% is only an average racial figure; most would be better or worse than the average by +/- 1 or 2 points."
Each pop unit represents around a million people. Wouldn't that get you a pretty average overall distribution? Phoenix-D |
Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Seems, SEV will have a real time tactical engine like starfury. (according to Malfador interview at this site http://rpgcodex.com/content.php?id=39)
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Re: SE5, Tell Aaron what\'s on your Wish List
Improved micromanagement features:
Be able to give the launch order to planets from the colonies list. Be able to send ships or fleets to waypoints, give launch orders to waypoints or pick up and drop troops from the Ship/Units list instead of having to go to each individual ship Allow sorting in the retrofitting menu and the ship fleeting menu. |
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