[Talenn]

Barnacle Bill:


Sure, those are all great ideas. I'd wouldnt mind seeing an 'impulse movement system' in the game, but I dont see it happening any time soon. The original goal of the post was 'quick fix', not a complete overhaul of the tactical combat engine. If MM decided to redo combat that way, I'm all for it (except for the drastically increased play time it would entail), but in absence of that, I'd like to see something done to reduce some of the more obvious tactical combat exploits.

FWIW, while the 'missile dance' may be somewhat 'realistic' (if we ignore inertia), it sure as heck doesnt make the game as fun to play. When playing competitively with other humans, people are going to do what it takes to win (and they have every right to, IMO) That causes the game to feel a bit stale when EVERYONE is using missiles and when players are standing off fleets of cruisers with destroyers and frigates.

As I pointed out below, the combat engine has NOTHING to do with realism. It allows the players to engage in a 'chess-like' battle using ships of their own design. It conveys the flavor of space sci-fi conflict. It allows for the use of differing tactics. IMO, thats all it should be doing. If we want a more detailed combat sim, we can go play SFC2 (when they finally patch it enough to be playable, that is...). But I dont think it is within the scope of SE4 to provide a detailed combat engine. What we have (abstract) is fine in most cases, but it has some serious loopholes. I'd just like to see those loopholes closed or reduced.

Talenn