Improving fun in combat

[Ace_Garp]

Nice ideas!
Currently, the combat system seems to be dominated too much by the "Biggest guns win!" idea.
There doesn't seem to be much that good tactics/strategy can do to influence the outcome of a battle.
I particularly like the idea of having features in the battlefield, this could lead to more planning and strategy in combat. Small fighters hiding amongst the debris, taking pot shots at the larger, less manoeuvrable ships.
Could be very cool indeed!
The gravitation idea also brings to mind Space War - the first ever computer game.

[Fingers]

We aren't planning to make any more major changes to Weird Worlds... Instead, we'll be thinking of a new project of some kind.

A lot of these same ideas were bounced around during the development but we just didn't end up doing them for one reason or another.

For example, planets and stars are on a totally different scale from our ship combat (the combat map is about 5km to a side) so they couldn't really make an appearance in a meaningful way. Permanently breaking ship systems was merely frustrating... Imagine just barely winning a spectacular and challenging battle, only to find out that your "reward" is the game basically ending because your star drive was destroyed by random chance and you can't go anywhere.

We considered boarding and taking over enemy ships but realized it would quickly unbalance the game (if you thought it was easy with five ships in your fleet, try thirty!). You can actually do this in a mod, but you should try to limit it so that you'll only ever have five ships, ie. place just four special "boardable" enemies on the map in quests instead of having regular allies and mercenaries.

More things you can do in a mod:

The turn rate/movement speed is defined per ship hull. E.g. the Garthans move fast but turn slow. You could easily make these more "extreme".

The homeworld fleets are defined separately, so you could add defense turrets that are only included in those.

Guns can have ammo. See the fusion rocket launcher for example (it shoots three, then reloads for a while before it can shoot another three). You could set the "clip" reload time really long so once it's out of ammo it'll stay out.

The particle vortex cannon is essentially a "radioactive cloud" effect. If you made one that didn't move, looked a bit different and used an invisible effect rather than the lightning beam to do its damage, you're there

Constantly turning ship hulls are in the game; see Primordius station & Damocles drones.

[Zogu]

Thanks for the hints, Fingers! I've just realized that there is much potential to be explored in mods. But first, I'll definitely try messing with the PVC as a "radioactive cloud", it looks fun!

One question though: is there any way of having neutral (not allies and not enemies) objects or ships in combat? Things that neither the player's fleet nor the enemies would automatically attack.

The thing with the turn rate is also very interesting. I have explored the ".ini" file format, but not thoroughly.

Will there be a "Weird Worlds 3" in the works someday?

[Fingers]

Unfortunately, I can't think of a way to do neutral ship-like objects.. That'd be for the asteroids, I suppose. The space hulk is kind of like that but you'll board them if you click them

Right, the "Weird Worlds 2: Return to Infinite Space for the Third Time: Ever Stranger Adventures in the Fourth Dimension" question... We haven't started anything yet, and there's no telling what we might do, and I kind of like that.

Weird Worlds does its thing pretty well so it's not likely we'll do the exact same kind of gameplay again soon. We could do something different in the Infinite Space universe, or something else entirely... I myself want to experiment with stuff like 3D and network programming when I have some free time.

[Jamiri]

A 30-minutes 4X (exploxe, expand, exploit, exterminate) variant in the WW/SAIS universe would be really cool, where players could chose a race and then build their small empire, expand and then interact with the other races.

Could be run multiplayer over the Internet with some people meeting during their lunch break to fight it out.

[Zogu]

Jamiri, your proposal would require a whole redesign of the game engine (not to mention multiplayer support)! I'd say it would be a good idea for a WW spinoff (a mini galactic empire game with 3D action, for instance).

Too bad we can't have neutral ships or objects in combat zones. This is something I would have liked. For instance, a civilian ship caught in the crossfire, a totally hostile life form (which would attack every ship in the battlefield), or inanimate objects (such as asteroids or debris).

About the boarding of ships: I think there is a misunderstanding. I was only talking about boarding a ship for salvaging some parts (just like when we board an alien hulk). I was not talking about "stealing" ships. I can only imagine what I could do with a Vent Mother in my fleet... but as you said, that would make things too complicated.

About the presence of planets or stars: I think i had a "StarControl-centric view" on that topic. I understand that ships are in proportion in WW, so yes, planets wouldn't fit in the grid.

About broken ship systems: I was talking about damage that you can't repair onboard. You'd have to have your ship serviced in a homeworld (for a minimal fee). But that's ok, it's not a very important topic anyway.

Now I'll have to finish my "French translation" Mod for WW... or maybe go to sleep...

[Jamiri]

Zogu said:
Jamiri, your proposal would require a whole redesign of the game engine (not to mention multiplayer support)! I'd say it would be a good idea for a WW spinoff (a mini galactic empire game with 3D action, for instance).

Yep, that's what I also had in mind, as Fingers said something about network programming and 3D support as one of his possible future experiments.