SE4 Advanced brainstorming

Suicide Junkie · #1 June 26th, 2007, 07:15 PM

Gritecon style hulls are a good alternative.

Use maintenance reduction abilities and component scale mounts to make the average ship cost (ie build time) be proportional to size squared.
The average ship maintenance cost can at the same time be proportional to the square root of the size.

Then you can give all the ship hulls right from the beginning, and they'll get used.

Urendi Maleldil · #2 June 27th, 2007, 12:36 PM

That's not a bad idea. I may do something similar, but I probably won't use the system as it is. I want to avoid scale mounts. Just a personal preference.

Suicide Junkie · #3 June 27th, 2007, 06:46 PM

Well, it really isn't doable without mounts.

You could mix it with the P&N style "budget" "normal" and "premium" component mounts if you wanted to... that would hide the scale mountness of it.

Urendi Maleldil · #4 June 30th, 2007, 02:52 AM

Are there any bugs in SE4 that you'd like to see corrected in SE4 Advanced?

Obviously I can't mess with the .exe, but there are a lot of things I can do by stretching the data files.

Suicide Junkie · #5 June 30th, 2007, 10:29 AM

Well, if it is just in the datafiles it probably isn't a bug per se.

Intel and mines are the biggest issues, IMO. Too much of an "all-or-nothing" system there.

For mines, I suggest removing minesweepers completely, and then limiting mines to 15 per sector and enough damage per mine to deal no more than 5% damage to a ship.
That way, minefields have to be spread around in a system, along common paths, and in rings around high value locations, rather than just piling them all up on warppoints and colonies.

The mines won't vaporize fleets, but they are guaranteed to at least do some damage and slow the enemy down when they're in your territory.

Intel...
Definitely have a "saboteurs" tech area which is disableable in the game setup. All offensive projects should require this tech, which starts at max level.
Then turning off damaging intel is one click away for the game masters who don't want it.
Sticking with just spying operations makes intel less overwhelming, but still useful.

Counter intel will also need to be reworked, eliminated or converted to "intel sabotage" projects so that you can't just make a magic wall against spies.

Having helpful intel projects to use on your friends is also a nice idea. For example:
- Officer Exchange Program: INCREASES the target ship's experience by +1%
- Polluter sabotage: INCREASES the target planet's conditions rating by a small amount.

Increasing the target's happiness is a good one too. Propaganda project maybe?
There aren't too many intel projects which actually work in reverse. Supply drain for example can't be negative, unfortunately.

Urendi Maleldil · #6 June 30th, 2007, 11:38 AM

"No percentage damage" for mine fields is a good example of a hard-coded bug that can be worked around by altering the data files.

I think that mine sweepers still have to be there. But instead of limiting mines to 15 per sector, I'm simply going to take away their inherent cloaking ability. That way when an enemy sees the mines with their own eyes they will have to stop and navigate around mined sectors. That will slow them down.

Maybe stealthed mines will come in later techs, but they will still be detectable with some level of sensors.

Those are also some good ideas for intel projects. I agree that Sabotage needs to be its own area. Also, instead of the defensive intel projects I have facilities that decrease "bad intel" chance in systems. I haven't tested them yet, but they might be a good replacement if they work.

Suicide Junkie · #7 June 30th, 2007, 12:18 PM

The problem with sweepers is that they all hit before any mines attack. So if you have sweepers, minefields go pfft.

You just bring enough for the max mines, and then you can fly full speed ahead without fear.
If you increase the maximum mines per sector, then the mines all get dumped on the warppoints... and if you don't bring enough sweepers, your fleet gets vaporized by hundreds of mines... if you do bring enough, you take no damage at all.
At warppoints, you can't see the mines on the far side anyways.

With no minesweepers and a low maximum on mines...
Your fleet moves, and takes a couple hits to armor. Each mine hits a random ship, so the damage is spread out. The low maximum means your fleet is not going to get vaporized.
A bunch of ships will lose a couple armor plates, and if you're unlucky, one of your ships may take two hits.
You can press on if there is low risk of counterattack while you are weak, stop to repair, or send unlucky ships home.

In any case, mines should definitely be a disableable tech area.

douglas · #8 July 1st, 2007, 07:50 PM

We're talking about drones here, they don't combine into stacks.

Suicide Junkie · #9 July 1st, 2007, 08:13 PM

Right. Mines would, drones wouldn't.

Urendi Maleldil · #10 July 4th, 2007, 03:21 AM

What do you guys think about adding standard tech ruin abilities to a majority of the planets in the game? That way you get a small random technology each time you colonize. That could lead to some nice research surprises and better reflect the way invention and inspiration strike people in real life. Of course, colonization would have to be slowed down a bit.