Retreating

[ExplorerBob]

I can modify the game so that the "Retreat" buttons do not exist.

There's only two problems with this.

1) You could still retreat, unfortunately, by hitting the "R" key.
2) The "All ships retreat" button would be conspicuously absent from the interface.

The goal of this, of course, would be to prevent you from instantly leaving the battle.

Three questions for you, then.

1) Would you honor my intentions by not ever hitting the "R" key in combat?
2) Would the interface's graphical shortcomings annoy you?
3) Do you think getting rid of instant retreat is a good idea?

[Lost In Space]

Man, that's a tough one. Once I figured the "instant retreat" thing, I ceased to dread encounters with the Urluquai. Unfortunately, it does indeed feel like a cheap course of action to follow. Retreating, if used early enough, saved my bacon more times than I can remember.

If implemented judiciously, in certains kinds of battles, I think it could work. I, for one, do not bother remembering shortcut keys, and WW does invite a more mouse-based form of control.

[ExplorerBob]

I also used instant retreat on a near-constant basis; it just makes sense, a lot of the time.

The Tan Ru, for instance; are those four ships on the radar Demolishers, or something better? If you guess wrong, you're in serious trouble. Instant retreat will save you, but if you have to retreat more conventionally (by going to the edge of the map), your game's probably over.

There's just a ton of cases where instant retreat will bail you out of a situation that, logically, would mean certain death. At the least, this would make you think twice before hitting the "Engage" button.

The question, then, is whether or not that's a good thing. People like to avoid battles that can tear up their fleet as it is, so if this was to happen, I imagine that they might just avoid battles altogether, instead of taking more risks (which would be the preferred outcome).

Thanks for your response, by the way; I was kinda disappointed, when I kept coming back here and nobody else had said anything.

[Lost In Space]

The forum's barely alive, and the game's reached life-support mode, pretty much. We shouldn't expect much form this here place, but at least those who do post seem to have a decent amount of interest to share.

The combat engine is frustratingly limited, but I enjoy pushing the limits of what is possible to accomplish with my fleet. I still manage to be impressed to this day, by a few crazy tricks I try to pull. It helps that the game is so completely friendly and casual.

Can't wait to try Odd Adventures 0.002. I always get a kick out of hunting for the Klakar ship with a poor excuse for a space drive ;-) I completely agree with the Hyperdrive downgrade (or tweak), it's so stupidly overpowered that it sucks most of the challenge out of the game.

[ExplorerBob]

Tell you what; I'll make the change, and if it's a bad one, it can always be undone later, deal?

[Lost In Space]

Sounds good to me.

[sgqwonkian]

Go for it. It'll definitely make things harder, but the game is short anyway. Considering that you slowed the star drives down quite a bit, I think having no escape option will make people a lot less likely to take risks - you don't want to lose a bunch of days, get creamed, and have to limp home in tatters. It won't really change the tone of the game, but rather it'll further emphasize the existing tone and strategy of the game.

In answer to your specific questions:

1) Would you honor my intentions by not ever hitting the "R" key in combat?

Yes. The interface is so visual, anyway, that I tend to forget keyboard shortcuts are even an option. Even if I did remember the R key, if the mod designer asked me to play as if it weren't available, I'd be willing to do so.

2) Would the interface's graphical shortcomings annoy you?

I doubt it. Basically, there'd just be a black gap where the "retreat all" button would normally be? Given the dark background, that's probably not going to be very noticeable.

3) Do you think getting rid of instant retreat is a good idea?

It makes things harder, and will make players more cautious. As long as that's your goal, it sounds good.

[sgqwonkian]

Out of curiousity, how did you do that? I just can't think of what it would take to remove the retreat button entirely. It certainly never would have occurred to me that it was even possible if you hadn't done it.

[ExplorerBob]

It's a really simple change, to be honest, even though it produces what seems to be a huge effect.

I think I might've been looking for a way to make mercenaries not automatically accept lousy stuff...I don't remember exactly. Anyway, the stuff that pertains to the "Retreat" buttons is in the strings.ini file. I experimented with it; by deleting the strings, you can remove the buttons in-game. Check the Odd Adventures 002 file, and compare it to another mod; you'll notice that several lines about retreating are conspicuously absent.

Removing the string that produces the "FLEEING" text, and the retreat colors creates undesirable effects, though, so I left those in place. Therefore, if you hit the R key in OA, it'll look the same as if you retreated in any other WW mod.

[Lost In Space]

Yeah, I'm always lending useless stuff to my mercs, only to grab it right back (last part might depend on my mood and my situation.) I also try not to lend items that might remove initial merc equipment like shield and weapons. I just can't help myself.

It's a shame they hard-coded it this way.