A favor...

[Tim Brooks]

We are looking at an interesting, very interesting, project. What I need from the SEIV crowd, is a list of what you liked and disliked about SEIV.

Is that enough info?

Thanks.

[Gandalf Parker]

Actually the ORIGINAL out-of-the-box SEIV felt like a demo.
But what it became was fantastic. The players mods took it from 8 to over 300 empires (different types, ship sets, etc). Player mods extended the artwork. Player mods took it from a small universe to many times larger and added many map variations. The AI was modified.

But the game internals were great. And I think the reason I loved it is the same as my love of Dominions 3 and many other games. The start-game parameters were extensive. And the empire-settings were many and varied. All of this added up to a LONG LONG time exploring all of the possible variations. Lots of replay.

Oh and I like turn-based also.

Gandalf Parker

[GeorgiaBoy]

We are looking at an interesting, very interesting, project. What I need from the SEIV crowd, is a list of what you liked and disliked about SEIV.

Is that enough info?

Thanks.

Likes:

Ease of modability
2d graphics is fine
Not needing any 3d graphics experience

Dislikes:

Use .png instead of .bmp files
SE IV needs facility limits one per planet/system/player/game.
-needs leaders like MoO2
-needs to have way more than 255 systems (more like 1000+)
-needs more than 20 AI players
-races/abilities that only the AI can control.
-Map like Borth of the Federation. Click on star on galaxy map which will display planets.

More thoughts later...

GB

[GeorgiaBoy]

Apologies for double post...

-invasion of new race by random event
-conversion of enemy of friendly population to X resource as a special ability
-more abilities than listed in abilities.txt. Add abilities tag one (or x number) per planet, system, player, or one (or x) per game.
-Add money to game (keeping minerals, organics, and rads).

[Q]

What I missed in SE IV was more possibilities to modify the AI performance. That is much better in SE V.
Second the combat was very unfair: first all defender ships fired before any of the attackers could make a single shot.
I missed a little bit the possibility to change the size of solar systems. In general more modding possibilities would be great for SE IV.
I liked very much the low computer power SE IV needed and was absolutely satisfied with the graphics!
I liked very much the huge number of ship sets available.

[Q]

Two more things I liked in SE IV:
1.) Race characteristics setup by percents.
2.) Specific targeted intel projects. What I missed there were specific success chances for different intel projects, that would be modified by counter intel, race characteristic, defence facilities between 1 and 99%.

[PsychoTechFreak]

Is that enough info?

No? More details, pls. :popcorn:

[Tim Brooks]

More details, pls.

Well, I'm getting some of what I wanted. This is good. Don't stop now. I guess what I am looking for, is if you could ask for SEIV 1/2 (not SEV) what would you want to see in there that isn't and what would you not be willing to live without?

Regards,

[Gandalf Parker]

One basic request.
I know that some programmers have abit of a godhood complex (Ive admined some of those). But hopefully you have one that can recognize their limitations. Basically, ANYTHING the programmer feels is not their best area, rather than leave it short please consider opening it up for player additions. Whether that is content, graphics, sound, documentation, events, whatever. And I would rather see a game go with open or older formats even if it lessens the games features.

Also I want to put a note in for Linux. For a player base of course it goes Windows, Mac, then linux. But if this game has multiplayer capabilities please consider at LEAST a non-gui command-line switch heavy version of a host program on linux. I feel it vastly increases servers.

[Gandalf Parker]

Not give up?
Hmmm... I guess part of what keeps me coming back to SEIV is its friendliness on my computer. Ive bought lots of the newest greatest games since then but they tend to want to take over the machine. All of the cpu, all of the memory, change the graphics mode, full screen only, take over the speaker settings, slow to load, wont drop to the taskbar quickly, wont come back quickly. Generally rather obnoxious and making it hard to split my day between work then game then some chores then some game then check email and back to the game. The fancy graphics, sound, features I get with new games are nice but SEIV fills a niche that keeps me coming back. Of course those features also mean it runs on any old machine and portables.

I have a number of games that are very old and just will not die on my machines. They are part of an initial load to every new computer. And things they have in common are extensive game setup but then its fast in, do a couple turns, drop out. That fits the way I do my day.

Oh and I dont mind long hosting times if it provides better game (such as larger maps and better AI). Even better if its a game-setting option for those who prefer faster hosting for small MP games. Long hosting times make sure I remember to take care of things in the real world.

[PsychoTechFreak]

More abilities to finetune the AI. Something like scripted events. For example, if you encounter this schemer race then replace everything from research slot #2 on with counter intel. Or if you count more than 10 mines, focus on minesweeping. Scriptable special attacks like planet invasions, blockades.

Programming the AI could be more user-friendly and intuitive.

More than 255 Systems maps.

Better AI use of training facilities and other planet-wide facilities. Or change them to system-wide if the AI is unwilling to park their fleets over training facilities (and similar facs).

[dumbluck]

I'm surprises Fyron or SJ haven't spoken up. they have modded enough to know most of the guts of this game.

One that comes to mind is ship/fleet experience. ATM it is completely hard-coded. Being able to mod what happens at what experience level would be very nice.

[Ed Kolis]

This doesn't have anything to do with an open-source project started by Ken Musante, does it? "SE4.5" is his codename for the project, until we can come up with a better name... and I never heard anything about his contacting you!

[Suicide Junkie]

Additive modifiers must be purged.
50% and 50% should equal 75% (or 25%) not 100%.

The additive XP scheme is the one thing that sticks out with a sharp and unfixable point to me. All the rest of the additive stuff I was able to fix with mods, external apps and social rules, but +50/+50 hardcoded to an entire fleet kills the game after a few hundred turns.

[Xrati]

Multi-player capability is a MUST over the different modes (PBW, email and Head to Head).

A scenario creator for pre-game editing so the security features would kick in AFTER a game was started. This could allow for the creation of scenarios or setup for "What if" games.

A better map editor and map generator. One that doesn't freeze up for no apparent reason. This will allow for better galaxy's to be randomly generated based on player input.

A few players wanted some game code changes. I can't recall what they were about, but were good ideas (mostly expanding game capabilities). I hope they see this and post.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

[Q]

Even at the risk of repeating myself:
The one thing that stopped me playing SE IV and changing to SE V was the AI. At a certain point of the game, when the AI could, especially in the team mode, still easily defeat the human player, it gets extremely passive and leaves all initiative to the human player. And there is absolutely no possibility to change this. In SE IV you have no modding possibilities of the AI fleet composition, attack locations, attack frequencies, colonization orders, facilitiy manangement. This is the main improvement IMO in SE V and would be the decisive factor for me to buy any SE 4.5.

[dumbluck]

Intelligence is broken. I don't know how to fix it, but it is very broken.

[Ed Kolis]

Just a pet peeve, but no mini-portrait conglomo-bitmaps please!!! :P (Components.bmp, Facilities.bmp, Planets.bmp, etc.)

I HATED those things - in order to add any graphics to the game, once you had your nice graphics made, you had to shrink them down to 36x36 or whatever and line them up JUST RIGHT on the grid... and since they were indexed by numeric ID's, not by filenames, that just made things even more confusing... :mad:

[Xrati]

I agree with Ed. Change the BMP's to JPG and save space in files. One picture should be scaled down by the program as needed. They do this in other games, no need for different sized pics. One pic does it all. After all, how many times must you hear that the "glitzy" graphics do not make the game.

MAKE SURE that all formats relating to already useable mod work remains. Do not go and change all the file formats to an unusable one, say like .x!!!

[Fyron]

No JPG! Use PNG for lossless compression. With JPG, you cannot re-mod graphics (without original lossless sources), since every save adds more distortion and destroys more color data. Not so noticeable in massive photograph files, but it is a huge detriment to any low resolution file. As a web developer, I've run across these problems way too many times!

MAKE SURE that all formats relating to already useable mod work remains.
The data file format is absolutely atrocious. It would be really easy to write a conversion script to reformat old mod data to a newer, saner format (like XML), so don't let that be any excuse!

I'm surprises Fyron or SJ haven't spoken up. they have modded enough to know most of the guts of this game.
We've already posted way too many things in the various SE5 wishlist and feature improvement threads. Concerned parties should go read those!

[SteveA]

Haven't played SE4 in a very long time, but it was always enjoyable where the replacement, to me, is not.

SE4 appeared to have many limitations based on size of variables.... 256 (8 bit) for example. Design the new version with larger integers! There is no reason to allow max array size to drastically limit, for example, the number of systems or planets or ships or mines.

Please don't go towards real-time strategy... hate that. Cool graphics and a combat replay might be nice once in awhile, but I prefer real time strategy to hold my attention because of the mental challenge, not because it is a click-fest.

A slightly better model of who shoots first in the tactical turn based environment, where defender gets advantage in places like warp point defense but attacker gets advantage in battle-line situations. Perhaps a weighed initiative system like the old X-Com used?

Mostly make sure it works on most machines - I could never get over the horrible frame rate of SE5.. it is just too painful to play.

Steve

[dumbluck]

I wonder if Mr. Brooks found what he was looking for.

[Atrocities]

I like that SE IV was modifiable.

Game play I enjoyed the detail and many control options that allowed for an in depth style of game play that both inspired and excited me.

I liked that we could design our own ships, bases, fighters, satellites, mines, weapons platforms, and troops by choosing our own components.

I like that there were planet ans system restrictions available for facilities.

I would have enjoyed the option to lay out my planet surfaces and put my facilities where I wanted too though.

I would have enjoyed the ability to set a facility, component, ship or anything in the game to one per empire.

I like the simple way the GUI worked. The lay out, albeit dated, had been laid out in such a way that it was easy to maneuver and understand.

I did not like the all blue GUI color though. Depressing.

I like how the system map was the primary focus with a galaxy map being the minor focus.

I would have enjoyed the option to have more than one galaxy open to exploration.

I liked how the ships worked. It would have been better if they were true 3d top down views that were scalable though. This way we could get a real feel for the size of a ships, bases, fighters.

I like the top down combat but felt that again, 3d models, scaled to size would have been better.

I like the mineral, organics, and radioactive production system for the game but wanted more options for economy, population growth, and planetary ecology.

I wanted to see populations react to planet conditions, effecting revenue and production.

I did not like the political system of SE IV. SE V's is much more involved.

I like the tech tree concept of SE IV. The sky was the limit.

I did not really like the INTEL system.

The game needed special resources, wonders, and 3d planets that rotated.

I liked the scale of the GUI system view. I like how when I clicked on a planet I got good useful information about that planet and what was on it, around, and being built on it.

There were a lot of really great ideas implemented in SE V that might have a better bearing on this topic than not.

Task Forces,
Political system
3d planets and ship combat -
ground combat
obsolete hulls
etc

[Atrocities]

More details, pls.

Well, I'm getting some of what I wanted. This is good. Don't stop now. I guess what I am looking for, is if you could ask for SEIV 1/2 (not SEV) what would you want to see in there that isn't and what would you not be willing to live without?

Regards,

1. The ability to set one per empire limitations on facilities, components, ship hulls, etc.
2. Raise the 255 limit on mounts to infinity or higher
3. Raise the limits for star systems, ships, mines, satellites, etc to infinity. Let the player decide the limit from 0 to no limits.
4. AI improvements that prevent the AI from cheating its way past restictions that human players must abide by. Restrictions for components on ships.
5. The ability to SET specifically what component the AI must have on its ships as primary, secondary, alternate, and open.
6. The ability to SET out own name for our own home system from game start.
7. The ability to set our starting facilities for the AI and humans. What each player starts with based upon their race.
8. More options for Mini / Max
9. A political system that works.
10. Rare resources like metals, ores, gems, etc.
11. Unlimited options for minor races to inhabit uncolonized worlds. Right now that limit is 20. I'd like to see planets inhabitted with primative species that can be exploited, enslaved, rebel, slaughtered, etc.
12. Planet conditions that affect population growth and production.
13. A real economic system that can be turned on and off depending upon players choice.
14. A real trade system. Establish a trade with another race, planet, must build transports as needed.
15. GROUND COMBAT that looks good and is effective.
16. WONDERS. Players should have the option to build unique wonders.
17. Characters - The ability to add characters or not.
18. Rotating planets.
19. More than one galaxy. Make the galaxy frigging huge too. 10,000 star systems with 100,000 of thousands of planets, moons, etc each. Make it epic.
20. Options like star gates - must be placed or built on planets and will allow small amounts of troops and such to pass between the planets via the network. Space Gates, built in orbit that allow for larger cargo to be transported, like fighters, small ships. FTL drive, Hyperspace drive, Dimension drive (For traveling to other galaxies.) Wormholes, warp points (Natural and artificially made).
21. The ability to mine black holes for rare resources needed to build large scale artificial warp point, wormhole, and dimension drive gates.
22. The option to have build slots both on the planet and in orbit over the planet.
23. The ability to have different types of build yards. Ship building, troop building, fighter construction, etc. Currently they are all linked and the expansion yard exploit must be used to simulate this effect. I want to see the ability were we can say that TROOPS are build or trained at this facility, ships and what not here, and armor or fighters or other here or there. A code or special modifier that we can use to lock an item to a facility.
24. The ability to set more than one weapons type damage to one weapon. Damages both shields and weapons. Targets both engines and weapons. Etc.
25. The ability to mine nebula for resources.
26. The ability to set the size of the image to be used manually. IE, 36x36, or 64x64 depending upon what it is the size calls for. This way (non 3d) ships, bases, etc can have scale.
27. The ability to set one per empire limits on everything from facilities to components. - very important
28. The ability to obsolete a hull. Destroyer Hull 1, Destroyer Hull 2. When 2 becomes available, then you can obsolete 1.
29. The options to player specific intel mission types via characters or scenarios. Send This hero to fight uprising or insight uprising.
30. A true Intel and counter Intel system. Intel shouldn't be just driven by the number of intel facilities you have. It should require the need for income based mission limitations. You need X amount of money to run this mission with spies in this range to perform the task. The ability to designate X amount of intel points to counter intel operations or offensive intel operations.

[mac5732]

I like the Mods that were available for the game. Especially the TDM modpack, and some of the others... I would like to see all the races from the TDM modpack and the one with the monsters (can't think of the name right now UGH) ... also the star trek ones, but i would guess the star trek ones could have some patent problems to get them....

More races and blood thirsty, tough AI players and for the AI to build the larger type ships like some of those do in TDM etc, also carriers like SJs carrier mods....

AND, a good ground combat system on the order of the old Star General game.

[Tim Brooks]

I wonder if Mr. Brooks found what he was looking for.

Still finding it. Thanks for asking. We are trying to compile this into some orderly fashion... We will continue to monitor this thread. Any questions for me?

[GeorgiaBoy]

I wonder if Mr. Brooks found what he was looking for.

Still finding it. Thanks for asking. We are trying to compile this into some orderly fashion... We will continue to monitor this thread. Any questions for me?

Yep. Three questions and two suggestions:

1) With the ideas gathered here and other ideas, is Shrapnel actually going to develop SE 4.5 (I guess Shrapnel has the legal rights)?

2) Barring complications, could this product be out by Christmas 2010-2011?

3) Will you let us know when you will stop taking ideas en masse (when the code gets 'nailed down')?

Suggestion One: Diplomatic affinities (moddable) at beginning of game. Example: Race X likes race Y but hates race Z at beginning, but can change as the game progresses...

Suggestion Two: Ability to determine home system and planet in aigeneral.txt

Just my .02

GB

[Ed Kolis]

Less bloated, more secure turnfiles!

That is, instead of sending all players everything in the game every turn and relying on the client to filter out stuff that the player can't see, create an individualized savegame for each player with only that stuff IN it in the first place! This would save lots of bandwidth and eliminate even the remotest possibility of cheating!

Also, integrated PBW support and working TCP/IP play :D

edit: oh, along with that, how about sane combat replays which can be calculated client-side... don't save the position of EVERY bullet 20 times per second in the savegame!!! :mad: OK, that's a SE5 thing, not SE4, but I suspect SE4 worked the same way and we just never noticed because of the granular nature of turn-based combat as opposed to real-time!

[Xrati]

Yea, Tim. I was wondering if the hot redhead in the red dress :o from the "Dom 3" ad works for Shrapnel? And if she does, how in the world do you get any work done over there!!!!!!!! :D


:doh: Savor the moment....

[Q]

Three small items I would like to see:

1.) Hexes instead of squares for the system map.
2.) Possibility of objects to occupy more than one field (sphere worlds).

But keep the possibility to have one planet and nine moons in the same field without any graphics flickering as in SE V.

3.) Retain partial damage of components, units, facilities after the end of combat and make repair work on kT per turn not on components per turn.

[Zandel]

15. GROUND COMBAT that looks good and is effective.

This is a big one for me... I'd like to see Tactical ground combat and ground units like space faring units... different weapons / damage types etc.

And intelligence seems way too much to me.... I mean how do spys from one race really steal info from others? They might not even breathe the same atmosphere let alone look even vaguely similar... Not really a good option for sneaking around is it?

[Fyron]

Don't let petty realism get in the way of game mechanics.

[Q]

Don't let petty realism get in the way of game mechanics.

I agree 100% with that!

Regarding intel: the general concept in SE IV is quite good IMO, at least much better than in SE V. The problem ist the all or nothing effect. As long as counter intel is sufficient you are 100% protected, once your counter intel is depleted you are 100% exposed. My idea is to give any intel project an basic chance of success/failure that is only modified by counter intel (or other factors). Even in the complete absence of counter intel a ship rebellion would not always succeed. Even with tons of counter intel it might sometimes be successful but only seldom.

[GeorgiaBoy]

Another suggestion...get rid of the circles as system on the galaxy map. Replace it with a grid (which can be toggled on/off) and stars (and other features as needed) instead of circles. Much more aesthetically pleasing without hogging resources.

GB

[Xrati]

Actually Mac, the best part of SG is the ground combat.

Your trying to create two games in one. While I agree that the ability to design your own ground units should be accompanied by a playable sytem. The stats for xp's and rank really aren't needed. Artillery and air units will just over complicate the system and require more time on the user part to finish battles. Not to mention the AI resources added to the program to run the AI controled races. Some simple combat system where you can just watch your units roll over some enemies 'or not' would be nice.

Cosmic Balance used a system where you could fight your battles in Breach 3 and import your results into the game. If you didn't want to go that route, the game would just use some simple algorithms to resolve it.

An idea for a game add on!

[Suicide Junkie]

That is, instead of sending all players everything in the game every turn and relying on the client to filter out stuff that the player can't see, create an individualized savegame for each player with only that stuff IN it in the first place! This would save lots of bandwidth and eliminate even the remotest possibility of cheating!

To go along with that;
- An open PLR/orders format.
That way, people can write their own AIs which act just like real players.

[Gandalf Parker]

The solo-play drastically needed some repair as far as smarter trading with AIs. I would have enjoyed it far longer if I hadnt figured out that I could trade and get the ability to colonize all world types. And even get an AI to give me their homeworld. Ive gotten AIs to trade me their ONLY planet which immeadiately created the message that they were dead in the game.

[Tim Brooks]

1) With the ideas gathered here and other ideas, is Shrapnel actually going to develop SE 4.5 (I guess Shrapnel has the legal rights)?


Not really. We don't own the code to any of our games. We partner with our developers. This is a game that will be more like SEIV than SEV, but will be its own game engine. This is a joint project -- more on that once everything legal is in place.

2) Barring complications, could this product be out by Christmas 2010-2011?

Really just too early to tell. Once everything is in place we will have a better idea on this. Of course, we plan on this not being put out until the beta testers say it is ready.

3) Will you let us know when you will stop taking ideas en masse (when the code gets 'nailed down')?


Definitely.

I was wondering if the hot redhead in the red dress from the "Dom 3" ad works for Shrapnel?

;)

[Fyron]

Of course, we plan on this not being put out until the beta testers say it is ready.
Good luck with that...

[Imp]

Just a point mention was made that pictures could be any size & program could scale. Take care here not so important unless textures & 3D but big files increase game overheads which has been stated as a plus of the game, so bitmaps are a no as large files to start with. Any spare memory can be freed up for use by the AI as what makes or breaks many games is the AIs capabilities.

[jRides]

I would loved to see added:

15. GROUND COMBAT that looks good and is effective.

Ground Combat, it's something I've always felt is missing from SEIV, hell, any 4X game. If you do make a 4X, the addition of ground combat would make me a happy bunny.

Also,
Leaders, (with rudiamentary stats at least) who would step in when you hit that Autoresolve button, for good or bad. Would be nice if they just care of themselves, but you could move them around if you had a better place for them (leading this task force or that diplomatic mission).

Expand the max Universe size, I would love a game with 1000s of stars.

Expand the Solar system size. I liked how you could expand the sizes of the solar systems in SEV (by modding), made scanner ranges and cloaking more important, playing cat and mouse with fleets and forcing design and use of scouts.

Also, one of the best thing about Space Empires is it's just so moddable, we see spectacular stuff from the community, vastly extending the game life, and sales - I have a friend who recently bought SEIV just to play Atrocities Star Trek mod.

[Xrati]

AST mod, good choice! :cool: Then you'll just love the new SE4.5... ;)

[Timstone]

Wow! I'm really anxious to see/read what Shrapnel is cooking.
I've read this whole thread and couldn't find these suggestions/wishes (of course I might have missed it... brewski...):

- Warppoints whit a working weight limit
- Traveltime between warppoints (in stock SE IV traveltime between two warppoints would be zero)

[Timstone]

Ehh... have I just zombified this thread? :D

[Gandalf Parker]

I think it was slowing on its own. Most of the opinions seem to have been given unless Tim Brooks spurs again. Maybe a specific direction.

[Timstone]

Yeah, you're right Gandalf.
But another wish comes to mind:

- Firing arcs (shield arcs?)

Perhaps my namesake can give us some more info about this intersting mysterious project? :angel

[Q]

Sorry, but firing arcs, directional shields and armor would be for me a reason not to buy this game: to much micromanagement and the AI would be almost certainly incapable to deal with it.

[Suicide Junkie]

The same reasoning applies to overcomplicated ground combat.

You've got to limit the scope of scales you're dealing with, and not go overboard.

You could have SE4 style with the focus on grand strategy and the combats automated, and the capturing simple.
Or you could have a game focused on combats where the grand strategy is simple automated territory changes based on who wins each round, and the players run a series of fleet battles against each other with boarding and captures being detailed but automatic.
Or a similar ground combat game where the space battle is automated and you can call on reinforcements if your team is winning in space (at the expense of distracting from the space fight).

Trying to do all three of those games in one would make SE5's turn processing look like a blink of the eye.

[Timstone]

Sorry, but firing arcs, directional shields and armor would be for me a reason not to buy this game: to much micromanagement and the AI would be almost certainly incapable to deal with it.

Hmm... okay, scratch firing arcs. It's no use have a AI that can't cope with certain options. :o
But I do hope my first two wishes are endorsed.

[Xrati]

more info about this intersting mysterious project?

Yes, this project will hereby be known as SEX. Were going to skip to ten rather then go to 6 as SEX looks better than SEVI. :D

OR

SE Project X ' The Return of the Icon' :D

[Timstone]

more info about this intersting mysterious project?

Yes, this project will hereby be known as SEX. Were going to skip to ten rather then go to 6 as SEX looks better than SEVI. :D

OR

SE Project X ' The Return of the Icon' :D

Hahahaha... LOL!!!

[Gandalf Parker]

Thats particularly funny for me.

One of my seiv sigs has always been...
HURRY UP! I know technology is moving fast but Im old. And I refuse
to check into an old folks home that doesnt have a HoloDeck or a Direct
Neural Interface. I want to be playing (hmmm not SEV, SEVI, not SEIX)
OH YEAH, I want to be playing SEX!

And now a friend of mine at a well known company is working on a hardware project that an NDA keeps me from discussing openly. But let me say that the above statement is much truer than it was a month ago.

[Combat Wombat]

Hypothetically if you were to take SE4 and add/remove features this is how it would play out

Add

Effortless/Just Works TCP/IP the currently se4 implmentation is a nightmare

Weird Worlds Retun to Infinite Space style 2d graphics keeps the game looking very spiffy yet does't bog down the hardware and is easy to mod

As completely open modability as possible se4 was sure a good start but games like Civ4 have taken it to the level where you can mod almost any part of the game from AI scripting to extensive UI reduxs

More specific changes would be more detailed and fair ground and space combat and better research and intel systems

Different modes of tranportation possible, FTL, jumpdrives ect.. not just the very static WP system se4 uses

More to come when I have something easier to type on then my G1

[Combat Wombat]

And continuing...

Beta testing! Listen to your testers don't release before it is ready. From my experience Shrapnel is pretty good about this but I want to make sure it stays fresh in your mind :)

Also I think hiring on some of the great se4 modders for the dev team would be a good idea. A few names come to mind and I can provide a list if it is wanted.

back to features

Make the game scale to different resolutions effortlessly. I run my desktop at 2048x1152 and se4 becomes quite the small little box(using SJ's windowed SE4 tool)

Descriptive error windows! nothing is more frustrating to have something go horribly wrong and never know what caused it(also useful for modders)

ease of use features are a must for late game play when you have 300+ planets and thousands of ships! Minimal clicks(something se5 failed horribly on and the main reason I don't play it)

Already been mentioned but a quality map/scenario editor is a must.

water planets and multiple friendly races have colonies on the same planet like one in the ocean and one on land(this goes along with total modability though)

Everyone on the team that has any say in how the stock gameplay works must play SuicideJunkie's Carrier Battles mod the poster child for balanced and fun gameplay

Ship the game with mods! alot of people still don't use websites and download things for some reason so make sure the game gets to modders early(like have them on the beta team) so they can have finished mods to ship on the game cd/dvd

PBW intergration: have the game automagically send/recieve turns from the PBW system so theres no file moving needed. Also this goes along with having the right people in the beta/dev team make sure the game is supported by PBW (pbw.spaceempires.net) and make the standards open so anyone can make their own PBW implementation maybe even have an official site/server

hopefully still more to come once I gather more thoughts into words

[Azselendor]

My 2 cents,

Make sure the interface is clean, simple, and intuitive. Think Apple.

Make multiplaying & matchmaking effortless. Think Xbox Live.

[Xrati]

:idea: Larger combat map with a limitation on ship numbers in combat.

:idea: Have ship combat based like ground combat, so many turns of combat per game turn. This will allow for retreat and reinforcement of fleet elements (especially if there are limits imposed as to number of ships in combat) between turns. It will also make fighters more valuable as an attrition unit.

:idea: Eliminate formations as they are only used in setup. After that they are useless.

[Q]

Add the range of view in the system depending on the level of sensors used.

[Xrati]

Fog of War :confused: A ship that can travel through space that can't see an entire system? (I'm not talking about cloaked or stealthy units) It's just like saying you have a car that's going 50 mph., and you can only see 10 ft. in front of it. Doesn't make sense to me. Maybe I'm not getting your point (please explain), I'm sorry if that's the case Q.

[Q]

Don't forget that the ship travel takes 1/10 of a year! Therefore I think the sensor range as used in SE V is quite reasonable. You can of course discuss (and mod) if you should see planets (and everything else) at any distance but I like it very much to explore a new solar system. The only real problem I see with the sensor range is the increased computer calculation times it takes to display a system with many ships.

[Xrati]

The only real problem I see with the sensor range is the increased computer calculation times it takes to display a system with many ships.

That is the problem of what you propose Q. The resources required to filter what's seen and what isn't (and how the AI deals with it) would be tremendous, and at what cost to playability and functionality. While FoW is great, I don't believe that it would add any REAL reason to include it in the game. Maybe you could give an example of what possible circumstance or uses that the limited sensor range could create for game enhancement? Most games that have FoW, the AI sees everything in the game because to write AI routines to handle FoW are extensive.

As far as SEV, I played the demo and decided that I did not like the game. So any references to SEV will have to be elaborated.

[Gandalf Parker]

At this point I would have to ask Shrapnel to throw out most of our suggestions. :)

Well at least table them. If it speeds things up Id rather see a release with a few fixes and easy expansions, and then later a more involved release. We can pile on requests until the project becomes a "soon to be released in fall of 2020" (and my own suggestions are probably the worst in that area)

[Q]

The way sensors work now in SE V is pretty much what I want. And on my four years old computer I don't have more than 3-4 seconds at maximum for a system display with several hundreds ships. At least in Kwok's Balance Mod the AI can handle the limited sensor range quite well. I just play at the moment a SE V game where the AI surprised me with a fleet attack, that would not have been a surprise if I could see all of the systems I have at least one ship/unit/colony in it.
The best solution would be to make this an option in the game setup.

And Gandalf, I think the aim of this topic created by Shrapnel was just to get as many ideas as possible. Which of them they use/realize is of course completely their decision. But if they want to sell the game it might need a little bit more than "a few fixes and easy expansions" IMO.

[Xrati]

That's a good example Q and I see what your talking about. But do you really think that you could hide a sizable fleet within a system without some notice or residual traces of it being there? I think you could probably see them with the Hubble Telescope if it were positioned to view that system. Maybe a small squadren or patrol but not a full battle fleet.

GP, you are right! :cool: But Tim asked for ideas and to NOT post them, would be a grave sin against humanity and the whole gaming community!!! :D

[Gandalf Parker]

Definetly post. Im not saying not to.
Just wanted to separate the deeep discussions from what originally felt like quicky "what do we absolutely have to include" suggestions. Splitting it allows everything to go into a "keeper" file for different releases.

The deep changes are cool. I just didnt want it to add years to a release. And Im including my own suggestions in that. I suppose that others would have just said something like "thats never going to happen" (and probably gotten less comment on it)

[Azselendor]

I have to agree with Gandalf Parker, I think everyone would appreciate half of a finished, polished product than and a half-assed project. New features can be added in after the release date via patches and, naturally, expansion packs.

[Xrati]

Bottom line is, FLEXIBILITY.. Kinda like the very old program UMS (Universal Military Simulator). Movement system, combat system, all variables added by user.

"Build it and they will come!" and play... :cool:

[Ed Kolis]

Heh, UMS sounds a bit like HAM (Suicide Junkie's "strategy game engine"), only not quite as abstracted!

[Xrati]

It's pretty much what The War Engine (TWE use to be a Shrapnel game, now at Matrix) was based off of. One of the limitations of TWE was the small map, not so in UMS. Unit creation, terrain, even combat modifiers for game used functions. I still have the game, but I don't even know if it will run on XP as I have not had it installed on anything since my Win98SE, P333! :doh:

[Alikiwi]

Firstly, I'd suggest you check out Se.net and read up of the SE 6 wish-list forum. It covers a fair bit to say the least. I think the majority agree that SE IV makes a better base for a future version, although SE V (I'm told), has a better ability to develop the AI players with more flexiblity.
I played SE III back in 1995, SE IV since 2006. One point that comes to mind, is that SE III was more sensible on planetary production, in that the shipyard WAS a shipyard and was seperate from planet production. SE IV got that wrong.
Any new game needs to allow Modders more flexibility, and if possible (big ask), an open ended list of abilities. Whilst SE IV had a fair list, it was limited too much.
As for fans, eve though SE IV is almost 11 years old, I notice over 700 copies of my Skywalker Mod have been downloaded over the last 12 months, thats dam impressive and a testiment to the basic good foundation of SE IV itself.
A personal point, whilst fantastic graphics are nice, its gameplay that really counts. More scenarios would be good (I'm working on some now), and characters with speech (ala Imerium Galactic II) would be a must these days. I'll come back when I have more ideas...
PS I m so pleased to think you are heading in this direction :D

[Xrati]

More scenarios would be good (I'm working on some now),

Ahh for a scenario editor... :angel

[Gandalf Parker]

Ive been playing SEIV and Dominions 3 back and forth for the last month (no money for new games), dwelling on the things that make me love them both equally. And the differences.

One thing I realized is that for ME at least one thing that SEIV had over Dom3 was something that lent an RPG factor for my character. With Dom3 you dont really manage the provinces you take. You simply use them to recruit bigger armies.

With SEIV there were facilities and events which made me feel more like a leader that had to also take care of the empire. Yes they all had impact on war-capabilities. But some of the planets could be primed for specific purposes. Such as an optimum world, facilities which increased growth, fighting off a plague, these things gave me the feel of one planet being a Ryssa party-world to be protected. There wasnt alot of it. But SEIV does have more of a feel for managing an empire than Dom3 does. In fact it was probably a pretty good level. Not so much as to feel like micro-managment, but enough for some variety and rpg.

Just thought Id mention it. Id hate to see it left out in favor of more war-game.

[Alikiwi]

I don't think you have any worries there. The SE 4.5 project has discussed this, and adding some characters like heros or traders etc. has been mentioned. I think I also said more Scenarios would be good (I'm adding a few to SE IV). Possibly a few suggestions on additional facility types may be useful. We have considered seperate ones for building units AND components... :-)

[Gandalf Parker]

Well I am a registered beta with an NDA on file *hint hint*.

Facilities for components? Im not sure on that one. Im a big fan of really large maps. The facility would become obsolete as you expand away from that planet. Unless there were components which took so much time and resources to build that they are not good considerations for front-line building making it reasonable to create them far behind the lines and ship them forward.

I havent thought on it. But Id probably consider along the line of planet and system specialization to keep the SEIV feel. Something like, maybe a Solar Powerplant to make use of multiple-sun systems. Not sure what it would do. Maybe beam the power out so that any of my ships in that sector use are continually refueled (which would be nice for prospecting).

Maybe a Capital structure? or Embassy?

Speaking of Embassy reminds me. I love that I can communicate and trade with the AI's but I have a long list of suggestions about that. :)

[Alikiwi]

Solar Power Plants already exist, they simply provide resources, although you could make them act as a resupply unit, hm delete std resupply and make the solar power plant do that job! As for components, its related to having the ability to sell them to, or buy them from Traders. Also because you can build them, and perhaps move them to were they are wanted. Also if you upgrade your tech and they become obsolete, you can sell them to traders who might sell them to someone else, perhaps even to the Mercenaries LOL
Probably you should read up on it here -> http://www.kenvsthecity.com/se45/

[Gandalf Parker]

Oh *DUH* this is the other project, not the one this thread was started on?

I would like to go read up on that. But times are hard. And altho Im technically retired Im trying REALLY hard to keep to the limits set by "the budget master" to only invest my time into sites that she sees as possibly leading up to extra income. At least for now.

Gandalf Parker

[dumbluck]

Solar Power Plants already exist, they simply provide resources, although you could make them act as a resupply unit, hm delete std resupply and make the solar power plant do that job!

Grit Econ did something like this, IIRC.

[Gandalf Parker]

Did everyone see? Did you notice?
Shrapnel Games Announces Star Legacy!
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=44830

Hmmm... maybe I shouldnt have mentioned it. This might be test to see if people who use the free forums actually use the site that hosts it. (hint hint nudge nudge)

--
Don't get me a great ship and a few stars with a few options.
Give me a Universe and unlimited options.

[Q]

That sounds very interesting. And I am glad they allow enough time for development and testing.

[Timstone]

Woot!
Can't wait until some screenies are released, should give a nice idea on how the game will look and feel.
Thanks for the heads up Gandalf!
Now go program! ;) :D