Feature requests

[ibol]

Got ideas, big or small? Put them here.

[Kazeto]

Well, I do have a few ... sort of. I mean, some of them will probably look as if they are half-feature-requests and half-complaints, so I have no idea if they actually can be called “feature requests”.

Nevertheless, this is what I have, as far as requests go:

• Would it be possible to get an option of sorts that would disable item auto-installing when buying? Or maybe something like shift + corresponding letter to buy without equipping? I mean, it's not really necessary as it is, but in early game (and possibly later, I count sector 13 as early game) getting enough materials for crafting anything means doing a few trips and buying whatever cheap items there are, and changing the equipment back after every single station visit quickly gets a bit ... tedious, so to say.

• Would it be possible to get a hotkey for auto-shooting? Something like “v”, maybe, as it's near “f” and seemingly not used for anything. I mean, yes, I know it's just 1 key press less ... but when surrounded by hordes of puny monsters that multiply that 1 key less gets multiplied many, many times (and yes, I got an idea for that request after this one trip to a spaceship wreck infested with some weird eyes that multiplied until the end of time).

• Is there any chance of planets with caves getting notes or marks of some sort that are visible on the sector map, or maybe when being over the planet? It's not a big deal for the most part, but those who are completionists will try to go back to get all the caves cleaned once they get enough oxygen in the suits to do that, but flying like a moron over all the planets and landing on every single one just because there might have been a cave quickly gets boring.

And that's it for now. Maybe I'll get more ideas after playing more, or something.


PS. I know I'm just being mean now and all that, but there's a typo in the manual. In at least one place (only noticed that one, didn't read the whole thing) there's a word “effect” that instead should have been “affect”. But I'm only mentioning that ... I don't know, for the sake of completion, I guess. Most people probably wouldn't have problems with that typo anyway.

[ibol]

Wow, Kazeto, for 'complaints' and 'mean', you sound pretty reasonable ;)

Anyway, when I saw you mention 'typo', I was mortified. Until I noticed it was about 'effect'. You may be technically correct (which is the best kind of correct), but I gave up on trying to tell those 2 words apart a long time ago.

Auto-Install:
I have noticed the same behavior when collecting crafting components. There's no reason we can't add an option for that.

Auto-Shoot Hot Key:
That was my intention with the "page-down" key. It is easily accessible from the numpad area, and not used for anything else. I feel like 'v' is slated for something...

Planet/Cave Note:
It is conceivable. But questions arise... Do you just want to know the existence of caves? Or how deep you've gone? What if you've reached the bottom? What if you have explored some, but not all?
- We would need the ability to very quickly calculate those variables, and to display them in an easy-to-understand and not-overbearing way...

This is exactly the kind of thing that this thread is here for.
Thanks!
Bob

[Cyberis]

Ibol/Kazeto,
Perhaps cave stats (all the ones Ibol mentioned are awesome!) could be part of a tooltip that would pop up when the mouse is over the planet.

Or maybe you could have a Captain's Log component where we can keep a log/notes as we explore. Even a log that allowed one entry per sector would be helpful. There could even be a right click action when over a planet or a cave entrance that would be "record this in the log" if having a freeform log would cause too many save game problems.

I've already done the "I remember their being a planet with an unexplored cave a few sectors back" and have to go to all the sectors and land on most of the planets to make sure I got all the caves. That cost a few thousand credits for the satisfaction of having gotten everything (except the green and brown, irradiated?, planet since I haven't found a suit that is strong enough to handle that.)

[Cyberis]

BTW,
It's probably too late for the manual but here is a good article for effect (which is a noun) vs affect (which is a verb) (http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/style-and-usage/affect-effect-grammar.html). Even that article makes it clear that knowing which word to use is not always easy to discern.

[Kazeto]

Anyway, when I saw you mention 'typo', I was mortified. Until I noticed it was about 'effect'.
Funny thing is, I noticed because it was that particular word. And even that only because I once spent a week arguing with some stubborn moron on another forum about it; the guy ended up alienating pretty much everyone else who posted in that particular thread (long story, really) and I ended up remembering it. So yeah ...

In any case, there's the guide Cyberis had posted, which generally works as “effect” is usually a noun; sometimes it's a verb though, but in all of those cases you can use either “cause” or “produce” instead (so it needn't ever really be used as a verb).

But I'm digressing so I'll stop that before I get annoying.


Planet/Cave Note:
It is conceivable. But questions arise... Do you just want to know the existence of caves? Or how deep you've gone? What if you've reached the bottom? What if you have explored some, but not all?
- We would need the ability to very quickly calculate those variables, and to display them in an easy-to-understand and not-overbearing way...
I guess, optimally, display if there are any cave levels, and if yes then if there are any that are not yet entered. So there would be three possible statuses:

1) No cave. No additional text.
2) Cave, fully explored. Additional text, something like “Fully explored cave” or just “Explored cave”.
3) Cave, with any levels not yet entered. Additional text, something like “Unexplored cave”, or even just “Cave”.

Mind you, keeping it simple would still work (for the most part, people do remember something about the cave being somewhere and about the cave not yet being explored, so unless they stop playing for a few days (or more; many people have good enough memories to remember bits like that for weeks even) just a simple information about caves being there likely would suffice.

And in the same vein, a detailed information about the cave could be used too. But then again, that one might spoil how many cave levels there are (assuming they are not essentially infinite; with mere 120 oxygen I can't really check that yet), and if there's a cave with just 1 spot blocked some people will go crazy ... it's easy enough to get crazy over the 99% exploration on planets with “urban” setting and blocked tiles, at least until that can be seen through.

[Cyberis]

Kazeto,
I have been to the bottom of some pretty deep caves (11 levels) and every cave I've found so far does have a definite bottom. A few caves have only been one level deep.

[Tuidjy]

Early in the Beta, truly infinite caves existed.

Then, later, there was an exploit which would allow you to make caves keep going after a 'reward' level was generated. I assume those were also effectively infinite, as long as you kept the exploit going.

As soon as I get my copy, I'll see whether that is still in the game.

[Fennrick]

+1 for the "Captains Log" idea. Right now im using wordpad to make small notes for every system (caves, lots of asteroids for mining etc.)Would be cool to have something like this integrated into the game itself.

[MassEject]

Unsure if this has been requested. But at the death (or end) of a game, I would love to see all my actions spat out to a text file or some sort of mission log that I could save and read for later. The cool thing about this game is that YOU REALLY ARE creating your own story. Would love to go back and read these stories.

[Cyberis]

+1 - Being able to see the highlights would be great. I saw something like this at the end of Gunpoint where a couple of paragraph log entry was created that summarized the players performance. Being able to see a chronological list of sectors visited, planets explored, officers killed, quests completed would allow for the role playing aspect of the game to be strengthened.

[JimSB]

As your ship gets better and you install better reactors, you get to install more devices. However, the away party can only use one device (usually starting with Hand Scanners) no matter how good the suit or how many Away Team specials you get. As you get better suits, you should be able to use more of the devices, so some of the more interesting ones will not be abandoned in favor of the common ones (hand scanners and the various walkers).

[Cyberis]

Another idea that is similar to JimSB (i.e. better suits, more simultaneous devices - which I +1) is better storage of those devices on board ship. I would like to either be able to: 1) store those at a base (perhaps for the low, low fee of 1 credit per 1000 turns per item) or 2) be able to install an Away Team Locker ship device that would suddenly make all away team gear fit in a single cargo slot. In either case, it's a challenge to have any cargo space when your away team has 6 - 10 devices.:smirk:

[Fennrick]

Another idea that is similar to JimSB (i.e. better suits, more simultaneous devices - which I +1) is better storage of those devices on board ship. I would like to either be able to: 1) store those at a base (perhaps for the low, low fee of 1 credit per 1000 turns per item) or 2) be able to install an Away Team Locker ship device that would suddenly make all away team gear fit in a single cargo slot. In either case, it's a challenge to have any cargo space when your away team has 6 - 10 devices.:smirk:

Isn't this what crafting is for? During my games i mainly dismantle away team stuff i don't need and just rebuild it whenever neccessary.

[Dubious]

Another idea that is similar to JimSB (i.e. better suits, more simultaneous devices - which I +1) is better storage of those devices on board ship. I would like to either be able to: 1) store those at a base (perhaps for the low, low fee of 1 credit per 1000 turns per item) or 2) be able to install an Away Team Locker ship device that would suddenly make all away team gear fit in a single cargo slot. In either case, it's a challenge to have any cargo space when your away team has 6 - 10 devices.:smirk:

Isn't this what crafting is for? During my games i mainly dismantle away team stuff i don't need and just rebuild it whenever neccessary.

Brilliant! Thanks for sharing that. Now that you point it out, it's sort of obvious but never occurred to me.:doh: Just have to keep track of the needed parts to avoid consuming them in experiments.

-Dubious-

[Waltorious]

I'm really enjoying the game so far! But I did have a few feature requests:

1) Dynamic music. I love the soundtrack, but right now it just plays all the tracks in order and then starts over. I'd love to have the music depend on where I am in the game (i.e. ambient tracks in space, frozen planet track on frozen planets, etc.). When I was listening to the soundtrack outside of the game I realized how each track really fits the place it's named after, so it would be nice if those matched in-game. But I have no idea how hard this would be to code. And I guess it could mean that the music tracks change a lot if players are flying around and landing on lots of planets.

2) I'd love an easier way to see what type of planet my spacesuit is suitable for. Right now it's hidden away on the stats screen, but it would be nice if it was listed on the suit itself (or maybe just on the tooltip for it). Also it would be nice to see what type of planets those "unexplored planets" are on the warp screen, so I know if my new suit is good enough to go explore them.

3) As others said, it would be cool to eventually be able to get more than one away team device at a time. Maybe some high-level spacesuits could have built-in devices, kind of like the different ships with their built-in devices?

That's it for now, thanks for the great game!

[ibol]

Just popping in after a week of the flu. Man, was I out of it.
Looks like stuff is pretty status quo, but i'll respond to some of Waltorious' comments:

0. Glad you like it! thanks :)

1. You're right, the tracks really do fit the areas; that is just excellent design on the part of the composer. the reason for the music playing the way it does is the last one you mentioned: I switch areas pretty quickly, and I just keep hearing 10-30 seconds of a song, and then switch to another one, which annoyed me.

2. displaying suit suitability is a great addition to the tooltip upgrade. thanks. (did you know there was a tooltip upgrade?)

3. There are already suits that come with powers. They become available after sector 20-25, and become more common the further you go. You can also find artifacts that provide suit powers, tho that is up to chance. There must be balance, there must be choice. You will never have everything at once (probably), but you can get a decent assortment of abilities.

Bob

[Waltorious]

1. You're right, the tracks really do fit the areas; that is just excellent design on the part of the composer. the reason for the music playing the way it does is the last one you mentioned: I switch areas pretty quickly, and I just keep hearing 10-30 seconds of a song, and then switch to another one, which annoyed me.


Hmm... I wonder if that might be improved with crossfades and/or careful decisions about when to switch tracks? For example, most players probably stop at space stations for very short periods of time, so a separate music track for stations probably doesn't make sense. But for planets I think it might work, especially if there are caves. Another option might be to let whatever track is playing finish as normal, but then only start new tracks based on where the player is at that time. This would make repeated landings on the same planet (to heal up crew) not reset the track.

But it's not a huge deal, and might be more trouble than its worth. Thanks for the explanation though!


2. displaying suit suitability is a great addition to the tooltip upgrade. thanks. (did you know there was a tooltip upgrade?)


I did not know that there was a tooltip upgrade, but I'm glad to hear it! One other thing I'd love to have in the tooltip upgrade, by the way, is a tooltip for the officer skills when hiring officers from stations. Officer skills are tooltipped after you hire them, but not before, so I'd have to look up the skill in the manual to remember what it does.


3. There are already suits that come with powers. They become available after sector 20-25, and become more common the further you go. You can also find artifacts that provide suit powers, tho that is up to chance. There must be balance, there must be choice. You will never have everything at once (probably), but you can get a decent assortment of abilities.


Awesome, I'm glad you already had the same idea! I'll look forward to finding those.

I did think of one more suggestion: My away team is now packing hand scanners, which are awesome, but it means targeting enemies is tricky because it will often default to targeting enemies that I can't actually shoot, because they are behind cover. This means I have to switch through lots of targets before I can find the one that I'm actually able to shoot. Is it possible to change the targeting priority to check if an enemy is behind cover and give priority to those that are NOT behind cover? This would make fights simpler.

Thanks again for the great game, and I hope you are feeling better!

[Cyberis]

+1 on targeting priority. I really like the hand scanners, they make exploring the planet quite a bit faster, but engaging enemies does become trickier since it doesn't distinguish those that can actually be attacked vs those that are behind cover.

[plugger]

Robots

This isn't a simple tweak, more a complete new sub-system, but hey, you asked for ideas.

Here goes - have a selection of pre-made robots that you can send on planetary exploration missions instead of people. NASA can do this already and I miss R2D2 & C3PO not being there.

Robots don't need oxygen although you'd need a specially hardened robot for a toxic atmosphere.

Perhaps they could have a 'mechanical reliability' readout/bar instead of oxygen. Travelling over rough terrain depletes the bar. Once it reaches 0 the robot fails and can only be retrieved by humans. Robots have a mechanical durability rating (like a suit oxygen rating), some being more adept at handling broken terrain than others.

Robots are inherently less versatile than people and might perhaps only move orthogonally.

Robots types should each have limitations. You'd want to use them to take risks that your landing party would normally be exposed to but on the other hand you don't want them to be as capable as human party.

For example;

Scout 'bot: Can investigate only, can't collect any goodies, can't attack creatures. Great at getting an idea of what's out there and where it is.

Biology 'bot: Will stun creatures and gather science data from them using all manner of probes and samplers. Ignores anything other than the native lifeforms. Doesn't show goodies.

Science 'bot: Will hunt out any goodies and collect them. Creatures are effectively invisible to them or perhaps just show as a generic, all purpose 'lifeform' icon.

Military 'bot: will automatically shoot anything that moves (including bunnies). Send them in to clear out the creepy crawlies. Will blaze away happily until they run out of ammunition.

When a robot is exploring the surface the map could show up as grayscale or infra-red like to drop the visual feedback down a notch and to give you a sense of immersion of sitting in your landing shuttle and looking at the feed sent from your 'bot.

Every now and then the link will go on the fritz (planetary or atmospheric interference) and the screen shows white noise for a turn.

Or maybe something big and nasty just ate your 'bot.

Cheers,
PLugger

[Cyberis]

PLugger,
I think that robots would change the mechanics of the game too much without much payoff. Redshirts (i.e. non-officer crew) are pretty much robots now and suits/oxygen and officer inclusion are the primary ways to tweak their basic stats. So, I'm not sure that robots would add anything essential and would make an accessible game more complicated. That's just my two cents worth.

[ibol]

Hi, Plugger, and welcome!

That seems like a decently well thought out system. It certainly would require a lot of work, but I can see how certain things would be implemented.
It would give me a chance to write a pure AI, and the player would just watch what it does, possibly unable to control the bot. And the idea that they wouldn't be able to actually pick anything up is interesting in itself.

Perhaps something similar to that (though smaller and more focused/less universal) would eventually work itself into the game...

Unrelated update on the "captain's log" front:

[zircher]

* smarter auto-explore - I've died too many times because the thing glitched and sent me to the other side of the map to run out of air.

* smarter auto-explore - Too many times I've been mangled/diseased and I'm heading to the shuttle to get healed when I run out of air. The logic then immediately sends me away from the shuttle to die (another) horrible death.

* smarter auto-explore - Protect the captain/officers and don't run off on a suicide mission. Avoid known/discovered hazards and plants when in automatic movement mode.

* turn safety back on when you leave a planet - Sometimes I freaking hate the bunnies with a passion and want to murder them all. That does NOT mean I want to target a friendly spaceship and get ganged up on. [Died twice that way.]

[Cyberis]

Zircher,
I agree that if a feature, like auto-explore, is in a game, it should work well; OTOH, I don't use it -- I like the adventure of manually exploring stuff; otherwise, why play the game. I'd rather ibol spend that effort on other bugs or features that could enhance gameplay more generally.

I also don't tend to turn the safety off but if I did, I would want something very obvious to remind me that it was off. Maybe there could be a flashing message similar to when you are running out of O2 that reminds you of that or your suggestion of safety auto-disablement when switching from planet side to space and back. Or maybe when the safety is off and you have targeted a friendly the target reticle could turn green telling me it's a friendly or flash letting me know that I'm about to attack a friendly. Actually an IFF indicator (red for enemy, green for friendly, white for neutral, and flashing green red for targeting a friendly with the safety off) would be even better.

BTW, what do you have against the bunnies? :confused:

[zircher]

Traffic hazard. On a difficult terrain map with twisty paths, bunnies can get you hurt or possibly killed (such as when running back to the shuttle with low HP and low on air or diseased -or- you're getting ganged up on by hostile natives and your escape path is blocked.) Did I mention that I die a lot in this game? :-)

[ibol]

Zircher, please be aware, I have already begun reworking the auto-explore. I started on the first day we talked about it. It's certainly not done, but I've already made progress.

Those updates may or may not make it into the upcoming patch 1.0.1, which is being pre-tested now.

As far as safety... yes, perhaps there should be a quick and easy visual indicator as to whether it's on or off. I'll give you another 'perhaps': auto-turn-the-safety-back-on. Not a bad idea, but some players might find this intrusive... It used to be that you actually had to carefully select your targets with no safety at all...

maybe there should be a "safety per race" kind of thing, where it lets you set which races you will or won't target... decisions, decisions...
and lots of dots...

[JimSB]

How about being able to install at the shuttle on away team missions rather than having to return to orbit.

[Cyberis]

JimSB,
I'd love that too but you have to admit there is an element of strategy involved when you have to do all of that in space rather than at the surface.

[zircher]

Mad at my shuttle pilot, he landed on a cave entrance and obliterated it. Now if that would have put the shuttle on the first level of the cave, that would have been a hoot.

Good to hear that the patch is in the pipeline already. :-)

[ibol]

It amazes me how many people are landing their shuttles on caves.
I believe I've fixed that, but I guess we'll see once you guys start flying around...

[zircher]

It would be nice if when you are on fire entering a water space would put it out or wash the burning chemicals off.

[ibol]

ok, but what if you stepped on liquid ethane/methane? (ok, I suppose those don't occur on oxy-atmo planets, so you might noy explode... would sure be a funny YASD though!)

Which brings to mind the fact: should you be able to burn on non-terran planets?! That never occurred to me before.

[Cyberis]

If by burn you mean with flame (oxidation) I guess not but if you mean burn by a transfer of heat then I would suppose you could do that on any kind of planet.

[plugger]

Hi,

It would be nice to be able to explore the Galaxy and not exterminate all forms of native life in the process.

If there was a 'stun gun' you could zap creatures, on planets, and they would turn into an icon, just like a commodity or item. You could then collect them in the same way and take them back to your landing shuttle.

They'd, just like a commodity, take up a cargo slot on your spaceship but as a living creature (in a force cage) they'd consume, say, 1 supply per turn while onboard. If you ran out of supplies on your spaceship you could, at a last resort, gobble up the critters but at a high risk of disease.

You could sell your biological specimens at Banker Stations. Perhaps only some of them accept biologicals, not all.

Prices would be randomly determined based on the level of the creature. But...the price you received would increase exponentially if you were selling a 'Set' of like creatures (eg. same sprite but different description, even if it's only a different name tag). The bigger the set the more the reward.

So now, in my ideal world, you could have a career as a collector of living biological specimens. You'd have an incentive to hunt down particular creature types and build up your sets. Kind of like a butterfly or big game collector of old who used to roam the wilds of Africa.

I'd imagine that this would be pretty straightforward to implement (unlike my previous idea of robots although I wasn't intending them to be autonomous) as it piggy backs off existing game mechanics.

You could finesse it by having an officer specialty ('Zoologist') who'd get you a better price for your critters and m-a-y-b-e having the occasional 'creature got loose onboard and killed some crew' situations unless you had a special 'secure Cage Containment' device onboard.

Not sure about the bunnies though. Zillions of different types. Would it be ethical to go bunny hunting? Maybe only evil bunnies. Perhaps if you took them to a certain embassy you'd get a great price 'cause they consider them a delicacy?

Or would that just be really bad karma.

Cheers,
Plugger

[Tim Brooks]

It would be nice to be able to explore the Galaxy and not exterminate all forms of native life in the process...


Hi plugger.

Interesting how your mind works. I like it!

Cheers,

[ibol]

Cyberis, thanks for the burning justification!

Plugger, wow! now that is an interesting idea. You are not the first to suggest non-violent means of survival (meaning that it is something players want)... And you even outlined in terms of things the game already does.
Nice!

[plugger]

Got another idea. Been down to the cargo hold and cracked open the box of Narcotics marked 'Red Wine'. I think. Or it might have been 'Red Pills'. Red Something.

Planetary Events

A lot of the fun from tromping around unknown planets is managing your oxygen. Once you get a suit that negates the need to worry about this the challenge appears to drop off somewhat. You also spend a lot of time planet side so anything that serves to spice it up would be a plus, hence the idea of random planetary events.

I could think up bucket loads of these as could, I'm sure, anyone else. But I'll restrict mine to ones that meet the following criteria;


Easy to implement (easy being a relative term given that I don't have to do it)
Have a meaningful impact, eg. they're interesting
Avoid randomly killing, or penalising, the player
Gives the player scope to make a tough decision


The events would all follow a standard format. If the random gods decide that there was to be an event on this particular planet at this point in time then the player would receive a warning using the games existing pop-up message functionality, eg. 'The Away Team notices Earth Tremors'

The warning would be specific to the event and would give the player a heads up that something is, or could be, about to happen.

Mechanically once the pop-up warning is shown there would be a set time period of 'x' number of turns that would elapse where nothing is guaranteed to happen, eg. 5 turns.

After this, each turn there is a % probability of the event kicking in, eg. 2%.

The player, having received the warning, is effectively given a grace period to get out of dodge, if they want. After that the event is in the lap of the gods. A 5 turn grace period gives you enough time to make an immediate start back to the landing shuttle and, most likely make it safely. The low % chance of the event happening also gives the player scope to keep on keeping on gambling that it is unlikely to occur anyway, or that they'll finish what they came for before worrying about it. Push your luck stuff, that cranks up the tension.

Here's what I came up with for events. The Duration for all of them would be continuous until the Away team lifted off from the planet.

Meteorological Meltdown
Warning: 'The Landing Party have been contacted by their ship warning of an impending Storm'
Effect: Visibility drops to one or two squares regardless of scanners, suits etc. Fog of War over all map, even area's already traversed. Position of landing shuttle no longer marked on map (telemetry interference).

Radiation Roast
Warning: Ship warns of an impending stellar event that'll shower planet with radiation
Effect: All equipment has their tiny electronic brains fried to a crisp. Weapons (melee and ranged) and Devices stop working (auto repaired once back on the ship). Suits are considered shielded and will hold it together long enough to get to safety.

Shake and Bake
Warning: Away Team shaken by Earth Tremors
Effect: Earthquake! Landing shuttle damaged. Away Team will have to repair it in order to leave planet. Once they move onto the square with the Shuttle there is a % chance it'll be repaired each turn, say 10%. Got enough oxygen? There's also a 5% chance that Shuttle can't be repaired.

Shake and Bake if Away Team in a Cave
Effect: Fog of War throughout. Rockfalls, darkness, badness. Randomise location of entrance and exit from what they were before.

Exo Eclipse
Warning: A moon is moving to obscure the Sun
Effect: Nightfall! The landing map screen is shown in grayscale (Away team have switched to Infra-Red vision). Nocturnal creatures come out to play (All lifeforms on the map go up a notch in capability and lethality)

What's that Rattle?
Warning: Something appears to be wrong with your suits.
Effect: The Away Team suits start malfunctioning. Double oxygen use (2 units per turn, instead of 1)

If the idea was a goer you could even turn it into one of your modular text files where you could specify an event applying only to certain planet types.

+1 Persistence effect for reading this far.

Cheers,
Plugger

[Dubious]

When I'm over {this}, I would like to see {that screen} displayed by default as follows:
* Bank Station: Cargo, alternating with "Ship Devices" every X seconds.
* Planet/Ship Wreck: "Away Team Gear", alternating with "Ship Devices" every X seconds.
* Anything else: "Installed Ship Components" (primarily for various CD status), alternating with "Ship Devices" every X seconds.

Note: where "X" is "User Defined" and should include the option to choose a default screen with no alternation.

Additionally I would like to see the ability of assigning my own hot-keys to all "buttons" that do not already have one. Most especially for "Installed Ship Components", Cargo, "Ship Devices", and "Away Team Gear".

-Dubious-

[ibol]

Plugger,
I put "zoologist" and "planetary events" in my notebook, meaning big ideas that I think would make the game better, and are within scope and possibility.

Zoology will most likely end up as a quest type (go get me X different kinds of Y species, and possibly requiring melee attacks)

Planetary events will be planned basically as you have outlined, and of course, modified by me.

If anyone has ideas for planetary events, I'd love to see them. I've added "flood" and "lava eruption".

[Cyberis]

Geomagnetic storm during which your ranged attacks don't work
Gravity fluctuations on High Grav or dying planets which caused per move status damage
Meteor strike that obliterate areas of the planet, hopefully not where you are at.
Heavy lightning storms with possible damage to a square or two at a time obliterating loot or monsters, causing away party damage and if the shuttle is hit, disabling it for a few turns (no OX, no takeoff)

[plugger]

Hi,

Here are a few more Planetary events.

What's up with Smith?
Warning: Ensign Smith has a bad twitch
Effect: The stress, the stress. Ensign Smith loses the plot and kills half the away team (rounded up) before finishing himself off.

There is something Big out there
Warning: The Away Team notice unusual tracks. Bigfoot?
Effect: A big, scary monster (way overpowered for the level) spawns behind the Away Team (between them and their landing shuttle). No warning is given of the monster spawning.

Who said we are lost?
Warning: Magnetic anomalies have been detected
Effect: The Away Team have become navigationally challenged. The landing shuttle is randomly relocated and it's position isn't shown (unless within LOS) for a number of turns to reflect the Away Team having to reorientate and find their bearings.

The sensor is on the blink
Warning: Sensors are detecting a lot of movement
Effect: A whole bunch of new monsters suddenly spawn on the map (say the standard spawn repeated twice). They may have been camouflaged or have been hidden. Who knows? But now they are here and they look hungry.


I'd second the inclusion of hot keys for the items listed by Dubious.

Cheers,

Plugger

[Chris Steadman]

Once in a while perhaps an adversaries ship might not blow up and disappear, when defeated, but become a wreck instead that can be boarded and explored.

[David E. Gervais]

Once in a while perhaps an adversaries ship might not blow up and disappear, when defeated, but become a wreck instead that can be boarded and explored.

I think this is a great idea, yuppers I sure do!

Cheers!

[phanatic62]

Once in a while perhaps an adversaries ship might not blow up and disappear, when defeated, but become a wreck instead that can be boarded and explored.

I really like this idea as well.

Also, I would love to see a "Hall of Fame" for victorious captains, and perhaps "Shame" for those killed in action. If you really want to make it awesome you could include a link to all of the end game pages that pop up. If you've ever played Dungeons of Dredmore, it has a HoF list that boils everything down to score. Since there's so much information in AI I think it would be difficult to give a "score" to summarize how well a particular game went, hence why a link to the end game screens would be helpful.

[ibol]

Here's the development reason why ships don't blow up and leave a shipwreck:
because I don't "individuals" from each race, like pirates, gruff, tentaculons, etc.

Shipwrecks should be populated, and you would expect them to be crewed by the appropriate race.

So, David,
wanna talk about making some new enemy sprites? Sounds like fun!

[EDIT:]
Here's what David did within an hour of hearing this, so I guess you better look out!

[Waltorious]

I like the ideas for zoology and planetary events. Glad to know I'm not the only one who tries to leave those poor creatures alone!

Regarding planetary events, however, I'd love to see some positive ones too, that might benefit the player. Or maybe some that are risk-reward, so there's a chance of great danger but also of nicer loot, or something. Otherwise I worry that players will simply want to skip planets that have events, if all they are is a chance for disaster.

Actually, anything that differentiates the planet types more would be cool. Right now most of them feel the same, just with a better spacesuit needed to access them. I think it would be cool to include things that are akin to "vaults" in traditional roguelikes that can appear, but only on certain planet types. Chances for extra treasure or other benefits, but with some risk involved. I know there are some things in the game like this already (a bunch of equipment on a planet surface that indicates a wreck / dead landing party that had been here before me, or certain special levels in caves, for example), but more would be cool. Also planet types could perhaps have different kinds of wildlife to go along with different types of resources or treasure.

One way to do this might be to make different types of caves for different types of planets. Frozen caves might have different dangers and treasures than molten caves, for example.

I don't know how much work this stuff would be to implement, however, so some of the ideas are probably out of scope.

EDIT: Just remembered... I initially found it odd that all planets have life on them. Maybe some planet types wouldn't have any wildlife but would be filled with more environmental hazards? Or at least would have a chance for this to be the case?

[plugger]

Hi,

Regarding planetary events, however, I'd love to see some positive ones too, that might benefit the player. Or maybe some that are risk-reward, so there's a chance of great danger but also of nicer loot, or something. Otherwise I worry that players will simply want to skip planets that have events, if all they are is a chance for disaster.

That's a good point.

Perhaps, once an event has triggered, and once the honeymoon period is over, any officer in the Away Team has a strong chance (75%) of gaining an extra experience point per turn (or something similar as I'm not sure how the XP algo works - perhaps the % chance of XP gain could be proportional to the severity of the coming event).

It kind of makes sense that you learn the most in times of crisis and a looming event would require strong leadership skills.

Now you'd have an incentive to stick around for a while - rapid experience gain. Off course you are still planetside and things might go pear shaped but it'd make for a some tense exploration.

If the event occurred you'd could also benefit from increased scientific knowledge and XP, depending on the event and subject to the Away Team making it back alive.

Cheers,
Plugger

[David E. Gervais]

You know what I like about ibol? his sense of humor,.. it amuses me LOL

Cheers!

P.S. now if ships blow up and don't (occasionally) turn into shipwrecks,.. [Han Solo voice] "It's not my fault!" :P

[Waltorious]

Hi,
Perhaps, once an event has triggered, and once the honeymoon period is over, any officer in the Away Team has a strong chance (75%) of gaining an extra experience point per turn (or something similar as I'm not sure how the XP algo works - perhaps the % chance of XP gain could be proportional to the severity of the coming event).

It kind of makes sense that you learn the most in times of crisis and a looming event would require strong leadership skills.

Now you'd have an incentive to stick around for a while - rapid experience gain. Off course you are still planetside and things might go pear shaped but it'd make for a some tense exploration.

If the event occurred you'd could also benefit from increased scientific knowledge and XP, depending on the event and subject to the Away Team making it back alive.


More XP and more data during events could work. But I think it would be interesting if different events had different benefits. So let's say the earthquake event means more resources spawn, since the ground is breaking up. Or the events that spawn a powerful creature (or swarm of creatures) also mean that those creatures are carrying some cool treasure, so it might be worth the risk to try and fight them.

Alternatively, there could be some events that are only bad but other events that are only good, to balance things out. These could even be corollaries to the ideas already mentioned in this thread: suits use less oxygen (1 point per 2 moves), fewer monsters spawn, etc.

Also I came up with one idea for an event: Acid Rain. This increases the planet's ambient damage level (which means if you have a really awesome spacesuit you can still resist it) but also makes the wildlife go hide, so there are fewer creatures to fight. And maybe the away team could take shelter in a cave, but there are more creatures in the cave because they are hiding from the rain?

[zircher]

New 'terrain' type: crashed ship. Mix regular terrain with broken-up ship wreck layouts with an extra helping of electrical and radiation trouble. Maybe even a sporadically operating laser fence. Also an extra chance of rescuing a crew member.

[zircher]

Somewhere between a feature and a gripe is the fact that that blue/white items disappear if you leave the planet. This is a big fat teaser if the item is on an island and you have mountain climbers installed. As a feature, it would be nice if either items are more persistent or before you visit a planet you can get a clue as to what terrain is available (maybe an option to scan the planet from orbit and get something like 15% liquid, 10% mountains, 25% trees, 50% other.) That could clue you in to take something appropriate like scanners for heavily wooded landing sites.

[Cyberis]

Yeah,
I really like the planet scanning idea. It should cost some supplies though.

[zircher]

If it cost supplies, call it 'launching probes.' :-)

[zircher]

I keep forgetting to mention this. I REALLY want a gamma slider or at least the option to have a lighter 'unexplored' color. Depending on the monitor that I use, it is very hard to determine what is explored and what is simply dark.

[Chris Steadman]

I keep forgetting to mention this. I REALLY want a gamma slider or at least the option to have a lighter 'unexplored' color. Depending on the monitor that I use, it is very hard to determine what is explored and what is simply dark.

I'll second that :up:

[plugger]

Hi,

And a third.

Cheers,
Plugger

[Lord Felix]

And a fourth. The problem with distinguishing dark squares from unexplored squares on planetary surfaces is the biggest problem with this excellent game. On some planets it's virtually impossible, especially in bright sunlight.

A simple and elegant way to fix it would be to make the unexplored squares white, or to provide a key command that would toggle making them white. I'd rather have that then to have to fiddle with gamma settings.

[ibol]

differentiating the "unexplored" and "known but not seen" squares with more unique tiles will be the chosen method. Giving players the option would be good as well.

But what is this "bright sunlight" you speak of?

[GreeneDR00L]

Can you please add a config option to switch the low oxygen warnings back to their original setting? The more or less constant alarm noise at 50% makes exploring planets in the early game when you're really limited by oxygen levels painfully annoying. I had to shut the sound off entirely...

[phanatic62]

Can you please add a config option to switch the low oxygen warnings back to their original setting? The more or less constant alarm noise at 50% makes exploring planets in the early game when you're really limited by oxygen levels painfully annoying. I had to shut the sound off entirely...

+1 to that. Started up my first game with the new patch and was really annoyed at getting a warning for every step I was taking back to the shuttle.

[ibol]

(goes back to find all the posts about "there aren't enough warnings when my captain is about to die!"...)

An option it will be.
Your cries I have heard.

And I should add here, about the "GAMMA":
AI is made with third-party software, and there simply is no "gamma setting" option in the language.

[Lord Felix]

You mean you didn't write it all from scratch in Assembler?

1. As I said above, gamma tweaking is bad. But wouldn't it be easy to add a line that says, in pseudo-code, if user presses w, all unseen squares become all bright white?

2. On an unrelated note, are there some devices that can be obtained only after certain sectors, achievements, etc.? I ask because about the best device I've seen in many games is the Machine Shop, a ship device that can be installed to increase crafting quality. I've only ever seen it once, although I've seen other devices MANY MANY times.

In my current game, I'm at sector 44, in a super-sweet spot on a faction quest where I can keep quitting and saving and then continuing (with no cheating at all) and I have an INFINITE number of small ships that can't touch my shields, so I can chew up hundreds of them without breaking a sweat. Since I have the Profiteering 2 skill, and also because of the way these guys are programmed, I'm getting an infinite number of credits and an infinite number of devices, components, and sometimes schematics. Great exploit! I was supposed to kill 10 of the ships for the faction quest, and perhaps the designer thought I'd race back then to turn in the quest. He he.

HERE'S My QUESTION: Is there any point in continuing with this? Is there any hope of getting a Machine Shop drop from these guys?

[phanatic62]

(goes back to find all the posts about "there aren't enough warnings when my captain is about to die!"...)

An option it will be.
Your cries I have heard.


Sorry, I didn't mean to give mixed signals. In my case my away team had 100% health and between 50%-25% oxygen and it was alerting me every other step that my captain was in danger. Obviously context is important for these warnings, but I feel like in my case they were a bit aggressive. Especially in the early game you're regularly getting low on oxygen, and the low O2 warning already seems to serve that function.

You said you're making it an option, and that's much appreciated. Perhaps a High-Medium-Low setting so players with different risk tolerances will be happy?

[ibol]

Hi, Felix,
1. I already mentioned in a previous post that I would handle it in (approximately) that way. When I mentioned "3rd party / gamma", it was only to explain to the community *why* I would not just give them a gamma setting.

2. yes, devices are "sector controlled" , with some variation / danger-weighting (being in a dangerous area or on a dangerous quest, gives a bonus to the 'level' of the things that you can find.

Hi, Phanatic,
I think this kind of back-and-forth haunts all game development... different people, different situations, different desires... Trying to listen to (and incorporate) player feedback has always been a high priority... it's just the question of what to do when that feedback is conflicting...

And thanks very much for your RPS support!

Adopt, adapt, and improve!

[Narrew]

Would like to have Spelunker have an ability to clear Cave-ins. I was in a cave that necked down to 2 squares wide, with 1 square being a trap, glad it triggered as I walked up to it even with Light Step, since it triggered a cascade of of other cave-ins that blocked access to the next cave. I would hate to have been on the other side and not be able to get out, though I did look longingly at the next cave entrance and dreamed about what I was missing out on :)

[ibol]

That is a brilliant use for "spelunker 3" ... I put it on my list!

[Chris Steadman]

That is an excellent idea.

I have had similar happen, but on a shipwreck, where a short circuit stopped me getting back to the airlock

[ibol]

yeah, I've noticed that happening myself, and put in a little code to try to prevent it... NOT a good way to end your game...

[Tarkh]

As I understand, the crew size affects only the size of away team. Maybe there would be another stats that crew size would affect? I don't know, something like ship speed, fire accuracy or something else suggested by logics - to encourage players to have their crews at max?
Another feature: I guess, the away team doesn't spend supplies on its mission (when firing, for example). But why?

[Tarkh]

Well, and I think it would be logical to spend supplies while doing landing-departing-landing planet-exploring cycle (with Shuttle Ace chosen) - just for paying for such useful skill.

[ibol]

Tarkh, you need to get update 1.1
It adds a supply cost to away missions. I wasn't going to bother saying anything, but since you've now posted twice about "away mission supply costs", I suppose I should tell you, "it's in there!"

[Tarkh]

Tarkh, you need to get update 1.1
It adds a supply cost to away missions. I wasn't going to bother saying anything, but since you've now posted twice about "away mission supply costs", I suppose I should tell you, "it's in there!"

Oh, well... I thought that downloadable installer is up to date:re: But how can I see the current version number? There's no indication on the main screen, and there's no info about it in .exe properties.

Anyway, thanks for patient clarification and sorry for my unwitting ignorance!:o

[Tarkh]

Well, message edit function seems not working as intended, so sorry for multiposting... It's there, the current vesrion indication (1.1.0) now is presented on the main screen, so thanks a lot and smile all day! :)

[DamienPS]

I would like something to stop you selling what you shouldn't.

ie Data During a Data Gathering Quest

or saving an Artifact

[Kazeto]

Well, sometimes you do want to sell artefacts, e.g. when they give you bad things.

And you can always get more data, so being able to sell it when you desperately need money in spite of having a quest to gather it is also sensible.

Now, an additional pop-up or something that tells you about the quest in case you forgot, sure, that might be nice. Though I don't see that as a necessity, but maybe that just has to do with my memory having yet to start failing me and with me having played quite some rogue-like games before that one.

[PvK]

A graveyard feature, allowing us to view the final details of past careers?

[rlnonay]

1. Perhaps a dump to text file when a game ends - so we can see all the stats of a captain (just dump the info from the screens shown after a death/win...)

2. A config option to set the directory where the game saves files/games. I hate having stuff put on my C drive ;)

[rlnonay]

A small extra - for quests, please show where we got them from (eg. "Banker base sector 12" or "Firax Lounge sector 20" or "Satellite sector 7").

Having two quests looking for artifacts, but not knowing which race asked for them makes it a bit of a challenge... especially when one offers 100K reward and the other offers 16K... :confused:

[ibol]

wow, that's a pretty big oversight on my part. I put it on the list.

[Chris Steadman]

I'd like a way of keeping track of how much stuff I have picked up and if, when I return to the ship, the hold will be full or not. I try to keep count but when I am on level 30 of a cave and the action is hot, it is so easy to lose track.

Of course, you may have intended that it is hard to keep track ;-)

[PvK]

I'd like a way to not (or just have it always not) install a ship system that I purchase at a base automatically. I find it a little bit confusing and could lead to problems, as I often buy ship systems for the purpose of dismantling them for parts or knowledge, rather than for using them on my ship.

Buying a cloaking device and having it install also reduces the shield level to zero, which could be a problem...

[ibol]

ok, since I am being more liberal with "settings" in the option menu, this is easy to address now. will do. (this has been mentioned many times in the past)

... and ... several hours later, confirmed working.

[PvK]

Yay! Sweet!

[Baldrick]

Hi all,

I have been thinking about the possibility of promoting people from your crew to become officers. Obviously based on your survival rate in away missions. If crew "rotation" is high, the chance should be slim, but if it is high, someone could be promoted with a random chosen skill. The oficers promoted could promote randomly or depending on actions made that could increase experience of the actual officers. I am not sure how could it work but it could be interesting when crew costs begin to be really high.

Another idea about crew size. I read sometime ago some post about giving relevance to the crew size. Maybe the number of officers of a ship could be related to the crew size. I know this idea could generate a bit of controversy, given more adavantage to bigger ships, but could make the game more "interesting" (or tricky).

[PvK]

I like both of those ideas, Baldrick.

The officer promotion from the ranks is a nice idea. I don't think it would particularly affect balance or change much, though, as it seems pretty common already to just find officers for free when visiting planets and shipwrecks, if you don't have a full cast.

[dari]

Hello ibol,

first of all - great game (much more fun than GTA V)

i have a few usability suggestions:

1. Would it be possible to add thousand delimiters (ie: credits 12.345.678.012) for all numbers at all screens like the few ones in the stat screen. But especially for the ships/AT equipment and install screen.

2. in the install equipment screen would it be possible to add the same "+" and "-" sign like in the starship outfitter

3. Could you also add a "reckless" option for going a more direct route with mouse (playing the game most of the time mouse-only) even if more than 1 tile away.
(especially with tiles that are not even "hostile" like the terrain "fire bush"<-maybe a bug/wrong data entry)

4. pay it forward seems to always produce that "cheating" msg. once it reaches around 28Million - could we have a generous 64bit variable for the most important stats like err. credits :D
just in case...(sold recently 13M Data - the credit stat doesnt have this problem at least not with 50M credits

5. add Data gained output in msg-log for killing aliens (planet+ships)

6. in the active effects-screen i see quit similar entries like "Improve Data Gathering+2" and "Data Analyst+2" since there is no working tooltip for this i can only guess that they seem to be 2 different types of effects - but if they are just different Text outputs from different source, maybe you could normalize and thus consolidate these

7. that LOS edge of space is really nice - maybe add another like "line of fire" to see valid fire solutions (space+planet)

8. Firing with "F" (just in case i get lazy and make a makro for my mouse) should account for a valid line of fire - with handscanners (LOS not blocked) it seem to select most of the time targets behind walls (alternately i wish for a walldestroying plasma shotgun ;)

9. i second that new bought items dont get autoinstalled replacing the old gear - makes shoping for spareparts a hassle

10. deep diving caves - could you increase the overall difficulty for the cavelevels after reaching every ie. 5th level.

11. would it be possible to dynamically create a shipwreck out of a destroyed enemy ship (while using maybe non-lethal weapons)
for the fun of pirate-like boarding

whoops slightly more than a few suggestion - i love this game !

[ibol]

Hi, Dari, and welcome! Glad you're enjoying it.

I'm not going to reply to your whole message, but you should know that you have some good ideas there :)

In fact , #s 1,4,7,9,11 are already in the next update, which should be released this month.

:D
Bob

[coffeehousex]

I support idea of having a ability to save my 'not-so-infinite journey log' into some txt file.

[bdhurkett]

Maybe I've just been unlucky with the randomness or looking on the wrong planets, but are there any 'animals' that only exist in water or other liquids? Sharks, fish, that kind of thing.

[bdhurkett]

Er, hate to double-post but I can't figure out how to edit the one above. It feels a bit unfair to only show the corpses of the first "dead landing party" - I've buried half a dozen away teams in the caves on this latest planet, so there should be a lot more lying around by now. I guess the local fauna is eating them...

[Chris Steadman]

Maybe I've just been unlucky with the randomness or looking on the wrong planets, but are there any 'animals' that only exist in water or other liquids? Sharks, fish, that kind of thing.

Yes there are :)

[Chris Steadman]

Er, hate to double-post but I can't figure out how to edit the one above.

In the bottom right corner of each post there are four buttons. On your own posts the left hand one should say 'edit'. It can take quite a few seconds for it to take you to the editor. Clicking it a second time often helps.

[GeorgiaBoy]

New player here...have not been in the shrapnel forums in a while. I have some questions and ideas (posted at 1:25AM...kinda sleepy):



Questions:

Plan to raise devicefile.txt cap past 99?
Plan to raise monsterfile.txt cap above 110?
Is the rarity file like diablo 2? (common, magical, rare, unique)? Ever thought about a prefix/suffix loot system?


Suggestions:
Planetside ruined towns like a cave/derilict ship? Multiple towns togther could form a city
How about more than one special ability for monsters?
Racial technologies--tech only found if you board a certain race's ship or kill a certain race on a planet (this may be implemented).
Turn on LEGAL--item may raise or lower infamy regarding a certain race if possessed
Cursed artifacts should have a low or negative resale value...maybe a quest to uncurse it to make it useable.
Race like the antarans in Master of Antares II?
More than one special ability for monsters?
Do gas giants exist? Have a gaseous race..high in defense.


New Concepts:
Enemy Ship Boarding
Armor in addition to interface of Shields, Hull, Supplies, and Crew.


New Suggested Effects:
Monster eats other monsters and/or player and gets stronger (Ithkul ala Master of Orion 3)
Reflect X% of damage back to attacker. X can be defined by modder.
Tractor beam--pulls enemies to you. Helps boarding.
Warp dissipator--stops enemies from leaving sector
Nemesis Monster, once it finds you, chases you from sector to sector until killed.
Monster which converts other monsters to its race (assimulates, if you will). If player is hit, player turns into assimulating race and gains fame/infamy of assimulating race.
Weapon which targets and kills crew.
Hard Shields which are immume to nebulae
Monster which after destroying planets, gets stronger. effect 447, but also adds monster Hit points.
Shield piercing weapons
Upgrade devices via miniturization.
Black Hole Generator--causes substantial damage to ships.
Area of Effect weapon--damages all targets within X radius.
[Assuming Armor concept implementation] Armor which reduces incoming damage by X%. All crew survives. Requires boarding to take ship.
Subspace teleporter--teleports to random part of sector. activated when hull goes to x percent.
Require X equipped device to enter a given sector.
Attacking planets from orbit (nuclear, biological, chemical weapons)?
Weapons always hit effect (if not already, of course)
Componant destroyed on use.
Cause random movement (for ship)
Shapeshifting monster--imitates one of the other major races...but always attacks. Destroying the shapeshifter has a chance to raise infamy with the imitated race.
Crafting multiple artifacts to make a dimensional portal (like a greater rift in Diablo 3). Dimensional Portal has special quest and artifacts as some loot..combined for additional gateways.
Limpet mines--attach to ship...drains one or more movement points, shields, supplies, hull, etc.



Suggested Planetary events/sector events:

Hyperspace Flux--cannot travel between sectors for X number of turns.
Events where you win/lose credits (only a percentage of credits).
Computer Virus/Breakthrough--Destroys/Creates data points.
Diplomatic Marriage (can only happen once)--Raises fame of X points to player by X race
Comet--Destroy comet to raise fame with X race (and raise infamy with another...)
Supernova--Destroys everything in a sector--countdown is given, of course.
Good crew member as loot on town/city
Sentient Planet--Everything is toxic--nothing will shield you...damage every step you take. boss loot.
Splinter colony/stranded beings/rescued beings as loot--raises fame with that race.
Tectonic Activity--Inflicts damage on away team and resets terrain on planet.
Random Meteor strike on planet. If you are under it, kills away team. If not...raw ore and other loot.
Atmospheric Instability--resets fog of war on planet.
Battle Damage--Radiated area, but also spawns items, supplies, and credits.


New Terrain Types: Quicksand, Desert, Town (generates a larger map like a shipwreck), multiple town blocks equal a city.


Miscellaneous Thoughts:

Key Binding (for those of us without a number pad), please!

Whew...a long post! Thanks for your time.

Please excuse me if these ideas are duplicated elsewhere...

GB

[PvK]

Welcome, GeorgiaBoy.

Nice list of ideas. I especially like the idea of city ruins on planets, not just caves and planets that _are_ city ruins. Though, it makes me think of how probably exploring a whole planet by landing randomly and walking around seems rather silly, as at least for planets without blocking atmosphere, one should probably be able to get at least an idea of what's there by looking from orbit... or even from further away.

Boarding non-wreck ships and getting boarded could both be fun.

There is armor - were you suggesting to have it work differently?

[GeorgiaBoy]

@PvK: Thanks for the response! Nice to see a veteran of the forums. I was referring to armor for the ship (not just additional hull points)? I know that there is armor for the away team...

I have played a grand total of three times, so I am not that experienced in the game.

Another idea I had was a criminal background for the player...having a security scan before docking and faking id, bribing customs officials, bribing judges to drop charges, imprison on a prison planet (like a shipwreck), running illegal cargo, random items, etc...

In regards to your comments to cities--not just city ruins, but alive cities with more population and unique buildings like a government HQ, etc...

GB

[PvK]

Yes, I like your ideas, though I'm not sure exactly how all of them would work, and some of them seem easier than others to do given the way the game is set up so far.

There are both armored space suits for crew, and also armor components which can be installed on ships. Armor for ships adds to the total hull strength (usually significantly) and depending on the specific model, can also affect your speed or other ship stats.

Criminality is currently done by whether different factions like you or not, and some of the factions are hostile to each other. Especially in version 1.20, this means you have a variety of factions you can be in trouble with or not. You can befriend the pirates, or be a scourge to everyone. There are also fake ID's for getting into space stations that hostile factions control, even after they wouldn't let you in if they knew who you were.

I like the idea of living cities on planets, too. So far, all the active civilization hangs out in space on ships or space stations. All the planets are wilderness, ruins, with occasional bases on planets. I agree it'd be cool if there were civilized planets too, though I expect it'd be handled like having a base on a planet. There are faction HQ bases, too, BTW, but again in space.

I like the idea of possibly getting imprisoned or shipwrecked or stranded and having the game not end and there be some chance to commandeer another ship, though that seems a bit out of scope of the current design, it could be cool.

[GeorgiaBoy]

Hi PvK,

I do not know how I missed the armor. It appears ibol uses a diablo like item generation model. Anyway, hopefully these posts will get 'eyeballed' in due course.


Gb

[dari]

just another usability and other additions:

1. pressing the same key again to enter an infoscreen like "t" for the stats or "o" for officer , the screen exits to the main interface - so no need to move hand to the escape key.

2. plz give the officer xp stats and the remaining infoscreens a thousand delimiter (including the million one :)

3. externalize the formula for armor repaircosts (to be able to mod them - they are insane even on medium) - accidentally hitting do everything in lobby can drain your funds seriously

4. possible to have more than the 6 officer occupations (not the amount of slots or starting officer selection) - i wanted to mod a few additional professions but i could not find my officerskill#7 in a lobby (and then it would still not have a name)

5. is there a way to mod the shields and cloak out of the game (for ie. using armors and repair)

6. the zrnboo.txt file doesnt work (neiter in modding folder nor the original folder) - nice idea to test higher sectors with modding plz activate it.

7. maybe reduce the amount of interference of artifacts - with 16 artifacts they switch on and off every few turns (its rather annoying with the real visible effects like noLOS, sight range, and things like hazmat shields)

8. could the "captain on away team could die" message be removed in options and especially in non-permadeath-games.

[Saul]

Greetings and thank you for this incredible game.
I haven't stopped playing games for the past 35 years, and your game revived in me that long-lost feel of having to jeopardize my sleep just to play it... Mmm, I am unsure if I should be thanking you now.
Anyways, I skipped around and didn't see it mentionned so here goes : I'd love a way to reconfigure some shortcuts keys (even through some arcaney mean, like editing a text file manually) : I am using foreign keyboards, and some keys just aren't even pressable (the infamous “tilde” key which gives access to the backlog, for instance). Actually, that's the main key shortcut I have trouble with, so if there was just a mean to have an alternate key if only for that one, I would be most thankful.
Cheers!

[ibol]

In several places, I see the suggestion "same key also closes menu". This would work in many, but *not all* cases. once place it would not work is "crafting" c=crafting, but c="craft 3rd item". would also not work for "install".

Saul,
Thanks for the kind words you've written in many places. your suggestion: "keybindings" : I don't think I will do it in this update, but you know you can click on the message area and get the message log? sometimes it is a pain to switch your controls, but at least it's possible for you.

[Saul]

Thank you for the reply!
More even so in the fact that I couldn't edit my message the next day I posted t, when I read the manual pointing that the keypad "/" could be used alternatively, which fits totally my gaming habits.
(I am nevertheless amused at myself not thinking this through at all, despite playing on keyboard mainly XD A resounding "doh" here!)