Suggestions for Space Empires V

[Suicide Junkie]

I'm still not seeing any reason why though.

It would be like starting with armor and/or guns in Doom because you got all the way to level 10 without dying last time.
Or starting with three settlers instead of one in Civilization because you conquered the world so fast in your previous game.
Or making PacMan move 10% faster because you got to level 50 on your previous quarter.

Why in the world should the game be getting easier when you do well?
If you win, it is time to increase the difficulty, not decrease it!

Automatic cheat codes when you least need them don't make any sense to me!

[Suicide Junkie]

To put it in RPG terms, it would be like starting a new game with a level 1 Barbarian who has a +20 Hammer of Skull Smashing.
And the only reason you justify that with is because in the previous game, your party was able to kill 99 imps in a row.

I don't see how that kind of thing can be justified.

[spoon]

Suicide Junkie said:
I'm still not seeing any reason why though.

It would be like starting with armor and/or guns in Doom because you got all the way to level 10 without dying last time.

This is essentially what happens in Counterstrike. Each side gets money after completing each round, regardless if you live or not. The better you did, the more you get. Warlords III (or was it IV) had persistent heroes. Lots of games do this. It's not about realism. It's about gradual increases in power and/or creating a "bond" with empires or characters. Because those kinds of things make the game more enjoyable to a lot of people.

Or making PacMan move 10% faster because you got to level 50 on your previous quarter..

You joke, but this would actually have made the game even more addictive. Or does this violate your concept of the PacMan universe somehow

Why in the world should the game be getting easier when you do well?
If you win, it is time to increase the difficulty, not decrease it!

I think the OP said something about helping out when the game is too hard. Additionally, you could ramp up the AI on a seperate power curve. The AI bonus could be tied directly to Racial XPs on new games. Games you lose could be restarted without the AI getting their extra bonus.

Automatic cheat codes when you least need them don't make any sense to me!

I agree completely. But I don't think a Racial XP system needs to be implemented in the off-balancing ways you are suggesting it would be. To me, it's all gravy to the kind of people that like that sort of gameplay, and completely optional to those that don't.

[Suicide Junkie]

Actually, the counterstrike makes a good example.
Each round isn't a whole game, but is in fact just a round.
After the victory conditions are met, (# minutes, # rounds won, # kills, etc) you compare scores and see who won the game.

You then change maps, begin a new game, and everybody starts from scratch.

When you do well in a round, just like doing well in a big fleet combat, you end up with some advantage over your opponent in the next round. But once you've conquered all and been declared the winner, its back to square one plus only a golden trophy to hang on your ego.

[Atrocities]

One thing that I find most frustrating is the fact that Torpedeos are added as a component. Torpedeos are not a component, they are weapon, and by there very nature, a weapon that is expended. They are not a beam weapon, thus rechargeable, they are use weapon that once used are gone and need to be restocked.

Would it not be a novel idea to have Torpedeo Tubes or Launchers instead?

Each Tube or Launcher would have a max limit of Torpedeos that could be restocked when the ship pulls in for supplies.

The more tubes/launchers you have, the more Torpedeos you have. You could even have a Torpedeo Storage Compartment that could additional Torpedeo's.

If the ship has a Q-reactor, the same would apply, they would still need to restock Torpedoe's.

And on the subject of Torpedeo's, they are a feared weapon amoung navy's around the world. A hit by one or two of them could destroy a ship and for the most part they cannot be intercepted or destoryed. I think that torpedeo's should act simularly in SE V. Armor and shields would begin to play a larger part in if this was the case.

And what about the ships that most often use Torpedoe's? How are they represented in SEV?

I offer this suggestion: Make a new class of ship, a subspace hunter class. The ship, varying in size, would work much like a modern day submarine but instead of being under water, it would be under a special cloak field - to simulate subspace. The ship would not be able to use shields while in subspace, but its armor would work. It would fire torpedeo's while in subspace, but have very poor manuaverablity in combat.

On the contrast, a standard ship could be equiped with subspace depth charges. These would work kinda like point defense cannons. Couple them with a specialized subspace scanner and you could target the subspace hunters and engage them.

I know this is an ambitious suggestion, but one that I think would add a lot to the game and would be the first time such a concept was used in this type of game.

Couple these suggestions with the suggestion that I have already made for Hull Strength abilities, and you could build ships with superior hull strength to hunt the subspace hunters.

[Suicide Junkie]

From the IRC chat logs:

[11:34:43-AM] Malfador: Limited Ammo will be through the use of Ordinance and Supplies. If you run out, you can't fire anymore.

He meant "ordnance" though.

PS:
Surely you should know how easy it is to explicitly add "launcher" to the name of the component if it makes you happy and you don't mind the extra wordiness.

[Atrocities]

Thanks SJ.

[spoon]

Suicide Junkie said:
Actually, the counterstrike makes a good example.
Each round isn't a whole game, but is in fact just a round.
After the victory conditions are met, (# minutes, # rounds won, # kills, etc) you compare scores and see who won the game. You then change maps, begin a new game, and everybody starts from scratch.

That's a really stretched analogy. A closer analogy would be to play several complete games of SE4 back to back, using the same map, gaining extra racial points to spend after each game based upon how you do. Switching maps in counterstrike is more like starting a new game with a new empires, and starting from scratch with that empire.

[Suicide Junkie]

Storing your default settings and trait choices is handy.
But having anything leak across between games is a really bad idea IMO.

If you are going to add that kind of thing, it definitely needs to be much more than one teeny effect, though.

Unfortunately, everything I can think of for that just reeks of massive cheating holes.

[Kana]

Atrocities said:
Would it not be a novel idea to have Torpedeo Tubes or Launchers instead?

The more tubes/launchers you have, the more Torpedeos you have. You could even have a Torpedeo Storage Compartment that could additional Torpedeo's.

If the ship has a Q-reactor, the same would apply, they would still need to restock Torpedoe's.

And on the subject of Torpedeo's, they are a feared weapon amoung navy's around the world. A hit by one or two of them could destroy a ship and for the most part they cannot be intercepted or destoryed. I think that torpedeo's should act simularly in SE V. Armor and shields would begin to play a larger part in if this was the case.

I offer this suggestion: Make a new class of ship, a subspace hunter class. The ship, varying in size, would work much like a modern day submarine but instead of being under water, it would be under a special cloak field - to simulate subspace. The ship would not be able to use shields while in subspace, but its armor would work. It would fire torpedeo's while in subspace, but have very poor manuaverablity in combat.

On the contrast, a standard ship could be equiped with subspace depth charges. These would work kinda like point defense cannons. Couple them with a specialized subspace scanner and you could target the subspace hunters and engage them.

Couple these suggestions with the suggestion that I have already made for Hull Strength abilities, and you could build ships with superior hull strength to hunt the subspace hunters.

I like the ideas...except for the cloak, there are sort of ways to do this in SEIV, Unforuantely they are very broke. The Drones could be considered a from of expendable torpedo...they just don't work well in the combat engine. Seeking Weapons can emulate via supplies...but of course the replenishment of supplies is quirky. As for being feared...make any weapon that does a crap load of a damage, and people will be forced to defend against, or plan for it... It seems SEV will hopefully allow us to better mold our ideas into a playable format...

Kana