Subset Games Forum

i was just pwned within minutes. But it was cool. Even within those few minutes, i'd already created a story. i create one for every run. Build on it as i go. i don't have much to work with as far as core game though. ..Sure i can say "this crew is chaotic good" and will respond to Calls of Distress even with a weak hull and approaching fleet. Or whatever. But there is little to actually represent my game by game chosen play-styles in-game. So have any of you thoughts on how to promote role playing which manifests in-game? Not just for mods, but also ideas for the developers?

Please share..

I always try and back my crew with an ethos to stand by. One I have yet to do is the next Gen Crew style where they will Always let people go on surrendering.

Sharing methods for individual RPG'ing within the vanilla game is good stuff to share as well. But mainly i was wondering what thoughts people have on how to expand the mechanics of the game to better represent RPG decision making, and customization's, and all that.

i suppose there is two parts to this:

1) What kind of RPG are you compelled to do?
2) What do you think can be done to further empower RPG play?

There are three (or four depending on your count) types of weapons in the game.
Lasers, Beams, and Missiles/Bombs (they both use ammo but can be counted separately if you like).
I think it'd be pretty neat if weapons skill could track each separately, so you could have a crewman that was really awesome with laser batteries but garbage with a missile launcher. Or in terms of boarding, someone who "takes point" a lot would get some kind of Tough Skin perk where they become more resistant to melee damage. On the other hand, a boarder spending a lot of time with support fire would eventually gain an accuracy or "critical hit" bonus and be able to do even more damage.

This might be a little nuanced but it'd add an extra layer of character depth to your crew..

I'd like to get a quest with each new crewmember - like in Mass Effect or Dragon Age - you pick them up in an event, and then they talk to you and say something like that:"Hey - my homeworld is assaulted (- introduction of sector bosses -), could you help rescue it? If we manage to free my homeworld, we surely can help you later on..."
Maybe add some single-use "cavalry"/"airstrike"-buttons in the bossfight... - depending on the race you helped with different features:
Mantis could send in an additional boarding team (or insta-kill a boarding drone on your ship), Rockmen could put out all fires on your ship instantly, Slugs could seal breaches in your ship instantly (or prevent the boss from cloaking in phase I), Zoltans could provide one layer of Zoltan-Shield on pressing the button, Engi could disable the Bosses Drone Control in Phase II for some seconds ("hacking").

Also I'd like to chose which crewmember I send into risky situations... - the ones where I don't have a "blue" option but actually might lose someone.

I already made my own topic on that further back... - I'd also include more quests with fixed outcomes:
- one quest in the Zoltan sector could give 1 reactor-upgrade for free
- one quest in the Slug sector could give 1 sensors-upgrade for free
- one quest in the Mantis sector could give 1 teleporter-upgrade for free
- one quest in the Rockman sector could give 1 blastdoors-upgrade for free
- one quest in the Engi sector could give 1 drones-upgrade for free

While you loose freedom of choice (- you get no scrap for these -), you gain immersion / make the game more storydriven.

And there could also be quests for gaining each Augmentation and/or each ship-system for free.

Also stores could be visible from 2 sectors away (- they advertise), or you have two sorts of stores, which you can differentiate from afar: some for crew and weapons and some for systems and augmentations.

There could also be quests to aquire a weapon of choice for each damage type: e.g. a research station does research on fire-weapons: chose one (firebeam or firebomb) - or upgrade your existing one to level II... (same for breaching weapons, disabling weapons (Ion), double hull damage etc.) - or add an additional breach / fire chance to your existing weapon (- someweapons have chance "low" - could have "medium"/"high" afterwards).

I just want less random loot and random encounters and more storyline / things to achieve.

i'm all for the above. Especially the sending of away teams. Is very odd to keep losing crew who never should have left the ship in the first place. But what fun it would be to send an away team, and then actually play it! See them take shuttle down to a planet, then have a short mini-game of it. A little bit of dungeon crawling, but with space stations and planets etc. As they gain experience, they unlock traits and develop specialized skill sets, anything from combat to diplomacy. With teleporter, be able to send down reinforcements, or specialized crew to help in the given situation. With risks and twists and other sorts of 'think of your feet' kinda stuff. Is this possible via mod now? Or would the FTL dev crew need to build new things into the game?