Subset Games Forum

When you have no sensors or are outside of a ship you shouldn't see what systems the ships have.

Edit: You could have this as a option in the config

Hi all.
I was a bit stuck on what to do next.
And was going to write a post asking for your advice on which of 2 ways of changes to go for.

After the last play test I have come to conclusion that balance is nowhere(which is normal at this point I guess).
Also I came to thoughts of how to rebalance everything?
The main thing is that reactors provide too low power.
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But while I was writing that very long post, I came to conclusion that it wasn't just the reactors, but mostly the capacitors that was bothering me.
So in the end I came up with a solution that was the mix of the 2 change ways I had in mind.
Now I would like to hear your opinion on my result idea:

1. Have several(ex. 3) types of reactor systems(Fission, Fusion, Quantum)
2. Each reactor type starts at MK1 and can be upgraded to MK2, 3, 4... For scrap. Providing more power.
Example:
Fission mk1 - 6 power, mk2(7), mk3(8), mk4(9), mk5(10), mk6(11)
Fusion mk1 - 10 power, mk2(11), mk3(12), mk4(13), mk5(14), mk6(15), mk7(16)
Quantum mk1 - 14 power, mk2(15), mk3(16), mk4(17), mk5(18), mk6(19), mk7(20)
So If you want to have 10 power, you can either upgrade your fission reactor to mk6, or buy a Fusion reactor(if you can find one in the random shops)
3. The prices of reactors will need to be properly balanced so that there would be sense in upgrading the old reactor other than buying a new one ASAP.
Also the rarity of finding a new type of reactor should be taken into consideration.
4. There will be only one type of Shields system, it starts with mk1 providing only 1 shield, and later you can upgrade it for scrap to provide more shields. up to max mk4 to provide 4 shields.
5. Each shield system will cost a lot, but if you have enough scrap you can install a second shield system, that will also start at mk1, but you can upgrade it to higher tier.
And the higher is the level of the shield system the more power it needs.
6. All shield systems just add the total amount of shields they provide to the shields count of the ship, and add to the shields' total power demand of the ship.
7. Ships will replenish only 1 shield at a time, like in FTL(Right now each shield system tries to recharge a shield in parallel)
8. In reactor system interface you can change the order in which the systems get power.
Example for pts 6, 7 and 8: If you have a mk3 shields system - it provides 3 shields to the ship, also it adds 6 power(3sh * 2 power/each) to the ship's shields power demand.
Also you have another shields system which is mk1 - it provides 1 shield to the ship, and it adds 2 to the power demand.
So the total amount of shields on the ship is = 4. And the total power demand is 8.
Now when the power distribution get's to shields it checks is there 8 power left in the capacitor?
If yes - then shields charge up(or if they are full the power is just wasted),
If no - then shields decharge(similar to what you have in FTL when you hack the shields), eventually loosing some shields.
9. Door control and sensor systems also work in the same way: 2 - 3 types. And possibility to upgrade them for scrap.
10. Players start at a station, with some scrap, there's no more dev shipyard where you can create any ship you want.
Instead there's a shop(or several) where you can buy premade ships with basic systems complectation.
11. After you buy your basic ship, you can go hunting AI (or other players) for more scrap, look for loot(weapons, other systems), upgrade your ship(reactors, shields, doors, sensors), save up scrap to buy a new bigger ship.
12. On the starting station you can only buy some starting ships. If you want to buy better ones - you first need to find a station with a shop that has better ships in it.

I need your advice on how to recompensate scrap to players who die.
So that after you die you can buy a new starting ship and keep playing(without having to create the server).
But also so that there would not be cheating like starting with some scrap and then suffocating 20 times to get more scrap on the start.

Perhaps starting ships are given for free, but when they are destroyed they do not leave scrap to recover?

I like everything. You can also add a super rare antimatter reactor and weapons.

I an stuck om ny ship, I dont know what to add. Does anyone have any suggestions.

@kcd.Spektor:
I like everything except point 7.

kcd.Spektor wrote:7. Ships will replenish only 1 shield at a time, like in FTL(Right now each shield system tries to recharge a shield in parallel)

Each "shield point" should decharge the shields every update. After that, each shield system should charge the shields. If there is not enough energy for a system, that system does recharge slower / not at all. You would have to store the current shield charge in a float. Shots ignore partial shield points. So there is just a single shield but the max capacity and recharge rate is determined by the installed systems.

kcd.Spektor wrote:I need your advice on how to recompensate scrap to players who die.
So that after you die you can buy a new starting ship and keep playing(without having to create the server).
But also so that there would not be cheating like starting with some scrap and then suffocating 20 times to get more scrap on the start.

Perhaps starting ships are given for free, but when they are destroyed they do not leave scrap to recover?

There is an easy way: do it like FTL. If a player dies, he loses everything.
A more complex way: Create a banking stations. You can deposit scrap there to save it if you die. But you will have to go back if you want to get it back. If you die, that scrap is used automatically to pay for your new ship. If you do not have any scrap, the ship will be free.

I wanted to have NarnKar's Hand of Death in the game but spektor said the pirate paint was to bright but if I remove the paint than it could be in the game. So NarnKar, can he use it and do you have a version without the paint.

Have some sort of level that unlock starter ships (all federation colored ships, maybe other ships if no more is donated).

Instead of having pirates as a own race have some sort of system where your actions and the quest you do can improve or harm your reputation with different factions. Going from -100 to 100 (you start at 0), if it goes under -25 or something you become a pirate. If are nice and kill pirates and other bad things (not AI unless they are a quest because they attack everyone) your lvl increases, if you do bad stuff like working with pirates it goes down. This will affect what quests you get, who attacks you. If you have under -80 or something some ships will just surrender and give you your stuff. You dont have to add this if you like it in the next version because quests and all that stuff is so far down on the todo list.

It should be a way to talk with NCPs when they are add in the captains bridge. It could be used to surrender to them and other players, to get quests and other stuff.

Can someone give me feedback or just say something I need to know which of the parts on the ship I am going to use.

I had nothing to do,so i made this thing.It's just a zoltan bomber surrounded by a crapton of gibs.Already tested it in ship editor,it works decent.

The_Bear wrote:Can someone give me feedback or just say something I need to know which of the parts on the ship I am going to use.

I think that when you get stuck on such a thing just choose 1 and go with it.
Personally I think that the bottom one looks better.

Srul wrote:I had nothing to do,so i made this thing.It's just a zoltan bomber surrounded by a crapton of gibs.Already tested it in ship editor,it works decent.

Nice, although it looks a bit too big.
Can you post a screen shot with the rooms?

kcd.Spektor wrote:

The_Bear wrote:Can someone give me feedback or just say something I need to know which of the parts on the ship I am going to use.

I think that when you get stuck on such a thing just choose 1 and go with it.
Personally I think that the bottom one looks better.

Srul wrote:I had nothing to do,so i made this thing.It's just a zoltan bomber surrounded by a crapton of gibs.Already tested it in ship editor,it works decent.

Nice, although it looks a bit too big.
Can you post a screen shot with the rooms?

Here