Subset Games Forum

Hi all!
I didn't find a suggestion section so i will post here!
In these years i am playing a lot of simulation games, from simcity 2000 to new ones, and when i found FTL i thought that it is one of the best simulation games!
In these months i was planning to make a game like FTL (in C#) than i found it and maybe i can suggest something!
I played it a lot and now i can say a vote like 7-8/10
why? Because it lacks of physics!
I observed in detail the game and i can say that:
1.Decompression & atomosphere movement:
-when decompressing a chamber with air, people aren't thown away!
-when opening a door near another decompressed chamber air doesn't move!
2.there isn't the reactor in the ship map, the reactor can be very useful to hit during a battle
3.you can't repair the structure of your ship:
-in my opinion this is a very bad thing, in EVERY sci-fi game or movie obviously everyone can repair his own ship structure, in my opinion the best thing to do is to add a spacesuit so crew members can go out to repair the spaceship with scrap!
and the major bug:
4.people didn't die instantly when they are in outer space!
(when you decompress a sector and air reaches: 0% )
5.add another gamemode option to disable the arriving of the fleet and add a square giant map!
6.At the beginning can be very useful to decide where are the sectors (like first aid, engine and so on!)

Over than that, it is one of the best simulation games i ever played!



(Sorry for bad english i don't talk english language!)

Those aren't bugs, there are good reasons why it was designed that way. The gameplay wouldn't work as well if it went in most of the ways you suggested.

As Number43 said, many of those are explicit design decisions that were made during development. A lot of them were actually considered at one time or another, and even in some cases implemented (people used to get sucked out of doors vented to space!) but the way it is now is because this was the most enjoyable experience after playtesting.

One thing though, you said "when opening a door near another decompressed chamber air doesn't move." Not entirely sure what you mean by that. While there's no physical force of air, the atmosphere will re-balance. Open a 100% room next to a 0% room the atmosphere will slowly equalize to have 50% o2 in each room. This can be helpful to temporarily provide oxygen to repair crews in rooms without o2.

Cronoxergoid wrote:1.Decompression & atomosphere movement:
-when decompressing a chamber with air, people aren't thown away!
-when opening a door near another decompressed chamber air doesn't move!
2.there isn't the reactor in the ship map, the reactor can be very useful to hit during a battle
3.you can't repair the structure of your ship:
-in my opinion this is a very bad thing, in EVERY sci-fi game or movie obviously everyone can repair his own ship structure, in my opinion the best thing to do is to add a spacesuit so crew members can go out to repair the spaceship with scrap!
and the major bug:
4.people didn't die instantly when they are in outer space!
(when you decompress a sector and air reaches: 0% )
5.add another gamemode option to disable the arriving of the fleet and add a square giant map!
6.At the beginning can be very useful to decide where are the sectors (like first aid, engine and so on!)

Some realism should be sacrificed if it makes the game more playable or more fun. There is a limit to how many things a gamer is willing to pay attention to and still have a good time. Unrealistic things have happened to me that would never happen on a real spaceship, like forgetting to turn back the oxygen generators or such. It's illogical to have people merrily run through a passage with open airlocks, but it's less complicated that way.

The entire point of the game is also highly unrealistic. In reality a single ship would have no chance of defeating that many opponents esp. since some are more powerfull. All those encounters would take their toll as well.


1.
The crew doesnt get sucked out of the ship and isnt affected by air movements because the air isnt simulated. It would be more realistic but the gameplay would be worse imo. What would be the benefit to gameplay of simulating air pressures and currents? I suspect it would be a pain in the ass to code accurately as well.

The oxygen levels across adjoining rooms equalise.

2.
My guess about the reactor is that it would lead to either ship getting crippled too soon. I would blast, bomb and board the reactor immediatley, leading to every fight being the same and combat becoming dull. Again, it's less logical the way it is, but it makes for a better game.

3.
You actually can, but not right at the start. You can buy a Repair Drone and deploy it like any other drone. It will repair ~3-5 HP every time you deploy it. Even during combat.

Why would it be better if you could repair your own ship? You already get more HP than other ships and you repair at stores or randomly when you get one of those encounters that repairs your hull as a reward. If you could repair your ship by yourself it would make stores less important and those encounters useless. And the game would not be better at all, in fact it would be much much easier and less interesting.

4.
They are not in a vacuum of space. The oxygen level drops low enough, your crew will start to take damage and die if you dont get the O2 generator back online quickly enough. It doesn't happen instantly.

6.
I didnt understand this. Are you suggesting that ship systems could be upgraded/downgraded before the game begins? In the hangar.

I like that idea, but each ship is special in some way and fun to learn to play properly. It would be nice to try out custom ships, but this might take a bit of programming and introduce new bugs.

Someone getting sucked out into space when the airlock opens wouldn't make the game any more realistic because that's just not what happens (no matter how many times you may have seen this happen in a sci fi movie)

An odd bit of Hollywood Science regarding getting Thrown Out The Airlock is that it always causes the victim to be violently sucked out into space. In Real Life, a pressure difference of a single atmosphere would not cause very much suction and would happen almost instantly rather than cause the prolonged gale-force winds that seems to always happen in the movies. Granted, there would be a rather fast stream when the cover starts to open, but by the time it opens enough for someone to exit, the wind slows down (and the pressure drops). As airlocks are, in the vast majority of cases, intended for scenarios other than "jump out before the ship explodes", they will likely be designed to minimize air loss. This includes having air lock chambers as small as possible and some foolproof measures to ensure that both doors of the sluice will not open at once. Which means there's simply not enough air to have a long wind. Also, there's no reason to give any airlock a powerful instantly-opening door if it's not an evacuation exit or torpedo tube

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