| Author |
Second v1.482 teaser... |
Gideon
Cadet
Joined: September 14, 2001
Posts: 4604
From: Oregon, USA
|  Posted: 2004-03-31 14:41
A bit more of what we have planned for v1.482…
Consistency:
Currently, there is a great lack of consistency between ships in DS. For instance, a heavy cruiser can have missiles thrown on it, and be better suited for missile work than a missile cruiser. We plan to rectify this.
We created a rough system of size for each component, as well as a rough amount of space available on each hull size. The players will never directly see this system in game, as it’s purely for bookkeeping purposes. However, it has given us a better feel for what each ship can carry, and has allowed us to maintain better consistency between ship layouts.
Also, we went over all the explosive weapons (weapons that do area of effect damage) and brought consistency to them as well.
Modding:
Yes, it’s true. We have placed more limits on some kind of modding. ECM, ECCM, and Scanners, for instance, are now EW slot devices. Reactors are now Reactor slot devices. In fact the entire special slot no longer exists, as all of its components have been separated out into specific slot types. This was done for a couple reasons. Firstly, this gives us more control over the role each ship plays in a fleet. Secondly, it frees us to include greater varieties and more powerful versions of the components present in each of these new classes. In the long run, this will benefit the game a great deal.
Slot sizes:
On the other hand, more freedom has been created in certain slot areas. Missiles, torpedoes, and direct fire (like Railguns) are now all part of the weapon slot. The weapon slot comes in three sizes: small, medium, and large. Each weapon has representatives in each slot. For instance, the small slot includes AR missiles, small proton torpedoes, and small railguns, among other weapons. We intend for players to be able to swap between torpedoes, missiles, and direct fire in their slots however they wish. This is to allow players to specialize their ship to do the kind of fighting that each player wants to participate in. And, yes, we did go over every single weapon and revised them in order to try and make sure that each one is much more attractive than the others in certain situations. Beta testing these new numbers will help us insure that we didn’t create a weak link.
A couple of the weapons do not have alternate sizes, and so should be mentioned. The sabot rockets are a small class weapon, with medium class damage abilities, but drawbacks in ammo capacity and projectile velocity. Useful against big slow targets, but pretty much useless against small nimble ones. The gauss gun is a medium class weapon, with large class weapon range, but has the drawback of reduced damage infliction. It allows a player to stand off at ranges that it would not normally be able to function at, but that player wouldn’t be able to inflict as much damage as they could with a more conventional weapon.
Usefulness:
Another of the key concepts behind the v1.482 refit comes out of our play experience in the MV. Littered throughout the MV in spaceports are many components, that are, quite frankly, worthless. For instance, players ditch IE engines immediately. This is because they are the absolutely worst kind of engine in the game. There is no incentive to keep them on your ship, when any other kind of engine will be better. This has to stop. One of our goals has been to make sure that each component is more attractive than others in its class in some way. This way, swapping out components should become more of a game of personalizing your ship to the kind of play you like to experience, and less of a task of “powering it up”. Engines, in particular, will be rather sticky to balance. However, we think that minor tweaking through beta will be all that’s really necessary in order to insure balance and variety both.
New Content:
This next version concentrates on making our current content more balanced and attractive, rather than adding new content. It seemed rather inefficient to us to add new components, which would do the job that our current components are supposed to already be doing. However, there were one or two areas where new content was necessary. Most notably, with regards to fighters and planets. All fighters and planets now have components that are specifically designed for them. This will allow us to tweak these components, without interfering with the balance of the rest of the game, giving us better control and yielding a superior product in the long run. We also plan to experiment with something new on the assault type dreadnoughts (Assault Dread [ICC], Elite Assault Dread [UGTO], Siphon [K’Luth]).
Honored Dead:
However, there are a couple devices that didn’t make the cut. Most notably, the Reactor 500, Reactor 1000, and Reactor 1500. Due to our long range goal of including a research system that contains advanced versions of standard components (like Railgun MK15, etc), it seemed to us that these three components conflicted with our plans. There is still a reactor type device present, the Auxiliary Power Generator. APGs are present on larger warships (generally but not necessarily destroyer on up), in increasing number the larger you go in ship size. This is to offset some of the increased power requirements for certain systems, and to provide room for further changes to DS.
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Smith
Fleet Admiral
Joined: October 13, 2002
Posts: 320
From: Pittsburgh
| Posted: 2004-03-31 14:49
very nice 
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Dempster
Grand Admiral
Joined: August 03, 2003
Posts: 668
| Posted: 2004-03-31 14:57
since ur nerfing modding, might as well take out factories as they will be useless as well
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Pope
Fleet Admiral
Joined: June 11, 2002
Posts: 2449
From: World of tomorrow
| Posted: 2004-03-31 14:58
Quote:
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On 2004-03-31 14:57, Dempster[Eh?] wrote:
since ur nerfing modding, might as well take out factories as they will be useless as well
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Care to explain yourself?
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Smith
Fleet Admiral
Joined: October 13, 2002
Posts: 320
From: Pittsburgh
| Posted: 2004-03-31 15:00
yes if u read the post it says there r 3 types of weapon slots, heavy, medium and light .those weapons will have to be manufactured somewhere
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Dormio Niggling
Cadet
Agents
Joined: February 15, 2002
Posts: 154
From: Warsaw, Poland
| Posted: 2004-03-31 15:21
Quote:
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Usefulness:
Another of the key concepts behind the v1.482 refit comes out of our play experience in the MV. Littered throughout the MV in spaceports are many components, that are, quite frankly, worthless. For instance, players ditch IE engines immediately. This is because they are the absolutely worst kind of engine in the game. There is no incentive to keep them on your ship, when any other kind of engine will be better. This has to stop. One of our goals has been to make sure that each component is more attractive than others in its class in some way. This way, swapping out components should become more of a game of personalizing your ship to the kind of play you like to experience, and less of a task of “powering it up”. Engines, in particular, will be rather sticky to balance. However, we think that minor tweaking through beta will be all that’s really necessary in order to insure balance and variety both.
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They could be differented in amount of space needed - i.e. IE engine give 1 extra slot for EW component or weapon system while next will give additional slot for armor or shielding and at least the fastest could add nothing.
It is pleasure to find out what is planned for 1.482. You can count me on... it is verrrrry hot change for this game 
1RA Dormio
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Juxtapose
Grand Admiral
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: May 11, 2002
Posts: 1308
From: Give me your bullets!
| Posted: 2004-03-31 15:24
Quote:
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On 2004-03-31 14:57, Dempster[Eh?] wrote:
since ur nerfing modding, might as well take out factories as they will be useless as well |
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Gideon,
A couple clarifying questions, that, unfortunately, shows that I read your post and understood it (unlike some people, who will not be mentioned), and that (and I'm sorry) offers no critizism, hysteria or exaggerated melocholy...
Size
Will the number of weapons added to a ship be limited by Both Compent type, as is the case now, and size? For example: If I got one Direct Fire Slot open, can I fit 3 Small Railguns in it or 1 Large Rail Gun (no idea why you would want to, but just an example)
Upgrades in Weapons Tech
Second question, similar to number 1. Your example of a RailGun Mk15, are there draw backs to upgraded weaponary, like power consumption, ammo amounts, signature or Size? Or is it like going from an IE to an AME...just better.
Last question.
Will planetary defense Bases, which now have their own unique devices, be customizeable by the player building them, or by someone defending the planet?
Thanks!
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0mni
Grand Admiral
Joined: March 09, 2004
Posts: 288
From: Canada, Lived around the world.
| Posted: 2004-03-31 15:30
One thing I would like to ask is since you are takeing out Reactors, all to gether in the new patch, and the Claw Dest on K'Luth requires alot of power to mantain a simple fireing ratio, ie 2 ame drives and a fusion 1500 with numbered torps drains power slowly at full stop. How will you compensate for the loss of energy required on the new ship design slots, dealing mainly with K'Luth ?
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Koda
Marshal
Fatal Squadron
Joined: August 29, 2002
Posts: 1384
| Posted: 2004-03-31 15:44
@Gid, When are we getting new classes of ships? sry i forgot..
Overall it looks great!!
But i think were all waiting for the Uber Weapons
/me Charges up Deathstar beam and targets Earth
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Tiffy Rando
Grand Admiral
Joined: January 19, 2003
Posts: 354
From: Austin, Texas
| Posted: 2004-03-31 15:51
OK guys remember engines have THEIR OWN REACTORS... simplly if you install AME drives you have better energy maintenance than if you had IE drives.... so in addition to the APD's you have on your ship you have the various power levels being generated by your various types of engines 
I seem to remember that IE drives being the most basic type of engine unit were supposed to be extremely durable, and quick to repair.
and that as the complexity of your drive unit increased, it's vulnerablitly in combat was also supposed to increase, as was the time needed to repair it...
But that's the tradeoff you get for having faster acceleration.
I also would like to see the same sort of damage system implemented among different types of weaponry... ie.
Older les complex tech such as Rail guns, cl300's, psi missiles, disruptors, and fusion based torpedoes should be relatively hard to destroy... as opposed to more complicated weaponry, such as anti-matter torpedo launchers, CL 2000's, EMP cannons, flux waves and beams, Gauss guns...
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Tbone
Grand Admiral
Joined: July 21, 2001
Posts: 1756
From: Vancouver
| Posted: 2004-03-31 15:59
PK, ships are getting totally resigned. Though (I think) there are no new weapons or ships, ship's weapons will be moved around. Its not just slot types being changed.
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Enterprise
Chief Marshal
Raven Warriors
Joined: May 19, 2002
Posts: 2576
From: Hawthorne, Nevada
| Posted: 2004-03-31 16:23
I DONT CARE, as long as they dont modify the model for the EAD.
Period.
-Ent
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Gideon
Cadet
Joined: September 14, 2001
Posts: 4604
From: Oregon, USA
| Posted: 2004-03-31 16:41
As I mentioned, size is a factor that players will never see in game with reguards to v1.482.
It's something we're just using to help us lay out slots on ships.
In the future we plan to be moving on to an even more open system of ship modifying, which would allow for players to more or less build their ships from the ground up. I believe this system was outlined by Tael, some time back.
On the subject of advancing component levels. Yes, we are contemplating a system where more advanced components have enhanced attributes, but demand more in return, like higher power consumption. This then encourages players to upgrade several aspects of their ship, rather than just one.
At any rate, these both relate to future plans for DS. While v1.482 starts us on the path towards these goals, it does not include them. It's just a first step on our path towards our longer range design goals.
And, yes, all ships and components...ALL of them, are redesigned. This includes the K'Luth and their components too. Yes, power consumption will be a factor in combat, for everyone to deal with. Remember, we are not just tweaking a couple things here. This is a comprehensive change to how DS plays, on several levels. Its gonna be back to first grade for all of us in some ways.
I don't think modding will be useless. It will just have a different purpose. It will function, initially, for players to modify their ships to better suit their play style. Later, we will incoporate into it the ability to upgrade components, through the new research and component upgrade system. In some ways, modding will be less nessesary in v1.482, because a stock ship will no longer suck. In others, it will be more important, because you have more control over how your ship plays, rather than just doing a simple linear upgrade. It's just a different way of looking at it.
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MrSparkle
Marshal
Joined: August 13, 2001
Posts: 1912
From: mrsparkle
| Posted: 2004-03-31 16:44
I think I heard it said that the engines will vary according to power generation, speed, and hit points. AME's will have fast speed but very low power generation and hit points, AFE will maybe have lots of hit points but not much speed or power, PFE may have a lot of power but not much hit points or speed, and IE will be middle-of-the-road. (btw, hit points means how much damage it can take before failing)
Or something like this. Every engine type will have strengths and weaknesses. Which is good I love choices like this. Gideon, make absolutely sure that this engine system you told us and I'm trying to explain here makes it to beta
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LittleBig
Fleet Admiral
Mercenaries of Andosia
Joined: March 08, 2002
Posts: 191
From: Poland
| Posted: 2004-03-31 17:20
Quote:
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On 2004-03-31 14:41, Gideon wrote:
A bit more of what we have planned for v1.482…
Modding:
Yes, it’s true. We have placed more limits on some kind of modding. ECM, ECCM, and Scanners, for instance, are now EW slot devices. [...] |
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If you think about these restrictions then game weapons are not well balanced. Im afraid modding will be so limited (and boring). Maybe more balance weapons first and then think about modding restrictions ?
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