OFFICIAL: Gameplay Suggestions

[markb50k]

Please use this thread for any suggestions/feedback.  If anyone remembers EvR, the game was a completely different game by the time I stopped working on it, and that was primarily because of all the great suggestions and ideas of the EvR community.

 

Thanks,

Mark

[skyblazer]

Just a few suggestions:

 

A ship stats comparer

A status update window whenever u log in that gives u details on whats happen since u were last on

A intel screen which helps u find the location of enemy ships and details on friendly, neutral, and enemy unit ships

And last of all a sort of more in detail guide to how to play

[markb50k]

working on the battle reports that you can get to tell you what happened.

 

as for the intel screen, from the main menu you can select a link that will show you all enemy, neutral, and friendly ships detected, broken down by sector, and you can zoom right to that sector from a link on that display.

[skyblazer]

I would like a Dip report thing so I know if someone is trying to be my ally or something and those who have set me to hostile. Also I would like to be able to setup like a mini empire where its just invite ppl into that empire instead of telling a collective group who to set to ally.

[markb50k]

i think i can put in your user report if someone is requesting you to be an ally so I will look at that.

i dont want to  let you know if someone sets you to hostile until they fire on you.

 

mini empire is like a faction and I want to stay away from factions for the time being.

[Stryker_warlords]

A suggestion I've got, being able to specify jump/move co-ords via keyboard, similar to how you order units. Would help with moving to a pre-arranged meeting point, especially if you haven't got an ally on visual.

[markb50k]

i can see the usefulness of being able to just type in a coord, but I am not sure I see how often that functionality is really needed.

 

If you are meeting up with an unseen ally, im guessing they have written to you with the coords, well, it seems somewhat easy to just find the general area.  its not like you need to be at that exact location down to the meter.  and if you are, you can get down to that detail as well.  Adding typing to the process just seems to be asking for typo errors especially with jumps.  one character off and you are in hyperspace forever.  Good suggestion, but I will have to think about that one.

[Deathwatch]

A suggestion (which maybe exists already): if I would have a bunch of fighters which aren't hyperspace capable escorting a vessel that is and that can carry fighters, when that main capship will enter hyperspace, the non-hyperspace capable fighters will happily try to fly there the old fashioned way. (i.e. showing up a year later ). Maybe a possibility for these fighters to dock automatically (if possible) in case of a jump. (this could be a toggle perhaps)

 

Of course this is just a minor concern but it is somewhat preventing me from using non HS capable fighters at the moment.

[markb50k]

ok, i can look at that.  good thing that the calc times should be long enough to dock all of them. 

 

but another strategy could be to give them...

 

DOCK order

WAIT (30 or long enough for the ship to go into Hyper and get there)

ESCORT

 

or

 

DOCK

ATTACK

(once an enemy ship is sighted they will launch and go after the bad guy)

[Deathwatch]

True, but if you're away you can't always micromanage your fleet so an automated method would be preferred.

[Kobra_warlords]

Very minor request:

 

Could we get a "mass rename" function?

 

So that if I select a bunch of TDs and click on Rename, then I can type in "Alpha", and the individual units will get renamed "Alpha 1", "Alpha 2", etc.

[Idle_Scholar]

Can we have an 'engage at X range'. At the moment if you select the attack order a ship will move continually closer to it's target. Certain ships are better off at range and it would be nice to tell them to stay that way, whilst still swiveling to face their target.

[markb50k]

Very minor request:

 

Could we get a "mass rename" function?

 

So that if I select a bunch of TDs and click on Rename, then I can type in "Alpha", and the individual units will get renamed "Alpha 1", "Alpha 2", etc.

 

seems so simple doesnt it?  I dont think it is, but I will check if this is easy.  If it gets complicated, I will probably not put it in.

[markb50k]

Can we have an 'engage at X range'. At the moment if you select the attack order a ship will move continually closer to it's target. Certain ships are better off at range and it would be nice to tell them to stay that way, whilst still swiveling to face their target.

 

fighters wont standoff, but cap ships will.  if a ships ATKRANGE and BRKRANGE are equal they will just standoff at that range when engaging a target.  I came up with the range so that all of their main weapons will be in range.  If that is too short, give me a specific ship and a recommended range.  if that recommended range is not one people can agree on, then I will look at putting in a standoff range.

[Kobra_warlords]

I think the key is avoiding return fire. If I have HTLBs and you don't, I'll want to stay beyond 15km, even if that means my TLBs won't be shooting.

 

Since the optimum engagement range will depend on the target, and often its escorts, it would be nice to set it as an option within the Attack order.

 

About the "mass rename", it'd be useful even if no numbers were appended, so if that's easier, it'll do just fine.

Edited June 6, 2008 by Kobra_warlords

[dojoyoda_warlords]

It's not so much a gameplay as it is an interface suggestion....but is it possible to have a 'return to sector view' button on the main menu, instead of having to select a unit from the Fleets interface and using the 'zoom to unit' and 'zoom to sector' buttons there?

 

And is there a way to see how much money I have? The treasury in the main menu indicates I have 0.00.....

 

Sorry for so many questions. It's my first day, and I'm trying to get my head around it all

Edited June 7, 2008 by dojoyoda_warlords

[Deathwatch]

It's not so much a gameplay as it is an interface suggestion....but is it possible to have a 'return to sector view' button on the main menu, instead of having to select a unit from the Fleets interface and using the 'zoom to unit' and 'zoom to sector' buttons there?

If you double right click the view screen it puts you back to the galactic view.

 

And is there a way to see how much money I have? The treasury in the main menu indicates I have 0.00.....

This you can find at the bottom of the last report file. But I agree that this would be a nice addition.

 

And no worries, it takes some getting used to, but mark is improving things rather quickly

[markb50k]

And is there a way to see how much money I have? The treasury in the main menu indicates I have 0.00.....

 

during the real game you will be able to see your treasury on the main menu.  During this phase, I didnt want to just add funds to your treasury because I didnt want certain functionality being accessible at this time (like buying an embassy on Coruscant) so I do it through the instant unit allotment that you can see via your user report.  sorry for the inconvenience but that will be solved when we start the full economic game.

[Idle_Scholar]

When you're allies with someone, can it be made possible to share sensor data?

 

Also, could some indication of effective detection range be put in. Say the distance at which there's a 75% chance of detecting a fighter.

[Kobra_warlords]

Detection range would really be interesting to know. How to make the indication meaningful is not so simple, though.

 

I suppose a set of concentric circles with a logarithmic scale would work - showing the 95% confidence radius for, say 10m, 100m, 1000m and 10000m ships. In any case, to avoid clutter this should probably be shown on demand only (maybe next to the Show Damage / Show Allegiance )

 

It would also be interesting to be able to toggle between active and passive searching methods. Active scans would improve (say, 1.5x) the unit's detection capacity, but increase even further (say, 3x) its own signature essentially broadcasting its position. This would probably work best as an order (e.g. "SCAN"), and maybe only available to units with certain detection ratings (e.g. 4+).

[markb50k]

thanks for putting up that analysis Kobra, definitely giving me some good ideas

[Idle_Scholar]

If you put small craft into a fleet, then load them into a carrier they all move to the carriers fleet when they launch again.

[markb50k]

Hmm.. yup that would seem what the code would do.  I cannot think of a nice neat way of preventing that, since a ship only has one parent at a time, and it keeps no history of who its old parent was.  So until/if i can think of a way around that, sorry for that inconvenience.

[General_Antillies]

Hey everyone. I'm a little disappointed in the performance of ordinances, so here is my analysis on what I have encountered in regards to the Proton Torpedo. If anyone has data or an opinion of their own please share it. I'm also curious how the concussion missile preforms.

 

Hit Rate:

-87 Torpedoes were fired of which 74 Hit. This is roughly an 85% hit rate.

I think this is a fairly good hit rate for a ship of this size, no complaints.

 

Damage:

-The enemy MC40 lost 5% of 105774 Hull Hit Points so 5289 damage

-74 Torpedoes hit so it comes out to be 71 damage per hit.

-In Order to kill 100,000 worth of hull points it would take 1409 PT hits, so assuming 85% accuracy, 1658 PTs would need to be fired at the target or 185 XJW (Cost 126484), 104 BW (Cost 51168), or 119 EW (Cost 49504)

 

I personally believe that torpedoes need to play a larger role, especially since they are a limited weapon. Right now everyone's ship is just producing weapons, but in the future these weapons will need to be crafted, moved to the front line, and loaded on ships. To account for this added trouble in loading ships with weapons, I propose one of the following Ideas:

 

Idea One: Simply Up the Damage of the PT

If the damage were doubled, I believe that the PT would become a truly viable tactic. Essentially it would make it so 5 squadrons of BW (60) fighters, could take down an MC40 or equivalent ships. With the current hordes of fighters, 60 BWs sounds like nothing but to load them all to capacity would take me 226 cycles or 32 Hours.

 

Idea Two: Up the Damage of the PT Significantly but Make Them Hit Shields

Proton Torpedoes, in most books, games ect I've seen do not go through the shields necessarily. If the PT were made to be a weapon like the other ones which doesn't automatically penetrate the shield the damage would have to be increased by 3x or 4x.

[markb50k]

Im interested in the opinions on this.

 

Couple of tidbits for all of your info

 

-the reason i have CMs and PTs hitting hull is because if they didnt, there would be no way you could knock out a Shield Generator on a ship without first bringing down the shields first (kinda worthless).  CM/PTs since they hit hull all the time have a chance at a critical hit.

 

-even in the real game I plan on having SOME fuel/warhead production at a ship level, but I think it will be drastically reduced.  I want to make warheads still a logistical problem you will have to figure out.