Feedback Wanted: Cosmoteer Singleplayer Campaign

Lafiel

BattleCruiserCommander Instead of a map it would be better if it were intel which could mean maps, blueprints, messages, secrets, etc. And that would be much more useful in providing various options, quests or personal gains like collecting cards to get something special.

Dalas120 I had a clamp/ejector part made specifically for attaching ejectables/cargo container types but it'll have to wait and see vanilla's solution. Mine would just be a simple drop off exchange.
Anyhow, if the exchange system is complex there'S probably no way around tracking goods and items independently from ships or ship's grid but rather tied to the player. At this point we arrive at needing accounts again (maybe steam makes it more convenient?).
I don't think having crew moving the cargo is a good idea. At some point when this becomes vital to traders and merchants there will be mega transporters. Just loading unloading these ship's container as with irl could take at least a day. Even if ships in the game aren't so large the amount of individual items will still be huge. I wouldn't be surprised if they easily reach a million. So having crew do that would be very time consuming while players can't do anything else but wait it out. It may be fine within the ship itself, though.

Walt

Dalas120 Since docking is planned via tractor beams, how does cargo get traded? Does it instantly disappear from the storage rooms, or does it have to get physically moved out (maybe by crew in spacesuits?).

Ideally I think it would get hand-carried by crew in spacesuits. But I'll probably start by making it instant.

Stormi_chan

Walt Is there a possibility for the campaign to be modeble?
Like me and my team were planning on adding a Bounty hunter with our mod, (Warhammer 40k) but I don't know how soon this is going to be a reality, and if we should make a Bounty hunter at all.

My suggestion is that we will be able to add a difficulty, and that's how we could add our own story and ships and characters? So it will work same as modded Bounty hunter but with extra stuff to add.

I think it will be great if we could add our own campaign to make our mods more then just parts and mechanics... But the ability to make like a whole fan made game using cosmoteer.

Walt

Stormi_chan It will definitely have mod support. Exactly how remains to be seen.

Terket

(For part of it)

Perhaps pre-made/AI factions can be separate txts in a folder?

Stormi_chan

Terket well not all of the AI... Maybe stuff like aggressiveness, starting fleets, starting territory, starting ships, and stations. (maybe faction overtime upgrade thier ships and stations? Create more fleets and stuff like that?)

Lafiel

Complex mission options is what I'm looking forward to. See all the tons of discussions on these in the forum. I know most will end up being some linear script but if possible I want mission branching. So it would be possible to build at least a tree better yet a complete web of missions.

Romando07

Walt I thnik it would be interesting to give the player an option to start his own faction (possibly after the endgame, or in Game Plus) wich will make all other factions opinions drop significantly (unless player is in an alliance).
Player should be able to expand his territory and build stabports (with a capacity of 2-3 depending on the sistem)
everything should be expensive, as this decision would be made available only after the player beat the game (they are espected to have loads of materials and a giant treasury to be able to afford starting a faction).
Player should be expected to defend his territory against other factions and pirates. To do this, player needs to be able to command multiple fleets at once.

This is just my opinion, I got the inspiration from Warband.

WhileTrueBreak

The entire system of mining, salvaging, and selling is very similar to another game called Avorion. It also has a very similar faction system with cross faction wars and relations. Missions in it are also given out by stations where the player can buy things at varying prices depending an relations with the station's factions. One of the immersive features of Avorion is that the player can jump in to the middle of a war or a pirate attack and should definitely be a thing in the campaign.
Once in the late game the player should be able to start their own faction giving the players a different long term goal to aim for if restarting is not for them.
Players relations with other factions should not all start at 0 but vary. Factions should have a randomised reputation giving the player a bit more motivation to explore the galaxy not knowing if the next faction will attack on sight. Faction should have there own traits like aggressive factions are more likely to attack other faction or more tolerant faction will decrease reputation in smaller increments. There should also be tiny Pirate factions that only exist in one system or planet and will always attack on sight.
Items such as electronics should require a supply chain where the factory requires the faction to gather resources before being able to start producing such items.
Another suggestion is an item or block should allow the ship to be AI controlled allowing it to mining asteroids in the sector or patrol a sector. This item will have to be an endgame item and will make the goal of creating player factions more achievable.

Also will asteroid regenerate after awhile?

TLDR: Copy Avorion's faction system, Have faction stations require materials, AI player ships

Lafiel

That description of the system is pretty much standard in games including MMO.
I think a distinction should be made here for the definition of factions or maybe the difference in the systems available.
Players by themselves are privateers and shall have all the same attributes applied (reputations etc.) but are not a true faction on their own. They may start business on their own (as if they aren't already).
They may have an affiliation or allegiance like race or nation, These lets say are top most level faction.
Below that the actual factions like guilds, corporations, etc. should be possible only when more than two players join in. Because I think this should be reserved for community joint ventures and role playing.

Loumardes

I Don't really understand the logic behind maps

I guess one map could be an entire solar system, with all it's planets, and stations orbiting them
And to travel between systems you use FTLengines, wich are not accurate enough for interplanetary transport

At least it's how I imagine it, it would justify ships cruising with thrusters from one station to another, instead of instantly FTL Jumping toward it's destination

One other suggestion, the place where ships are able to safely exit FTL cruise (where they spawn in the map) could be Beacons Stations, and the faction able to control it (theorically) control the system

Hope It helps, and that I am not too late

Loumardes

Well maps are definitly star systems, sorry, I just needed to read again the comments

About stations :
It may go without saying, but stations should be made of the same parts than ships, minus thrusters tab, plus some exclusive parts like :

tradings posts
FTL beacon (if you follow my previous suggestion)
Factions Headquarters and stations Command Post
Communication entennas
Civilian living quarters
Repair/Constructions bays (I have suggestions for them too)

And they could be weaponised as well ships are

I think it would keep a build style an tech in stations coherent with ships ones, and add some more building variety and customisation in the game

I have many others elaborated suggestions regarding planned and suggested feathures, but for now I am gonna go to bed
Good luck in your game development walt.

Jhaerik

Why remove BH mode at all? just leave it in for more options. I personally dislike the whole RPG loop of mining/resource gathering/crafting ect. I just want to blow shit up, and have no interest in multiplayer sooooo.

Walt

Jhaerik Why remove BH mode at all?

Because I'd have to maintain it, and that takes time that I could spend improving the game in other ways. There's also the fact that BH just isn't up to my quality standards, and I'd rather remove it than have a sub-par feature in the game.

Jhaerik I just want to blow shit up, and have no interest in multiplayer sooooo.

I think that desire would be better served by a different, gauntlet-style game mode.

Lafiel

Well, BH mode is essentially a creative mode with rewards or battle helper without it. It's only real advantage or disadvantage (uncontrolled) is the randomly provided enemy ship.
It may help noobs learn but it would be lost time and rewards if players invest in it instead of playing the campaign. I'm sure some players won't be happy with that loss. I think BH could be turned into a tutorial mode which can be continued even after all the tutorials have been completed.

Cube

Lafiel A bit like the tutorial system in TF2. During the tutorial, you need to play a few matches against the AI before getting acces to multiplayer. But you can still acces this training mode afterwards, even on higher difficulties. I personally use it to sharpen up my skills on more niche tactics like rocket jumping. (something that I would likely use a similar mode in Cosmoteer for as well)

thatPolarBear

Walt Here's my quick take on how I would design the NPC's:

Civilian (non-combat ships) - Can be traded with for basic parts most importantly crew (hire people) being hostile to them will summon police.
Pirate (weak armor, lots of weapons) - hostile, will try to steal your stuff or kill you if you resist, will run if you are a larger threat then them.
Mercenary (average ships) - Can be hired for a fee, will abandon you if you are losing. Some will try to steal from/kill you. Some will simply run/ignore you. Others will sell you military/alien parts for a much higher price, will buy some items for a better price then corporations.
Police/Military (fairly competitive ships) - Rare, Ignore the player at the start but later in the game will sell you better parts then corporations.
Corporation (heavily armored/shielded ships) - Want your money, own the stations, summons Mercenaries/Police if you are hostile.
Alien (advanced ships) - Advanced parts, very rare, can't be traded with or communicated with but tech can be salvaged, hostile.

I think the npc's should be quite mobile and move often (except stations of course), you could trade with mercenaries with intel on where military groups or aliens are located. Also for factions I think you should be able to witness wars and even participate in some later on.

ResExsention

thatPolarBear I disagree about the police/military selling stuff, though. I mean, it doesn't reflect their responsibilities -- their job is to keep the peace, not to make a profit.

Perhaps they could be buying their stuff from corporations. Of course, their stuff would be of prime quality and wouldn't be purchasable unless stringent requirements are met (such as having a bounty of 0).

Jared

ResExsention
but you can still buy and sell Police and military equipment.... sure most of the time its through a 3rd party but there are police auctions where you can buy retired police equipment

Ultranova

ResExsention That's assuming that the role of the police/military remains consistent into the future. Of course to us now it doesn't make sense that police or military would sell weapons or parts, because that's not what they do right now, in our time. However it's not out of reason that their responsibilities as police and military may change in the future to suit the needs of the people, state etc.

ResExsention

Jared
Ultranova

At the very least I disagree about the vessels selling their stuff directly. I think having to make the player go to one of their stations/bases and requisition for such equipment would be more fitting because those out in the field would need such equipment,

Of course we could have the occasional AWOL vessel that may be willing to buy or sell a couple things.