jbox1 Minimal RNG:
Cosmoteer is very lucky because it lacks a feature many games love to include. RNG or Random Number Generators are commonly employed in games to keep the games interesting, with factors such as random crits or misses. However, RNG can be a disadvantage, as it can make players feel disadvantaged or cheated when the RNG doesn’t play out in favour of them. Cosmoteer’s only major RNg factors are bullet spread, which is a respectable additions. Aside from this, most gameplay is skill and design based. No random crits for your bullets, no random misses to save you from sheer luck. I would prefer Cosmoteer to keep this minimal RNG style as a standard feature.
I think the key here is that RNG-like elements should emerge from the underlying physics and game simulation, not a virtual dice roll. The RNG weapon spread works because it's physics-based. And ships usually have enough weapons that the RNG tends to average out and one lucky won't totally change the course of a battle.
There is one straight-up dice roll in Cosmoteer, and that's whether a PD kills a missile upon hit. I'm not a fan of this, but I haven't figured out a better way to achieve the balance I want.
jbox1 Unique, non interchangeable weaponry.
Another key pillar of Cosmoteer is the fact all weapons are unique in some way. A lot of games will have their weapons very freely placeable, which means there is less forward planing involved when building, and also means there is less of a connection with said weapons. Cosmoteer, on the other hand, has many widely different weapons, ramging from tiny lazer blasters to massive mile long railguns. But the thing is, no weapon can simply be slotted in to replace a previous weapon. Missiles are a good example. First off, missiles have their doors on the sides, meaning players will have to design ships with corridors to the sides of said missile launchers. No other weapon will fit this door layout, meaning that you have to choose to have missile launchers. This is what makes Cosmoteer stand out from other games.
100% agreed, I do this very deliberately. (The one case I think I failed is that a Large Thruster is exactly the size of two Standard Thrusters. Oh well.)
jbox1 2D design and mechanics:
Many new members will rush to the suggestion section of the forum, to suggest ships should have multiple layers. However, Cosmoteer is designed to be a 2D game. Not only in graphics, but in design and mechanics. All weapons, machinery and tiles are ballenced and designed around the fact that they exist in a 2D plane with 2D physics. This not pnly makes the game have a much more involved battle style, the game is able to run much faster than 3D games with the same level of combat mechanics. The 2D design of Cosmoteer should not ever be reconscidered.
100% agreed.
jbox1 On that same note, roof mounted weaponry should also be only reserved to modding. All stock weapons should be side mounted, as that means the game does not have to be rebalanced.
So I am still thinking of adding roof-mounted weapons in limited capacity. These would be super-weapons that require a ton of crew/ammo/power to run and have massive downsides, such as a cannon which does damage to its own ship whenever it shoots, or an EMP that also drains power from its own ship. They'd also probably be pretty short range.
The idea behind these roof-mounted super weapons you couldn't rely solely on the roof-mounted weapons because of their downsides, but they're powerful enough that they could turn the tide of battle. Also, if you're a player fighting a ship with roof-mounted super weapons, that creates more interesting decisions for you than if the weapons were edge mounted. (If a super weapon is edge-mounted, then obviously you should target first. But if the super weapon is roof-mounted, then presumably it's better-protected, which means you have to decide whether to take out the less-protected edge weapons first or the better-protected super weapon.)
