Research/tech tree for gadgets

[HolyCookie]

a special tech tree/research tree for special blocks and gadgets.

gadgets could be researched and after that crafted. this way you can get things like weapons and other gadgets by crafting. research uses recourses/blocks and time. you could also upgrade weapons using research. (1 research block per station)
e.g
laser more dmg
laser more range
sniper more range
sniper faster reload
rocket bigger blast
rocket faster reload
build disabler thingy more range
grapple more range
grapple more time
and more for the coming gadgets.

 

[shadowulf]

Hmm, interesting.
I'm curious, is it done on a per player basis, or faction? And also these gadgets will have to be both defensive and offensive, but not break the game. Maybe one gadget/tool active at a time? Also I like the idea of tiered weapons, I.e. laser, then rocket, then sniper.

 

[HolyCookie]

Hmm, interesting.
I'm curious, is it done on a per player basis, or faction? And also these gadgets will have to be both defensive and offensive, but not break the game. Maybe one gadget/tool active at a time? Also I like the idea of tiered weapons, I.e. laser, then rocket, then sniper.

of course you can't research multiple things at a time.
that's like trying to eat and skydive.
you could make it per player, then it would be located in a inventory tab.
but I'd prefer "a station" that can be per player or per faction.
I suggest the time is customizable by servers.

 

[Knack]

My suggestion to this:
Introduce "Research Point" drops.
They should come from the upcoming fauna and from killed pirate ships.
Also the "Science Block" would produce RPs very slow (about 1 per faction round). Only one Science Block per station/planet.
A new metaitem called "Research Sheet".
Buy a "Research Sheet" and choose a tech-tree (For example shield hardening). Place "Research Sheet" into a Science Block to fill the sheet with the RPs of the Science Block, and/or fill it with the RPs you already earned. The more RPs you spend on the Research Sheet, the stronger it gets.
Use the "Research Sheet" on a Ship or Station to apply it's bonus, this consumes the Research Sheet. Only one Research Sheet can be active per ship/station. If you apply a new one, the effect of the old disappears forever.

 

[HolyCookie]

My suggestion to this:
Introduce "Research Point" drops.
They should come from the upcoming fauna and from killed pirate ships.
Also the "Science Block" would produce RPs very slow (about 1 per faction round). Only one Science Block per station/planet.
A new metaitem called "Research Sheet".
Buy a "Research Sheet" and choose a tech-tree (For example shield hardening). Place "Research Sheet" into a Science Block to fill the sheet with the RPs of the Science Block, and/or fill it with the RPs you already earned. The more RPs you spend on the Research Sheet, the stronger it gets.
Use the "Research Sheet" on a Ship or Station to apply it's bonus, this consumes the Research Sheet. Only one Research Sheet can be active per ship/station. If you apply a new one, the effect of the old disappears forever.

I nearly totally agree.
a few points, I've suggested many things for starmade, and I now know that schema prefers to keep it simple.
they say starmade is already hard enough, and want to make it as easy as possible for new comers.
for us it might be simple, but think of your first time playing starmade.

this is why I'd like to adjust your suggestion:
research points won't be drops, but instant gains when you kill fauna/pirates.
big amounts of science points, not 1/10 points more like 10/100 points
this makes it possible to have bigger differences in what you kill.
no research sheet, this is a part that would make it too complicated besides the fact that upgrading things like blocks are not my goal, and the reason for that Is that once 1 guy has that research done, he could just produce the best shield blocks for his whole faction. that is of course a bit useless. RP go in total to faction RP except if you aren't in a faction. this makes it possible for factions to work together to gain gadget upgrades.
the research table is like a factory, only with an extra tab for research. it can only produce researched gadgets.
the whole Research sheet sounds like something from minecraft ancient warfare and I know that is not an easy thing to use. keep it virtual, you can not trade, drop or trash RP they are not located in your inventory, it will not take a slot. upgrading gadgets only, repeating that because blocks will fail, you can trade them, you can steal a ship, and the sheet is just confusing although I do understand what you mean.

new research came up in my head:
better suit, increases HP by (insert number)

 

[Visitor]

I am very unsure of the idea. In fact, I don't think that progressive research would work, at least in multiplayer setting. In single player - maybe, but in multi, where efficiency and competitiveness is of far greater importance, people will immediately try to cheat the system to get bigger and better toys with no/minimal research done and the whole feature will be just another obstacle to circumvent or a race to win for the sake of superiority, rather than actual enjoyable addition.

On top of that, the distance between older players and new ones will be bigger and closing it through skill and ingenuity - harder, since some people will simply have hard bonus slapped onto their stuff. Now, that bonus will have to be quite big for the whole feature to have a point and any boons provide by it to not be offset by just several more blocks someone else would add to their gun - but then the balance would take even greater hit, again, making the idea a live grenade full of nails and crap.

Such research progression would have to have some limits, otherwise at some point average server would reach levels of tech allowing single heavy fighter to tear apart planets - and while it wouldn't matter possibly for some players with the same level of tech who could defend themselves, everyone else would feel it painfully. Also, as soon as such roof would be hit I'd wager that the equipment would spread easily, again - defeating the purpose. One could set limits on whether the bonus would work if the equipment is given to someone else, but that'd be rather hacky and merely force everyone to bother with research, whether they want or not - if they want to maintain any competitiveness.

The only way I could see such thing work is if research itself would be a thing that's hard to perform (not merely some block on a station but a whole station dedicated to research) and instead of providing some magical bonus, it'd result in higher tier blocks (with ability to automatically update current design/construct with the better versions of systems via shipyard or whatnot), with such blocks being only somewhat better than the standard ones yet require far much more/rarer resources and maintenance to work so the quality and the edge comes at a price - and even then, some of the above issues like 'whether it's worth to add it if the profit is so small' would be there.

 

[Zaphord]

Perhaps instead of researching everything some shops could stock blueprints for upgraded gadgets?

 

[HolyCookie]

I am very unsure of the idea. In fact, I don't think that progressive research would work, at least in multiplayer setting. In single player - maybe, but in multi, where efficiency and competitiveness is of far greater importance, people will immediately try to cheat the system to get bigger and better toys with no/minimal research done and the whole feature will be just another obstacle to circumvent or a race to win for the sake of superiority, rather than actual enjoyable addition.

On top of that, the distance between older players and new ones will be bigger and closing it through skill and ingenuity - harder, since some people will simply have hard bonus slapped onto their stuff. Now, that bonus will have to be quite big for the whole feature to have a point and any boons provide by it to not be offset by just several more blocks someone else would add to their gun - but then the balance would take even greater hit, again, making the idea a live grenade full of nails and crap.

Such research progression would have to have some limits, otherwise at some point average server would reach levels of tech allowing single heavy fighter to tear apart planets - and while it wouldn't matter possibly for some players with the same level of tech who could defend themselves, everyone else would feel it painfully. Also, as soon as such roof would be hit I'd wager that the equipment would spread easily, again - defeating the purpose. One could set limits on whether the bonus would work if the equipment is given to someone else, but that'd be rather hacky and merely force everyone to bother with research, whether they want or not - if they want to maintain any competitiveness.

The only way I could see such thing work is if research itself would be a thing that's hard to perform (not merely some block on a station but a whole station dedicated to research) and instead of providing some magical bonus, it'd result in higher tier blocks (with ability to automatically update current design/construct with the better versions of systems via shipyard or whatnot), with such blocks being only somewhat better than the standard ones yet require far much more/rarer resources and maintenance to work so the quality and the edge comes at a price - and even then, some of the above issues like 'whether it's worth to add it if the profit is so small' would be there.

how many times did I say "not blocks" and "for gadgets"?
can't believe you still didn't understand me. also, why do you think research would be infinite?
nearly every game with upgrades has it's max upgrade. I am talking about laser missile launcher and stuff like that.
please read better next time.

exploiting this wouldn't be much useful nor easy, my goal is to have progression for boarding parties.
much difference between old and new won't be there, as old won't bother taking on the new players and new players won't dare to try to steal a titan, all in all there just won't be much difference.

I agree on that, research bound upgrade, otherwise you can just go and sell lasers with max dmg.
did I ever say you could only get RP by afk blocks? no that's just stupid, just as that idea won't be much of a worthy thing.
to research you need to kill pirates, that takes time.

Perhaps instead of researching everything some shops could stock blueprints for upgraded gadgets?

i'd then rather say a rare drop you can find in a pirate station.
I do like that, it makes attacking pirate stations more worth it

 

[Zaphord]

Beats getting an inventory full of random blocks.