- Joined
- Jan 31, 2015
- Messages
- 1,696
- Reaction score
- 1,199
I suggest that we discuss technology progression.
How viable would that be? What could be gained in terms of playability? What would we like that to look like in Starmade as it is (including within planned, near-future upgrades)?
I feel like any functional form of technology progression would bring many things to gameplay; A sense of progress over time. Less predictability for encounters. Cause for team loyalty - retention of hard-earned bonuses. A mellowing of any one build's meta value due to to difference potentials in the performance of systems based on what a team has focused on. More as well.
Personally... I would like to see it take a form as flexible and intricate as the game's building systems. Rather than a cluster of tech trees that must be serially researched and unlocked in very linear fashion, and where a given tech might involve improvements to the performance of various systems as wholes, as is common (e.g. Energy Physics with sub-techs like fusion, zero-point, etc), I think Starmade would be most compatible with an open-ended tech system where a faction could slowly improve individual block types directly, 1% at a time across the board. Only a single block would be necessary - a computer console "laboratory" that generates one research point per faction tick, constantly drains power at an enormous rate (like one lab requiring 1M e/sec plus a bleeding edge penalty that increases power consumption by a percentage equal to the goal improvement percentage, so researching 23% increase to cannon dmg would make a lab burn 1.23m e/sec). It could even consume faction points in addition to massive power (would sure bring some meaningful dynamic to FP, in addition to further restricting tech capability and even more encouraging group play).
Keeping tech output low and only allowing research on 1 block type at a time (i.e. all crystal armor parts only, or thruster output only, jump drive charge speed only, etc. possibly even sub-categories of many blocks as in jump drive power consumption only or jump drive charge speed only or jump drive power consumption only) forces factions to make serious decisions because if it takes a month to get +25% performance improvement on of something like cloaker energy consumption or inhibitor power, you have to specialize to some degree for it to have any value.
Ex.1: You want better shield regen output per block (don't we all?). You activate both of the labs on your hidden deep-space lab station, and choose shield regen output from a faction menu that controls what ALL labs are working on and tells them how much power to draw. You log back on the next day and read a notice that your shields now regenerate 38% more quickly instead of 37% more quickly. This would have taken twice as long, but you were wise enough to build and garrison a large, dedicated research station in deep space, away from prying eyes and the HB where prowlers might find it, and it generates 3M e/sec, so you can power two labs and still have room to tech those shield regen blocks up to around 50% improvement before needing to shut one lab down and research more slowly, or switch to a new field of research.
Ex.2: You're a raider/pirate founder and you've already teched EMP effect up to 25% more power & missiles up to 10% damage increase, but prey keeps escaping your traps. You set your faction to research inhibitor strength. You've commissioned your 2 junior captains to build their own stations that all contribute to the faction pool, and now you're raking in tech points. You only have 2 other members though, so after rushing the above offensive bonuses in just <3 weeks, you're now only able to research at 1/4 the pace or something, so you'll need to recruit more members or claim more territory (depending on the server) to increase your faction point income and get your research back up to speed.
I feel like in additions to the general benefits good teching would bring to Starmade, this approach additionally brings, a good reason to build stations beyond the HB, and therefore more real wartime targets (who doesn't want to cripple a rival's progress?), and additional cause for faction loyalty over time - joining a large, well-established faction just to mooch enough to bail out and start your own is far less tempting when you'd be walking away from a large, established faction with 25-50% bonuses in several areas, or maybe 150-200% bonuses in 1 or 2 systems, into a personal ghetto of no tech edge and a really slow progress outlook. It also hinges on only 1 new block and dynamic, and doesn't require developing a whole battery of new blocks and sub-dynamics to support its function.
That's just my thinking, based on trying to find a path to implementation that minimizes coding, maximizes flexibility and sandbox feel, and preserves overall balance and gameplay stability through very slow pacing and a variety of checks & balances based in very different aspects of gameplay (engineering skills, social skills, strategic planning).
What brainstorms have you all about a tech system that would functionally work really well with Starmade?
How viable would that be? What could be gained in terms of playability? What would we like that to look like in Starmade as it is (including within planned, near-future upgrades)?
I feel like any functional form of technology progression would bring many things to gameplay; A sense of progress over time. Less predictability for encounters. Cause for team loyalty - retention of hard-earned bonuses. A mellowing of any one build's meta value due to to difference potentials in the performance of systems based on what a team has focused on. More as well.
Personally... I would like to see it take a form as flexible and intricate as the game's building systems. Rather than a cluster of tech trees that must be serially researched and unlocked in very linear fashion, and where a given tech might involve improvements to the performance of various systems as wholes, as is common (e.g. Energy Physics with sub-techs like fusion, zero-point, etc), I think Starmade would be most compatible with an open-ended tech system where a faction could slowly improve individual block types directly, 1% at a time across the board. Only a single block would be necessary - a computer console "laboratory" that generates one research point per faction tick, constantly drains power at an enormous rate (like one lab requiring 1M e/sec plus a bleeding edge penalty that increases power consumption by a percentage equal to the goal improvement percentage, so researching 23% increase to cannon dmg would make a lab burn 1.23m e/sec). It could even consume faction points in addition to massive power (would sure bring some meaningful dynamic to FP, in addition to further restricting tech capability and even more encouraging group play).
Keeping tech output low and only allowing research on 1 block type at a time (i.e. all crystal armor parts only, or thruster output only, jump drive charge speed only, etc. possibly even sub-categories of many blocks as in jump drive power consumption only or jump drive charge speed only or jump drive power consumption only) forces factions to make serious decisions because if it takes a month to get +25% performance improvement on of something like cloaker energy consumption or inhibitor power, you have to specialize to some degree for it to have any value.
Ex.1: You want better shield regen output per block (don't we all?). You activate both of the labs on your hidden deep-space lab station, and choose shield regen output from a faction menu that controls what ALL labs are working on and tells them how much power to draw. You log back on the next day and read a notice that your shields now regenerate 38% more quickly instead of 37% more quickly. This would have taken twice as long, but you were wise enough to build and garrison a large, dedicated research station in deep space, away from prying eyes and the HB where prowlers might find it, and it generates 3M e/sec, so you can power two labs and still have room to tech those shield regen blocks up to around 50% improvement before needing to shut one lab down and research more slowly, or switch to a new field of research.
Ex.2: You're a raider/pirate founder and you've already teched EMP effect up to 25% more power & missiles up to 10% damage increase, but prey keeps escaping your traps. You set your faction to research inhibitor strength. You've commissioned your 2 junior captains to build their own stations that all contribute to the faction pool, and now you're raking in tech points. You only have 2 other members though, so after rushing the above offensive bonuses in just <3 weeks, you're now only able to research at 1/4 the pace or something, so you'll need to recruit more members or claim more territory (depending on the server) to increase your faction point income and get your research back up to speed.
I feel like in additions to the general benefits good teching would bring to Starmade, this approach additionally brings, a good reason to build stations beyond the HB, and therefore more real wartime targets (who doesn't want to cripple a rival's progress?), and additional cause for faction loyalty over time - joining a large, well-established faction just to mooch enough to bail out and start your own is far less tempting when you'd be walking away from a large, established faction with 25-50% bonuses in several areas, or maybe 150-200% bonuses in 1 or 2 systems, into a personal ghetto of no tech edge and a really slow progress outlook. It also hinges on only 1 new block and dynamic, and doesn't require developing a whole battery of new blocks and sub-dynamics to support its function.
That's just my thinking, based on trying to find a path to implementation that minimizes coding, maximizes flexibility and sandbox feel, and preserves overall balance and gameplay stability through very slow pacing and a variety of checks & balances based in very different aspects of gameplay (engineering skills, social skills, strategic planning).
What brainstorms have you all about a tech system that would functionally work really well with Starmade?
