Ship Combat Additions

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    Ship Combat Upgrades?

    (current idea is used as an example I’m not expecting the full idea to be used (if ever used))

    Ok so as usual I was thinking about starmade and how to improve it (I like to do that) it came across me while making a PVP hull that the combat in starmade is a bit well underwhelming. So being the annoyance I am I thought to pour in ideas to make the combat better in Starmade. I first looked at the systems of the ships we all build, maybe adding more diversity into the choice of weapons would work, but that would only overwhelm players unused guns. Then it came to me like cannon ball to the head I bounced with excitement and slight insanity. ATS or Assisted Targeting Systems, is the idea. The idea behind it is to give real time tactical feedback on the current battlefield, adding the ability to predict enemy movements and give you an educated guess to where to fire to hit them on their current course, track multiple targets and see a very basic health readout, and provide a “battle Hud” for your combat needs. I shall go into detail for you before you start commenting on this.

    ATS perks.

    The function behind it is to make combat interesting, as such the “ATS” (just a placeholder name for the idea) is split into 3 distinct functions for 3 different computers. Each block is available at a Shop for a High price or can be crafted with large sums of resources. To equip them to a ship you simply place them like a weapon computer and link them to your ships Camera’s. after you head into flight mode the linked cameras will now display the ATS while viewing through the linked cameras.

    ATS effects

    Assisted Aim computer.
    This computer works by tracking and predicting your highlighted targets movements. It works for all weapons and depending on the selected weapon on your hotbar it will figure out where you need to aim to hit your target if your target is continuing its current course. It will display a target recital on your screen followed by a line linking it the target ship. It’s not going to be 100% accurate due to the enemy being able to change its course, it’s there as a guideline but not useless. Think War Thunder Planes' Arcade mode targeting assist.

    Tracker camera
    This Computer is designed to assist you in battles with more than 1 target. It works by marking targets in front of you (in you field of view) with a navigation Pip (not highlighting the ships outline because that would cause lag) and then displaying a small percentage reading next to it showing the total sum of health the ship has. The compass pip could be grey but I’m not worried about that. This allows you to see which ships are the most venerable and which are not allowing you to efficiently judge which to target without having to highlight them individually to see health.

    Battle Hud
    The battle Hud is meant to improve the look of your Hud when in the selected Camera. The Hud is shifted around the ships systems bars are moved to the edges of the screen and are scaled down to minimise the clutter on your screen. The hot bar becomes translucent like a hologram and can be seen through (kind of) the Targeting point in the centre becomes smarter looking adding a more noticeable mouse point (because I can never see the dam thing most of the time) and a more “combat” styled missile lock thingy. It will also highlight Locked or dumb fire missiles on a collision course to You, so you can shoot them down or just be aware of your impending doom.

    Of course, all 3 computers can work separately so you can add the ones you want most. (or just all of them because F*** it why not). But seen as they do have a Minor improvement on the Players ability to brake things there is some running needs for them. Like jammers and clockers the computers will draw power from the ship, But because they run all the time it will be a much smaller amount than the jammers and clockers people know and Hate love.

    Ok so that’s all I had on the ATS idea, I wanted it to be a new way to look and see combat in Starmade, seen as the ships systems are becoming quite complex, (power update) I thought the ships Hud feels underwhelming for the game. I see this as a way to make Combat exciting in ships, and more interesting to use making your ship feel like it’s alive and watching your back, making each fight more enjoyable and all round refined compared to the current fighting system. I am also saying that I used this as an EXAMPLE, the Community or shine team can decide how it plays out in reality. Tell me what you think about this input would be nice, and if you think it’s bad tell me why.
     
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    How about a system that allows for aim assist a computer takes over aiming when you get the targeted ship within a targeting ring? Or perhaps something like House Of The Dying Sun's targeting system in which you have to half guess where the ship is heading and if you get close enough to the actually place the computer calculated then it gives a visual representation that you "locked" on like all those scenes in sci-fi where the fighter is locking onto the enemy fighter they are chasing.
     

    madman Captain

    Self-appointet Overlord of the Scaffold
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    I hope to understand it right, but you suggest this for short:

    (As Exsample: The Gold UI mod for the Litecube's Universe mod for X3 Terran Confict)

    A normal HUD like every Space Sim game in the last ~15 Years.

    To be honest this should be standard and not an addional feature.
     

    Lone_Puppy

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    I'm sorry, but I think your idea is bad. As in Bad Ass! ;-)
    I really like the battle hud idea by removing the clutter. I run a low resolution due to not having an super high spec gaming rig, and this would be helpful for me. Having the battle computer linked to camera's I'm not sure about, but I guess it is good for keeping functions separate.

    This whole idea could be added to the chair as well as cameras.
     
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    I'm sorry, but I think your idea is bad. As in Bad Ass! ;-)
    I really like the battle hud idea by removing the clutter. I run a low resolution due to not having an super high spec gaming rig, and this would be helpful for me. Having the battle computer linked to camera's I'm not sure about, but I guess it is good for keeping functions separate.

    This whole idea could be added to the chair as well as cameras.
    interesting idea i did not think people would like the hud forced on the ship all the time so having normal view and battle view would of fixed that problem.
     

    Valiant70

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    We *need* a lead-aim reticle. We *need* a COMPLETE AND TOTAL REWORK of weapons, aiming, and the HUD.

    I've discussed previously why the wide aiming arc is bad. One (rather large) reason is that it makes joysticks completely unusable. The firing arc needs to go, or at the VERY least reduced and made into an upgradable auto-aim the size of the circle in the middle of the current HUD. Starmade's weapons have always seemed bizzarre to me. It's time for a change.
     
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    We *need* a lead-aim reticle. We *need* a COMPLETE AND TOTAL REWORK of weapons, aiming, and the HUD.

    I've discussed previously why the wide aiming arc is bad. One (rather large) reason is that it makes joysticks completely unusable. The firing arc needs to go, or at the VERY least reduced and made into an upgradable auto-aim the size of the circle in the middle of the current HUD. Starmade's weapons have always seemed bizzarre to me. It's time for a change.
    I do think Starmade has a really good chance of having brilliant PVP fights, but right now the current system is restricting that.
     

    DrTarDIS

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    I agree that lead-reticles would make combat more simplified at range and speed. The current kluge of scrolling-out to widen your firing-arc is also kinda exploit-ish. However there are arguments to be had for "skill shots" in sane configurations.

    What I mean by "sane" refers to many server owners failing to keep weapon ranges short when they expand sector size. Because weapon range is a coefficient of sector size, only altering one leads to silly states.

    By default a cannon can shoot roughly 2km(1* sector), but unless rebalanced a 20 km sector(kinda standard on most servers I've recently played on) has a whopping 20km(1* sector) range! That certainly makes accuracy a problem vs the 5 pixel-square target you're aiming at, and arguably lead-reticles would not help much. It's one reason missile-boats are OP-meta in many online pvp scenarios.

    Playing in vanilla sector sizes weapon ranges are not nearly as hard to lead and use, even in 6 degrees of freedom. A reasonable balance to me has always been to adjust coefficients to keep cannons around 1km, missiles around 3, and their long-distance variants to triple that.

    edit: On wide-arc and joysticks, I think you're quite wrong. I've played with a PlayStation Six-Axis controller to absolutely devastating combat prowess. I do wish the controller had more buttons, but with a bit of "shift-macro" creativity and a keyboard in reach that isn't so bad. Perhaps it's merely your control scheme that's limiting you?
     
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    Valiant70

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    Perhaps it's merely your control scheme that's limiting you?
    It's the fact that the firing cursor moves rather than just the ship's nose, and there's no way to avoid that. It's impossible for me to be as precise with it as my mouse.
    [doublepost=1503756624,1503755472][/doublepost]For further information, a previous discussion I started on weapon firing arcs: Remove Weapon Firing Arcs TL;DR, big ships turn more slowly for balance, but the fact that they can fire in a wide arc means that fighters are still easy to target with the Death Star.

    By default a cannon can shoot roughly 2km(1* sector), but unless rebalanced a 20 km sector(kinda standard on most servers I've recently played on) has a whopping 20km(1* sector) range! That certainly makes accuracy a problem vs the 5 pixel-square target you're aiming at, and arguably lead-reticles would not help much. It's one reason missile-boats are OP-meta in many online pvp scenarios.
    Some servers prefer longer ranges for slightly improved realism. There is a solution.

    I once played a game called Vega Strike where most weapons had a very small amount of assisted aim, maybe 2 degrees from the bullseye. Starmade could do something similar: When the crosshair is over the target (or lead pursuit reticle), you get just enough auto-aim that your shot lands somewhere on the five-pixel ship (assuming it continues on its current path).