StarMade Dev Update: Introducing Faction Points

[der_scheme]

Map data should then also be sharable between players. And faction combat could gain a whole new interesting edge if map data could be stolen or recovered in combat from your enemy.

That is actually pretty much the same as a suggestion I made way back. Have an Agree.

 

[jpf190279]

@FunnyBunny14 - Thanks, I wasn't aware of this little detail. I gathered from the DEV release I had played and seeing all the purple lines painted around the galaxy that these were the only wormholes... So you are confirming that these are the only wormholes known at the beginning of the game with others to be "discovered" later? If thats the case that would be interesting and very strategically valuable.

@Sven_The_Slayer - I couldn't agree more, with the implementation of the new universe there is a massive opportunity for exploration based gameplay. In theory this is already in the game as I was discovering planets yesterday on my copy of the DEV release. I was watching the map saving the locations of stations, planets and trade posts as I flew to them, I didn't see asteroids being recorded though, maybe I didn't discover any.

I will check out the latest build tonight when I get home, I have a sneaky feeling my copy isn't as up-to-date as some of yours are. I also don't see the colourful block planetary orbits which others have posted images of, all I seemed to get are red circles that don't exactly line up with the planets.

But again, having been playing this game on and off for a year and a half I have seen this game really grow especially in the last 6 months. This next update I think will be a game changer for me and for the better .

 

[flpsantoss]

What i thin would work. when first entering a system, a small scan give info about planets locations and anything on nearby sectors. a big scan would show locations of anything like, stations and shops, to even ships in that system.

 

[jpf190279]

@flpsantoss - Problem with that then is that once you run the scanner you don't need to do anything else. I don't mind a scanner telling me that there are X number of planets in system or what types they are, but to tell me the locations and put them on the map for me.... I'd just jump into systems run scanner, jump to next system and repeat. Within a few hours you'd have scanned the entire galaxy.

Unless you mean of course just temporarily show the locations and permanently save them upon flying to their location?

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

@flpsantoss - Problem with that then is that once you run the scanner you don't need to do anything else. I don't mind a scanner telling me that there are X number of planets in system or what types they are, but to tell me the locations and put them on the map for me.... I'd just jump into systems run scanner, jump to next system and repeat. Within a few hours you'd have scanned the entire galaxy.

Unless you mean of course just temporarily show the locations and permanently save them upon flying to their location?

A few hours? I think you seriously underestimate the number of star systems in a galaxy. It took me over an hour in a dead run to move between galaxies... And I teleported half way!

 

[jpf190279]

A few hours? I think you seriously underestimate the number of star systems in a galaxy. It took me over an hour in a dead run to move between galaxies... And I teleported half way!

I am not sure what the comparison is here, I was talking about systems within a galaxy not all the systems within the universe. I know the distance between the galaxies is horrifically lengthy which just makes it more appealing to me! :p I'll be honest I have no idea about the number of systems but I suspect it a damn lot... Just looking at the map from last night my eyes were bleeding at all the points of lights I could see.

One question, how do you see the other galaxies, I couldn't spot any others?

 

[0ldSkull]

@jpf190279 and @Ithirahad , you already don't know where wormholes go. Only the ones with just one connection have a set destination. The others are just random.

There are cases where multiple wormholes lead to the same destination, but I have yet to notice one with multiple destinations. If you pay attention, the connecting lines transition from purple to pink in the direction of travel. There is also an arrow on that line indicating the same.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

I am not sure what the comparison is here, I was talking about systems within a galaxy not all the systems within the universe. I know the distance between the galaxies is horrifically lengthy which just makes it more appealing to me! :p I'll be honest I have no idea about the number of systems but I suspect it a damn lot... Just looking at the map from last night my eyes were bleeding at all the points of lights I could see.

One question, how do you see the other galaxies, I couldn't spot any others?

You fly to them, they'll only show up when you get close enough to them. (Teleporting should work but there was a crashing bug)


And it would take forever to map all the systems in a single galaxy.

 

[flpsantoss]

I am not sure what the comparison is here, I was talking about systems within a galaxy not all the systems within the universe. I know the distance between the galaxies is horrifically lengthy which just makes it more appealing to me! :p I'll be honest I have no idea about the number of systems but I suspect it a damn lot... Just looking at the map from last night my eyes were bleeding at all the points of lights I could see.

One question, how do you see the other galaxies, I couldn't spot any others?

i think you are taking lightly the travel from one system to another, as each system is 16 sector wide, even with warp you need at least 2 warps to leave a system

 

[jpf190279]

i think you are taking lightly the travel from one system to another, as each system is 16 sector wide, even with warp you need at least 2 warps to leave a system

I see your point, however I do have quite a few modifications to my game. Since it isn't clear how big sectors are going to be at the minute, some say 2k some say 5k and since I play with 10k, I think it would be worth hanging on to see how it pans out with the official release. I prefer more realistic style of gameplay where the sectors are big, space is empty but you still have access to fast travel options like overdrive (buffed) and hyperdrive.

Also it is worth bearing in mind you are talking about discovery via travelling in a linear fashion, the galaxy is cube based so in reality I could hop between 8 system from the corner of a corner sector of the system. Now implement the scan all system feature with that in mind and I could travel to all 8 systems in less than 60 seconds and scan them (not knowing how long a scan takes). Travel along the edge (16 sectors) to the next corner of the system and you can scan another 4 systems using the same method.*

*Having done a quick calculation on the speed of 75kmh and a sector size of 2k it would take around 96 seconds to cross a single sector of space and 25.6 minutes to cross an entire system. Jesus is it really that long?! I am genuinely surprised . I can see why people would want to know what is there before you set off! :p

 

[Crimson-Artist]

the system i proposed would've been the best compromise between convenience and annoyance.

with bigger sectors flying to each point of interest would be painful way to explore while being able to jump in scan the whole system then jump out would be too easy. making use of the whole scan range mechanic would help alleviate the tedium as well as make faction warfare mater more. by default looks like scan ranges in unclaimed systems is 4 (I'm assuming that the number is the radius of the scan area) which would means you would have to jump around several times to scan the whole sector.

another interesting thing could be added. Scan Anomalies. These could show up on the map as a sphere encompassing several sectors marked with a "?". The idea being that theres something there but your scanner can't quite pick it up. basically this could be anything from a loot cache station, advanced shop, or maybe even a pirate station. Either way you have to discover it by actually flying in and finding it.

this could add an extra layer of excitement to exploration since jumping around to map a system could get boring.

 

[Ithirahad]

I will check out the latest build tonight when I get home, I have a sneaky feeling my copy isn't as up-to-date as some of yours are. I also don't see the colourful block planetary orbits which others have posted images of, all I seemed to get are red circles that don't exactly line up with the planets.

The block orbits were removed in favor of the red circles, which are a bit clearer. Uninteresting, un-unique, but far, far clearer. Strangely though, as you said, they don't correspond with the planet positions very well... I understand that Schema was trying to mimic orbit eccentricity (or whatever it's called) but the orbits should at least be tilted so that they correspond with said eccentricity. Assuming, of course, that the offset generation isn't just a bug.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Not removed, just filtered. The color was removed though, purple are planets and yellow are asteroid belt.

 

[Mr.Steam]

I started a new server with the latest dev version. The map showed four planetary circles, but seven planets spawned in the system. Do you think this is a bug?

Is there a way to adjust how many planets spawn in a system? Just looking around 2 2 2 I counted at least 20 planets. I would prefer spawning less planets.

 

[Ithirahad]

One of the issues is that planets in adjacent systems now show up, which is immersion-breaking and de-fixes the too-many-planets problem which had recently been resolved. Now it looks like Dodeca Balls Land rather than space again. Personally I'm hoping for more "padding" void space between systems, and no more adjacent systems' planets rendering.

 

[Snk]

I don't really like the spawning of systems. It's too orderly. I think if they were randomly spawned in a galaxy, with vast swathes of interstellar space between them, that would be great.

 

[FunnyBunny14]

One of the issues is that planets in adjacent systems now show up, which is immersion-breaking and de-fixes the too-many-planets problem which had recently been resolved. Now it looks like Dodeca Balls Land rather than space again. Personally I'm hoping for more "padding" void space between systems, and no more adjacent systems' planets rendering.

Sector size apparently is going to be 5000. And that really is huge.

 

[BiGEdge]

but when the sector size gets bigger there should be an option in the config to adjust the asteroid count.
Else youve got 5 roids in a sector that seems too big

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

but when the sector size gets bigger there should be an option in the config to adjust the asteroid count.
Else youve got 5 roids in a sector that seems too big

I already run 5000 as my default size. Asteroid belts already have more than 5 asteroids in them. Sure it isn't like you see represented in movies but all those potential collisions would be murder on a server.

 

[FunnyBunny14]

I'm fairly certain that the asteroid count is going to be increased. Config options for asteroids also are a possibility.