Keptick's super original Q&A thread.

[Keptick]

The title isn't sarcastic at all.

I think that you get the point of the thread, fire away those question!

 

[Thalanor]

Asking this almost everyone these days, but I am quite sure your take on this one will be much to my liking.

Please order the following items in terms of "should be tackled before the others".
(NOTE: This list does NOT exclusively represent stuff I want to see in the game ASAP. I just like to know a candidate's priorities, because any realist knows you can't tackle alot at once, and some points require other points to be finished first in order to be useful to their full potential)

- Planetary resource acquisition and factional economy
- Further large object optimization, improvement of effective logic update distance
- Integration of RP/interior/crew into meaningful game mechanics
- Additional astronaut mode content, including equipment
- Graphical weapons update: better scaling of visual FX, explosions, smoke, particles, "battle flair"
- Mechanical weapons and systems update: Improvement and/or niche-finding for underused weapon/system combinations
- Single player content for both servers and actual localhost (mobs, NPCs, missions, trade)
- Fleet control (of varying depth; at least some basic commands like follow, protect and similar)

 

[FullMetalFox]

1: Is the balance of starmades content and game mechanics a very important subject to you?
2: Will you try to prioritize your council work on analyses/suggestions/solutions regarding these balance issues?

 

[Master_Artificer]

Serious questions: (sorry if some were already asked)

How often will you respond to people on the forums? How long will you be able to give genuine responses to all the half-assed ideas people bring before you start getting frustrated?

Are you going to be bias'ed towards one set of issues and not the other? What issues are the closest to your heart? Do you already have a set list of issues that you want to lobby for? How much clout do you have in the system?

Do you think Schema needs a team of coders, and not just himself? How will he recruit/pay for a team, and what would a dream team look like?

What do you think of Schema? Do you know him personally, or have you spoken with him at all? What is he doing right, and what could he be doing... better on? What do you think of the staff/management here?

What do you think of the ship sizes as of late? If you were to redesign the ship class chart, what would the new masses be?

What is your relationship with the other "semi-famous" people in Starmade? Do you respect their views, disagree with their views, etc? What about your relationship with the staff? With me? :p

Are you in school? What are you studying in school? How is it going?

Do you have a job? How is it? Will this new job/volunteer position affect your real life job?

What kind of books do you read? What kind of movies do you watch? What is your favorite genre?

How confident are you about winning a seat? If their were only 8 seats, and you ended up coming in 9th, who would be the guy right above you in 8th you think? If you weren't elected, who would you want to be elected in your place?

What do you think about these questions? Am I doing it right?

Will your campaign strategy be "If I am elected, I will release the blueprint of the shell for the Charon?" How many votes will that get you? Is that against the rules? Are you moderately annoyed/face-palming at this question?

How crazy ar- Ahem. Do you believe we landed on the moon? Have you watch the Apollo documentary videos made by NASA? (they are like 20 minutes long each, made in the 1970's.) What is your stance on climate change? Do you think republican governors banning discussion of climate change in their office's will finally rid the globe of this threat? Is it a threat? Do you believe that political scientists that are paid to write bogus articles (happens on both sides) could be the main cause of American's distrust in Science?

How much of an astronomer are you? What do you think of Pluto?

What kind of mouse do you use? If you were to upgrade, what mouse do you want? What is your computer setup like?

If you were a meme, what would it be? What is your favorite meme? Reaction image? What is your least favorite? What do you find most annoying?

 

[Keptick]

Asking this almost everyone these days, but I am quite sure your take on this one will be much to my liking.

Please order the following items in terms of "should be tackled before the others".
(NOTE: This list does NOT exclusively represent stuff I want to see in the game ASAP. I just like to know a candidate's priorities, because any realist knows you can't tackle alot at once, and some points require other points to be finished first in order to be useful to their full potential)

- Planetary resource acquisition and factional economy
- Further large object optimization, improvement of effective logic update distance
- Integration of RP/interior/crew into meaningful game mechanics
- Additional astronaut mode content, including equipment
- Graphical weapons update: better scaling of visual FX, explosions, smoke, particles, "battle flair"
- Mechanical weapons and systems update: Improvement and/or niche-finding for underused weapon/system combinations
- Single player content for both servers and actual localhost (mobs, NPCs, missions, trade)
- Fleet control (of varying depth; at least some basic commands like follow, protect and similar)

I'm going to order them in a way that would benefit the game the most in the long term. There's some features that I would like NOW but I know that they'd just flop without the proper base features to support them. Number one and two are the most important imo, the order in which the rest will be implemented doesn't matter nearly as much.

1. Planetary resource acquisition and factional economy.
   • This is a necessary step before adding in the other content. Why? Because it would proved players/factions an actual goal and something to fight for. Honestly, I think that this should be at the very core of the gameplay; Control of planets (in order to get ressources). I think that most of the community shares this concern, at least the person I usually talk to do. It's also a link between other features such as random events, AI factions, player factions, AI fleet control, weapons (a reason to fight), etc....
2. Edit: SHIPYARDS! (just going to slip this one in)
3. AI overhaul (Fleet control somewhat falls into this category).
   • Reason that it's number two is because it's a necessity for a multitude of other features to work well, pirates, turrets, random events, quests, etc.... I can guarantee that starting to add in more NPC content without changing the AI will result in a complete flop, kinda like the faction point system is at the moment.
   • Fleet control to balance out combat between different sized ships. Starting to do in depth balancing of weapons without having the system necessary for different ship sizes to properly interact between each-other would be a mistake in my opinion. There's a post pinned in the general forum section about this very issue.
4. PvE overhaul. (quests, different difficulty of pirate spawns, etc...)
   • The random pirate spawning + loot mechanics we have right now are a bit ridiculous, fixing those is a necessary step in order to ensure a good server and single-player environment.
5. Integration of RP/interior/crew into meaningful game mechanics
   • I honestly have no idea how Schema could go about improvements for this point, but whatever it is it should be done Before improving weapons or at the same time.
6. Mechanical weapons and systems update
   • As much as it pains me to put this point that far down the list, it's necessary. Deciding to implement it before number one and two would honestly be a waste of precious time. The current master/slave system is pretty solid, but a few tweaks could still be made to the behavior of some weapons (namely damage pulses). Also, MINES!
7. Astronaut content
   • Not really much to say about this one. It could actually be done anywhere between #3 and the last item on the list as it doesn't affect other elements that much.
8. Optimization/graphical content.
   • I believe that all out optimization should only be made after all the features are in place, otherwise it'll most likely turn out to be a waste of precious time. However, I still think that schema should do optimization when he can (what he's doing right now).
   • Graphical content really don't affect gameplay that much. To be honest, that's a task that an other dev could take on (omni I believe).

I'll be honest, number 3 to 6 could probably be ordered differently without making much of a difference as they're all fairly important. I did my best to order them according to my personal opinion (which I wouldn't rely on as much if I was taking decisions as a member of the council).
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1: Is the balance of starmades content and game mechanics a very important subject to you?
2: Will you try to prioritize your council work on analyses/suggestions/solutions regarding these balance issues?

1) Balance is a very big aspect of the game in my opinion. And luckily, it can be done in tandem with game development. Balance can make or break a game, so yea, I think that it's important :p.

2) To be honest I think that it'll be very possible to do everything at once if the council is good. Balance has always been something I've liked to talk about with the devs, and that's not going to change. If a change is badly needed I'll do my best to get it as quickly and swiftly as possible to the Devs. Well, if I get elected :p

 

[Master_Artificer]

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1) Balance is a very big aspect of the game in my opinion. And luckily, it can be done in tandem with game development. Balance can make or break a game, so yea, I think that it's important :p.

2) To be honest I think that it'll be very possible to do everything at once if the council is good. Balance has always been something I've liked to talk about with the devs, and that's not going to change. If a change is badly needed I'll do my best to get it as quickly and swiftly as possible to the Devs. Well, if I get elected :p

How "drastic" would you "Balance" things? Would you shift it completely to one side, so nobody uses previously overpowered thing/strategy anymore, then re-buff it back to "balanced" levels, where it completes, and a few people start using it again? Or, would you do small, incremental shifts over time, like a 2-5% change every 2 weeks, and see what feedback you get?

 

[Keptick]

How often will you respond to people on the forums? How long will you be able to give genuine responses to all the half-assed ideas people bring before you start getting frustrated?

I usually get involved in a conversation or give my opinion when I can. By the time I read those half-assed ideas CyberTao has already responded to them and is usually saying the exact same thing I would, which is nice xD.

Are you going to be bias'ed towards one set of issues and not the other? What issues are the closest to your heart? Do you already have a set list of issues that you want to lobby for? How much clout do you have in the system?

Well, I'm always going to have personal bias towards some issues (which is only natural). However, that doesn't mean that I'll be trying to get them fixed/changed if it doesn't contribute to the game. The job of a councilor is to represent the community, so if the community doesn't like it than that's what will need changing. If I ever do personal suggestions to the devs it'll be as an other normal player. I'm not trying to get on the council out of personal gain, that'd destroy the very idea of the council and go against it's founding principle.

Do you think Schema needs a team of coders, and not just himself? How will he recruit/pay for a team, and what would a dream team look like?

Well, a super secret source called Comr4de told a couple of us in the Elwyn Eternity teamspeak that schema had hired a coder recently (an ex minecraft modder). I'm not too sure if it's true or just a rumor, though. The question itself is hard to answer, because I understand why schema isn't hiring other coders. To be honest, so long as it's productive I don't mind the amount of developers that there are. If it's more productive with a single person than so be it.

What do you think of Schema? Do you know him personally, or have you spoken with him at all? What is he doing right, and what could he be doing... better on? What do you think of the staff/management here?

Cat. I talked to him in chat a couple of times back when he used to go there. I honestly have no idea what schema does or how schine is operated (I don't think that anyone does ).

What do you think of the ship sizes as of late? If you were to redesign the ship class chart, what would the new masses be?

Someone came up with a logarithmic growth chart a while back. It used mass as it's value but was surprisingly accurate when it came to ship size increases. Honestly, it really depends on the user.

What is your relationship with the other "semi-famous" people in Starmade? Do you respect their views, disagree with their views, etc? What about your relationship with the staff? With me? :p

I think that I have a good relationship with pretty much everyone. There's some faction related tensions at times but it's really just with faction roleplay, I don't actually hate an in-game enemy irl. I have a pretty good relationship with most of the staff if not all of the staff. As for you, well, good (I think?) :P

Are you in school? What are you studying in school? How is it going?

I'm currently in pure and applied sciences. I wish to get into a mechatronics program at University.

Do you have a job? How is it? Will this new job/volunteer position affect your real life job?

I don't have a job at the moment, no.

What kind of books do you read? What kind of movies do you watch? What is your favorite genre?

I mostly like action/fantasy/sci-fi books and movies, I really don't like drama movies/books.

How confident are you about winning a seat? If their were only 8 seats, and you ended up coming in 9th, who would be the guy right above you in 8th you think? If you weren't elected, who would you want to be elected in your place?

I don't really have any expectations to be honest, I'd rather just wait and see what happens than stress out for no reason. I honestly have no idea.

What do you think about these questions? Am I doing it right?

I think that there's a FREAKING GIGANTIC NUMBER OF THEM AND THAT IT'S TAKING FOR EVERY TO ANSWER!!!!!!!! Just kidding, but I honestly think that some of the questions are rather unrelated to the council :P.

Will your campaign strategy be "If I am elected, I will release the blueprint of the shell for the Charon?" How many votes will that get you? Is that against the rules? Are you moderately annoyed/face-palming at this question?

In your dreams :P

How crazy ar- Ahem. Do you believe we landed on the moon? Have you watch the Apollo documentary videos made by NASA? (they are like 20 minutes long each, made in the 1970's.) What is your stance on climate change? Do you think republican governors banning discussion of climate change in their office's will finally rid the globe of this threat? Is it a threat? Do you believe that political scientists that are paid to write bogus articles (happens on both sides) could be the main cause of American's distrust in Science?

Yea, I believe that the americans landed on the moon. Faking it and silencing the thousands of people involved with the project would actually take a greater effort than sending someone to the moon.

I honestly find it funny that they'd ban climate change discussions from their offices. Isn't freedom of speech a thing in america? I don't really want to get into the mess that is american scientific distrust. Besides, this is a council Q&A thread for a video game.

How much of an astronomer are you? What do you think of Pluto?

Not much I'll admit, altough I do find astrology interesting I don't actively perform it myself. I think that pluto is very very very cold.

What kind of mouse do you use? If you were to upgrade, what mouse do you want? What is your computer setup like?

I'm currently using a Logitech MX wireless mouse (which is amazing) with a three years old laptop that burns my hands while I'm playing starmade. I've been considering upgrading to a much more powerful desktop for a while now.

If you were a meme, what would it be? What is your favorite meme? Reaction image? What is your least favorite? What do you find most annoying?

U wot m8?
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How "drastic" would you "Balance" things? Would you shift it completely to one side, so nobody uses previously overpowered thing/strategy anymore, then re-buff it back to "balanced" levels, where it completes, and a few people start using it again? Or, would you do small, incremental shifts over time, like a 2-5% change every 2 weeks, and see what feedback you get?

Balancing wouldn't be my job. Just letting the person in charge know what the community wants. If I was actually in charge I'd probably go with smaller incremental shifts in testing in order to find the right spot. However, I don't think that the community should suffer through incessant changes. The best way would be balance out a feature properly the first time it's released and not having to mess around with it afterwards.

 

[Comr4de]

Whoops shit this link is SO HEAVY
https://twitter.com/bspkrs

 

[Keptick]

SHIPYARDS, HOW THE F*CK DID I FORGET SHIPYARDS?????? Make that #2 in the answer to Thalanor 's question.

 

[Thalanor]

SHIPYARDS, HOW THE F*CK DID I FORGET SHIPYARDS?????? Make that #2 in the answer to Thalanor 's question.

I kinda forgot them myself in the listing :P Although most likely they are already "in the pipeline" (the magical realm only cats and coders can ever grasp) and as such we'll get them soon enough with no way to further influence it.

 

[Keptick]

I kinda forgot them myself in the listing :p Although most likely they are already "in the pipeline" (the magical realm only cats and coders can ever grasp) and as such we'll get them soon enough with no way to further influence it.

I really hope for that to be true. I've heard that rails might be integrated into the shipyard mechanic. I kinda have a feeling that we're going to be 3D printing ships :D