Read by Schine Fleets and what could be used to control them

[Wolverines527]

I know this has been suggested many times so im going to cut to the chase.

We all we would love to have our own fleets to command so heres my proposal.

We could use a method by using what is used for advanced build mode but instead its called fleet mode.

When in fleet mode you have two choices fleet ships or hanger fighters

When you pick an option you have to click on a target for you ships to attack if you want individual ships to attack you have to go into advanced fleet mode which works like advanced build mode but instead of build options you have the names of you ships.


Example.
Advanced fleet mode
Ghost of Razgriz[x]
Zeus []
Kestral []

Hangar mode
Wardog 1 [x]
Wardog 2 [x
wardog 3 [x]
Wardog 4 [x]
Heartbreak one [x]

Click our target

After you click the ships or fighters will attack the ship you designated for them to attack.

Tell me what you guys think i thought of this while i was messing around with advanced build mode

And please note in order for it to work it needs an AI but thats if its implemented

 

[logo1575]

I like the idea but that would only work for combat areas my suggestion is to introduce a block that works kinda like the inner ship remote where you can have one that you place on say a command ship and another that you place on a frigate/fighter and you can set a patrol zone around the command ship and you can issue commands from the command ship to the other frigates/fighters from the control block.

 

[Sha3es]

It would totally be worth it, because this could be used as a force multiplier for those smaller factions out there that might end up having to fight bigger ones.

 

[Wolverines527]

I agree with you guys on this plus it would also make having carriers be more of a thing then just having big player controled ships you would also have big fleet engagements which would capture more players eyes as well

 

[EMC007]

I like it, it would definitely help any small factions compete against larger ones, and I LOVE rts games and features.

+1

 

[Wolverines527]

Well logically this feature would apply to everyone and bigger groups having more is a given
[DOUBLEPOST=1444093797,1444093676][/DOUBLEPOST]Unless shine makes this feature for the little guys in the game but that would make the older players angry

 

[TheOmega]

There is a game called Starsector (awesome game btw) that handles this well. You can click to select a ship or use a markerbox or shift click to select multiple. You can then tell the ships you selected to travel to a waypoint (requires more specific coordinate system), escort a ship (keeps same position relative to escorted ship, and attacks nearby ships), capture certain points (not in this game), hunt (track and destroy), among other options, including retreat. How it keeps this from being too crazy OP with large numbers of ships is a thing called command points. You use 1 command point for every command given, and only 1, even if you have multiple ships selected. To balance it here, you should have max 5 command points, and not be able to cancel commands, so you have to wait for ships to be destroyed, or finish their task.

 

[Wolverines527]

I was thinking more on other rts games but with a more of a commander on the field feel to it

 

[RoAnnon]

I like the idea but that would only work for combat areas my suggestion is to introduce a block that works kinda like the inner ship remote where you can have one that you place on say a command ship and another that you place on a frigate/fighter and you can set a patrol zone around the command ship and you can issue commands from the command ship to the other frigates/fighters from the control block.

A Fleet Command Module on the carrier/mothership, and a Fleet Communication Module on the other ships. Additionally, the FCM could give the carrier a "Flagship" flag, which could turn out useful in additional scenarios.

 

[Drakkart]

how about a fleet command block which will allow everyone of the right faction to switch into a tactical view like in homeworld. giving commands which ai would just acknowledge and players would get on their hud as objectives... just saying would be awesome battleing homeworld style with our self built ships...
for the record i am just writing this down here not because i think it would make much sense in starmade just because if you listen deep into yourself you know we would want that i mean would there be something more awesome? commanding entire fleets like in homeworld? i'd find that absolutely awesome.

 

[Sha3es]

The ability to open into a top down map of a system or set number of sectors would be an amazing addition to the game. My only question is how are we going to get an AI that would function well enough to satisfy all players. Additionally, how much strain on processing would this give to the game.

 

[Wolverines527]

A good point there i would say limit the size of ships to escort class ships say ships 30k and under can be commanded while other sizes would be considered capital ship class and maybe a limit on commands to task force sized fleets while fighters and bombers are limited to 40 ships per flagship at least till servers can handle the strain

 

[EMC007]

A good point there i would say limit the size of ships to escort class ships say ships 30k and under can be commanded while other sizes would be considered capital ship class and maybe a limit on commands to task force sized fleets while fighters and bombers are limited to 40 ships per flagship at least till servers can handle the strain

That idea I like a lot, but i feel 30k might be a bit small, (I know that it's not the final number, just saying), but I think this would definitely help fps. We would still need a limit for the amount of ships we could control.

OR

We could do that very similarly, but make it so there is a cap to how much mass can be controlled, not ship amount.

So, lets say there is a cap of 120k mass, you could either control 1 capital ship with 120k mass total, or 4 frigates each being 30k mass, or maybe even 1000 drones, all being 120 mass. Though the cap should be server configurable.

I don't know, no matter what, it will cause lag I don't think that can be stopped without some more optimizations to the game, but I would LOVE and rts feature.

 

[Wolverines527]

Cruiser mass should be as far as anyone goes battleship might be pushing it but better then the lag Inducing titan class ships invading systems
[DOUBLEPOST=1444268290,1444267985][/DOUBLEPOST]Cruiser mass should be as far as anyone goes battleship might be pushing it but better then the lag Inducing titan class ships invading systems

 

[logo1575]

Maybe another idea is that using the command block idea a command ship can only control ships a specific percentage of its total mass and within a certain radius of the command ship. This radius can be changed using an antenna like setup that draws more power the larger the radius is. The more ships that are in this radius the smaller the radius gets so only a certain number can be controlled at a time without drawing massive power from the control ship. The total mass of the ship also has an affect on this control making larger ships harder to control without putting strain on the command ship.

 

[MacThule]

Another VERY simple solution could be an alternative tactical version of the navcomp that displays all targets (through a filter) and options to assign certain individuals or groups of targets to pre-determined command groups. it doesn't even have to live-update targets, it can simply be refreshed on timer.

So (for example only - since specific assignments would depend upon individual play style for expected engagements) before combat you assign docked fighters to command group 1, fast ships to group 2, and heavies to group 3. Once the tactical navcomp starts populating targets you can assign them to specific combat groups and the standard AI will take over and engage as best as possible prioritizing assigned targets until all are eliminated, then engaging randomly as per normal AI.

 

[aytoms29]

Fleets should just be an RTS style mode. Select ships. Select path. Select target. OVERWHELMING PAIN.

 

[MacThule]

Fleets should just be an RTS style mode. Select ships. Select path. Select target. OVERWHELMING PAIN.

Interesting. How would that be implemented? Practically speaking?

 

[aytoms29]

Interesting. How would that be implemented? Practically speaking?

You could use a zoomed in map screen to see all the ships. So instead of planets/stations you would have your ships. There could be ship views as well. So if you had a ship/a bunch of ships that was attacking another ship you could see how well it is doing and maybe even take control of it. Clicking on your ships would give you the options and display its stats (HP and everything else) but highlighting will allow you to command multiple ships at the same time. Instead of sectors there could be a grid of every 100m3(?) and that could be used to determine ships attack path as well. It could work well with a bunch of other options and could even support remote controlled drones (Ships arrive at destination, three people use a drone block(?) to find the ship and take control of it.

If it works thats all.

 

[logo1575]

Interesting idea but that kinda ruins the point of the game, I personally enjoy Starmade because of the building and control aspects of how the game is currently set up. If I wanted to play a game with a map controlled fleet I would simply go play Homeworld or empire at war. Many different ideas would work for controlling fleets the issue is one that works without changing the core dynamics of the game itself. Starmade is primarily designed to be a player controlled game with pvp interactions. I like the idea of adding some sort of better ai control for fleets but if the core design of the game is changed to implement this I would rather the system remained the same as it is currently. You are welcome to disagree with this viewpoint but I enjoy playing starmade for the same reasons I enjoy playing minecraft. Player interaction with an opportunity to pit your greatest creations against one another and being able to rebuild those creations later.