Research system (And a few other things)

[Ithirahad]

My concept for a research system is rather like Thaumcraft 3 research, but instead of Essentia, you would have certain types of technology (research areas) obtained from loot chests and sometimes pirate drops. These would include Biotech, Engines, Materials Science (hulls, glass, and so forth), Computer Systems, Weapons, Propulsion, Warp Technology, and so on. (For those not familiar with Thaumcraft 3, Essentia was basically the essence of an item; you can break that item down and use whatever types of Essentia it has for research or to create an arcane item you have already researched. The Research system basically consists of breaking a lot of items down and trying to figure out the right types of Essentia to combine. Eventually, after all of the types you need reveal themselves and you feed all of the needed items into the table, you get a finished Discovery, which can then be added to what is essentially your crafting book.)

All research areas can be researched by a character to a certain point, however after you max out all base research areas, you can choose two areas to specialize in. This would unlock special tech trees for those two areas, which would let you create rare, possibly unique (randomized) per player to a certain extent, items.

Ships would save with only standard stats (as you said), but when a ship is assembled in a Shipyard (Would replace the current ability to instantaneously "buy in" ships with the catalog), a person could put upgraded standard blocks they manufactured into the shipyard block, and they would replace the standard versions of the block in the ship that will be built. (This prevents beople from having to replace everything block-by-block, which would be painful.) Any blocks that can only be created from a recipe you obtain via special research would also need to be added into the shipyard block's inventory if they're in a blueprint.

 

[Clock]

You have Clock\'s approval. Use it wisely.

 

[NeonSturm]

How about: Use cubatoms! to get cheaper items. Split them and craft your expensive stuff



I support Tech-2 items.

If you build a ship, it could store the number of used T1/T2 items per block type. Every time a block get killed, first the T1 number decreases, then the more expensive T2 type.

Thus you would use T1 in the outer parts and T2 to make your ship more effective, but too many T2 would cost too much for ships which you will likely lose.



But I don\'t know if what is suggested in the OP would be the best for this game. I don\'t understand the explained concept well enough (how is the tech-tree organized, where does randoom affects it and how much of a bonus)

 

[Stakhanov]

Thaumcraft 3 was essentially a single player mod , with no replay value due to the research recipes being fixed and too tiresome to grind anyway. This cannot be ported to a competitive multiplayer game such as Starmade , as people would know the recipes before they start playing on a given server.

Furthermore , I greatly dislike the concept of tiered blocks - this is just another advantage people have for playing Starmade too much (on top of building ridiculously oversized ships) and further consolidates the dominance of server regulars. That advantage would be irreversible for anyone with a faction homebase. Boring and broken.

 

[Ithirahad]

Though I -SHOULD- just ignore your shitty post, Stakhanov, I\'ll go ahead and respond:


TC3 was essentially a single-player mod, and had no replay value due to the research recipes being fixed and too tiresome to grind anyway.


I know it didn\'t really have replay value, but at least it makes for some kind of progression system. I don\'t intend for this system to have the ridiculous amounts of grind (for technology types/Essentia) that Thaumcraft 3 had, and if I do, then it will be in the specializations, which certainly have replay value since you have (probably a lot) more than one character can select.


This cannot be ported to a competitive multiplayer game such as Starmade , as people would know the recipes before they start playing on a given server.


Basic tiers (non-specialized) could be shared within factions so that not everyone has to redo the same grind, which would be stupid. Furthermore, it\'s incentive for holdouts (like me) to join a faction. (In my case, the Tribes of Casimir, I suppose.) And knowing the recipes or not isn\'t the point... you can go to the Thaumcraft wiki and learn all of the recipes you want, but you still have to progress through the system to use any of them.


Furthermore , I greatly dislike the concept of tiered blocks - this is just another advantage people have for playing Starmade too much (on top of building ridiculously oversized ships) and further consolidates the dominance of server regulars.

1. \"Too much\" is an opinion.
2. Server regulars, or at least people that have logged a decent amount of time on the server, should have an advantage. You shouldn\'t be able to log on and instantly be an uberpwnzor just because you happen to have skill... that\'s generally not how games (that keep people\'s attention for a while) work. (I\'m no advocate of grinding, believe me, but I certainly don\'t believe in instant gratification either.)
3. Finishing the research tree on a character shouldn\'t take as long as building a titan; nobody should be forced by a game mechanic to take that much time to have full capability in a sandbox-y game.

That advantage would be irreversible for anyone with a faction homebase. Boring and broken.


Faction homebases are getting a balance pass anyway, according to the Q&A livestream... I don\'t think any game developer in their right mind would leave a system like the current one in place.

 

[Ithirahad]

I\'ll get an image posted ASAP with a concept for the tech tree... It\'s gonna be kind of long and confusing though.

 

[Ithirahad]

 

[ltmauve]

No. Just no. The number of features that need to be unlocked is ridicolous. Faction modules? Colored hull? Shielding? Are you kidding me?

 

[Ithirahad]

Meh, shielding could be integrated with the first block, as could colored hull, I suppose. Faction stuff, IMO, should be a T0 unlock of some kind, considering the fact that it opens up a whole system (Which will eventually be far more complicated than it is now), and should require all other T0 stuff unlocked as well.

 

[NeonSturm]

+1 to Itmauve.



Players would also be upset if their fav tree gets worse over time (balalance) or others get better, so that they wish they choosed these.

 

[Ithirahad]

Players get upset about balancing anyway... this wouldn\'t be any different, really. The only issue is if Schema were to screw up the balancing, as devs have been sometimes known to do with character classes, and piss off a good amount of players, but knowing him, it probably wouldn\'t happen, or at least wouldn\'t remain screwed up for more than a day or so.

 

[Zodapop]

No.