One thing I think is REALLY good is how expensive kit can be damaged - and how it is expensive to get it fixed. I think this very positively helps game balance. Consider all the naval kit - and being naval kit, it's pricey, such as - the naval energy unit, the military shield enhancement. Both give your ship a huge amount of extra 'iron assiness' but on the other hand, can be ruinously expensive if you let your ship get damaged all the time. Add to this the experimental ANTS (which is 25K credits new, so also expensive to repair)
It forces the commander to be a bit more circumspect about battles - instead of just plunging in and shooting at anything that moves, it makes the commander actually care a bit more at getting shot at, and be a little more cautious. It means you have to use tactics and tradeoffs. Do you tradeoff the risk of having expensive kit being damaged against a need to remain in the 'hot' area a bit longer and finish off just one more guy? Or should you leave for a while and lick your wounds before coming back for another go - by which time, your enemies have also replenished their shields? Do you charge straight in or do you try and do something to avoid being hit? Do you loose off three ECM hardened missiles at three targets in quick succession to keep them off your back for a bit while you deal with the Python?
Added to the rapid heating rate of military lasers, and battle has many more variables and much more careful tactics are needed instead of the classic/FE2/FFE style of combat where you just charge in with all guns blazing.
I think it also makes you really earn that Elite rating too
Initially i was utterly shocked to see what a headlong run-in cost me. Quickly I learned to approach potential problems in a more sane way, it really, really adds a lot to the suspense.
The downside is that I feel tempted to refrain from installing the 'real' killers: multi-lasered craft, like the Wolf, because I now fly a big slow ship, which can't get away fast enough (except for hyperspaceing out, and even that is not 100% safe) when there are those packs of 3-4 wolves around
I was having a chat with a friend of mine about this sort of thing the other day. One thing highlighted was in Wing Commander you looked after your friends and yourself because if you didn't, not only would they cease to fly (or game over if it is you) but you also got the whole funeral. NOTHING else I can think of has a funeral setup like it.
The same here, you look after your ship 'cos it costs a fortune to fix(unlike Frontier or Freelancer).
Oolite is also the only game I can think of where your ship value decreases over time, even Gran Tourismo didn't.
The act of talking b*ll*cks whilst waving one's arms about wildly is referred to as testiculation.
It definately adds an element of realism that is distinctly lacking in the genre as a whole.
And there is a certain charm to being the grizzled old spacer pulling that Riedquat run in a laser-burnt old rustbucket.
It would be really neat if you could specifically buy an old beat-up ship at a cut rate cost and fix it up yourself during your rise to power- a la "The Dark Wheel"
