Proposal for 1.82: combat balance changes

[Cody]

Im going to infer that you disagree and hear this alot, thus your reluctance to respond.

Yep, I've disagreed all along - but what would I know?

[OneoftheLost]

Lol its hard to read between the lines with you.

Ok, you are an excellent pilot by all accounts. Youve also been playing for what? Six years? You represent the crowd Im talking about. Imagine a brand new player is trying to make it as a bounty hunter. They just attack small groups of offenders. Are they going to find the game difficult? Yes.

I dont believe this was the case before. Maybe Ive been playing too long.

What is the difficulty you would like to see? Are we going for conplete realism here? I feel that this is a game. Much like the original Elite. Which was very player centric. Do you want more difficult combat?

[Cody]

I'll not get into a rap about it, as the perceived problems are being rebalanced anyway. One thing: a virgin Jameson should not be going out there as a bounty-hunter!

[Disembodied]

What is the difficulty you would like to see? Are we going for conplete realism here? I feel that this is a game. Much like the original Elite. Which was very player centric. Do you want more difficult combat?

What the devs are aiming for in the next release is, I think, a range of difficulties. Safe systems should be generally safe for beginners (as they currently are - and now, you can buy off pirates: give them some cargo and they won't kill you). Things get harder as you work your way down the scale, and dangerous systems should be genuinely dangerous. I don't think anyone is going for "realism", whatever that means in a dogfighty space game: fun trumps realism every time. Dumb NPCs who obligingly queue up to be shot aren't fun. Lethal pirate packs that can't be beaten or avoided aren't fun. The aim is to produce something which can offer players at all levels a challenge suitable to their skills. It's still a work in progress, but in my opinion "progress" is the operative word. Already, 1.80 is much easier for beginners than 1.77, if you play sensibly - i.e. if you realise that, early on, you have to stay safe, avoid pirates wherever possible, and buy them off when necessary. Like Cody says, brand-new players should not expect to be able to be bounty hunters: that's a career goal, not a starting point.

[OneoftheLost]

Hmm. I suppose so. I never drop cargo. Then again I dont remember them asking alot either. Maybe have big bold letters with the command for dropping cargo?

Im going to keep at it. Make sure Im not just jumping to conclusions.

[Venator Dha]

Hmm. I suppose so. I never drop cargo. Then again I dont remember them asking alot either. Maybe have big bold letters with the command for dropping cargo?

Im going to keep at it. Make sure Im not just jumping to conclusions.

I think most people (like me) who went from 1.77 to 1.80 had a 'What the *@!& !!!' moment the first time they engaged the enemy. After the initial shock and obligatory 'press space' they have adapted. It was however recognised that the changes whilst fine for the the really experienced players had overshot the mark a bit for a new/casual player; hence this thread, and all the hard work put in by the Devs to keep what they had added but to get the balance right for the new starting player. I have been playing the development 1.81 for some time time now as a medium-good pilot who starts new commanders regularly to help with this and I think that the changes they introduced have been positive, and help to make the game more interesting. However it will take a while before they are released in 1.82. There's an OXP in this thread that you might like to use to down tune the hostiles in 1.80 - the thread is also an interesting read, as you will see that you are/were not alone in your concerns.
Don't give up the changes are I believe positive

[Disembodied]

Hmm. I suppose so. I never drop cargo. Then again I dont remember them asking alot either. Maybe have big bold letters with the command for dropping cargo?

Im going to keep at it. Make sure Im not just jumping to conclusions.

It's a standard ship comms message: "Give us X canisters and we'll let you go," etc. How it appears will depend on your HUD setup. It might be useful to consider whether the game could benefit from some sort of "incoming message" sound effect, to alert players to the fact.

It's a wise move to have some low-value cargo in the hold - and to pre-set this as ready to jettison - before jumping into a new system. It's also a wise move, when jettisoning cargo, to make sure you're not heading for the station: you want to chuck the canisters overboard so that they move away from your route, taking the pirates with them.

[Diziet Sma]

It might be useful to consider whether the game could benefit from some sort of "incoming message" sound effect, to alert players to the fact.

I second this.. excellent idea. Might end up spamming the audio a bit when things get hectic though.

This should be pretty easy to OXP.. think I'll take a crack at it.

[Cody]

I second this.. excellent idea. Might end up spamming the audio a bit when things get hectic though.

Yes... and yes!

[Disembodied]

It might be useful to consider whether the game could benefit from some sort of "incoming message" sound effect, to alert players to the fact.

I second this.. excellent idea. Might end up spamming the audio a bit when things get hectic though.

This should be pretty easy to OXP.. think I'll take a crack at it.

Cool! I don't know what sort of sound(s) would be appropriate: something like a classic Star Trek communicator chirp? Or some staticky fake speech as per the aegis radio chatter from [wiki]BGS[/wiki]?

To reduce audio spamming, is there a way to distinguish between general comms messages, and ones sent specifically to the player?

[Diziet Sma]

Cool! I don't know what sort of sound(s) would be appropriate: something like a classic Star Trek communicator chirp?

Well, what I've done so far is download about a dozen likely contenders (beeps, dings, chimes, etc) from soundbible.com (a great source of royalty-free SFX with friendly licensing terms, btw) and I'll pick one from those. I'm also playing around with the idea of letting players choose the sound they want via OXPConfig.

Or some staticky fake speech as per the aegis radio chatter from [wiki]BGS[/wiki]?

If one happened to be close to the main station at the time, that might not be noticed.. better to stick with a 'communicator' type sound, I think.

To reduce audio spamming, is there a way to distinguish between general comms messages, and ones sent specifically to the player?

Going by cim's reply to my questions in the Scripter's Cove thread, I believe the answer is 'yes'. Though I've yet to test that.

[Disembodied]

Going by cim's reply to my questions in the Scripter's Cove thread, I believe the answer is 'yes'. Though I've yet to test that.

<MrBurns>Excellent!</MrBurns>