OXZ and balance

[Zireael]

Yes, the status of OXZs is denoted by colour. I was thinking more of the Tag system.

We could have colors being Tags

[Diziet Sma]

Yes, the status of OXZs is denoted by colour. I was thinking more of the Tag system.

We could have colors being Tags

Well, having the colours written as words would help all those unfortunates who happen to be colour-blind..

[Smivs]

That's what I had in mind. The tag for a neutral OXZ would be something like "Balance:Green".

[Norby]

Would "buff" be better than "uber"? Uber to me sounds inherently game-breaking, while "buff" sounds pretty clear that it's boosting something or other without being specific about what or how much?

The problem with a positive word is described at "powerup" - the goal is to keep back newbies at least in the first few game.

And "tweak" rather than "none" perhaps? Since that indicates minor changes, but changes nonetheless?

I mean none if there is no balance tag given at all, where we need to define a neutral category to use by default and define when can be leaved here.

I like Smivs' idea so we can use color codes also:
-"Balance:Green": like "safe",
-"Balance:White" or missing balance tag for marginal changes (like a new ship),
-"Balance:Yellow": like "uber",
-"Balance:Red": like "cheat".

I think the direction of bonus is another parameter, like "Favor:Player" and "Favor:NPC". Moreover the blue and other colors are not self-evident imho.

[Stormrider]

How about Oolite's ranking system? We all already know the ranking system and it would become evident to new commanders after a little play I think. Something like :

safe = harmless
moderate difficulty = average
uber = deadly
cheat = elite

[mossfoot]

Again, misconstrued meaning. I'd assume that "Elite" is about being difficult, while a cheat simply makes things super easy.

[Norby]

How about Oolite's ranking system?

Harmless and Average words are as good as Green and White imho, but Elite is a positive word so I think Dangerous and Deadly are the best associations of Yellow and Red.

[Smivs]

As you people seem to like words so much, how about 'confusing'.
The colour- tag idea was supposed to keep things simple, as in that is all that is needed

[ClymAngus]

I agree, visual cues are the best. Colour backed up with writing (for the visually impared) seem the best way of doing things. This worked for the maps and I see no reason why a lot of information cannot be expressed very quickly and easily through this format.

To limit work, I would suggest disagreement with the ranking of any additional content comes from the maker of that content. Player comment about the colour classification of their favorite app is essentially trivial and subjective.

[Smivs]

I think the classification should be done (responsibly ) by the Author.

I have started working on an implementation of the colour-tag system, which will consist of a series of images (uploaded to the wiki) which authors can add to their wiki pages if they decide to go with the scheme.
Below is a very rough demo of what I'm thinking. The left-side boxes will be ticked (or checked) to denote which applies, so there will be five images in all - red ticked, orange ticked etc.. Any comments?

[Norby]

I think we need to sepatare the neutral and little effects. Players often want to play the original game with visual changes only without any new ship regardless of the ship is near the core parameters. So just one green level is not enough, we need a white to mark the average with little effects and use the green to harmless only.

I think the blue is not good to keep back new players from uber player ships. On the contrary: if he read that this make thing easier then he think he should install in the first game but not.
Moreover if a strong ship is available both to player and NPCs then some author will give botrh red and blue color which can be confusing for a new pilot, or maybe put into the green if he thinks the two opposite bonus negate each other?

More clear if we use the balance scale to show how far will he step from the core, and another (favor?) to show the direction if the bonus is not equal for the player and NPCs.

[Disembodied]

What about something like New Cargoes? It has (or can have) a big influence on gameplay, but less so on balance. It can make the game a bit easier (if you are skilful, or occasionally lucky) by offering you bigger profits; but it can also make it harder, because it provides the player with the chance to lose a lot of money too.

[Norby]

Anything where you can earn a credit should not be in green imho. The earnable bonus in New Cargoes maybe little enough to leave in white, but the final decision is should be done by the Author, after we made a wiki page from the most common ideas in this topic.

[Smivs]

As I said, the decision as to which colour is the Authors. I'm quite confident that other Board members will be more than happy to point out poorly classified OXZs - we have a history of objectivity and honest appraisal around here

Just to clarify, when the manifest.plist tags are activated in the future, these will link with the 'Balance Indicator' (or whatever we want to call this), using the 'Balance:Green' etc system. Once the system is established it should be clear and hopefully useful.

[spara]

I love the girly color proposed for "significant bias in player's favour."