Balance between Player and NPC ships.
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- Smivs
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Balance between Player and NPC ships.
Reading this thread, it has become clear that all ships are not equal.
A Player Mk3 Cobra, for example is faster than a trader Mk3 Cobra, which in turn is faster than a pirate Mk3 Cobra. This is quite a common feature, and affects many of the Oolite ships.
I will shortly be releasing Version 2 of Smivs' ShipSet, and this might be a good opportunity to correct this imbalance, if that's what you want.
Hence this Poll.
Let me know what you think and what you'd like in terms of adjusting the performance of some NPCs to make them the same as Player ships. This only relates to the speed of the ship...equipment and options would remain unchanged.
A Player Mk3 Cobra, for example is faster than a trader Mk3 Cobra, which in turn is faster than a pirate Mk3 Cobra. This is quite a common feature, and affects many of the Oolite ships.
I will shortly be releasing Version 2 of Smivs' ShipSet, and this might be a good opportunity to correct this imbalance, if that's what you want.
Hence this Poll.
Let me know what you think and what you'd like in terms of adjusting the performance of some NPCs to make them the same as Player ships. This only relates to the speed of the ship...equipment and options would remain unchanged.
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You're probably right.Disembodied wrote:Something like this would need to be extensively playtested – for weeks, if not more, by many different players – before it could be introduced. It's bound to have significant effects on gameplay.
It'll be interesting to see how the poll goes, but I don't think I'll start messing with the new ShipSet now as It's only a few days away from release (blatant plug ) , but after that I may create an OXP presumably just consisting of an amended shipdata.plist for this purpose.
As you realise, it's very hard to judge what affect this sort of change may make to gameplay, but it will be interesting to find out.
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Funny that "everyone" seems to want to boost the NPCs...
IMHO we should just pullt the player ship back in line.
If you look at any other core ships, they're just as slow or fast as players as NPCs.
So, I've toned down all player Cobra mk 3s, be it core game or OXP in my installation of Oolite. Because of several OXPs installed, I thought 0.30 would nerf it too much, I chose 0.32 for player Cobra mk 3.
Now it makes sense to switch from default ship to othe Cobra mk3 variants, which have less cargo space but more speed.
IMHO we should just pullt the player ship back in line.
If you look at any other core ships, they're just as slow or fast as players as NPCs.
So, I've toned down all player Cobra mk 3s, be it core game or OXP in my installation of Oolite. Because of several OXPs installed, I thought 0.30 would nerf it too much, I chose 0.32 for player Cobra mk 3.
Now it makes sense to switch from default ship to othe Cobra mk3 variants, which have less cargo space but more speed.
...and keep it under lightspeed!
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Friendliest Meteor Police that side of Riedquat
Far Arm ships
Z-ships
Baakili Far Trader
Tin of SPAM
Likewise, I slowed my player Cobbie3 down.
Perhaps NPCs should have a small percentage range - illegally tuned engines (with a chance of failure) or detuned (because of lack of maintenance) which slightly affects top-speed.
But IMHO all ships of the same model should be the same speed - regardless of player or NPC. You could have variations of a model but any speed differences should be offset by something else, eg, cargo space or equipment compatibility.
Perhaps NPCs should have a small percentage range - illegally tuned engines (with a chance of failure) or detuned (because of lack of maintenance) which slightly affects top-speed.
But IMHO all ships of the same model should be the same speed - regardless of player or NPC. You could have variations of a model but any speed differences should be offset by something else, eg, cargo space or equipment compatibility.
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It would be fare to gradually increase the NPC's ships characteristics (reaching those of a real player),
using the player's kills as a parameter.
It is just an idea I had and I don't even know if that's possible.
EDIT: Give the poor newbie a chance!
using the player's kills as a parameter.
It is just an idea I had and I don't even know if that's possible.
EDIT: Give the poor newbie a chance!
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Pulling back the playership advantages to NPC levels sounds good to me.
I always assumed that pirates were slower due to lack of maintenance and traders like to keep flying 'in the green' to limit corrosion of the engine manifolds etc. even if those mechanisms are not actually real.
I always assumed that pirates were slower due to lack of maintenance and traders like to keep flying 'in the green' to limit corrosion of the engine manifolds etc. even if those mechanisms are not actually real.
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I think you should leave the player a small advantage. Even in D&D the PC are above average. So, consider speed, roll, pitch, missiles an equivalent of strenght, dexterity, constitution and all will be clear.
My ship list:
Cobra MK 3 - Lepka
Dragon M - Smaug
Python - Boa Pitonato
Cobra MK 3 - Lepka II
Now in a Python ET Special - Shark Panzer
[G5] -= Deadly =- (3720 Kills)
Cobra MK 3 - Lepka
Dragon M - Smaug
Python - Boa Pitonato
Cobra MK 3 - Lepka II
Now in a Python ET Special - Shark Panzer
[G5] -= Deadly =- (3720 Kills)
edit : forget about this, now I see it all is discussed in-depth-est in the other topic and - once again - Disembodied expressing anything I feel about it.
Hm,
to me this seems that you thought mostly about combat.
Think too about being stuck behind a like-ship in the spacelane, not being able to use torusdrive. If the NPC ship has exactly the same speed, you'd be stuck for all the way.
And no, i do not like to use the outside-main-spacelane too often, it still feels somewhat cheat-ish or at least coward-ish to me.
And I already have to use it in those systems where the game slows down too much (in framerate).
So I am not sure I would want such change in the core game, but applicable as an OXP that does just that - sure, why not ? Noone is forced to use it, and you could easily(?) adapt-update it when players find problems with it.
to me this seems that you thought mostly about combat.
Think too about being stuck behind a like-ship in the spacelane, not being able to use torusdrive. If the NPC ship has exactly the same speed, you'd be stuck for all the way.
And no, i do not like to use the outside-main-spacelane too often, it still feels somewhat cheat-ish or at least coward-ish to me.
And I already have to use it in those systems where the game slows down too much (in framerate).
So I am not sure I would want such change in the core game, but applicable as an OXP that does just that - sure, why not ? Noone is forced to use it, and you could easily(?) adapt-update it when players find problems with it.
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Oh yes. Somebody already mentioned that there are some drawbacks in the starting-three-different-threads-in-order-to-discuss-the-same-thing-approach to bulletin boards.snork wrote:edit : forget about this, now I see it all is discussed in-depth-est in the other topic and - once again - Disembodied expressing anything I feel about it.