Hello, this is gonna be a hot take on tiered thrusters & generators. Enjoy.
You are basically:
1. Re-using existing models (boring)
2. Repainting them (lazy)
3. Changing some variables and resource costs around. (also lazy)
4. Calling it done. (a mistake)
Starbase deserves better than that.
As it currently looks like its going to be, thrusters might as well just be one single part now, a solid chunk of blue, green or red.
I'm just going to come out and say it; I think you're lazy and are being careless with your game, in order to pump out some quick 'content' before EA.
The vast majority of people I've spoken to about the subject seems to agree (bar 1 person).
So let's take a closer look at what your approach will give us.
1. More 'content' before EA.
Let's not lie here, this is what you're gunning for.
2. Upgradeable ships in-world, should you come across some salvage or want to upgrade.
(Who does this anyway? Ships are designed to have an appropriate power plant, and swapping out your thrusters on anything other than the lighest of fighter or laborer style ships sounds like an overall bad time)
3. Dulling down ship-designing. Just use highest tiers when resources allow.
"Oh, your ship design is bad and the thruster pack you built can only do 90m/s? Slap on some T3s instead"
4. Takes no time to figure out that Blue = Bad and Red = Best, or whatever colors you're going with.
5. And this one is important, so sharpen up. Whatever we get now, will stay.
Why? Because it is an MMO and removing/changing these parts in a major way, when people are already using them on their ships is a big no no. (Less so during EA, but you get my point)
What you could do differently
1. Realize that you're going into EA, not 1.0 Release.
You do not need tiered progression NOW.
It will not fix your game lacking gameplay loops, or come anywhere near to it, as ship building is definitely not the area your game is lacking in.
No one cares if an upgrade to generators/thrusters comes at EA launch date, or a month later.
And I'm sure I speak for the majority when I say:
Plasma thruster is good content, more of that. Do not start cutting corners by reskinning parts and changing their values.. again: Starbase deserves better than that.
2. Throw out everything tier based apart from different fuels, start over and work on new and interesting modules instead. These should be easy enough to learn to use, but very hard to master.
3. Realize you have a modular system already for generators. Yet, for some reason you don't use it to its full extent?
The enhancers (as they exist/existed) is an example, but not one well thought out. It's just an up-front/space cost for an increase in fuel efficiency. (Rings a bell?)
Here is a couple of ideas that I just throw out, no care put into them, yet somehow it seems more interesting than the tier-based solution you're working on..
a. A module that could allow touching chambers to run on higher tier fuels (Tiered, if we should call them that, fuels (and propellant) is perfectly fine)
b. A module that could allow touching generator units to run hotter, i.e. produce more power, at the cost of a non-linear fuel consumption.
(Perhaps you could add liquid coolant we store in tanks, as an alternative to radiators and cells)
(Generators that run 'hotter' in this manner, without being cooled sufficiently *could* fracture after some amount of time)
c. Change the power output of generator units to be based on the average fuel-type being run in your chambers. (Perhaps they run @ 500 eps with bad fuel, 1500 with the best fuel, if you mix/match, some value in between?)
4. Realize that your thrusters are also modular, get working on those parts.
A couple of ideas:
a. different combustion chambers, perhaps one is more propellant efficient, another has better acceleration,
b. Perhaps the high-end combustion chambers allow you to *SUPERCHARGE* your thrusters for a while, before they need to cool down. Who knows what supercharging your thrusters do, but it sounds cool and interesting right? Perhaps they allow you to go 180m/s during this time.
(It solves another problem you have: Just go 150m/s and you're safe from anything. With this, pirates can intercept you if they have the equipment for it.)
c. What about your nozzles?
d. What about your converters?
e. What about your main thruster body? (Probably best to leave that one alone)
So, to recap: We don't need an entire set of Generator (Blue), Generator (Yellow) and Generator (Red) parts. We need modules that enhance our gameplay decisions rather than "I have money, I buy red generator".
TL: DR: We don't need progression based stuff before EA, especially not if it's rushed out in this manner. I think you can do better. Much better..
Please don't dumb down your game like this, it doesn't deserve that.
You are basically:
1. Re-using existing models (boring)
2. Repainting them (lazy)
3. Changing some variables and resource costs around. (also lazy)
4. Calling it done. (a mistake)
Starbase deserves better than that.
As it currently looks like its going to be, thrusters might as well just be one single part now, a solid chunk of blue, green or red.
I'm just going to come out and say it; I think you're lazy and are being careless with your game, in order to pump out some quick 'content' before EA.
The vast majority of people I've spoken to about the subject seems to agree (bar 1 person).
So let's take a closer look at what your approach will give us.
1. More 'content' before EA.
Let's not lie here, this is what you're gunning for.
2. Upgradeable ships in-world, should you come across some salvage or want to upgrade.
(Who does this anyway? Ships are designed to have an appropriate power plant, and swapping out your thrusters on anything other than the lighest of fighter or laborer style ships sounds like an overall bad time)
3. Dulling down ship-designing. Just use highest tiers when resources allow.
"Oh, your ship design is bad and the thruster pack you built can only do 90m/s? Slap on some T3s instead"
4. Takes no time to figure out that Blue = Bad and Red = Best, or whatever colors you're going with.
5. And this one is important, so sharpen up. Whatever we get now, will stay.
Why? Because it is an MMO and removing/changing these parts in a major way, when people are already using them on their ships is a big no no. (Less so during EA, but you get my point)
What you could do differently
1. Realize that you're going into EA, not 1.0 Release.
You do not need tiered progression NOW.
It will not fix your game lacking gameplay loops, or come anywhere near to it, as ship building is definitely not the area your game is lacking in.
No one cares if an upgrade to generators/thrusters comes at EA launch date, or a month later.
And I'm sure I speak for the majority when I say:
Plasma thruster is good content, more of that. Do not start cutting corners by reskinning parts and changing their values.. again: Starbase deserves better than that.
2. Throw out everything tier based apart from different fuels, start over and work on new and interesting modules instead. These should be easy enough to learn to use, but very hard to master.
3. Realize you have a modular system already for generators. Yet, for some reason you don't use it to its full extent?
The enhancers (as they exist/existed) is an example, but not one well thought out. It's just an up-front/space cost for an increase in fuel efficiency. (Rings a bell?)
Here is a couple of ideas that I just throw out, no care put into them, yet somehow it seems more interesting than the tier-based solution you're working on..
a. A module that could allow touching chambers to run on higher tier fuels (Tiered, if we should call them that, fuels (and propellant) is perfectly fine)
b. A module that could allow touching generator units to run hotter, i.e. produce more power, at the cost of a non-linear fuel consumption.
(Perhaps you could add liquid coolant we store in tanks, as an alternative to radiators and cells)
(Generators that run 'hotter' in this manner, without being cooled sufficiently *could* fracture after some amount of time)
c. Change the power output of generator units to be based on the average fuel-type being run in your chambers. (Perhaps they run @ 500 eps with bad fuel, 1500 with the best fuel, if you mix/match, some value in between?)
4. Realize that your thrusters are also modular, get working on those parts.
A couple of ideas:
a. different combustion chambers, perhaps one is more propellant efficient, another has better acceleration,
b. Perhaps the high-end combustion chambers allow you to *SUPERCHARGE* your thrusters for a while, before they need to cool down. Who knows what supercharging your thrusters do, but it sounds cool and interesting right? Perhaps they allow you to go 180m/s during this time.
(It solves another problem you have: Just go 150m/s and you're safe from anything. With this, pirates can intercept you if they have the equipment for it.)
c. What about your nozzles?
d. What about your converters?
e. What about your main thruster body? (Probably best to leave that one alone)
So, to recap: We don't need an entire set of Generator (Blue), Generator (Yellow) and Generator (Red) parts. We need modules that enhance our gameplay decisions rather than "I have money, I buy red generator".
TL: DR: We don't need progression based stuff before EA, especially not if it's rushed out in this manner. I think you can do better. Much better..
Please don't dumb down your game like this, it doesn't deserve that.
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