Yeah, I can see why it would be bit tricky to implement, especially if you guys are already trying to fit roll (which, in my opinion, is not very usefull anyway). I can think of decent ways to implement it, but not together with roll. I think it's one or the other, sadly. A better option than roll, in my opinion, is to do it like Freelancer. No roll, but you click a button to recenter the ship. Honestly, I'm surprised so few developers take Freelancer controls as inspiration.
We have that "autoroll" feature implemented ... also a matter of interface fitting. But as you say, some people might prefer roll, others side thrusters, I'm thinking on some options in the config to enable one or another. Fitting both on MFI should be easy with a controller with enough buttons like MadCatz. How would you see thrusters implemented on the touch interface?
For people playing with gyro (like myself) it would be easy. I would just turn the speed up / slow down buttons into an analogue stick or a cross/d-pad. Up and down control speed, sides control lateral thrusters. For people playing with virtual controls... hmm, personally I would make the controls like a twin stick shooter. The left analogue stick controls thrusters and speed while the right stick (which would also be the fire button) would control the aiming, aka yaw and pitch. Not sure if that would a departure too radical from your vision though. I would love it as an option though, and it probably would be my favorite method of control.
Would be interesting to fit primary fire, two secondary fires, dock, jump and two side thrusters on the bottom right corner. One other idea would be to have 4 buttons where the speed control is now (move the speed a bit inwards to make room for left/right thruster). Of course I would enable roll/thrusters by some options config and leave an easier version for more casual players.
Yeah, it would be awesome if those were all options. Like customizing your own flight model. It's definitely pretty hard to fit all those options in a touchscreen. My idea comes mostly from Freelancer though. The controls in that game are almost like a FPS. AWSD works for thrusters and speed (W/S is speed, A/D lateral thrusters) while the mouse works for aiming. It works like a dream and it got a lot of love back in the day, when all of the space flight games could only be played with a joystick. Also, since auto-aim off is not possible, maybe it would be nice to have a "hardcore mode" or something where the auto aim zone is smaller? Make that circle smaller and test our skills good sir!
Not possible is not the right word , just not practical Making it smaller is possible, but the visual circle should stay the same because all those offscreen indicators are on it.
I HIGHLY disagree with you that roll is not useful. As I've been using it in the beta and it's in EVERY space combat sim and/or space game. Without it, it's like a car with steering wheel that doesn't turn all the way or you not able to move your head up and down - only sideways. Roll is part of the axes, in our ways to interact with degrees of motion - inside orientation, it must be in. Especially in a sim space game which Stellar Wanderer is representing that style. From Wiki: Six degrees of freedom (6DoF) refers to the freedom of movement of a rigid body in three-dimensional space. Specifically, the body is free to change position as forward/backward (surge), up/down (heave), left/right (sway) translation in three perpendicular axes, combined with changes in orientation through rotation about three perpendicular axes, often termed pitch, yaw, and roll. ^^ This is very important in a 3Dimensional space game. Also, thrust can be implemented (alongside roll) Roll has nothing to do with thrust. Thrust is kinetic. Roll is an orientation to degree movement. Two separate things. They both can coexist in this game. One does not cannibalize the other. Like Comas said, its all about finding the right layout. So in time. No need to rush it, make it sloppy and slap it in now. This game will come along bit by bit. The beta is showing me that's a good thing. Things are being implemented properly not slap on jobs. Regarding manual shooting: The manual shooting of enemies on your own. You can do that now. Good luck Try shooting at the NONhighlighted ones you are close to. I've tried. Very difficult. For more challenge with aiming (this seems to be what you want) Maybe the reticle of the ship (the circle) you position your enemies onto, can be minimized a little or a lot - to the point of a small circle if desired. That said, this is one the key "pick up and play" pillars. Thus, such options would have to be tucked in the game settings where you would have to manually adjust the circle size. Just my thoughts on it. REGARDING YOUR QUESTION ABOUT DEPTH: Have you not experienced it? The fluidness of the battles? (I play exclusively cockpit view) but also 3rd Person in the beta to fully test from both perspectives. However my views here are for cockpit view. Have you not experienced some of the navigation and dodging skills of the more advanced enemies? When you click on the enemies, you will see names on them. By name alone, you can tell who's the one with the talent to the lowly fodder. You'll see names like Ace or Captain to name a few. These are the ships you are in for a good battle with. I don't know what's your play style. But I'm a Navigator / Combat hybrid. Meaning I just don't follow and attack, that gets boring for me real quick. Luckily, this game is an enabler for the explorer of nuances. Especially in the beta where I have true roll (not some auto barrell roll) but true roll like elite dangerous, strike suit zero. You control its full tilt. Anyways to answer your question about the in-depth systems awaiting those who discover further into the games systems. I *play* and *bend* all the 6DoF when engaging. I'll purposely afterburn into the enemy, he's shooting at me, some hit, I dodge the rest, slowly descending in elevation as they whisk past my hull. Once close enough, I decelerate, yaw & pitch slightly turning into their backside, hit the roll to fully commit to the turn and boom I'm on them! They'll do some moves of their own trying to brake the chase. Now it becomes a fluidic dance of positioning. Who gets the drop in who. Again this kind action your getting from the advanced enemies. Other scenarios, I'll purposely have three of them chase me to those floating mining posts. I'm circling around, zig zagging through them and now it becomes a battle of navigation and shooting. I'm slicing through the small openings in the structures, then turning back around catching one of them on the flank. Now combine all that with the new ships awaiting you, the different gadgets you can add to those ships, zap one of the enemies with a EMP while your playing cat & mouse with the other two. Also, the way you can customize your attributes to cater to certain strengths while having to avoid your weaknesses. MAN!! There's a lot here! There are so many other scenarios which I can't sit here and explain, and all for a game that costs $4.99... I mean, damn, I spend more in showering products. In the end, at least for me. The true fun depends on your play style. As I've mentioned I love bending 6DoF and playing with its dimensions. This game will reward you for that with some great feelings afterward. When I go to battle, it's like I'm doing it for TV. I get creative Might as well be asking me: Bruh, do you even Battlestar Galactica? In which I'll respond, why yes - I do.
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. Of course roll and thrust can coexist. I meant in terms of interface. Both options simultaneously would make the touchscreen too cluttered. And there are plenty of space sims without roll. Freelancer is one example. Roll is nice in terms of orientation, but in terms of actually giving the pilot an edge, it's practically useless in a game like Stellar Wanderer, which already have fast and agile yaw. It's only useful in games like Elite, which have slow yaw so you have to roll and pitch to follow the enemy ships. I've played Darkstar One and NEVER used roll while I used thrusts all the time. Thrusts are 100% more important in my opinion unless you are going with a more realistic flight model like Elite, which is not the case of Stellar Wanderer. I haven't played much to judge how deep the combat is. So far my impression is that it's more on the arcade side, like GoF2, which is not a bad thing, just different. Personally, what bothers me the most is how lenient the auto aim is, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless.
Agreed to disagree Totally with you regarding auto aim leniency. It's one of the reasons I haven't touched my damage attributes in the leveling system. I've focused more on building up my handling, speed, recharge and shields to add more of a challenge. It's also something I've put down on my feedback list I'm currently compiling for the devs. I don't feel it's a high priority issue, but, I hope to see it addressed at some point in the future. Until then no damage bonuses for me. On a side note. Haven't seen no one bring it up, but the racing side quests are fun. Would love to see it expanded into full blown courses in the future.
I've tried one today, but my afterburners suck: I got second place Then I tried an escort mission: died two times, the third one the ship I was protecting was destroyed and the fourth time it jumped with me too far away from the gate to make it in 30 seconds -_- Maybe the game was telling me to go and play something else
Side mission races, like all side missions are getting harder as you level up. Still at some point (level 10 or so) the side missions reach the max level. Also, the race tracks are harder in some areas, I guess Memphis is the easiest track.
Asteroids Loving the game but not really loving hunting for asteroids. I'm trying to complete a mission for silver mining out Dyson's but can't for the life of me find the asteroids. Any hints out there? Also, just to add to the voices, the pirate count is a tad high. While trying to find the asteroids, I so far have killed well over 20 pirates. Spent more time shooting than searching. It does get a bit tedious. Cheers
Well, for sure reducing the pirate count is one of the first items on the list for the next update, but until then I guess is happy hunting (there are less pirates and spawned rarer in the areas with higher security and the opposite in area with lower security). About asteroids, there are in many areas, but Sector 5 and Iron fields are considered dedicated mining areas, so while I cannot tell exactly where you'll find the exact mineral you're looking for, I can tell that in those two areas is a good concentration of asteroids (but those are areas with low security, so ... be safe in there )
So when you finish the campaign, can you still travel around doing random stuff? Like what? Never got an answer to this.
Great game so far Loving this -- blessed are the developers! Really enjoying the dogfighting. It was tough at first and I failed a lot of missions. The trick basically is to do side missions and get all the ship upgrades. After that, the main story is much more playable. The green plus sign circles in the Hangar view show you when there's a piece of superior equipment available, so easy to shop and compare. Funny bug -- I got stuck going backwards. Eventually tapped twice on the backwards button and that fixed it. Now I'm stuck collecting Phoba Alloy. Already have 10 pieces, but the game keeps pointing me back to the Fomahault system. Blew up the ships there, got some random items, so that's not it. Any suggestions? PS Was a big fan of the GoF series, but thank god this is so less corny. And no interminable cut-scenes. I've been waiting for a game like this for a long time. So again, thanks!
And the design is nice and clean Almost forgot -- really like how clean and simple the interface is. Don't need clusters of shiny buttons with debossed type. This feels industrial and appropriate. The "Cargo" option is also a very clever way to see what was caught in the latest outing. The only refinement I would add would be a "keeper" check box, so you don't throw out the phase disruptor with the Orion Wine. Kudos!
