@c0mas I see, the jump explanation is reasonable Regarding wingmen, how are you planning to implement them? (both in terms of acquiring them but also in terms of using them in the missions).
There are several options ... each with it's own implementation time and challenges First one, perhaps the simplest one was to set up a list of NPC's, each with it's skill, ship and loadout, available to hire at some locations. After hiring one, it should stay with you until you land next time (or when he gets destroyed) and you will be able to switch his behavior between "defend me" and "attack my target" ... maybe "defend my target" will make sense as well
Firstly I would like to say that this is a great game and has pretty fun gameplay. However, other than the occasional odd bug, I have a couple of other gripes with it. My first issue is that there should be a splash page everytime a new game is started to tell players of the paywall that slows the gameplay after the tutorial missions. It would solve the outrage of some players by giving them an idea of what to expect if they didn't read the description on the store page. Still, the paywall serves to moderate my gameplay or I would be playing it without pause My second issue is that there is not much point to the rest of the commodities and equipment at the moment. Firstly, there are a whole bunch of commodities which serve no purpose besides being a list of items for show at very low prices, due to the fact that there are more effective methods of earning credits, while pirates appear in most places where you mine, adding the fact that most cargo holds are pretty small, and lack of equipment slots mean its a high price to pay for increasing cargo slots, all of which reduces the attractiveness of mining. Secondly, the lack of equipment slots mean that most of the equipment types will never be used or tested. On the flip side, the lack of equipment slots means higher replay value to test other equipment. My third issue is that most of the ships look horrendous. The Hawk series look the best so far, especially how the oldest in the series transition from a bulky version to the sleek latest version, complete with the differences in equipment, weapon slots, and handling. However I just can't fathom why that series isn't using a bubble cockpit to make it look sleeker while giving the pilot an unobstructed view. The Rhino series on the other hand look like a cargo transporter upgraded to be a faster craft by slapping 2 cylinders on the sides, despite being the mainstay of the most secretive group in this universe. The Albatross series look like they were slapped together with rusted slabs of metal. The Hyena itself looks like something the Joker's henchmen would use - put together shoddily using whatever materials could be found, with a twist to make it look henious. When I first looked at the list of ships right after the tutorial, I thought of the Dolphin as a mid tier ship and that there were sleeker looking higher tier "ultimate" ships waiting to be discovered. I was somewhat disappointed to find it the best all rounder available. That said, this is just personal preference and I really like that the creator has tried to balance the ships out in terms of handling, equipment slots and cargo My final issue is that the missions taken before saving and leaving the game always end up as failed when I return to the game. Now this is actually a really great game, especially the main story which I have yet to finish. I really like that I can just increase my difficulty by changing to a hardcore aiming mode, and the different first person cockpit views. I like that the virtual joystick is way smoother than GoF2's. I like that there's a menu that let's me compare and see all the available commodities and equipment at every station. I also like that there's an option for the roll/pitch naysayers. It's just that it could be so much more. Will there be a space station we can buy and leave our things in? Can we do more with the commodities instead of just selling them? Is there anything that forces us to hold onto these commodities? Can we see information on the commodities, like the equipment? How does each equipment we place on our spacecraft really affect it? Does increasing a field by equipping an item make the craft better or worse (some fields are just unrelatable and there is no explanation, and there's no official wiki to help on that; the unofficial wiki in this forum explains most, but not all the fields)? Will there be an addon story? How about the wingmen? Seeing suggestions made almost 2 years ago still not in the current version with no update on them, I'm left wondering if there will be more addons, or if this is going to be the final framework with possible future graphical updates, if any. However the creator seems really active on both the forum and the store, so personally I hope some great updates are in the works.
Hi Qwertyforever I'm glad you joined this talk since my reply space in the store comments is limited to 350 characters ... and is quite hard to chat with that limitation. Well ... most of the people who quit are doing so before hitting the "refuel timer" and those who get to that point are usually the "core players"/"space sim enthusiasts", the ones who really appreciate our game and who usually support us by going "premium" (it's one of the trickiest choices with current android market ... to go freemium or to go premium ... or a blend between) For the minerals, all of them can be mined from an asteroid somewhere in the game and it made sens to have lots of cheap minerals and some expensive ones to give a sense to the mining experience (to make the player search for the expensive ones and learn where are the best spots for mining). For commodities, with each one can be made a 7-12% profit if purchased and sold at the right time and place. As for the minerals, most commodities can be looted from enemies or from friendly/neutral NPCs (you can attack those NPC with a penalty to be wanted until you leave the area) and is the same mechanic, you don't know what a target is carrying unless you have the right scanner, but you can attack and find 10 times a cheap loot and the 11th time to get an expensive one. For the mining, I think F17 Albatros has the biggest cargo hold, and with a powerful turret can be really good for mining This is quite funny The idea about the Albatros series was that those ships are old Core ships that were not in active service anymore and sold to private entities, most of them ended up on various mercenaries and outlaw groups that added various upgrades where the look of "rusted slabs of metal": those groups did not had the means or will to keep the ships in perfect shape (as the Core or Highguard would). The Hawk series are the active Core (aka military) ships. Those are supposed to look like were made by the same shipyard/designer and those ships are supposed to look like are kept in good shape (to show the strength of the Core). The cockpit I guess is pure design ... and if I'm not mistaken it is the first time someone asked about it but ... to quote the designer "the belly of the ships are better armored this way" The Highguard ships (Rhino) are mostly handled with AR since those ships don't have a transparent cockpit at all (of course it was just a matter of design ). As for the Dolphin (and the other ship from Dysons) ... Dysons was designed to be the peak of civilian technology (there you can find the most advanced civilian tech). That is a good ship perhaps not the best in all areas, but it can handle a lot. For pure fighting I would try Hyena ... due to it's small shape and odd shape its quite hard to hit by the AIs ... and it can survive in fights where bigger ships with better specs have a hard time Well ... I can assure you the game is not dead but I cannot promise what will be added, feature-wise, in the future updates. We have experienced with wingmans and with player owned bases/capital ships. Perhaps the wingman option would be one of the first features to be added, but on the other side, a base would be quite useful to allow the player to hold on to commodities (that would open the door for crafting, that is another feature we have experienced with). Still those are relatively big features that might have a big impact on the gameplay balance and is hard to tell if or when we'll add any of them. We are also working on a sequel and a new story/graphics update makes more sens for that game, but some of the new features we would like to test on this game as well About the wiki, there is no official one, but the one on page 19 is quite accurate (and I thank Nullzone once again for doing it). Also I can answer any question about all items or their effect on the ship or where to see the difference , actually it will be my pleasure to do so
Damn and I thought 500 characters was bad (^_^)" While that's a good point, I think it would be better to look at it from the view of the players, because it may be the make or break for some budding space sim enthusiasts, and you would have lost out on them by not preempting them. This is still a mobile app, which means non-hardcore gamers will be playing as well. By telling them of the paywall first before they start, they would already have an idea of whether they want to pay for the game by the time they reach the paywall. Hence, they would not feel as though the game is trying to rip them off by "suddenly" introducing the paywall, although it may be their own fault for not noticing the message in the game description, and thus also have a better impression of the game, which may lead to them leaving better reviews. I saw that someone left a bad review saying the paywall didn't use to be there before, to which you replied that it has always been there, and I'm guessing this is the reason. From the point of the developers and hardcore players, yes, this makes a lot of sense, but for a casual player who has limits his mobile gaming time and wants the most effective manner of playing the game, mining seems to be a waste of time, hence there is not much point for them to try out mining. Also, when selling the items, the menu for the different prices that appears in the maps section is not very intuitively found, and some may finish the entire game without having discovered it at all. I would understand if these are features made available on a beta or alpha version, but the lack of intuitiveness leading up to it made it feel like an incomplete game. In short, mining feels frustrating as a form of earning money, even more so when there is not much immediately available information in the game for it, or even a wiki. About the scanner, I've tried equipping it, but it doesn't seem to show me what I want, such as cargo. Am I equipping the wrong one? I was using the Dyson Scanner. I see something about a scan time. How does it work? Maybe I should just try it again, although I feel safer with the repair kit, and there isn't a point of equipping the scanner without a tractor beam. About the other entities floating in space such as "Radar" or "Mining Hub", will there ever be an option to interact with them, such as docking and talking to the people there? Also, it would be nice to have the ship automatically dock when I fly into the station's docking opening instead of just bumping into them as if it were a wall until i press the "dock" button Ah I see It would have been great to have the story start from these series instead, no matter how frustrating it would have been, as it would be a great way for the casual player who didn't read the information on the official site to know more about the universe while getting the feeling of upgrading his ship from a barely useable one and work his way up the ladder to the best possible one. As an example, GoF2 does this pretty well, even adding on new ships for the add-on contents that tie in with the add-on story. Perhaps the story could be changed to something like the pilot starts off as a miner using one of these run down hand-me-downs, until some pirates appeared, forcing him to join in the fight, then perhaps options like enabling him to join the army (Core/Highguard) would grant him special rights/discounts at certain places, while joining up with the pirates gives him special effects while rendering him the enemy of all the civilized systems. Each faction would have their own perk. The current system of the different classes is nice, but not very story-centric. Well....despite that, they still seem to have a strip of glass for the cockpit. Actually I was trying to say that they look like the front of an especially round truck, and someone added two ungainly boosters to the sides to make the Rhino series faster than a truck. It just doesn't look like something a highly covert group would be using, seeing as they should have all the funds to build the best ship. Unless they were meant to be a covert but rouge group? I beg to differ The specs of the Hyena seems quite similar to the Hawk, but the Hawk and Hyena lose out in terms of firepower to the Eagle. In my opinion, the Eagle is a better bet than both the Hyena and Hawk by sacrificing some handling due to the higher firepower being able to decimate enemies faster, ensuring less time spent locking on and having to chase one enemy, meaning more time for running about and having less enemies on your tail. In addition, the Eagle is as small as the Hawk, making it a very attractive platform for dogfighting. Or am I wrong and the small size of the Hyena drastically increases survivability compared to having more firepower, and that the Hawk series are actually really fat? (^_^)" I think a system to make mining and selling commodities more attractive should be a top priority (e.g.crafting), so as to maximize the use of current game assets. Adding a few goods that cannot be found on the market, and raising prices of certain goods after implementing crafting is also an option to make mining more attractive. The wingman option would allow players to exchange credits for an easier time with missions that are too difficult, and would be a great addition. An update or revamp of the story might make the whole experience more engaging and force the player to try out most of the aspects in the game as well for longer periods of time. -Does AFB calculate based on ship type and pilot points? -For shields, I only understand 1 out of the 3 fields - Capacity. How does Energy Drain play in? does it constantly take up a portion of the generator's capacity, or does it only pull the energy required when recharging? How does the Recharge field work? Is it a timer for maximum recharge of the shield, or does it somehow factor in with Energy Drain? -On my BAT field, I have 0/300. Does this mean I currently have no equipment drawing on all that reserve power? If so, how can I see this output when I'm flying? -On my PWR field, I have 38(+8). How does this work with the BAT field? Does it regenerate 38 points to my BAT every second? how did the (+8) come about?
To be fair I think there was an update with the timer and ads disabled by mistake ... for a short time, but still enough for some people to get it That system was added as a request from the players on this forum. It is like a market info tool to see the price of an item on a station without traveling there (ex. if you have an item and you want to see where to sell it, or if you're looking for a particular item, you can see the stock on all stations). Still those statistics may change by the time you travel, since all the markets are constantly updating with items produced or consumed, but stocks will not grow or drop instantly. There are 3 scanner capabilities: - show the elements of the target - show the percentage of each element - show the durability of the target (how much damage is needed before it drops one unit) Scanners have a range, so you'll have to be in that range to start scanning, and a scan time, so you'll have to keep your target selected and in front of you for that time until it starts showing the scan results. Various scanners will have a combination of the above, the basic one will just tell the content, advanced ones will also tell the percentages, the most expensive ones will also tell the durability. The Dyson one should tell everything . There should be ships with 4-5 equipment slots to allow repair and mining gear . Well ... that is the plan but it might be a feature for a new game (landing is not a problem ... what you do on the base is, since the market system and the mission roster has to be upgraded to support multiple bases in the same location). Indeed, there is a lot to improve on the story side and on the RPG mechanics ... but I like to think we're working on this Well ... the main inspiration was CIA/KGB ... everyone knew they exist but no one really wanted to have any contact with them ... and yes, they were supposed to be kind of above the law and usually powerful in terms of fire power. You just made me open the model viewer and see the measures of Hawk and Hyena ) ... so: Hawk Length: 32.5 Width: 17.2 Height: 4.3 Hyena Length: 16.0 Width: 8.5 Height: 4.7 I never realized those are so different. To be fair I usually got to the final mission with either Hyena, Dolphin or Rhino ... and I was surprised that it seemed harder with the Rhino that was supposed to be kind of the best fighter ... but it always depends on the play style ... Yes, crafting is also a mechanic that was experimented with ... but it also makes more sense for a new game business wise, it is nothing decided yet. Ok, so each ship has an afterburner ratio, meaning that your top speed from that ship is multiplied with that ratio to get the afterburner speed. That ratio is fixed per ship (we consider it is linked to the hull design and so it cannot be changed with additional equipment). Now the maximum speed is given by the engine equipped and by the pilot's speed skill, so in the end the pilot speed skill will reflect in the afterburner speed as well. Afterburner equipment will only affect the burn time. So about the shields: The shield drain is the amount drained per second from the battery when the shield is recharging (not fully charged). The recharge is the number of shield units that will charge per second if you have enough energy to recharge (the same energy is used by weapons ) On the BAT field yes, that is the amount of energy ready to use by the weapons and by the shield ... and by other equipment when activated (tractor beams, repair bots, torpedo launchers). The first number from 0/300 is the energy used by equipment that is constantly using energy, for example a 2 person cabin would use 10 units and will show BAT 10/300 meaning that you will only have 290 left to use on demand. The PWR is the amount of BAT regenerated per second. The +8 is usually because of some of your pilot skills or because of some equipment mounted that will enhance that capability.
Oh! I didn't realize ships have different real dimensions... Now I clearly understand why I can run through the ring race easy with hawk and not as easy with Eagle... How about Eagle's width?
The Eagle Length: 25.1 Width: 15.4 Height: 3.17 There is also the afterburner bonus that will have a big impact in races
@larimar69 Looks like your issue lies with the handling rather than the size Try stopping your boost right before you reach a gate, then turning it back on right after you have positioned yourself for the next gate, and make sure to get the best engine and AFB for best performances.
Yes, I act like so. More, when I run races I downgrade engine to MK2 from HG prototype (to go slower) and then go with afterburner (HG) ring by ring, and it's great with Hawk. But even with sparrow, that has the best handling and dimensions, I bounce off the ring... next time I'm gonna trying hyena too. Perhaps I get used to the Hawk so much... anyway Eagle remains my best choice for battle. Since I notice here that devs are on the going for an update, one of these days I would like to put here a couple of suggestions about the game, that is great! the best space simulator of the store. Actually I'm on GOF2, that is very similar to stellar wonder, but it is below my expectations in terms of radar, cockpit, and speed control.
Hm ... I think the inertia is also much higher when using the afterburner (I bounced in the ring as well if I took the turn late ) Give them all ... even the wildest ideas
And that's why you need a splash page to give everyone the information to look forward to, whether the timer and ads appear or not. This should be included as part of the tutorial as well, but probably in your next game Ah i see but the ship I'm using is the Eagle which only comes with 2 slots (^_^)" The other ships suck at handling and speed, except for the Rhino. You could have some bases having all the different shops for commodities and equipment, while those with a mining outpost outsource the market space and trading to the outpost, and have more variety of ores for trading compared to systems without the outpost, and possibly a character at one of the outpost to sell ores at a cheaper price in the whole galaxy; a military personnel to converse with at radar stations, etc. But yeah this would be a total makeover of the game, which makes more sense in a new game You make it sound like you aren't actually working on it I went back and read through the lore for this game at the official website......and it means that the Highguard should be able to abuse their power to give us the best possible ship in terms of specs, size and also looks, to make their ships seem more menacing than the Core ones. It would be even better to buy one of these at a super high price from a black market What! That's more than twice the size! Hmmm I've got to try out the Hyena then Ah I see Awesome My only gripe is not being able to see all the numbers when they matter, i.e. BAT field while flying; all the ship specs like AFB bonus or ship dimensions when choosing ships. The Eagle is only slightly smaller than the Hawk?! wows. I liked the Hawk's design better though. Anw, these specs should be released Does inertia work for having different masses? or it's just the handling spec? SFLR, I was a bit busy so I replied the shorter post first
For the moment, I was thinking about some ship's control enhancement, such these (I posted pictures on the next post): 1)Most of all a button, on the cockpit view (the red X), to invert the roll/pitch setting during flight, to be accessible by the left thumb. So letting possible an immediate rotation of the ship. (could be useful to align wings entering a narrow canyon... if you ever encounter one ... 2)those buttons of sync fire and double damage are almost useless to me, since I cannot activate them quickly in dogfights. 3)and what about a sliding speed control on the bottom of the screen? (I don't like the center screen control of GOF2) What do you think about? PS I tryed Hyena ... dimensions matters! It goes very well in ring race
Taking one at a time Well ... I'm not yet sure what kind of monetization will be in the future , but I'd like something more clear for the end-user. Yes, perhaps some details about the whole market system. Well ... you can just switch the ships before the race (the cost is relatively low) so you can have a "racing ship" and a "fighting ship" ... and maybe a mining one . I also found the Dolphin good for mining, especially with a good turret on it to guard against pirates. Yes ... and perhaps even nomad traders that you can encounter ... why not dock with a big transporter ... or with anything that has a docking port if the captain allows it . And this will also help on the rpg side. Actually the RPG side is one part that has the biggest improvement opportunity and is quite high on the priority list for a future game. Hm ... black market ;-) ... interesting idea The BAT is just displayed as a percent while flying (for now) ... is on the main fire button. The AFB bonus should be available in the "Select Ship" menu with the new value and difference from the current ship. And yes the dimensions would be a great addition. The handling spec is basically the turning rate of the ship Inertia is related to the size, shape and mass of the ship, but the size and shape only affect the inertial rotation and is less "visible" in game. The mass is the one that is increasing the inertial movement. no worries, I know it takes some time
That's an interesting idea Some related ideas we have experimented with were: - having auto-leveling with the nearby landmarks when the player moves straight for a short while (kind of like in the old Freelancer) - having a mix of accelerometer/touch controlls (to roll with accelerometer on touch control and to have some roll controls on the left side when using accelerometer control) Yes, those will be moved somewhere closer to be more accessible. There is definitely possible to have a speed control ... but we had some long debates about this if it is really useful ... or how often will players use it. In the first version there was no "full stop" nor "match speed" ... those were added about a year after . (I never used the speed control in GOF and I played quite a lot) So far we only found that useful in escorting and mining ... and that is why we added match speed and full stop. Would you see it useful in different situations? Also we are trying to find a way to add a temporary control ... so it will fade away if not used for a while. Well ... I definitely think there should be a way to adjust roll and that "switch roll mode" button should be a quick addition (perhaps with an option to remove it, but that is also a quick change). And to be fair I think it's the safest implementation compared to the other ideas we have experimented with. One plus for the mixed controls is that the player will always have control to pitch and yaw at the same time. I will get the dimensions for all the ships
So starting with the Core ones: Sparrow: Length: 27.0 Width: 19.79 Height: 4.8 Hawk Length: 32.5 Width: 17.2 Height: 4.3 Eagle Length: 25.1 Width: 15.4 Height: 3.17 Cormoran: Length: 14.0 Width: 6.14 Height: 14.4
The Rising Hand ships: Hyena Length: 16.0 Width: 8.5 Height: 4.7 Hyena Length: 24.19 Width: 9.4 Height: 16.0 Armadillo Length: 14.9 Width: 8.4 Height: 4.7 Albatros Length: 31.5 Width: 19.5 Height: 10.8 Armadillo is also extremely good for fighting
