What kind of maps do you want?
Please tell me as many details as possible, including:
1. How many players? (2-6p)
2. Arrangement of start locations?
3. Contour of dust clouds, nebulae, etc?
4. Distribution of Resources, relics, planets, any other special thing?
Depending on your style of playing (aggressive or defensive, team work or fighting on your own), conceive a map that most likely suits your preference and then tell me your ideas (in the form of replies below this post). I'd like to design new maps for everyone personally whenever feasible!
The current map selection is pretty good. I would like to see a large map that due too asteroids forces teams to send their attack forces down corridors in order to reach the other opponent. Basically could makes resemble strategy games like starcraft for example where you cant just freely send your forces anywhere on the map but have to deal with certain paths to the enemy bases along choke points.
I dislike nebula maps because when you have vertical maps it is extremely difficult to distinguish where they are.
I like how you can have starting forces like "task force" but most of them don't work well with hiigarian forces due to being unable to build a power generator until shipyard is available which seriously screws up beginning of game.
Will there be a new release soon? I would much rather have a new release earlier, with more maps in future updates after?
I want to add more things in the next release, because it's such a pain to upload it every time (128KB/S for over 1.3GB)!
Your feedback about starting fleets is very important however, I'd like to reconsider all the starting fleets in a better way. Can you give me more specific ideas about what starting fleets you want to replace the current ones?
Well currently there is a great variety with the starting fleets, but most of them don't function correctly for hiigarian(or maybe I am experiencing a bug). Basically, hiigarian need the power generator capital ship, otherwise their energy gets so low that build times get up to 100% longer. Currently many starting fleets don't begin with power generator, and don't allow you to build one until you get a shipyard which isn't until mid game, putting you at a huge disadvantage to the vaygr(who can research power), for example with the hiigarian task force starting fleet. Either having it spawn with crew cell or allowing carriers to build it should solve the problem.
Also, is it possible to add an ability or one time research that allows you to warp in immediate reinforcements? Could make for some interesting gameplay and allow for survivability if there is a pre-requisite like "mothership taking fire" in order to warp in immediate reinforcements
OK, I'll add power station to the starting fleet.
Immediate reinforcement is an interesting idea. It's technically possible, I'll consider.
I'm glad you have posted this as i and some of my peers have been thinking of ideas like this for a while.
id like more maps with capture planets with megaliths, so teams can have planetary wars, like the solar system maps, and maps where players fight over 1 planet (nice work getting the AI to do that too by the way).
Another thought is to have production facilities like ship building and research on the planets to, for example building key facilities for research at each stage of planetary development, and having finished ships be deployed from some kind of orbital space station built as part of the planet,(not sure how that could be implemented, maybe have a unique space station for planets warp in that cant move like its in orbit).
and maybe you can even link these in to 'FierceEffect's' comment where for example a shattered solar system which has pockets of highly radioactive space forcing players to go down specific corridors forcing people into more closer fights and ambushes, to give a more strategic feel to a game.
Another thing is to have maps which forces players to focus more on stretching out to get more resources (like by having many small dispersed asteroid fields) rather than just siting up ship in one place for most of the match, to get more of a mobile combat feel, and encouraging more fights for resources, and using alliances.
Finally i know this inst really about maps, but maybe you could introduce more to alliances, for example more alliance perks like being able to instruct AI to send forces to areas, or call for help if you are under attack or transfers of resources, or even maybe unique alliance ships, skills, or research, just to become more involved in the alliance process as right now it is pretty dull being in one.
Thanks for your enthusiasm! Except "highly radioactive space forcing players to go down specific corridors" is nearly impossible to program, the others are very good ideas although some might be very big project like planets that allows building by all four races and AI supporting behaviours for its allies.
Perks for alliance, however, are relatively easy to achieve. Can you tell me all the specific items that you want for allied players?
no problem, and with the radioactive clouds thing i kind of meant like what they have in the standard HW2 maps and campaign where ships hulls where slowly eaten away if they went through it.
And for alliance perks, i guess specific defensive ships (perhaps that can be made to follow trade ships or orbit RU fields, and turrets, or even build-able weapons for key ships like the mother ship and shipyard, these could include defenses being able to be put on more civilian ships like mobile refineries, trade ships, and hyper space gates, nothing that allows players to go silly, but to help defend these vital areas just that bit longer until reinforcements arrive.
For the abilities and research you could have augmented shields, Armour, production times, or even faster research, through collaboration with others allied players.
And for the planets, it could just be a universal sort of thing like the space station which can only be built by a planet, but they were more ideas to push the limits of the game engine.
Which brings me to another idea which has been suggested to me, to have an orbit feature, where you can get ships to orbit around, or patrol a specific area, which will not only look better, but it could help to fend off scouts and encourage players to use more of the other abilities to collect intel.
Orbit thing and faster research are impossible to program. I can add new ships and subsystems as alliance supports, but the problem now is I have no modeler to make models I want.
well i wont be able to help you there for a couple months as ive changed modeling programs and i need to take a while to get used to get back up to speed
I like 3D maps with lots of dust clouds, radiation clouds, special consideration to where the resources are, etc. so you don't just micromanage your fleet but truly have to strategize and plan based on where you start on the map...
Since a (not so) long time ago, I'v been thinking of a map where you have to fight for mining base and build some defence systeme or weaponry on it. An other idea i hae, is a map (alike hammie said) but not with "many small dispersed asteroid fields" but with wreckage to harvest.
Third idea is a map designed for siege like 1 VS 2 where the player alone have wall of radioactive/corrosive cloud for protection with strategic path like checkpoint and some dust cloud for surprisee assaut; a mining base for the player alone and limited RU for aggressor in order to had time challenge or else...
Fourth - make the non harvestable asteroïde capturable and possibility to add subsysteme like an assembly bay, docks to repair fighters/corv, defence field, civil barrack or weapons. Those thing could be strategic position to hold.
For alliance benefit, i'v thought of culture advantage, like if player1 have a different race from player2, he can havebonus research(maybe more than one) specific to player2's race (like missile improvment for Vaygr or ion for higgaaran...
also, if possible, add some graphic option in order to keep our graphic card.
PS: Really nice job, continue.
*also, if possible, add some graphic option in order to keep our graphic card alive.
I'v thought of another map: the area of a planet that have been destroyed, with a lot of asteroid (the modded one, not the RU one) in the center and of curse, a lot of nebulae and dust cloud. You can add a colonisable moon (without planet to turn around ofc) and station like the foundry or others. It should be 2 players but do as you want ^^
Culture research is absolutely feasible, I'm done with all the preperation work in 2.3 already actually, but I need to find out what kind of reseach options I should add to give a cultural advantage to players.
strategic positions to hold is also a good idea, but unlike all kinds of megaliths we already have, an assembly bay maybe not possible. However, repair bay is worth trying, and I just need to find the right models