Greetings. Ill get a few things out of the way: I know this is pre-alpha gameplay. I know 90% of things aren’t implemented, graphics aren’t final, etc…etc…
So:
Is there a possibility for a hardcore server? Permadeath (start over), no flight assist, realistic/stringent air combat mechanics. This would be cool to have since players can start over all the time and only lucky/good players would be able to get enough money to upgrade/buy better equipment. But since this isn’t an MMO it doesn’t really matter. This could be a weekend or holiday event with unique prizes for the winners.
Ship control options. Right now i see the mouse is strictly bound to the ship’s forward axis. Would be nice to decouple the mouse reticule from the ship so we can point the reticule with the mouse anywhere on the cockpit view and have the ship try to follow it. The mouse would be completely independent from the ship’s movement, except being hard-bound within the cockpit view limits. This makes for a much smoother and enjoyable gameplay - i point where i want to and the ship turns towards it as it is capable. If the ship hits turbulance or starts rolling the mouse pointer would stay in place and the ship would continue to follow it.
Firing modes. Any gimbaled autotargetting weapons planned? Any turret-styled weapons? Any AI- or player-controlled drones? I imagine a multi-crew drone cruiser capable of deploying 6 drones at a time, each controlled by a separate player and when one goes down that player just picks up another one and goes back at it.
[DEV ANSWERED THIS HERE, NVM]Seeing a lot of trees pop-in. Any plans for some LOD with sprites for a much higher on-screen tree count to reduce percievable pop-in? What about a procedurally generated low-poly forest mesh that blends into sprite trees as players fly close to it? I’m just throwing ideas, i’m not a graphics programmer but would love to hear your ideas on it.
I don’t know the character/ship progression in game. What i mean is you would always start over in a basic fighter instead of whatever you have saved/insured, including all your money and whatever else.
I think it should work like eve online’s system. Lose a ship in a fight, it’s gone forever except for insurance credits. One thing you can’t lose is your actual character though.
They did talk about earning money from the facilities, so a hardcore would make you loose your money on death. However, it means everyone would simply give all their money to people away from the frontlines (i.e. commanders - what Allegiance ended up doing automatically btw), so it may actually require rethinking the entire system.
Also, on this second engine image. Next to the US flag on the ship, is that a North Korean flag?
Ok, that was funny.
you know what happens to people who ask about tree LOD around here, don’t you?
but seriously those trees are supposed to look awful. that’s a dev’s way of saying, “this is filler, I repeat, FILLER, we know it looks bad! calm down!”
as for permadeath they will encourage private servers for people to do whatever they want, it has been stated in interviews
I hate no progression perma death games. Please no, no, no, no. Maybe modders could make such an awful version.
If you had to buy a new ship from insurance money everytime you die you can’t have epic space battles, everyone will avoid dying at all cost, like in elite dangerous. Space battles against other players would be almost non-existant, just like ED.
I think the core gameplay was already pretty well explained by the devs. After all it’s a space shooter and not a space trucking simulator.
Actually, I think the player will lose their ship when they die, but not their money. It will be like Planetside, where you die and respawn in your basic infantry man and have to spend resources to buy a new vehicle. But instead of an infantry man, you probably respawn in some basic ship. And it won’t matter as much because as long as your team’s factories and freighters are working, you’ll be getting money and other teammates can donate you some money if you really need a capital ship in the current battle for example.
Another example of that sort of gameplay might be the multiplayer in Command & Conquer Renegade and its various mods. Two teams spawn in bases on opposite sides of a map and start trying to destroy the enemy bases, creating new and better units through production buildings, using tech buildings to provide sensors or superweapons, killing other players for money, protecting the mining vehicle and refinery building to make more money… Of course, I think I-Novae can do a much better job than Renegade, since that game was really old, limited by the technology of the time and had some balancing and map design problems.
