Hey Everyone,
Battlescape looks AMAZING!
I thought I’d start a thread that everyone can participate in. Hopefully, those long term Battlescape fans, can answer some of the questions that newbies have.
Some questions I have…
I-Novae has indicated that Battlescape is not persistent, and one of the stretch goals is “semi-persistence”. There will be “Rounds” where corporations will battle for “Control of the star system”. Once the “Round” is over, everything resets.
Since Battlescape is procedurally generated, will each “Round” be different, with different planets, moons, battlestations, and starting locations?
Answer from I-Novae: > “All of the planets are procedurally generated. Currently every round will have the same planets. We may change that, particularly if we hit our higher stretch goals, however we aren’t making any guarantees.”
Will we need to “scout” out the location of the other corporations each “Round”?
Some Answers I have…
Will Battlescape have “True Newtonian Physics”?
Answer from I-Novae: > “yes space combat will be 6 DoF with full newtonian physics similar to the ICP. Ships are equipped with flight computers to assist their pilots with properly maneuvering in space however you can disable it for maximum control. Atmospheric flight has its own flight model based on the aerodynamics of the ship, atmospheric density, turbulence, etc.”
Will Battlescape have gimballed turrets on smaller ships, and how will they be controlled?
Answer from I-Novae: > " corvette sized ships and larger will have gimballed turrets that are controlled by AI. Corvettes themselves will be a mix of turrets and regular fixed weapon systems controlled by the pilot however capital starships will be able to assign targets and set rules for groups of turrets."
How will ship detection work? lets say a stealth run for a squadron will being close to asteroids mask ship detection?
Answer from I-Novae:> “Various ships will have different radars and different radar cross sections. Ship detection will ultimately be determined by play testing however we’d like planets, asteroids, atmospheric composition/density, etc to all be things that can affect whether or not a ship shows up on radar.”
AND
Answer from Crayfish: “Additionally to the reply you already have, in the current prototype if a ship is occluded by an asteroid or planet the location indicator starts flashing and now only plots the ship’s predicted location rather than it’s real position.”
Something I’m curious about is the mechanics of the star system itself; will bodies, including rings, orbit and rotate, or will they be stationary?
Answer from NavyFish: > “While the engine is perfectly capable of producing rotating and orbiting bodies, they are presently static for a couple of reasons. One, it made certain points of interest difficult to locate if the body is constant rotating, & two, because its complexifies the netcode greatly. It’s something the developers said they would explore if they reach some of the higher tier funding levels, but for now they feel that the static solar system provides a more reliable and enjoyable gameplay experience.”
Will I be able to land on planets, get out of my ship, and walk around?
Answer from Mazock: “You will be able to land your ship, but you will not be able to exit the ship and walk around”
Will players be able to fly into gas giants?
Answer from I-Novae: > “Yes you will be able to fly into gas giants and it’s currently fully supported. He may have just been avoiding flying too far into the gas giant because the immense pressures will eventually destroy your ship (not to mention the torrential winds make it difficult to control your ship).”
AND
Answer from I-Novae: “We have some ideas for gas giants such as putting Bespin style floating factories in them. We’d like to spend a lot more time making gas giants awesome if our Kickstarter is successful!”