4.3 Suggestions

[Beersatron]

All of this new functionality is going to need testing.  Are you going to release a Beta version?

this!

[schroeam]

As usual I have gone slightly further than I intended

The new Luxury Passenger Accomodation module has been added for v4.3. It is the same size and cost as the Cryogenic Transport Module but requires 100 crew instead of 10 and transports 250 passengers instead of 10,000 colonists. The tax and shipping line profit per passengers is forty times greater than per per colonist, which works out to the same amount for one Luxury Passenger Accomodation as for one Cryogenic Transport Module. The disadvantage of the Luxury Passenger Accomodation is obviously the massively reduced amount of colonists being transported. The advantage is that while the liner containing the Luxury Passenger Accomodation modules will only pick up at colonies of 25m+ (as with colony ships), it can drop off at any colony - not just a colonist destination. It will effectively be the same as the old Transatlantic Liners, providing a passenger service between colonies as well as making the occasional run to new colonies. Because the liner will often be carrying passengers both ways, it will make more money for the shipping line and the government than a colony ship. It is still classed a colony ship in several ways though, including the fact that it will prefer to visit a colony that doesn't currently have an inbound colony ship. This new ship should add some flavour and provide more income than a regular colony ship in exchange for its minimal capacity. A quick example...

Code: [Select]

Mauretania class Luxury Liner    27400 tons     836 Crew     1118.8 BP      TCS 548  TH 1650  EM 0
3010 km/s     Armour 1-80     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
Maintenance Capacity 26 MSP    Max Repair 38 MSP
Passengers 1250    Cargo Handling Multiplier 10    

Commercial Ion Engine (11)    Power 150    Fuel Use 7%    Signature 150    Armour 0    Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 93.8 billion km   (360 days at full power)

This design is classed as a commercial vessel for maintenance purposesSteve

Looks entertaining, be nice to see a few space liners plowing the space lanes.  Will they avoid comets and other icey bodies or can I expect the Titanic to hit a comet?  

Although maybe not communicated well, this is pretty much exactly what I was talking about.  Awesome work Steve!

Adam.

[sloanjh (OP)]

I think of it as how the John Rogers is described in the book 'Starship Troopers'.

John Rogers or Rodger Young?  (And now I've got that song in my head again.... )

John

[Father Tim]

If the Obsolete Tech button is used on an obsolete tech system, it removes the obsolete flag.

Is the text on the button going to change, like the 'Lock/Unlock Design' button on the F5 window, depending on whether the system is currently obsolete or not?  I'm not sure what the correct term for unobsolete is - perhaps 'Set as Current'?

[Father Tim]

And I assume we can scrap surrendered ships to get components from them?

Yes, that will already work as things stand now.

Steve

What about tech that doesn't appear in components?  I'm thinking primarily armour (though I suppose that occurs in magazines and armoured engines, etc.) - actually, while trying to come up with other examples (thermal reduction, ECM, tracking time vs missiles) I realized that everything does show up in ship components.  Yet another example of what an excellent game you've created Steve.

Now if only my scientists could figure out how to scrap captured personnel for racial capabilites . . .

#:-]

[welchbloke]

I think of it as how the John Rogers is described in the book 'Starship Troopers'.

John Rogers or Rodger Young?  (And now I've got that song in my head again.... :oops:
John Rogers was one of my physics lecturers at Uni  

[welchbloke]

And I assume we can scrap surrendered ships to get components from them?

Yes, that will already work as things stand now.

Steve

What about tech that doesn't appear in components?  I'm thinking primarily armour (though I suppose that occurs in magazines and armoured engines, etc.) - actually, while trying to come up with other examples (thermal reduction, ECM, tracking time vs missiles) I realized that everything does show up in ship components.  Yet another example of what an excellent game you've created Steve.

Now if only my scientists could figure out how to scrap captured personnel for racial capabilites . . .

#:-]

Perhaps you should just assimilate them.....

[Steve Walmsley]

All of this new functionality is going to need testing.  Are you going to release a Beta version?

I need to do some basic testing first to make sure there aren't any showstoppers. I will probably follow the same pattern as v4.2 though with an initial beta release followed by several small patches.

Steve

[Steve Walmsley]

You can find ship components in ruins. You may find a cache of Improved Gravitational Sensors, perhaps some 20cm Ultraviolet Lasers or just some old Cyogenic Tranport Modules. Or perhaps one or two very advanced systems. These can then be transported to a planet with shipyards and incorporated in a special class of ship. When you find components in ruins, the program will automatically add those components to the new RaceDesignTech table so you can use them in ship designs.

I have been expanding a little on this area. As I have mentioned elsewhere, ruins in In v4.3 are going back to being from different alien races. When those extinct races are created, they are also given a tech level from 1 to 5 which I will use to generate ship components. Using a subset of the NPR design code, different tech systems, such as engines, weapons, etc., are generated for that extinct race when those ship components are recovered from ruins. One generated, those designs are recorded so they can be used more than once when recovering components from the same race. This means that if you recover two sets of engines from the same ruin, or from two different ruins of the same extinct race, it will be the same engine design in both cases. If you then recover a number of laser weapons, they will be of a comparable tech level to the engines. This should add a reasonable level of internal consistency and create a feel of different technology for each extinct race.

Steve

[tanq_tonic]

On the Officer screen, when "Vacancies" is pressed, the fleet vacancies *and* the shipping line vacancies are displayed.  It would be nice not to have to look at the shipping line vacancies.

[georgiaboy1966]

Have noticed in many battles, that missile/weapons fire will be ragged.

Can we have a way to sinchronize weapons fire to be able to better overwelm point defence.

[georgiaboy1966]

another suggestion for the fire control page.

Is there a way to clear all targets at once instead of having to clear each ship individually.

[Steve Walmsley]

another suggestion for the fire control page.

Is there a way to clear all targets at once instead of having to clear each ship individually.

I have added a button that will clear all targets for all ships within the same fleet

Steve

[Steve Walmsley]

On the Officer screen, when "Vacancies" is pressed, the fleet vacancies *and* the shipping line vacancies are displayed.  It would be nice not to have to look at the shipping line vacancies.

Fixed for v4.3

Steve

[Steve Walmsley]

When I was adding all the real star system, I noted that quite a few are Flare Stars. These are stars that suddenly increase their luminosity by anything from double to 100x or more. it happens within a few minutes and lasts for anything from a few minutes to a few hours. The effect apparently resembles a solar flare but on a far greater scale. I am considering having such an effect in the game but I haven't decided how to replicate it in terms of gameplay. The limited information I can find states that the flares produce vast quantities of x-rays which would be lethal to humans. As that it is a good reason to avoid such systems entirely I thought about a more restrained version. Perhaps adding an amount of radiation to any planets within the system, based on the size of the flare and the distance from the star. Flares would be fairly rare so they would be a risk rather than a certainty and within a known stars game you would know which stars might flare. What does the panel think?

Steve