Starmap 1.8
Approaching Infinity spent almost 2 *years* getting through version 1.7 and it's been a great success. Now it's time to get ready for...
I've been improving the away team side of the game for a long time, now I'd like to focus on space: how your ship works and what you can do with it. So here we go again, a list of general goals, in no particular order:
I don't want to spend more than 6 months in 1.8, (I'd prefer 3) because 1.9 is really going to be the long hard slog to the finish line and full release. I estimated 9 months for 1.7, it took twice as long!
Therefore I intend to keep the next development super-cycle *short* (-ish), and *focused*.
The first big thing I did in 1.7 was a major starting ship overhaul. This will be smaller, just tweaking stats here and there. The "speed" stat is pretty good, but the cargo, crew, supplies, and especially hull of many ships will get more attention.
The desire is to further differentiate, specialize, and balance each ship type. And with fundamental changes to armor and shields (outlined here), and the planned increased supply use, adjustments will be necessary.
Cooldown skills, like on planets, but for space. These will introduce new effects and options, giving you some "panic buttons" in space. I expect their cooldowns to be on the longer side, especially since it's often quite easy to just sit around and wait in space (at least in the calmer sectors).
Will they use "gel"? I think so. I imagine your officers need to use their cybernetic systems to "link in" to the ship and perform these special maneuvers... a feat that is not readily repeatable without some recovery time.
Here are some potential skills:
Did you know that the higher your ship's base hull points, the stronger your armor will be?
No? You're not alone. As it is, the system isn't perfect and is fairly opaque. I intend to change that.
Shield strength quickly outpaces hull and armor points, which puts shield-less ships at a disproportional disadvantage. Shields will progress more slowly.
Armor will list its "percentage" as a stat, in addition to its hull points added, so you know the overall quality, not just the raw numbers. I may institute a "drydock required" condition when installing armor, since that would be an awfully tricky procedure in the depths of space. Or perhaps the act of "un-installing" armor destroys it? IDK. I always walk a line between realistic and game-like interactions...
Armor already has a lot of cool different names... wouldn't it be even better if those actually *behaved* uniquely?
What if "shadow armor" could cloak you, or "ablative armor" was twice as strong, but couldn't be repaired? Maybe "reflective" armor could reduce damage from beam weapons, or "standoff" armor could reduce missile damage?
What's all this talk about beams and missiles?
Now we're getting to the good stuff: cannons, beams, and missiles!
Right now, all ship weapons just have basic stats like range, damage, and cooldown time. Compared to the 9 ranged and 5 melee weapons of the away team, and the 25 different types of damage they can cause, that's just plain BORING!
I'm going to rely on the age-old concept of 3 main weapon types: cannons, beams, missiles. Will I also incorporate their related defense types (armor, shields, and point defense)? I don't know. And what about mines or autonomous drones? Area-effect weapons or damage-over-time effects? We'll see!
This aspect is going to require some deep design work. There's a lot to consider. I want to introduce fun choices, not tedious component-swapping.
That might sound boring, but if supplies become a total non-issue in mid-to-late game, that's bad. Unless of course your build FOCUSES on getting supply use down.
In general, better equipment should drain MORE supplies, not less, forcing you to increase your supply level. "Efficient" versions of components will still exist, but those will have other downsides...
If you get stronger/more versatile, so must your enemies!
When I introduced activated skills for the away team, monsters started to get new abilities like jump, dodge, knockback, pull, and invisibility. Space enemies will need powers like this too ;)
Officer pay is currently imperfect, and often misunderstood. I'm going to test a radical change to that:
Instead of taking a percentage of your income, officers will earn their level in credits per turn. A "recruit" earns 1 credit per turn, while a "commander" earns 10/turn! But the plan is not to immediately deduct it from your credits... it needs to be paid to level them up!
This introduces an additional (if small) consequence to waiting. It will also be the easiest system to implement and test, so I expect it to be one of the first official changes.
After the recent discussion on our Discord, a lot has been done with commodity prices and trading in general. But I've got a plan to expand that even further.
I've already got an updated commodities file ready to go. It radically alters the amount of each trade good that can be held in one unit of cargo space, and their prices. It should make all commodities be viable as trading options, *under the right circumstances*.
This shows the change in base price over time of commodities in different sectors, disregarding all other factors, like which races are present, random economic events, and player action. Fluctuations vary from place to place, based on local circumstances. To be a successful trader, you need to exploit the highs and lows.
Antimatter will always be more valuable than food, but if you happen to find the perfect price situation, you might make more money trading tons of food, rather than the small amount of antimatter you could carry.
This will affect the relative value of loot as well: transuranium will be more valuable per unit than almost anything else, even though it's only a mid-tier item. But since it takes up a lot of space, you might need to make a few trips to transport a big haul. And finding a shipwreck full of antimatter will make you rich immediately (or a target of Limoquee patrols...).
I've got some new achievements I'd like to add for accomplishments big and small, and quite a few I'd like to *remove*: tedious things like running out of supplies 50 times (what was I thinking back in 2014?)
There's a lot of fat in those files, and 1.8 will shake that up. Some Steam users may see their achievements count go down, but that will almost entirely be for things like "kill 10,000 monsters with melee", stuff that's more like a playtime counter than anything else. And achievement hunters will find a lot more interesting challenges to tackle:
Spy, blockade, stellar survey, passenger transport, diplomacy, escort, gas giant mapping, trade missions, the list goes on. Some of the playable ships are especially suited for things other than just getting the away team to the next location... I want to offer meaningful interactions you can have while staying in your ship.
The next step for this will be the creation of NPC ship captains, so you can interact more deeply with entities in space, and especially as a vehicle for more quests and story.
I've got a lot to do.
These items have been pushed forward, and won't be completed in 1.8:
This is not so much a requirement of this version as it is something that I really want to do, and I know you want me to do. (Also, it has nothing to do with the "space" theme.) No more relying on stations and random loot to get the special gun type you want. Craft a disruptor blaster or a laser sniper, instead of just the default types.
This is way to big to handle right now. This will happen eventually, and I may do more experiments, but I'm not ready to commit to this right now.
1.8
I've been improving the away team side of the game for a long time, now I'd like to focus on space: how your ship works and what you can do with it. So here we go again, a list of general goals, in no particular order:
✔ MANAGEABLE SIZE
I don't want to spend more than 6 months in 1.8, (I'd prefer 3) because 1.9 is really going to be the long hard slog to the finish line and full release. I estimated 9 months for 1.7, it took twice as long!
Therefore I intend to keep the next development super-cycle *short* (-ish), and *focused*.
✔ SLIGHT SHIP STAT BALANCE
The first big thing I did in 1.7 was a major starting ship overhaul. This will be smaller, just tweaking stats here and there. The "speed" stat is pretty good, but the cargo, crew, supplies, and especially hull of many ships will get more attention.
The desire is to further differentiate, specialize, and balance each ship type. And with fundamental changes to armor and shields (outlined here), and the planned increased supply use, adjustments will be necessary.
✔ SPACE ACTIVATED SKILLS
Cooldown skills, like on planets, but for space. These will introduce new effects and options, giving you some "panic buttons" in space. I expect their cooldowns to be on the longer side, especially since it's often quite easy to just sit around and wait in space (at least in the calmer sectors).
Will they use "gel"? I think so. I imagine your officers need to use their cybernetic systems to "link in" to the ship and perform these special maneuvers... a feat that is not readily repeatable without some recovery time.
Here are some potential skills:
- Cease Fire: immediately stop all combat in the area for x turns.
- Tactical Warp: immediate but random in-sector teleport.
- Distress Call: call all allies in the sector to your position (or ships of the race you're friendliest with)
- Force Surrender: target enemy ship will surrender (if they are able)
- Ion Trailing: reveal all other ships on the map
- Combat Install: install a component or device regardless of red alert or cooldowns
- Shields Up: immediately restore 50% of your shield strength
- Broadside: fire all weapons this turn again!
- Sensor Ghost: create 3 "copies" of your ship that may draw enemy fire
- Resuscitate: revive an officer who died on an away mission?!
✔ ARMOR AND SHIELD BALANCE
Did you know that the higher your ship's base hull points, the stronger your armor will be?
No? You're not alone. As it is, the system isn't perfect and is fairly opaque. I intend to change that.
Shield strength quickly outpaces hull and armor points, which puts shield-less ships at a disproportional disadvantage. Shields will progress more slowly.
Armor will list its "percentage" as a stat, in addition to its hull points added, so you know the overall quality, not just the raw numbers. I may institute a "drydock required" condition when installing armor, since that would be an awfully tricky procedure in the depths of space. Or perhaps the act of "un-installing" armor destroys it? IDK. I always walk a line between realistic and game-like interactions...
Armor already has a lot of cool different names... wouldn't it be even better if those actually *behaved* uniquely?
What if "shadow armor" could cloak you, or "ablative armor" was twice as strong, but couldn't be repaired? Maybe "reflective" armor could reduce damage from beam weapons, or "standoff" armor could reduce missile damage?
What's all this talk about beams and missiles?
✔ SPACE WEAPON / DEFENSE REWRITE
Now we're getting to the good stuff: cannons, beams, and missiles!
Right now, all ship weapons just have basic stats like range, damage, and cooldown time. Compared to the 9 ranged and 5 melee weapons of the away team, and the 25 different types of damage they can cause, that's just plain BORING!
I'm going to rely on the age-old concept of 3 main weapon types: cannons, beams, missiles. Will I also incorporate their related defense types (armor, shields, and point defense)? I don't know. And what about mines or autonomous drones? Area-effect weapons or damage-over-time effects? We'll see!
This aspect is going to require some deep design work. There's a lot to consider. I want to introduce fun choices, not tedious component-swapping.
✔ SUPPLY USAGE BALANCE
That might sound boring, but if supplies become a total non-issue in mid-to-late game, that's bad. Unless of course your build FOCUSES on getting supply use down.
In general, better equipment should drain MORE supplies, not less, forcing you to increase your supply level. "Efficient" versions of components will still exist, but those will have other downsides...
✔ NEW POWERS FOR SPACE ENEMIES
If you get stronger/more versatile, so must your enemies!
When I introduced activated skills for the away team, monsters started to get new abilities like jump, dodge, knockback, pull, and invisibility. Space enemies will need powers like this too ;)
✔ OFFICER PAY BY TIME
Officer pay is currently imperfect, and often misunderstood. I'm going to test a radical change to that:
Instead of taking a percentage of your income, officers will earn their level in credits per turn. A "recruit" earns 1 credit per turn, while a "commander" earns 10/turn! But the plan is not to immediately deduct it from your credits... it needs to be paid to level them up!
This introduces an additional (if small) consequence to waiting. It will also be the easiest system to implement and test, so I expect it to be one of the first official changes.
✔ COMMODITY VALUE/SIZE REMODEL
After the recent discussion on our Discord, a lot has been done with commodity prices and trading in general. But I've got a plan to expand that even further.
I've already got an updated commodities file ready to go. It radically alters the amount of each trade good that can be held in one unit of cargo space, and their prices. It should make all commodities be viable as trading options, *under the right circumstances*.
This shows the change in base price over time of commodities in different sectors, disregarding all other factors, like which races are present, random economic events, and player action. Fluctuations vary from place to place, based on local circumstances. To be a successful trader, you need to exploit the highs and lows.
Antimatter will always be more valuable than food, but if you happen to find the perfect price situation, you might make more money trading tons of food, rather than the small amount of antimatter you could carry.
This will affect the relative value of loot as well: transuranium will be more valuable per unit than almost anything else, even though it's only a mid-tier item. But since it takes up a lot of space, you might need to make a few trips to transport a big haul. And finding a shipwreck full of antimatter will make you rich immediately (or a target of Limoquee patrols...).
✔ ACHIEVEMENT RENOVATION
I've got some new achievements I'd like to add for accomplishments big and small, and quite a few I'd like to *remove*: tedious things like running out of supplies 50 times (what was I thinking back in 2014?)
There's a lot of fat in those files, and 1.8 will shake that up. Some Steam users may see their achievements count go down, but that will almost entirely be for things like "kill 10,000 monsters with melee", stuff that's more like a playtime counter than anything else. And achievement hunters will find a lot more interesting challenges to tackle:
- Prosper, Having Lived Long: Win any victory with NO CREW DEATHS!
- Grok-a-mon: Fully "grok" 10 monsters.
- Relic Hunter: Complete a legendary weapon quest
- Self Sufficient: Reach sector 20 without docking with any space stations.
- Minimum Safe Distance: Use a tac-nuke weapon without hurting yourself
- Faster than a...:Have both your ship and away team speed at or above 325.
➡️ NEW SPACE MISSION TYPES
In progress!Spy, blockade, stellar survey, passenger transport, diplomacy, escort, gas giant mapping, trade missions, the list goes on. Some of the playable ships are especially suited for things other than just getting the away team to the next location... I want to offer meaningful interactions you can have while staying in your ship.
The next step for this will be the creation of NPC ship captains, so you can interact more deeply with entities in space, and especially as a vehicle for more quests and story.
I've got a lot to do.
Join me on the journey to 2.0!
These items have been pushed forward, and won't be completed in 1.8:
❌ ASTEROID BASE PROGRESSION
New asteroid base rooms are *not* within the scope of 1.8, sorry. There are some stores and characters I have in mind, but maybe I'll even be able to introduce Fargates or the Protomonoco... we'll see.❌ ENHANCED CRAFTING?
Also *not* within the scope of the current version.This is not so much a requirement of this version as it is something that I really want to do, and I know you want me to do. (Also, it has nothing to do with the "space" theme.) No more relying on stations and random loot to get the special gun type you want. Craft a disruptor blaster or a laser sniper, instead of just the default types.
❌ NEW USER INTERFACE
This is way to big to handle right now. This will happen eventually, and I may do more experiments, but I'm not ready to commit to this right now.