Community DLC Suggestion Poll: Week of 2/21

[HellishFiend]

Community DLC voting for the week is now underway! The nominations that receive high amounts of votes will receive high consideration to be DLC in the near future. If a particular piece of content is likely to be out-of-scope for the near future, it will be kept on a list of content we would like to see in the next expansion (Q4 '10). Please note that we may not know whether or not a suggestion will need to be shelved until after the voting.  Also bear in mind that this is Chris/x4000's game and inclusion of any content is ultimately his decision!

The voting will last one week. The next nomination topic will begin on the 28th.

Thanks for your participation!


Unit:
Plasma Generator - http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,2430.0.html (RCIX)
Support ships ("candy" tech or not) - http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,244.msg24479.html (HitmanN)
Heavy Turrets - http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,3667.0.html (Fox Soul)
Carriers - http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,251.0.html (Mylon)
Interdictor Starships - http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,3533.0.html (MaxAstro)

Rebalance/Tweak:
Mobile repair stations FRD - http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,3832.0.html (Buttons840)
Overkilling OK if no other targets in range - http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,4068.0.html (HellishFiend)

Feature:
Dedicated server - http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,3885.msg25659.html#msg25659 (deMangler)
Start Anywhere with Anything - http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,3955.0.html (triggerman602)
Construction templates - http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,4032.0.html (Black)
Destination ETA - http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,513.0.html  (dumpsterKEEPER)
Screenshot Function - http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,3638.0.html (Shardz)
Transport Features - http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,2737.0.html (Raptor331)

To be Added Soon/In Progress:
Unit: Riot Starship
Rebalance: Special unit re-balance (post triangle change)
http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,3103.0.html
Rebalance - MRS Overhaul

[Black]

I can see a few of these being added in the near future without too much hassle. I voted for construction templates and screenshot function just because I think they both round out the features I would expect from this style of RTS. Templates help like they help in Supreme Commander, and screenshot functionality would be useful for writing reports, although it hardly is any hassle at all to just print screen and then paste it into an image in paint.

Overkill logic was my runner-up. It shouldn't be hard to implement at all.

[RCIX]

Not many things were very interesting here, so i voted for Plasma Generator and Carriers.

[MaxAstro]

Dang.  There are actually way more than two things I want to vote on.  XD  So, going for the things that will most streamline my average gameplay experience.  Overkill-OK is a pretty big one for me because I have lost resource nodes to ships deciding they don't need to shoot at a vampire claw that has a killing blow coming to it from half the map away.  The overkill mechanic is incredibly useful in large-scale battles, but gets frustrating in smaller engagements.  And construction templates would save me a lot of time building turrets, because I tend to build the same turret cluster around every wormhole.  It would also give me a handy way of building mines faster than five at a time, which I'd also like to see.

That said, heavy turrets, carrier starships, interdictor starships (of course :p ), better FRD for MRS, destination ETA, and screenshots are all things I would love to see.

[CPTKOOL]

I can only pick two  I like ALL of the features and re-balances and a carrier unit would be awesome (also the support ships/ candy tech would allow you to really customise your fleet, at a cost of course). But I think I’ll pick Carriers because I love swamping my foes, in any game, with large numbers of fast movers; and of course the construction templates, there are a lot of building combinations that I find myself constantly reusing and to have a single button press before plonking them down would be excellent.   

[HellishFiend]

Yup, generally everything on the list is something that the community would like to see at some point or another. The point is that we let the devs know what we'd like to see first. 

[I-KP]

Bit of a slow week I see.  Not much up there strikes me as anything particularly desirable.

[x4000]

Please note that "Start Anywhere with Anything" is something that I've preemptively vetoed, it's specifically against the game design.  If you want the "perfect" scenario, you'll have to really work for it in the scenario editor.  My suggestion: don't always play with your favorite starting unit or your ideal starting location.  That's exactly what will kill the game for you, making it seem like every game is always the same because you intentionally are skipping out on all the variety it really offers.

[NickAragua]

Really, guys? Screenshots?

Voted "Overkilling OK". It's something that I notice fairly often, especially bad around lightning shuttles/turrets that can get an extra shot off while a sniper shot is flying across the map.

[Tayrtahn]

Hm, lots of things on that list that I like.

I'm putting in my votes for the Carrier (unleashing a horde of attack drones from your ship is always fun) and the Destination ETA feature (which could be tricky to implement, but would be super-handy and awesome).

The screenshot function almost seems like it doesn't belong on this list... perhaps I'm underestimating the complexities of screencapturing, but it seems like it should be a very quick feature to implement. No offense meant if I'm wrong, of course.

[I-KP]

Please note that "Start Anywhere with Anything" is something that I've preemptively vetoed, it's specifically against the game design.  If you want the "perfect" scenario, you'll have to really work for it in the scenario editor.  My suggestion: don't always play with your favorite starting unit or your ideal starting location.  That's exactly what will kill the game for you, making it seem like every game is always the same because you intentionally are skipping out on all the variety it really offers.

do {
   game.generateMap;
} while (unit.teleportBattlestations = 0);

I've been in more than a few MP lobbies that do this. 

[Buttons840]

Screen shot function seems fairly trivial to implement from a program perspective.

I'd imagine it's little more than a Windows API call to whatever the print screen key does, and then put that image into a file named by date and time.

[keith.lamothe]

Please note that "Start Anywhere with Anything" is something that I've preemptively vetoed, it's specifically against the game design.  If you want the "perfect" scenario, you'll have to really work for it in the scenario editor.  My suggestion: don't always play with your favorite starting unit or your ideal starting location.  That's exactly what will kill the game for you, making it seem like every game is always the same because you intentionally are skipping out on all the variety it really offers.

do {
   game.generateMap;
} while (unit.teleportBattlestations = 0);

I've been in more than a few MP lobbies that do this. 

I hope they don't do that, as that would always result in a map without teleport battlestations (would work if you used == though, psuedocode aside)

[vonduus]

Please note that "Start Anywhere with Anything" is something that I've preemptively vetoed, it's specifically against the game design.  If you want the "perfect" scenario, you'll have to really work for it in the scenario editor.  My suggestion: don't always play with your favorite starting unit or your ideal starting location.  That's exactly what will kill the game for you, making it seem like every game is always the same because you intentionally are skipping out on all the variety it really offers.

I read your arguments in the Wiki, but I am not convinced. I miss this feature, we are wasting a lot of time clicking through maps in order to get the ships we want. 

I never play a casual game of AIWar. This game is a real challenge. I am playing against AI level 7, and I win perhaps one out of every ten games. Given this sort of opposition I always have a plan, and this includes knowing in advance what kind of bonus ship I shall try out this time around.

Your counterargument is that if I use the same ship type config every time, the game will be boring in the long run. This is only partially true. My opening moves will tend to be the same, but when I find an advanced space lab, randomness sets in, and in most games this means a change of plans. If the day arrives, where my opening config is so strong that I am sure to win the game no matter what other ships I acquire during the game, then your argument holds. But I am afraid that day never comes. And if it should come, I can always go to AI level 8. So there really is no reason why this feature should be vetoed. Accordingly I voted for it on the poll.

I respect that the final decision is yours. But you changed your mind on (unmentionable topic), so maybe we can make you change your mind on this one, too?

[Ozymandiaz]

Many option. I have recently taken a liking to the MRS, so I voted that, adn teh carrier starships, sounds nifty.