Mind helping out Chris a bit? Lists of features and their basics.

[x4000]

Hey guys,

I know this is a strange thing for me to ask, but I've got dozens of pages of specs to write (at bare minimum), and I'm trying to cut down on some of the prep work on my end for that as well as making sure I don't have oversights.

Basically what I'd like to do is get a comprehensive list of ships and plots and mechanics and so on, with brief descriptions of what they do, and then have folks also weigh in on their opinions on some of these things, potentially in other threads.  Maybe have a "things we don't like" thread and a "things we like" thread.

I hate asking so much of folks, but I figure that many heads/hands are certainly better than one.  Also I'm really trying to get a design document together as quickly as possible so that it can be discussed in depth, and every bit helps.  I know the wiki has a huge amount of info on there obviously, but where the holes are is not always obvious, and it's easy to not realize that some ship was missed when there are so many ships!

I don't need things like balance stats or anything, but some subjective commentary on what the role or value of the ship is -- if in your opinion it has any at all -- is also valued.  Some of these things have been rebalanced so substantially since I last saw them that actually my own interpretation of them is very out of date.  So I'm trying to counteract that and catch up fast.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

[Aklyon]

Is this assuming all the expansions' material, or just base AI War? Or somewhere in-between?

[Cinth]

Is this assuming all the expansions' material, or just base AI War? Or somewhere in-between?

Everything would be fine. 

[x4000]

Absolutely everything.  What I'm looking to do is to take the best of what people most want, and distill that down into the core features for this game partly based on what features most easily overlap, too.  Aka, there may be a "meh" unit that just so neatly overlaps with a "yay!" unit that it gets included anyway, and then we can work on turning that from meh to yay in updates.  But if there's an "ugh" unit that neatly overlaps with a "yay!" unit, then that one will just stay omitted.

My internal deadline is trying to have everything ready for the kickstarter in 2 weeks.  We probably won't make it, but that way we can make it within 4 weeks total, hopefully.  Shoot for 2 so that there's buffer, otherwise I'm sure to be very late.  Keith was talking about potentially needing to get part-time work outside Arcen, which is one reflection of how serious the situation is on his side.  Maybe I shouldn't have said that, but I figure you guys have a right to know.  That's part of the reason for my rush, but ALSO the reason I want to do this right.

The rush comes on getting materials together, NOT in evaluating them or implementing them.  There's so much "busywork" that can really drag down the time it takes to do something like this, and I'm trying to streamline out those things as much as possible to then focus on the important bits.

[Cyborg]

Shield Bearers

Tanky, good defensively or offensively to protect damage dealing or critical targets. Great for dealing with time-based missions.

( Can you give an example on how you want us to write it? Is this what you wanted? I'd be happy to do more,  just need to know what it's supposed to look like.)

[x4000]

That works for me!  I suppose actually a page on the wiki could be created, or some sort of communal document.

Actually, you know what?  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E78-KtgIKyAExd9VpIKe2aXEKFO14A8b9zRLwRENkRk/edit?usp=sharing

Anyone can edit that.  We should be able to keep it in better organization that way, and also have some nice editorial comments in there as well.

Thank you!

[Cinth]

I'll have a list that's basically a translation of the "F1" ships menu thingy up in there as soon as I'm done writing it out (it's a huge list).

[Misery]

That works for me!  I suppose actually a page on the wiki could be created, or some sort of communal document.

Actually, you know what?  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E78-KtgIKyAExd9VpIKe2aXEKFO14A8b9zRLwRENkRk/edit?usp=sharing

Anyone can edit that.  We should be able to keep it in better organization that way, and also have some nice editorial comments in there as well.

Thank you!

Is this going to work if some of us have conflicting thoughts on different elements?   Should we put our names before writing something about a given thing?

[Draco18s]

Is this going to work if some of us have conflicting thoughts on different elements?   Should we put our names before writing something about a given thing?

Given the one entry and Chris's own denoted comment:
Yes.

Also, this might work better as a Trello board...or something...where each item can have its own list of comments without making the entire document mind numbingly huge.

[Aklyon]

I want to add something about Railpods or friendly enclaves/combat carriers, but I can't think of how to describe it well.

[chemical_art]

I want to add something about Railpods or friendly enclaves/combat carriers, but I can't think of how to describe it well.

Railpods are beings of instant, global firepower (in terms of a world firepower). Set them on a world, they die, enemies die with them. As easy as tactics can get!

Enclaves / carriers are "squad" units. They are the basis of squads that can launch to anywhere in a system to attack. As long as motherbase is safe, the attacks continue. They are the opposite of suicide units, they thrive best when they have a ring of protection to protect them so they can project power throughout a world.

[Cinth]

Is this going to work if some of us have conflicting thoughts on different elements?   Should we put our names before writing something about a given thing?

Given the one entry and Chris's own denoted comment:
Yes.

Also, this might work better as a Trello board...or something...where each item can have its own list of comments without making the entire document mind numbingly huge.

This is how Chris works here.  If something needs to be discussed, it can be discussed here on the forum. 

Also, I'm about to dump a WHOLE lot of units on the list.

[Aklyon]

I reworded chemical art's Railpod description a bit and added it in, and added a comment-question on the drones further down on the list.

[Cinth]

I reworded chemical art's Railpod description a bit and added it in, and added a comment-question on the drones further down on the list.

Once I have put this up against the ship list in the wiki, I'm going to move stuff around so it makes sense.  It's a WIP but I wanted to get that much up there.


Edit:  In fact, I think I'll list them just as the wiki does.

[Draco18s]

This is how Chris works here.  If something needs to be discussed, it can be discussed here on the forum.

Oh I know, but now that you've dumped the list into the google doc, you can see how intimidating just the list is.  14 pages for just one line for each unit.

Dear god.