Combat?

[Misery]

So I was looking through the notes here a bit, but I didn't see it mentioned anywhere, so my question is... what might the combat in the game be like?  Er, providing there IS combat that the player directly takes part in.... could be me remembering non-existent things again.

Either way though, I didn't see it mentioned in there (or I missed it), so.... yeah. 

[x4000]

You are remembering correctly that there is direct combat that the player is involved in, but you are also correct that we've said almost nothing about it yet.

For now, I will say that the combat is 1v1 in terms of ships.  That said, beyond that I'm not keen to try to really just explain this, because undoubtedly people will start making wrong comparisons, and it's fairly its own unique thing.  Once we finish getting the graphics for the combat sections set up (which we are making good progress on), then I'll do a video showing off the combat in action, probably with voiceover commentary explaining what I'm doing.

That's how I'd like the first reveal of the combat to be, anyhow.  After that we'll have to learn how to describe it properly in a succinct way, but folks here can also help with that at that point.

[tigersfan]

I'll say that to me, the combat is potentially one of the more exciting aspects of the game. There was a LOT of back and forth over how to get it right, and in the end, I think we ended up with a really good system.

[madcow]

My big combat related question is in regards to smuggling. That's been mentioned a few times already and I was curious if it's part of the combat system, is completely chance based, or if it's some other minigame style.

I really love the smuggling concept, so I hope it's done in an interesting way

[x4000]

I don't mind telling you how smuggling works, actually.

Basically, normally ship-to-ship combat is 1v1, right?  Well, in smuggling runs, you have to face off against (most) every ship at a planet that you are smuggling from.  But you DON'T have to win.  Each part of the long single combat is based on the speed of your engines versus theirs.  So dreadnoughts can't even catch your corvettes and you just skip them, the speed differential is so high.  But with other middling-size ships against (for instance) a corvette, you'll have to fight them for a certain amount of time that is based on the differential in engine speed.  If you survive through the gauntlet, you win the smuggling run.

You can use a dreadnought of your own (or whatever else) to attempt a smuggling run, but that's like taking the death star on a stealth mission.   Depending on what else is waiting at that planet, you're unlikely to actually have your dreadnought survive that much combat at once unless it's just small craft.

[keith.lamothe]

but that's like taking the death star on a stealth mission.

That's actually surprisingly effective with a proper "moon" disguise.

[x4000]

I don't know, if I see an unexpected moon coming for me, I think I'd probably be just as worried about that as a death star.  Have we learned nothing from the acutians!?

[Conir]

mhh, somehow i imagined that smuggling would be more sort of a stealth operation than a fighting marathon...

if i imagine myself trying to smuggle something in a spaceship, i would most likely try to be as silent and hidden as possible, and NOT fight every ship on my way to the planet... doesnt make much sense to me to be hones, but then again... maybe i got it wrong

[madcow]

I can see how stealth runs would be pretty fitting thematically as well, but I'll be honest I can't really think of a way to make a stealth space minigame interesting, it could likely get dull pretty quick in my opinion. It seems like smuggling could have the potential for many different options.

For instance wanting to use stealth, vs just running through full speed, vs taking some suicidally dangerous route (why check that mined asteroid field, nobody is dumb enough to fly through it).

Using the differential of speed to survive the gauntlet sounds good to me though as I can't really think of a way to make it interesting otherwise.  Would they always know you ran smuggling, or would they only know who did it if you failed?

[keith.lamothe]

If you have a cloaking device you can use that to effectively skip time that the blockade ship could be shooting at you.  There's also an engine-overdrive thing some ships have for closing range rapidly (and a similar one for widening it rapidly) that could be applied here.

But actually having a stealth minigame sounds like a recipe for either an underwhelming minigame or an excessive amount of dev time investment

[x4000]

Yep, and in general you can also play a lot more defensively in a smuggling run, with much smaller ships.  You're the millennium falcon, diverting powers to the rear deflector shields and hightailing it past, etc.   You're not an x-wing taking on a tie fighter.

[mrhanman]

So it's more blockade running than smuggling?

[Misery]

Ok, here's a very simple question that I shoulda thought to ask right away.

This combat:  Real-time, or turn-based?

[nas1m]

Ok, here's a very simple question that I shoulda thought to ask right away.

This combat:  Real-time, or turn-based?

I think pausable realtime was mentioned in some other thread...

[chemical_art]

yes, with the map being turn based...wait, was it the opposite...i think it was...