TLF Version 1.003 Released (Permadeath Becomes Optional )

[x4000]

Hmm, doesn't the fact that player flagships are otherwise mostly identical tilt balance towards the ones that have better passive weapons?

Do the flagships without passive weapons have ANY advantage, or are they a strictly weaker choice?

Well, if you DON'T want to shoot something, they are an optimal choice, heh.  But also, they tend to be paired with races that you don't want to always have as your worst enemy.  As well as the variations in which kinds of slots you have is pretty important.  I have been considering adding a starting boost to the number of ability unlocks that you have from the start of the game with the other ships, though.

[Draco18s]

So either this is a bug or what am i missing?

IMG]http://i60.tinypic.com/2uxzdhg.png[/IMG]

"Special Ability" is a catchall for all three types of abilities...which is actually a poor catch-all.  Operation Zero is an "Operations" ability, like Operation Wolf.

[Seally]

Well, according to a Google search, RCI does not really mean anything at all.  I guess it is a made up acronym from Sim City, so I was told.

And everyone knows that if it's not found with a Google search, it does not exist.   

RCI is an acronym from the SimCity series (like you said) and I think it stands for: Residential, Commercial, and Industrial. In that game, you zone certain areas of the map to specify where people will build houses (R), shops (C), or industries. The RCI are bars that indicate the level of demand to build in each zone in that particular city. If the R bar is high, for example, it means people want to move in and build houses. If you don't have any empty zones left, the bars hint that you may want to zone more in that category. The RCI bar exists in most of the titles in the series, I think, although the only one I've invested significant time playing is SimCity 4. SimCity Societies removed the zoning system, which if I remember correctly was among the main source of ire among the fans. I cannot say for any of the other titles, though, including the latest SimCity: DRM Disaster (that's my nickname for it now).

In this case, I think Arcen expected that a significant number of players would be accustomed to the series, and the term will resonate even if the literal meaning is lost. It obviously didn't work for everyone, though.

*Technically, all acronyms are made up. If they weren't, there would be no acronyms.

[GC13]

Regional Compatibility Indices. That's the new backronym for RCI. Go spread the word.

[x4000]

Ooh, that's really close!  I think "Realm Condition Indices" makes a lot of sense.

[GC13]

It's really tough that we're straitjacketed with that "R"—it really throws a monkey wrench into things when trying to come up with a nice backronym.

I still think Compatibility is best for the "C" though. It plays nicely with Planetary Compatibility, and *some specific R-word* Compatibility.

[x4000]

Yeah, the R is really tough.  I think that C should be "Condition," though, because when we use Compatibility for two things that tends to confuse people.  Also, these have nothing to do with compatibility.  You might be really awesomely compatible with the planet, but the condition of your public order is "rampant crime."  Or you might be awful in terms of compatibility with the planet, but the condition of your medical is "awesome."

[Mick]

Instead of trying to force the acronym, why not just call them what they are? Planetary trend values. (PTVs? *shrug*)

[Draco18s]

because when we use Compatibility for two things that tends to confuse people

You're already using "special abilities" to refer to both a specific type of special ability (not weapons and not operations) as well as all types of special abilities (weapon, operation, and specials).

[GC13]

No, we're going to sit here and figure out what RCI stands for.

I see your point about not using Compatibility... If we're going with Condition, I went through a bit of the R-words and I think Rationalized or Real might be good for the R.

[SuperCactus]

I like Rationalized, there's also Relative, Reported.. Still thinking.

[x4000]

I really like both Real (sounds very economic) and "Reported."  I think that the latter really makes the most sense.  "Reported Condition Indices" it is!

because when we use Compatibility for two things that tends to confuse people

You're already using "special abilities" to refer to both a specific type of special ability (not weapons and not operations) as well as all types of special abilities (weapon, operation, and specials).

No, the words are just similar.  We mainly call them abilities, or sometimes special abilities I guess.  But then the category is "Specialty."  At any rate, having one thing that is potentially confusing doesn't mean we need two.

Instead of trying to force the acronym, why not just call them what they are? Planetary trend values. (PTVs? *shrug*)

Because RCI is something inherently understood by a huge portion of our playerbase, rather than trying to force a completely-new acronym.

[Necro]

I'm going to go ahead and complain about the velociter nerf.  Velociters were a handy challenge to the player in figuring out how to deal with them.  The only issue I see with them is how early they are in the tech tree.  You should give the player time to adjust to combat before throwing issues like them at the player.

Seriously, dealing with the old velociters was easy once you knew how and broke up some of the tedium of combat.  Now I feel that those ships are more the same as the others.  If players would simply learn to stop trying to chase something that they couldn't catch, and instead made it come to them, and predict where they'd be, they'd realize how easy a velociter is.  The trick is doing so while in combat with the main riff raff.  When you do though, it's satisfying to pop one of those every pass in a single combat turn.

i disagree, even afte the nerf i find them far far far too hard to catch up to.  it's not that they're a challenge just really annoying.