Video - 0.813 Alpha - TLF Combat Becomes WeGo Turn-Based

[YukaTakeuchiFan]

Okay, had a look at the latest combat changes in that video.

I'm gonna be honest, when I first heard of the whole switch to "WeGo", I was feeling kind of bummed out about it. This wasn't like the first combat change; the shooter-style gameplay that you'd switched to looked like a blast, and to hear that it was suddenly being replaced by a system that I vaguely recalled looking pretty slow, boring and irritating in other games that used it... I wasn't particularly thrilled by the news, put it that way.

But! Now that I've seen the video, I... won't say whether I think the old style or the new style is better; I couldn't really say - but at least I can now say that the WeGo system is a lot more interesting and fun-looking than it sounded on message board, and I'm not so concerned that you've made the wrong choice anymore. It still looks pretty damn fast-paced, it looks like the feel of combat is still fun, and now you get to end turns with impending doom repeatedly closing in on your ship in the form of about two billion missiles that are mockingly telling you to 'dodge this' (the number may be hyperbole). =3

This said... Not gonna lie, looking forward to that eventual shooter game, too. ;3

[topper]

I notice that the movement 'sphere' between turns is perfectly circular; i.e. the flagship can spin around and cover as much distance going backward as if it continued forward. That may be normal for shmups, but this game is no longer a shmup, and I think it would be worthwhile to make ship movement more restrictive with regards to changing the ship's trajectory. I'm not a tester though, so I don't know how easy or difficult it is to dodge shots in the game right now.

I agree with this. Having a movement range that is larger in the current direction of travel (and/or thrust direction) would add a sense of velocity to the movement. All this would really require is knowing both the current velocity vector and also the current orientation of the engine thrust. Having a way to command "full stop" or "90 degree turn to port" or "full engines forward" at the end of movement would probably be necessary then, and would allow for more detailed planning of movement (WASD controls?). These commands could possibly be applied at any point in the movement, at a cost of movement range. The current velocity and magnitude could be displayed as an arrow somewhere on the screen.

My own note on the video:
-It looks really nice, but the way the ships continues to fire after movement is done makes it seem like the ships are actually starting and stopping in each turn, where the expected behavior would be continuous motion while each turn is planned when the combat is paused.