FrostyWolf's Suggestion List

[FrostyWolf]

So, I recently picked up your game and played it for about 5 hours straight or so.  Was a blast, and let me with some ideas.

Trading:
Ore prices that fluctuate based on economy.  Ores all have a base price (as the game has now).  I'm assuming upon generation the game is aware of ore distribution amongst the galaxy?  Why not adjust the ore prices per station based on what percentage of each type of ore is located in that sector in relationship to the rest of the galaxy?  For instance, a galaxy that has the average percentage of a certain type of ore in its sector sells and buys the ore at the base price.  This percentage is calculated by adding up how much ore the station (and other stations in its sector) already have, then comparing it to the galaxy amount of ore.  For example:

(OreX in all stations in galaxy) + (All unmined OreX in galaxy) = (Total OreX in Galaxy)

(OreX in all stations in sector) + (All unmined OreX in sector) = (Total OreX in Sector)

(Total OreX in Sector) / (Total OreX in Galaxy) = (Percentage of OreX in Sector)

Then you find the average percentage of OreX in any given sector, and compare it to the actual percentage of OreX in a given Sector.

If that sector has more than the average, selling and buying costs are adjusted down. (cheaper to buy, less money to be made selling)

If that sector has less than the average, selling and buying costs are adjusted up. (mor expensive to buy, more money to be made selling)

Now you have the start of an economy, that will dynamically change as players mine, buy and sell as the game goes on.  It now becomes possible for players to make money just in ferrying goods between sectors...provided that they have the starting funds, the cargo space, and the defences to make it.

Of course, these adjustments have to be balanced properly.  You wouldn't want a player with a lot of cargo space to be able to buy enough ore at a station to raise the demand enough to sell it right back for more money or anything silly like that.  Also, if possible, you might want to adjust the price for buying and selling on the fly, meaning if say...the player is buying 100 ore at once and the price goes up after they buy 50, then when they purchase that 100 the price for 50 is X, and the price for the other 50 is Y.

The also opens up the ability to add some more skills to the trading skill tree, for instance:

Trade Network:  After purchasing this skill, when you mouse over ore in a shop or inventory, it will show you the highest and lowest costs (and the sector that has them) that ore is selling/buying for, but only in sectors you have currently been to.

Taking Advantage: Earn X% more selling ore in a sector that currently has well below the average.

Good Negotiator: Purchase ore X% cheaper in a sector that currently has a massive surplus of ore.

Randomness:
So, one of the biggest rushes a player gets in a game is when they get that new weapon, or armor, or shield, or ship.  Finding one that's special, upgrading a older one, etc.  In at straight up tiered system, that can only happen so many times (as there is teirs) and it becomes predictable and less...err...rush-y?  There is a simple solution to this though, randomness.  Now, I'm not talking full on procedurally generated loot, although that's exactly how MMO's handle this, but a little randomness can got a long way.  For instance:

Basic Laser.  Lets say you have your Basic Laser.  This does 10 damage a second, and uses 10 energy a second. (Pulling numbers and names out of nowhere, not from the game, just to make a point)

Laser. This is your next tier for lasers.  It does 25 damage a second, and uses 25 energy a second.

And so on, and so on.  If you have 10 tiers, there are only 10 potential times that the player is going to get the thrill of a new laser.  But, what if you still only had 10 tiers, but exponentially could change how many times that the player could experience that "new car" feel, plus with the excitement of always wondering what they were going to find next?  Simple.

Basic Laser.  This does 4 + random(11) DPS, and uses 4 + random (11) energy per second.  These numbers are calculated when it "spawns" in the shop.  The price is adjusted accordingly (the 5 dps, 15 energy per second laser is cheaper than the 15 DPS, 5 energy per second one) and for fun, lets throw some pre-fixes in there to give the player a rough idea where that particular Basic Laser stands compared to the average.

5-6 DPS = Very Weak
7-8 DPS = Weak
9-11 DPS = No prefix at all
12-13 DPS = Strong
14-15 DPS = Very Strong

5-6 Energy = Very Efficient
7-8 Energy = Efficient
9-11 Energy = No prefix at all
12-13 Energy = Inefficient
14-15 Energy = Very Inefficient

So, a 6 damage, 8 energy per second Basic Laser would be a "Very Weak Efficient Basic Laser", etc.

Bam, you just opened up a entire new thrill to your players.  O man, is that a Very Strong Very Efficient Laser?  Should I upgrade my Very Strong Inefficient Laser to this Very Efficient Laser?  Should is just keep this Very Strong, Very Efficient Basic Laser instead of spending the money on this Weak, Very Inefficient Laser?  It adds excitement to each store you go as you will never know what you will find. 

Of course, this needs to be balanced a bit, and you can always weigh your randomness so its rare to find Very Strong compared to Very Weak, and/or rare to find something that is Very Strong AND Very Efficient.  This can also (of course) apply to all stats for all weapons (shots per second, amount of ammo, etc, etc) and hell, even stats on other things, like shields and engines.  Adding a bit of randomness massively increases the amount of things the players can run into and buy, but doesn't increase your workload making new items by nearly the same amount, a win win for everyone.  (These prefixes/etc could also be the prelude into a crafting system further down the line!)

Also...more opportunities for skills again, like maybe a trader skill that increase the chances to see better items in stores, or one that decreases the price difference between the "good" version of a item and the "bad" version, or even a engineering skill that improves equipped items by one step! (Strong to Very Strong).

[Lurler]

Appreciate your time in writing this detailed suggestion post!
Although it's an alpha and as is expected most of that is planned anyway.

Trading - is already implemented for the next update and I am sure you will enjoy the new system. There are not just asteroids, but different goods too.

Randomness - we are going to do it a bit differently. Random loot will be tied to the upgrade system and each piece of gear will have a chance to get some unique properties. But that's too early for that though. This features is planned closer to beta.

[FrostyWolf]

Appreciate your time in writing this detailed suggestion post!
Although it's an alpha and as is expected most of that is planned anyway.

Trading - is already implemented for the next update and I am sure you will enjoy the new system. There are not just asteroids, but different goods too.

Randomness - we are going to do it a bit differently. Random loot will be tied to the upgrade system and each piece of gear will have a chance to get some unique properties. But that's too early for that though. This features is planned closer to beta.

Sound great!  I was getting tired from writing all that so I stopped and then of course forgot everything else I wanted to talk about, lol.  I think the rest was about player to player connectivity, such as trading between players.  I was also thinking it would be interesting if you could "hire" another player to help you with a mission you were currently on, as in it brings up the trade window, but you could drag like a mission into it, and then goods/money, and if he helps you complete the mission then the rest of the trade automatically happens.  The problem with that is it can be tricky to program "helping". 

I've noticed so bugs to be I have been too lazy to go through the other giant lists in this forum to make sure I'm not reporting them twice, but a funny story, my first experience play the game went like this:

Start game, create character, hop in game.
Screen comes up with picture of controls
"O look, F1 shows this screen, so it should close it as well, I'll just ignore this button at the bottom of the window here and hit F1 instead!"
Game imploads.

Also, I'm sure someone has reported this, but if you are in a dialog tree that gives XP, you can click "goodbye" then re -enter it and keep getting XP.

[ai_enabled]

FrostyWolf, thanks for reporting. All noted issues were fixed and the new update is coming soon!