MiddleStates 7.2 discussion

This is a Test Build of Epic: Middle States. The planned release is this spring.

Tons of cool new features:

* These should be the final nebula and planet textures. Unless bugs are discovered you will not need to download these again.

* Station Trade screens. Including the requested buy all/sell all buttons. And remote purchase (20km).

* Wingman upkeep is running automatically with each passing day.

* All player ships now use fuel on system to system capsule jumps.

* System to system capsule jumps advance time one day (as planned) to simulate long trade journeys.

* A New wingman status GUI is included to see the cost of operation of your ships and how much each jump of fuel costs, and how many jumps worth are still unpaid.

* A prototype Reputation screen displays all the factions in the game and the relationship to the player. James will be working on an improved version.

* Cluster Faction list has been nearly finalized. Code written to support setting up the clusters factions and relations between them. Default faction levels have changed from the old PS faction. New text files to translate names properly have been included.

* New debug buttons to change the players reputation with a targeted faction. Needed for testing purchases and hostile reactions.

* A new test cluster MS_Mod_StationTest that includes one of each supported station type all in the same system for easy testing.

* An updated MS_Mod_Geog with all the new econ files and factions. (don't enable both the StationTest and Geog at the same time!)

* Econ code changed to support using text strings for standing level such as FT_Dislike instead of cryptic floating point values like -0.3 See included cargo_categories.ini

* Econ code properly supports translated cargo pod names. You should now see the proper “new nanotech economy� names instead of prior PS names.

* Player starting funds/cargo fixed when cargo pods to inventory.

There are almost enough features complete to form a playable game.

Definitely getting more playable. Couple of things noticed right off the bat.
x There are two "Remove Item" buttons on the purchase/sell screen instead of one "Remove Item" and one "Remove 10".
x The Asteroid Base around the Hough Belt in Kedalov has no asteroids nearby. The Hough Belt itself is listed as a nebula.
x As I travel around, the camera move at station docking was cool the first two times, then annoying afterwards. Perhaps just setting the camera at the end of its movement and then bringing up the station GUI?

More to follow...



Once more into the breach...

Your right, it does get annoying. The camera view was an attempt to convey just how large the stations really are, with a close up of the ship bridge panning back to a tiny dot on a huge station. Maybe if I pop up the menu right away.

I think it would be nice if the player sees:

1. Docking to station, as per normal.
EDIT: OR perhaps the zoom out from the station occurs first and the camera tracks the players ship as they dock (from far away)... This would give them something to watch and the transition no longer hogs useful player time. Really, what DO you do as a player while waiting for the autopilot to dock your ship?

2. Zoom out happens either more quickly or as the menu system is brought up (sooner).

3. Stays zoomed out until the player Undocks from the station. Maybe the view would stay where the camera is when zoomed out and the undocking would be viewed from that distance/angle. Much more evocative with your new lighting.

4. Player is given the last view type they had before they docked (I'm bringing this up as a wishlist item/sorta bug in my bug report).

I would like to replace the current docking view, but I can't. That is why the view begins when you dock. I do think it would be cool to leave the view in place. I think I can leave the game in director view and still keep the GUI running. I will try it.

Here is a totally different direction we could take the feature. I was looking at Cambragol's screen shots again, and thinking it would be really nice to set up a few "scenic overlook" points in the game. Places where we want to player to pause and enjoy the view.

What we could do (not in this release) is let the person setting up the station enviornment place "scenic waypoints" that show off the setup to best advantage. And while the player is docked, the camera will move from waypoint to waypoint. Only a few stations would have this feature. Too much work I expect to setup. But something to think over.

Fuel

The fuel using feature was kind of hacked in at the last moment. I needed to charge a fee for capsule jumping, and this was the only way (of several attempted) that I could get to work reliably.

Right now the fuel means number-of-jumps. All ships count the same. However, each type of ship (tug, freighter, corvette) can charge a different amount for 1 jump. So it is kind of backwards. Every ship uses the same amount of "fuel" but charges a different amount of money for the same fuel. From an accounting point of view, the credits spent are the same. And I needed the feature done quick.

But I think it should be reversed: ships should use different amounts of fuel (based on size), but each unit of fuel costs the same. I would like to see the player have to hire a refuel ship to replenish supplies. And if a wingman runs out, you need to pump some fuel from one ship to another. And put some limit on the amount of fuel a ship can carry. A tanker ship might make a good wingman on extended raiding missions or long convoy missions.

These are easy features to add, because the structure to make them work is now done. (hiring ships, ships remember fuel, wingmen have a task that tracks fuel use and can disable ship if tanks are empty).

How do you guys like those feature ideas (anyone else is free to comment)?

Just thinking about the docking view again. After doing a lot of trading, I find that I would really prefer the docking view to stay in the zoomed out station view mode. I spend so much time using the first person bridge view, that the zoomed out station/docked view is and would be a nice break. Additionally, keeping the zoomed out view prevents the HUD elements from the bridge view cluttering up the area behind the unigui mensus while you are doing buying and selling. Zoomed out looks more beautiful, and cleaner.