What does Privateer 1.0 need?

hellcatv

Swabbie
Banned
I'm asking for trouble here... but what ONE change from 008 does Privateer Remake 1.0 actually *need*
Please each person post only the most important thing.
That way we get an even spread....

There are no guarantees that anything here actually happens...for now assume it'll be exactly like 008.
Thanks
hellcatv
 
I haven't playtested enough to comment on changes, but

<my sphere>

I would request that any gameplay changes I haven't already covered in the manual (latest version can be accessed via vegastrike forums) be noted to me to update.

That way I can give a good manual version without those usual 'after the manual was sent to the printer' readme updates (I so hate those).

Not quite what hellcatv was asking, but still...
 
The ability to free slaves...whoops just coded that ;-)

This allows people to buy slaves from a pirate base, and free them inflight. They then earn a mere 1-10 credits to sell a freed slave (they become hitchhikers) instead of 600+
:)

sometimes being a good Samaritan doesn't pay off


PS: Flying coffin with potentially a tractor beam and a huge hold to boot--wonder what you could fit in there...hmmm
 
Only one thing... discounting bugs I have three big things in mind, one is plot related so I'll leave that, another was something some people didn't use much in the original (I did) (but is more important in VS-style gameplay, it would seem *coughputtingdifferentgunsandtractorsonturretscough* ), but the one thing that nearly everyone will see that shouldn't be THAT big a deal is the trade goods cost at different base types and, more importantly, having them regenerate without having to save/reload (because encouraging people to save/reload is bad! Bad! Bad! Bad!)

My 2 cents.
 
Hmmm.... the Kamekh's are still virtually unstoppable even in a milspec Centurion. Maybe having more powerful torpedos or cheaper wingmen would make the Kilrathi cap ship hunting aspect of the game a little more feasable.

My ultimate wish is a little unorthodox. It would be nice to add some extra cap ships into the game (Ranger or Waterloo class for Confed, Giglamesh class for Borderworlds, Venture II class for militia, and Fralthra class for Kilrathi). I know these were not contained in the orignial Privateer, and there probably weren't a lot of cruiser/carriers in the Gemini sector. But, I noticed you guys were able to obtain the Salthi II model from Standoff. They already have all of the models I have mentioned, as well. All of these would be rare encounters (maybe only running into Rangers or Waterloos in Perry, strong Confed systems, and in systems boardering Kilrathi space).

Maybe this would be nice to have in an add-on patch for those who are willing to have a slightly enhanced version of Privateer.

(Oh, I already posted my one thing, but reactions to friendly fire could still be a little less extreme).
 
If it is not a bit too much trouble, make the AI ships less like Speedy Gonzales on a Brilliance and Ultimate Cocktail and let them fly much like in the original game. Maybe this is going to be implemented in 0.9 as a difficulty setting, if that is so, consider this request void. ^^

And maybe the Broadsword should have functional afterburners too like all the other ships. Not too fast, but more or less more survivability guaranteed...

Will armor upgrades be possible? I can't upgrade it on my milspec Centurion and stock Broadsword...
 
How about ... Modeled computers like the repair/upgrade, Commodities nad mission computers? Is this doable with the engine? For me they really improved the immersion that I had with the first Privateer.

-Chemus, Herald of Elevenses
 
responding to cargo prices and availability: yes! this is something for 1.0 for sure...we will restore them to their original glory; it may not make it into 009 however... but we're working on it
 
The Sphynx said:
(Oh, I already posted my one thing, but reactions to friendly fire could still be a little less extreme).

I agree. IIRC, the way that Priv handled it was that shield hits were ignored and armor hits weren't. Maybe a scalar for the shield hits? Make them less likely to provoke?
 
I'm not sure how big of a change this would be, or if it's even possible, but have the way you communicate with everyone, and how you treat them, determine their hostility level to you. For instance, If I never kill a Kilrathi, and always talk nice to them, then they're my buds. They don't care if Confed is friendly to me also, 'cause I'm the guy that gets them catnip. The militia is my friend, because I always hang back when they're fighting my pals the pirates, and tractor in ejected militia pilots before the pirates get them and I turn them loose instead of makig them slaves. Stuff like that. But if I get to be friends with the Retros, EVERYONE hates me. See?
 
I think that's how it is already... course sometimes the comms didn't quite sync up with the faction relation--but I found and fixed that BUG, so it should be fine for 009 (that rhymes)
 
Request

You asked for one request but I'm going to give you a few. I'm not familiar with the game engine so I hope that they are reasonable requests.

1. Broadswords should be able to support weapons that can destroy the Kilrathi cap ships. So, for example, instead of supporting 4 torpedo launchers with 6 torps each, make it 4 launchers with 30 torps each. Also, along these lines, you could reduce the speed of torpedos so that they are a little less effective against fighters. This would give the Broadsword a nice niche in the game (and would be great if you every make a multi-player version...) Come to think of it, the Orion could use an upgrade of this type too. Its as manuverable as a bomber...

2. I'd like to see more Confed/Militia ships in the major centers of Potter quadrant. Also, I would like to see paradigms and broadswords flying around Perry all the time. It seems strange to have 20 Kilrathi follow you to Perry and effectively blockade it.

(Okay, so I took a mission that involved spacing one Kilrathi who has 20 wingmen and ran once I collected.... So what, there should still be some Confed presence there. I guess I'd just like to see more ships running around doing their thing in the background.)

3. Try to provide a good (ie. better) financial incentive for being merchant. I heard a suggestion of making certain raw materials available at a discount when they are purchased in blocks of 100. It sounds good to me. Alternatively, give really lucrative merchant missions with large payloads from fixers in the bars... Only available for owners of Draymen, Tarsus, Orion and Galaxy class ships. (I added Orion because as much as you have improved the game, the Orion is still a peice of junk that makes you wonder why you gave up on the Tarsus. Sure it supports great engines and good shields but it gets cut to peices by everything in this game.)

A couple of other miscellaneous suggestions.

No communications when the cloaking device is active.

No targetting computer lock when the cloaking device is active.

Demons are rather uber right now. I would suggest reducing the highest level reactor they support by one. Perhaps change two of their guns to light guns only (or light/medium) only. (At the moment their is little reason to go to a centurion instead of a demon.) I like to think that the centurion should have much better weapons than the demon. Sure it has better missiles but I think that the usefulness of missiles in this game is pretty minimal. In WC2 a missile might take out a dralthi. In the original version of Privateer two missiles would easily destroy a talon. In this game missile mounts are only useful because you can put a tractor beam on them.

The fixes I'm suggesting are really minor annoyances for me. I don't want to sound like I am whining. The work that you have done so far is absolutely fantastic.

Floater
 
we take note :)
Floater, All of your requests could be done in notepad and/or excel

It's a matter of discussing balance with the team--the engine has all that support
 
First off: great, great job - this is amazing. That said, I actually think the biggest problem with the beta is cosmetic. Every commodity, ship, and piece of equipment needs an infocard; hard numbers and stuff like a ship's 'orthagonal acceleration' should be hidden away in the manual or at least at the bottom and out of the way. The mission briefs are the same: you ought to at least steal some of the text from the original. And again, same goes for the news briefs - more variety, less repetition, better editing, ect.

This seems like something that would be very easy to dole out to the general public - I assume the coding is just cut and paste and all you'd need would be a good selection of written entries. I think it's very important to get this stuff right; at the moment the beta lacks the immersion of the original privateer, and unless it gets that human touch it won't live up to its true potential.
 
Wonk: go ahead! Edit modules/news.py for instance to make more news stories or at least edit the ones that are there... the bartenders are borrowed....
master_part_list.csv holds all the cargo and descriptions for upgrades taken from the manual.
As far as mission descriptions go...that's all listed in modules/dynamic_mission.py

you can edit them right in a text editor without touching the game source :)
no compiling, just edit, run, and go

and make sure to send us the grammar fixes, etc :) and modified .py files in the modules/ directory i think bartenders is lost over there in bases/bartenders.py
 
I'm not sure there is all that much to do with the bartender speech. We are sort of limited if we ever hope to get to the point where all of it has the corresponding sound files. However, there are some minor differences, stuff like dang instead of damn :D If there are obvious grammar issues (punctuation) in there go ahead and fix them but I'd be hesitant to change the words. Someday we'll have all the voices recorded. At least I hope so.
 
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