USS Texas A&M
Howdy yall, just wanted to announce a new ship crew out of College Station, TX and give some feedback from our 1st weekend of shakedowns. Some of the others may start posing here as well:
1. Thom the game is AWESOME!! The game has amazing potential as well and we want to help however we can.
2. Weapon balance: I found a Longbow style to be very (too) effective, just load up on missiles and nukes, stay out of range and rain death upon the enemy. Perhaps adding a miss chance, giving the AI missiles, or adding some form of countermeasures to both sides would make this a bit more dynamic.
Another captain went with more of a bombing run style. He would line up on a target cluster, pump forward shields, fly over them and dump 2 mines on top of them. Amazingly (too much?) effective.
3. Warp in combat: While it allowed for superior tactical maneuverability it mostly made impulse useless and provided an amazingly simple and effective escape plan (barring a few mishaps). Warp within range, turn a bit, and shoot till dead. Warp to next. I definitely support the idea of some form of spin up time.
4. Main screen: A number of the crew felt that the captain should have some way to modify the main screen for themselves when the rest of the crew is occupied. Perhaps just using 1-7 as hot-keys for the crews that want it as an option?
Again, awesome game and we look forward to the next update and seeing where you boldly takes us next.
1. Thom the game is AWESOME!! The game has amazing potential as well and we want to help however we can.
2. Weapon balance: I found a Longbow style to be very (too) effective, just load up on missiles and nukes, stay out of range and rain death upon the enemy. Perhaps adding a miss chance, giving the AI missiles, or adding some form of countermeasures to both sides would make this a bit more dynamic.
Another captain went with more of a bombing run style. He would line up on a target cluster, pump forward shields, fly over them and dump 2 mines on top of them. Amazingly (too much?) effective.
3. Warp in combat: While it allowed for superior tactical maneuverability it mostly made impulse useless and provided an amazingly simple and effective escape plan (barring a few mishaps). Warp within range, turn a bit, and shoot till dead. Warp to next. I definitely support the idea of some form of spin up time.
4. Main screen: A number of the crew felt that the captain should have some way to modify the main screen for themselves when the rest of the crew is occupied. Perhaps just using 1-7 as hot-keys for the crews that want it as an option?
Again, awesome game and we look forward to the next update and seeing where you boldly takes us next.
page
1
5 replies
1. SO MUCH FUN!
2. Yeah, the mines were definitely overpowered. Entire battle groups got wiped in a single run. Probably the best way to stop that is to have the enemy ships fly in formation instead of all packed together. Either that or make it so you can't fire weapons at warp speed (which makes sense--I wouldn't want to drop *anything* out of a ship traveling at FTL speeds)
Also, I think a lot of the combat issues (esp. the over effectiveness of Longbow-ing) would be solved by giving the enemy ships faster impulse engines and giving both sides both missiles and countermeasures. Imagine the level of tension that results when the Science officer says "Captain, that dreadnought has a nuke."
3. Impulse was generally worthless except for docking. Perhaps the maps should be made bigger and warp given enough speed that it's really hard to use safely in combat while impulse gets a wider range of speeds. Routing all power to impulse then going full speed was still worthlessly slow.
Basically we could use our vastly superior engines to completely outmaneuver any opponent. In combat, ship speed capabilities need to be a little more equal.
4. Hotkeys for everyone. *Especially* weapons. Clicking around on both sides of the screen was irritating. Also, the helm impulse control (arrows and W/S keys) needs to be smoothed out--it was impossible to reliably control the engine with the keys, and clicking was a pain when I was also trying to steer.
For the Science station, it would be nice if you could sort the list that pops up. Whenever there were two battle groups along a similar vector, it became impossible to read the details on a single ship because it would fly around the list as you were moving, or even as you were trying to lock on to it with the sensor.
CPT LEE "MINER 49ER" THOMPSON
2. Yeah, the mines were definitely overpowered. Entire battle groups got wiped in a single run. Probably the best way to stop that is to have the enemy ships fly in formation instead of all packed together. Either that or make it so you can't fire weapons at warp speed (which makes sense--I wouldn't want to drop *anything* out of a ship traveling at FTL speeds)
Also, I think a lot of the combat issues (esp. the over effectiveness of Longbow-ing) would be solved by giving the enemy ships faster impulse engines and giving both sides both missiles and countermeasures. Imagine the level of tension that results when the Science officer says "Captain, that dreadnought has a nuke."
3. Impulse was generally worthless except for docking. Perhaps the maps should be made bigger and warp given enough speed that it's really hard to use safely in combat while impulse gets a wider range of speeds. Routing all power to impulse then going full speed was still worthlessly slow.
Basically we could use our vastly superior engines to completely outmaneuver any opponent. In combat, ship speed capabilities need to be a little more equal.
4. Hotkeys for everyone. *Especially* weapons. Clicking around on both sides of the screen was irritating. Also, the helm impulse control (arrows and W/S keys) needs to be smoothed out--it was impossible to reliably control the engine with the keys, and clicking was a pain when I was also trying to steer.
For the Science station, it would be nice if you could sort the list that pops up. Whenever there were two battle groups along a similar vector, it became impossible to read the details on a single ship because it would fly around the list as you were moving, or even as you were trying to lock on to it with the sensor.
CPT LEE "MINER 49ER" THOMPSON
MINER 49ER
Yeah, the mines were definitely overpowered. Entire battle groups got wiped in a single run. Probably the best way to stop that is to have the enemy ships fly in formation instead of all packed together. Either that or make it so you can't fire weapons at warp speed (which makes sense--I wouldn't want to drop *anything* out of a ship traveling at FTL speeds)
This makes sense, but it is not consistent with Thom's primary source material. Star Trek has a long history of ships firing at FTL speeds. What makes this work is that the enemy ships can also run at FLT speeds, and they can fire back. I think this would be a better solution.
"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton!"
(Likely actual words of Admiral David Farragut, USN, at the battle of Mobile Bay. Four bells was the signal for the engine room to make full steam ahead).
(Likely actual words of Admiral David Farragut, USN, at the battle of Mobile Bay. Four bells was the signal for the engine room to make full steam ahead).
Star Trek has a long history of ships firing at FTL speeds
I just wanted to toss a proverbial "kudos" your way for actually knowing that. It's annoying how many Trek fans think that combat is sublight only.
-----------
Khomerex nal Khesterex
The unofficial Artemis Wiki, your best source for Artemis Information
Khomerex nal Khesterex
The unofficial Artemis Wiki, your best source for Artemis Information
Thanks, Vorus, but it doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment. FTL combat was hinted at in "Balance of Terror" and depicted outright in "Arena" (both first season). It was also shown in the second season episode "The Ultimate Computer" and the third season's "Elaan of Troyius." Several other episodes stopped short of depicting FTL combat, but they made it clear that warp speed pursuit and intercept was possible and that warp drive was not an automatic escape from trouble. These include "Day of the Dove", "Obsession", "The Lights of Zetar" and "The Enterprise Incident."
"The Doomsday Machine" is a great episode for space combat, but it wimped out by having the warp drive disabled on both Enterprise and Constellation.
"The Doomsday Machine" is a great episode for space combat, but it wimped out by having the warp drive disabled on both Enterprise and Constellation.
"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton!"
(Likely actual words of Admiral David Farragut, USN, at the battle of Mobile Bay. Four bells was the signal for the engine room to make full steam ahead).
(Likely actual words of Admiral David Farragut, USN, at the battle of Mobile Bay. Four bells was the signal for the engine room to make full steam ahead).
Thanks, Vorus, but it doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment.
Tell that to all the young smart-alecs roaming around Trek fansites these days. Not everyone had the luxury of a rich TOS background, unfortunately.
But you're right, they used FTL for combat a LOT in TOS. Phasers, torpedoes, even the Rom plasma torp were all fired at warp.
-----------
Khomerex nal Khesterex
The unofficial Artemis Wiki, your best source for Artemis Information
Khomerex nal Khesterex
The unofficial Artemis Wiki, your best source for Artemis Information
Login below to reply:
