I know I’m late to the party, though this does seem like a pretty decent idea but I don’t think you should put the different roles together. I might want to bring a Tormentor Guard and a Tormentor Long Range into the same battle. Also, how would it work with all your passive mod slots, would they be available straight away or would you have to fly a severely gimped ship for however many missions? Would all the ships retain their respective ranks? How would this affect premium ships?
On 2/16/2020 at 4:04 AM, PrivateBrowsing said:
I might want to bring a Tormentor Guard and a Tormentor Long Range into the same battle.
On 10/30/2019 at 5:49 PM, ORCA1911 said:
One big issue that might arise from either ship rework is that there are players that like to play the same ship model but with different special/passive layout.
To counter this issue the Save Preset ship option must be upgraded to accommodate the players need to switch layouts while in respawn mode. What that option should have: the ability to save passive ship layout, crew settings and modifiers installed in that preset. Only 2 presets like this should be allowed due to most same-model clones having only 2 different special modules and to discourage any form of strategy abuse.
On 2/16/2020 at 4:04 AM, PrivateBrowsing said:
Also, how would it work with all your passive mod slots, would they be available straight away or would you have to fly a severely gimped ship for however many missions?
On 10/30/2019 at 5:49 PM, ORCA1911 said:
When the player buys a standard ship model, that model will only have 3 nodes unlocked to provide the player with a basic layout to start with (a special mod, a passive layout and a level bonus node). Then the player has to spend credits and experience points to unlock other nodes to unlock other passive slot layouts, bonuses, or just special mod.
The idea is to have 2 nodes for special module selection (guard/long range etc) + one more for those ships that have additional special module variations/options like Sword S, 3 (or more) nodes for preset passive layout selection (passive slots to put in modifiers) and 3 nodes for preset level bonuses that were present as preset for that ship model variations.
Level bonus nodes can be expanded to individually select which bonuses one wants to use but I would advise against that due to possible imbalance/possible abuse of the upgrade system if that were to happen. It’s best to provide single nodes with preset bulk of bonuses that were present for each of the 3-4 versions of that ship model.
The last node would be the node that provides the option to select the premium version of that ship model OR the ability to turn the ship into a premium ship altogether with all of its bonuses for a price in GS. It would provide a nice incentive to progression on a ship for players and would support the F2P business portion.
On 2/16/2020 at 4:04 AM, PrivateBrowsing said:
Would all the ships retain their respective ranks?
Yeap.
On 2/16/2020 at 4:04 AM, PrivateBrowsing said:
How would this affect premium ships?
They would stay the same if there arent any other variations of it like Archelon or Sawtooth etc but would be presented in the same upgraded UI i guess, no harm in it. For GS ones tied to its other clone models, read the above.
Clearly I should have read a bit more and not glossed over the topic…I was tired. Well, that answers all my doubts and it gets my thumbs up! ”)
On a side note, and would just be a nice little feature, would we be able to use the skin of one variation on another, e.g. use the Lightbringer skin on the Spark?
5 hours ago, PrivateBrowsing said:
Clearly I should have read a bit more and not glossed over the topic…I was tired. Well, that answers all my doubts and it gets my thumbs up! ”)
On a side note, and would just be a nice little feature, would we be able to use the skin of one variation on another, e.g. use the Lightbringer skin on the Spark?
Yeah, that was the extra of that concept, free skins that usually came as default but now you can alternate between them and color them maybe as you wish.
In any case its just a concept i threw up together from various feedback and ideas, i really hope they implement it like this and not some half this and half that thing that will only cause more trouble, the key is to enhance the player experience, general quality of life etc.
Late to the party as well. Actually quit playing SCon for 4 years but reinstalled because a clan mate of mine discovered SCon and I wanted to keep him company.
The new ship tree paradigm was the first thing that took my breath away when I first logged back in.
Manufactured ships with customizable F, level bonuses and passive slots ? Are you kidding me !!? Fkin awesome ! Elegantly tied to the new trading system making Free 2 Play ships buyable with GS ? Beautiful game-economy design. Bravo.
But what piqued my interest the most was the new Alien ship node tree. I don’t have an Ellydium ship so was reserving comment. Waiting for the Engineer starter pack 50% discount before I buy.
Main negative I observe with current ship tree is how ‘untidy’ it is right now. Devs made their best effort to stick the new things in where it would cause the least amount of disruption. But you gotta admit, adding rank 16 and 17 is not a trend you want to start.
I mean, imagine if SCon lasted another 7 years? How many tiers would we have then ? Rank 22 ? Once you start adding Tiers and Ranks vertically it’s hard to stop and harder to fix as time goes on. IMO best way forward is to expand horizontally. Make each ship more varied, not more powerful. More customizations not higher base stats.
Developers are already half way there with the new Purple (manufactured) and Alien ships. They now have to decide what to do with their Credit ship lines. And how it fits with the new paradigm. Been talking with my friend who just started this game and it seems obvious for a new comer. Credit ships have lost absolutely all value.
A new player now only needs to rank up 1 maybe 2 credit ship lines just so he can farm for resources to manufacture the Purple and Green ones which is obviously the new end-game. This is very indicative that the Devs have resigned with the fact that they are not getting enough new players and just catering new content to old veterans.
This is bad business policy. A mature game shouldn’t try to hang on exclusively to existing playerbase and totally ignore the occasional new comer because Vets leave.
You survive by improving player retention.
It’s slow. Effects are not immediate and alot of faith on the Devs part is needed but that’s life.
Right now SCon is surviving by locking Veteran players behind ‘time-locked’ progression. Iridium and Xeno.
How long can that last? Until vets get all that they wanted ?
So what then? Add new tiers, add new time locked resource, rinse repeat? How long can that go on? As long as we can ? GG ?
Anyways - SCon should reconsider their next 5 year plan and perhaps maybe include player retention back into their management discussion topic. Like for real this time.
You do that by revising, integrating and tidying up your Credit Line ship tree and make it work with the new purple and green ones. If ship tree menu still need tabs and clearance levels that’s a sign you’re not fixing the problem.
For what it’s worth I posted a Ship Tree Theory on forum back in 2013.
For context, back then we only had R12 max and only Credit Ships and DLC premiums.
Devs were unsure which direction to go. Player retention was an issue because concurrent numbers were steadily declining from 2000 down to 800 stable at peak hours. Waiting times was the number one problem in Star Conflict at the time.
My suggestion was to fix the ship tree because it would solve 2 problems in 1
A. Expand matchmaking pool while keeping everything competitive
B. Improve retention rates by making low ranked Credit Ships viable competitively
Most common misconception with new corp members (I was in a new player academy Corp back then. Steel Marauders) was that the ship tree was too punishing for newcomers. It was very demoralizing to play on as you keep meeting veterans who had access to stuff you didn’t have. The ‘Power Gap’ was too great.
The game incentivized you to progress by making new players feel bad about themselves for being new to the game.
This ‘negative experience’ approach was the real cancer that kept Star Conflict in the niche game category instead of being a Global Superstar that only we know it actually is.
People try the game, fall in love with it, hate the veterans then quit leaving P2W thumbs down reviews on their way out.
At the very core of Star Conflict there are 3 things.
- Ship Tree
- Combat Mechanics
- Ship builds.
This is also the order in which players first experience the game. Note how Ship Tree is the very first thing they look at and strategize over. It is important. Devs should give it more priority over new content imo. Take my clan mate who just installed this game for the first time. He’s been here for only one week and from first impression he’s already judging this game over ship tree progression mechanic and have decided how long to stay playing the game and how much to spend on SCon.
BAH LOOK AT MY TEXT WALL. Bad habits die hard. Imma stop here. Should really be farming open space now instead of wasting license time on the forum.
Here’s the link to my [Tierless Suggestion Thread](< base_url >/index.php?/topic/21070-tier-less-specialization/) from 2013
Spoiler
Recap, I love. LOVE all the new manufactured stuff and alien nodes thing. Just needs tidier integration into the ship tree especially with regards to credit ships. Going tierless would be a boon. And reading Original Post of this thread, this could be a thing finally.
dem zustimmen muss aber das ist ja nur meine meinung…