Questions to the developers of Star Conflict November 2014

Information Sector Q & A Section (Devs Version)
1

Dear conquerors of the Star Conflict Universe!

This topic is designed to collect and organize the players’ questions towards the developers as well as their answers. In order to provide a better overview and easier search, this topics’ priority will be focused on game related content in November 2014.

Answers are usually given daily on weekdays. Developers will read all questions, but questions which are not clearly defined, which are obviously stupid, which are lying on the “surface”, or which violate the rules of the forum, will be ignored and deleted.

How to ask questions:
Formulate your questions as clear as possible. Try to ask only important questions. Use the search function before asking any questions, some questions may have already been answered.

The following rules apply to this thread:

  1. Posts that do not contain any game related questions will be deleted.
  2. This thread is not for suggestions. Any suggestion posted in this thread will be deleted.
  3. Any discussion in this subject will be considered as flame and offtopic and will be punished appropriately.
  4. The questions are asked towards the game developers and therefore only they can respond.
  5. The thread will be cleaned at least once a week. This means that all player posts will be removed and the questions will be added to the developers answers as a quote.
  6. The topic will be closed on the last day of the month and a new will be started for the next month.
2

Can you give us any indication when the rest of the Secret Project ships will be released?

 

What is the average player count during peak hours with this current patch?

 

Is the 2nd Round Top Aerography contest still being decided, or have the winners already been picked, and we are just waiting for the big reveal during the next patch?

 

Right now, is your primary goal to create a game that is fun to play, or is your primary goal trying to figure out a way to make the game profitable for the publisher?

 

And lastly (provided you don’t have a gag-order or NDA) is your development team facing a lot of pressure from the publisher to make the game turn a profit?

3

Is there any concept art we can see for new ships?

Any info on when the UERST (Unknown Entity Research and Study Team) will release the ship plans they copied from the alien ship that the Jericho hangar has?

And is there *any* (even within a month) ETA for the shipyard to open?

4

**Dear players, please post all advice regarding the game development, economy and mechanics in a seperate topic!

These topics won’t be answered in this topic! Also, all discussions are forbidden here. Thank you for your understanding.

We appreciate your opinion, but please follow the rules.**

5

Was it difficult to build a game engine?

-sorry if that question goes against a rule, I’m just curious

 

Will the economy ingame be revised in future?

(ie: Spatial scanner, price of gear compared to price of upgrading gear)

6

Is there any plans to capitalize on the excellent opportunity the Devs have provided with the New PvE mission to Encourage more Group/Squad action.For Example but not limited too.A special Week end Event for PvP that give special rewards for those ins  squad ,A faction based mission with extra reward for being in a group,Special patrols in invasion mode with special rewards for being in a group …and i could list allot more.

7

1.) Why did you limit 3 purple loot spots rewards for the Special Ops PVE Scenario “Defiler raid” once per 3 days only, instead of being available once per 1 day, like on every other PVE mission/scenario?

     Note: I would like you to modify the option for random content from those 3 purple spots, which can provide you with a monocrystal, loyalty vouchers, or internal ship component for Top Secret Projects

              and especially, T5 mark V blueprint.

              System check on your profile should be made and that system check should provide you with a blueprint you need, or at least significantly increase the chances to get it.

              PVP and PVE should stay random.

 

2.) Did your development team already finished all those Top Secret Projects ship designs?

     Note: If so, please provide me with a final model/design/sketch/screenshot, of at least one top secret project ship, to satisfy my curiosity.

              I am requesting a T5 “Guard” Top Secret Project ship.

 

3.) Will you consider an alternative, when it comes to un-obtainable, only available blueprints in Invasion and give us, the players, some other means or requirements to obtain them otherwise?

     Note: Majority of the players agrees with me. Choice, not force must be applied to please all sides.

 

4.) When will you add all the remaining T5 mark V blueprints to the game?

     Note: We are missing at least 3 weapon blueprints, which are not included in the workshop, such as Eclipse Launcher, Gravi-Beam and Kinetic Supercharger mark V weapon blueprint designs.

 

5.) Will you eventually/soon add all of mark V equipment items as well in the workshop?

 

6.) Is a “Defiler” a Battle/Cruiser of some kind, or is it a dreadnought?

 

7.) Are you pleased with your current progress of the Shipyard interface, which is planned for the Dreadnoughts and it’s still in development?

 

8.) Do you have planned any more Special Ops PVE scenarios in the future?

 

9.) Can this game supports more than 12 players in a squad/wing in the future, if it’s even possible?

 

10.) What is/was the exact purpose of Monocrystal blueprint and why was it removed?

       Note: Item description said, it’s only available in assignments and in the patch notes 1.05/1.06 it was mentioned, that it can be obtained by PVE loot as well.

 

11.) Internal ship’s components for Top Secret Projects still have a description, which states, that it’s possible to get this item in the destroyed ships in the Invasion, beside getting one in the workshop, which is craftable.

       Note: I’ve never encountered such an item in any of the invasion loot and I’ve spent over hundreds of hours in the Invasion.

                Care to elaborate?

 

12.) Will you allow to store at least minimum of 3 items in special cargo loot slots, so that a player can provide certain item to the other player, if that player was offline/unreachable for some reason?

      Note: I am not suggesting a trading system, but merely an option, where you could move your loot from the Armory to those special cargo slots, so that you could undock with those items and give them to someone, if need be.

 

13.) Will you increase cargo/armory storage space to at least 2000 units?

       Note: I have a serious problem, because of lack of space and I am selling my excess loot all the time.

 

14.) Will you increase the maximum amount of loyalty vouchers to 2 million units instead of current 1 million?

       Note: I don’t want my contracts to go to waste, when they are maxed again, in case, if I forget to spend them on duplicates.

                I can only make duplicates, because everything else is maxed out.

 

15.) Will you add an option, or introduce a new feature/device to reset/deconstruct the T5 Top Secret Project (once per month/no time limitations), without any penalties to your resources, like monocrystals/materials for

       internal ship’s components, with an exception for credits, which were spent on it?

       Note: Device similar to duplicator (advanced deconstructor/disassembler) should be used and it should be craftable as well in the workshop for free, as well as purchasable in the shop with GS currency.

                I am asking you this, because some balance changes may negatively impact current ship build/setup and prevent players to experiment/test different builds without major penalties to their resources.

 

 

Thank you very much for taking your time and effort to answer all of my 15 questions.

 

 

 

Sincerely, Koromac

8

Why did developers spend time and money developing an aspect of the game that contributed little to actual gameplay?

What is the combined weight of all staff on the developing team?

How many suggestions that originated on the English forums have the developers implement? Russian forum?

9

  • Will the Jericho snipers be useful again?

  • Will the Spark get it’s hidden energy-bonus removed or get into the description?

  • Is there any chance to decrease the grind in the future?

  • When we get our queue infos back?

10

Are there any steps being taken to improve ping and packet loss for non-RU players?

 

If the connection problems non-RU players are experiencing get fixed, will there be more advertising?  (Especially in US timezones)

 

Any ETA of dreadnaughts?

 

Any ETA or news on other special project ships? 

11

Are there any plans to revise the ship tech trees?  There are several known gaps in it where premium players have the clear advantage (ex. T3 empire gunships).

12

When will the rest of the secret project ships be added? And if it’s going to be a while, can get get some pics to writhe over?

13

 

  1. Any discussion in this subject will be considered as flame and offtopic and will be punished appropriately.

  2. The questions are asked towards the game developers and therefore only they can respond.

14

why is there 100 credit loot?

There is different loot. Value of the loot depends on the level of the location, its distance from the base station and the PVP status.

 

A backup is something hard to do? I know making one isn’t, it just depends on the available space. Applying it might be a different matter, involving a few hours of downtime. Or… perhaps implementing a backup/revert system? Backup previous patches for a week or a couple days, for safekeeping?

In case of serious problems, we do a hotfix - a small patch to solve specific problems.

Backuping each time to the old version makes all the players download gigabytes and most importantly, such backups do not guarantee the performance as in the previous patch. They are more dangerous. All patches are tested before the release. There will always be bugs, and we will fix them. If needed, with hotfixes.

But even such hotfixes mean turning off the server, or at least restarting them. So sometimes, insignificant, hardly noticeable errors better fix next time to allow players to play no matter what.

 

I meant it as the other way around. Invasion is too safe and farm is easy and monotone.

There is no risk in the protected zones and if you use the drone often the only risk is someone to make you travel back from station to there with no cargo loss.

Loss of the ship or loot is the main risk of Invasion. The futher you go into space the more loot and the riskier the farm.

There are relatively safe locations, and there are dangerous ones, where you can meet other players, aliens, or just many pirates.

 

Will it just be primary roles for each faction that will have craftable ships, or will there be craftable secondary role ships for each faction?

It is very likely. We plan to expand the number of craftable ships in the future.

 

Which begs the question “when will we see some background?” And “Why can’t you just put the old background back in the meantime?” You’ve clearly added more ship background since it was taken out of the game, so why was it hidden in the Russian Wiki instead of being made available to everyone?

Your mechanics clearly favour solo players and not squads. WHY?

The game has 10+ currencies. WHY? Why not just have 2-3?

Players constantly complain about grind and prices. You ignore these complaints. WHY?

If we talk about the lore in general, after the release of Invasion, we tried to convey the history of the game via quests, missions, game events, and we will try to improve this process. Regarding the elements such as the history of the ships - there isn’t enough space for it in the current interface. Of course, we don’t forget about it, and it is likely that with further improvements of the interface, we can add something.

Even a squad of two players can have a huge impact on the battle. So, it’s not true.

Historically. Perhaps in the future we wil simplify it.

In fact, the players always complain about the prices, but obviously when the prices are low - they complain about the product) it is the nature of humans, and this is normal. To allow all players to buy goods, they are interested in, we often make large sales, as well as funny contests, tournaments and other events, where you are able to win gold.

 

Why have you run the ‘aliens in pvp’ event again when it was hugely unpopular the first time?

Also, THIS is why I asked what you think of your community and how you think they see you - to show you are totally out of touch.

Judging by the reviews, it was very popular.

15

EU and RU servers give me an average of 230 ping, with packet loss in RU servers. US servers were my safe bet (150 ping), since I am in south america, but as you can see, they aren’t anymore. What happened? I’m not the only one being affected by this ([http://forum.star-conflict.com/index.php?/topic/24079-net-loss/](< base_url >/index.php?/topic/24079-net-loss/) and other similar threads, besides the casual complaint in the global chat). There’s at least one of your american servers in need of some fixing.

Also, I’m afraid you didn’t understand my question about the asian server. I meant to ask: How often, compared to the EU, US and RU servers, does it host matches? For example, “Every 10 matches, 3 are hosted in the asian server”.

Server selection depends on many factors. Not knowing the details of your gaming sessions, we can only assume that the Asian server was less busy and therefore the part of the fights took place on it.

Work on optimizing the network is done constantly. Just recently, we launched new tools for debugging and collecting network statistics. Whatever problems arise, we will solve them.

 

As a sequel with the same general rules applying (you give me straight answers), what do the super testers get? Free premiums? Mk5s?

Only a very small number of old players is involved in testing the closed versions of the game. As a bonus, they get game currency.

In the future, we plan to open the test server for all players.

 

Will you, with the launch of the Dreadnoughts, take the opportunity to build up suspense and give us sneak peaks etc, maybe on Steam or other gaming platforms, in order to attract more people to the game?

The launch of Invasion to closed beta was a good surprise, but it was a bit weird having the WHOLE thing immediately, without any prior notice or buld up of suspense. I dunno maybe make an epic video of the dreadnoughts being used or on a weekend make a twitch channel where we can see them in action LIVE!! This will build up expectation and attract people to the game.

We can not tell you about some specific events and other dates right now. As soon as we get more news, we will inform you about it.

“Dreadnoughts” are very important feature, which we are waiting for and we certainly try to make the most memorable and interesting event.

 

Will there be another balance to LRFs?

Can players be able to find the workshop blueprints in invasion without a spatial scanner?

Why does the spatial scanner cost more than a premium ship of the same tier?

Are there any new features in development apart from dreadnoughts?

Will players eventually be able to trade valuable resources (eg: monocrystals, blueprints, ship parts) for credits or standards?

We constantly monitor the balance.

Players can now find blueprints without a scanner. Scanner just simplifies the process.

Because it is a very valuable device.

Of course, but we don’t want to spoil it. We’ll tell you about them when the time comes)

We are considering various possibilities of interaction between the players in the future, and certainly thought about it too. Now we can’t give you any 100% answer. In fact, no.

 

Will the spatial scanner be improved upon?

I.E.

more animations for types of items located, distance, scanner should go as far as a recon’s usual 10000 radar.

And other examples.

(insert here)

Just make it more…*waves hand* worth it.

As it stands, it’s just confusing to use and look at.

Why not! Just send us your offer, using the special section on this forum.

 

  1. Will you reward pilots for bringing less ships into pvp/sector conquest in the future?

Particularity in the game mode ‘capture the beacons.’

  1. Will there be a pvp game mode where everyone will only be able to select one ship from their ship slots, and once the game starts, that’s their one life to live for the game?

  1. No

  2. Possibly

 

Question : Any plans of ever adding more credit ships from now on or just golden ones ?

Yes.

 

Do the devs plan to do something about ship balance? More precisely thinking about Jerry LRFs and Commands compared to Empire ones, and to a lesser extent, Fed Engies compared to Empire ones.

Yes, they do.

 

Will we be able to fly in the Defiler once the other dreadnoughts come out?

We haven’t planned it…but who knows.

 

hello there in the next Update a ship with one wide cargo bay of expected something like this example : http://tinyurl.com/ozxwf7q

because its would be really convenient for those who want to craft

It is quite possible. The theme of the cargo ship and its size has been widely discussed and we are thinking about different options.

16

is it possible to do a twist to the pve and make it a little bit more like pvp, for example the pve mission captured dreadnought twisting it a little and making it to a new kind of pvp mission, having one team as usual capturing the objective of the mission and taking out the bots and put another team of players trying to stop the first team from completing there objective, or another example like processing rig having one team of 4 players escorting the transports and the other team of 4 other players trying to take them down, I think that would bring a new kind of battle mode to star conflict

 

 

 

how about a spactial scanner for the idea ( lol just joking guys )

17

Why has the invasion instance choosing not been fixed since invasion was released.

The problems are as follows:

  • Groups get separated for no reason, even if there is no one inside the instance they have entered.
  • Creates a whole new instance just for 1 pilot in a group.

If the instance is optimized to use less instances, don’t you think it could reduce the amount of server usage there is, therefore saving costs?