Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - N9.7.7 12-Sep-2024 Second Coming

[karadoc]

Sorry, but you either don't want spoilers, because you "play honestly"; or you don't care about it and don't mind the spoilers.
If anything, I will make a user option for manufacturing dependencies like there is for the viewer... not the other way around.

Having spoilers hidden AND having a button to un-hide them on the same screen is self-righteousness and hypocrisy... and even self-deception I would say.

I think that's a bit harsh. We're talking about having information which is not visible by default, but can be made visible. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with honesty or righteousness. There are many ways of understanding why someone would want this. I don't think it's nice for you to assume the most negative interpretation.

But that said, it's up to you how you want to implement it. I have my own views and preferences, but I'm not the one making it - so what I think doesn't matter as much.

[Meridian]

That's not what I meant.
I am happily using it myself... that's why I implemented it... and I don't interpret using it as negative, quite contrary, I think PirateZ tech tree requires it.

What I wanted to say is:
- people not using tech viewer (for whatever reason)... OK with me
- people using tech viewer (for whatever reason)... also OK with me
- implementing a spoiler protection, which can be instantly taken away... waste of my time... it's the same as protecting nuclear missile launchers by codes, but setting those codes to all zeroes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsei3aqTKGo

[Riph]

Hey, returning player, last played ages ago.

Am I reading this correctly:


That because I chose a color codex 300 hours ago (green, because a spacious hull sounded like a good thing), that I am now permanently cut off from one or more areas of the tech tree?

Is this working as intended? <.<

[Solarius Scorch]

Is this working as intended? <.<

Yes, you can only follow one path each campaign. The choice was indeed made much earlier, but you still couldn't get more than one.

[legionof1]

Yes that is intended. Although Dioxine is adding special missions in the future so one can eventually have all the codexes. But for a large part of the game you wil be limited in your voodoo abilities.

[Riph]

special missions in the future so one can eventually have all the codexes.

That actually sounds pretty cool.   

Spoiler:

The Russian Files are a great way to gate lasers,

so more thematic gating to the psionics sounds like good storytelling.


In the meantime, for this playthrough I think I'm going to add the codexes to the list of possible outcomes when researching cardinals, reticulan elders, provosts, etc.

[Dioxine]

You get cut off of 2 schools of voodoo, so I can make the items they provide more powerful without upsetting the balance too much. "Everyone can use everything" I find boring.

[Riph]

You get cut off of 2 schools of voodoo, so I can make the items they provide more powerful without upsetting the balance too much. "Everyone can use everything" I find boring.

I love your mod, and I have tremendous respect for you, but I can't bullshit you.  Defeating "everyone can use everything" doesn't remove boredom, it's a method to increase replay value.

The problem is that this isn't a little 4 hour appetizer of a game.  It's a multi-hundred hour monster.  People with jobs are unlikely to complete a single playthrough, let alone come back for a second.

If you gate off content in this way, you're only diminishing the individual experiences of playing the game.

That's my opinion.  Your mod has been more fun for me than most games that I've paid 60 dollars for.  I trust your artistic instincts.

[Meridian]

The problem is that this isn't a little 4 hour appetizer of a game.  It's a multi-hundred hour monster.  People with jobs are unlikely to complete a single playthrough, let alone come back for a second.

I can confirm that, my playthrough (about 95% done) took over a year... and no matter how I like this game, it's very unlikely I will return to it sooner than in 3 years. It's just too big for replay. Maybe if it was split into 3 separate mods (early, mid, late?), maybe then... but that's only a speculation.

[Dioxine]

Good replayability is IMO exactly that: returning to a game after 3, 5 years and finding/trying something new
Replaying anything immediately after finishing it sounds unhealthy.
Also, what's exactly wrong in not seeing it all in a single playthrough...? Especially if the restricted content is mostly a handful of very powerful endgame items.

[just_dont]

Good replayability is IMO exactly that: returning to a game after 3, 5 years and finding/trying something new

I totally agree with this. My previous playthrough attempt was about a year ago, it went quite far but ended prematurely due to real life, and after a while I returned back to it and was immediately drawn in due to "hey, look at all this new/improved/added stuff!".
But once PirateZ go through release phase, where there won't be major content updates any more, bits and pieces of hidden content can stimulate replayability in the same way that updates do.

While I could object to huge mutually exclusive campaign branches, I'm absolutely fine with the current approach - the campaign is largely the same, but you need to choose between different late-game packages.

[tylor]

I actually want more playthrough variance, and earlier in game. Now only major difference from codex until late game is your Bonaventura modification.

[Meridian]

Early game has a lot of variance... depending on RNG you get access to some stuff, but not to other... sometimes even until late mid game.

[Martin]

Early game has a lot of variance... depending on RNG you get access to some stuff, but not to other... sometimes even until late mid game.

True. Early game is also a lot more fun than mid and late.

[Solarius Scorch]

True. Early game is also a lot more fun than mid and late.

That's because almost all creative effort within the last year was aimed at the early game. Hence the addition of all these missions, of early craft, of the Menace family, and so on. Early game was practically remodelled whole, several times. And it's still happening.

Yes, I agree that the late stuff deserves more love. And I'm sure it will happen, since there are solid plans for later game. But it must be made and coded, and up until now it probably hasn't been priority.

As for the multi-path model of tech... I do not have a strong opinion on this one, but I understand it is controversial. On one hand, we have the completionist approach, which is generally a good thing to have. On the other, there are many games where you need to select a path at some point and they aren't really criticized for that.