Some feedback, some questions

[AncientSion]

I stumbled upon dis mod via RPS, obviously.

Started a new game, first mission ever to show up was a Mutant Pogrom. I did head into the fray and lost my entire squad immediatly.
So i started a second game and read a bit of the forums. This time i did what was suggested: Build a barrack, get more runts, manufacture x-grog for resale.
Also, i skipped any Progroms (3 so far) and instead took out some smallish vessels.

This TC has some real good things in it, however, im kinda overwhelmed by the amount of researchable items, manufacture items and equipment.
I think its fair to offer more variety than the original game, however, even very early in the game you have like 10 different guns and 20 different melee weapons with 6 different types of armour, which is, i think way, way too much clutter. Not only from a gameplay-POV, but also from a GUI-POV. Its always a mess to equip guys and keep enough stocking to be able to auto-resupply after a mission.

Also, its kinda unclear in which direction to proceed. While my initial transporter can take on very small ships, it cant apparently take on medium-sized ones and a player might ask himself if he should just skip Mediums (like you skip Progroms) or if you should research tech to get better fighters. So to say, are you supposed to skip Progroms ? Are you supposed to skip Mediums ? Or are you not ?

Also, do you research melee weapons ? our abilities ? rifles ?
I think there should perhaps be some research topics that will yield some kind of roadmap on how to approach the early game, filled up with some lore (like the existing topics that tie lore and gameplay explanations).

[Eddie]

Hello AncientSion,

I will write something in my guide about the things you mentioned, like which missions to take and where to head with research.

The amount of items is a tricky question. There is definately some clutter going on with the amount of items, where some kind of "spring cleaning" would be welcome. Then again, the selection of items gives the game charm as you can equip for style and not for efficiancy.

[AncientSion]

I can definitly see how the variety in items, even early game, gives a lot of charme to be mod. Im not critizing that per se. But the amount of clutter adds up so badly, not only does it give the player an overwhelming amount of choices, but it also over-populated several lists., overwhelming the GUI. For example the Black Market, the Fence etc they all suffer from the huge selection of items. And im only a couple weeks into the game ! As does the manufacting. Also, managing your troops is a mess due to the fact that you have to scroll over several screens if you have your transporter filled up with all the goodies.
Perhaps by cutting down on the items and filtering it true filler items, the whole experience might be a tad more enjoyable.

Please dont take it the wrong way, there are lots of really cool things in the mod. But i think it could be improved further, resulting overall in a even better experience.

[Eddie]

If you didn't notice, the manufacturing list has a filter. You can choose to display only ammo for example. The black market and fence also have these filters. Only the equipment screen doesn't have filters.

[Dioxine]

Cutting down on the number of items? Never. Better filters are a good idea, though.

[yrizoud]

You may not want to hear it Dioxine, but the starting loadout is really daunting : A lot of new players won't get past the equip screen, because it takes so much time to check what the items do.
It would be much more newbie-friendly to have some of the first research projects (like Spring Cleaning) unlock the majority of starting game inventory - it would change nothing for 99.5% of the campaign, only the first days would have a simpler inventory, as a "quick start".

[Dioxine]

Call it a rite to un-learn powergaming a bit and just take what you think you might like and have fun with it There will be a much more gradual introduction in the Origins, but right now, most of the starting weapons don't qualify as anything better than starting weapons. Cutting off at this point will nothing but annoy players who are starting for a second or fifth time, either forcing them to do extra research or simply denying them their favorite weapons on the first missions.

[ivandogovich]

One of the projects I want to start on the forum, here, is a PirateZ squad analyzer.

This would take your soldier's data, and match it up with at least the starting weapons, so that you can see which weapons they would perform best with, ie. cutlass vs. rapier vs. billhook, etc.

I have a start with melee weapons, and a squad data extractor from the save files.   I'll start a new thread later today.

Overall, I think this project could be very helpful to new players, as I completely understand that overwhelmed feeling.

[BetaSpectre]

I actually prefer the sheer amount of volume. While a new UI would be useful, I would prefer to see additions in other areas.

Such as in weapons, or maps, (the sewers IMO don't make sense since things are underground if deep enough the pipes would be in the roof, also I get lag on some of those bigger maps when defending, Sewers are just all around slow and annoying.)

If its possible to have an after game caimpaign that'd be cool as well. Like restarting but using the world data for TFTD to act like you crashed to a new world. And now plunder its oceans after downing ships for booty.

[Eddie]

ivandogovich, that squad analyzer sounds like a good idea.

Another idea: some sort of training room. A battlescape you can enter from your base that has target dummys you can hit to try out weapons. There would need to be a feedback for how much damage you do. You could call it holodeck to justify that no ammo is used up. Like the lab, it was already there in the starting base.

[Dioxine]

It's called a quick battle and it's available from the main menu.

[yrizoud]

Call it a rite to un-learn powergaming a bit and just take what you think you might like and have fun with it

14 years ago I started a TFTD cruiser ship with underwater-only weapons, never again.

[Dioxine]

Show me a situation like this in Piratez. If the enemy is too powerful, they also usually carry powerful weapons that can be picked up and used straight away.

[Eddie]

It's called a quick battle and it's available from the main menu.

I know that. But there you have ALL the items and tech available right away, and still no accurate feedback on how much damage you do. Also, you have to find the enemy first and then you need to not get yourself killed.

What I mean is a quick way to test a weapon that you have with a girl that you have. A practice dummy you can hit that will tell you how much damage you do. A way to find out melee weapon damage without using an excel spredsheet or other calculator.

[Solarius Scorch]

I agree a testing arena could be useful, but honestly this is well beyond the scope of a mod, even such a complex one.

Then again, would it really be useful enough to code it into the game which already has Quick Battle? I don't think so, since QB already allows you to both test the weapon and its stats (thanks to Meridian's Bootypedia access from battlescape feature). (I assume you can do it from QB, I never tried.) I don't think adding another tool for the same thing would be good.