The State of SMR 12/15/2011

[Jester-]

As of right now, this round of SMR seems mostly dead. I know we've kicked this bucket 200 times, but maybe we should bring up another brainstorm. I don't want to see any talk related to certain alliances though. We need to build a game anyone can play how they want, but not totally lose play-ability. I'm hoping my map will move us in the right direction, but honestly we also need to bring more community into the game besides IRC chat.

I think an alliance and/or global shoutbox would be cool in game.

Xdx Thunderdome idea would be cool to waste time on.

Trading rework - I'm not sure on this one, but I feel like trading needs to be modified somehow. I've said this before, but maybe make ports change goods once or twice a day. The ports would stay the same, but the goods would be randomized on every port. You could still make routes by busting ports, but your route would change. The goods would change automatically on galaxy maps so you could download the new smc/mgu/lazy trader and start trading again. I think this would bring a new dynamic point to the game that would keep traders and hunters interested. This would bring in some much needed randomness.

I think other random risk/reward benefits needed to be added as well. Say SMR credits used for Bonus Time. This would be a global effect. Say 1 SMR credit for 5 minutes of bonustime. This would be a global effect where you could get say 2x cash/exp traded and 1.5 more tph? Obviously benefits could be changed/reworked as long as the effect is global.

[RCK]

Some changes and additions will hopefully be coming into place for next round in the new year.

Additionally we are still actively working to recruit both a designers for new home/interface and graphics packages.

As for your points,

I think an alliance and/or global shoutbox would be cool in game.

I could be wrong... but didnt you used to be able to post to a wall in the bars? Seem to recall doing that way back when.

Xdx Thunderdome idea would be cool to waste time on.

Interesting idea, I'm not sure what i think... making it into a gambling ring might be entertaining.

Trading rework - I'm not sure on this one, but I feel like trading needs to be modified somehow. I've said this before, but maybe make ports change goods once or twice a day. The ports would stay the same, but the goods would be randomized on every port. You could still make routes by busting ports, but your route would change. The goods would change automatically on galaxy maps so you could download the new smc/mgu/lazy trader and start trading again. I think this would bring a new dynamic point to the game that would keep traders and hunters interested. This would bring in some much needed randomness.

Couldnt agree more that it needs some randomness... for something that the game is supposed to revolve around, trading is mundane and boring.
Remember that old doss game (think it was doss) that would show random requests for things? Forget what it was called... anyway, basically in SMR it would equal out to port X is requesting good X and will pay X. Good way to add some things to the mix.

I think other random risk/reward benefits needed to be added as well. Say SMR credits used for Bonus Time. This would be a global effect. Say 1 SMR credit for 5 minutes of bonustime. This would be a global effect where you could get say 2x cash/exp traded and 1.5 more tph? Obviously benefits could be changed/reworked as long as the effect is global.

We're currently reviewing some of the usages of SMR credits, though its still being debated.

[silverx2]

My personal thoughts on the matter.

this game, in its current form just doesn't work.

Two main focuses are Fighting, and trading. Breaking these down you come to the following conclusion

Trading is the grind part of the game. I would include planet building here as it involves repetitive action, with the ultimate goal of better enhancement of the action part of the game.

Fighting is the action part of the game. This includes raids(planet/port) hunting, fleet combat. This is the most dynamic, exciting part of the game, and parts of it have the primary focus of griefing the grind portion(hunters killing traders)

You also have creating mine fields, which is a passive aggressive style of game play which i would define as antifun. By that i mean, it negates the fun aspects of the game and promotes passive play, an example would be Lets go bust some planets, wait the planets are 18 sectors deep with 4 billion credits worth of mines, i guess we will just clear those. Team a clears the mines, team B reseeds and builds the field. everyone wastes turns nothing gained, only some credits the grinders grind is lost.


What i would like to see is a wholesale Revamp make over of the game, Change almost everything about it.

(why hasn't this happened yet)I think trading should be dynamic based on galaxy. example The human galaxy is vastly short on ore so they are buying it at a huge price over the other galaxies, at the same time the quasar galaxy has a surplus of ore and are selling it wicked cheap. What this does is provides HUGE gains to traders who take a risk and opens up their Static trade patterns. This should result in more players in neutral space which SHOULD result in more interaction.

(outrage incoming)I think Mines should be removed, or only able to be placed in specific ranges when it comes to planets. Ideally this means its easier to get to planets, which means players have to actually interact which each other. Actively attack and defend planets, instead of letting mines do 80% of the job.

(highly unlikely to happen)Create a new technology to replace the hunting aspect of mines. Tractor beams. When initiating combat, the beam will keep the target in the same sector for X amount of shots. the more guns you have, the less amount of shots it holds on for, additionally there is a turn cost associated with it. Automatically times out after 5 seconds and only usable once every 5 minutes. I would say 2 shots for < 4 guns, 1 shot for 4 > guns. This gives hunters a better chance at a reward. would need a way for traders to queue up leaving the sector so it does it as soon as the beam breaks.

Large scale combat is to put it mildly, a 8). Id love for a way to take a more strategic way of planning a battle, and then seeing it enacted in game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 6P6U#t=68s
That video shows how in GSB you create your fleet, Lay them out, give orders to specific ships, and set priority for targets/range and then you send them out to fight. Id love for SmRealms to have that type of micromanaging. Say a giant fleet battle is about to start, or any sort of raid. before you hit fire your leader/admiral like person gets a layout of all the players in sector you lay the ships out, give specific orders and then let it happen. I think that would be really enjoyable over the "everyone move on 3 and then fire till your dead" current mode of fighting.

Currently Smrealms is still for all intents and purposes, the same exact game we were playing over a decade ago. The game has not evolved beyond adding a race and updating the technology behind the game(page refreshes, ajax, etc) The fact that the game is still going i think is more because of nostalgia then anything else, if thats what you want to continue doing that's fine, but getting a large player base will never happen in its current iteration.

[Blade]

Great idea, would really shake trading and hunters up if the ports were to change goods!

one of the better trading times in Diaspora was relying on friends and the alliance to work together to get port information on who was selling what and how much profit you could make.

Same goes to maybe the idea of involving the federal HQ's and Undergrounds more by helping the with the war effort by needing certain supply for more gain or extra bonuses in some form.

Make the game more dynamic and you will have a strategy game that once again needs thinking, cunning and skill!

Maybe posted before in some aspect but the best post I have seen in a long time, well done Jest!

[Page]

(why hasn't this happened yet)

Pretty much boils down to time and motivation, my plan is do dynamic trading through the use of missions that are offered at ports to either deliver good to another port or to bring certain goods back to the current port.

Large scale combat is to put it mildly, a :o. Id love for a way to take a more strategic way of planning a battle, and then seeing it enacted in game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 6P6U#t=68s
That video shows how in GSB you create your fleet, Lay them out, give orders to specific ships, and set priority for targets/range and then you send them out to fight. Id love for SmRealms to have that type of micromanaging. Say a giant fleet battle is about to start, or any sort of raid. before you hit fire your leader/admiral like person gets a layout of all the players in sector you lay the ships out, give specific orders and then let it happen. I think that would be really enjoyable over the "everyone move on 3 and then fire till your dead" current mode of fighting.

This isn't really right for SMR as it would take control out of the hands of the majority of the players involved in the battle. However having each person needing to fire for themselves would mean that op leaders could plan out tactics but the implementation would be left to individual players, so they would still have the same fulfilment if they pull off their piece of the job rather than being a hands off pawn (which is similar to what it mostly is atm once you actually get IS - you only gain a small advantage from firing first compared to the advantage you gain by having a ship advantage)

[silverx2]

(why hasn't this happened yet)

Pretty much boils down to time and motivation, my plan is do dynamic trading through the use of missions that are offered at ports to either deliver good to another port or to bring certain goods back to the current port.

I didn't mean for that to imply blame on you, or anyone so much as the age of the game, and relative fact that nothing has changed for trading, You have done awesome things and i'm thankful for all of them.

Large scale combat is to put it mildly, a . Id love for a way to take a more strategic way of planning a battle, and then seeing it enacted in game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 6P6U#t=68s
That video shows how in GSB you create your fleet, Lay them out, give orders to specific ships, and set priority for targets/range and then you send them out to fight. Id love for SmRealms to have that type of micromanaging. Say a giant fleet battle is about to start, or any sort of raid. before you hit fire your leader/admiral like person gets a layout of all the players in sector you lay the ships out, give specific orders and then let it happen. I think that would be really enjoyable over the "everyone move on 3 and then fire till your dead" current mode of fighting.

This isn't really right for SMR as it would take control out of the hands of the majority of the players involved in the battle. However having each person needing to fire for themselves would mean that op leaders could plan out tactics but the implementation would be left to individual players, so they would still have the same fulfilment if they pull off their piece of the job rather than being a hands off pawn (which is similar to what it mostly is atm once you actually get IS - you only gain a small advantage from firing first compared to the advantage you gain by having a ship advantage)

Understandable, but surely we can do something to add a more skill based component to the fighting other then rehearsing getting 12 people to move one sector at a time at the same time.

[RCK]

(why hasn't this happened yet)

Pretty much boils down to time and motivation, my plan is do dynamic trading through the use of missions that are offered at ports to either deliver good to another port or to bring certain goods back to the current port.

Maybe one of these days we can use $ to motivate you

[Holti]

I like the idea of ports changing goods, I've played several games where this occurred (TDZK, SEI). I also like Page's idea of mission based motivation, too, which is unique ( I have not come across a browser based space trade game that did this).

This round made it very clear that planets/planet galaxies need more benefits to be attractive. One idea would be that owning planets gave you better access/control over things like high end racial weapons and/or ships.

Another thing I think would add to the game dynamic would be to have more interaction between races, make politics even more important than just having access to their ports/weapons.

[Page]

I didn't mean for that to imply blame on you, or anyone so much as the age of the game, and relative fact that nothing has changed for trading, You have done awesome things and i'm thankful for all of them.

No I know, but it is at the end of the day what it boils down to, there are loads of great ideas all over the webboard and in-game RaF, heck there are probably even more great ideas sat in various peoples' heads, however a lot of that is bottlenecked on how long it takes to be coded into the game.

For RaF the figures are 63.66% open, 16.34% rejected and 20% implemented which, imo at least, is actually a reasonably good percentage of implemented requests to open requests.


Basically like I'll always say, if you can find things that can make the game interesting without requiring any/much coding then those are by far the best things, since that avoids the bottleneck. The draft round was a great example of this, it required a little coding, but really not all that much, and whether or not you think it worked out in the long run it still caused a lot of excitement and a lot of people did come back to try it out, because it was different from the standard and brought some new excitement back into the game for a while at least.

[Azool]

Trading rework - I'm not sure on this one, but I feel like trading needs to be modified somehow. I've said this before, but maybe make ports change goods once or twice a day. The ports would stay the same, but the goods would be randomized on every port. You could still make routes by busting ports, but your route would change. The goods would change automatically on galaxy maps so you could download the new smc/mgu/lazy trader and start trading again. I think this would bring a new dynamic point to the game that would keep traders and hunters interested. This would bring in some much needed randomness.

*cough*1.5 style trading*cough*

But seriously...1.5 had a cool trading system IMO. In case people don't remember it, here is how it worked: The basics were the same, buy and sell goods; however, when you entered a port, there was a chance that the port owner would tell you about a special offer (ie port 1234 is buying luxury items at 4x normal price. or port 1765 is selling circuits for 7x normal experience) and it would last usually for 2-24 hours(I think). 75% of the time these would become globally announced (there was a link on the left hand side that showed all the global special offers), and 25% of the time, you were the only person that was told (there was a special section in the link on the left panel that showed only offers that you knew of). So it added some risk (if there was a 12x money gain for luxury items, you can bet hunters were waiting close by), but you also had the chance to get a special offer that only you knew about, so you could potentially make a ton of exp in a remote part of the universe where most hunters wouldn't be able to find you. Hopefully that makes sense....if not, I'm sure there is a long post about it somewhere here on the MB that I could dig up if people are interested.

I think other random risk/reward benefits needed to be added as well. Say SMR credits used for Bonus Time. This would be a global effect. Say 1 SMR credit for 5 minutes of bonustime. This would be a global effect where you could get say 2x cash/exp traded and 1.5 more tph? Obviously benefits could be changed/reworked as long as the effect is global.

This is a really neat idea (the global effect). It makes the SMR credits desirable, but it doesn't give an advantage since everyone can benefit from it. But I think we need a larger player base to make it work (otherwise the people with credits just wait until no one else is on and gain all the benefit)

(why hasn't this happened yet)I think trading should be dynamic based on galaxy...

1.5 had a very similar trading system (see above). So technically it has happened. It just got reverted *glare at everyone*

(highly unlikely to happen)Create a new technology to replace the hunting aspect of mines. Tractor beams. When initiating combat, the beam will keep the target in the same sector for X amount of shots. the more guns you have, the less amount of shots it holds on for, additionally there is a turn cost associated with it. Automatically times out after 5 seconds and only usable once every 5 minutes. I would say 2 shots for < 4 guns, 1 shot for 4 > guns. This gives hunters a better chance at a reward. would need a way for traders to queue up leaving the sector so it does it as soon as the beam breaks.

1.5 also had items that were similar (gadgets). We had a tractor beam one, as well as one that traders could use that would let them escape from a hunters first shot. There were requirements to get the gadgets (like you had to have 50k exp before you could get the escape gadget, and you had to have 5 kills to get the tractor beam). I think there was a total of 15 gadgets or so.

Large scale combat is to put it mildly, a . Id love for a way to take a more strategic way of planning a battle, and then seeing it enacted in game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 6P6U#t=68s
That video shows how in GSB you create your fleet, Lay them out, give orders to specific ships, and set priority for targets/range and then you send them out to fight. Id love for SmRealms to have that type of micromanaging. Say a giant fleet battle is about to start, or any sort of raid. before you hit fire your leader/admiral like person gets a layout of all the players in sector you lay the ships out, give specific orders and then let it happen. I think that would be really enjoyable over the "everyone move on 3 and then fire till your dead" current mode of fighting.

I like the idea as well. If we can figure out a good way to implement it, I don't think many people would necessarily oppose it.

Currently Smrealms is still for all intents and purposes, the same exact game we were playing over a decade ago. The game has not evolved beyond adding a race and updating the technology behind the game(page refreshes, ajax, etc) The fact that the game is still going i think is more because of nostalgia then anything else, if thats what you want to continue doing that's fine, but getting a large player base will never happen in its current iteration.

Time to be a broken record but 1.5 had some pretty major improvements IMO. It certain had plenty of bugs and flaws, but there were a lot of really neat ideas that could be integrated with the current version. *more glares around at everyone*

Same goes to maybe the idea of involving the federal HQ's and Undergrounds more by helping the with the war effort by needing certain supply for more gain or extra bonuses in some form.

Hmm, there was some version of the game that had this...oh yeah, it was 1.5

Make the game more dynamic and you will have a strategy game that once again needs thinking, cunning and skill!

I called it SMR 1.5

Maybe one of these days we can use $ to motivate you

I waited for that boat for a long time I'm sure Page knows not to count on that

This round made it very clear that planets/planet galaxies need more benefits to be attractive. One idea would be that owning planets gave you better access/control over things like high end racial weapons and/or ships.

Planets in 1.5 (while largely unimplemented) did this. There were (I think) 7 types of planets. Each one gave you different benefits (some made your main lander stronger, some acted as bonders, some allowed your ships to be more powerful if you landed on the planet for x amount of time [charge up your ship before a bust!], etc)

Another thing I think would add to the game dynamic would be to have more interaction between races, make politics even more important than just having access to their ports/weapons.

I like that too. Any ideas for what could be added?


I really think there were a lot of good ideas that we tried in 1.5 (and certainly some not so good). If we really want to add some new features I think that the 1.5 board (if it still exists on here somewhere, maybe it was the beta board...really not sure) is a really good place to look to at least get some ideas of what can be done.