The State of SMR 12/15/2011

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Freon22
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Re: The State of SMR 12/15/2011

Post by Freon22 »

Sorry Azool I have to make a post on 1.5.

1.5 had super ships.
1.5 had super exper level players
1.5 had way to much money
1.5 had planet problems
1.5 had a missing Azool to fix these problems.

There were other problems also but no point in going to far.

On a good point 1.5 was different, it was fun until the players got super ships. I like the mining rocks, trading was good, some of the gadgets were good others were not so good.

The main thing that caused 1.5 to fail is you left after you coded it and was not here to adjust and balance it.
Harry Krishna
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Re: The State of SMR 12/15/2011

Post by Harry Krishna »

SMR is a pretty simple game in that there are only a few main activities that players can do.

1) Making money and spending money
It's generally agreed that trading is a means to an end. It may be exciting for some, but most find it boring. Yet, trading is the only way for most players to make money. I would like to see other ways of making money. Risky stock markets, better casino games, bank interest, missions that pay cash and which don't involve trading, port ownership that pays dividends, etc.

On the flip side, when you've busted your ass making big money there are only a few things to spend the money on: ships, guns, UNO, CA, planets. The solo player can buy a different ship and keep fitting it with guns, UNO, and CA. The team trader sees his money funding the ships, guns, planets of his team mates. I would like to see other things to spend money on. We could cultivate the concept of the vastly wealthy space merchant, and a wealthy trader should have fine things to show off: exclusive castles on planets or at HQ, expensive cars, special luxuries, rich clothing, bling, etc.

2) Ship to ship combat
I think this is where most people find the biggest thrill in the game. Yet combat has evolved into a numbers game where the fleet with the most ships often has the advantage. I would be in favor of changing the code so that fleets don't fire together. Ships would target and fire on each other individually with some "splatter" hitting other enemy ships by some chance if there were more than one enemy ship. Try it for a game or two and see how it works.

3) Building planets and minefields
If planets were safer places to park, players would use them more. Bigger maps would increase the turn cost of busting. Making mid-level planets bite harder. I liked some of the planet mods that were in the 1.5 game but it wasn't clear how they worked. Maybe revisit this idea?
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Blade
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Re: The State of SMR 12/15/2011

Post by Blade »

I agree with Freon, 1.5 had the potential, but no one to balance things out fix bugs and change the things that needed to be changed. It had to much to quickly and badly put in place.

No offence Azool like I said had great potential, but it was in a very closed beta stage IMO.
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RCK
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Re: The State of SMR 12/15/2011

Post by RCK »

Side note, yes the threads on 1.5 are still around, though I have them buried somewhere on the forum.
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Re: The State of SMR 12/15/2011

Post by RCK »

Harry Krishna wrote:SMR is a pretty simple game in that there are only a few main activities that players can do.

1) Making money and spending money
It's generally agreed that trading is a means to an end. It may be exciting for some, but most find it boring. Yet, trading is the only way for most players to make money. I would like to see other ways of making money. Risky stock markets, better casino games, bank interest, missions that pay cash and which don't involve trading, port ownership that pays dividends, etc.

On the flip side, when you've busted your ass making big money there are only a few things to spend the money on: ships, guns, UNO, CA, planets. The solo player can buy a different ship and keep fitting it with guns, UNO, and CA. The team trader sees his money funding the ships, guns, planets of his team mates. I would like to see other things to spend money on. We could cultivate the concept of the vastly wealthy space merchant, and a wealthy trader should have fine things to show off: exclusive castles on planets or at HQ, expensive cars, special luxuries, rich clothing, bling, etc.
Dont think I've ever seen that mentioned before... which is odd... but a good idea. Need the morning coffee to kick in before I can think of anything else..
Harry Krishna wrote: 2) Ship to ship combat
I think this is where most people find the biggest thrill in the game. Yet combat has evolved into a numbers game where the fleet with the most ships often has the advantage. I would be in favor of changing the code so that fleets don't fire together. Ships would target and fire on each other individually with some "splatter" hitting other enemy ships by some chance if there were more than one enemy ship. Try it for a game or two and see how it works.
Only way I could see to do this, would be to drag out fleet combat. So essentially give every person on each side a chance to pick there targets. All ships would need to be 'locked' somehow at the point fleet combat was initiated as well as a time out being implemented were if you do not chose someone within say 10seconds your choice is randomized. The opposition I can see to this is if you have a 10vs10 situation your taking a battle that is typically over in 20-30 seconds (if the server lags) and resulting in a battle that last 2 mins for 1 round of battle. Dont know about everyone else, but a slightly longer battle might have its perks. Though if 10seconds is to much time or not is hard to say.
Harry Krishna wrote: 3) Building planets and minefields
If planets were safer places to park, players would use them more. Bigger maps would increase the turn cost of busting. Making mid-level planets bite harder. I liked some of the planet mods that were in the 1.5 game but it wasn't clear how they worked. Maybe revisit this idea?
I've been thinking of this for years.. just never have time to look into it :)

I'll try to find the old planet related topics for 1.5 on the forum sometime soon ... hopefully...
Jester-
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Re: The State of SMR 12/15/2011

Post by Jester- »

Planets are definitely to flimsy at level 0. It takes forever to even make them safe to land on for one night. Even at level 20, 4-5 ships in hunters can usually bust it.

I like all the ideas going around. Hopefully we can find a way to modernize the looks (graphics packages) and bring in some new balancing factors. I still love the dynamic trading parts of it (like Diaspora). Also combine that with mission trading for even more bonuses. This would make trading more exciting.

Good stuff, keep it up.
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RCK
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Re: The State of SMR 12/15/2011

Post by RCK »

Jester- wrote:I like all the ideas going around. Hopefully we can find a way to modernize the looks (graphics packages) and bring in some new balancing factors
Working on it.... finding someone within our limited budget is difficult.
Blade
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Re: The State of SMR 12/15/2011

Post by Blade »

Then find someone who will do it well.

Offer them a contract of rights. Meaning if it passes the ok of all admins then goes live you do a BIG advetisement compaign, and make sure you have something people will play and something at least 30% will pay for (Like Torn and the "donator") the guy you hire gets a % of the money made for a certain period like 6 months.

That way you get someone who is serious, they will know it needs to be good to make money. If they refuse that sort of contract then find someone else, games like these do not have the money to pay people out right. But maybe pay him a small amount/wage while he is doing so once he releases something of quality then move on to the % of money made after the release?

Dont start paying anyone until they have something to show they are working though!!

That is how I would do it.
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RCK
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Re: The State of SMR 12/15/2011

Post by RCK »

Blade wrote:Then find someone who will do it well.

Offer them a contract of rights. Meaning if it passes the ok of all admins then goes live you do a BIG advetisement compaign, and make sure you have something people will play and something at least 30% will pay for (Like Torn and the "donator") the guy you hire gets a % of the money made for a certain period like 6 months.

That way you get someone who is serious, they will know it needs to be good to make money. If they refuse that sort of contract then find someone else, games like these do not have the money to pay people out right. But maybe pay him a small amount/wage while he is doing so once he releases something of quality then move on to the % of money made after the release?

Dont start paying anyone until they have something to show they are working though!!

That is how I would do it.
Currently we are recruiting via odesk and vworker neither offer a system like that, though existing systems are based on approval on both sides before any exchange of $, so yes we get proof before purchase kind of thing.
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Re: The State of SMR 12/15/2011

Post by Azool »

Freon22 wrote:Sorry Azool I have to make a post on 1.5.

1.5 had super ships.
1.5 had super exper level players
1.5 had way to much money
1.5 had planet problems
1.5 had a missing Azool to fix these problems.

There were other problems also but no point in going to far.

On a good point 1.5 was different, it was fun until the players got super ships. I like the mining rocks, trading was good, some of the gadgets were good others were not so good.

The main thing that caused 1.5 to fail is you left after you coded it and was not here to adjust and balance it.
I don't disagree. My whole point is that the game (1.5) had many really cool aspects and they shouldn't be dismissed just because 1.5 overall wasn't a hit. I think there are a lot of things that could be brought from 1.5 into the current version
Jester- wrote:Planets are definitely to flimsy at level 0. It takes forever to even make them safe to land on for one night. Even at level 20, 4-5 ships in hunters can usually bust it.
What were everyone's thoughts when we started the planets at higher level (NPC owned)?
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