ViolentMind ViolentMind

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From a fellow VGAP player...

from Sins Forums
Hey there,

I must say first that I got involved in this Beta just recently after reading Blair Fraser's interview at IGN. After he mentioned that he was an old VGA Planets lover, I thought to myself....finally a game developer with the same gaming backround as me! I LOVE VGAP and still play it to this day!

That said, since I just downloaded Beta 2 recently, I only have a few simple suggestions at this point. Also, I haven't had time to read many other posts, so some, or all, of this may have been suggested already. If so, sorry for the dupe.

So far, SINS is an interesting concept, with a lot of potential. It's a mix of my favorite genres (4X/RTS). The following is a short list of my simple suggestions. I'd love to see some of these in Beta 3, if possible, but would ultimately just like to get some into the final version. These are in no particular order....

- As a new player to either the genre, or this game, I think that tutorials should be very straightforward. I found myself a bit lost at times, as far as knowing where to go next. If the next button to push was highlighted, to make it easier to find, then it would help with some of the frustration.
- A gameplay clock would be nice, or something that told you how long you were playing, or how long that game lasted.
- An option to change the Autosave frequency.
- An option to expose the entire map to players from the beginning (no fog of war)
- An option to toggle game speed during play, especially in single player. Sometimes you spend a while just waiting for the next thing to happen.
- A way to hide the "tool bars" at the top and bottom of the screen. Sometimes it would be nice to see more of the screen.
- Conversely, a way to expand the "quick pick" list on the left, so that you can see more of the detail without having to scroll down the list.
- Double-clicking on a ship should pick all ships of the same hull at the same location. It's frustrating having to take the time to choose each capital ship type individually.
- A way to display a list of all the ships that you have built so far, so that you know how many of each hull type that you have built so far.
- A config file, or screen, of some sort to allow the player to tweek the targetting priorities for each individual ship type.

That's it so far! Can't wait to see more of the game, and more races/ships!
8,599 views 26 replies
Reply #26 from Sins Forums Top
And increase the performance required of the machine and add complications such as being able to go nearly anywhere, so you have to defend everywhere.
End of quote


yeah, the old problem.

from a gameplay point of view, I'd say its as much a problem of (sensor) information as it is about movement speed and necessary omnipresence throughout your worlds. consider the following example with a) a system size comparable to the one we have now in the game and phase speed also at comparable levels, but with total view of all hostile jumps, even at the end of the galaxy. then you wouldnt have to worry about defense, because you could probably detect any incursion in time and send appropriate defenses. in turn, very hard to attack if you have to consider that whatever you send may face the entirety of the enemy fleet.

but then of course a number things could be tweaked. first, of course, the range. it could for example only go halfway to the sun or shorter, depending on tech level and your level of investment, you may detect enemies earlier or later. you could also limit the range of jump drives per se, so that any ship needs to make "stops" on the way from one end to other.

my point being, I'd say there are ways to avoid it. hw for example introduced a resource cost, which I didn't particularly like, but which obviously worked. what I did love about the game though was this strange feeling of naval simulator when you always had the red dots scattered around in the sensor manager. you knew something was there, but it could be anything from a scout to a full assault fleet. something like that could be very cool.

from a technical viewpoint ... well, I sorta remember haegemonia, which iirc did have orbits and moons and all, and pretty big solar system maps too. you can argue that there were fewer systems and planets in that game, but tbh I fairly like the way the game managed universe "feel" and openness.

so, while not being a programmer, I wouldnt be too quick to dismiss it from a performance pow.

that being said, this IS a very old thread, and this IS more supposed to be beta for the recent patch, if I am not totally mistaken, so the ideas might be better put in the standard sins forum. or the devs give us a seperate "ideas" forum for exp and sequel brainstorming. bc lets be serious, if they undertake such a radical redesign, it surely wont be in anything short of a sequel.