High likelihood of pirate attack on player trade ships
Short Summary: Hired Ship Changes
Global hired ship unit cap of 5
Global cap of 1 transport and 1 mining ship as hired ship
Hired ships - Chance to leave on low health
Hired ships - When destroyed - player receives faction penalty
Hired ships - 15% commission on selling goods
Hired ships - player pays 10% of repair costs
Hired ships - will use primary burn to keep up with player
Longer explanation:
Several steps have been taken to revamp/rebalance the game's "resource" economy. The goals being to create a more dynamic system, where risks and rewards are better balanced. Some resources are very cheap allowing for early game trading, some resources are more expensive allowing for more profitable piracy opportunities.
Resource price will now fluxuate based on supply and demand - to encourage players to invest time in setting up more advanced trading routes - instead of repeating the same route forever.
Trade ships (mining, transport, shuttle ships) are now very likely to be attacked by pirates. Meaning that you should more strongly consider your trade ship's safety and that early trading (via hired ships) is more dangerous (with bounty opportunities). Pirate relations are now more important and paying ransom a more significant choice.
As I was testing the economy revamp - I realized that hired ships were in need of enhancements (they haven't been changed much since Early Access launch). Hired ships now have a more reasonable cap and more reasonable responses to being attacked.
The goal being to create a more clear distinction between owned and hired ships - hired ships can chose to leave your service, creating a downside to their cheap cost. In addition - destroyed hired ships will cost you a faction penalty (that can't go into the hostile territory).
Your faction score is now tied into your hire able ship cap - making it a more valuable resource.
There's been a bunch more pros and cons of hired ships, they will keep up with you better via using fuel, but you are now responsible for their repair costs.
Hope you enjoy these changes and that they make the game world more alive and interesting simulation!
What's next?
After some tweaks, bug fixes that you guys tend to find post these changes... I'll most likely work on adding some scripted faction missions. Then re-evaluate and hopefully continue on the path of the main story scripted missions and continue from there.
There is now an upkeep cost to ships, this upkeep is paid per "cycle." To help keep track of cycles a cycle timer has been added, you can see the timer in Overworld mode. Right now a cycle lasts 1000 seconds - but this will most likely change.
Combat and miscellaneous ships - currently cost 1% of their buy cost as upkeep. This is also likely to change in the future.
Trade ships (transport, mining, shuttles) are handled differently. For one there is now a "unit cap" on these ships. The primary way of raising this cap is via gaining levels in trading and mining. The secondary way of raising this cap is via owning bases.
What does the cap affect? It mostly affects upkeep and the ability to buy trade ships. You can buy pass the cap via capturing ships and building ships in owned bases.
Trade ship upkeep is designed to discourage massive spam of trade ships. The upkeep cost rises dramatically as you go over the cap.
If there is an upkeep shortage, some of your owned ships might go on strike and refuse to execute your orders, though they will still defend themselves.
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To help keep track of upkeep, I've added two new interfaces to Overworld mode. The first one is the "Credits" interface that will show you ship upkeep cost as well as income. The second is the "Log" interface that keeps track of many events - including upkeep.
Hope you enjoy!
What's the goal of all this?
The goal is to slow down the rate of income generated by trade ships and balance the income generated by trade ships. While I don't want the game to be a grind, trade ship income is way better than any other income, less risky and worst of all much more boring.
What's next?
I'm going to take a look at adding some dynamic elements to the economy and most likely re-balancing resource costs. Adding price fluxuations via supply and demand should further balance trade ships. I will also look into making trade ships more likely to be attacked, especially if they are carrying valuable cargo.
After that?
The goal is to add some scripted missions to the game (versus the auto generated current missions). Most likely these missions will be faction missions, versus story missions.
Frigates and above are no longer purchased (usually).
Frigates and above - need to be commissioned.
Commissioned ships require a shipyard to be built.
Some factions will build shipyards.
New Trade Interface for managing transports and mining ships.
Longer explanation:
The way to "normally" acquire ships sized - frigate and above has changed. These ships will require a shipyard to be built, instead of purchased. Shipyards are now buildable by some factions and by the player (if the base is owned by the player.
This means that the rate of acquiring ships is reduced - as ships need to be built. This means that you can cripple a base's defense capability via taking out its shipyard(s). This means that sometimes you might not be able to get the ship you want via credits.
Hopefully a more engaging and living game world, where larger ships are more substantial and unique.
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As I mentioned in the earlier update, I'm planning on introducing unit caps. Before taking something away from you guys (easy access to unlimited ships) I decided to give something first. Hence the introduction of the "Trade Interface."
Void Destroyer 2 - as its name suggests is not intended to be an economy sim or a game heavily interested in economy/trading - instead its meant to be a big pile of small features to create an interesting game world with many possibilities, but without too much complexity and grind.
Still many players enjoy the trading aspect of space sims - and have asked for a better way of controlling/managing what their transport and mining ships do. So in response to this - I've decided to add in a "Trade Interface."
Simply put - this screen lets you create transport loops and assign a particular mining ship to a particular asteroid field and to a particular base.
While trading and mining were in the game before - there are some random elements on the "auto" side - now you the player have more control over your trade ship's behavior.
Hope you enjoy!
What's next?
Up next is introducing a unit cap to trade ships - transports and mining ships. Most likely this will be initially tied to the "trading" and "mining" levels - and later expanded via owning a base. Also I intend to allow the player to override the unit cap of trade ships via ship capturing.
You might say - doesn't that eliminate the unit cap? In a way it does - however if the player is active in the game - capturing ships - I'm happy.
There is also a likely "upkeep" cost somewhere down the line to introduce a "soft cap" on ships as well.
After that?
After trade ships unit caps are in place - I'll most likely focus on revamping the economy as well as introducing some "dynamics" to it, based on simple supply and demand.
Some resources will be cheaper and some will be much more expensive, creating a lower barrier to entry (on the cheap side) and more profit opportunities (on the pricier side).
The big news is that larger ships will now pop into the game world, with more escorts. In addition, non player fleets will automatically form. A ship becomes a fleet leader when it has more than 3 escorts, and those escorts will join its fleet. This means that if you are looking for bigger fights, to rob bigger transports, or to run to bigger friends, you now have those options.
There's also been some balance changes. Somewhat recently, ships have gotten faster, with smaller ships getting the biggest boosts. More recently weapon ranges have been adjusted. Weapons now have far greater ranges and much more pronounced differences between weapon classes. For example light weapons occupy the ranges of 1k to 2k, medium weapons 3k-5k, heavy weapons 6k-8k and mega weapons 10k+.
Afterburner capacity has been far increased, with the goal of making it feel more substancial. This also means that the afterburner capacity upgrade is far more attractive choice than it was before.
On the polish side, damage particles have been added, scaled and properly placed across the board. Deaths have been made more dramatic with the inclusion of "death explosions".
Hope you enjoy!
What's next?
Up next is work towards balancing ship numbers and game economy.
My plan is to first make frigates and above "more substantial" - meaning harder to obtain. Currently getting a frigate or above ship is far to similar to getting a corvette or smaller ship. The planned changes will require a shipyard to build frigates and above. A frigate won't instantly pop into your fleet and might be unavailable if there are no shipyards to build it. This will also mean the ability for the player to cut off the supply of larger ships from their enemies, via eliminating shipyards.
After that?
After the shipyard changes, I'll most likely work on unit caps and economy. Especially on slowing down the rate of transport/mining ships, thus slowing down the rate of easy money. While I don't want the player to have to grind endlessly, I don't want the player to see a grind as the best way of earning money, automated transport and mining ships are too easy money makers.
Unit caps are necessary towards a balanced game, after unit caps I can begin to work on the main story line, knowing what to expect from the player fleet.
If you are new to Void Destroyer 2 - check out the previous update - Link for some background information.
We are making our way into the creation of "fleets" - for some background up until now only the player was able to have a "fleet" - usually refered to by me as the "main fleet" - this is where the player is physically in the game world.
A fleet is a group of ships - that functions like a single ship in terms of commands and visual representation in the Oveworld.
With this update - the player can designate other ships as fleet leaders and order other ships to join the fleet leader's fleet.
Fleets are important for several reasons - but it mostly boils down to easier management via grouping. Imagine 100 ships or imagine 4 groups of 25 ships - which would be easier to manage?
Fleets can be used (like any individual ship) to capture bases, destroy ships, and patrol territory - they function like any other individual ship.
These are the first steps towards fleets - much more work is needed.
This update also features additions/improvements to the Overworld to help with fleet management - including more camera options (including a detached camera) and the ability to select multiple ships.
What's next?
Most likely I'll continue adding to the basics of fleets working my way towards "non player faction" fleets.
After that?
I've been thinking a lot about starting the work on unit caps, revamping the economy and making larger ships a bigger and more significant part of the game world.
Dev Video - Remote Interface
Hey guys!
Here's a new update vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WkcAHFD5qU
Direct Link: YouTube
Short Summary:
When docked at a owned base - you have access to a "Remote Interface" allowing you to control your ships via the Overworld and jumping into ship mode to control them.
Longer explanation:
Void Destroyer 2 starts you off in a single ship - barely fit for combat. You'll than upgrade it a bit and move on to bigger and better ships, gradually building up a fleet. Then owning mining and transport ships, and then owning enough ships to be able to capture a base.
Throughout this process - you can issue orders to your other ships and take direct control of them, but your physical presence is tied to your main ship, vulnerable to attack.
Once you capture your first base - you are given the opportunity to control your ships - via a remote interface, allowing you to manage your empire while docked at a base - your stronghold.
You can now participate in any battle that your ships are engaged in and not have to worry about your personal health - creating the possibility for bigger and more intense battles. With losses not meaning the end of the line - allowing for suicide missions and various other strategies to ensure your goals.
Time and space won't hold much meaning - and you can become a immortal space god.
What's next?
This update isn't yet live - it will most likely be patched in later in the upcoming week (there are still some tests I need to run to ensure that the basics work).
After that - I'll need to work on implementing fleets - making managing many ships much easier.
After that - I'll most likely work on some smaller aspects and then continue on and on - day by day working towards making Void Destroyer 2 the best space sandbox game that I can make - with your support and help!
Dev Video - Base capture - blockades
Hey guys!
Here's what's been happening.
Short Summary:
Improvements to base capturing - blockades and response
I'm very excited about updates to the base capture mechanic. Prior to this, the only option to the player was the brute force approach. Now with new mechanics in place, base capturing can be a lot more strategic.
Here's how it works - when a base's defense ships are destroyed and enemy ships are near - the base is under a "blockade". While under a blockade several things happen. The major ones are - base morale having a chance to drop and a nearby friendly ships coming to the base's help. The lower the base morale, the less effective a base is at defending itself from capture ships. So, if you chose to use tactics to lower a base's morale, you won't need as many capture ships to capture it.
You can lower morale via several ways - some examples include - destroying platforms, blockading a base (the longer the blockade lasts the longer morale drops), destroying faction ships while the base is under a blockade and sending in base capture ships.
Mobile Bases:
Some bases can be mobile now - allowing you to give them move commands in the overworld. Use this defensively ( go some place safer), offensively (go near your enemis) or economically (go near better asteroid fields or trading bases).
Mining platforms:
You can now build mining platforms on asteroid bases, allowing you to increase a valuable resource.
Indie pirates:
A new faction similar to the "indie civilians." The indie pirates are meant to be a sort of a "living sandbox" and "wildcard" type faction. These are outlaws that aren't particularly aligned with any other pirate faction creating another threat or potential allies.
The unique thing about this faction is that - committing crimes increases your standing with them as does defending yourself from them. So if you are a criminal, you'll soon have some new allies, or if you show that you aren't an easy target, they'll respect that and not attack.
However over time they will go back to being hostile.
What's next?
This is a bit harder to answer this time around... I'll most likely work on fleet related elements then hopefully work on the "story/mission" line.
Thank you for your support!
Paul
Dev Video - Little stuff
Hey guys!
Here's what's been happening.
Short Summary:
More work on field ownership - pirates more aggressive in getting fields
For the most part I felt a big need to work on little stuff. mostly on Items that have been recently added, but haven't been refined to the point I wanted. The way I tend to work on the project is in these sorts of "high motivational spurts." Where I'll be super excited to add a feature, but as it gets more and more implemented my excitement wanes a bit and I move on to another exciting new feature - this keeps my motivation up - but often results in features that still need work. The amazing thing about game dev (and the sometimes terrifying thing) is that you can improve things forever. So - in my opinion - it is useful to have a "perfect is the enemy of good" type of a mentality, hop back onto a more motivating item, then revisit when motivation comes back. I think for me this is a very efficient way of doing things - but to each their own :)
Field Ownership:
The previous updates changes to fields - allowing for pirates losing/gaining fields needed some improvements. Mostly in terms of pirates being more aggressive in getting new fields.
Gates:
Gate use now costs money (1k credits - or free if you have less then 1k credits - or simply fly into it when another sucker pays the activation fee). Gates won't allow hostiles to activate them - unless you have a hack active ability :)
Path finding:
Due to more and more objects populating the map (for example 20 gates!) - ships tended to intersect objects more and more. I've always wanted to do something about this - especially when it comes to escort missions and the sun being in the way, but the additions of the gates motivated me to finally add in basic path finding to avoiding certain objects (especially during missions).
Base defense ship improvements:
There's been a bunch of improvements to base defense ships - most notably, they will now respond to threats and engage them. After the engagement they will go back to the base. Also upgrades, custom names, and health (ships will auto repair automatically when at a base) will now save and load.
Known objects list:
There is now a known objects list, allowing the player to more easily select a known object. For example - looking to go to a particular base? Easily find it in the known base's list and away you go.
Far objects HUD GUI:
Improvements to the far object GUI in the ship's HUD. Bit of clean up and a bit of a better presentation. This GUI shows the player nearby (yet not in "local space") objects - including mission markers.
What's next?
There's a few other "little stuff" I have my eye on - so most likely I'll focus on that for a few more weeks. I'm also planning on adding a tiny bit of story - to the beginning of the game (before the current tutorial segment). To more "dramatically" introduce the player to the game - expect explosions :)
Thank you for your support!
Paul
Dev Video - Factions Interface, Field Ownership and Gates
Players often ask in the forums "why does faction x attack me?" "how can I be friends with faction y?" The faction interface has been added to help answering these questions, add a bit to the "game world" in terms of lore, as well as add quasi "diplomacy" options. Via the faction interface you can see your current standing, modifiers on it and other info.
Field Ownership:
Prior to the recent updates, if a field was owned it would be always owned, and non-owned fields would always remain non-owned.
Even if wiped clean via a mission or player actions, pirates would come back sooner or later. This is no longer the case, fields can be taken, lost, and regained. More work is needed here, but we are on our way to creating a more dynamic game world. The player can aid or hinder a faction, including making fields safer for miners, or expanding pirate territories.
Gates:
A few updates ago, gates were added to the game world, creating a fast travel method. Their use was a bit cumbersome and now they can be easily used via the overworld. In addition non-player ships will use gates. This will be further refined and improved to be much better implemented.
What's next?
I've been a bit burned out - so most likely I'll continue working on smaller elements for a few more weeks and then continue working on bigger elements such as base ownership, focusing on the non-player response to player hostile base actions.
Thank you for your support!
Paul
Dev Video - Base Ownership - Building Ships
Hey guys!
Here's what's been happening.
Short Summary:
Can now build ships (previously could only purchase)
Building ships requires ore
Building ships reduces credit cost
Can build concurrently via energy use
Similar mechanics for base defense ships (auto built ships)
Can now build ships using ore - at a far reduced cost. Built ships will appear in the hangar once ready. Using energy will trigger a concurrent build - allowing up to 5 ships to be built simultaneously. Energy used is based on a power of 3 (so 3, 9 27, 81). First ship is "free" and doesn't require energy to be built.
Building Defense Ships:
Previously, defense ships would just pop into the game world, now they will be "built" via a timer. Similar mechanic to the above, but ships will become defense ships (versus appearing in the hangar). This also applies to non-player owned bases. Making recovery from an attack more significant.
The economy and the game world:
This update makes ore and energy - something that's actually usable in the game world, rather than just for making money. The economy in Void Destroyer 2 - while pretty simple - now has a bit more to it. Ore and energy are no longer just generic resources to be traded, and for that I'm very happy. This also reduces the need and value of money - when the player sets up a mining operation and resource chains. My goal is that grinding for money shouldn't be a thing when the player owns multiple bases. Overall I don't want there to be a much call for the "grind."
We'll see continuing improvement/enhancements of the economy in future updates.
What's next?
I'll most likely take a break from base ownership - and work up a "faction relation" type interface, which will give the player information about factions, the player's current status to them, and allow the player to override friend/foe settings. After that more work on base ownership mechanic, with non-player bases responding to the player's aggressive actions towards their bases - in more appropriate ways.
