Post by sfsdfd on Oct 29, 2012 13:10:01 GMT 10
Haven't played Jameson for a while - have been eagerly awaiting the 0.6 release - but got an itch to play it this weekend, and gave it a few tries again.
I really like the way that many of the individual features are coming along. VERY pleased with Farbs' announcement that the banks are all linked now... that was a feature that I've hoped to see since banks first came around in v0.2 or whatever.
However... when I compared my experience (not having played it in a while) with my experiences during the earlier versions... I had to admit that it felt like something is missing now. It too me a while to put my finger on it, and once I succeeded, I was surprised by the result.
So here's the upshot: The latest version of Jameson doesn't feel as much like Jameson any more. It feels like a souped-up Captain Successor.
I have two general comments about this.
===
First: The value of stations.
Several times during my recent play-throughs, I found myself at level (x), and trying to find a way to get to level (x+1). Basically, I have two options:
(1) Get money by (a) finding (x)-class ships, carefully sniping them, tacking on all of their stuff, repairing it if necessary, hauling it back to a scrapyard, and scrapping it; or (b) mining some minerals and cashing them in. Either way - after getting some money, find a factory with (x+1) stuff that I want, and buy it. Warehouse excess parts, and maybe deposit extra cash in a bank.
(2) Just find an (x+1) ship somewhere that's a bit vulnerable and has stuff that I want. Carefully snipe them and tack on their stuff, repairing as necessary (usually with a repair module).
The problem is that (2) is MUCH, MUCH faster than (1)... like, an order of magnitude faster. It's so much faster that it makes most of the stations pointless.
As an example: I had a solid Charlie-level ship and liberated a station that, as luck would have it, had Delta-class snipe lasers - exactly what I wanted next. So I spent probably 30 minutes scavenging Charlie-class parts, scrapping them, and building up a balance to the point where I had enough for five Delta-class snipe lasers. Great!
And on my very next foray, I ran across one of those pencil-like ships with BIG Golf- and Hotel-class snipe lasers on each end, and a totally exposed core in the center. Twenty seconds later, I found myself dumping the Delta-class lasers for two- and three-level upgrades.
Now, I fully recognize that that's not a typical example... but that kind of unevenness was reflected throughout my experiences: it was *always* *much* easier to take what I wanted off of other ships than to station-commerce my way there.
What can be done about this? I have five ideas:
(1) Each Factory should have a significant menu of parts. By far, the biggest throttle on commerce is the rarity with which any factory has anything that I want.
(2) Upgrade facilities need to be more common. It's disappointing that whatever gear you have becomes instantly useless when you acquire equivalent gear of the next higher level.
(3) In addition to selling usual parts, factories should sell *rare* parts more often - oxy modules, chrono gears, repair modules, Mk2 boosters, and maybe exotic weapon types. Also, these modules could be more difficult to scavenge from ships - e.g., maybe they frequently spontaneously blow up.
(4) As it stands, Repair stations are *totally* useless due to the redundancy with Repair modules. Once you acquire a single repair module of your current grade, *every* repair station throughout the galaxy becomes totally useless! Instead, repair modules could have some kind of cost associated with them - maybe they repair VERY slowly, or maybe they run off of credits or oxygen, etc.- so that repair stations become an alternative and convenient option.
(5) The financial model is totally screwed up for one reason: The rate at which you can acquire money at level (x) is always considerably lower than the rate at which you can acquire money at level (x+1). In other words, the monetary curve is exponential: scrapping parts and banking credits at level (x) is pointless when you could just spend your effort pursuing level (x+1) and then get twice as much credit for the same type of work. And that exponential factor applies to *all* levels below Juliet... i.e., there is no point in acquiring credits and banking them until you reach Juliet (at which point the game is pretty much over, anyway).
My idea here is that money should *not* be based absolutely on the level of goods... but on the level of what you're scrapping vs. the highest level you've attained so far. That is, if your ship has Charlie-level parts and you're scrapping a Delta-level part, you should get *just as much money* as if you were an Echo-level ship scrapping Foxtrot-level parts. That would balance out the exponential monetary curve.
===
Second: The size of the galaxy.
One of the things I *loved* about earlier versions of Jameson was the feeling that most of space was empty and lonely. Since getting lost was certainly fatal, forays out of radar contact felt daring and perilous; exploring new areas of the galaxy felt very much like hurtling yourself into the blackness.
The 0.5.1 galaxy feel *very* different. There are so many stations crammed together - and so many nav stations - that it almost feels rare to lose contact with a nav station. Even worse, you always know where to find a nearby unliberated station... just follow the "SOS" pointer!
As a result, the 0.5.1 galaxy feels like it's teeming with stations and ships - it almost feels impossible to get lost. In addition to losing a big chunk of the feel of earlier versions, this change makes oxy management very easy: there's *always* an oxy station nearby.
===
That's all for now. Happy to elaborate on either point if desired. Will watch for others' comments.
I really like the way that many of the individual features are coming along. VERY pleased with Farbs' announcement that the banks are all linked now... that was a feature that I've hoped to see since banks first came around in v0.2 or whatever.
However... when I compared my experience (not having played it in a while) with my experiences during the earlier versions... I had to admit that it felt like something is missing now. It too me a while to put my finger on it, and once I succeeded, I was surprised by the result.
So here's the upshot: The latest version of Jameson doesn't feel as much like Jameson any more. It feels like a souped-up Captain Successor.
I have two general comments about this.
===
First: The value of stations.
Several times during my recent play-throughs, I found myself at level (x), and trying to find a way to get to level (x+1). Basically, I have two options:
(1) Get money by (a) finding (x)-class ships, carefully sniping them, tacking on all of their stuff, repairing it if necessary, hauling it back to a scrapyard, and scrapping it; or (b) mining some minerals and cashing them in. Either way - after getting some money, find a factory with (x+1) stuff that I want, and buy it. Warehouse excess parts, and maybe deposit extra cash in a bank.
(2) Just find an (x+1) ship somewhere that's a bit vulnerable and has stuff that I want. Carefully snipe them and tack on their stuff, repairing as necessary (usually with a repair module).
The problem is that (2) is MUCH, MUCH faster than (1)... like, an order of magnitude faster. It's so much faster that it makes most of the stations pointless.
As an example: I had a solid Charlie-level ship and liberated a station that, as luck would have it, had Delta-class snipe lasers - exactly what I wanted next. So I spent probably 30 minutes scavenging Charlie-class parts, scrapping them, and building up a balance to the point where I had enough for five Delta-class snipe lasers. Great!
And on my very next foray, I ran across one of those pencil-like ships with BIG Golf- and Hotel-class snipe lasers on each end, and a totally exposed core in the center. Twenty seconds later, I found myself dumping the Delta-class lasers for two- and three-level upgrades.
Now, I fully recognize that that's not a typical example... but that kind of unevenness was reflected throughout my experiences: it was *always* *much* easier to take what I wanted off of other ships than to station-commerce my way there.
What can be done about this? I have five ideas:
(1) Each Factory should have a significant menu of parts. By far, the biggest throttle on commerce is the rarity with which any factory has anything that I want.
(2) Upgrade facilities need to be more common. It's disappointing that whatever gear you have becomes instantly useless when you acquire equivalent gear of the next higher level.
(3) In addition to selling usual parts, factories should sell *rare* parts more often - oxy modules, chrono gears, repair modules, Mk2 boosters, and maybe exotic weapon types. Also, these modules could be more difficult to scavenge from ships - e.g., maybe they frequently spontaneously blow up.
(4) As it stands, Repair stations are *totally* useless due to the redundancy with Repair modules. Once you acquire a single repair module of your current grade, *every* repair station throughout the galaxy becomes totally useless! Instead, repair modules could have some kind of cost associated with them - maybe they repair VERY slowly, or maybe they run off of credits or oxygen, etc.- so that repair stations become an alternative and convenient option.
(5) The financial model is totally screwed up for one reason: The rate at which you can acquire money at level (x) is always considerably lower than the rate at which you can acquire money at level (x+1). In other words, the monetary curve is exponential: scrapping parts and banking credits at level (x) is pointless when you could just spend your effort pursuing level (x+1) and then get twice as much credit for the same type of work. And that exponential factor applies to *all* levels below Juliet... i.e., there is no point in acquiring credits and banking them until you reach Juliet (at which point the game is pretty much over, anyway).
My idea here is that money should *not* be based absolutely on the level of goods... but on the level of what you're scrapping vs. the highest level you've attained so far. That is, if your ship has Charlie-level parts and you're scrapping a Delta-level part, you should get *just as much money* as if you were an Echo-level ship scrapping Foxtrot-level parts. That would balance out the exponential monetary curve.
===
Second: The size of the galaxy.
One of the things I *loved* about earlier versions of Jameson was the feeling that most of space was empty and lonely. Since getting lost was certainly fatal, forays out of radar contact felt daring and perilous; exploring new areas of the galaxy felt very much like hurtling yourself into the blackness.
The 0.5.1 galaxy feel *very* different. There are so many stations crammed together - and so many nav stations - that it almost feels rare to lose contact with a nav station. Even worse, you always know where to find a nearby unliberated station... just follow the "SOS" pointer!
As a result, the 0.5.1 galaxy feels like it's teeming with stations and ships - it almost feels impossible to get lost. In addition to losing a big chunk of the feel of earlier versions, this change makes oxy management very easy: there's *always* an oxy station nearby.
===
That's all for now. Happy to elaborate on either point if desired. Will watch for others' comments.
