Issues with scale and ship control

from Sins Forums
The game has awesome potential, let me clear that up. However, it's painfully obvious this is a beta.

My major issues are scale with ships and the surrounding environment, and also, the difficulty of controlling the ships in a micro-management style. lesser issues are present with the macro-management of ships, etc.

SCALE ISSUES:

examining the game's ship to planet size ration, I'm concerned. Mainly, the ships are too big. The modules, frigates, and ships have a good stand alone size when they are compared together. However, planets appear to be way too small along side ships. Simply put, the planets need to be larger if the current vehicle scale is going to be implemented.

For example, a capital ship facility vs. a planet. The comparative volume of each is surprisingly similar, or at least, the cap ship facility is huge. Assuming that the resources are taken from the surrounding system's deposits, the sheer massive size of the cap ship facility is way too large. bigger planets.

MICRO-MANAGEMENT ISSUES:

the greatest issue i have is the inability for the player to follow his ship's movement by having a camera that allows him/her to lock onto the selected ship/group of ships and follow them in battle.

it is a huge loss to have a player panning around constantly trying to watch his battle group as it steams off into a battle.

these issues compounded with a genuine lack of battle strategy concerns me. as far as I'm concerned, the current version of the game stresses the need for resource collection above all. space battles are won by sheer force of numbers and the side that can most readily produce ships.

strategy is almost nil in my play experiences.
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Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top


the greatest issue i have is the inability for the player to follow his ship's movement by having a camera that allows him/her to lock onto the selected ship/group of ships and follow them in battle.

Use the camera lock (M, icon on top of screen).

At least, I think it still works in this version.

game would be imbalanced and quite silly if you couldnt win through sheer force of numbers, but there are abilities which counter numbers, especially on the Marza Dreadnought. (Radiation Bomb and Missile Barrage)

the micro largely lies in ship abilities.

those can also play into strategy: the Sova Carriers Embargo, for example, can let you shut down a huge number of tradeships (and badly hurt their income) if you're at the right planet. Jump in, use embargo, dash for the inhibitor, destroy it, and hit any targets of opportunity on your way out.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
the devs talked about sense-of-scale in another thread (think it was the solar system thread, could be wrong) and that from their game-balance testing, the current scale we see in the beta was the best balance they found for gameplay and gamer perception.

there was even talk of a special mod or something like that, check out the solar system thread. anyone has a link?

however i am sure they would welcome further feedback on that. right now beta 1 is about client stability.
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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

Good points overall. Most will be addressed in later betas as the primary focus in beta 1 is on technical issues.

the greatest issue i have is the inability for the player to follow his ship's movement by having a camera that allows him/her to lock onto the selected ship/group of ships and follow them in battle.

A new camera system to solve this problem was introduced in patch #2. Perhaps you are still using the original beta? If you are still using the original beta, DeadlyShoe is correct that clicking the camera button on the top center will solve your problem (which is hotkeyed to M). However, I strongly recommend you patch up as it fixes a large number of other issues.

Finally, patch #3 is coming soon so stay tuned for that one as well.

these issues compounded with a genuine lack of battle strategy concerns me. as far as I'm concerned, the current version of the game stresses the need for resource collection above all. space battles are won by sheer force of numbers and the side that can most readily produce ships.

This is true of beta 1 though without going into the full details, this problem is largely due to the limited content and ship types available in beta 1. Even so, I would contend a player with superior use of abilities and positioning, would destroy a player with superior numbers. Expect to more fully test for both tactical and strategy issues in a later beta.

 

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
...well, i'm glad you took the time to respond to my opinions of the game, though i do apologize if i haven't been noting the technical issues.

i don't do that very well.