Messages

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Suggestions / Re: Burst Trajectory

« on: May 21, 2013, 10:42:51 am »

If you burst fire in someone's general direction you should be aware there is danger you might hit them. Knowing that someone's just out of the burst cone and that you're safe to burst would be kinda cheating.

Lol! Good answer, but then by the same reasoning I could say the same thing about grenades. You could fine tune your throw to just miss an ally which could also kinda be cheating.

I think the main issue here at the moment is that one has no idea how big the burst cone is. Is it 90 degrees, or 120? or even 180!? A visual aid is, I think, the simplest and most effective way to resolve this. I guess you could describe the size of the cone in the weapon text but it could be hard to gauge in action and is inconsistent with the grenade....

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Suggestions / Re: Burst Trajectory

« on: May 18, 2013, 10:12:10 am »

That's a shame. I hope you can get something in place at some point. It's very difficult to gauge the risk of a burst shot to allies without any clues. Don't grenades already do something similar? Can't you use a similar process for the burst>

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Suggestions / Re: Burst Trajectory

« on: May 16, 2013, 06:32:26 pm »

It would still be handy to get a visual aid to what the spread of the burst shot is though, so you can determine the risk of hitting surrounding things is. I'm thinking ideally a translucent arc so you can see who is in your line of fire, or maybe % chance to hit over affected people.

(now I've posted this I'm wondering if it already does the % chance.... hope I'm not being an idiot!)

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Suggestions / Re: Games within Underrail

« on: May 10, 2013, 03:21:55 pm »

I agree that arbitrary choices aren't fun, because they aren't really choices at all.

But when you play a board game, you do have the ability to play for a draw, a win or try to lose and that's not an arbitrary choice at all. When playing for a win you might have different win percentage chances depending on the style you play, aggressive, positional or tactical. So that's a significant choice and I think it would add a layer of depth to the encounter.

P.S. You actually can apply win percentages to chess openings statistically.

Yeah of course. I wasn't saying the choices you suggested were invalid, just that it's possible to justify a wide range of choices as being valid and, whilst some choices are sensible to one person they may appear arbitrary to another. I also don't see the point of having a set up with 2 or 3 dialogues and trying to replicate a game that requires potentially many moves. Would that really be any fun?

Cards is a little bit different as long as it's done right - I've not seen the in game gambling yet so can't comment - maybe even a dice game, but I generally derive no enjoyment out of playing these choice type games.

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Suggestions / Re: Games within Underrail

« on: May 09, 2013, 08:03:55 pm »

Rather than simulate the whole game, it would be simpler to simulate certain key choices. I was thinking there would be a dialogue option stage, then an intelligence check and a die roll to determine if they won or not. For example:

Play a game? Yes / No

(The following are a random array of dialogue choices, which would be different every time.)

1. I play the Queen's Gambit! (50% change to lead to win)
2. I play the King's Pawn opening (50% change to lead to win)
3. I play the Rook Pawn Bluff. (20% change to lead to win)
4. I play the Knight's opening. (40% change to lead to win)

Then there would be a final array of dialogue choices:

1. Play for a small advantage.
2. Play for the draw.
3. Gamble it all for the win.
4. Play to lose.

Then the intelligence check would modify the final die roll and win lose conditions are announced.

I really dislike this sort of thing in games. The arbitrary choices really remove any feel of playing a sub game. It, to me, would be just as entertaining to have a single "Play chess" choice and then the result randomly chosen automatically with no messing around in between. I think if any sub games are put in then they really should have a proper interface and graphics, I'd likely avoid them otherwise.

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Suggestions / Re: Suggestion about Repair Kits

« on: May 06, 2013, 07:33:56 pm »

Yeah totally agree with this! I'd still prefer a repair setup where you used materials to fix something (a bit like in fallout 3) but if we have to stick with kits then this idea is a must.

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Suggestions / Weapon attack actions & AP costs

« on: April 24, 2013, 04:00:01 pm »

I've seen this game compared to the original Fallout game - which I never played but must have a look at now! However from my perspective the use of AP and turn based combat makes me think of the classic UFO games.

With that in mind I was wondering about various fire modes that UFO had - Aimed, snap and burst. Burst I have seen in the game for automatic weapons so that's fine. Snap I assume is the standard single normal shot for weapons but aimed appears as a guaranteed critical feat only inc a cooldown period. I think aimed shot should be a non-feat  fire mode with higher AP cost and accuracy but with a normal critical chance. Anyone should be able to take a bit more time to aim to get a better hit chance. Keep the feat in as something like "Headshot" to give a guaranteed ciritcal on hit. This extra aimed mode would give increased strategy options (do you risk mising with a snap shot but have more shot attempts or have an aimed shot for better chances but less shots)

I also wondered whether there would be stances being introduced - stand, crouch, prone - for varying evasion/dodge and chance to hit?

Finally I think AP costs need looking at, particularly for crossbows. It looks like you can fire a pistol 3 times and a crossbow 2 times per comabt turn (roughly), however crossbows should be a lot slower IMO. I reckon you could easily fire off an entire clip from an automatic in the time it would take to fire a and reload a crossbow - the amount of effort required to pull the string back is significant and tme consuming. This would kind of make the crosbow a bit pointless unless it had mode stealth applications but i thought I'd mention it anyway!

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Suggestions / Re: Durability/item uses + PSI points

« on: April 24, 2013, 02:35:01 pm »

Yeah ok that's fair enough. I know you have to balance reality with practicality!

What is the plan for when durability reaches 0? I've not tested that yet. Does the weapon simply stop working? I hope not. I feel that all weapons would retain a pretty reasonable effectiveness over a long period.

I think what I want to avoid is the need for carrying many weapons or repair kits (and the associated cost/weight of doing this) just in case you get a bit sidetracked/lost/trapped. As long as the balance is ol then I guess i don't mind

I'm not sure what the plans for repair are but rather than having a repair kit that get used up, how about a repair kit that has infinite uses but requires the use of components and the associated skill in mechanics/electronics? Or maybe both? A one shot repair kit as you have now with the ability for full repairs with the right components (only in safe territory) maybe even increasing overall durability with improved components - going off on a tangent, even the possibility of improving any aspect of an existing weapon with new components?

Whilst I'm ok with resource management I have to disagree with PSI points being handled this way. The way you have them now is like health - a fixed amount that goes down when you get injured - so you are sort of saying that using PSI permanently injures you until you take a PSI health potion. That doesn't feel right to me. It's an ability. If you were to run too much you would get tired and have to rest but then could run again. If you were to concentrate hard on a problem for a long time you would lose concentration and need a rest but could then go back again. I see PSI the same way and feel it should regenerate over time (slowly). By all means though the use of restorative items to give a boost seems reasonable.

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Suggestions / Re: Map Transitions

« on: April 23, 2013, 11:40:39 pm »

How about a generic "Unexplored" label for unvisited exits and a descriptive "Bandit Lair" label for once you've been there (and explored a reasonable % of the map)?

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Suggestions / Durability/item uses + PSI points

« on: April 23, 2013, 11:36:52 pm »

Love the game so far, even in the alpha state!

I played the demo loads and loved it. Bought the 'full' alpha the other day and the biggest difference i noticed was the addition of durability and limited use items.

Whilst I'm all for having the need for repair the usual duarability implementations bug me as they seem to be more limiting than realistic. Same goes for number of times an item can be used. I'm sure these will evolve in this game too but I wanted to get in there early!

So for durability of weapons; I think for firearms you need to include cleaning into the mix. A gun will last much longer if it is regularly cleaned, and a cleaning kit itself should be useable many many times. If you don't keep your gun clean then you will start to cause permanent damage the cleaning cannot fix. At this point you have to start considering new parts for it - it would be great if you had to buy the specific parts too rather than simply a repair kit.

For crossbows I would guess that the most commonly damaged part would be the string (or cable or whatever!). This would naturally degrade over time but re-stringing the bow should be a relatively simple procedure, possibly with longer term natural degradation to the bulk of the weapon.

Seems like I'm saying that each weapon needs two types of durability - a more frequent but cheaper cleaning/fix to keep the weapon going and a longer term natural degradation through continual use. Some might think this is overkill but it feels more realistic to me.

As for items like lockpicks and electronic hack devices (and other tools): lockpicks don't break after one use, they can be used multiple times. Perhaps a failed lockpick could break one? The electronic hacker should, theoretically be able to draw power from the device it's hacking but I guess it being battery powered isn't so bad. I do think that power should be available back at friendly locations though, simply plug in and charge your gear up! Even recharge some batteries.

Finally... I saw another post talking about PSI point regeneration. So I may as well add my thoughts! I see PSI points very much like stamina, you concentrate and use up some energy leaving you feeling out of breath but you slowly recover afterwards. Like a runner in training you would start out with low stamina and low recovery but as you improve soo would the amount and speed of regeneration. I also think sleeping should be included as a way of regeneration. In fact I could argue that real time PSI points aren't needed at all as, if the stamina analogy holds, then they could be included in the combat turn as an equivalent of action or movement points.

Anyway there's a few thoughts! (and a lot of waffle!)