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lazerus
Team:  Rank: Director Main: Lazerus Level: 2345 Joined: Thu Jul 01, 2010 10:58 pm Posts: 108 Location: Milky Way, Sol, Earth, Australia.
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 Recommended Improvements to S.S. Recommended Improvements to Star Sonata
Good old S.S. has always been a great game, one way or the other, its still the same basic formula for its own wonderfully unique experience, and as we all know, its the type of game that keeps you coming back, and not just for the characteristically sociological engagement!
So in lue of wanting to keep my blabbering, opinionated and potentially offensive mouth shut in forum, I thought it appropriate to formulate my recommendations regarding what I believe should be good and proper changes to the game, and for what I see as the right reasons.
Client:-
* Backwards Compatability : Try to keep the Client as compatable with older versions of MS-Windows as much as possible. It should be able to run on at least a Win-98SE O.S., the fact that you now need XP-SP3 because of the latest VisualBASIC Library's is a bit of a pity - the clients graphics prior were sufficient. The more the Client remains "runnable" on an old players favorite machine, the better, not all of them will want to build a new one just for SS!
* Keep New Additions and Revisions of Client's Implementation as efficient as possible : Remember, far from everybody has a big new mega powerfull multi-core machine, a lot of older players have machines that can benefit from well thought out "coding" (programming) that shows off their old graphics card etc, to the point where the younger player on a newer system is amazed at how well the game runs..!
* Screen-Mode or Windowed-FullScreen Options : For some time now, client has dropped the Actual Screen-Mode capability, this results in significantly less performance (especially on older systems) and tends to "bog down" your Architecture by simple manner of how the O.S. is more "Deliberate" apon the application when its effectively Windowed....
* Small, Medium & Large G.U.I.-Elements Option : For all those users that dont have giant "4K" Screen's, lower resolutions (eg. 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 etc) can offer an experience that is "smooth" and full of action, also a relief to available processing power is a plus; what Client needs in this regard is the options for smaller GUI Elements, the buttons, Radar Windows, Map (It can allready be resized!), Hot Key bar, general Fonts used etc etc, this way we could setup the game on a lower res and be happy with the GUI not taking up most of the image!
* Data Throughput (Useage) Efficiency : Before Client V2, SS1 was playable with less than 128kbits/sec (dialup) and you still had all the base-fighting or dg action you could need, these days, with C2, the amount of data being downloaded (and uploaded) is comparatively abomnable, its in the order of 1.5Mbits/sec+, and for what? No more action or activity in a system etc! If I wasnt so suspicious of such, I'd suggest that Client and Server talk in a Binary manner instead of Text Descriptive for example, thus cutting down the data-rate dramatically - my estimate would be needing 128kbps to 500kbps (at max!) for a "full" system with trade bots all over the place and a fight going on between a few players and bases etc! The way you do this is the way it was done previously - Client "Knows" what's happening and only needs "updates" from Server (ie. a Vector for Travel!) instead of telling Client about every little movement over time....! Put simply - let Client "take the load off" Server.
Persistent Universe (Uni.):-
* Galaxy Sizes :-
Earthforce Galaxy - this should remain comparatively large, as it was at its best, enough Green (not just room for a few "Shop Gal's") to enjoy being lower level, enough Blue and Red for players to enjoy a diversity of AI's to level up on, and ofcourse those Purple arms we all loved for the higher level player to enjoy the spoils of big bad DG's.
Wild Space - Now this galaxy is perhaps the most important, a place to be P2P and Build, so it should remain large like it used to be, plenty of Blue, Red and Purple, so all levels of P2P'er (Low/Med/High!) can enjoy a share of space, so the game can bring in some moula ay!
Perilous Space - Now this needs to be 2/3'rds the size of W.S. at least, big old P2P'ers love their PVP space, not to mention the toughest of DG's and roaming AI's etc to test their metal.
PPS/Kalthi etc - Well these areas need to be around the afore mentioned size for Peri., dont take too much time away from Server for all the other players that cant handle it there, it shouldnt take up all the Server's think-time for the rest of the Uni!
* Shorter Lockouts - One of the things that's hindering a players progression is the long lockouts, I for one dont want to HAVE TO subscribe for 3-6 months just to be able to get all my t21 skills etc, nor do I want to have to wait 24 hours just to be able to go and do that dg again with a few mates that suddenly logged on later that day! The way things were with DG's with their "native AI rebirth rates" was probably the way it should still be, and that's what I'm recommending!
Gameplay :-
* Free To Play PVP in DG's (incl. F-P2P/P2P) - One of the great aspects of going into a "Dangerous Galaxy" was the threat of PVP, it was all about the Contest and the spoils that could be attained through victory against not just the native AI's, but the other players that came along, or happened to be there when you arrived! It should still be like that - its one aspect of SS that has always been a "draw card"!
* Traditional "Fully Fledged" Base-Building - Sure its nice to start out with "X-Gear", but what about the FUN of putting what ever you can get your hands on into the bare hulk of a base?! What about the FUN of gradually building up your Native and Traditional (Adonis/Arg./Ambro. etc) Base Gear?! It shouldnt take all that long to go from X to Y or even Z either! Half the appeal of SS and Base building was that you could do ALL SORTS of things with a base, load up Solar Pannels, put in Sets of Diffusers, throw on a Rocket Launcher, put that special DG Laser you found in thats Surgical etc etc!! Im a real stickler for this one - one of the greatest things SS Gaming lost was the diversity of things you can do with a base and how you can set it up! JunkYard Kits were fantastic, so was the blueprints for "special" kits and their gear!! Lets see a return to those days of greater gameplay diversity please ay?! Bring back "Ablative Armour" as well please - it was great for everybody from a T1/2/3/6 builder wanting to feel secure, to a T20 building wanting that little bit of assurance enough to take a nap or even have a good snooze!
* Original Slave Behaviors - Orders for Slaves, and their Behaviors were something we all relied on, Formations for Slaves can be fun, but not if you dont want them to do that! Having your Ships group on your position was a barricade, when you cant get them to do that anymore, you wonder who's "yanking your chain"!
* Classes - The old Class Points system was more realistic in my opinion, but if your going to rework it like it is, then forcing people to make a choice right away isnt exactly polite, a player should be able to wait till level 1k or eve 2k if they feel like it before choosing a Class. When the player does decide for himself to be classed, he should feel confident that each particular class has its own traditional strenghts that arnt lost to a defeatest "Balance" argument!! The droner should be nearly as strong as a baser (at high levels), the FC should always get more out of his fighters than anybody else, the Seer should always have its secretive potentials etc etc.... And I think that's a fair point! If you "Balance" the hell out of each class to the point where they are ineffective against each other then why would someone want to pit one against another, or bother to enjoy the victory's possible if you specialise!
Moderation :-
* Moderator Warnings in All Chat - I do believe that such an activity is as appropriate as it was previously seen; letting not just the offenders know that they are "walking the tightrope" is always good social practice for all the others that may now know why the Moderator is about to Mute or "use the Ban-Hammer" for what ever reason. An active Chat level rep-rt between Mod's and Players makes for a more responsible experience.
* Moderating BaseNames, CharacterNames etc - For everything from Swaring, Offensive Language and even Copyright Breaches, all Player Inputed Descriptions or Names should be able to be actively moderated! That way it wont be long before that nasty base name is replaced or that naughty Team Name (and those of its Characters!) that threatens Copyright are dealt with.. Much more respectable for new and more importantly, young players, even for those that arnt perhaps aware of the level of responsibility needed when participating in the SS Experience!
There folks, I guess I could go on more, but I think that should about do it, and ofcourse it should also be about enough from old Lazerus! Anybody elses opinions on this would be a good thing, so please post in old forum to get the discussion rolling.
The game has changed so much from 4 or 5 years ago and longer that I find it to be LESS of an Experience, and for the reasons mentioned above, I think a good look at it from the old "C1" perspective might just save the game from pending doom as I see it.
"Take Care All.." and "Good Luck" for the future development of the great old game!
"Thanks, it was FUN!".....
;-}
PS: Once again, spelling is a pain for me to get right at times, American versus English, bah, too lazy to bother tonight, sorry. Hehe.
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There wouldn't be a Knight if it wasn't for the Black-Smith!
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