marble parrot
Hi, dear <@&359177240241635359>
In the light of the current astonishing update-wave to rebalance various things, I'd like to ask, whether there is something planned for the next time considering the reduction of Contact-RTG-profusion, as described at https://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/21021/contact-rtgs-rarer ?
Greetz
quick shell
This seems like a pretty reasonable suggestion. If the suggested nerf is too strong, a contact-type modifier could be added to model how prestigious the contract type is and how fluent they are in trading.
Maybe 1.5 for merchant and smuggler, 2 for smuggler price, etc.
silent nimbus
i am looking at this one tonight
nocturne thunder
i am looking at this one tonight
make it optional. i feel they're rare enough. it's difficult to maintain a steady contact. making stuff more difficult just because seems like it should be an optional thing
silent nimbus
Perhaps. Adding options makes every patch harder after they are added. One really balanced experience is superior to many configurations that aren't
One of the core issues is that the late game economy scales well past the currency sinks that we could find with that little Kickstarter
Two of the emails I got this week were specifically about this issue, I do think it is impacting players
It is also an inverse function of map size, you see people hunting for small map seeds with adjacent RTG sources
Whatever changes we do make we will discuss and test thoroughly 
nocturne thunder
ok understood. just bouncing around ideas here. maybe a sliding scale like the difficulty sliders could be an idea. like so people can have 0% RTGs in a game if that's what they want
nocturne thunder
One of the core issues is that the late game economy scales well past the curren...
and i agree the late game economy does scale well past the currency sinks. i have 3 sword battle cruisers for different loadouts for different types of missions and still have millions of credits
silent nimbus
Yeah that sounds right, multiple ships is definitely the best way to play
If we had raised enough money to finish it... But we didn't
quick shell
make it optional. i feel they're rare enough. it's difficult to maintain a stead...
The feedback as I understand it:
Once you get a contract with rare trade goods, you can buy an amount limited only by your ship's cargo capacity. Fill the ship with cargo components and you can buy 200+ RTG with "trickle supply."
A couple oddities with that: the game implies that finding 20 rare trade goods is a huge stash when exploring. Smugglers are never found carrying more than ~25 RTG. If they're so rare for everyone else, why does this low influence contact have access to 200 RTG?
All other trade goods have their buying price adjust as the quantity purchased increases. Usually you can't fill an entire cargo hold with an A-tier purchase price.
On the other hand, no trade good can fill an entire late game cargo hold: the exchange doesn't have the supply. It's back to point 1, how does this contact have better access to rare trade goods than to raw spice or water purifiers?
silent nimbus
Small poor studio always trying to stay above water
quick shell
Yeah that sounds right, multiple ships is definitely the best way to play
I think the play-experience is best with the solo ship model. There'd be a lot of added complexity for multi-ships without much added fun.
silent nimbus
Sometimes I wonder if Google was right and we should have done paid DLC and subscriptions
silent nimbus
I think the play-experience is best with the solo ship model. There'd be a lot o...
That is an interesting take
Thanks for sharing
quick shell
Paid DLC, if done right, could be worthwhile and desired by the community. You'd need a less continuous update stream. At a certain point you'd need to draw the line, call it Version 1, then all new content goes to the DLC, Version 2.
silent nimbus
I'd rather die on my hill
quick shell
That is an interesting take
For the next Star Traders game, I'd keep the scope at solo-ship. It makes sense with the lore and it seems to fit the overall style of the game.
You could take the game somewhere else, but it seems like the current model works so well.
silent nimbus
For the next Star Traders game, I'd keep the scope at solo-ship. It makes sense ...
thanks for the feedback
i don't think we should do that, however, based on the playerbase
we would need to sell STF2 to STF players
studios that remove core fun for a majority of players often suffer terrible results
but I think that's the great thing about the design -- both are valid ways to play
quick shell
Ok. Valid point. But I'd imagine most STF players would be happy playing STF2, even if the core gameplay is similar.
Sigh, I'm undermining my own argument.
Then people will be like "ST:F did it better."
Ok, ok. Good point.
Just don't do what that AAA studio did with their STF-copy game that flopped. All on visuals and fancies, and not enough core fun to make the game fly.
silent nimbus
one of my favorite games, Snowrunner, just got a sequel and the publisher literally beat all the magic out of it ... the results are getting murdered in steam reviews
breaks my heart to see it happen, but it serves as a good warning
quick shell
So would multiple ships be keeping the magic or beating the magic out?
I think the emphasis on the single ship and crew is part of the magic of STF. While each crew isn't mission critical, each crew is still important and valuable.
I don't know what multiple ships would look like. EV Nova did multiple ships well, but each ship had its own captain and they were hired to help you for a while. It was also realtime. Battlevoid: Harbinger has up to 3 ships. There you're a military strike force, so it's a different game style.
Anyway, you folks know game design better than I do. You've made several gems. STF2 could be scoped several ways and be super fun in all of them.
If you do set the game another 100-200 years forward in the universe, then having less wilderness and more order could work. It could be a combat game about fending off the narvidian invasion. Folks never learn about messing with the old FTL communications tech...
languid panther
It seems like the crucial repeatable part of the RTG loop is selling intel to get RTGs down to 6 month turnaround so maybe raising p. Rep thresholds for lower RTG refresh beyond the intel caps might be something for the next one?
lyric crater
I mean, just capping the amount to scale with your contact standing would work well. Trickle supply could be 20 units and come back in X years (whatever it is now), and max could be ... Uhhh, 100?