Give the crew players more to do

[karmic spoke]

Currently there are, more or less, four roles. Which is fine for a four player game. But I feel like one more option would help serve the overarching narrative and the gameplay by better defining combat and non-combat choices for the players to make.

What comes to my mind as a suggestion would be Cyberwarfare. We are fighting machines, after all. I'm generally the mechanic of my ship, but when the combat first starts or we gain the upper hand in a firefight, I feel like I'm only standing around waiting for my friends to fail. If there were a way for a crewmember to throw out debuffs to enemy craft, I would feel more like I'm actively contributing to the firefight, rather than cleaning up after my pilot and gunner.

This may also address something I see in my playgroup, where we have a pilot, a gunner, a mechanic, and then some lunatic kamikazi launching themselves at enemy ships for little to no reason.

[wheat skiff]

This is very valid! Debuffing enemies is something we have ideas to do through the Scanner, which we will rework into something cooler later.

[wooden rampart]

I actually made my utility terminal thread for exactly this reason. It has debuffs, buffs, and even complementary out of combat functionality to smooth out the inbetweens.

[bronze viper]

The lunatic came straight from Sea of Thieves

[karmic spoke]

The only reason I didn't jump in there is personal bias. I started my co-op space game journey with Pulsar. Every role is just stare at screens. I don't want the devs here to introduce that to Jump Space.

I would think taking the space opposite the gunnery seat and adding a dedicated cyberwarfare module set, while certainly taxing to add to the game in its current state, would be a good compromise.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand from typing that out I just had an idea pursuant to my cyberwarfare suggestion.

Rework the gunner seat system. Make the gunnery seat a module that can be installed or removed. The Dart could have one slot, and the Catamaran would have two. And the crew can choose their set up between automated gunnery, automated cyberwarfare, manned gunnery, and manned cyberwarfare. That way, if you're flying a hull with multiple slots solo, you can choose between automated gunnery and cyberwarfare suites, or go all-in on one or the other.

I know this would likely mean at least a small rework of the current reactors and generators to allow for these new plugs, but that could even be a new story mission where Berit figures out/finds a way to expand Iris' processing power so that she can perform her usual duties in addition to operating automated systems.

[wooden rampart]

The shield array and the grav grapplers were actually meant to function the same way as the gunner seat does, in order to allow the engineer to aim the directional shield and the grav grappler from the ship. Perhaps I could have clarified it a bit.

[karmic spoke]

I see. My mistake. Our ideas actually marry pretty well. Convert the gunnery seat to a module system, then add Cyberwarefare, Grav Grapple, and Shield Array modules to compliment and give variance.

I can already see the buildcrafting ideas. Like a privateer build running cyberwarfare and grav grapplers together. Those poor corvettes XD

[karmic spoke]

Any thoughts on my new modulization idea for the gunnery seat?

[wooden rampart]

It would certainly open up for more complex buildcrafting. That said, I was rather deliberate in attempting to lighten the development load with the utility terminal. It should hopefully repurpose as much as humanly possible while focusing on the one role that would make the most use of such features - an idle engineer. Cyberwarfare could probably be integrated into my versions of sensors and grav grappler, as those already handle multiple debuffs themed around their use.

The non-modular execution also ensures a strong degree of purity of purpose. It's the main reason I de-coupled utility from special weapons. An aux gunner on a Cat rarely feels the need to leave the seat, but an Engineer would be constantly running around and handling repairs. My utility terminal handles useful but non-essential functions, meaning that a ship isn't downright crippled if your engi has to vacate the utility terminal. Any degree of hybridization would likely compromise this convenience.

[karmic spoke]

Very true, on all points.

That said, I would note that my ideas in this space have grown a bit beyond giving an idle engineer/mechanic things to do between literal and metaphorical fires. At this point, I'm more addressing the lunatic in my crew who has nothing better to do than terrorize the fighters by surfing them like 2003 Mace Windu.

But all in all, while our ideas could mesh together very well, we are coming from two different thought-processes. At this point I think it comes down to what direction the team feels better about, if they even take one of our ideas, the more complex and intensive path, or the more conservative one. Both have merits and drawbacks.

[wooden rampart]

The thing about your lunatic is that ship boarding is clearly meant to be a viable strategy. It's just not very efficient at all right now. To give your drone surfer something to do on board so he stops drone-surfing sounds like it would only encroach on an existing playstyle.

I've actually been thinking of some ideas for how to improve drone-surfing to make it less borderline useless, but I'm not ready to share them.

[bronze viper]

@karmic spoke
What if there were a third seat for 'auxiliary modules' like a time warp, or EMP bomb- things with huge cooldowns. Like, you can do a mini game every other minute to recharge the mod, or 'prime it up'

It would give the repairman something to do in his downtime

Or maybe the things on the power grid could be temporarily 'enhanced' or extra power be redirected.
You could have a Montgomery Scott on every Ship screaming SHE DOESN'T HAVE THE POWER!¿

[jagged bronze]

Chess?

[mild bluff]

This is pretty similar to my suggestion in the beta discord:

💭2️⃣ ECM (Electronic Countermeasures) for the sensor station

• Actively block target locks to prevent/delay enemy ships from shooting missiles
• Jam enemy ships to prevent them from alerting others when attacked
• Mark targets & set waypoints
• This would give the non-gunner/pilot players something to do during combat instead of just waiting around for things to start breaking. It also provides another functional ship role that has an impact on combat.

As long as the act of jamming a ship has some skill involved, it'll be engaging. If it's just "mouse over target, press LMB" and it stays jammed, it'll be pretty boring.

If there's a mini-game to it, QTE or something that makes holding the cursor on the target more difficult then it'll feel more rewarding to keep a specific ship jammed (ie. Missile boats & Corvettes)