A few years ago, I was the master of my own space empire... well okay, that's a bit overblown, let's say I just owned a few long distance haulers and 4 or 5 stations. That was in X3 by the way, probably one of the most fun I had playing a space game thanks to the intricate mix of piloting fighters and capturing the foolish pirates who would try attacking you, hauling freight from a fringe system to a core one for a huge profit, setting up supply lines between your asteroid mining facility to to your factories, and commanding your own fleets. I'm very much looking forward to the same kind of experience in LT, especially with a limitless, procedurally-generated universe, and hopefully a less segmented representation of space. The jump gates in X3 were a necessary evil, but not the most exciting representation of space travel -- although you may argue that traveling through a vacuum made mostly of "nothing" (or dark energy, or something else our more brilliant minds haven't yet discovered ) is not exactly exciting to begin with.

I was really, really disappointed when I realized we would probably not reach the carriers stretch goal. While seamless planetary landing is great for immersion (KSP does it nicely, and I bought Evochron almost only for that reason -- even though the impact on gameplay was questionable at best), having carriers in an RTSish space game is to me quite a fundamental part of gameplay. And for giving us just that, Josh, you have my gratitude

Anyway, I believe congratulations for a successful kickstarter are now in order, and Josh, I wish you a nice festive season... I'm sure once that's passed, many people (including myself) will be keeping a keen eye on development progress

Well, there ARE going to be jump gates/wormholes/jump drives/etc. because the universe will be divided into systems (or sectors, I suppose, if a region of space is generated without a star).

Oh sure we need to keep them, they do make space travel more bearable after all

In X3 however it really felt like there were a couple stations in a sector which you could fly through in three minutes, surrounded by two to four jump gates. i-war for example has to me a somewhat more exciting representation of space, sectors and space travel. Though jump gates are still around for very long distance travel, each sector still feels quite massive.

Edster wrote:Oh sure we need to keep them, they do make space travel more bearable after all

In X3 however it really felt like there were a couple stations in a sector which you could fly through in three minutes, surrounded by two to four jump gates. i-war for example has to me a somewhat more exciting representation of space, sectors and space travel. Though jump gates are still around for very long distance travel, each sector still feels quite massive.

freelancer felt quite natural though it has gates as well ...

vlasticz wrote:freelancer felt quite natural though it has gates as well ...

True as well! My gripe really isn't with jump gates, but with sector representation. And anyway, from what we've seen so far I'm not worried about how space and sectors will be represented in LT

I always found that the systems in the X series felt more like a series of square rooms than a real area of space. What I would really like to see is something a bit more natural in the setting out of each area, something that makes me feel like a very tiny fish in a very large pond.

Diving Duck wrote:I always found that the systems in the X series felt more like a series of square rooms than a real area of space.

Yep, that's my problem right there

Well, they are square rooms. 8000 km to each side.

More than room-ish space I was always much more worried about the placement of stations. Except pirate bases, military installations and few other which were really placed with some purpose in mind. Generally, stations are just spread across the sector to simply fill it up ...


EDIT: @Gazz: Hi, you're already moderator in here as well ... nice to see YOU're already involved this much
PS.: Are you made up with the official modding non-support ?

In X3, some reason for this seemingly random placement is surely that there are no rules.
What rules would there be? Planets have nothing to do with the (entirely station-based) economy and the economy has nothing to do with the rest of the game, such as the equipment and spawning rate of AI ships.

How do you work out a logical placement when there is zero connection to anything?


And there is no official modding support. At least that's what we let Josh think. MWAHAHAHA!

vlasticz wrote: EDIT: @Gazz: Hi, you're already moderator in here as well ... nice to see YOU're already involved this much

Uh... should we be worried?

[/offtopic]

When it comes to LT, due to the procedural part of it, I don't mind seeing almost barren systems. A system with just a star and no planets? Or maybe something way off from the star that's orbiting at the far reaches? Count me in. Just as long as I can eventually build a jump gate, or trade lane. An artificial solar system with star bases instead of planets might be a little much, but the idea behind it is cool none-the-less.

Yes I agree. With a limitless procedural universe empty systems are much less of an issue, especially if you're given the tools to make it eventually less empty

When it comes to space simulation games the one thing that gets me the most is the ability to do what you want to do.
When I played X3:AP for the first time I felt overwhelmed because it did what few games did, Dropped you in the middle of nowhere with little clue on how to survive. Once I learned the ropes that alone felt like an accomplishment. Then I started building space stations, complexes and factories because that would bring in more money for bigger ships. I could go on for a while but I will leave it at that.

What I want is simple freedom. Freedom to build my own space stations, freedom to buy, produce, sell and trade products. Freedom to control a sector for my own reasons. Freedom to build my own empire to my own specifications.
Everything I have seen of LT is so far good but I want to be able to research and build equipment (weapons, shields, subsystems, etc).

I know that owning and managing space stations would be a bit of a stretch, same with having an automated trading system similar to X3:AP but for me that would be icing on the cake.

But... you already can do all of that...

Welcome Madman!

I suggest you take a look through the Game FAQ, and the Kickstarter Project Page is still an excellent primer on what should be possible in the game.

After that, if you have any questions, we'd be happy to help.

Cheers