tuinces wrote:Was just wondering, 'how far are we going with personalization on this game anyhow?" and thought I'd ask, are there any plans to personalize, even, our own turrets? like this turret type would have this many barrels and so on? or am I going to far with this? Also, would there be any option for engine personalization? like the color of the exhaust or so on?

Just Wondering!

As far as that kind of personalization goes, it will be limited to ship / station design (via the ship / station editor). There are no plans to allow you to build custom hardpoints for the moment (weapons, thrusters, etc.)

So you will be limited to crafting you hull, and you'll be choosing your equipment based on what the universe has to offer. Note that you can "create" new items via research / construction, but you do not have the ability to actually hand-craft the attributes or physical appearance of these items.

JoshParnell wrote:you do not have the ability to actually hand-craft the attributes or physical appearance of these items.

What about a colour shift, like you have for the UI?

Items "created" by the player could make use of maybe 3 colours that the player assigns.

Gazz wrote:What about a colour shift, like you have for the UI?

Items "created" by the player could make use of maybe 3 colours that the player assigns.

Fleet-wide customized colors. I can live with that.

Gazz wrote:

JoshParnell wrote:you do not have the ability to actually hand-craft the attributes or physical appearance of these items.

What about a colour shift, like you have for the UI?

Items "created" by the player could make use of maybe 3 colours that the player assigns.

Sounds very reasonable

I figured. =)

With items being PGC to the extent that they are, a twist to the colour channels or maybe a 2nd texture with an opacity (*shrug* you're the gfx guy =) would modify all items without requiring them to be truly unique.

How that is applied is the next step.
It could be done for

• all items that the player created, like through research.
  
  That way you get some Rainbow Warrior ships until you get into research for real.

or

• all ships / stations of the player.
  
  Would work from the first minute.
  Would also work to make the ships of the other factions visually distinct due to their paint jobs.

Gazz wrote:I figured. =)

With items being PGC to the extent that they are, a twist to the colour channels or maybe a 2nd texture with an opacity (*shrug* you're the gfx guy =) would modify all items without requiring them to be truly unique.

How that is applied is the next step.
It could be done for

• all items that the player created, like through research.
  
  That way you get some Rainbow Warrior ships until you get into research for real.

or

• all ships / stations of the player.
  
  Would work from the first minute.
  Would also work to make the ships of the other factions visually distinct due to their paint jobs.

Hmmm yeah, what I'm thinking is maybe have it tied to the faction - that way faction assets are immediately-identifiable. That means you won't be able to get a custom paint job until you join a faction. But you won't be able to get a truly custom paint job until you start your own. In a perfect world we would also have the faction emblem somewhere on the ship..dunno how feasible that is though

So, that's a pretty logical system but...does it make it too inaccessible?

JoshParnell wrote:So, that's a pretty logical system but...does it make it too inaccessible?

Given that in most games you can't change anything at all, I don't think you'd catch any Flak for that. Rather the opposite... =P


And why isn't the player a faction?
Sure, advanced faction perks / functionality could be unlocked by "founding a faction" but given how little "scale" really means, the ability to colour your fleet could be available to the player by default.
Unless you want to sell a Colour Picker DLC. =)


Alternatively, paint schemes could be a property of the ship's owner.
Depending on the faction's philosophy, most or all ship owners would choose to inherit the faction's colour scheme.
...but with a band of pirates a uniform paint job would look strange so they'd likely have any paint they choose - or could steal.
It's still PGC but more flexible... and allows for the player as "owner" to pick his colours without "being a faction". =)

I would be sad if I couldn't at least choose the colour of my hull paint.

Gazz wrote:

JoshParnell wrote:So, that's a pretty logical system but...does it make it too inaccessible?

Given that in most games you can't change anything at all, I don't think you'd catch any Flak for that. Rather the opposite... =P


And why isn't the player a faction?
Sure, advanced faction perks / functionality could be unlocked by "founding a faction" but given how little "scale" really means, the ability to colour your fleet could be available to the player by default.
Unless you want to sell a Colour Picker DLC. =)


Alternatively, paint schemes could be a property of the ship's owner.
Depending on the faction's philosophy, most or all ship owners would choose to inherit the faction's colour scheme.
...but with a band of pirates a uniform paint job would look strange so they'd likely have any paint they choose - or could steal.
It's still PGC but more flexible... and allows for the player as "owner" to pick his colours without "being a faction". =)

Yeah, I think you're absolutely right in asking that. In LTP the player was a faction. For the purpose of the game logic it makes sense for the player to be an independent faction until he joins another.

I guess what will be unlocked with the "faction management" post-update will be more control. I mean, maybe you can choose your logo / paint style, name, a few basic things in the first release, but can't manage hiring / diplomatic relations / setting up faction HQ / politics etc. until the update.

Think it makes sense

I also like the idea of having a style associated with the owner...makes sense as well. We'll see

JoshParnell wrote:I also like the idea of having a style associated with the owner...makes sense as well. We'll see :D

I think it would be very useful for differentiating the types of factions.

A monolithic empire like SPQR Inc. would "strongly encourage" a uniform paint scheme on all ships in their empire whereas a band of pirates wouldn't have much of a central command worried about proper paint and uniform violations.
Just another value that can be used to make the universe appear more diverse.

A mercenary company that was hired by a faction would have a high desire to keep their "unit colours" regardless so they would stick out.
A lot more interesting than painting everything with the same brush. =)

Gazz wrote:A monolithic empire like SPQR Inc. would "strongly encourage" a uniform paint scheme on all ships in their empire whereas a band of pirates wouldn't have much of a central command worried about proper paint and uniform violations.
Just another value that can be used to make the universe appear more diverse.

I hope that the different value types (pirate, corporation, empire, etc.) will be available for the player to choose as well so as to define the faction he/she wants to set up when he/she decides to set one up.

Very interesting ideas, I haven't though much about the "traits" of a faction other than size. What exactly would differentiate a loose gang of mercs versus a large corporate entity is an interesting train of thought...I'm sure there will be a time and a place for a serious discussion on it

Gazz wrote: A monolithic empire like SPQR Inc. would "strongly encourage" a uniform paint scheme on all ships in their empire whereas a band of pirates wouldn't have much of a central command worried about proper paint and uniform violations.
Just another value that can be used to make the universe appear more diverse.

Senatus Pirataeque Romani

The Senate and Roman Pirates

(Edited a few times due to 'pirata' being a masculine noun that appears to be feminine. Shenanigans.)

JoshParnell wrote:I haven't though much about the "traits" of a faction other than size. What exactly would differentiate a loose gang of mercs versus a large corporate entity is an interesting train of thought...I'm sure there will be a time and a place for a serious discussion on it :)

It goes beyond the scope of "player asset personalisation" but if the former is implemented in the right spot in the game's structure, it would be one of those "mostly free" features you get to use for the AI (or world building) instead of being a player-only visual gimmick.

You've been working on the scale / abstraction of the universe a lot and I don't think anyone but you has any clue about how things are going to be working, AI / faction wise.
The issue definitely deserves it's own topic but at this point it would be a whole lot of speculation. =)


Or in other terms, I think that the bait of "flexible but PCG-compatible AI faction features" is by now sufficient to get us the ability to set our own ship colours as a side-effect. =)

Gazz wrote:Or in other terms, I think that the bait of "flexible but PCG-compatible AI faction features" is by now sufficient to get us the ability to set our own ship colours as a side-effect. =)

I'm a little concerned with how proficient you're getting at the whole "bait-the-Josh" technique. I pray you use your powers for good.