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Originally Posted by Cooling

Planetarion does not need more features, it needs an axe put through it.

Putting an axe through everything does not make a interesting, tactical, strategic or newb friendly game.

I have been reading with dismay the myriad of suggestions in this forum and elsewhere on ideas to improve Planetarion. Excluding basic gui improvements, these suggestions are variously horrendously overcomplicated, hopelessly overambitious and/or completely unnecessary. Without fail they involve adding something 'new and better' to the game.

Care to comment on my suggestions? As i havent implemented anything new, just refined the current setup.

This approach to improving the game is fundamentally flawed. Planetarion does not need more features, nor does it need improved features. This may come as a shock to you the reader, but some of the features you want to improve are shit. They are not worth fixing. Planetarion would be a better game without them. Adding more to these so-called 'features' (such as covert ops, population and governments) is utterly futile and won't improve the game one bit. Planetarion needs you to come up with ideas on how to refine, improve, or jettison aspects of the core game. It does not need you to come up with a creative new way to **** up a feature that serves no useful purpose and never has.

wow there, slow down.. lets analysis this abit.

Some of the features people want to improve are current shit? thats the point, people are offering suggestions to fix them. However, lets go through them..

Covert-Operations, in its essence is a way for a player to attack, damage, annoy another player instantly; It can also be used to gain intelligence. In its current form, its pretty crap as it doesnt offer any real advantages or incentives but that does not mean the whole idea is crap. Players need something to do during ticks or else you create one of the most bland games ever where the only method of play is to send a fleet out every 24hours.

Population, It allows planet development which again ties into something to do between ticks. In its current form, yes its completly crap as it isnt even properly implemented. Again, this does not mean that the whole idea is crap and will always be crap, if its a balance system where the user is given choices on area's to develop and prioritise then its a much better way of doing things.

Governments, I dislike choosing a government at tick 0, but its purpose is to allow players to specialise there planets which means different strategys can be invented and the player can tailor their government to their strategy.

The three things you listed, all have a purpose or at least an intended purpose. The suggestions people give about these area's of the game tend to try to make them fit that purpose as they currently dont.

The last thing the game needs is more irrelevant bolt on shit. Ultimately these so-called 'features' add little to, and do much to detract from, the core game. The game is overburdened already with so-called features and will not necessarily be improved by adding 'more things'. I offer but a few examples: unnecessary variables (production sliders), crazy restrictions (ingame alliance limits), pointless one-offs (governments), trite minigames (covert ops, scanners), overcomplication (a myriad of construction/research options) and overambitious useless claptrap (population).

Again, most suggestions arnt adding more irrelevant bolt on shit but instead fixing the current system. Ive listed the purpose of the previous three things you listed but lets go.

Production Sliders? I presume you mean shipwrights in the population section? It is pretty redundant at the moment but could easily be expanded to reward activity and to offer more choice.

Ingame alliance limits came about to stop some alliances recruiting to win. It is up to debate weither the alliance limits helps or hinders the development of the game but i'd argue that most people are happy with the 100 member limit at the moment.

Governments, at the moment are pretty redundant but they do offer a user a choice on how to develop their planet. They should be changed but that doesnt necessaily mean they should be deleted.

Covert-Operations, i discussed above.

Scanners, Scanning is broke in the game at the moment but whats your alternative?

Construction, Research? Most things in the research tree provide a purpose and i'd guess that all of them are currently researched by afew people in the game.

Population, i discussed above.

Most importantly, the five races and fifty odd ship classes should be cut back to two/three races and fifteen ships at most. You can obtain just as much tactical and strategic depth from that many ships as you can from the current incomprehensible plethora of similar or identical shiptypes. If you want to make the game interesting, add unique ships and a branching tech tree. Force people to specialise and co-operate.

For once, i agree with you on races but the PA Team will not delete them now they are coded in. Thats why people suggest ways to make races work or at least make the choice be a informed choice for new players.

If you think that the general idea of cutting the game back is too radical, it might be worth pausing to think about what Planetarion is. It is a space themed wargame where people co-operate and build fleets in order to attack and capture asteroids from other players. That's it.

Yes, it is too radical. You want the following things deleted:
Population
Construction/Research options
Covert-Operations
Scanning
Governments
Races

What exactly are we left with? A game where players scan for asteroids then attack each other for the next 7weeks with little diversity or strategy. You've suggested making one of the most bland and boring games ever. People like choice, as long as its an informed choice and balanced choice. People like being able to try new things, new strategys and different tactics. People like being able to customise their game to match their playstyle or strategy.
People dont like being forced into one path with one strategy and one outcome.

You, the players, need to start looking at the features of this game through a more critical lens. Ask: what does this feature add to the core game? Is it easy to understand? Is it fun? Is it necessary?

Ive explained to you what the features you wish to delete, aim to add to the game. Any suggestions on these forums, while some may be crap, all aim to improve on what the features intend to add to the game.

Right now, Planetarion is completely ****ing incomprehensible for the new player. It needs to be easier, simpler and more intuitive. Simply rewriting the (frankly dreadful) manual and adding 'quests' are band-aid solutions that won't do jack. The developers need to refocus Planetarion on what it does well (space combat/co-operation), not on adding new and irrelevant shit to an already hopelessly overdeveloped game.

No, you're simply wrong here. Making the game easier and simpler does not automatically make the game better for the new player. Research was nerfed down to the linear system we have now to make it simplier but it has done nothing to make research easier for the new player. Making the game simpler and easier is also a sure fire way to annoy the existing community and is more than likely going to make the game more boring for alot of players.

Quests are not a band-aid. Most modern browser games now use a quest or tutorial system to take new players through the game. Stop treating new players as stupid, they simply arnt. New players just need to be shown how each thing functions and interacts, in an easy to follow and intuitive way. They do not need you to make the choice for them by deleting their options.

I offer but a few suggestions: get back to basics, get rid of the useless features, and let the players make their own fun.

Let the players make their own fun, by taking away their options of playstyle; Doesnt quiet fit together.

thoughts?

I award you no points and may god have mercy on your soul.

Originally Posted by unimatrix

i feel pa should go back to how it used to be. Bringing back 3 tick attack and 6 tick defence would be a huge plus. the current res/con is way better then it used to be. the stats are ok i guess , although scanning for roids is fun and forces everyone to build amps wich would be a nice asset.

just my 2 cent , disagree if you must.

Thats nostalgia talking. The current combat system of one tick attacking is much more easier to play, as it does not require the player to be online at combat. Introducing 3 tick attack, 6 tick defending while has its advantages..It means that players will need to be online during those 3 ticks as defence could be sorted at combat tick 2 and they need to recall.

I really did enjoy scanning for roids as it allows for abit of randomness in the beginning. The main problem was that it forced players into one path at the beginning of the game, as everyone had to go straght for roid-scans.