The affect of time on gameplay

I think it would add a lot to the game to have different time periods added as a setting in the game. History shows us that when a new technology develops it can radically change the wars are carried out. In earlier time frames warp speeds would be slower, shields have less HP and systems use up more energy but this is the same for all the races. There could be periods of time where TSN shields have not advanced and still have 1/2 HP but the main beams of some of the enemy races has had a breakthrough giving them current beam damage. At the same time the TSN has had an impulse engine upgrade. This would change how the Artemis needs to engage the bigger gunned foe.
By changing the relative power of the systems, weapons vs torpedoes vs Shields, impulse vs maneuverability vs warp, and energy supply, drastically different strategies would need to be developed.
You could even change which ship classes and races were available. Even enemy TSN ships during the right time periods.
I think custom vesselData files for each time period would cover most of this except torpedo damage. We would just have to figure out story wise how each race upgraded their systems over time.

Something less gameplay related but still time related would be ship design. You'd see new and different designs popping up over the ages as new things are tried and failed or succeeded.

In Artemis 1.702 you can sort of experience it by adjusting your difficulty settings, sensor range, etc.. Difficulty 10 has your crew aboard a very early TSN ship, which has inefficient power systems, weak weapons, etc.. But you are fighting against very advanced enemies who have powerful weapons.

You can experience even more of this when you play in Elite Co-op mode, which allows you to adjust the enemy weapon range & damage, shield strength, etc.

Here is what I have discussed with Thom: In some future version of Artemis you should be able to select a canonical era for your battle. If you select an early era, say The First Torgoth Incursion, you will have only the smaller ships available. The systems on these ships will be slower, weaker, have shorter range, and use a lot of power. Early era enemies will also be smaller, slower and weaker.

If you select a late era, say The War of Hegemony, then all player ship classes will be available, and the systems on those ships will be fast, efficient, long ranged, and hard-hitting. Of course the enemies from that era will also have long range, hard hitting weapons, plus faster engines, tougher shields, elite abilities, etc.

You will also be able to play outside of canon. It could be instructive for a green crew on their first practice mission to run a powerful dreadnought from the War of Hegemony against weak enemies from The First Torgoth Incursion.

Reminds me of Sid Meier's "Pirates! GOLD" Where there are different ships and difficulties and goals present depending on the era. An interesting note: The easiest era's were not the first in chronological order.

I was also curious to ship configuration. Does the look of the ships change or is the light cruiser in service forever?

Personally I would see ship configuration not really changing much. Such large vessels would be constructed to last for decades I would have thought. Rather than reconfigure a hull or scrap it, I would expect ships would be mostly refitted internally. The bridge layout would change or be upgraded, power systems would be upgraded, maybe even an overhaul or replacement of the ships core.

In sci-fi, it seems usually that interseller ships are always in service for long periods (somtimes hundreds of years!) before being dismantled or retired. Of course, wars always speed the process of development or replacement of ships, but it seems that in long wars, the replacements are not made to last as long (usually because they are destroyed too quickly). In shorter wars, it seems ships are usually upgraded or repaired and only replaced if they are destroyed or damage beyond repair.

In real life, I think the same is true. Military war vessels in the navy are made to last years. Of course, this is just my point of view and based on what I know and have read, and I don't have a complete knowledge by any means.

I just want some updated designs for the player ships. They are really rather uninspired when you look from one to the next. Almost identical.

Xavierwisw has a view similar to mine. Some military ships are designed to serve for long periods (though the ones built during wartime are often built for short-term use). But even when they aren't, the look of a certain class of ships does not change that much from generation to generation. Today's modern aircraft carriers would be recognized by naval aviators of the 1930s.

Nevertheless, I, too, want more variety and updates to the appearance of player ships. I'm sure we will have it over the course of time.

Nevertheless, I, too, want more variety and updates to the appearance of player ships.

I'm actually very happy to see that you agree with me. I was looking at the ships for star trek and star wars and found myself yearning for more diversity.

Mike, could you provide some insight to specific 'eras' for Artemis campaigns? I am thinking Kraliens first contact might be a good one. From another thread, USFP civil war might be good.

I am wanting to devise some campaign scenarios, and feel that offering historical context could e a great way to deepen the universe.

The goal would be to have set eras, with a defined start point/event, and a define end point event. Then campaigns can be generated between te period events that help move the canon from point a to point b.

I'm actually very happy to see that you agree with me. I was looking at the ships for star trek and star wars and found myself yearning for more diversity.

Uhh, the thing is - particularly with Star Trek, the ship designs are all fairly similar within any one species. There's not even a great deal of change between them from one series to the next (The gap between Enterprise and Next Gen being several hundred years).

The basic 'cruiser/dreadnaught' class Starfleet ship is the shape of the Enterprise. Now compare the ship from Enterprise to Picards ship. There's very little difference. Even comparing them to Voyager and the original, the hull design is practically identical apart from some minor changes (Voyagers warp nacells change position) or cosmetic/streamlining stuff.. It's the same when you look at the Klingons and Romulans (As the only 2 species that are really consistant through all the series).

Star Wars is a different matter if only becaue the entire series only stretches over 50 or so years. The Imperial fleet is quite uniform. Even if you consider the prequels real star wars movies (:P) the Republic ships (which remember, became the Empire) look very similar to the stuff Vader commanded.

In the prequels, the Trade Federation ships are all uniform, but that's not really a fair comparrison given they don't appear in the original trilogy. Looking at the Alliance, you have to consider it's a rag tag bunch of misc species thrown together - the variance in ship design is easily explained in story.

Now, unless I'm mistaken, the TSN isn't too diverse in terms of how many species are in it. It makes perfect sense that the ship designs would be based of a standardised human grouping of hulls.

Now, all that assumes you mean historically. If you mean just having the different classes of ship look different, then yeah, they could do with a bit of tweaking but I wouldn't go too far with it..

Mike, could you provide some insight to specific 'eras' for Artemis campaigns? I am thinking Kraliens first contact might be a good one.

Great question, Matt. I'll start another topic to answer it.