Several suggestions based on convention experience
Greetings.
After doing my first ever convention booth dedicated to bringing Artemis to the sci-fi and general cosplay crowd, I have several suggestions for the game:
1. Please make it so that console operator can see wether one of his console's functions was powered down by engineering.
We had two kinds of bugs - one where on helms screen the ship would turn but won't on main screen, second where torpedo was loaded but would show as empty (and load button would do nothing). Both bugs were following after engineering cut power to maneuver/torpedo. Of course, those are bugs that should be fixed, but generally, if a console operator would see some indicator that a system he controls is powered down, there would be no problem distinguishing engineering fault from hardware/software problem. With helms I had to pause the game and tried a lot of stuff for 2 minutes until I finally looked at engineering and saw that maneuver was at 0%. Plus, doesn't it make sense for a console operator to see whether his functions are powered down or not? He doesn't have to see anything about other consoles - only his.
2. Make it so that tactical map shows our and enemy's firing arcs, at least when enemy is close, or add another kind of map where capitain can see firing arcs.
I have tried TMP mod on the second day of convention and that relies heavilly on maneuvering into enemy's blind spot. Actually, stock game has that too, but to a lesser degree. However, capitain has no way of seeing actual enemy firing arcs in order to make a decision - I had to tell capitain where enemy dead zone is or have him look on the weapons/helms console. It would be very nice if capitain had a way of seeing that on main screen.
Or, alternatively - add another main screen called "encyclopedia" or something, where science officer can show entries on different kinds of ships, so that he could show how target ship looks like and where his dead zones are to the capitain.
3. A "guest mode" or similar option for engineering that does not save engineering presets between games. When on convention, everybody will have their own preferences, while some players won't even bother binding presets, however, if they would have a sensible preset base already in place, they would use it. I tried making a batch file to overwrite presets with my "defaults" but for that you have to exit artemis each time you have new team, and that takes some time and often you're very busy seating players, telling them what to do and so on. So, an option in game to not save engineering presets between games would be very nice to have.
4. On the server, in place of "Respawn player ship", there should be an option to "fix player ship" when it's still alive, which would repair all systems and replenish energy. This is required because the worst thing that could happen to a newbie team (like, on the convention) is their ship getting very heavilly damaged, but not destroyed, and then they have to spend huge amount of time to repair it, which is several minutes of downtime when they can do absolutely nothing at all, just wait. And offering them to give up and start again is obviously out of question - they don't want to lose their progress.
5. Finally, option to boot a console or clear "taken" flag is required, as I explained in a separate thread.
After doing my first ever convention booth dedicated to bringing Artemis to the sci-fi and general cosplay crowd, I have several suggestions for the game:
1. Please make it so that console operator can see wether one of his console's functions was powered down by engineering.
We had two kinds of bugs - one where on helms screen the ship would turn but won't on main screen, second where torpedo was loaded but would show as empty (and load button would do nothing). Both bugs were following after engineering cut power to maneuver/torpedo. Of course, those are bugs that should be fixed, but generally, if a console operator would see some indicator that a system he controls is powered down, there would be no problem distinguishing engineering fault from hardware/software problem. With helms I had to pause the game and tried a lot of stuff for 2 minutes until I finally looked at engineering and saw that maneuver was at 0%. Plus, doesn't it make sense for a console operator to see whether his functions are powered down or not? He doesn't have to see anything about other consoles - only his.
2. Make it so that tactical map shows our and enemy's firing arcs, at least when enemy is close, or add another kind of map where capitain can see firing arcs.
I have tried TMP mod on the second day of convention and that relies heavilly on maneuvering into enemy's blind spot. Actually, stock game has that too, but to a lesser degree. However, capitain has no way of seeing actual enemy firing arcs in order to make a decision - I had to tell capitain where enemy dead zone is or have him look on the weapons/helms console. It would be very nice if capitain had a way of seeing that on main screen.
Or, alternatively - add another main screen called "encyclopedia" or something, where science officer can show entries on different kinds of ships, so that he could show how target ship looks like and where his dead zones are to the capitain.
3. A "guest mode" or similar option for engineering that does not save engineering presets between games. When on convention, everybody will have their own preferences, while some players won't even bother binding presets, however, if they would have a sensible preset base already in place, they would use it. I tried making a batch file to overwrite presets with my "defaults" but for that you have to exit artemis each time you have new team, and that takes some time and often you're very busy seating players, telling them what to do and so on. So, an option in game to not save engineering presets between games would be very nice to have.
4. On the server, in place of "Respawn player ship", there should be an option to "fix player ship" when it's still alive, which would repair all systems and replenish energy. This is required because the worst thing that could happen to a newbie team (like, on the convention) is their ship getting very heavilly damaged, but not destroyed, and then they have to spend huge amount of time to repair it, which is several minutes of downtime when they can do absolutely nothing at all, just wait. And offering them to give up and start again is obviously out of question - they don't want to lose their progress.
5. Finally, option to boot a console or clear "taken" flag is required, as I explained in a separate thread.
[Last edited Jul 15, 2013 13:10:01]
page
1
8 replies
We had two kinds of bugs - one where on helms screen the ship would turn but won't on main screen, second where torpedo was loaded but would show as empty (and load button would do nothing). Both bugs were following after engineering cut power to maneuver/torpedo.
I had a conversation with Thom about this problem last Friday. I believe it will be fixed in the next release.
"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton!"
(Likely actual words of Admiral David Farragut, USN, at the battle of Mobile Bay. Four bells was the signal for the engine room to make full steam ahead).
(Likely actual words of Admiral David Farragut, USN, at the battle of Mobile Bay. Four bells was the signal for the engine room to make full steam ahead).
Nice to hear the bug will be gone, but still I can't think why not tell the station it has no power of a system it controls. Not like it will take away from the game (like for example allowing weapons to see enemy shield vulnerabilities direcly could).
It probably didn't occur to Thom to do so or he saw a conflict of a design goal.
Once you suggest showing if the station has power, it gets extrapolated to why not show the current power level (as it takes the same amount of screen real estate). From there, why not let the user slide his own power level (which could be its own problem...).
I suspect deliberate information segregation was part of the game's design. This forces reliance on your teammates for sharing information they have on their screen that you need on your screen.
We can counter the technical argument that with today's technology, we can organize and display everybody's information on everybody's console in a way that is useful each console's unique function.
But that doesn't necessarily make for good game play if the game's goal is to get players to work together.
Once you suggest showing if the station has power, it gets extrapolated to why not show the current power level (as it takes the same amount of screen real estate). From there, why not let the user slide his own power level (which could be its own problem...).
I suspect deliberate information segregation was part of the game's design. This forces reliance on your teammates for sharing information they have on their screen that you need on your screen.
We can counter the technical argument that with today's technology, we can organize and display everybody's information on everybody's console in a way that is useful each console's unique function.
But that doesn't necessarily make for good game play if the game's goal is to get players to work together.
Well, "why not allow user to slide his power level" is answered simply - coolant, that's why! He cannot manage coolant because that involves managing all stations and that's engineer duty. Also, engineer decides who gets what power level, because he manages ship's energy resources.
It would be a different situation if we could absolutely be sure that the it is not a bug or network problem that maneuver slider or load button isn't doing anything. But we can't, and even I get confused and don't always ask engineer about power levels before trying to check for a technical/software problem.
That's why I was asking for a reasonable compromise - only the on/off indicator (is there power or there isnt), nothing more, only for the systems that are directly related to the station. We could do it in style too - for helm, the relative bar (warp, impulse, maneuver) could go gray or red, for weapons buttons could go grey or red, so we wouldn't even take any real estate on the screen.
It would be a different situation if we could absolutely be sure that the it is not a bug or network problem that maneuver slider or load button isn't doing anything. But we can't, and even I get confused and don't always ask engineer about power levels before trying to check for a technical/software problem.
That's why I was asking for a reasonable compromise - only the on/off indicator (is there power or there isnt), nothing more, only for the systems that are directly related to the station. We could do it in style too - for helm, the relative bar (warp, impulse, maneuver) could go gray or red, for weapons buttons could go grey or red, so we wouldn't even take any real estate on the screen.
Well, it's not a bad idea. Since Artemis development is a one man shop, and currently in the middle of a major revision, we'll all have to see what Thom does. He might have the problem covered in the 2.0 version.
I've also been afflicted by "under-powered Engineer" syndrome, where the new engineer slides every bloody bar to zero and is slow to crank up a level when the crew needs it.
I'm thinking the best advice for a new Engineer is to not get Pokey Paws. Don't touch a damn thing. The default levels are fine, until the ship really needs extra energy for something special.
That might not be as exciting initially for the new Engineer, but considering one of my new engineers blew out half the systems on the ship before we left DS1's sector by over-heating, the lesson is that the ship needs a light hand to run just fine.
I've also been afflicted by "under-powered Engineer" syndrome, where the new engineer slides every bloody bar to zero and is slow to crank up a level when the crew needs it.
I'm thinking the best advice for a new Engineer is to not get Pokey Paws. Don't touch a damn thing. The default levels are fine, until the ship really needs extra energy for something special.
That might not be as exciting initially for the new Engineer, but considering one of my new engineers blew out half the systems on the ship before we left DS1's sector by over-heating, the lesson is that the ship needs a light hand to run just fine.
Well, one advice to an engineer who is a newbie is not to power down systems because that is not needed in newbie games (diff low, energy is abundant) and is very confusing to other players. I don't mind newbie engineers burning systems up, if they're told how to see if system is damaged and where overheat is shown, they should figure out themselves they were the cause.
I think for starters engineer needs to be instructed to assign 250/8 to the system we're currently actively using (warp, beams, shields, maneuver) and nothing else, until he figures out how he can be more advanced (like temporarily do 300 and cool down later during downtime, etc)
I think for starters engineer needs to be instructed to assign 250/8 to the system we're currently actively using (warp, beams, shields, maneuver) and nothing else, until he figures out how he can be more advanced (like temporarily do 300 and cool down later during downtime, etc)
I handle problem three by removing all keyboards.
:D
:D
Or, alternatively - add another main screen called "encyclopedia" or something, where science officer can show entries on different kinds of ships, so that he could show how target ship looks like and where his dead zones are to the capitain.
I think this would be really cool in general. If there was a "Database" of information on races, ships, weapons, etc. This would be useful for science (and possibly weapons) to do research and help develop a tactical plan and problem solve. This would also give science some more job security on bridges that use a captains map, as discussed in another thread. Plus it adds more depth and gives more function similar to some of the sci-fi we all know and love.
[Last edited Jul 18, 2013 14:13:35]
Login below to reply:
