Community Input: Systems Development Future

[Chronicron]

What would you like to see future system design focus more on, and why?

Making systems a pleasing eye candy but also something that gives players to interact with, not necessarily a resource mining spot, but something immersive, like the Azurite Reactor that we had in Omicron Delta.

Perhaps you could take inspiration from the Zelda games and add dungeon systems with scripted puzzles. Like Omicron Major, except make it a maze that needs solving (not like Kepler) which has a huge reward at the end of it (a very unique codename weapon or an inRP component)

-What do you think current systems, on average, suffer from the most?

Forced tightening of routes that was supposedly meant to increase player interactions (it didn't) as well as merger of different systems into bigger ones, like Omicron-74 being merged with Kappa, Omicron Chi with Omicron Beta, Omega-49 with Omega-47 and so on and so forth.

-Would you rather the Systems team focused more on reworking existing systems, adding new systems, removing obsolete ones, or a balance of everything?

Definitely adding the new ones. As we are, we're at the smallest amount of systems that we had in years. Return alternative routes, but make them worth taking, not just a system that could be used to avoid interaction.

-Where and how do you think existing systems could be enhanced with environmental storytelling and worldbuilding?

As few as they are, the existing systems do fine with environmental storytelling. But putting a few solars here and there never hurt anyone.

-Would you like to see travel times between two regions' hubs increase, decrease, or be kept the same?

As it is right now, the travel time between regions is good. With some systems not being as big as the others or as their previous iterations, and with bigger systems having shortcuts like tradelanes or inter-system jumpholes (i.e. Coronado), flying around in Discovery from one hub to another - as dull as it can get due to lack of diverse pretty sights - is not a bother.

-Would you like to see travel times between two regions' most distant points increase, decrease, or be kept the same?

Travel times should remain the same, but diversified with additional systems and alternative routes.

-Would you like to see travel times without using trade lanes decrease? How would you do it?

Yes, there should be a faster alternative to trade lanes for lighter crafts. Use unstable connections as shortcuts between systems, ones that capships or transports can't use, but snubs can. Like the Leeds-Magellan one.

-Do you think systems, on average, have too few, or too many connections? Do you think the concept of having defined activity hub systems per region is good or bad?

As of 5.0, the connections are too few, even for the activity hub systems. No, the concept of having a designated place where everyone can go and chat is not bad, hubs like Freeport-11, Ames, Trenton, Gran Canaria draw a lot of attention from people who enjoy the roleplaying part of this mod.

-Do you think all systems should have an equal number of connections, instead of sacrificing some over the other?

Not every system should have 6 connections at the same time. Some should have few, some should have more.

-How much value do you put on connections of a system? Would you be satisfied with a system being sidelined connections-wise, but having importance in another aspect instead such as interesting gameplay or story asset relevance, and why?

Depends on a system and where it lies. If it's on the outskirts and you REALLY need to try and get there (Tau-61, Omicron Pi) - yes, feeling like it's a dead end is good. However, Tau-44 didn't need that sort of connection. Feeling like the system is a dead end, but when it has a lot of stuff to explore, is good for immersion, for those who care about it anyway.

-Would you like to see a) fewer systems with more connections, or b) more systems with fewer connections?

A healthy mixture of both, more systems with diverse connections which would form different routes from point A to point B

-Give us your brief 5.0 feedback - system addition/removal, reworks, merges, connections, gameplay aspects such as hazards, treasure hunts, flavor wrecks, overall environmental changes.

There were new systems in 5.0? Apart from four Uncharted ones, which are a pain to reach. Removing systems for sake of increasing player interactions - for a mod that's specifically named "Discovery" - is bad. Hazards could be a little less instakil. Apart from that, the changes to the stuff we already had were very good. Omicron Lost has gotten more atmospheric, so did Orkney and Tau-61, Earhart is an interesting concept, I do wish that the Uncharted systems were more accessible (for anything bigger than a bomber, that is).

-What did you like the most?

How Omicron Nu was repurposed into the other side of the Omega-4 Relay

-What didn't you like at all?

The avoidance of connection hubs and making some systems flat out useless connection-wise (Provence, Picardy, Orelanais, Sigma-59, Omicron Kappa)


tl;dr add more systems but make them worth visiting

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