[Mark]

Hi all,

Here is the latest version of the Engineering UI (click to view it in full):


Since the last update I've made tweaks to the power wheel, as well as refinements to the overall colour palette. It's much brighter now, and I've made interactive items more distinctive. Everything which can be interacted with has a bright blue border.

I'm now working on building out the Equipment Status pane, which displays information and options for the current selected system on the power wheel.

Right now I have the "Performance" breakdown there. Performance represents something different for each system type; for turrets it's damage, for shields it is damage deflection, for sensors it is sensor strength etc.

Base performance is based on the system's performance graph, with the current power level used to find the current base performance (the orange dashed line on the graph represents the current power-to-performance level). This base performance can then be affected by modifiers (like the system being damaged, or a technician providing a boost) to get the final performance (which for turrets is damage).


Thanks for reading!

Mark

[Blaze]

How do we know which turret's performance are we looking at? Is it the one highlighted on the power wheel or is that highlighting for something else?

On the graph you have "base perf." written twice. I don't think that's necessary. Having it on the graph should be enough, so you can use the list on the right of the graph for other data. Maybe even some flavour text (like on many cards in different trading card games), such as A standard UNION turret, code TX-124., or power and base performance levels recommended by the manufacturer (that could actually be the limit after which the heat starts to increase greatly).

[Mark]

Yeah it is the highlighted system on the power wheel.

I've removed the second Base Perf. display. I thought it might increase clarity in regards to the numbers, but it does look better without it:


The list on the right is a breakdown of modifiers though, if I get rid of that the Engineer won't know what's affecting the net/final performance.

I think adding some flavour text would be nice, I'll look at incorporating that into the System Status pane as I continue to build it out.

We decided that heat would be directly related to power usage, so 1 power used = x heat generated. This makes the system easier to understand. Having a number, like a recommended power level, which affects heat generation is, I think, an unnecessary complication.

With the current system we reward you for generating more heat (using more power) because the amount of heat per unit of power does not increase, but the amount of performance/damage per unit of power does (at least it usually will, it is based on the performance graph).

[Blaze]

The list of the modifiers definitely must remain.

If the system isn't complicated, than the flavour text really doesn't need any recommendations.

The higher heat rewarding sounds good. Just remind me, I forgot, what about coolants?

[Mark]

I've started working on a full explanation of the power system, we've changed and tweaked a lot of things in order to create a more interesting experience.

As before the system is based on power usage generating heat, with heat filling a capacity/heatsink, and overheating (heat which goes over capacity) causing an affect. Previously this effect was direct damage to the system's Integrity, but this direct punishment meant that it was never a good idea to push a system beyond it's safe limits.

So we came up with what we feel is a much better system. Now overheating adds an amount of Instability to the system (shown in the orange bar on the system in the power wheel). Each time you overheat a system some Instability gets added, and the only way to reduce this Instability is to power off the system, at which point Instability will be reduced at a set rate (it takes time to get Instability to zero). Instability represents a 0 to 25% chance that something bad will happen when the system is operated (e.g. when a turret is fired, or when a shield takes a hit). Bad things range from misfires to fires, overloads and explosions.

What Instability gives us is the ability to take calculated risks.

Systems have passive cooling, which is their heat dissipation rate. The Engineer will be able to inject coolant into systems, but this will be a limited resource.

[Grey]

I like the new way instability adds to the tactical options. Were on the hud can I find the instability or is it just visible if you select the system?
Does this extra heat also mean you are more easily spotted on sensors?

[Mark]

The orange bar on each system in the power wheel is the Instability. If the orange bar is full it means that system has a 25% on an Instability Event when it is operated/used/fired.

Yeah heat still increases your Energy Signature.

[Blaze]

Thanks for the explanations!