[Mark]

Hey all,

We've been putting a lot of work into the Universe or Nothing "brand", from the logo and website to descriptions, images and even press releases. We're gearing up to do a big marketing push over the coming months.

As well as that I've continued working on the Engineering UI:


I've been focusing primarily on Technicians. Technicians can be assigned to systems on the ship, providing boosts to those systems and opening up new actions which can be executed on them.

Technicians gain Experience Levels from working on systems, their current Experience Level is shown in the number of stars beside/below their name. Higher Experience Levels give the Technician bigger bonuses. Each Technician also has a speciality in one system type (Shields, Turrets, Sensors, Engines, Torpedos), when a Technician is working on a system which they specialise in, all of their bonuses are calculated at their current Experience Level + 1.

At Experience Level 1, 3 and 5 Technicians also gain a perk. Perks allow Technicians to become better at specific actions, such as Fire Fighting, Damage Control or Active Cooling.

This isn't a full write up of the Technicians system, we'll post that up after I've completed the Engineering UI design.


Thanks for reading!

Mark

[Blaze]

Technicians are great for anyone who wants to RP with others (like we have TSN Artemis). Therefore, I have a bunch of questions related to that.

• Is Level 5 the maximal level of the Technicians? Will we be able to change that with mods?
• Does the level reset with every game or is there a way to save it, for mod campaign purposes?
• How fast do they gain levels? Will we have an option to modify Technician levels' via modding?
• Will we be able to name Technicians via modding?
• Are the three perks always the same or is there a pool from which the perks are chosen? A pool with multiple perks can add an additional dose of strategy. You can also decide if the player will be able to choose perks or they would be randomly chosen.
• Will we be able to add new perks for Technicians via modding?

Instead of using stars as levels, I think it'd be better to use another type of icon (or multiple different icons). Something like bars (as in Ensign and Lieutenant insgnia bars) would fit the desing better, I think. It can be more compact, yet still cleary visible and won't draw too much attention on itself.

[Mark]

• Is Level 5 the maximal level of the Technicians? Will we be able to change that with mods?
  Level 5 is standard max, but it will be a mod-able setting.
  
• Does the level reset with every game or is there a way to save it, for mod campaign purposes?
  Technicians, and their progress, will be saved as part of the current campaign. Each time you start a new campaign you would recruit new Technicians. Campaigns and standalone missions can have Technicians set for you (names, experience levels, and perks).
  
• How fast do they gain levels? Will we have an option to modify Technician levels' via modding?
  The base rate of gain will be set in the campaign, or mission. The player/host can then set a modifier for this (x0.5, x1, x1.5, x2 etc) when starting the game. In general the base rate of gain will be set so that the Techs level up over a number of missions.
  
• Will we be able to name Technicians via modding?
  The pool of random Tech names will be mod-able, and the starting Techs for a campaign/mission can have custom set names, but the Engineer can also rename his/her Technicians.
  
• Are the three perks always the same or is there a pool from which the perks are chosen? A pool with multiple perks can add an additional dose of strategy. You can also decide if the player will be able to choose perks or they would be randomly chosen.
  There will be a pool of perks, also some perks will have another as a prerequisite (so for example there might be "Advanced Damage Control", which is only available if the Tech already has "Damage Control"). This perk system is like the unit promotions system in Civilization 5.
  
• Will we be able to add new perks for Technicians via modding?
  Absolutely, you will be able to modify existing perks, and add new ones.
  

Instead of using stars as levels, I think it'd be better to use another type of icon (or multiple different icons). Something like bars (as in Ensign and Lieutenant insignia bars) would fit the design better, I think. It can be more compact, yet still clearly visible and won't draw too much attention on itself.
I love this suggestion, using one insignia instead of a number of stars. It's a little more cryptic, for people who don't know what each insignia means, but I do think it fits the design better. I'll incorporate this into the next design pass.


Thanks man.

[Grey]

How does the playtest go with enegeering.
I love how much the engeneer can do, but is it still managable in a combat situatian to do so much? Rerouting energy, cooling overheating systems, managing engeneers, and keeping an oversight?
Just curious.

I love the isignia idea.
If you look at marine technician isignia:

It is not that hard for an outsider to still reconize lvl 1 - (in this case) lvl 4.
It really does give it a more authentic feeling.

[Blaze]

A level 5 could be a star or some other symbol, rather than 5 bars.

As for all of this being too much for engineering, I don't think it will, but it does depend on the speed of the game, among other things. I'm actually loving it that there's so much stuff to do.

[Mark]

In relation to there being too much to do, the power wheel (routing power) is the only vital function in engineering, everything else is optional. So a beginner can ignore things like Technician management and just focus on the power wheel. The extra gameplay features are to allow players to expand and grow their skills within the position.

I do like the bars idea, however I had already drawn some insignia based on US Navy enlisted ranks. They are not as clear as just using bars, but they are visually interesting. I also like the distinction between the bridge crew being commissioned officers, and the other non-bridge crew (like the Technicians) being enlisted.

Here are the ranks and insignias:


I am still open to using the simpler bars.

Here they are in the UI (still a work in progress...):



Also, I am thinking that Technicians might get a perk for each of their promotions, which would mean five perks in total.

Let me know what you think.

[Blaze]

I love the idea of ranks. I wanted to post that initially, but I thought it might be too complex. The bars I mentioned would represent ranks, anyway. But I do like the ranks. Is it too much info, I don't think so, but you'll find that out in the play-testing. Maybe add a tooltip when hovering the mouse over the rank icon; the tooltip would show the rank name and (perhaps) a numerical representation of the Technician's level.

A perk for each rank sounds right.

[Mark]

Oh yeah I knew you meant ranks, and they are much more interesting. The Tech's exact rank isn't a vital piece of information anyway, and the tooltip will help those who don't know.

All of the UIs will have extensive tooltips (which can be disabled for those who don't want them). For example, each calculated number shown will have a tooltip which contains a breakdown of the calculation.

[Grey]

mark,
Your designs look nice. Simple and clear.
I'll be interested in seeing how the game playtests.