[Mark]

Hi all,

I've been iterating on the Turret Groups in Tactical Operations UI, and have finally gotten to a place where I am happy to share my progress and get some feedback on it.

Keep in mind that this is very much a work in progress, and there is lots to be added and tweaked (including target info for each Turret Group).

.

The concept is that you can drag and drop turrets between groups. Each group has a max capacity of 4 turrets.


Thanks!

[Blaze]

Sorry, I'm unable to provide coherent feedback atm, since I'm getting ready for my 3 week vacation.

I can say that simply having turret groups, without any other data and options to work with, is kinda boring. But you say you'll add more, so I'll see what's going on with that once you do. I figured one would control the Operatives via that panel, as well.

[Mark]

No problem man, thanks for responding and I hope you have a great trip.

Operatives will be managed by clicking on the Operative team that you want to interact with. This opens an overlay which gives you information, and allows you to issue orders.

As well as Turret Groups (and their targetting data) there will be the management of Torpedos, but I do not have plans beyond that right now. I'm open to suggestions on what else could be added though!

[Mark]

Remember that the Operatives do not take an active role in combat. The top left panel is dedicated to managing the weapon systems which are used during combat.

[Mark]

I've done some work on the turret displays.

I added a tab to the top right to indicate that they can be dragged.

The bar which shows the turret's damage output now changes colour to show the state of it's target lock. Green means full lock, orange means partial lock (the turret can hit the target ship, but the targeted system is obscured by another part of the ship), and red means no lock (the target ship cannot be hit).

The small button beside the damage/lock display allows the weapon to be individually fired (providing it has a full or partial lock).

[Mark]

Here's the latest version, showing the target info and fire (all) button for each Turret group.

[Grey]

Hi Mark,
Looking good, can't wait to playtest this.

A few questions:
Does tactical also activate shields? What station will do this?
The icons are different, each type of ship/station/pod/etc will have it's own icon/symbol on the "minimap"?
Is it possible to rotate the map by clicking and draging?
Will operatives have different options depending on the type of vessel (ship/station/pod/etc)?
What would be the reason to choose to fire by hand, or to let them auto fire?
Will torpedo's be part of the turret groups or will they have their own part of the UI?

thanks

[Mark]

Hey Grey, thanks for the feedback!

Does tactical also activate shields? What station will do this?
Shields, and other defensive measures, are handled by helm. This is because a lot of defence relies on the ship's movement and positioning.
The icons are different, each type of ship/station/pod/etc will have it's own icon/symbol on the "minimap"?
The icons denote contact type. Ships are broken into three sizes (small, medium and large).
Is it possible to rotate the map by clicking and draging?
Not currently, though it is something I may add at a later stage. Right now the radar is orientated to the ship, so it rotates with the ship.
Will operatives have different options depending on the type of vessel (ship/station/pod/etc)?
Yes, for examples Operatives could board a station, or rescue/capture the people from the pod.
What would be the reason to choose to fire by hand, or to let them auto fire?
When auto firing turrets will never overheat (the turret must cool down before firing). This is good for most cases, but sometimes you will want to push the turrets to their limits. To do that you must fire manually.
Will torpedo's be part of the turret groups or will they have their own part of the UI?
Torpedoes will have their own section of the UI, I'll be working on that soon.

Thanks again!

[Grey]

Hi Mark,
You're welcome.

thank you for all the answers, I do however have another few questions.
- I see the different ships, and their poweroutput. But is this relevant to know? I would think that if their energy signature is strong enough to be detected does the information about how strong it is, matter?
- Star Trek and Artemis work with shield frequenties and modulating weapons to be stronger if you know it. It sounds like a nice combination with getting these frequenties with operatieves. for what reason have you chosen not to do shieldfrequenties?
- How do shield exactly work? do they prevent all damage to the hull or just a portion?

Grey

[Mark]

I see the different ships, and their power output. But is this relevant to know? I would think that if their energy signature is strong enough to be detected does the information about how strong it is, matter?
Yes the different ships show their signature strength, based on their energy signature and the strength of your sensors. The signature strength is important, as it has two effects:

• Weapon locks will be stronger, providing more accuracy (the result of which is more damage to the targeted system).
• The amount of information you have available on the contacts is based on the signature strength. At low strength you will only know it's size, a bit higher and you know it's class/type, higher again and you can see how much damage it's armor and hull have taken, higher again and you can see how much damage individual systems have taken.

Star Trek and Artemis work with shield frequencies and modulating weapons to be stronger if you know it. It sounds like a nice combination with getting these frequencies with operatives. for what reason have you chosen not to do shield frequencies?
We do have shield frequencies, but we plan to have Science handle it. Science will control the frequency of energy weapons and shields. Matching a weapon's frequency to the shield frequency effectively increases the amount of damage done to the shield.

How do shield exactly work? do they prevent all damage to the hull or just a portion?
While shields are active they block all damage (there is no penetration). Shields do not have a power level like in other games, they are simply on or off. When a shield is hit some of the damage is deflected and the rest is absorbed. The absorbed damage is converted into heat on the shield system. If the shield is hit regularly this heat builds up, and if the shield system overheats it begins to become unstable. Eventually this instability will cause the shields to fail or, in extreme cases, explode. The shields then need to be repaired before they can be brought back online.


I love the questions, thanks!

[Grey]

thank you for answering them so quickly and comprehensive.

Last question, I think.
Is it possible to run at such low power that your energy signature is undetectable? So you could pop up (provided you aren't spotted on the camera) at close range?
How about cloaking?

[Mark]

It is my pleasure.

Is it possible to run at such low power that your energy signature is undetectable? So you could pop up (provided you aren't spotted on the camera) at close range?
How about cloaking?
Absolutely! The signature system is designed to allow for "silent running" stealth play.

There are currently no plans to add visual cloaking. It could be modded in if someone wants it though.

[Grey]

thank you so much.
I hope others have more questions?

[Mark]

Some more progress, refining the Turret Group targeting.

[Mark]

I wasn't happy with how crammed the Turret Groups were, I just wasn't able to show the information in the way I wanted.

So I redid the Turret Groups to only show one group at a time, and really focus on that group.

Let me know what you think.