Combat rebalancing is noticable, appreciated. But as a result of the increase in the overall hulls of the various ships, the potential risks in using full power while zailing become more trivial - what’s the loss of 17 hull on a failed hearts check when you have 600? it would seem either an increase to the amount of hull lost, a more detrimental gameplay effect when zailors are lost (like in such a failed check), or both, are needed in order to give it the gravity it used to have. edited by IHNIWTR on 11/29/2014
zailor loss is also a nice segway into misc. combat notes: it would seem, at least to me, that the foundations of combat are now in place. the things most direly needed in regards to it now are:
A) Refinement of Light manipulation - you really shuld be able to control where the light of your ships shines, at least during combat; without it, aft guns are essentially pointless. This should also come into play with an item rebalance, or rather, a reform - different glim lights installed on a ship to provide different lengths, spreads of light during combat (perhaps at the expanse of the ability to move the light completely freely? limited maneuverability of light in exchange for an increase in Mirrors and/or proportions of lit space, for instance)
B) Noticed lorn fluke "hits" now produce minimal damage but instead increase terror. Lovely! Would also love it if the zailor "abduction" mechanic from the old combat system makes a return - having the "cost" of an extended fight be in the number of available crew instead of just hull intergrity would be welcomed - but it hinges on a reduced crew (that doesn’t dip below the 50%) having a more immediate effect.
C) Observations. This isn’t really combat critical as much as it is… well, Failbetter critical. They are something that wouldn’t really be a factor in a game made by any other company, but considering atmosphere, world-building is so paramount to the expected failbetter "experience", it would be really great if they could somehow be re-implimanted. A little thought I had - turn existing glim looking glass item from light provider to observation enabler (along with different installation slot on ship)? allows for ways to aquire more fragments and lore in exchange for prolongation of combat. edited by IHNIWTR on 10/31/2014
Should the Merchant Vessel be able to equip aft and forward guns or not? I have an older saved game where they are available but when I bought a cargo ship on my latest game my aft and forward guns are unequipped and I can’t equip them.
Combat rebalancing is noticable, appreciated. But as a result of the increase in the overall hulls of the various ships, the potential risks in using full power while zailing become more trivial - what’s the loss of 17 hull on a failed hearts check when you have 600? it would seem either an increase to the amount of hull lost, a more detrimental gameplay effect when zailors are lost (like in such a failed check), or both, are needed in order to give it the gravity it used to have.[/quote]
To be honest, I feel like it’s better the way it is now. The engine exploding is so common, any more than that would keep the "full power" option from being feasible.
I’ve been using Full Power more often lately, and part of the reason I’ve been doing it is because the bad results of it hardly come up anymore. I do think the rarity’s a blessing, it means you can rely on your speed to avoid terror - but when it does happen, I think it should have more significant consequences
I finally broke through the first few journeys and understood what everyone who enjoyed combat was talking about! With a forward and aft cannon in addition to the deck ones, the experience changes into something almost fun (thank you also to the lady or gentleman who pointed out you could initiate firing solutions from a distance). I was coming here to put forward a couple of thoughtful propositions about how to make that first bit less unpleasant, and-
oh. I can no longer equip forward or aft weapons on the initial ship? Really?
I invite people to tell me I’m mistaken about that. In fact, I would be very happy to hear it.
I would like some indication of which ships have slots for Forward and Aft weapons as well.
Also I must say that I find it very difficult to fight something to the South as the combination of the Main and Battle menus covers up too much of the map. (edit to say I’m sure that the old style main menu was not a solid box so I could get glimpses of what my opponents were up to)
Also the red markers do not always clear if you evade an opponent. edited by reveurciel on 11/2/2014
Exactly. I found about it the hard way when I bought a Merchant Cruiser in a new game.
While I do understand that Failbetter tries to give each ship somewhat unique characteristics, I believe that most, if not all ships should be able to feature a Secure Storage, but now the selection is limited to the availability of an aft slot, which doesn’t make much sense to be honest. Maybe it should be changed into an auxiliary item instead.
On another note, since the Carnelian update I am unable to access Iron Republic or Khan’s Heart shops. Does anyone else have this problem?
I followed an advice I came upon on the Steam forums and re-installed the game, which did solve the problem briefly before I restarted the game.
Yes, unfortunately only the Dreadnought and the Frigate can equip Secure Storage now. It does seem to be an oversight of limiting available weapon slots, as the Secure Storage is the only item, aside from aft mounted guns, that goes to the aft slot.
That’s super bizarre. I mean, I figured it’d be a better idea to put Secure Storage into a different slot in the first place, since surely storage and a GUN wouldn’t be in the same location on a ship in a way that makes it a one or the other situation.
Haven’t been on this much since before map shuffling, but comments/questions:
-Is there no shortcut to fire at an enemy? In an entirely kepboard game when zailing, this seems odd.
-I’m finding it very difficult to avoid combat. Before, one could just zail away, but it seems not. Seems like this is now the factor limiting exploration, since before you could make a full map loop on your first voyage. I haven’t played with lights much, though.
-I seem to have broken the battle button within about 5 minutes edited by Kerine on 11/6/2014
-1, 2 and 3 fire your deck, forward and aft guns, respectively.
-With a fast engine and light discipline, you can avoid all combat in the game right now, unless the enemy steers towards the port you’ve docked in (gee, thanks Mt. Nomad for trying to dock at the Chapel of Lights).
-I believe that’s a known bug. To fix it, either return to the menu and continue, or dock, depart, press “e” to enter battle mode and then find an enemy to engage. The battle button should be fixed when you kill or avoid the enemy.
[/li]Perhaps cruising at Full Power could give a significant penalty to fuel efficiency? Enough that, while the ship may travel faster, its effective range is reduced by (to give an example) 20%, in addition to the minute risk of overload.
Also, liking the new combat system. The reduced rate of terror gain (at the moment) is offset by having the lights off in order to avoid combat, which makes getting around a fair bit more challenging what with the micromanagement it necessitates. I think the interplay between hull, crew, fuel, supplies, terror, etc. is a really good model to build on.
Overall, I am liking the new combat system more and more. The loss of zailors and the shift to more shots but less damage made for some very tense (and very enjoyable) situations recently.
A strange bug: twice now, since updating to Carnelian, I’ve docked in London, quit (once to desktop, once to menu), and hit continue, only to find myself in Venderbight! I think both times the combat menu was “sticking,” if that matters. At least one of those times I was very careful to wait for the “saving” message to disappear before quitting. This is not a consistent bug, so I haven’t figured out its specific causes.
It happened to me as well. London to Venderbight (twice) and Fathomking’s to Nativity. Edit to add one of the relocations to Venderbight was particularly annoying as I had just drifted into London on my last barrel of fuel - at least it didn’t take me back to somewhere I couldn’t buy some and sometimes I do stop at the Lightship (if I still have recent news) or Hunter’s Keep on my way between Venderbight and London.
Also there is something wrong with the Lifebergs at Whither, it says you have defeated a Tyrant Moth - reward a Hunting Trophy and a random cache. edited by reveurciel on 11/8/2014