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[djcityscapes]

Hey, I'm glad you like it! I have it turn in the station because that's the only way I could make it disappear within, regardless of how many boxcars it gets. I could have it rotate a half turn and then wait.

I had the idea today to have the aliens build structures in other sectors under certain conditions. Such as after a battle and the player leaves the sector, the aliens will then build a small spawning station.

btw, I like this forum better since Stardock is offline half the time.

Edit: I fixed the train so that it doesn't rotate in the station. The cars "telescope" in/out instead.

[burningpet]

i think its good to give the aliens a better approach to spawning enemies, but i dont quite understand those conditions though. after a battle the sector is almost always secured.

what happens when i enter a sector, leave, then enter again and leave again? 2 spawning stations?

[djcityscapes]

These alien buildings are generated under the following conditions:
-The sector is explored
-The sector is empty except for aliens.
-At least 4 aliens have to be there
-There can be only 1 alien building (aka Scumulus Monument) per sector.

You'll notice the enemy making these if you zip through the sector to get somewhere else, or if you retreat, or if the aliens wipe out all of your buildings. They don't currently spawn, but they block you from building a colony which keeps the big attack waves coming. Btw, I'm using the old alien nest graphic. I'm still working on user defined keys so I hope to get v1.62 uploaded today or tomorrow.

Edit: v1.62 is uploaded. This includes new train behavior and Scumulos Monuments. I ran into a snag with user defined controls so that part is still under construction.

[burningpet]

Whats good in this, is that it prevents the player from insta poping a colony as soon as he enter the sector, the bad thing, however, is that it is encouraging turtling and a slow paced game.

maybe we should add a factor that will bring more stress on the player to expand earlier.
i can make the spawner graphic, what did you had in mind for its shape?

few other minor things - the colored ship in the interface circle should be clickable like the ship itself in order to show the elaborated stats window.

maybe more paths from and to each sectors, for better manouvering in the galaxy itself, both for the aliens and the player. just had a game today and the most fun was when a sector had 2 paths leading to it.

the sector defence ship is still a viable idea.. especially if you accept that more paths for each sector is needed, but we can alter this idea into something else, maybe have slot in the formation editor that allows to leave the ships in the sector for defence. it will seek the enemies and circle them while firing. this way the escort ship will remain viable if we make it a much faster ship to better respond to enemies in the sector, because right now, after the cruiser the escort isnt needed.

[djcityscapes]

Whats good in this, is that it prevents the player from insta poping a colony as soon as he enter the sector, the bad thing, however, is that it is encouraging turtling and a slow paced game.

Actually, the player can still insta pop a colony.

maybe we should add a factor that will bring more stress on the player to expand earlier.

I thought of putting a timer on the Frenlees fleet. We could give the player a 10 minute time limit to save them.

i can make the spawner graphic, what did you had in mind for its shape?

I really don't have a shape in mind, as long as its distinctive from the alien nest. We don't want to confuse the player.

few other minor things - the colored ship in the interface circle should be clickable like the ship itself in order to show the elaborated stats window.

Done in v1.63.

maybe more paths from and to each sectors, for better manouvering in the galaxy itself, both for the aliens and the player. just had a game today and the most fun was when a sector had 2 paths leading to it.

This is a hard balance to reach. The way it is now, a few players still complain about being attacked from too many directions.

the sector defence ship is still a viable idea.. especially if you accept that more paths for each sector is needed, but we can alter this idea into something else, maybe have slot in the formation editor that allows to leave the ships in the sector for defence. it will seek the enemies and circle them while firing. this way the escort ship will remain viable if we make it a much faster ship to better respond to enemies in the sector, because right now, after the cruiser the escort isnt needed.

A simpler approach would be to create a hangar construct. The player will build a hangar in the sector and the defense ship will patrol it. I like the idea of making it circle the target. I'll go ahead and speed up the Escort anyway. The Escort is just one of those ships that gets obsoleted with new tech. I think that's realistic. Also, with the Scuttle option I don't think its a problem.

I feel like this game is nearing completion. I know this because its getting hard for me to concentrate on it as I consider ideas for the next game.

[burningpet]

i am feeling you here, i also think its near completion. i mean, it still has tons of potential and ways to elaborate on, but those would change the basic concept.

what is the end mark? what still needed to get done, both graphic and mechanics wise?

could you hint on the next game concept?

[djcityscapes]

The end mark is getting the hangar/sector defense ship working. I'm really close so v1.63 might get uploaded tonight or tomorrow at the latest. I gave up on the user defined controls because its simply not worth the effort. Instead, I added < > as strafe keys since q/e was the biggest complaint regarding controls. I'm using your testscene for the victory image, which is done mechanically in 163. consequently 163 might be the last version of Fangorodrim.

I want the next game to be more RPG oriented. No sectors, no base building, no research. A randomly generated map with tunnels and rooms with seamless exploration. I'll probably use our current art assets which means it will be top down perspective / future tech / aliens / piloting a ship with similar physics to Fangorodrim. Well, that's where my mind keeps wandering to anyway. I hope that sparks your interest.

[burningpet]

could be interesting, a space ship rpg like game with a nice skill tree that could provide diffrent routes to build the ship shound awsome.

[djcityscapes]

v1.63:
http://www.metalbuildingreplicas.com/syreal/Fangorodrim.zip

-hangar / sector defense 
-resources get depleted
-strafe keys added < >
-zoom level added. Zoom toggle changed to = key.
-victory screen

v1.63 probably won't be the last as bug reports come in. Having resources deplete should add pressure to expand.