A monster response to a monster letter. I apologize in advance.
narrative deficiencies
Do you think this would be helped by taking a leaf out of a MOBA's book, and adding voice overs to what is happening? I don't play Mobas much, but from my memories, most of them have audio telling players that a structure is under attack. If voice messages saying things such as "Refinery A has been destroyed, or "Your team is attacking Outpost A", it would make sure that all players are more "in the loop".
Why not, instead, make those weak spots into areas that, when targeted, do significantly more damage to the enemy?
I am not entirely sure, but isn't it already like that?
We can take community-submitted ideas for names.
This would be very cool. The markers saying what type of ship they are (the "(kill)" or "disable)" at the end of the name) are not very useful to me, as I don't generally have time to pay enough attention to the ship name to read it. While I still wouldn't have time to read it, adding unique names/nicknames to each ship does sound very cool and would definitely help immersion.
I don’t think a boss is something that should be hidden
While a boss should definitely not be hidden, it should not be explicitly pointed out to the player at first. When you play a match in Skirmish, and the enemy team is completely unbalanced, do you get an indicator when the much more powerful spawns? No, you don't know until you actually spot them. It should be the same for a boss. While you might be able to visually tell where they are, there shouldn't be any special indicators until the boss is spotted. There is something unnerving about knowing there is an enemy, but not knowing where exactly they are. This uneasiness is what makes horror games as popular as they are.
That being said, I would like different types of ships to have different map markers. In Skrimish, there are no more than 4 enemy ships, and therefore only up to 4 map markers to pay attention to, each with a name attached. Thus, we know exactly which ship is which on the map. However, in alliance, all markers appear the same. I would suggest maybe 3 different unique map markers, one for airplane, one for boss, and one for the rest. Also, having names attached would be too chaotic with the large amount of alliance enemies, so maybe have a key on the left showing the difference between types of markers.
Will bosses be "worth" risking it all to destroy,even if the objectives can be completed and victory can be achieved?
There needs to be something done to make players actually consider engaging boss ships. The only reason I have seen so far is for the glory, and bragging rights. Boss ships are such difficult battles, and usually deliver a large majority of my team's deaths, and for what? A measly upgrade. I personally have never noticed any difference at all from getting the upgrades. The most effective strategy so far seems to be ignoring the boss ship and rushing the objectives, on all 3 gamemodes.
Also, once a boss ship has been killed, it feels like game over. Once a boss ship has been killed, the enemy will no longer be able to do much of anything to you.
you are blurring the lines between different tools and different ammos
While I do like the idea of upgrades, I also agree that it does blur the lines. My solution for this would be simple: instead of making up for an item's weaknesses, improve their bonuses. For example: The spanner upgrades currently include boosts to it's repair power and the mallet upgrades include improvements to it's rebuild power, making them more usable for each other's purposes. Instead, the spanner should not get boosts to it's repair power, but more rebuild boosts instead. This way, the lines between those two items would be even more distinct, instead of morphing them to one.
What do those resources...do? Do you need to collect them to win? Should you? Do they provide bonuses? Should they?
This is my biggest problem with the map as well. I see these resources my faction has, but absolutely no idea what they mean, or what they do.
My suggestion for this is influenced by the board game Risk, the exact same game you mentioned that the map was inspired by in yesterday's fireside. What if each faction had a hidden objective they needed to complete in order to win a season, related to these resources? No player would be able to actually see them, so that no simple faction swap would show the objectives. On top of this, each resource would also apply some sort of buff that faction's players in some way. Maybe the pickaxe icon resource is metal which will increase the faction's ship's hull armors. The main concern against this would be that it might snowball the wars, such that one faction has more resources causing their players to be more powerful, but as the map is inspired by Risk, need I point out that that game is exactly the same? I recently player Risk for the first time, and at first it would be quite well balanced, but as the game went on, one or two players started growing more than the rest, in turn making them more powerful than the others. Players of a certain faction might start to get frustrated that their faction is losing, but that would mean that the game would start snowballing, causing the season to end much sooner.
I see tons of provinces on the map that I would like to fight in, but can't because the game hasn't generated a battle in that location. What if each province could be interacted in individually, while the markers still showed up at any territories in which there was a particularly close fight going on, or the majority of players are involved in? This would keep it simple for newer players or anyone who isn't too interested in strategizing, while the strategy gamers among us would have more options to work with.
battles are resolving themselves too fast
Battles currently seem to be taking only a few hours, which is a problem, especially with the amount of territories currently in the game. With this, we could have an entire faction swap land with another in just a few days. A territory should be valuable to a faction, and every time one is won, it should feel like a huge victory to that faction.
That fucking spinning wheel/fan/watermill thing. It's so god damn distracting, becauseany movement attracts attention from the pilot.
I piloted a Magnate for the first time yesterday, and I did not get distracted too much by the watermill.
The Shrike
"What a Piece of Junk!"
I can not for the life of me figure out what is more attractive about a Shrike than about a Corsair. Both ships have one side facing light gun and one side facing heavy gun, but the corsair also has an extra light and heavy gun on the front and back. The only advantage of a Shrike is the less complex layout, but any captain with any patience at all should be able to explain to their crew their responsibilities.
While on the topic of explaining the ship to a crew, there is not enough time at the beginning of a match to brief a new crew. I would recommend that enemy ships will not attack a ship until it has been moved, or a shot has been fired. This would allow time for captains to explain the ship to their crew, without leaving this up for abuse.
Aaand now to address the already existing responses:
there should really be more options for painting ships. Especially the new ones. Sure, you can paint the Magnate's balloon, but nobody's going to notice with all the bright yellow sails. They're all beautiful ships(mad props), but I'd love to customize them.
I do agree. I'm thinking about the new ships: most of them seem to balloons that are not really visible. What if the balloon is not what received the paint, but the largest visible aesthetic section was painted? For example on the Crusader, instead of painting the balloon, the large, red section of the armor is painted?
I like the Crusader, but god damn if I haven't had trouble going up those stairs from the heavy guns. I feel like the hitbox on the railing for the Crusader's stair case... isn't there. I've relied on that railing to be able to get me up the stairs because I have those days where my hand doesn't move the mouse fast enough to get me to face the exact middle of the top stair, just so I don't walk off the side... All I can ask is... Hitbox on that railing... please?
I love the crusader, but it is right now VERY buggy to move on. I can only walk from the mid guns to the armor about 50% off the time, the rest I simply fall off.
