Starpoint Gemini 4 Suggestion(s)

[cgiink]

I would like to request for the future Starpoint Gemini 4 (if that ever comes out), please stick to the great formula from Starpoint Gemini 1 and 2, specially on the level and tone of seriousness of the game. Otherwise rename it to something else.

[Trentscousin]

Agree on the serious part but I do NOT (N O T) want to control a fleet.

I want FREELANCER 2.0.

[Trentscousin]

If this game was offered solely as Freeroam the response would have been so much better.

No offense to voiceovers and npc/pc char makers.

[mmihokovic]

We are aware of the criticism, and we heard what was said about the game. And we will learn from everything. It is too early to lay down future plans at this point, but whatever it is, any mistakes we did were painful but also offer some guidance for what's to come. One of the community members, Tanvaras, correctly stated what happened in Croatia from the start of this year, so after we "pick up the pieces" of havoc around us, there are more stuff to come for SPG3, and then time will come to look ahead at what is the next step... Also, I really apologize for being more silent then usually, but situation is really .... intense (avoiding ugly words here...). We are thankful to every community member sticking to game and our work, and we'll update you as soon as we have something specific to report...

[Trentscousin]

Stay safe

[Lhetre]

Originally posted by Trentscousin:

Agree on the serious part but I do NOT (N O T) want to control a fleet.

I want FREELANCER 2.0.

SPG built its identity around fleet management, you're asking for the wrong game. There are plenty of "freelancer-like" games around, and one mistake was to try and imitate them.
Let's hope they learned to stick to what they are good at.

[Trentscousin]

Not this version.

I can and will, ask for whatever I want.

[cgiink]

Originally posted by mmihokovic_LGM:

We are aware of the criticism, and we heard what was said about the game. And we will learn from everything. It is too early to lay down future plans at this point, but whatever it is, any mistakes we did were painful but also offer some guidance for what's to come. One of the community members, Tanvaras, correctly stated what happened in Croatia from the start of this year, so after we "pick up the pieces" of havoc around us, there are more stuff to come for SPG3, and then time will come to look ahead at what is the next step... Also, I really apologize for being more silent then usually, but situation is really .... intense (avoiding ugly words here...). We are thankful to every community member sticking to game and our work, and we'll update you as soon as we have something specific to report...

Thank you and really appreciated your reply. I look forward to the improved version and the future. I am sure you are aware of the pitfalls and no ugly words are needed, we feel your frustration already. Stay safe.

[ReaperV]

Stay safe LGM Team! I'm sure we all feel our personal wants are not priority over your team just trying to get lives on track!

So just my 2 cents on what I really loved in this series, and what I would really love to see improved upon going forward:

Ship scale - Going from small Frigate ships -> Warlord-sized Titan ships that are the size of moons, dwarfing everything around them.

Damage scale - It felt a little weird piloting a Warlord Titan that would fire massive special weapons that would not instantly wipe-out entire fleets. As a weapon class is scaled to a ship class, it would be cool to see longer cool downs and higher alpha strikes to simulate giant weapon systems charging and 1-shotting targets instead of just whittling them down.

Economy scale - Small ships = small cargo hold = lower cost = smaller profits -> Exponentially larger ships appropriately having exponentially higher profit potentials. Really feel like increasing these "gaps" in income potential and costs need to increase to improve the feeling of scale of both economy and ships.

Battle scale - I LOVED the idea of massive fleet battles from Warlords, as well as the faction conflicts from SPG2. It would be awesome to have a higher level of customization of individual fleet units that would allow for the creation of more specialized fleets, not just based on the overall "power" of a fleet (i.e. invisible stealth scout/strike teams, immobilization groups, buffer/debuffer ships, EXTREME long-range glass cannon artillery participating with strikes from a distance, and maybe even weapons that can do damage to your own fleets if used improperly). Having the ability to choose formations and angle of attack would add a very nice tactical level to late-game. With that said, it should always be an option of the player going-in with a small wing of late-game ships (such as Titans) to go in and wreak havoc if played right, not absolutely needing to rely on massive fleets. The addition of limits on component types for certain classes of ship could also help encourage players to use certain types of ships for certain tasks, rather than just going with the largest class of ship you can get (i.e. Frigates with better sensors and stealth fields for scouting or even initiating mass attacks against much larger targets at close range, Cruisers with the ability to mount hull-length artillery weapons that can hit from outside a battle at the expense of all shields, armor, or any defensive weapons, Battleships with shield wall projectors to cover over ships at the expense of large guns, etc., etc., etc.).

Galactic scale - O.K., this might be limited to game engines and the tech available at the time, and I understand "procedural" may not be the way to go for this series, since other games do it already... however, being able to have a more sandbox experience with randomization and the choice to do a small-scale playthrough with faster exp and credit growth in a 2-5 solar system world (with a reasonable "minimum" to be able to accommodate for essential "Story Mode" locations) or slower growth with over 100 systems. Not every location has to be so radically special and different as long as there is a variety of art assets introduced, interesting combinations of things in them exist, repeats are fine, and there are varied enough resources or events to be part of to make an actual useful crafting system work.

If you are looking at the above and thinking "Wait... is that EVE Online or Second Galaxy he is proposing? We already have those games, this is not it!" I just want to say, yes... I would love to add some of the best parts of said games to this series, while maintaining this as a SINGLE PLAYER game. In essence, it is not necessary to copy the complexity of any of EVE or X4, certainly don't want it to use every available system or feature from Astrox or Everspace 2, but just make it more like Warlords on steroids.

Originally posted by Trentscousin:

Agree on the serious part but I do NOT (N O T) want to control a fleet.

I want FREELANCER 2.0.

Isn't that essentially what SPG3 is, just maybe with larger scale and more freeroam options?

Technically, much of the SPG games already play like Freelancer 2.0, just with actual scale and capital ships that are not all roughly the same size as each other.

Nobody said you absolutely had to use fleets in Warlords, and if you did, it was such a tiny trivial thing with simplified management that after a few clicks you would be back in your ship going to battles directly, trading, or just exploring, as you would in Freelancer. The core mechanics might be less focused on dog fighting, but the basic gameplay loop is not that much different IMO.

It's the large/capital war ship combat and massive trade barges that were the main differentiators for the SPG series. Removing that focus seems to be the thing that made SPG3 less popular due to removing the main unique feature that made this series to popular in the first place.

As already stated, there are already lots of great games that offer much of what you are looking for... perhaps even SPG3 as it evolves with future updates.

[Trentscousin]

Originally posted by Trentscousin:
Agree on the serious part but I do NOT (N O T) want to control a fleet.

I want FREELANCER 2.0.

From @ReaperV Isn't that essentially what SPG3 is, just maybe with larger scale and more freeroam options?

No, the mission system is 1/50th of what you can get in Freelancer. The sheer number of space ships in Freelancer is staggering, the number of systems in Freelancer Huge.

Make no mistake, the bones are in SPG3 to make a true Sequel/Homage to Freelancer, but it is not even halfway there.

[Woolfy Geekool]

I think the problem is that the game is too different from the others. You should have named it differently, even if it is in the same universe. A name with SG inside so we know it is a "spin off" but not SG3, to avoid the rage of the fans.

[Trentscousin]

Originally posted by Woolfy Geekool:

I think the problem is that the game is too different from the others. You should have named it differently, even if it is in the same universe. A name with SG inside so we know it is a "spin off" but not SG3, to avoid the rage of the fans.

I bought and never played the others.

This one, I like.

[cgiink]

All this talk makes me wanna replay WARLORDS again ;))

[KingSoloMane]

As for controlling a fleet from my experience their was minor fleet management, you order them to follow you set n forget. Lite 4K management from the star map, and not RTS style micromanagement.

IMO for SPG3, I feel like it was held back from all the assets, and work put into 3D characters modeling including ADHD, and voice acting. This left the rest of the core game feeling unloved, and empty.

[Lhetre]

Fleet control, that's a field they could have invested in. I would have loved being able to tell my sidekicks to stop bumping into my ship in Warlords.

[Trentscousin]

We appear to have to schools of thought (gameplayer desires), Fleet control vs Lone Wolf.

I am for both if possible, Lone Wolf, if only one choice can be had.