Sharidann wrote:
you should experience a decrease in combat experience if you have long periods of peace in which the ship isn't engaged in combat.

This is a very good idea.

You could have ships or fleets gaining a level after accumulating a specific amount of experience; while levels do not decrease during a reprieve from war or battle, the current amount of experience accumulated would decrease, but ultimately not the level already gained.

Nosferatiel wrote:
The Total War series includes this nicely. If you have losses and replace them, you lose experience experience percentually. Lost 10% of your crew? Replace it with 10% "0 XP"-greenhorns and you end up with 90% XP.

exactly. the nuts and bolts of a ship don't gain experience they should actually depreciate over time (anyone remember how Galactica looked by the end? That thing was shit kicked). I propose a ship need to actually be in a dry dock to upgrade weaponry/hull/ship systems/hardware... as opposed to the 'ooh look i invented a new laser' and it is immediately propagated to the entire system.



software/personnel/command/espionage upgrades however could be immediate?



and yes, this has absolutely nothing to do with this thread title... what are we doing!? I'm taking crazy pills over here.

maceman wrote:
I can't say I agree. Lack of training is anathema for military types. Just having a miltary space navy means they should slowly increase experience as they'll always be doing 'something' like chasing pirates or helping get the old lady's kitten out of the nebula.



Combat would obviously increase experience dramatically when successful and crew losses are light. A glorious victory where you defeat a larger fleet... but only have one capital ship limp home with 15% of its crew left. Wouldn't that experience be diluted by all the greenhorns sent aboard?

I think you missed some of the points... the basic level of experience on replacement should be based on military training which could differ quite alot between races and factions due to many things.



You must also understand that crew is replaced all the time, not just due to losses in combat. I would say that regular service rotation would be the most common replacement unless you are at war, perhaps even then.



This is very easily modelled that ships have a minimum training level (also include saving kittens in nebulas) based on certain factors, when they receive extra experience from combat it is later decreased down to that level after a while.



This can also differ greatly between races.

maceman wrote:
Combat would obviously increase experience dramatically when successful and crew losses are light. A glorious victory where you defeat a larger fleet... but only have one capital ship limp home with 15% of its crew left. Wouldn't that experience be diluted by all the greenhorns sent aboard?

The Total War series includes this nicely. If you have losses and replace them, you lose experience experience percentually. Lost 10% of your crew? Replace it with 10% "0 XP"-greenhorns and you end up with 90% XP.

I agree with maceman. Investment in training either with military research as a whole or individual ship crew advancements should definitely be an option. Of course great military victories & defeats also would have an amount of influence on things like morale & tradition, but it shouldn't be that big on decreasing it I think. Plus if you or opponents are being smashed, there is not really much point to them getting a penalty on top of that.

Sharidann wrote:
In terms of lifespan, ok, I can see your points.

For ship experience, quite frankly, I don't have a problem with my ships accruing experience the whole time..... with a small caveat... you should experience a decrease in combat experience if you have long periods of peace in which the ship isn't engaged in combat.

I can't say I agree. Lack of training is anathema for military types. Just having a miltary space navy means they should slowly increase experience as they'll always be doing 'something' like chasing pirates or helping get the old lady's kitten out of the nebula.



Combat would obviously increase experience dramatically when successful and crew losses are light. A glorious victory where you defeat a larger fleet... but only have one capital ship limp home with 15% of its crew left. Wouldn't that experience be diluted by all the greenhorns sent aboard?

+1 on that idea concerning experience. Its logical and can be automatic so no micro.

Yes, I would not mind ships gaining experience during wartime as long as it decreases during peace time. Experience could also be decreased to a minimum specific level depending on your race and/or government type.

From reading the hero comp I am curious do heroes just have a Bio and then some rudimentary stats or is there some sort of trait system included.It is rather dull and boring just to have some rudimentary stats.A Bio is nice touch but has no meaning to gameplay while a trait system has meaning to gameplay and hero immersion.

Sharidann wrote:
In terms of lifespan, ok, I can see your points.

For ship experience, quite frankly, I don't have a problem with my ships accruing experience the whole time..... with a small caveat... you should experience a decrease in combat experience if you have long periods of peace in which the ship isn't engaged in combat.

It might be nice to decrease the decrease (XD) by spending extra money on military maneuvers for a fleet during peacetime. Perhaps also as a diplomatic option to make maneuvers with an allied fleet of another race, so you could actually gain XP up to a certain level?

In terms of lifespan, ok, I can see your points.

For ship experience, quite frankly, I don't have a problem with my ships accruing experience the whole time..... with a small caveat... you should experience a decrease in combat experience if you have long periods of peace in which the ship isn't engaged in combat.

The only thing I don't like about heroes are the fact that they need to live for literally hundreds of years. I do presume that the game will span over a very long time. At least humans shouldn't live for more than maybe 100-150 years even with these advanced technologies.



Other than that I don't mind the concept at all.



The same goes for experience on ships in games like this... how long is the average service period for a crew... a dozen turns maybe?!?

It is interesting to speculate on the skills, though.



Simplest version would probably be: Have x points in Offense/Defense/Wit etc = get this skill. Advancement of characters = add a skillpoint.



The most complex version would be several skill trees, independent of each other, for example one for each race or each type of commander. Every level, you add a skillpoint and then successively get access to the next level of the tree.



I'm intrigued if it will be simple, complex or something in between.

Ashbery76 wrote:
From reading the hero comp I am curious do heroes just have a Bio and then some rudimentary stats or is there some sort of trait system included.It is rather dull and boring just to have some rudimentary stats.A Bio is nice touch but has no meaning to gameplay while a trait system has meaning to gameplay and hero immersion.

The latest G2G-voting has hero-bios and stats so both are most likely in there. Now a fancy quote and a nice picture is all thats missing.

I think that heroes will have some kind of abilities, not just skills. At least i hope to see some abilities that add a new action to tactical battles or an ability that gives you a chance of getting breakthrough much earlier than it is estimated. Something like that might be great to have.

From what I read, you get both.

On the one hand, a short bio, which is supposed to give the hero depth and is definetly better than a simple set of statistics.

On the other hand some statistics which should translate to a boost of the effectiveness of others... I think someone with high Wit could boost research and that someone with a good offense/defense would boost fleet performance.



For me heroes add flavor to the games and make it that much more personal... particularly if they come in limited numbers, which leads you to drastic choices.