Best Of

Re: Cosmpiercers: Problems and an Ambitious Proposal

Guards are a force multiplier outnumbered defenders can use to their advantage so the piercer fights don't become an easy calculation of "more people = win". Removing them doesn't solve the fundamental problem of cosmpiercer design. The problem is this:

Matlkael said:

Cosmpiercers already are drifting into the OOC scheduling arena precisely because you need an overwhelming force in order to be successful in taking cosmpiercers. This is due to the fact that you are required to deal with both player defenders as well as NPC guards.

Even without guards it's still an OOC scheduling arena because cosmpiercer raids are organized when your peeps are awake while the other faction's peeps are asleep/at work/school. This is not good game design.

Big pvp events need to be scheduled in advance so that all interested parties know when they happen and can show up. Not just a gentleman's agreement this time, it needs to be part of game mechanics: "cosmpiercer X becomes available for conquest at time Y, you have 2 days to do it and afterwards the conquest fails" or whatnot. Otherwise it's just a sneaky back and forth of "they asleep, we raid".

Cubey

Re: Good Vibrations!

The most beautiful thing I have ever designed was approved, and will be given out to everyone possible.

"Appearance: a rockhopper and polka dot egg gelatin
Dropped: A rockhopper and egg gelatin has been dropped here, quivering occasionally.
Examined: This large circular gelatin has been filled with rockhoppers and slices of polka dot pink and blue egg slices. The thinly sliced eggs hang unnervingly inside the gelatin, arranged in an artful spiral pattern around the dead-eyed deep-fried rockhoppers. Each petite pink egg is covered with minuscule blue spots, with edges that bleed into the pink egg body creating a halo effect. A single jumbo rockhopper is perched on top of the gelatin, crunchy eye stalks waving gently whenever the gelatin jiggles.
Eat_first: You take a bite of the rockhopper and egg gelatin, the soft flavorless gelatin giving way to crunchy deep-fried rockhoppers and slightly gummy eggs. You manage to finish the gelatin off, breath now faintly sweet smelling.
Eat_third: You watch as $(caster$) bites into what appears to be a rockhopper and egg gelatin, hearing $(him$) slurp through the soft gelatin body before it gives way to crunches, then both at the same time before $(he$) finishes.
Smell: smells faintly acidic, with a gentle hint of frying oil
Taste: tastes of unflavored gelatin, which jiggles as you lick it"

RebekahWSD

Food

I'm not especially fond of the game's dynamic build setup and think it could use some tweaks. My character, far as I can tell, is eating enough to depopulate whole species of prey from the ecosystem while still wasting away enough to make me think my clones come with a serving of complementary tapeworms. I like the idea of the system in that it encourages actually getting food/drink more often than you might otherwise (and thereby interact with the players who've picked up cusine), but the numbers and the infrequency with which your build updates has a detrimental effect IMO. I'm not inclined to pick up player-made food from the trade network, getting the IDs individually and taking them out of separate boxes, when I'm going to be eating 5-10 items on a daily basis.

I think the system could be improved in a couple ways:

1) Move build into a customize option, either just flat-out or setting a 'target' build you'll weight to more heavily.

2) Offer some information in terms of how calorie-dense individual food items are, your average usage on a month-to-month basis according to your activity, and possibly lower the baseline metabolism a teeny bit.

3) Have build processing occur a little more frequently than once a week.

All of this is just my own experience, though, so I'm interested in seeing how other people have found the system. Is it fine? Is it a nuisance? Have you noticed it at all?

EMDA

Announcements post #50: Item Customization!

<pre>From: Ilyos, the Arbiter
Subject: Item Customization!

Greetings Starmourners!

We're very happy to announce the release of our Item Customization system!

If there's that particular item you found in the galaxy and are very fond of and never wish to lose, you can now make it last forever. If you're unhappy with the looks of a piece of furniture you happen to own or are tired of misplacing an old family heirloom, there is now a solution to those problems.

A customization is paid for with credits and may

- Change the appearance of an item (DESCRIPTION customization)
- Affect whether the item decays (NON-DECAY customization)
- Return to its owner (RESET customization)

Currently, Starmourn offers customization of props, junk, clothing, jewelry, food, and various other items. We do not currently offer customization for armor or weapons.

The details of how customization works in are listed in HELP ITEM CUSTOMIZATION. Typing CUSTOMIZE REQUEST by itself will give you a syntax menu that clearly defines the commands necessary for submitting and editing your request.

Have a most amazing day!</pre>

Autoposter

Re: Worth playing?

Let's keep things civil in this thread, please.

@BerserkELF, we are happy to welcome new players and returning veterans alike.

No, griefing is not ok. Please see HELP PK for our policies on this.

Eukelade

Re: Ship Decorations Ideas!

Hypermeat dispenser! Hold out your hand for a nutritionally complete and inexplicably clammy snack!

Yimh

Announcements post #48: Forums Autoposter.

<pre>From: Ilyos, the Arbiter
Subject: Forums Autoposter.

Greetings Starmourners!

We'd like to announce a new update to our forums, courtesy of our awesome friends from Aetolia! Whenever we will be posting a new announcement here in the news, it will be automatically posted on the forums as well, in its own category!

Hopefully this will give you a platform to discuss our latest announcements in a more focused way and it will be easier for everyone to follow along with your feedback and thoughts on the big happenings in Starmourn!

Have a great day!</pre>

Autoposter

Re: Starmourn Roadmap

I just want to say thank you to everyone on the Starmourn team and anyone who has helped build the world so far. There's so much to offer, and it's really great finding new things and discovering new ways to rp your character when finding new lore. I really appreciate everything you guys have done so far, and can hardly wait for the updates to come!

Ero

Re: Starmourn Roadmap

Lookin' good, and I see at least one thing I was the first to suggest, which makes me feel important. I got a pair of comments:

1. The way Starmourn's numbers are set up, a higher level cap will completely temporarily destabilize pvp. A level 50 simply can't win against a level 75 (unless that lvl 75 is really bad and the lvl 50 is really good) because the higher level can ignore subsystems and just smash with raw damage. Unless hp/damage gains per level slow down on high levels (which is my preferable solution here), lvl 90 vs lvl 75 will look similar. Uncap responsibly.

2. Economy: before introducing more obligatory uses for commodities (guards, station misions, etc), introduce improved commodity gains so the playerbase can stock up. We're running thin here, especially Song, and need a breather to build up the comm base. Both things are on the roadmap I know, just sayin' - more comms first, more ways to use them second.

Anyway keep up the good work.

Cubey

Starmourn Roadmap

Starmourn is a unique game in the Iron Realms ecosystem, and a unique game in the world of muds in general. As a science fiction text game with an active, hardworking development team, it is important to us that it be a standout example of the genre - and quite frankly, it is! But we have plans to take it even farther.

A few of the features we are the most proud of are:

An intricate economy system
An engaging, fun hacking system
The magic of space and everything about it
Ship piloting, ship battles, ship resource gathering
New innovations in our unique PvE experience
A PvP system that is quite different from the other IRE games

Over the coming weeks, months, and years of development, we want to double down on these features and make sure they reach the level of polish and stability they deserve. Transparency is important, so we would like to make sure the playerbase of our game is fully aware of what we've been planning!

One of our main goals is system integration. We want our unique systems to feel less like distinct entities, and more like a seamless whole that works together like a well-oiled machine. It is important to us that the playerbase, whatever their main areas of interest (be it exploring, fighting, spaceships, etc) feels as though they can participate in the "whole Starmourn experience" without worrying that they are missing out on anything the game has to offer.

As a standout example, we eventually want all areas of performance to link back towards what we understand as the game's economy. Colonizing an asteroid and setting up a refinery there would give you significant manufacturing boosts, but might also draw the attention of your competitors. Performing certain PvE tasks for your faction might give you mining bonuses for a while. Getting involved in PvP events that require you to hack into a corporation’s servers might allow you to funnel resources out of their accounts and into your own.

The above is just an example, one of many such concepts the development team has been discussing and experimenting with avidly since Starmourn's launch. These features, however, are not something that can be accomplished in a day or a month, but will grow over time as we update our existing systems and implement new ones. The development team strives for steady forward progress, while constantly tuning the existing game and adjusting things based on player feedback.

The goals in the categories below are not in any particular order of importance, but we have determined that they are the things we would like to accomplish to provide a solid, CORE experience to the game. If something isn’t listed here, it doesn’t mean we aren’t thinking about it, discussing it, or planning it, but it would be impossible to put everything we have discussed or thought about into a "Development Roadmap" - there would be no end in sight!

So, without further ado, here are the "outstanding" development goals on our radar.

PVE

Make cover more appealing and useful
Improve evasion
A focus on social play (better crew/group dynamics, dynamic scaling)
Expansions to the main story line
Dynamically scaling instances and zones
Quest reward expansions
Daily quests/collaborative activities with factional implications (generally, ways to engage max/high level players who want an alternative to bashing but still want to remain within the PvE sphere.) (First batch implemented)
LEVEL UNCAPPING!!
Naturally, an ongoing expansion of areas and visitable planets

PVP

Cosmpiercer improvements (First batch implemented)
On-demand PvP areas/games - starting factional/individual conflict without the need of setting up/coordinating a large team to do so.
Open PK high-reward incursions
“Cargo mule” missions that allow piracy
Class improvements that would allow for more diverse stat setups
General WW improvements

ECONOMY

More uses for commodities
Improvements to the way you gather and availability of comms to better reward the time you spend doing those activities (Implemented)
Improvements to the MARKET
Better Faction strength and relevance in the economy of the world through activities that bolster/facilitate crafting and manufacturing
Improvements to the Economies of the world to make them more appealing and diverse and encourage you to leave the safety of the Omni processing area

TRADESKILLS

Shipmodding (for real!)
Modding in general to be revamped into a fun/useable system
Storefront improvements (Implemented, still a few to go)
Extra tradeskills based on what a lot of you have requested

CUSTOMIZATIONS

Ship customizations - really put your personal touch on how your ship looks and show it off to others (Implemented)
Weapon/Armor customizations

SHIPS

Space grouping and fleet systems for players
Extra ship modding and variety
More flexible PK rules
Economy-based NPC ships and police forces
Possible social elements for ship usage

HACKING

Level uncapping
More challenging hacking games - extra encounters, multi word passwords
Hacking being involved in factional conflict (see OnDemand PvP)
Hacking being involved in discovering the world’s lore and obtaining information
Hacker vs hacker PvP

COLONIZATION

Colonization of asteroids/planets for player worldbuilding
Bonuses offered to holding certain aspects of economical life on said colonies/establishments
Involved activities for colony expansion/maintenance
Conflict options for colonized space (takeovers, raids, hacks)

Starmourn will never stop evolving. We are aware some of the systems and improvements we are planning may turn out to look very different from what we originally envisioned based on your feedback as we develop them. However, it is important to us that you know we have goals we wish to achieve and a solid roadmap towards the future of the game. Ultimately, Starmourn is the player's game. We want it to take the shape which the majority of you will enjoy. We know it would be nothing without you contributing to making Starmourn a unique experience!

Thanks for reading, Starmourners. We’ll see you all in space!

- The Starmourn Team

Ilyos