What would you most want to see in a Drox Expansion?

[Tyrax Lightning]

Originally Posted by pieciax

I've created few threads about thing i would love to see in expansion, their summary are here:

http://www.soldak.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25258

please reply with comments!

Wow... you got to Level 100 with the Vanilla 5 Crew Points per level...? You're a true Badass!

I'm using the "8 Crew Points per Level" Mod, & my Main's at Level 83 as of the time of this Post.

Still distracted on playing of Alts trying to farm up a good 50 Structure Heavy Slot Armor that my Main can't try to farm up for himself anymore... if only there was a better way to go about this... :whistle:

[pieciax]

believe me - it was a big pain especially to change some equipment after around level 50+ till the end. Latest patches increasing beam's weapons effectivness helped a lot (most of the game i used 3 beams weapons and one missle as a race slot)


@Shadow

Do you think there is a chance to start thread with expansion production progress, including features that are planned for implementation, already implemented, and optionally chosed to be implemented?

[Catweazle]

Most of these suggestions have probably already been made, but it's ok because it shows that people agree on features:

- Space Stations (probably already being made). Both for races and the player (replace starting hub). Expand your base with extra space, weapons, shields etc. Lots of fun options here for customizing your home.

Other options:
1) Rare abandoned bases to be found and reactivated/stripped.
2) Quests to help build a base for a race.
3) Blockade base: In stead of building a base at a planet a race can also decide to build an offensive base at a gate and block all incoming/outgoing traffic.

- Item slots: You can find ancient artifacts on planets (gives extra incentive to explore them) that can be placed onto items to enhance them.

- Expand more on ship crew. For example: Have a separate window where you can place your crew in various stations (helm, captain, radar, security) to enhance performance of your ship. Also, introduce rare crew with unique skills, such as 'fast turning maneuver', 'reroute next enemy energy weapon to shields', 'enhanced boarding' (see below) Think Star Trek tricks...

- Boarding: For boarding to succeed you need to take down their shields and have a boarding umbilical/teleporter item and a tractor beam on your ship. You may choose to plunder the ship or take it as a wingman (except bosses). The latter option also requires you to install one of your crew onto the ship. If plundering is your choice you'll receive one of the following rewards: A new tech, race info (planets, systems, homeworld), crew, rare item, artifact. The stronger the enemy the bigger the reward. Disadvantage is that you will only get 1 thing (contrary to when you destroy an enemy), but the rarity of the reward is slightly higher.

Your crew's strength is measured against the enemy ship to determine who wins. Your crew may get injured or even killed if they are too inexperienced.

- Wingmen (max. 2): No bosses, and lower/equal level to you. They gain XP/levels up to your current level. You have to install one of your crew, who will receive experience and enhance the strength of the ship (AI can even use crew skills).

- Emerging race events (mutants etc.) are rather underwhelming, they usually have little impact. Introduce some more game changing events:
1) Return of an ancient powerful race (look at player level/current races to determine their strength).
2) A real zombie/mutant outbreak which threatens to take over the entire galaxy. Mutates any ship/planet that it comes in contact with.
3) Supernova: A quest to save a system. If it fails the system is lost forever. Some gates will cease to function and systems may become unreachable, leading to 4)
4) Quests for the construction of a new gate to reconnect lost systems or leading to a previously unknown system with... new race, resource rich, infection, abandoned or lots of artifacts etc.
5) Hyperspace storm, changes/randomizes the destinations of gates, affecting relations between races.
6) A gigantic mothership with an ancient race in stasis. Do you strip the ship and steal their tech or will you wake them in the hopes that they may help you reconquer/balance the galaxy? But it could also lead to 1).

Ok I am done for now, need to recover from this brain storm

EDIT: Proof reading my own text. So many typos

[Shadow]

Originally Posted by pieciax

Do you think there is a chance to start thread with expansion production progress, including features that are planned for implementation, already implemented, and optionally chosed to be implemented?

Usually if I talk about expansion stuff it will be in the twitter thread or a full-fledged blog post.

[Wingflier]

My suggestions for the Drox Operative expansion are features that I believe should have already been in the game. It's an almagamation of things which I've seen reviewers complain about, and which tend to make the game less accessible to new, or even veteran players.

1. Option to turn Fog-of-War off.
A "Large" Sector (which isn't even the biggest size) houses 30-40 planets, all of which you have to find and explore on your own. If you were literally to remove just 50% of the Fog of War on EVERY System on a Large Sector, it would probably take you 3-4 hours or more. And this is assuming the monsters weren't killing you over and over in the process, and a lot of this would be backtracking to places you had already been, in order to find Wormholes and System Gates that you may have missed.

Though it has some 4X Elements, this is primarily an ARPG. As such, you are primarily appealing to the ARPG crowd. Nobody would play Diablo 2 or Torchlight if you had to spend 4 hours exploring the map every Act. "Exploring" in successful RPGs is seamless, you don't even realize you're doing it because it's part of a quest, or because you're simply following a road to the next area. Very rarely are you asked to tediously explore for something that you can't find, and if you are, it would probably only take a few minutes. Drox Operative asks you to STOP PLAYING the game, ignore your quests, and what's going on in the galaxy, simply to tediously explore the map. There is a reason so many reviewers (and players) have found this to be one of the worst game mechanics. You are constantly bombarded with messages about battles going on in, events that are occurring, and planets that need protecting, in Systems you don't even know about! Nothing is more frustrating than this. Maybe some players enjoy this, but I can promise you that the majority of your potential playerbase does not want to be stuck in a dark tunnel with a flashlight for hours while they're missing the elements which make the game actually fun.

2. Allied Factions (with you), share Sector locations.
To go along with the no Fog-of-War option, Allied Factions should give you the locations of the Sectors they have planets on. It's a nice reward for gaining an Alliance with them, and makes up for the fact that even if the game had no fog-of-war, it would still probably take over an hour on a Large Map just to travel through all the gates connecting the System to discover where everything is. A lot of that would simply be back-tracking places you had already been, since the Sector is not a continuum.

Once again, these are suggestions which make your game more accessible to new players, and specifically if you're trying to enlarge your playerbase. I can promise you that most traditional RPG players do not want to spend the majority of their gaming experience exploring the map. This may appeal to a small portion of your potential playerbase, but the game is not called "Drox the Explorer".

3. Variable Faction Difficulties
It seems that one of the main issues with Drox is the random difficulty of each Sector. Some Sectors may be full of Diplomatic Races which you can easily get to work together, and therefore quickly and painlessly acheive victory. Other Sectors may be full of Angry Races, all of which are constantly at War; a War you're caught in the middle of. In fact, hundreds of random elements determine how difficult the "Faction" aspect of the game is for every new mission. Being able to raise and the lower the "monster" difficulties is only to be able to control a small fraction of the game. You could raise the monster level very high, and still have a relatively easy game if all the Factions worked together. You could decrease the monster level very low, and still have a difficult game because of a chaotic Faction experience. You have very little control over this.

As such, I think the game should encompass options which always the player a greater control over their game experience and difficulty.

Here are some examples:

A. Arrogant Master Races - with this option enabled, Factions who start the game, or quickly become the most "dominant" or "powerful" Factions, are much harder to gain relations with, and lose relations much more easily. Because these Factions are already the most powerful in the game, they don't feel the need for Drox Operatives, and are less likely to treat you amiably. Factions who are less powerful, but whom you've helped reach the top, remember your contribution and are more like to keep their loyalty. This makes the game harder.

B. Random Faction Relations - with this option enabled, you will start the game with a random relation (from 30-60) with each Faction. This means that it's much more difficult to play in a formulaic way and simply snowball the game. It makes traveling through systems and dealing with Factions much more tactical and strategical, instead of just doing the same thing every game.

C. Friendly Master Races - Like option A, but just the opposite. Factions at the top are friendly to you, and give relation quickly. This makes the game easier.

You could probably think of some more, but the general idea is just that the Race and Faction aspect actually has a much bigger impact on the game's difficulty than the monster level. The player should have a greater control over this.

In closing, I will reiterate that most of my suggestions are things that I think should have been in the game in the first place. They are things which will make the game more streamlined and accessible to your potential playerbase, and I strongly hope you consider them. Most of the suggestions I've seen in this thread do not improve the game, or do so only by increasing the complexity of a game that is already considered too complex by many reviewers and players. I don't think adding more complexity to the game is the way to go. There are still many fundamental aspects of the game that could be improved upon (the UI system is a good example).

[Castruccio]

A Forum thread from the Arcen games forum with a few suggestions from Keith, an Arcen designer, about how to clear up the fog-of-war tedium that plagues Drox: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/ind...topicseen.html

[radioonfire]

This has been mentioned in other threads, but it would be good if Legion/Talon/Overlord races would be targeted by the monsters that would attack normal monster ships of those races. This would be more immersive and consistent behavior, and it would prevent them from letting their systems run amok with huge swarms of monsters (unless they are allied monsters, of course).
On a related note, it's really difficult to start a rebel planet unless the quest is sponsored by another race. If I track down the rebel freighter, a single enemy will zip by and destroy it in one hit. (This also applies for alt races like zombies and mutants.) If we could take those quests from the planet, it would be more helpful.

[TYP]

I'd like to see some variety in the class of ships that defend planets. It's a bit odd that a new planet will produce a titan right off the bat, rather than produce smaller vessels first. If smaller vessels were cheaper, the planet could produce them until their ship allotment was full, and then replace each smaller vessel with the next class up, and so on and so on.

[Elafar]

I would like some better way for tracing quests. In some games you could see on compass map and arrow pointing what direction to go. It doesn't have to direct you precisely it can be an at least general direction toward area / map.

Or at least on the general map whenever you select a different quest some marks could be added that would help you to find it easier.
Because there may be people that enjoy searching "hell" as it is now ,tracing quests feature could be made optional.

[radioonfire]

Originally Posted by Elafar

I would like some better way for tracing quests. In some games you could see on compass map and arrow pointing what direction to go. It doesn't have to direct you precisely it can be an at least general direction toward area / map.

Or at least on the general map whenever you select a different quest some marks could be added that would help you to find it easier.
Because there may be people that enjoy searching "hell" as it is now ,tracing quests feature could be made optional.

I think I must be misunderstanding what you're getting at. Almost all quests give you the option of paying a nominal fee to put your target on the map. Quests that don't are usually treasure hunts where the whole point is searching.