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TheHolyDyntan96 days ago (3 edits)

Hi, question: how exactly does the beacon ship work? Does it do the same thing for me that it did for the enemy? I just captured one and am unsure whether to keep or sell it.

Summoning an additional ship every turn for free seems incredibly broken, to the point that I'm paranoid about whether it's a trick (since the lore text says it summons SMI ships, so a mean dev might have it keep spawning ships for the enemy).

Also, if it's not a trick, it has to be balanced in some other way the game isn't telling me, right?

Edit: Completed the demo without even using it, I thought the game would last longer.

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karldev93 days ago

Hi! 

Great question, I'm impressed you managed to obtain a beacon during the demo, it's a pretty rare event and even rarer to manage to scavenge it. 

So your suspicions are correct. In the current implementation it spawns ships for the enemy irregardless of who owns the beacon. So it's acting like its lore-wise description, it summons nearby SMI ships (which are the enemy), like you pointed out. Gameplay-wise it's worthless for the player and I am open to ideas here. Since you're the first (reported) player who hit this edge case, I'm curious to hear your input. 

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TheHolyDyntan92 days ago

Holy hell, called it. So it was an unintended side effect rather than a deliberate troll?

I encountered the beacon fleet ~3 systems from the end point of the demo, beat it by quickly rushing the beacon before it could raise too many reinforcements, and then the game offered it to me in the salvage window after the fight.

Of course I took it since it seemed like a unique one-off ship, and I like collecting things I'm not supposed to have in games. Then I started thinking about it, and realized how OP it would be if the beacon gave me unlimited free ships, to the point that it would trivialize the entire run, so then suspicions started to arise regarding whether this was a troll, so I decided to write my comment, and shelve it until I could confirm it's safe.

Unfortunately I finished my run that same day before ever trying it (or fortunately I guess, since it would have probably wiped out my entire fleet if I did).

As for functionality, maybe have it act as a command/control system, and give the player +2 or 3 fleet cap if it's in their setup (if that's possible within the limits of the code), so that you can have more ships in the battle, but at the risk of losing the beacon. This would give players a reason to use the ship without turning it into just another standard piece. Maybe later in the game you could get the option to add some movement and defensive/offensive capabilities to it, but it shouldn't turn into a fighting vessel imo, so that it retains its unique character.

Alternatively, it could work like that one upgrade (I don't remember the name) that gives you a free ship before every battle, with the lore explanation being that you use it to lure lone SMI ships and hijack them. (Though this may already be too OP for never having to risk the beacon, and since it's a ship, I would prefer having to actually field it to reap its benefits. Maybe have it give you a free ship after a battle only if it was on the board.)

Finally, you could just leave it as is, since it is rare, and it would reward the player for paying attention to the story, though then the lore text should hint more at it still being a threat, so that people who aren't riddled with paranoia like me don't get unfairly punished. (Also, this option would be kinda boring imo, since it would turn a unique ship into just an 80 credits-button as soon as you know about it.)

All in all, I had a lot of fun playing. I am generally not a roguelike person, but I'll be looking forward to seeing how this game evolves. :)

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karldev88 days ago

Hi Dyntan! It's fun to hear you impressions of the game and I'm super glad to hear you enjoyed it! You're correct that the beacon mechanics is an unintended side-effect in the case that the player obtains it. 

I was aware that it could be a problem but decided to not prioritizing solving it since I figured it would be a relatively rare occurrence.

I really like your idea about it acting as a command/control system actually! It's a unique effect and flavor that opens up some special tactics. I'll go for that implementation! :)

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