Conquest Mode

[Clinkzbone]

How about:

Different Conquest Modes.

One would have the original fleet, another would not.

[Space Borders]

Hm, I'd rather have only one mode (makes the whole thing less complicated and decreases the probability for new bugs). So here is what I have in mind: the fleet can be used for attacks, as well as defending a sector.

1 - When the enemy attacks one of your sectors and the fleet happens to be in that sector, then you may use the fleet for defense, but what are the odds for that anyway .

2 - When you attack the enemy, you may use the fleet, but will lose one turn. This will make the game more strategic. Let's say, if there is a sector with powerful enemies and you just can't beat them without the main fleet, then you can sacrifice a turn.

What do you think?

[Normancon]

That's a good idea

[joe130794]

It seems to be progressing quickly. Will the player start on earth? And is there an estimated completed time?

[Space Borders]

Well, it's a little early to tell, but I promise to keep you updated about the progress.

[Space Borders]

@all

Sorry for not reporting any news in a while, but work is in progress, so don't worry. Also, if you haven't done so yet, I suggest you check out the Facebook page of Space Borders, since new art and screenshots are posted there.

@aegaeon

Glad you are enjoying the game and hope that "Conquest Mode" will bring many more hours of fun. I'll see what I can do about your request, but can't promise anything.

[Space Borders]

@aegaeon

But the OreMasters already do a pretty good job, right?

@all

I'm currently working on the overall behavior of the CM universe and have decided to do the following:

- First of all, CM is not meant to be "beaten", it's an "open" game mode and hence you cannot destroy the alien homeworld, but rather push them back to their homeworld. The closer you get to their homeworld though, the harder it will be to defeat them. In fact, the closest sectors will be insanely difficult and I'm not doing that to increase player frustration, but rather to challenge the player and add longer lasting gameplay.

- The initial thought was to have fleets that you can move around the universe, but after reviewing this idea carefully, I've noticed a lot of potential problems with this concept. So instead we're going to alter the whole fleet aspect of the game in the following way (check out the graph): Let's say you have conquered sectors A, C, D, F, G and you would like to attack sector H now. Instead of moving tons of fleets to H and basically overrunning sector H (no fun in that), you get a fleet assigned based on the fleet strengths in nearby sectors. As you can see in the graph, you get 50% of sector F (since it's just one jump away) and 25% from both G and C (since they are both 2 jumps away). A and D are both too far away and therefore do not contribute to the attack fleet. This will also make the whole game more strategic, since you will have to choose carefully which sector to attack next, based on the nearby support.

- So where does a fleet come from to begin with? It's simple! Once you conquer a sector, you can add a fleet to it. The fleet will stay in that sector but will support your attacks in nearby sectors. If one of your sectors is attacked on the other hand, you will get 100% of that fleet for defense. Makes sense, right? You attack a sector (your turn) and you can coordinate an attack with other nearby fleets, you get attacked (by surprise) and you don't have the time to draw ships for defense from a nearby sector, however have full support from the local fleet.

- Fleet support points (FSP) will set the upper limit for your overall fleet size (in the entire CM universe). FSP are earned by conquering new sectors, each gives you different amounts FSP. Needless to say that more difficult sectors will give you more FSP.

- Resources are collected as usual and will be added to your normal account. To add a fleet to a sector you will have to spend resources. Deceasing the fleet size of a sector in order to free up some FSP can be done, but resources will only be partially returned (just as it is with selling other equipment).

- How are fleets purchased? Well, rather than buying individual ships, you will set a fleet size from 1-10 for every sector. Low levels will give you a mixture of Gladiators and Centaurs, while higher levels will give you Centaurs and capital ships (details can still be discussed of course).

If you are still reading, I'd like to thank you and would be very glad about any feedback. Thanks!

[Normancon]

Oh it sounds so good! I can't wait to play it. I like this concept better but will we be able to use our fleet from campaign and also, what about ship levels?

[joe130794]

Good drawing. To explain.

[Space Borders]

Normancon

The main fleet will be available too, but using it in an attack will cost you a turn. The experience level of ships will also be determined by the level (1 - 10) that you unlock for a sector.

@joe

Glad it helped.

[Space Borders]

Have just played one of the most difficult CM sectors, using only the main fleet. It was extremely difficult. Lost a fully ranked Cerberus, several Centaurs and the Aegaeon (also fully ranked) had only 18% health left. ;D

A few problems:

- Right now the alien factories never stop producing and hence the map would fill up with units (just a matter of time). Will have to think of a smart way to limit the units (either per factory, or overall in the game), probably taking unit types into consideration.

- Due to the immense number of active units, some devices may suffer (mainly the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 & iPod touch 4th gen). When testing it on the iPhone 4S at maximum quality, there were no detectable performance issues. In case you have any performance problems, there will be a performance slider in the settings. Even at maximum performance the effects still look nice.

I'll keep you updated!

[Space Borders]

More news about the gameplay:

In order to conquer a sector, you have to destroy the alien HQ. The alien HQ remains hidden until you have destroyed all alien reactors. Taking out reactors will also reduce productivity of any nearby factories.

[Clinkzbone]

"Right now the alien factories never stop producing and hence the map would fill up with units (just a matter of time). Will have to think of a smart way to limit the units (either per factory, or overall in the game), probably taking unit types into consideration."

Have a limit like 12 fighters, 6 carriers, 8 Corvettes, 4 Battle Cruisers, etc.?

Factories build random units, with each unit taking a different amount of time to build. If that kind of unit has already reached the max number, it builds a different unit.

[Clinkzbone]

Also:
"More news about the gameplay:

In order to conquer a sector, you have to destroy the alien HQ. The alien HQ remains hidden until you have destroyed all alien reactors. Taking out reactors will also reduce productivity of any nearby factories."


Why? What if we just want to rush in and make the base explode and finish the mission?

Well maybe make the base like the hidden ship. Only visible by Eyeball v1.0. So if we take the time to find the base, we can rush the base and destroy it fast. But maybe keep the factories around and so the enemy will get to use them again if they retake the sector to help with production. Or have small sector-internal raids by units from those remaining factories. This way there's a disadvantage to just rushing the base.

Although all this might just be too complicated

[Space Borders]

Yeah that's pretty much what I had in mind. An absolute maximum for the factories altogether.

The thing is that I don't want players to rush the HQ, it would be too easy. Even the difficult sectors could be beaten easily, given this opportunity.

"But maybe keep the factories around and so the enemy will get to use them again if they retake the sector to help with production."

Yeah, that would justify it somehow, but it would also require storing a lot of additional information about every sector. Anyway, I'm sure the EDF would dismantle the alien space stations in their absence.

"Or have small sector-internal raids by units from those remaining factories."

That would be hard to fit in the turn-based nature of the CM universe. When would these raids occur exactly? Anyway, it would yield the same problem: having to store lots and lots of extra info about every sector.

Currently conquering a sector looks like this:
1 - Take out all reactors (or all stations).
2 - Take out the HQ.
3 - Allow the construction of a new EDF HQ, by protecting the construction ship and structure.

Perhaps we can place some of the reactors at isolated locations. That way you won't have to engage all factories to destroy the reactors...