Starcraft 2 -like production view

[Dominus_Noctis]

posted on January 26th, 2011, 11:49 pm

Last edited by Dominus_Noctis on January 27th, 2011, 12:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

Since you responded so quickly ...


   Could I ask if it's possible to add a production view like Starcraft 2 has for observers?  Is that even a possibility in a perfect world?

Dom edit: split from Star Trek Armada II: Fleet Operations - Observer research to aid in people finding what the topic is actually about.

posted on January 26th, 2011, 11:53 pm

   Could I ask if it's possible to add a production view like Starcraft 2 has for observers?  Is that even a possibility in a perfect world?

can u describe that for those of us who havnt played SC2?

observers can currently see what players are building.

they can also see which structures they have that permit ships, if they could see research they would know what ships can be made.

posted on January 26th, 2011, 11:56 pm

It basically shows how many resources are used per second I believe (the pop cap in SC2), which units are being built, and I believe how many units are on the field... I think

posted on January 27th, 2011, 12:12 am

res per second used for fleetops wouldnt be possible or handy since fleetops uses upfront payment for everything.

in total annihilation where resources were mined and used dynamically (ie always per second) it could be important.

i dont know if starcraft uses an upfront or dynamic resource system.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 12:32 am

I didn't ask if it was handy.  I asked if it was possible. 

posted on January 27th, 2011, 12:35 am

I didn't ask if it was handy.  I asked if it was possible. 

hmm id figure it would be difficult. since to get res used per second it would need to calculate the total res spent from start, then divide by seconds since start. the statistic would change every time res was spent. it would slowly decrease as time went on, then spike up as something is spent, then repeat.

i dont see why it cant be coded, just i dont see the benefits either.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 12:35 am

Everything is probably possible given enough time - never say never when thinking about Fleet Ops  :innocent:

Resources per second could be useful if there was a "resources gained versus resources lost per second" thingie.

How many units on the field, how many production yards would be interesting.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 12:40 am

Resources per second could be useful if there was a "resources gained versus resources lost per second" thingie.

it would start off very negative, and creep up toward 0 every game. since u start off with free bundles of every resource to spend. at the start u spend way more than gathered, then throughout the game your resources should stay low as you build stuff. occasionally u save up for a yard. but you should nearly always have spent more than gathered in a game.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 1:59 am

Myles you're missing the point.  Resources per second is a moving average, especially useful in Starcraft because it indicates the number of miners actually working.

Fleet ops has fewer miners, but it would still be an incredibly useful function.  In order to get a moving average you would have to send a "notification" whenever a miner is unloading.  Another part of the program would catch these notifications and average them together with perhaps the last 30 seconds (or whatever amount of time it takes for three miners to make a standard mining cycle)

This gives the observer a quick summary of how many miners are in action at any given time.  Obviously if miners are killed the number takes a few seconds to average down to the player's new income, but it keeps a less erratic and more accurate picture of a player's economy.

Fleet reporting could be done through some sort of power number (for example [Offense+Defense+System/2] or [Dicost+Tricost+Supplycost*4]).  The game keeps a running total of the ships and reports this number as an "Army Strength" estimate.  Ship losses could be added and reported in a similar way.

Armada 2 already sorta kinda has this system, for use with scoring players in the admiral's log, but it has never reached its true potential.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 2:29 am

SC2 is indeed an upfront system.

posted on January 27th, 2011, 9:49 am

yep, we are working on more usability features we we speak.. chat

posted on January 27th, 2011, 12:34 pm

@tryptic, a simple count of how many miners are mining would be useful, thats different from what i'm saying wouldnt be helpful tho.