Q+A Madness - October 2017

Tecton

Hi Everyone,

Going to be spend today answering as many questions as possible! Got a question? Post it up!

Note: While I'll try to give as much detail and information as possible, there are still systems that are not in a final state, or we may want for that to be a surprise for when you guys play the game - so apologies in advance if you don't get as much detail as you'd like!

Jerom

Can't remember if this was asked before but... will every B.E.A.S.T. have access to the same weapons or will there be room for customization? What I mean is will they all have a minigun, missile launcher, railgun, etc. or will they have to choose between which ones they want? Like when Tears of Polaris was in development, they had this idea with Mutants. Mutants had 'mutation points' and you could spend them to grow claws and thick skin, but someone else could choose to spend them on tentacles (don't ask) and wings. And I thought this was awesome and I'd love the same idea for the B.E.A.S.T.

Tecton

Jerom said:

Can't remember if this was asked before but... will every B.E.A.S.T. have access to the same weapons or will there be room for customization? What I mean is will they all have a minigun, missile launcher, railgun, etc. or will they have to choose between which ones they want? Like when Tears of Polaris was in development, they had this idea with Mutants. Mutants had 'mutation points' and you could spend them to grow claws and thick skin, but someone else could choose to spend them on tentacles (don't ask) and wings. And I thought this was awesome and I'd love the same idea for the B.E.A.S.T.

BEASTs have customisable loadout, you have different mounting points on your suit that you can fit different weapons!

Coenzyme

What can you tell us about the crafting tradeskill system? How similar will it be to the other ire games? 

Tecton

Coenzyme said:

What can you tell us about the crafting tradeskill system? How similar will it be to the other ire games? 

We'll have two types of tradeskills when we launch:

Custom design skills which are similar to those in our other games, which allow you to custom design an item (clothing, food etc.). We've coded this up from scratch to be a lot more streamlined for crafters, meaning a lot less steps to make an item.

Item creation skills which will allow you to research and create specific items in various areas. We've got a very cool system for learning new items here, where you reverse engineer items to learn how to make it yourself. This is a great way to differentiate yourself from other crafters, and rewards people dedicated to their craft, as they'll be able to create items that others can not!

Xiru

How easy will it be to get into crafting at launch?

Xiru

What is a feature we're going to be excited about but don't even know to ask about yet?

Tecton

Syaja said:

How easy will it be to get into crafting at launch?

Crafting will be simple to get into at launch. We're likely going to have your first tradeskill slot unlock at a reasonably low level.

Tecton

Syaja said:

What is a feature we're going to be excited about but don't even know to ask about yet?

Hrrm, that's a tough one, I think the PVE and the PVP systems are going to be well liked. We're trying to really push an "easy to learn, more difficult to master" approach, so that there's not a massive learning curve to pick it up, but there skilled play will help put you above the masses.

Meder

This is a very open-ended question, so feel free to answer how you see fit, but I was wondering what sort of mechanics' features will really separate Starmourn from other IRE titles? (As I've noticed they each have their own unique stamp on the Rapture engine.) I'm super excited for hacking, but what can we look forward to in terms of the gameplay that isn't just a radical change in setting? 

Thanks a bunch!

Tecton

Meder said:

This is a very open-ended question, so feel free to answer how you see fit, but I was wondering what sort of mechanics' features will really separate Starmourn from other IRE titles? (As I've noticed they each have their own unique stamp on the Rapture engine.) I'm super excited for hacking, but what can we look forward to in terms of the gameplay that isn't just a radical change in setting? 

Thanks a bunch!

Hrrm, let's seeeeee:

• Very reduced differentiation between players and NPCs, all abilities and skills work against both equally.
• No complex curing systems required/needed.
• Great from-scratch quest management system that is a lot easier than anything available in the IRE sphere.
• Mob dialogue options/trees are available to aide in interactions/questing etc.
• Gear differentiation - vast array of items can drop from NPCs that you can use.
• The space flight system will be a step-up from people familiar with IRE ships/aetherships. 

annys

How big is this "built from the ground up" rapture revamp, or whatever you want to call it?

Are the changes so much that we wouldn't even recognize similarities with the other IREs? What will be the same?

Tecton

annys said:

How big is this "built from the ground up" rapture revamp, or whatever you want to call it?

Are the changes so much that we wouldn't even recognize similarities with the other IREs? What will be the same?

We're definitely trying to keep things familiar (basic syntaxes and common system interactions) for those who have played IRE games, don't worry! We're not going to change what works! In most cases we've streamlined and improved things, rather than radically changing them. In situations where things are pretty different, we've tried to include the "traditional" IRE syntax as a valid way of interacting!

Tecton

Also to expand on this, we've tried to consolidate most things under a single root command, and every root command has an extensive syntax. Cant remember the commands to do something with messages? Just type MESSAGE and you'll see:

> MESSAGE
Reading Messages
----------------
MSG(S)                        See a list of messages.
LABEL <label>                 Messages with a specified label.
MSG(S) UNREAD                 Unread messages only.
MSG(S) FROM <person|SYSTEM>   Find messages by sender.
MSG(S) MATCHING <what>        Find messages containing the text.
MSG(S) [READ] <#>             Read a specific message.
MSG(S) READ NEXT              Read the next unread message (RM for short).
MSG(S) READ LAST              Read the last message (RL for short).
Sending and Managing Messages
------------------------------
MSG(S) <person> <text>        Send a message.
You may also MMSG [person1, person2, ...]  to send a group message.
MSG(S) PRESERVE <#>           Protect one of your messages from deletion.
MSG(S) UNPRESERVE <#>         Free a message up for deletion.
MSG(S) LABEL <#> <label>      Apply a label to a message.
MSG(S) DELETE <#>             Delete a single message.
MSG(S) DELETE ALL             Delete unpreserved, unlabeled messages.
MSG(S) DELETE <label>         Deletes unpreserved messages of a label.

Logonkha

Apart from BEAST suit-tech, will clothing have any benefit to combat (or any benefit to any other mechanic?)

As it seems that the released races seemed to have achieved spaceflight at some point, is it possible we are going to encounter pre-tech civilizations in our adventures?

Are we going to have books/e-readers/suchlike?  Things to write on so other players can read them.  Or is this going to go the route of holocords? Accompanying bookshelves/databases to store/access them?

Zion

Can we have any information about the mining system? Please?

Qitorien

I think the most important question is how will players from other games console themselves when the awesomeness that is Starmourn is launched?

but more seriously:
We’ve gotten used to IRE geography being grand scale and large, even epic. How will the geography of Starmourn feel? Considering it’s an entire galactic (if that’s the word I want) sector with many, many planets, it feels like it should be huge, though I hope it all still feels as accessible as possible.

Qitorien

I’m using different posts for different types of questions. I hope that makes sense. 
On crafting, I would love to see a type of skill set that is unlocked or enhanced gradually by use of that skill set. Can we expect that at some point, even if not at launch?

TNA

Is weaponry/blasters a separate general skill than class skills? Like can a BEAST use a blaster rifle or a vibroblade? If so will they be able to be used in conjunction with class skills if applicable? Vibroblade slash and BEAST plasma ray on the same "balance"?

Tecton

Logonkha said:

Apart from BEAST suit-tech, will clothing have any benefit to combat (or any benefit to any other mechanic?)

As it seems that the released races seemed to have achieved spaceflight at some point, is it possible we are going to encounter pre-tech civilizations in our adventures?

Are we going to have books/e-readers/suchlike?  Things to write on so other players can read them.  Or is this going to go the route of holocords? Accompanying bookshelves/databases to store/access them?

Clothing won't have any tangible effect apart from how faaaabulous you look to others.

It is possible you might encounter some lowly race who does not possess the requisite mental capabilities to achieve spaceflight. 

Books are so prehistoric! You will have written items in the form of datashards. You can link your datashards to other players mindsims to allow them to read the contents for a limited or unlimited amount of time.

Tecton

Zion said:

Can we have any information about the mining system? Please?

We don't have any firm details on that system as yet!

Tecton

Qitorien said:

I think the most important question is how will players from other games console themselves when the awesomeness that is Starmourn is launched?

but more seriously:
We’ve gotten used to IRE geography being grand scale and large, even epic. How will the geography of Starmourn feel? Considering it’s an entire galactic (if that’s the word I want) sector with many, many planets, it feels like it should be huge, though I hope it all still feels as accessible as possible.

That's definitely a real issue with planets being so compartmentalised and requiring traversal between. While space flight is available to everyone in the game, we definitely don't want it to be a drag to move between planets. Something we're keeping an eye on!

Tecton

Qitorien said:

I’m using different posts for different types of questions. I hope that makes sense. 
On crafting, I would love to see a type of skill set that is unlocked or enhanced gradually by use of that skill set. Can we expect that at some point, even if not at launch?

No plans for anything like that at this stage, sorry!

Laxnarl

Any info on the fifth class yet?

Tecton

TNA said:

Is weaponry/blasters a separate general skill than class skills? Like can a BEAST use a blaster rifle or a vibroblade? If so will they be able to be used in conjunction with class skills if applicable? Vibroblade slash and BEAST plasma ray on the same "balance"?

For launch, we'll likely just have weapons be limited to just the options available to your class. We do have plans to open this up to have more freeform weapon use, but it won't be as effective as using your class skills. As we only have one form of "balance" it's very unlikely that you'll be able to combo non-class actions with your class abilities.

Tecton

Laxnarl said:

Any info on the fifth class yet?

We'll be doing a post about that in the coming weeks with concept art and all the frills!

Qitorien

Will there be exploration ranks and benefits? I rather liked how MkO did it though weariness from walking got a bit tiresome.

Tecton

Qitorien said:

Will there be exploration ranks and benefits? I rather liked how MkO did it though weariness from walking got a bit tiresome.

Certainly are exploration ranks! No mechanical benefits for ranking up at this stage, but there will be some rewards!

TNA

Player shops? Or will it be a digital market?

Tecton

TNA said:

Player shops? Or will it be a digital market?

Shops will exist as digital shopfronts, yes.

Qitorien

Someone (not me) wanted to know if s/he will be able to marry him-/herself (not me myself...I swear.) As a follow up, will there be any mechanical changes or benefits for marriage/civil union?

also, I just realized the unintentional pun I made with my previous post...I wish it had been intentional, lol.