an idea on getting the crew to stay together

if there's currently only four players max why not have "classes" so for example only one player can pilot the ship, one can fire weapons or drive the vehicle one can repair and one can heal/use the medical equipment, and obviously less players means that the classes or uses of the other unused character just gets merged with the ones still playing so the pilot becomes a medic as well, thus no one will want to be left behind as it means a quarter of the ship or what you can do is now unusable. (then add in things like during your character creation you can select your preferred job or rank them so that depending if that jobs taken you then slot into the next available)

how ever on that topic of group play i personally think trying to force people to work together tends to narrow the market of who will buy it, people will do what they want to do and if they cant they wont get it, and yet when you give them the option of doing what ever you want people tend to group together, i will use mine craft as an example the world is huge and you don't need help from others to doing anything and yet if people join your game or you join them you instinctively stay near them and help each other out. trying to force experiences because you cant leave this persons side make them less wow and makes them feel almost scripted, thats my personally opinion any way, i will still most likely get this game. as i cant find any where else coming close to this epic idea

I think that while it would it keep them together better, it takes away the player freedom that it achieved by this game. Group play is already fortified by a decision made in a another post which talks about the mechanics of the inventory, I won't go into it but in short it does limit you to only carry one "class" of things, but still gives you the freedom to change if needed. Players are already forced to stay together through a series of mechanics which help force the players to stay within the same area.

P.S. Welcome to the forums!

You can play wayfarer however you like, you can play it solo if you don't want help from others, but I always think games are better when you can share your experience with friends.

We never considered a class system, and we've designed the game to avoid the typical class system right from the start. People should be allowed to do whatever they want to do in a game and learn and develop their skills however they wish.

For example, I hate it when you want to be a medic...but your not allowed to use snipers effectively because your not a recon...your a retarded medic who can't shoot for shite.

In our thinking...you can train up in medic, and if you so desire, get good with snipers...

Nothings forcing you to UNLEARN one thing to become good in another. As humans, you learn and advance in multiple areas. If you neglect something long enough you get rusty...like if you haven't played a piano in about 5 years your going to need to practice again.

Our mechanics are sort of like this...it's a big, giant...hidden...skill tree, you don't pick and choose which branches you want to follow, it recognises what your doing and makes you better at it over time. It's an experimental thing we're trying...

i think the class and level based systems are generally horrible for role playing and co-op games...

elder scrolls games does have a skill based system that i think works great (excepting the levels - those are *blip*), doing specific tasks makes you better at them and if they had added some kind of training methods so that a character could practise being a doctor or medic (by reading books fx) spending some spare time between tasks, but from what i gather this is a kind to what you are intending on...

At some point I also toyed with the idea of able to 'Teach' or 'Mentor' other players. E.g, if your and excellent medic or engineer, other players who are less experienced can join your game and benefit from your company.

E.g if you want to get better at engineering, if you repair things while an expert engineer is standing next to you, you will gain an experience boost.

I thought it was a nice idea, that I may implement, also add's to RP'ing and encourages people to allow strangers into they're game for mentoring. Maybe you'd even demand some money for your services? Heh.

that does sound like a great idea

Yeah, that does sound cool

Marrowmatt wrote:Nothings forcing you to UNLEARN one thing to become good in another. As humans, you learn and advance in multiple areas. If you neglect something long enough you get rusty...like if you haven't played a piano in about 5 years your going to need to practice again.

Our mechanics are sort of like this...it's a big, giant...hidden...skill tree, you don't pick and choose which branches you want to follow, it recognises what your doing and makes you better at it over time. It's an experimental thing we're trying...

This sounds interesting, but also demands a bit more explanation...

Will improving a certain skill unlock some kind of extra "active" abilities, or do you intend to keep it more similar to Star Point Gemini 2, where the program keeps track of what you are doing and unlocks certain passive boosts for things you have done frequently?

As an example, if you smuggle contraband onto a planet often enough in SPG2, there is a passive chance to avoid detection of contraband when getting scanned which improves when you smuggle stuff more often. To put that in a Wayfarers context, you would for example get more raw materials out of a mineral node when mining frequently, or do more damage/have greater accuracy with the gun of your choice.
The other path would be to unlock things like "special attacks" for weapons or allowing you to mine higher grade ores only after you've exploited enough lower grade deposits. Suffice to say, I dislike that approach quite a bit. "You must be THIS SMART to mine titanium oxide, come back after banging 100 copper deposits" is annoying at the best of times.
It's the Future™ after all, so my iRock Drill™ should be able to extract whatever is there when I find it. Same with the iShoot U™ operating properly straight out of the box, and not unlocking things like, say, the scope or the fire selector only after 500 successful shots.

Indeed Hardenburg, with the "perk" system, when you advance in a certain skill up to its maximum level some of the perks will grant you new abilities such as a medic being able to revive downed comrades on the field rather than having to do it on the ship.

and yes the previous levels will usually grant improvements to your stats ie speed/accuracy