Will Galactic Starfighter ever be PVE?

[gorstram]

It won't be anywhere in the near future, because the space devs are too pants-on-head retarded to develop a 3D AI. Maybe if someone robs them of their additional chromosome, they can start working on it in earnest.

[TheSupaCoopa]

Shorter answer is yes. PvEers outnumber PvPers 10 to 1. Content will get guided to where the most money is at. All PvPers have right now is a timed exclusive, regardless of what the devs may *currently* indicate. They'll be busy adding more content to actually make Galactic Starfighter worth a PvEers time before announcing it, that's all. PvPers are easier to please in the short term ( you don't need "content", you only need another person to hit ), that's the only reason you have it aimed at you first.

 

It's a very hard thing to make an "AI" that navigates a 3D space like GS's maps. I would love to see it, but I don't think the engine can handle it.

[TheSupaCoopa]

It won't be anywhere in the near future, because the space devs are too pants-on-head retarded to develop a 3D AI. Maybe if someone robs them of their additional chromosome, they can start working on it in earnest.

 

Duran'del Here:

I'd like to see you try to make an AI system that functions in both planetary 3D and Space 3D. lol.

[jimbothirtytwo]

What I could see eventually happening is GSF being integrated with FP's/Ops. For instance, a FP like Hammer Station - maybe your first objective could be destroying some turrets or fighters to clear the way for your assault team's shuttle to land. I think something like that has a lot more interesting potential than a full-on GSF FP or Op. Think the opening scene of EpIII. Edited December 8, 2013 by jimbothirtytwo

[Rafaman]

Would love to see it personally. But the burning question is how much forklifting to the current game would be required to make it so?

 

Yup. This is the crux of it. I think the current success indicates that people are interested. This new type of game play as PvE could go a long way in maintaining and increasing subs not to mention what it could mean to f2p and CM revenue.

 

So... yes, we are back to the question regarding the difficulty in creating a viable AI for PvE play. But with ship specialization and the possibility of multiplayer fps or OPs in space, I think it would be a fantastic addition.

 

One thing that bodes well is the increased competition from new releases in the coming year. This game needs to continue to differentiate itself from others. Story has been the cornerstone. The improvement in Ops aka raids hase also been significant. Now, we are just getting a taste of what space could be. Perhaps... the overall plan now will include improvements and the growth of Galactic Starfighter and logically PvE game play would be a part of that.

[Andryah]

Yup. This is the crux of it. I think the current success indicates that people are interested. This new type of game play as PvE could go a long way in maintaining and increasing subs not to mention what it could mean to f2p and CM revenue.

 

So... yes, we are back to the question regarding the difficulty in creating a viable AI for PvE play. But with ship specialization and the possibility of multiplayer fps or OPs in space, I think it would be a fantastic addition.

 

One thing that bodes well is the increased competition from new releases in the coming year. This game needs to continue to differentiate itself from others. Story has been the cornerstone. The improvement in Ops aka raids hase also been significant. Now, we are just getting a taste of what space could be. Perhaps... the overall plan now will include improvements and the growth of Galactic Starfighter and logically PvE game play would be a part of that.

 

As I have commented in other threads.... just pretend the opposing players are faceless NPCs with really good AI (in most cases, except for Darth Homer Simpson )

 

Since it is all ship on ship fighting.. it's not that much of a stretch to just role play as though your opponents are in game NPCs.

[Elyx]

I think the reason they indicated there are no "current plans" is simply because the MMO forum communities tend to like making mountains out of molehills. So they are always on the pessimistic side when it comes to releasing info. that being said, I think this initial release is to get a feel for the communities response.

 

If more peeps are interested in more gameplay, then they'll add more. simple as that. I thought the fighter PvP was a great idea. I'm not a fan of mixing PvP and PvE, so having PvP a separate "mini-game" IMO is the best solution period.

 

PvE? could take allot of work. It would be fun to see...but id like more of an exploration kind of addition, and they seem bent on instancing everything. but i wouldn't argue with a PvE aspect for it at all. id love to build a ship like i build my PvE toon. fly manually from planet to planet. picking random hyperspace jumps with unknown planets out there to explore...

 

Sounds fun. cost prohibitive, but fun. either way, im glad space combat is here. got the right kind of PvP in the game Now we need some PvE attention...lots of adjustments to make in classes right now.

[Gavin_Kelvar]

I must admit that, prior to GSF I never played PvP and had no interest in trying. With GSF I tried my first PvP and while there are some flaws (IMO anyway) I overall like it and I'm fine with them keeping it PvP only, I'd keep playing it. Personally, and this from a PvEer, unless they came up with some mind blowing missions in PvE I'd probably stick to PvP GSF over PvE GSF.

 

As long as they keep maps coming (as in actual content, not CM ships or yet another upgrade barely distinguishable from the last) I expect to be playing GSF for a long time to come.

[HoboWithAStick]

I'm going to say it will never happen. Just for the reason they will never dedicate the staff to crank out pve space and pve ground. They have enough trouble doing pvp and pve for the game as is, this "expansion" seems to be trying to grab a little bit of market away from World of warplanes. When you start this thing up the first thing you will notice is how similar the business model for GSF is compared too WOP. While GSF is pretty fun, there is not allot there right now so anyone they pull in to try it is most likely going to get bored very fast playing the same thing over and over and leave.

 

So unless a ton of people start playing this thing I doubt we will be seeing anything more then the other maps they already have ready to go.

 

The good news is they have a lot of potential to make money off of GSF. GSF targets the casual audience, people that might not have enough time to grind out all the parts they want but might have enough money to pay for them. If you haven't played GSF its not pay to win at all, its pay to level faster or should I say pay to claim xp. Being that Dailies give you XP for all ships players have potential to spend a ton of money to level what they actually want.

 

But I'm sure PVE ships would be totally different then the pvp ones and I'm sure a ship progression wouldn't work the same. This means they would have to monetize pve someway different then pvp and would most likely have to resort to customization which would be cool but wouldn't make as much money which also means its probably not going to happen.

 

So unless there is a way for them to make allot of money off of doing space PVE I'm going to say it won't happen.

[DarthMaulUK]

GS is a way to remove the tie between PvP and PvE that is doing so much damage to class trees, abilities and damage when compared to the ground game.

 

That's probably why they have done this. There is already PvE on the rails shooter.

[CKHelseth]

GS is a way to remove the tie between PvP and PvE that is doing so much damage to class trees, abilities and damage when compared to the ground game.

 

This is a good point. No balancing issues leaving classes unfixed for one game mode for fear of imbalance in the other with GS.

[ShadowMudkip]

I believe they will add PVE space content. However, a flashpoint or operation type piece of content is going to be much farther down the road.

[sosolidshoe]

You're right about ground pve. Simple scripts can work for single boss-based fights that happen in 2D environments, in a limited space. Switching to a 3D combat, with a faster pace and larger areas, is not trivial for the AI (if you don't want PVE space combat to be just a fight against a big ship with turrets)

 

Yes, it's so non-trivial that it was available in 1997 running on PCs with 32mb of RAM and a 166MHz processor

 

Then there's the elephant in the room; Jump to Lightspeed, ie "the proof that it can be done in an MMO". By SOE no less, who were hardly the most competent game programmers at the time.

 

Programming a combat AI to account for a third dimension and "twitch" combat is obviously more involved than your bog-standard if>then scripted encounter in a world with a fixed Z-axis, but this idea that it's IMPOSIBRU! and beyond EAware's meager means is ridiculous.

 

I mean fer feck's sake these four guys have apparently managed to build a massive procedurally-generated first-person exploration game that features seamless transition from walking to atmospheric flight to space flight, one in which "every star in the night sky is another solar system to explore". Making a few large space "zones" and populating them with vaguely intelligent NPCs to shoot at, or designing a handful of smaller heavily scripted PvE encounters, these are hardly titanic projects by comparison, and if EAware have less than four devs still working on the game we're in trouble.

Edited December 9, 2013 by sosolidshoe

[TOR-tanic]

PvE is garbage, lol.

[ShadowMudkip]

If they ever do space PVE, it would be akin to something like the battlefront 2 space maps. Where you can fly and do space, then land in the enemies ship and do ground combat.

[Rafaman]

If they ever do space PVE, it would be akin to something like the battlefront 2 space maps. Where you can fly and do space, then land in the enemies ship and do ground combat.

 

It would be a good combination. But I would like strictly fps and Ops in space... but yeah, that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

[mandrillagon]

Shorter answer is yes. PvEers outnumber PvPers 10 to 1. Content will get guided to where the most money is at. All PvPers have right now is a timed exclusive, regardless of what the devs may *currently* indicate. They'll be busy adding more content to actually make Galactic Starfighter worth a PvEers time before announcing it, that's all. PvPers are easier to please in the short term ( you don't need "content", you only need another person to hit ), that's the only reason you have it aimed at you first.

 

 

Thank you for speaking up for the silent majority and well said.

[DarthNyquil]

Yes, it's so non-trivial that it was available in 1997 running on PCs with 32mb of RAM and a 166MHz processor

 

Then there's the elephant in the room; Jump to Lightspeed, ie "the proof that it can be done in an MMO". By SOE no less, who were hardly the most competent game programmers at the time.

 

Programming a combat AI to account for a third dimension and "twitch" combat is obviously more involved than your bog-standard if>then scripted encounter in a world with a fixed Z-axis, but this idea that it's IMPOSIBRU! and beyond EAware's meager means is ridiculous.

 

I mean fer feck's sake these four guys have apparently managed to build a massive procedurally-generated first-person exploration game that features seamless transition from walking to atmospheric flight to space flight, one in which "every star in the night sky is another solar system to explore". Making a few large space "zones" and populating them with vaguely intelligent NPCs to shoot at, or designing a handful of smaller heavily scripted PvE encounters, these are hardly titanic projects by comparison, and if EAware have less than four devs still working on the game we're in trouble.

 

Thanks. I didn't know about that project. Pardon me while I wipe away my drool.

[Reno_Tarshil]

Answer: Yes!

 

When: Soon

[Unchosen]

I wish it could be soon but I think it's a couple years away if possible at all.

[YanksfanJP]

I dont think it would work as PVE. It would be dreadfully boring.

 

X-Wing, Tie-Fighter and X-Wing vs. Tie-Fighter were great PvE games outside of the online multiplayer PvP modes. I doubt that they would be boring.

 

It would be a nice addition eventually, but I don't see them doing it for a while

[kirorx]

Great, now we will have more SSSP rumors that this is not the final space update and there is some SSSP part 2 for PvE, next we will be hearing from the chat bubbles hopefuls and the chair sitting enthusiasts.

[Brimmer]

The short answer is, not it will never be PVE. This expansion is PVP only.

 

This expansion is only partly released. They were going to have PVE content although they had issues with the AI's behaviors within a 3D environment. Thus the expansion was released with only PVP content. We will likely see PVE content when they figure out how to fix the issues.

[TrooperRCH]

Shorter answer is yes. PvEers outnumber PvPers 10 to 1. Content will get guided to where the most money is at. All PvPers have right now is a timed exclusive, regardless of what the devs may *currently* indicate. .

 

LOL! 10 to 1? Do you have any stats to back that up? I queue for WZs and it pops in minutes. I queue for FPs and it could take hours.

[Vhaegrant]

I think if the developers are creative they can make the current Galactic Starfighter appeal to both the PvP and PvE crowd at the same time.

 

Essentially with the Domination mode at the moment the key objectives - destroying static turrets and capturing satellites - can be seen as PvE content while the dogfighting can be seen as PvP content.

 

I know my preference is for completing the objectives rather than getting sucked into dogfights.

I've found the jump from the ground based interface to the free flight mouse controlled interface to be pretty big but now I've put a bit of time into getting a hang of the interfaces foibles and learning the strong points and weak points of the ships it's really enjoyable.

 

It will be interesting to see how the game develops with the inclusion of more maps, game modes and ship types (stealth and bomber, not available at this time due to balance issues).

 

I could imagine 'civil war' style mode, a stand off between two capital ships with the players aiding their team by taking down turrets and shield generators on the opposing side. Again taking down the objectives is a PvE centric activity while dogfighting is there for the PvP crowd.

 

The harder part of creating game modes that appeal to both PvE and PvP gamers alike is making sure that the teams have a reasonable balance of both.

 

To be honest though, I spent a lot of time in my youth playing space sims such as Elite, Frontier, Wing Commander, Privateer, Descent, Freespace, Freelancer, and of course the series of Star Wars related space sims - X-wing, Tie Fighter, X-Wing vs Tie fighter and X-wing Alliance.

 

In comparison the dogfights you got into were rather dull, the difficulty was established by placing far more targets for you to destroy. The satisfaction in GS from actually getting a kill (or more likely causing you target to self-destruct) is a lot higher than taking down 30 computer AI drones.

 

I think my transition from having an active dislike of the ground based PvP scene into liking the space based PvP scene is largely due to the fact that they have put in at least one game mode that allows you to largely ignore the other player controlled ships and get on with taking down PvE like objectives.