Galactic Starfighter changes in 3.0?

[Deewe]

Correct, and you can do that now. You can convert joystick to mouse at the OS. It's not at all like the power and connectivity of a real joystick.

 

Look, I go out of my way to go into every joystick thread and tell them "sorry, no", along with "look seriously the mouse is a good control". I have THREE friends IRL who all played the only X-Wing / TIE Fighter games and all of them ONLY asked "does it have joystick" when I brought up GSF. I would love joystick controls myself- they are the best.

 

I just know it won't happen. The game wasn't designed for it, and it would make a big difference requiring a lot of testing.

 

 

 

 

I don't understand how you can think this. GSF is literally the reason I log in.

 

 

 

That's a whole game itself, but...

 

This game is based largely on the X-Wing games. No, it doesn't have the bug eye radar or the in depth stuff there, or the full 3D projectile engine, but it DOES have engine, shield, and blaster management, and it does have solid controls. It is definitely inspired by all those old great games. It also has a great variety of ships and just so very much depth.

 

 

I just am puzzled how some SWTOR players who LIKE 3D flight aren't all about GSF. I get it for the players who aren't all about the space sim thing, but for those that are, I mean, this really offers a lot.

Hey Verain a good post.

 

Now, as much as I love space sims (even played I-War), I just can't stand GSF.

 

It's simply not a good space sim nor even a fair one. On every aspect former games are better than this.

We even have older games with better graphics...

 

What they should have done is either make it a very simple BattleFront system or something along what I mentioned above.

 

The design is wrong. Top that by the fact PvE and PvP game mechanics aren't even the same.

Any designer will tell you this is a total disaster, design wise.

 

Then I don't know what was the producer thinking but implementing this was a total waste of resources.

Which was so obvious from start because not only you're going to disappoint space sim fans but also not cater the casual players at all.

 

Finally we don't need numbers to see the system is a failure, regarding how few they update (i.e. invest) GSF.

Edited October 11, 2014 by Deewe

[Verain]

They don't update pvp and barely update pve- I doubt that's the issue.

[btbarrett]

Has there been any confirmation or further updates on whether the comm reward changes specified earlier were actually going to go into effect?

[LucasEighty]

I just am puzzled how some SWTOR players who LIKE 3D flight aren't all about GSF. I get it for the players who aren't all about the space sim thing, but for those that are, I mean, this really offers a lot.

ill sum it up for ya

 

People dont like to fly with a mouse as its inferior (theres a reason planes dont come with a mouse for controls) the fact they added special ability buttons for what are basic maneuvers in other flight sims suggests bioware were actually aware of this

 

although most have been turned off gsf for good, if it were given 2 things i would play it regulary

 

1. An option for fixed crosshair so steering my ship also aims my ship (as it is in every other flight sim in exsistence)

 

2. Controlpad support

 

These were asked for by the vast majority before gsf launched, the devs chose to ignore the requests, well as gsf is now averaging 1 server wide pop per month perhaps they are willing to listen now

[Salaviir]

 

 

I just am puzzled how some SWTOR players who LIKE 3D flight aren't all about GSF. I get it for the players who aren't all about the space sim thing, but for those that are, I mean, this really offers a lot.

 

 

It is bit of a surreal sensation to make your way to Star Citizen forums and see how the more MMO-aligned people there are all busy day dreaming of a game that is pretty much 1:1 to what SW:TOR with GSF is.

 

For a game withing a game, almost everything in GSF is surprisingly balanced and sophisticated. It sure as heck feels more balanced and functional than actual ground PvP in SW:TOR, heh.

 

How something so unique gets so little attention puzzles me. Besides some semi-recent fan patches to Freespace, I can't think of a modern AA(A) video game that'd even share genre with GSF. Despite being highly promising, Elite feels too Newtonian to count in my books.

 

For me personally, the flight engine of GSF is a perfect middle ground between bit more arcade designs (Wing Commander, Freespace, X-w vs Tie) and something that'd be too Newtonian for it's own good. (Elite)

 

I can't imagine pad or joystick ever really working for GSF without significant alterations to everything underneath it's hood. At any rate, managing a controller solution where pad, joystick and mouse+keyboard would ALL feel good, right and functional sounds damn near impossible. On the other hand, situation where superior performance would pretty much require a joystick would make GSF wither; Precious small amount of people own good joysticks anymore. It'd ensure GSF is even more hostile towards new players.

 

I can't think of a single thing my performance, immersion or fun factor would gain if I used my Xbone pad instead of m+kb.

 

It has been a very pleasant and unlikely surprise to see how activity of GSF(at least on my home server ProteEU) has been in steady increase for a while now. Despite Bioware's best efforts, more and more people are discovering how awesome GSF is. It deserves more love.

 

For months now, SW:TOR hasn't been an MMORPG among others but instead an absolutely unique, incredibly luxurious 200 million dollar waiting lobby for GSF.

 

Only true failures Bioware did with GSF lay in their attempts at monetizing it i guess. Nothing sold for GSF in cash shop is anything people would actually want. Much of this has to do with their failure to integrate GSF with rest of the game world. Pilots don't have 'places to be' or quests to do. Pilots don't have much that'd help them to feel like pilots in-game. It'd be cool to have an actual hangar. Present, physical, visitable in game-world. One that has your own ships on display. That alone would motivate you to customize them.

Edited February 22, 2015 by Salaviir

[menofhorror]

It is bit of a surreal sensation to make your way to Star Citizen forums and see how the more MMO-aligned people there are all busy day dreaming of a game that is pretty much 1:1 to what SW:TOR with GSF is.

 

For a game withing a game, almost everything in GSF is surprisingly balanced and sophisticated. It sure as heck feels more balanced and functional than actual ground PvP in SW:TOR, heh.

 

How something so unique gets so little attention puzzles me. Besides some semi-recent fan patches to Freespace, I can't think of a modern AA(A) video game that'd even share genre with GSF. Despite being highly promising, Elite feels too Newtonian to count in my books.

 

For me personally, the flight engine of GSF is a perfect middle ground between bit more arcade designs (Wing Commander, Freespace, X-w vs Tie) and something that'd be too Newtonian for it's own good. (Elite)

 

I can't imagine pad or joystick ever really working for GSF without significant alterations to everything underneath it's hood. At any rate, managing a controller solution where pad, joystick and mouse+keyboard would ALL feel good, right and functional sounds damn near impossible. On the other hand, situation where superior performance would pretty much require a joystick would make GSF wither; Precious small amount of people own good joysticks anymore. It'd ensure GSF is even more hostile towards new players.

 

I can't think of a single thing my performance, immersion or fun factor would gain if I used my Xbone pad instead of m+kb.

 

It has been a very pleasant and unlikely surprise to see how activity of GSF(at least on my home server ProteEU) has been in steady increase for a while now. Despite Bioware's best efforts, more and more people are discovering how awesome GSF is. It deserves more love.

 

For months now, SW:TOR hasn't been an MMORPG among others but instead an absolutely unique, incredibly luxurious 200 million dollar waiting lobby for GSF.

 

Only true failures Bioware did with GSF lay in their attempts at monetizing it i guess. Nothing sold for GSF in cash shop is anything people would actually want. Much of this has to do with their failure to integrate GSF with rest of the game world. Pilots don't have 'places to be' or quests to do. Pilots don't have much that'd help them to feel like pilots in-game. It'd be cool to have an actual hangar. Present, physical, visitable in game-world. One that has your own ships on display. That alone would motivate you to customize them.

 

"to integrate GSF with rest of the game world." This is my personal problem why I simply have no interest in GSF.

[Papazmurf]

"to integrate GSF with rest of the game world." This is my personal problem why I simply have no interest in GSF.

 

Yeah this is simply one of those things where people wanted free space flight with no rails and Bioware did it in the quickest way they could. Now no one can complain that there isn't a quasi dogfight, free space simulator, because there is. It just kind of sucks and as mentioned above has no effect or appeal to anything else in the game. They did attempt to make it somewhat meaningful by attaching it to conquest (and those weeks GSF is a blast), but without making it a part of the main stories (which let's be real, is why most of the people are here) it just wasn't going to take off.

 

At least throw a bone and give it a ranked option with some unique rewards for our characters. There isn't even that.

[Aries_cz]

Yeah this is simply one of those things where people wanted free space flight with no rails and Bioware did it in the quickest way they could. Now no one can complain that there isn't a quasi dogfight, free space simulator, because there is. It just kind of sucks and as mentioned above has no effect or appeal to anything else in the game. They did attempt to make it somewhat meaningful by attaching it to conquest (and those weeks GSF is a blast), but without making it a part of the main stories (which let's be real, is why most of the people are here) it just wasn't going to take off.

 

At least throw a bone and give it a ranked option with some unique rewards for our characters. There isn't even that.

 

Probably not the quickest way (it took a long time), but in a way that fits more with the story driven environment of the game. Space trading simulators don§t really have much story to them, but attacking some important target does.

For example, I don't think that anybody wants to read/watch something about how Han was transporting gizka from Yavin to Coruscant, but much more people would be interesting in reading/watching something about how Han was in a space battle against Death Star.

 

But I am going to agree that more attachment to the story (we need to get to Yavin, but Revanites have a fleet in orbit that keeps our main forces at bay, get out there and blast a way through (begins a "PvE version" of GSF like the tutorial)) or ground stuff (hey, you mastered you ship, cool, here is a decoration and a pet of that ship) would help tremendously.

[Shwarzchild]

I've tried GSF to get conquest points, and being new to it I can tell everyone (from my experience only) a few things:

 

1) the graphics are gorgeous. I really liked the visuals.

 

2) The tutorial that is there does zero to prepare a new player for GSF. I found myself so very lost. I still find myself extremely lost, and I try to do at least the daily total per week because I do want to learn since I'm never getting my pve space stuff back. But yeah, I have been attempting GSF for maybe a few weeks, registered maybe zero kills and around 30 assists, and I just have zero idea what to do in it. There's no support anywhere in game that would prepare a player for the entire process. It's just simply not very fun for new players. With very little direction, I don't fault anyone for never trying to play GSF again after they gave it an initial go. I think because of the lack of initial support for new players GSF is legit the worst part of SWTOR.

 

3) Being a new player you shouldn't be up against veterans who have top gear. It's the same story as pvp went through which gave us the bolster system for what that is worth. There's almost no way a new player who has virtually no idea what to do, can destroy any ship outside of getting lucky with a few pew pews at an already horrible damaged enemy ship. Like I said I've literally never ever destroyed an enemy ship in it in my time so far.

 

My solution would be a separate ranking system for gsf. Almost like Halo had (they probably still do but I can't remember) a ranking system based on performance where if you were really good your level would be high, and if you weren't good, or just starting you'd have a low level, and you'd be facing off against similar talent. You'd never be locked into a level either so you could fall down a few if you struggled.

 

Having matches against similar skilled players would stop newbies from being cannon fodder (which would increase the level of enjoyment from screw this to hmm this could be fun), and giving players a tutorial that does something constructive (maybe like a 1 level pve tutorial thing showing the basics) would be tremendous in my opinion for getting GSF to a state that would really work for this community. As it is now though, I really believe it's a complete missed opportunity.

[Aries_cz]

/snip

 

ad 2) Agreed, the tutorial does not prepare you for carnage of PvP, but there is also no tutorial to prepare you for ground PvP as well, which is also very different from ground PvE. I don't think that anything played against current AI can adequately prepare you for playing against real people. The text tutorials (available from Tutorials menu) are pretty good at explaining what you need to do, how to aim, etc... but it takes a lot of practice.

 

ad 3) Naturally, having balanced matches would be ideal, the game is supposed to match same-skill people, but it can't, because there are few of them. So it results in circular problem of not having enough new players, which makes matches unbalanced (as the game slowly loosens criteria for matching players, trying to put together at least "some" match), which results in not enough players, which results in unbalanced matches... (you get the idea).

[Shwarzchild]

ad 2) Agreed, the tutorial does not prepare you for carnage of PvP, but there is also no tutorial to prepare you for ground PvP as well, which is also very different from ground PvE. I don't think that anything played against current AI can adequately prepare you for playing against real people. The text tutorials (available from Tutorials menu) are pretty good at explaining what you need to do, how to aim, etc... but it takes a lot of practice.

 

ad 3) Naturally, having balanced matches would be ideal, the game is supposed to match same-skill people, but it can't, because there are few of them. So it results in circular problem of not having enough new players, which makes matches unbalanced (as the game slowly loosens criteria for matching players, trying to put together at least "some" match), which results in not enough players, which results in unbalanced matches... (you get the idea).

 

I understand 3, but I don't agree with your response to 2. Ground pvp is extremely similar to pve in that you're still attacking using the same skills you already learned. You're moving, and acting exactly like you normally would if you were pve playing or not. For ground based pvp, I would argue that you have a huge tutorial already in the way of pve content.

[Aries_cz]

I understand 3, but I don't agree with your response to 2. Ground pvp is extremely similar to pve in that you're still attacking using the same skills you already learned. You're moving, and acting exactly like you normally would if you were pve playing or not. For ground based pvp, I would argue that you have a huge tutorial already in the way of pve content.

 

True, I assumed you were saying that tutorial did not prepare you for how the actual match works.

 

It is similar, but again, people in PvP behave very differently from any AI opponent encountered during PvE. Ground PvP is also helped tremendously by Bolster (not sure if that could be made for GSF), if you are in Open World and you get jumped, no amount of PvE mastery is going to save you...

 

You can replay the GSF tutorial as many times as you want to get the feeling for controls (which can be strange to some, I agree), and IIRC (I played it once on GSF early access launch), it teaches the basics of switching power and aiming "ahead" of enemies, that is most of what you do, shoot blasters and missiles.

[Shwarzchild]

True, I assumed you were saying that tutorial did not prepare you for how the actual match works.

 

It is similar, but again, people in PvP behave very differently from any AI opponent encountered during PvE. Ground PvP is also helped tremendously by Bolster (not sure if that could be made for GSF), if you are in Open World and you get jumped, no amount of PvE mastery is going to save you...

 

You can replay the GSF tutorial as many times as you want to get the feeling for controls (which can be strange to some, I agree), and IIRC (I played it once on GSF early access launch), it teaches the basics of switching power and aiming "ahead" of enemies, that is most of what you do, shoot blasters and missiles.

 

Oh no doubt in open world if you get jumped and are behind the 8 ball you're done. That's fine with me. My point is there isn't a comfort level with the movements for me in GSF. In ground pvp, there is a comfort already because I'm familiar with the toon, what the powers are because I've used them previously in pve, no matter if my objective is the same or different. You can't say the same thing for the pve space combat to gsf. It's just two totally different worlds with totally different basic requirements. That comfort level just isn't there for me, and ultimately it makes me hate something I really want to like since I absolutely loved the pve space missions. loved em. so I was, and still trying to be into any space combat this title could offer us. I mean the graphics are still awesome on GSF. I always thought the graphics for the space missions were the best in the entire game. I just wish I didn't have this love hate relationship with GSF.

[Macetheace]

This is not the solution to get more players involved IMO, though I do believe it will help in a limited fashion. I still strongly believe the following changes NEED to happen...

 

1) Reduced reticule size and joystick ability added (more twitchy, skill based)

2) Reduced effect of higher level equipment to level out playing field (mild to strong nerf on equipment upgrades)

3) Single PVE map to allow players to practice OR open combat map with no objective (but limited amount of players allowed naturally)

 

Just making those three changes, IMO, would vastly increase the appeal of the feature. Even with the increased rewards new players are still going to drop out of the feature early on. They need a fighting chance...better controls and practice can and will provide that.

 

Definitely need some PvE maps, wiykd seriously help.. I suggest that you tie them in to daily missions or planet stories that can involve a space battle or atmosphere battle

 

even some group ones, for e.g. we could have a group map of the korriban incursion flashpoint space game, which is the space fight that opens the way for the ground force. it could be in the orbit of Korriban or in the atmosphere.

 

You can do for single player and for groups, if very well received it could lead to additional pvE and pvp maps --- especially maps that are tuned such that players need to recognise you need all types of ships to finish off. eventually i'd even love to see maps where your guild ship can play a part... either the AI controls the guild ship based on how the guild has upgraded their ship, or the guildmaster or designated person or even a group of people can assist in controlling the guild ship by monitoring systems, reparigin breaches while the rest of the team is out in fighters.

 

Guild ships can control how many respawns you can get, how many extra ships you can add to the fight - it can determine how fast you can repair as well, when your hull is damage fly back to the ship quick repair - the repair time can be improved if the guild ship is updated, also guild ship can provide shielding boosts to your fighter.

 

They could also design a way to control the guild ship by players, so ships like the Talos/Gav Daragon and your guild ships are cruiser ships that work differently from normal one-man fighters, and a system can be written for them, 1 player in propulsion, 1 player in engineering, 1 player in tactical, 1 player on weapons.

 

expand to a huge ship can require 16 guildies to man the ship or if it is a Faction ship, GF will find 16 players from the queue, so you have 8 on guns, 3 on tactical, 3 on engineering, 2 on propulsion. Each ship type works differently and depends on the map.

 

GSF Is not just single fighter although that's the biggest part, you can have games where the big cruisers join the fight, either the AI is controlling them or a guild ship can replace one of the AI controlled ships. So bigger guilds can have the 8 or 16 players manning the main ship, while the rest go out in their starfighters.

 

Guild ships have hangar bays where the guild players' fighters are packed, everyone can see them. and you can unlock more hangar bays when you have more guild members who want to have their fighters in display. Guild ships can take ships to Group finder battles that involve such ships or also in planetary invasions.

 

New maps add space fights to planetary invasions, where you can opt, for much bigger rewards, to fight in the air space against enemy forces to begin an invasion. once successful, you can then do the ground missions that complete invasion with a huge boost.

[Shwarzchild]

Mace, I love that idea. I don't know how feasible it would be since it really skews things towards guilds and there are some out there who like to be guild-less, but wow does that sound insanely fun. I mean really awesome idea.

[Macetheace]

Mace, I love that idea. I don't know how feasible it would be since it really skews things towards guilds and there are some out there who like to be guild-less, but wow does that sound insanely fun. I mean really awesome idea.

 

i expanded on the concept in the GSF forum in this topic, and I think i wrote it better there

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=798455

 

It just seemed guild ship skewed cos i said more on that, and needed to explain better how a larger ship could play a part in some types of games. The main thrust though was making the whole thing more engaging and easier to get in, later systems could be added,

 

Here is a copy paste. Note ideas for group pla as a team unit of individual fighters or manning a large vessel. I hope the concept is a bit more clear below.

For me:

I feel, we definitely need some PvE maps, wouldd seriously help learning and playing curve - it's a great system, but you have to learn to use it, it is almost as detailed as the ground game, which is not a bad thing if new players have an encouraging environment to learn.

 

I can see it been really good if you tie the pvE maps into daily missions or planet stories that can involve a space battle or atmosphere battle, and even make some group ones that require working as a team to complete the objective, for e.g. we could have a group map of the korriban incursion flashpoint space game, which is the space fight that opens the way for the ground force. it could be in the orbit of Korriban or in the atmosphere. Ord Mantel is another one that could have a space pvE map as part of the planetary storyline and I've always thought a battle in Aldearran's atmosphere, not orbit would be cool.

 

 

 

You can do for single player and for groups, if very well received it could lead to additional pvE and pvp maps --- especially maps that are tuned such that players need to recognize you need all types of ships to finish successfully - i.e. you need some scouts, some fighters, some bombers, some gunships (it's not hard to design a map that needs some people in very fast ships, some mine layers, some stealth ships and your regular fighters). eventually i'd even love to see maps where your guild ship can play a part... either the AI controls the guild ship based on how the guild has upgraded their ship, or the guildmaster or designated person or even a group of people can assist in controlling the guild ship by monitoring systems, reparigin breaches while the rest of the team is out in fighters.

 

 

Bringing Huge Ships into GSF (incl Guild Ships)

• You have your single fighters, and 4 classes - Scout, Strike Fighter, Gunship and Bomber.
  
• You have bigger ships too: smaller class like the one Esseles and Black Talon look like, and larger ones that the likes of Telos/Gav Daragon and White Nova/Ziost Shadow look like. The idea of the bigger vessels is both an alternative less demanding part for players, but also those who just can't be bothered or even like the single fighter complexity but still want to take part in the fun can be a part of the multi-roled team that controls a bigger ship.
  

 

Would be nice if guild ships started of witht eh smaller ones like the Esseles/BT and you could upgrade to bigger ones like the Gav Daragon. These big ships can also play a part in the newer maps designed to have them. Where either the AI controls them as part of a fleet response, or players can form a team to control them manually. Guilds can use their ship instead of a standard republic/empire ship, - which I can imagine a guild upgrading their ship would have a more powerful one than the standard republic/empire version. So if you've upgraded your ship as a guild well enough it would help your faction to actually use the guild ship instead of a standard rep/imp ship in these situations.

 

 

How Bigger Ships Can Work in Such Settings

• Large Ships incl Guild ships can control how many respawns you can get in pvE/Pvp maps, how many extra ships you can add to the fight (basically large ships come in Grade 1 to Grade 5 and if bioware are smart, each grade would have a fancier and deadlier arsenal visible on the model) - it can determine how fast you can repair as well, when your hull is damage fly back to the ship quick repair - the repair time can be improved if the guild ship is updated, also guild ship can provide shielding boosts to your fighter. - This is the function it can server to single fighters - like a huge buff bot
   
  
• They could also design a way to control the Large ships incl guild ship by players, so ships like the Talos/Gav Daragon, Nova/Ziost and your guild ships are cruiser ships that work differently from normal one-man fighters, and a system can be written for them, 1 player in propulsion, 1 player in engineering, 1 player in tactical, 1 player on weapons. Smaller Esseles/BT ships (entry level guild ships too would be like that) - can be manned by 4-man or 8-man, bigger vessels Gav Daragaon/Ziost Shadow level up to 16 players. Each position has different things they can do. Weapons would simply be manning guns, you go into the turret - think of Chewbacca or Leia that were manning the guns on Han Solo ship, and you have a simple control that zaps fighters you can. Tactical would involve determing where to focus your scanners, which fighters to help boost scanners, eliminating blind spots, managing repair droids well to repair damaged sensors/scanners or protect them, the larger the ship, the more activity and may involve one of you sometimes actually helping them out. Engineering is propulsion, so managing fuel flow, energy to main thrusters, side ones, you determine the large ship/guild ship's speed to move. Energy to shields or weapons or boosters is controlled by engineering and you can make a simple fun game out of doing for two players including challenges they may encounter. Piloting could be part of tactical, and propulsion part of engeineering, piloting determines where you go, evasive maneouvers in addition.
   
  
• the added perk of manning a guild ship is that you occassionally get boarded, which involves some ground fighting, while one partner continues to mann things, the other has to ward of a wave of attackers. choosing the best time to do so is critical too,
   
  
• expand to a huge ship can require 16 guildies to man the ship or if it is a Faction ship, GF will find 16 players from the queue, so you have 8 on guns, 3 on tactical, 3 on engineering, 2 on propulsion. Each ship type works differently in that smaller ones have less things to deal with but obviously impact the map less, they're more maneouverable than the biggers ships, but less fire power, they can help hold off fighters and smaller ships, and can launch ships, but not as much as the big ones. and depends on the map, some maps can require different numbers of each type, and the AI can control what players do not have enough of.
  

 

example: Map requires 2 Esseles/BT class ships, 1 large Gav/Ziost type ship and 24 fighters. only 8 queue up..all as fighters, the AI managers the larger ships, and the 16 fighters, whiles the players are on 8. or it could be fixed play, the pvE maps could be huge planet battles, that players can join in the fun as they log when they log, and in an on-going fight, they simply replace one of the AI controlled fighters if they one go single fighter or if as a team to control a large ship, they would control a large ship OR if it is a guild the guild can use their ship.

 

GSF Is not just single fighter although that's the biggest part, you can have maps/games where the big cruisers join the fight, either the AI is controlling them or a guild ship can replace one of the AI controlled ships. So bigger guilds can have the 8 or 16 players manning the main ship, while the rest go out in their starfighters.

 

 

Guild Ship Improvements

Guilds can expand to have more than one type of ship, so for different maps, depending on how many players are online or wanna play, they can go with their smaller esseles/BT type ship or the larger Gav/Ziost type if enough peeps are around.

 

Appearance:

Guild ships have hangar bays where the guild players' fighters are packed, everyone can see them. and you can unlock more hangar bays when you have more guild members who want to have their fighters in display. Guild ships can take ships to Group finder battles that involve such ships or also in planetary invasions. Using your guild ship to aid the republic or Empire? Sure, the AI will use players upgraded ships with their upgraded weapons instead of standard strikers if a guild ship is involved. e.g, guild member enters the fight as a guild ship of the Gav Daragon class of ship, this would replace the bog standard republic ship of a similar class - this is a good thing cos player ships/ guild ships are customised improved above the standard ship, he doesn't have to have guildies with him, the AI will use the guild ship's fighters which in this case are the parked player fighters in the fight.. any guildie can step in and use his own ship if he joins in later as a single fighter or he can join in as one of the crew controlling the guild ship in any of Guns/Engineering/Tactical/propulsion as he chooses.

 

New maps add space fights to planetary invasions, where you can opt, for much bigger rewards, to fight in the air space against enemy forces to begin an invasion. once successful, you can then do the ground missions that complete invasion with a huge boost.

 

GSF Cinematics, models, travel :

Whether entering a GSF standard map, or the new pvE maps, or great space battle fights happening over planets that you can join whenever you want, every time you join up, you see instead of a loading screen, a cinematic of your character your logged on as, going into the fleet hangar or the guild ship hangar (if guild ship is being used), jumping into his fighter and taking off to join the fight - there is a cinematic if you're going as one of the crew manning a guild ship or large ship or going as a fighter individually from the fleet's GSF hangar or from a guild ship

 

that's 3 types of cinematics - one as fighter by yourself, as fighter from a large ship, or as crew of a large ship. it's the same scene with the appropriate character and ship used being show.

 

it would be awesome. They would do well to really update the models for shops like the Esseles/Black Talon and the larger ones like White Nova/Ziost or Telos/Gav Daragon - to higher rez versions... and the planet models too that you see in cinamatics could use serious improvments.

Edited February 24, 2015 by Macetheace

[Heat-Wave]

i expanded on the concept in the GSF forum in this topic, and I think i wrote it better there

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=798455

 

It just seemed guild ship skewed cos i said more on that, and needed to explain better how a larger ship could play a part in some types of games. The main thrust though was making the whole thing more engaging and easier to get in, later systems could be added,

 

Here is a copy paste. Note ideas for group pla as a team unit of individual fighters or manning a large vessel. I hope the concept is a bit more clear below.

 

That is a nice list of ideas, but none of it is going to happen...

[Shwarzchild]

That is a nice list of ideas, but none of it is going to happen...

 

Sometimes it's better to dream instead of stay rooted in reality. Of course none of it will happen, but it's cool to think about.

[Heat-Wave]

Sometimes it's better to dream instead of stay rooted in reality. Of course none of it will happen, but it's cool to think about.

 

Fair enough...

 

The sad thing is, I think there could be a pretty good game there... but it just isn't in the cards...

[Salaviir]

"to integrate GSF with rest of the game world." This is my personal problem why I simply have no interest in GSF.

 

All in all, story of GSF so far reads like a play by some mad god. The core of it is pure gold. Almost everybody who bothers to learn it eventually comes to think quite highly of GSF's flight engine and gameplay. Unlike SW:TOR as a whole, GSF is reasonably unique. You'll have hard time finding a modern AA(A) game that'd share it's genre. In GSF, Bioware has an excellent, unique game in completely unclaimed territory. Despite all this..

 

...Everything around this core is just sloppy. Poor integration to rest of the game. Bioware barely tried. Game with design budget of 200 mils invested half a potato to ensure most unique part of SW:TOR gets to thrive.

 

Even if we don't go to the " wouldn't it be cool if..." dream department involving 100 mils put to GSF, there is so much BW could do with entirely conceivable push:

 

* Simple campaigns.

Just chain of different rotating daily/weekly quests with occasional grand finale. Little bit of voice acting and dumb dialog wheel spinning in the mix. No PvE, A.I or any changes to GSF required. " You must break enemy siege! Kill 10 Gunships. " Or " Test this experimental prototype bomber" Or " Win Capital ship battle." " Play a deathmatch." Outfit comet breaker with 2 torpedo launchers and go wild. etc. Put some pretty cool reward in the end. Make pilot feel awesome when he masters a ship. Some parts of this campaign reset daily, some weekly, maybe some ' grand finale' portion resets monthly. Some cool reward in the end. Such structure would prosper with bit more complex and varied maps, could be done just fine even with current maps.

 

* Actual player hangars. Place where you can **see**, outfit and admire your ships!! Place where you can bunny hop on them. Talk with your crew. Hell, offer an option to do the outfitting by dialog. For BW not to do this was madness. I'm positive they actually lost money by not implementing this. (see monetization further down)

* Couple of GSf related animations to SW:TOR-side. Cutscenes as you leave to and return from battle. Have animation of ships leaving interfleet hangar every time game pops.

 

Above stuff is no " best things I could possibly ever imagine for GSF!" ( Since you asked, dynamic full fledged PvE campaigns, dynamic PvP world map, Pilot as a class, class story. ;p ) but simply reasonably realistic things one could do, if they'd adjust budget of GSF from Potatoe to Three or Four Potatoes.

 

 

Greatest (and in some tragic way, the only) GSF-related failure came from BW's approach to monetizing it. Everything GSF related being sold in CM is both undesirable and ridiculously expensive. You can't see your ship outside matches, so Why would you care what it looks like? Cartel ships are ugly and expensive. Nothing can be unlocked for your entire legacy. Unlocking, say, three of the Cartel ships on two of your characters would cost me more than I paid from the game. Collector's Edition. How is this not absurd. It is like people behind CM portion of game want GSF to fail. /tinfoil ....Even so, I've decided to buy every single gosh darned ridiculously ugly, useless stupidly priced CM ship the day they announce a major GSF related patch or an expansion. Just as a thumbs up.

 

My understading is that significant majority of core portions of GSF is largely work of ONE SINGLE HERO DEV. If that is correct, I fail to comprehend how this person isn't crowned Emperor or something. Dude, you made a better game than (rest of the.-) 200 mil SW:TOR. Alone.

Edited February 24, 2015 by Salaviir

[Caernos]

Well...

 

I would love to have a game type involved in assaulting a capital ship or space station and having to destroy parts of it, but that could still be PVP related, not just PVE. While I would likely enjoy a PVE aspect of GSF I don't think there ever will be one for two reasons.

 

1. Currently GSF is in a state of limbo where the devs aren't paying any attention to it at all (or at least that's what it feels like to me, I would love more than anything to be proven wrong and to know that the Devs do have plans for GSF).

 

2. Before GSF launched I recall that one of their articles mentioned being unable to come up with an AI that could effectively pilot a ship. I could be wrong, but I'm willing to dig for proof if people want it.

 

Now that said, while I would probably enjoy PVE GSF, I would much rather prefer that they improve the existing game; fixing the bugs, tweaking the existing ships, releasing new content in ships and maps, and improving the rewards. Not necessarily in that order but that's what I would like for them to do before working on a PVE GSF.

 

 

Please note that the thoughts expressed in this post is my opinions and should not be taken as fact or representation of a larger community. I am speaking solely for myself as an individual.

 

Furthermore, if I have offended or insulted anyone with my post, please let me know ASAP so that I may edit accordingly. My intent with this post was to contribute to a discussion, not to cause harm or injury.

 

Thank you.