I think the map is great for RTS style controls but what about ships movement on it?

[StoneLegionYT]

I been playing a Tactical Map mod for Rebirth and having a lot of fun sitting on the bridge controlling ships. Of course Rebirth was not made for RTS controls and mods are never perfect.

That being said none of those have been my issue. My issue is how bad ships move around they almost float around like really fat lazy birds. Their flow and movement when i tell them to go from point A to point B is quite bad even more so when I'm in the area (collision and other calculations seem to be performed more).

I'm wondering will X4 be really brushing up on this? Making the flow of ships better especially if you controlling them via the map? It does not seem like the map will be the limiting factor but the way the ships move, group up, etc.


Sorry it's hard to articulate what I mean but hopefully I made some sort of sense

[LameFox]

Not really sure what this means, it sounds like you're talking about a conflict between path-finding and manoeuvrability but then I have no idea how or why giving orders via the map would make that any different. Unless it just looks weird seeing them path through 3D space on a 2D plane?

[nemesis1982]

I think what he means is that in X rebirth the bad path finding with slow movement and horrendously slow speeds of the ships makes issuing orders through a RTS map useless and feel sluggish. And he asks if that has been improved upon.

From the movies I saw I would say yes. Probably still not perfect though.

Also remember that this has dramatically improved from XR launch up to the current version. I remember watching my trade ships for an hour while they tried to dock at a station in the beginning. It would take many Jazuras for a capitol ship to eventually dock and begin the transfer of cargo.

[MegaJohnny]

God, yes, the docking was excruciatingly slow. Obviously you often had other things to pass the time, but if you needed to wait for a trade to complete it was not fun.

I can't summon it now, but I remember watching a clip of a battle in X4, and being amazed how agile this Argon L-ship was. Maybe they've bumped up the values for ease of use.

[Alci]

It will never be your "classic RTS".

Micro isn't generally possible, and if you don't try doing it it will be fine.

It's still designed as commanding platform and you are supposed to concentrate only on macro and the ships doing their AI things on their own. Intervene too much and you only confuse them, resetting their plans and make them all sluggish because they have great inertia (not just moving, but also planning).

So don't try to control them. Command them.

[LameFox]

Yeah, I wouldn't expect the way units move to ever feel completely like an RTS, even if we give orders similarly. There are different priorities I think in designing a game where flying around is a key part of the experience, and something where you never personally interact but only issue orders and expect them to be carried out as quickly and directly as possible.

That said, I would think (and hope) that pathfinding is improved somewhat over X:R. I never tried any map mods but I do recall a lot of NPCs slowly grinding their faces off on stations...

[BigBANGtheory]

I don't think we can tell at this point, my impression is you will have to feel your way through these things. The map in this context is really a mechanism to issue orders whilst being able to see the bigger picture clearly if you try to fly a ship via high frequency orders that isn't likely to work out well. We will have to see but as I've been saying for a long time now imho (given what we know is coming for X4) is that AI in general is going to be the next area of focus and evolution desired by players. I think we can defiantly see some improvements already anyone that tried to launch or dock fighters on an X3 carrier will immediately see that.

What ever happens I just hope Egosoft have play tested it for the experience, as with many areas of the game it doesn't have to be perfect it does need to be "not frustrating" though from the players PoV. I don't mind play testing it if that's of use to ES I suspect they've got their work cut out already leading up to end of Nov already.

[StoneLegionYT]

I think what he means is that in X rebirth the bad path finding with slow movement and horrendously slow speeds of the ships makes issuing orders through a RTS map useless and feel sluggish. And he asks if that has been improved upon.

From the movies I saw I would say yes. Probably still not perfect though.

Also remember that this has dramatically improved from XR launch up to the current version. I remember watching my trade ships for an hour while they tried to dock at a station in the beginning. It would take many Jazuras for a capitol ship to eventually dock and begin the transfer of cargo.

God, yes, the docking was excruciatingly slow. Obviously you often had other things to pass the time, but if you needed to wait for a trade to complete it was not fun.

I can't summon it now, but I remember watching a clip of a battle in X4, and being amazed how agile this Argon L-ship was. Maybe they've bumped up the values for ease of use.

Thanks you 2 you get what I mean. I'm not looking for Red Alert path finding here lol. Just something where I ordered 5 ships somewhere they would actually show up and not be 3 hours later turning a single degree and such. it was more painful when you were there as well watching with the collision enabled and such.