Hi Argh, thank you for your comments. I hope these replys help expalin a couple of things you raised and encourage you to come back and join in the Asgard experience.
I like the ships, but I feel like they should be integrated with the original FL ships. I mean, it's still FL, y'know? Why take the original ships out?
Samurai: The thought behind this is Asgard is set 800 years odd after the SP story line. 3.1 is set another hundered or years after the release of the first version - so the old forms are out of date - lol you'd probablly be able to see them in a muesum somewhere. This is also why some ships show deliberate 'throwbacks' or evolution as it were from the older designs.
2. I don't really care for the way that the Bases have been semi-randomly rotated/moved about. It all looks kind've... random, not planned for a specific aesthetic. Like somebody just kind've went through all the entries and nudged them a bit. If you're going to mess with such things... make it elegant and planned... y'know, like
Samurai: This is all part of the background story of Asgard, the place is meant to be falling apart. The suns are dying, (some have goen nova and jumpholes have even been knocked around) bases are sinking into atmospehere of planets and some older bases and Battleships no are slowing moving off position. This can also be seen reflected in the breakdown of some tradelances from lack pf maintainence. Factions can raise the funds and supplies to have these things repaired though. In 3.2 I'm sure some factions will have repaired some of this destruction.
3. I really, really, really don't care for the gameplay. Almost as soon as I started playing, I was like, "oh... yeah... this is why I re-balanced everything for the Toolkit Mod". The damage/energy ratios, ship manueverability vs. stats, etc., mean that uber-ships obviously rule at the high end- there's nothing like real game-balance here, except for whatever dubious cases could be made for uber-vs-uber confrontations.
Samurai: there is complex, subtle rebalancing done on the all the guns in the mod - I'm not expert in this so can't really comment but the mod creator has a some formulas he uses to work out weapon threat of guns and ships etc. The best guns are still the hardest to get (eg HOA and JOA) but the wreck guns are the next best. In 3.2 faction weapons will be re-introduced too. faction ships are still the best class vessel too. Of course there are some errors, but they will be addressed in 3.2. It woould be interesting to get your feedback on the weapon threat forumlas actually...
I dunno what is the point of a mod supposedly centered around RP when it so de-emphasizes player skill that basically whoever sits around on the server long enough will be a little tin god, even if they hardly know how to fly or shoot... but I think that was the cardinal weakness of the original game that any decent mod should fix... and I'm just going to say it again and again when I review mods until somebody actually makes something I'd actually care to play- something that emphasizes skill over time spent loafing about gaming the numbers.
Samurai: Not sure where this comment comes from. As in all mod the RP revolves around factions: lawful, unlawful, grey (in between), alien (inbetween), trader and freelancer. De-emphaisis player skill? The mod isn't about PvP if thats what you mean, sure FL is about ship to ship combat but we try to use this within RP boundries. Again maybe this sort of question is better addressed if you speant more time playing and interacting on the forums? (insert shameless plug for the SF-K - join today
)
4. I do like the overall beauty enhancements. The darker feel of the mod is neat, the extra Commodities are well thought-out and intriguing, and the custom Icons and descriptions were nicely done.
Samurai: bigger and better things to come...
I guess my final analysis is that this could be a very neat mod... all of the elements are there, at least in part, and it's clear y'all have a lot've very innovative and solid improvements implemented on the "widget" side of things. But I just don't feel like this is very good on the game side of things- the central parts, which are about flying around and blowing things up, are pretty weak, and include all of the flaws of the original game... or make them even worse.
Thank you again for takign the time to visit - I still feel you may have missed the core side of the mod - the community. I hope you do come back and play with us again. Maybe put the techical side , er to the side a little and see how the bit and pieces interact with the community more.
Oh and keep and eye out for 3.2! Hope to see your next review then too.
[ASGSamurai
Asgard Admin and member of Asgard Dev team.
Tue May 24, 2005 8:31 am 