From: joshua@lclark.edu (Josh Rochester)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Re: Looking For Spaceward Ho! 3.0 Suggestions
Date: 27 Jul 92 23:42:24 GMT
Article-I.D.: lclark.1992Jul27.234224.978
Organization: Lewis and Clark College

Hello friends and neighbors, here's my two bits about one of my favorite
games . . . 

A lot of improvements would be in making things easier for the players. I
like the ideas which have been expressed about radar and probe sending and
different ship types in fleets. (Although if you include radar, the first
thing everyone will be demanding is some sort of ECM) I also really believe
that there should be some sort of refueling ships (or possibly the suggested
transport ships being able to pick up stranded ships--give them double the
tech-level of range, but no possibility of weaponry or shields it ought to
balance out.) (Plus, they could serve as ship carriers, ferrying ships out to
combat sites, that would be cool and would add a big element to battle
tactics . . .)

I also like the suggestion about trashing the universal metal--possibly
whether metal is 'global' could be user-selectable, it sure would make the
game more challenging and would up the importance of maintaining lines of
supply (an army lives on it's metal).

The biggest importance, however, is a HUGE improvement in the way combat is
handled. This game is about combat, sure there are lots of other elements, 
but the goal is to kill everybody else. Let the battles not be so
anticlimactic. How about a graphic simulation of ships dogfighting around a
planet? Also, incorporate the idea about ships flying in a defensive formation
so that weaker ships can be protected. Possibly a combat manuever drive can
be added. Allow the big 'capital' ships to have lots of weapons and shields
but have it be -incredibly- expensive for them to dart around like flies.
Have the lighter, more maneuverable ships hard to hit but ineffective against
the big ships unless they are in huge groups--but they can fly 'wild weasel'
runs against those blasted satelites (which are too cheap for the firepower).
Plus, the tiny ships might not even have light-speed drive, so they might
need to be brought in by a transport.
Hence, a battle would unfold like this: several big 'capital' ships would jump
in to a defended planet along with a transport ship filled with 'fighter'
craft. They would fly interference between the transport and the enemy
'capital' ships and satelites while the transport unloaded its fighters. The
fighters would then jump out from cover and, darting quad-cannon bursts from
the huge dreadnaughts around them, fly close to the defending satelites and,
using their superior manouverability, remove that menace while the larger
ships, no longer engaged by a multitude of deadly sats woulld take out the
defending cruisers.

Yes, this is a major change in the way the game handles combat, but I think
a lot of us are disatisfied with it the way it is. A lot of the above could
be handled automatically and shown with pretty graphics without user
interaction. It would make the combat a lot more exciting to watch and would
make strategy and tactics more of an element in the way battles are won. A
simple brute force against brute force/shield tech-level against weapons
tech-level battle is unexiting, make the battle simulator a little more
complex--and let us WATCH!!!

I also really like the idea of making 1.x shareware--it would be great to have
people find a professional game out there for their use and I think you would
gain a lot of people's undying loyalty.

Finally, on the ease of use topic, go talk to Berkley Systems and liscence
the Stepping Out code from them and limit it so that it only makes the screen
bigger for this game. SwdHo eats beaucoup screen space and I would find it
unplayable w/o my copy of stepping out, make it easier for all of the rest of
us who don't already own it.

Thanks for listening, I can't wait to buy the upgrade . . .

Josh Rochester
joshua@lclark.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games