part one vs part two

[(name here)]

make the playership weak. not no match for anything weak, but like the start of the game but slightly stronger. make upgrades more difficult. eventually, when you have hierodule tech, it will be like the first game. if i wanted something different I'd play something different. you don't play quake and complain that it isn't an RTS, after all.

[OddBob]

you think an unbeatable enemy is fun? create a ship that takes no damage from any attack and see how you like it. if i wanted unbeatable enemies, i wouldn't play transcendence. fighting in a massive battle royal with allies would be fun, fighting 70 command ships while running to the gate would not be.

First off, I never said literally takes no damage from any weapon - just invincible like Ranx Dreads are invincible when all you've got are a PBW and a class III. It's fun to run into a dread with that loadout - just like it's no fun being rich in game it's no fun killing everything with a single shot (and increasing the number of ships to fight decreases the fun, you can't fix that problem with hordes).

Second, you're still thinking like space invaders - I'm not suggesting that any of said "invincible enemies" (not my term) ever chase the player or block the player or do anything but potentially hurt you if you mess with them - you don't chase after a mosquito, you just give it a swipe until it goes away - like a Ranx Dread, if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone.

In fact, I suggest multiple level differences and hostility levels - the more out of level an enemy is, the less likely it is to care about you - so the gods will ignore you no matter what while the merely-really-smart guys will swat at you if you get in their way and the humanlike ones will be your enemies like pirates and such are now. (and they will be treated the same as you are by the higher races, remember).

The main concept is still the same, it's just now you are low on the food chain instead of at the top (and you were at the top for the ENTIRE pre heretic game, remember) you're still fighting enemies roughly equal in strength to you, there are just some entities (as they are not really enemies - I don't even like the concept of "enemies" as it makes this like an arcade game) which are powerful hanging around - kind of like if teratons had ships - I think the teraton relationship really fits what I'm going for here: they are not really your friends OR your enemies - you can benefit from them or they can hurt you pretty badly. It's a little different but I think it makes a good analogy - imagine teratons with ships.


They are not enemies in game for you to destroy (at least not in the beginning, as I said, they are potential allies/enemies later) - why does everything have to be killable? Am I the only one that just feels funny taking on the entirety or the Ares fleet by myself?

[Betelgeuse]

how will it be different than the current game then?
All this build up for part two just to have more of the same. Also remember you will start off with the same equipment as you left heretic with (that includes the command ships equipment).
You have to remember this game is about playing it over and over with different random systems. So without making it very different you would have problems with telling the pre heretic from the post heretic. Having two pre heretic games being more different than each other than a pre heretic and post heretic just seems like you would be wasting your time making the post heretic game when you can be improving the pre heretic game more (pre heretic will still be developed in versions above one).