July Update - Space battles

Space combat will be the central aspect of Rogue Ambassador, and envisioned to work out like the one in Faster Than Light (pausable real-time, top-down view), with extra depth and extended options for the player.

We've made the big decision to make almost all modules destroyable. This will mean that the player regularly finds new modules from unexplored planets and looted ships, but also loses some every now and then during battles or ingame events.

This also implicates that players wants to ideally damage, but not destroy modules aboard enemy ships to get them for themselves as loot. Mereley damaging the modules however will allow enemies to repair them during combat.

General combat mechanics:

Shooting a weapon requires that there's a operating crewmember and power supply to the module. Additionally, projectile weapons need enough explosives (consumed as ammo with each shot).

Player has the option to either target enemy ship hulls or individual modules inside the ships. Needless to say, it is easier to hit the entire ship than an individual module, leading to hopefully interesting and original choices for the player.

Damaging the enemy radar for example makes the enemy hit you less often. Then again, the player could opt to attack enemy weapons, reactors (which might render the enemy ship completely comatose) or just go directly for the kill and skip picking off separate modules altogether.

In another piece of news, we've partnered with Ember Quality Services, an experienced Estonian QA company.

We are nearing the singularity where the new generation battle becomes fully playable, at which point we can start next level balancing of all game aspects tied to battle.

February update, good vibes

Mothership Energy Management System 

Hello again, bold uknown heroes who venture into the rising territories of Estonian independent game development! Above you can see the internal layer of the player ship and it's energy system. If we can, we'd like to add a few other internal systems to this layer. 

For example, the command bridge could be linked with the warpdrive, sensors and jammers. If the bridge ends up getting hit, the linked subsystems would get disabled until the bridge is repaired 
The additional subsystems can be done only if we can spare enought devtime. 
However, in the best case, the internal systems would be something that your ship pet cat (yes, various pets are a planned feature in addition to ship crew and internal drones) could get stuck in, so you'd have to send down search parties. And sometimes, you could find fleshy eggs there, left behind by certain xenomorphous aliens :)

In other news, general development & negotiations with various potential partners are running along nicely. It's better to do great things together rather than alone, right? :) There's a good work flow going on and we build something which can be seen and/or played around with almost every week, which is highly motivating. 

Spaceships

Rogue Ambassador is a game about spaceships. So we thought it's a good idea to take a moment here and introduce some of the ships we've been working with.

Sekvoia II, mobile science base

Sekvoia II was designed as a mobile science base for long-range exploration missions. It can field numerous advanced modules and weapon systems, featuring ample cargo and crew space.
Standard module loadout includes multiple missile batteries and a powerful long-range laser. In addition, the ship is usually equipped with good radar, shield generator and electronic countermeasures unit to confuse enemy targeting systems.

Blue Star Ultima, science vessel

The Blue Star science vessel is optimized for exploration and survival. The Mark II "Ultima" variant comes with many small improvements to further increase the ships overall survivability on long missions. It features improved speed, fuel storage and defensive capabilities.
Standard loadout includes extra escape pods and automated repair bots station.

Heavy Duty JK4300, bulk trader

Heavy Duty JK class traders carry large automated cargo modules, great for transporting bulk cargo. Its hull is made of cost-effective materials not designed to withstand much combat, resulting in less hitpoints than other ships of similar size. The JK4300 usually field medium-sized cannons on their main weapon mount to scare off smaller pirates. Additional point-defence weapons and missiles are installed for working in hostile space.

Tomahawk, custom-built gunship

Welded together from parts of mass-produced non-military ships and equipped with small, cheap weapons, Tomahawk is a typical pirate craft.

SP-33 "Mace", multirole escort 

Cargo space and augmented main gun make this small ship ideal for short-range cargo trips & escorts. Lack of space for additional engines means the ship is designed to fight together with its convoy instead of escaping, making it attractive for merchants who don't want to see their escorts run off faster than themselves. The SP-33 is armed with a built-in oversized "Mace" cannon, unusually large for such small ships. It  requires considerable time to arm and is fixed to the hull, but its raw destructive power makes it a highly respected weapon.


Any questions or ideas about the ships so far? Let us know in the comments below :)