Dev:Info Cards, Tutorial, Advisers

If the tutorials were reworked, I could see such an "advisor" system implemented.  Then have a few sandbox games at the end of the last tutorial with each dealing with a different play style.  The advisor would basically just be an AI, it's just that instead of making all the moves themselves, when something big happens, they would tell you what to do (ie build more HC's).

Considering how bad the AI is, I doubt an adviser system would be all that great.

Fair point, but if it just makes simple observation such as "the enemy appears to be using a lot of long rang frigates.  You should build more fighters, scouts, or flak frigates to counter them."

Agreed.

Uhhh. You can know absolutely NONE of the unit counters and still destroy virtually any AI.

well of course

What all this *really* boils down to is the damage comparison / armor type spreadsheet. If you want to be a good player you have to know it like the back of your hand. However, it would be tricky and very out-of-place to somehow insert that into the game as a reference sheet, IMO, or to even give a player a link to it - it doesn't seem like it would fit in.

Then again, Advisors don't fit into the current game issue, but sound like a great idea for lowering the slope of the learning curve to MP.

(sorry for the bad quote formatting - I'm leaving it up for others to see)

How about posting some string file suggestions that could be added to mods?  Tips given here already are good examples.

I don't see advisers happening, but we are hoping to update the tutorials for Rebellion. 

Honestly, I don't know why the spreadsheet is not a part of the game. Sure, there'll still be people who want to see it in a different manor than it is presented, but if they set it up so that it actively pulls the data from the game, you would always have a chart onhand. Since Sins is so very technical, providing a clear description of the technical details would be a boon to those wanting to progress in the game.

There are many details that can be added to such a chart, for instance: mods could change the details and format of the data shown; the details could update after you have done research, you would have to scout an updated ship to see the opponent's updated data (this adds a new 'intellegence gathering' aspect to the game); you could have the post-game-anaysis data add up over time so you can see statistically your best approaches to the game; or you could just have a nice simple chart to help newer players

Agreed. I just don't see a clean way to integrate it into the game as it is now. Depending on how the feel of Rebellion is, it might work well in that though.

Totally, and I suppose it's also a liitle part of why the online players count is low. I remember when I was playing Sins at the start and I didn't really know about the forums. I was kinda knew to RTS, and I got crushed several times by the easy AI. In fact, depending if you're new to this genre and on what directions you're trying, the AI can either be a real joke or something difficult to beat.

Then when you're trying to figure out how it actually works, the game reveals very few of its mechanics. The manual says there are armor types and gives them, but no mention of weapons types if I recall correctly.

Simply having on the infocards the damage type and armor type of each ship would help to start linking things together I think.

As it is now, if you don't go to the forums and search for detailed posts, you can't really get a solid understanding of the game. Yes the infocards tell you what a unit is generally good at, but it's kinda fuzzy and hard to guess why when you don't know the damages types system...

Having some kind of in-game or in-manual strategy guide would help a bit too.

Also I think the damage modifiers chart for example is something that should be easily available to the player willing to better understand the internals.

Edit : Put simply, find some ways to increase the user-friendliness of this game and soften its learning curve ! Then you'll only need a solid game server and multiplayer will be alive for Rebellion (I suppose)

Update as in fix and make a lot better or update as in just add another one to vaguely cover the basics of rebellion.  The game itself is great, but I remember that the tutorials did next to nothing to help me...

A well done manual would help level the learning cliff for new players in online play.  Even if the devs don't get to it, certainly a mod could be created in this direction.

Yeah...  The manual does a great job lore-wise, but as far as playing the game, it's sub-par.  I've never been terribly good at understanding manuals for RTS games though..  I generally just teach myself...  Still though, something that better explained counters would be a good thing...

What's so difficult about putting a simple chart thats accessible? You know the screen where you select which research tree you want to look at? Put it there. Or you could have the info cards link to it. Or it could be in the system menus. It's not hard to 'find a place' to put it, if thats what you mean.

Yarlen, I'd like to make the request that if you are adding/changing/messing with the tutorial levels, that they be made moddable (if possible). I ask for this because the tutorials have triggers, objectives, and a number of other features that a modder could use to make a single player campaign, if given this power.

That's a good idea. A tab like the one of the Research tabs, except with a label like "Ship types and damage" or something like that.

"I hope they make it easier to learn so they can be more people online instead of seeing various smurfs of cpt.siddy trash talking."

The most difficult part of all this is we don't even know the game how long the developtment cycle has been and the release date. 

Devs, Can u say how long u been working on rebellion?

They'll be done when they're done.

Also, on second thought, the damage / armor types would probably be somewhat better off in a more side menu than in one of the primary ingame menus, maybe in a new tab under Options or something.

YES!!!!!!!!!! 

I'd like to second this. All that needs to be done is allow for modders to add in new tutorials... Triggers and such can be discovered over time, assuming the current tutorials are indeed unlocked.

I don't want to support a distraction from Rebellion.

If this is something that wouldn't take very long to create, I'm all for it.