Various gameplay thoughts

[Sacarathe]

I'll check out your issue with upgrading engines while a Zoltan is in the room. The Zoltans have certainly had many bugs in the past. They can be a little tricky to get used to, but some players have found them to be their favorite race once they get past the additional difficulties in managing them.

[strike]
There is a Zoltan related query which i wonder is exactly as intended, when you have a single zoltan in the weapons room and your first weapon is a single power bar(or any pwr level tbh) you cannot activate other single power weapons or deactivate that one without shuffling the order.... And when you do swap the zoltan powered weapon for a unpowered weapon the system draws power from the reactor to keep the other weapon active.

Has the other variation below been considered?

When moving the furthest left weapon which is powered by zoltan to another position, auto(turn off) stop that weapon drawing power.[/strike]

And then i just realised why its the way it is, the weapon you move may still be charging.

[HunterZ]

HunterZ, I think you're underestimating the value of upgrading a system without upgrading the reactor. I will often have my systems upgraded beyond my capacity to fully power all of them. Since you can rearrange your power to suit the situation, it's worth the cost to be ready for multiple situations as opposed to maxing out your ability to power every situation.

I don't really follow that argument with respect to the existing systems implementation. Engine, Shield and Weapon systems are all vital in combat, and O2 is always vital. Medical can be drawn from, but often becomes vital when you are boarded (even on an Engi ship, in my experience).

And, more importantly, an empty power bar is far from worthless. That's more health and defense for a system. Having a buffer to soak up damage and not kill your weapon cooldowns or drop your shields the instant the system is damaged is vital to victory.

That seems like a bit of a cheap mechanic, but one that I should be taking advantage of. Thanks for the tip

I'll check out your issue with upgrading engines while a Zoltan is in the room. The Zoltans have certainly had many bugs in the past. They can be a little tricky to get used to, but some players have found them to be their favorite race once they get past the additional difficulties in managing them.

I like Zoltans a lot, and most of the time they aren't any trouble. I just thought I should report any issues I come across, since I'm playing the beta after all.

[fall_ark]

HunterZ, I think you're underestimating the value of upgrading a system without upgrading the reactor. I will often have my systems upgraded beyond my capacity to fully power all of them. Since you can rearrange your power to suit the situation, it's worth the cost to be ready for multiple situations as opposed to maxing out your ability to power every situation.

I don't really follow that argument with respect to the existing systems implementation. Engine, Shield and Weapon systems are all vital in combat, and O2 is always vital. Medical can be drawn from, but often becomes vital when you are boarded (even on an Engi ship, in my experience).

Exactly. Juggling exists because they are all vital: If there's little threat of hull breach then you can disable Oxygen from time to time. When the enemy is launching missiles, divert shield energy to engine/defense drone. See if your boarding party can survive long enough so you can use only 1 level of teleporter. In fact almost all ships start with 1 power short of activating everything (1 lvl of engine instead of 2 if you want to use all your weapons). Stopping your laser weapons and boost shield/engine when the enemy has too much shield to wait for a missile hit... Plus you don't have a problem with a "maximum reactor power" ceiling, why not practice it from the beginning then?