I'm in Ranos's boat on this. I'd try an make one of the popular Blizzard games analogies, but StarCraft just isn't similar enough.Zpock wrote:I see that you don't like having to make a strategic decision and then stick with it. You wan't to be able to change your strategy on demand and react to other players strategy flawlessly.
Let's consider, for a moment, how forces are fielded.
In the Stars! variant , you design your hull with certain slots hardwired and maybe some of them general (assuming the "general" slots come with a penalty, otherwise why not use all general?). Then you design your ships. Then you build your ships. Then you deploy your ships.
In the MOO variant, you design your ship, manufacture your ships, deploy your ship.
Consider the Stars! method for a moment. An opponent can change their strategy a bit by emphasizing different types of weapons or shields. To counter this, you may in turn design a ship with a slightly different emphasis.
What if they field a different hull type with a radically new strategy? If they build a few of them up and starting laying waste to your precious systems? Either the system has enough flexibility for you to design new ships that can combat this OR you need to be holding an undesigned hull in reserve for just such an occassion. If there is any amount of delay in producing a design after designing a hull, then it's probably already too late.
We can all guess how the MOO version would go, I think. I won't belabor it.
Now consider tech, for a second. MOO doesn't guarantee a player the "perfect counter" to every situation either. Players need to have the right tech researched for what they're countering. There is some delay in this that may or may not be more significant than the delay in fielding a new ship. The MOO system in no wise guarantees a boring stalemate.
Another problems with the Stars! variant under discussion is the problem of specialization. You can't. Entire hulls can become obsolete if they are loaded with equipment slots that specialize too much.
Without a lot of careful thought, the Stars! variant will result in a lot of ships that do the same sort of things. Player A's ships of this hull have some beam weapons, missiles, and about half of them cloak. Player B's ships of this hull have some wave weapons, some point defense, and a lot of sensors.
As a testament to my open-mindedness, that paragraph just convinced me that the Stars! system has a benefit here. While the weak spots in a players forces may stay obvious and easy to exploit, the distinctive player "profile" might be interesting.
The MOO system wouldn't give player fleets an identity, per se. Maybe Player A favors missiles and that would show up, but the ship designs can change back and forth to whatever tech seems nicest at the moment. The Stars! -style ships will stay quite similar for the rest of the game. When mixed together, they may seem less distinctive. In any case, I could happily see either system implemented from the specialization perspective.