Alright, long post, but meh. First section are changes I would *like* to see, but probably arn't going to happen due to the amount of work involved. Below that are changes that I think are a tad more realistic.

I would LOVE to a game which incorperated planets / stars into it, rather than a backdrop. Add a nearby gravitational pull for large masses, possibly toss a black hole in here and there with a LOT of gravitational pull, and possibly link zones (fly from one to the other rather than warping, fly around planets / stars, etc.

Some other things I'd like to see, although I know they'd be hard to implement -

Ability to fly out of a storm, rather than having to go to a certain point to warp out

Sustained high speed semi-warp, which takes time to activate, but you can fly around at a higher speed (linked with the joined zone / planets, this would be EXTREMELY cool).

More weapons / armor / other stuff, Also what about the potential for hiking the price up on items and ships a ton, but you respawn with them (but can still leave them off at different areas if you move to a new ship). This gives it much more of a "progressive" feel to the game, and would probably go over with gamers very well.

One thing I'm still rather iffy about is the whole turbo / slowdown thing - what about the possibility of a "slow" turbo, without the massive unrealistic slowdown?

More physics. This game becomes twice the fun when physics mode is used, however it could use a *little* bit more work, possibly ditch arcade mode entirely for a "guided" mode, which is 1/4 the speed, but arcade controls.

Now for a few more realistically probable changes -
Docking bays - Fit the entrance with a forcefield as seen when exiting, but make it passable both ways, perhaps have the entrance open up to a much larger docking area?

Damage - Flying into an asteroid at anything faster than 2mph needs to do some major damage, not just 20% when flying at near max speed. This would add much to battles in crowded areas where you actually have to be concerned about running into something. In flight collisions, same thing. Very nice job on the splash damage for exploding ships. Possibility of adding projectiles to this?

Weapons - Homing missles need to be nerfed, also it's cheaper to just buy the weapon again rather than buy the ammo.

Batteries - TONS of stuff could be done here - specialized batteries: weapon batteries (aka power level of 300, cuts weapon power cost down by 1/3, while turbo up by 1/3), turbo batteries, etc.

Storage - This is a must - capacity needs to be changed a bit, also the option for hotswapping items / weapons is a plus. Perhaps change the mass of the ship according to what's carried? If someone is carrying 10 crates of scrap metal, make them feel it.

Gates - What about adding a central gate, rather than an area? One similar to those seen in "Cowboy Bebop" would be phenominal. This could also add to the possibility of gates going offline, being attacked, etc.

Music - Perfect, no suggestions here, other than give us more!

Interface - In game interface is very nice, but here is what I think needs to be added: Ability to view what the names of the items you've picked up. Longer range radar? perhaps something that could be purchased and scaled up to a certain point?

Bugs - D3D does not work at all with my Geforce 6800 (66.81 drivers), results in 1 fps and a very screwed up view.

Visual - Reflections (reflect the world rather than an image, perhaps add it to some metals as well?), "clouds/fog" (great for solar storms), transparency / pixel shaders - windows in stations / ships and transparent crystal rocks (the ones with the reflections floating around, perhaps with some interesting pixel shading effects.

Possibility of branching off the game for a test version and a classic version to get reactions of the players of large changes, possibly a few that are mentioned above?

This game would be, in my opinion, the best game ever created if realism was hiked up a tad, and a few of the things above were included. I would drop everquest 2, world of warcraft, half life 2, and stalker in a SECOND for a game like this. Sorry once again for the long post, and I'd be happy to contribute a few models / textures if it meant getting some of the above implemented.

Edit: Some additions below:

3D (cube!) navigation maps, this is a tad unrealistic due to the number of zones that would have to be added, but regardless, it would make this game massive. A 3D universe map however is quite doable, and would add a bit to the game. While I'm dreaming, having a 3d navigation cube would go *quite* nicely with in-game planets/stars...

ok, time for the rundown. but before i start, welcome to vendetta and thanks for posting your thoughts. Also keep in mind my comments are not official, merely based on 2 years of testing experience.

<<<I would LOVE to a game which incorperated planets / stars into it, rather than a backdrop. Add a nearby gravitational pull for large masses, possibly toss a black hole in here and there with a LOT of gravitational pull, and possibly link zones (fly from one to the other rather than warping, fly around planets / stars, etc.>>

Unfortunately they are just too big for the engine to handle, the size of a planet is so far beyond the ships we have now that it just wouldnt work. some gravity effects may be added tho, for instance a black hole system where you are pulled in a constant direction depending on what sector of the system you are in would probably be doable. however it would probably be like helios and have a group of sectors at the middle that you cant warp into.

<<Sustained high speed semi-warp, which takes time to activate, but you can fly around at a higher speed (linked with the joined zone / planets, this would be EXTREMELY cool)>>
At one time we had higher top speeds and they didnt work so well. it just didnt feel quite right with the weapons speeds and the like. in the game currently there is the Fast charge battery that allows for constant turbo however.

<<More weapons / armor / other stuff, Also what about the potential for hiking the price up on items and ships a ton, but you respawn with them (but can still leave them off at different areas if you move to a new ship). This gives it much more of a "progressive" feel to the game, and would probably go over with gamers very well.>>
more equipment most likely will be coming at some point, however i dont think that the ships will ever be permanant through death, the loss of your ship is the only penalty for dying after all.

<<More physics. This game becomes twice the fun when physics mode is used, however it could use a *little* bit more work, possibly ditch arcade mode entirely for a "guided" mode, which is 1/4 the speed, but arcade controls.>>
the arcade mode does nothing physics cant do, its actually just an automatic control overlay that takes over some of the tasks to maintain forward flight in the direction yuor ship faces.

<<Docking bays - Fit the entrance with a forcefield as seen when exiting, but make it passable both ways, perhaps have the entrance open up to a much larger docking area?>>
not a bad idea, eye candy can wait a bit tho

<<Damage - Flying into an asteroid at anything faster than 2mph needs to do some major damage, not just 20% when flying at near max speed. This would add much to battles in crowded areas where you actually have to be concerned about running into something. In flight collisions, same thing. Very nice job on the splash damage for exploding ships. Possibility of adding projectiles to this?>>
collison damage does need a bit of work, and the old capital ship did (i assume it will return at some point) and the new hive queens do throw out projectiles that last for several seconds. dont be in their path.

<<Weapons - Homing missles need to be nerfed, also it's cheaper to just buy the weapon again rather than buy the ammo.>>
the ammo thing is being looked at, and homing missiles do not need nerfed, there is a fine line with controling homing missiles, they can either be undodgable or useless, there is very little difference between them and we just finally got them back to the useful side of it. probably they need toned back down just a bit, but not nerfed. at one point you could sit 50 m from someone, with both players stationary and fire of 16 stingrays, you would get 1 hit, if yuo were lucky.

<<Batteries - TONS of stuff could be done here - specialized batteries: weapon batteries (aka power level of 300, cuts weapon power cost down by 1/3, while turbo up by 1/3), turbo batteries, etc.>>
lots of room for variation in the equipment, probably will see some more variations in the first month following release.

<<Storage - This is a must - capacity needs to be changed a bit, also the option for hotswapping items / weapons is a plus. Perhaps change the mass of the ship according to what's carried? If someone is carrying 10 crates of scrap metal, make them feel it.>>
cargo is about to gain mass with the next update, i dont think swapping weapons around in space makes sense on ships this small tho.

<<Gates - What about adding a central gate, rather than an area? One similar to those seen in "Cowboy Bebop" would be phenominal. This could also add to the possibility of gates going offline, being attacked, etc.>>
no, causes network lag and traffic congestion, avoiding pirates at a wormhole would be impossible and it doesnt fit the background story.

Music - Perfect, no suggestions here, other than give us more!

<<Interface - In game interface is very nice, but here is what I think needs to be added: Ability to view what the names of the items you've picked up. Longer range radar? perhaps something that could be purchased and scaled up to a certain point?>>
actually the interface is amoung the biggest 'needs updated' items in the game. the station interface is merely meant to be functional, and the ships hud has been needing an update for a while. as far as different radar ranges, i'd like to see that become a part of the ship. the different variations of the ship hull could have different radar capabilities as another thing to balance them.

<<<3D (cube!) navigation maps, this is a tad unrealistic due to the number of zones that would have to be added, but regardless, it would make this game massive. A 3D universe map however is quite doable, and would add a bit to the game. While I'm dreaming, having a 3d navigation cube would go *quite* nicely with in-game planets/stars...>>>
heh the nav map is actually just a 2d representation of 3d space. and the universe map is only a "connectivity map" its not meant to sho actual spatial relationships.

EDITED BIGTIME - caught the post button when trying to scroll down, added rest of my comments.

"incorperated planets / stars into it, rather than a backdrop."

1) major release planned for after the devs recoup some of their money

"Ability to fly out of a storm, rather than having to go to a certain point to warp out"

2) That is flying out of the storm

"More weapons / armor / other stuff,"

3) There are more weapons at higher license lvls but I get the impression new equipment will be added continously

"One thing I'm still rather iffy about is the whole turbo / slowdown thing - what about the possibility of a "slow" turbo, without the massive unrealistic slowdown?"

4) part of the game, used to provide oppotunities for PvP ther isn't a pure physics mode. (would be boring)

"More physics. This game becomes twice the fun when physics mode is used, however it could use a *little* bit more work, possibly ditch arcade mode entirely for a "guided" mode, which is 1/4 the speed, but arcade controls."

5) While I fly physics there are others who will inform you that Arcade is best and physics could be ditched. It is a personal preference

"Docking bays - Fit the entrance with a forcefield as seen when exiting, but make it passable both ways, perhaps have the entrance open up to a much larger docking area?"

6) Why? The docking bays should be visually different to help pick them out. And I don't have problem fitting indocking area? Is this to add to the realism of the game?

"Damage - Flying into an asteroid at anything faster than 2mph needs to do some major damage, not just 20% when flying at near max speed."

7) I disagree. 20% dammage is enough for bouncing off an asteriod and I've hit asteriods and done 75%-90% damage.

"Weapons - Homing missles need to be nerfed, also it's cheaper to just buy the weapon again rather than buy the ammo."

8) Being addressed by the devs

[edit]

As for Gates going offline... Wormholes, in future updates/expansions, will be "phased". Directly from the Vendetta Universe "Navigation" bit:

The galaxy of Vendetta is dotted with nondescript areas of space, in which a calculated expenditure of energy may open a "wormhole" to another specific locale. These "wormhole areas" function on a principle of congruence, or "spatial sameness" between one point and another. However, wormhole areas also possess a resonant frequency, constantly shifting in and out of phase with our vision of reality. An Area that has shifted out of phase will cease to exist, becoming just like any other empty location in space, until it next shifts back into phase. The frequency of each area is unique, some shifting back and forth in a matter of hours or days, others on the order of millions of years. Those areas with phase-shift dates in the distant future are generally considered "stable".

Ack, I just flew into a station at max speed of 179 and did 2% damage!
Anyways, the game is very well made, however one of the things I still would consider to be a big plus would be the ability to change sectors without having to warp, and as far as ""Ability to fly out of a storm, rather than having to go to a certain point to warp out", I meant fly out in any direction, rather than having to go to a specific point to warp out.

The distances involved are intended to be 'too great' to cross with the engines used on the ships without warping.

That, and they're seperate zones, on the server side. Totally not the same space at all. =>

I'm not saying get rid of warping, but rather implement some other methods of faster in-flight speeds. Also, the whole integrated zones thing was under the "I'd like to see happen, but probably won't" section, because it'd take a massive amount of work to do.

I think the devs have talked about integrating the sectors before, but I don't think they have any serious plans to do so. About having a 3d map: in most real star systems almost all objects/planets lie along the plane of the ecliptic, so you really only need a 2d map anyway.

> About having a 3d map: in most real star systems almost all
> objects/planets lie along the plane of the ecliptic, so you
> really only need a 2d map anyway.

THAT brings me to the following idea. Not 'only' 16x16 sectors in a system, but having a true 3D sector map of. i.e. 16x16x16 ;-)

Just deliver some cargo from Odia 2-12-5 through the wormhole in odia 5-3-13 ... :-)

hard to comprenend and navigate, takes more time to get used to. most people are used to seeing 2d maps, or topographic maps that show the contour of a surface. i think a 3d space map would just be confusing. neat but confusing

The 2D map makes more sense, actually. It's essentially a map of the plane of the ecliptic - if most solar systems are anything like ours, all the interesting stuff is in a roughly 2D slice of space. Therefore the map makes sense as it is.

A 2d map may be easier, however a 3d map would make this game truly unique. This would open possibilities of expanding the game vastly, and set the game up for sector to sector movement without warping.

You could still have sector to sector movement without warping. Each sector would be a column of space infinitely tall. If you wanted to get anywhere interesting you would have to navigate by flying directly toward or away from the sun, or keeping it at a horizon level.