Back from holiday and knuckling down to some decent GSB2 work, including new ships, new modules, improved visuals etc…
youtu.be/tAhIkegmNWg
The automated verbal notifications are a bold surprise. Does this UI feature have its own sound volume control that’s independent of all the other legacy sound controls?
The graphical style of the hulls for this new race’s navy is cool. The source of artistic inspiration it draws upon brought a smile to my face; nice homage. 
I really like the nebular clouds’ ability to surround ships as if they’re actually flying IN the nebula. Nicely done! If anything, I’d make the effect appear stronger than it is at present. How about giving us a slider control to adjust this to the player’s taste?
Is this cloud the sort of thing that players can (via modding) attach some values to, in order to provide a functioning in-game “terrain stealth bonus” which degrades enemy tracking, friendly shield stability, and/or damage incurred from any hits while in a nebular cloud? I can think of a lot of people who would be highly interested in that! For the sake of having better battles, I hope that some of the nebular clouds’ coding can be exposed to the player. The target-painter instrument packages which destroyer-size hulls can deploy would be a fun & fascinating way to try navigating as well as firing while inside of a DENSE nebular cloud which covers (for example) the great majority of the battle zone…“The Wrath of Khan”'s Mutara Nebula (see battle video here!), anyone? I would enjoy having a way to play in that style!
Damage/flame effects seen within the hull breaches adds “flavor” to the fighting; it strengthens player immersion in the battles. I’m glad that you implemented this change, Cliff. The game might be gratuitous, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be dramatic.
Until now, I had been wondering how you were going to handle fighter and gunship launches: either have each carrier throw an entire squadron into space all at once, one squadron per carrier at a time (simultaneously among all carriers) until all squadrons are in action, OR have individual units emerge from the launch tubes on a somewhat “staggered” basis while units launched first “loiter” around at slow speed waiting for them.
I think I prefer the visual effect of the latter, but I wonder if that might be a disadvantage tactically. Can fighters actually, well, fight while they’re loitering? Even though their movement is seriously downgraded during the immediate post-launch loiter period, can they still react to enemies within range of their weapons & defenses, or are they merely helpless piñatas until after the squadron’s full number of units is launched into space?
O.o Drool
Just a detail, but, in the video, we can clearly see that ship damage is layered above ship explosion, and that create a very strange look in my opinion ^^
To complement Archduke Astro question: are the fighter inside the ship targetable by enemies (Like in GSB1)? What happen if the carrier is actually a fighter, can a fighter lunch a fighter? Is it possible to give some fighter module the capacity to “warp/hyperspace/jump” into battle at a cost?
(I ask all this question cause of the Xedilco ^^ (they use the fighter with carrier bay tricks))
i would like to echo Astro in his question about the voices, and at that i do hope there is a way to mod them.
i personally feel they don’t fit the mood and frankly sound like the voice i would here in an RTS, where i would have the ability to respond to the notification
if we ad voice i think it would be better if we just voiced the ship crew, as they make their comments, and we would only hear them if we selected that ship, and if the time acceleration was at 1x or below
you mean when there is a big blast glare? Thats on my todo list, it bugs me too…
There is a separate volume slider for voices, so easily turned off. I find it helpful to know a dreadnought is on its last legs if I’m busy looking elsewhere…
regarding fighters, they can still fight whilst loitering. TBH I’m not happy with the current implementation, its a bit too unpredictable, so I’m considering having them fly to a set position, then cut engines until everyone is in their ‘slot’.
It’s deliberate that they go slower as they assemble, I think thats fair, the equivalent of being vulnerable to enemy attacks while you are still on a carrier flight deck. All fighters are launched at battle start anyway.
Nebula effect will definitely be editable in the scenario text files, if it isn’t already.
Could you not just have them fly circuits around the launching carrier until the squadron is assembled? I really can’t see a bunch of pilots sitting idly in space reading News of The World while an enemy squadron is bearing down on top of them! Also would the number of carrier bays increase launch rate? This might give a dedicated carrier greater tactical advantage as squadrons can attack earlier on than ships relying on smaller carrier vessels. Perhaps engaging them while they are still waiting for their squadron to assemble eating tea and crumpets and reading News of The World.
Berny
Also would love to see fractured squadrons merge to keep localized squadron numerical superiority
aye berny speaks with wisdom
I already have different carrier bays increasing launch rate, and there is a ‘launch tubes’ bay which should launch faster anyway. The problem with the ‘circling’ mechanic is not as obvious until you start coding flocking AI 
It’s harder than it sounds, because unless there is speed adjustment, you find ships endlessly chasing their tails waiting to reach formation. I will experiment with a few approaches to see what looks best