Ship chatter suggestions?

Is there a place where we can suggest ship chatter lines? Or can I suggest a few here?

go for it!

Is it possible to have conditional chatter, such as outrageous Top Gun-isms for anything that’s a fighter, specific phrases for ships with speed above 1, etc? Different lines for ‘hit for 1 damage’ and ‘hit for module knocked out’ would be neat too.

Having the chatter panel more as a debug window so that we could be advised what each ship is doing - shown/formatted as the ship reporting its activities to Fleet Command for example, perhaps with an action log for the battle available outside the game, so we could analysis things a little more in detail, would be good too

Yes, that was part of my intention, but in practice I had some difficulty in identifying specific events that were not just constant spam. There are quite a few game-specific things in there, such as being caught in tractor beams, retreating if all weapons are destroyed etc, but it would be interesting to hear what messages people would really find helpful.

I think feedback from orders and events is key. When a ship switches targets due to vulturing, moves due to protect, or combines targets due to coop, I think there should be a message to that effect allowing the player to see WHY things are happening.

my first impression of the chatter (when i spotted it[!]) was that it was just total spam unfortunately.

there was also, i found, no way to link ship-name and ship visually. would it be possible to have some sort of visual indication on the ship that’s broadcasting? … as well as cutting down the volume.

maybe a pile of options - one that controls the level of chatter, one that puts some sort of 1920’s radio ping effect on the ship concerned, and maybe even one that makes them speech-bubble? :slight_smile:

I have to agree with your initial reaction to the Chat Bar. In my Window, the Bar isn’t aligned with anything else at the top of the screen.

I like the idea of identifying the Contents of the Bar with the Ship it pertains to. Perhaps even a Node Line, like that used in the Ship Design window for multi-positional mounting points, that goes from the Bar to the Ship of origin. It would also be good to be able to say Pause the game and be able to scroll back through the Bar’s Contents to see what ship posted what, and perhaps to be able to filter the Bar History to a single ship so its decisions can be tracked through the Battle…

More names! I’m tired of Travis being killed. xD

“These fires are out of control! We’ve got to vent the atmosphere.”

“Abandon ship? But we’re the plucky heroes! This can’t be happening.”
“I always knew it would end like this…”

“Boo-ya! Another alien eats the space-dust.”
“Did you see that one disintegrate? Hahaha! I can’t believe I get paid for this.”
“Did I get him? I think I got him!”
“Too easy! This is like swatting space-gnats.”

New message types:
*Enemy shots reflecting off armor messages
“Fools! I laugh at their pathetic weapons.”
“Was that their grandpa’s space-cannon? I didn’t feel a thing.”
“The hull’s getting warm, but that’s all.”
“I thought these guys were supposed to be tough. This is nothing.”
“I’ve taken harder hits than that from spacegulls!”
"Are they even shooting at us

*Armor damage messages
“Of course I’m confident in our space-steel. It’s just that there’s much less of it now, and that worries me.”
“The plating stopped that hit, but I’m not sure how many more we can take…”
"Most of our armor has been atomized!
"Our armor’s gone! We’re completely naked!

*Component loss messages

“Whoa. I’ve never seen so many holes in a power cable before.”
“Ejecting power core - it’s gonna blow!”
“Slug excrement! The turret mechanism is completely fused.”
“There go the barracks. I hope no-one brought any heirlooms on board.”

haha TheDeadlyShoe, they’re really good…keep them coming

Or… just ping the speaking unit like every other game in the universe? Drawing lines is unnecesarily cluttered. As suggested elsewhere, what’s needed is a name overlay button, a method of identifying if it’s a squadron/frigate/cruiser sending the message, and a map and screen blip. If the minimap pings were different sizes or used icons you’d instantly know what sort of thing is happening (assuming meaningful messages anyway).

You know, if you click the name bar next to the chat line it selects that ship.
Now a better way to tell which ship you had selected would be handy.

“Scanning… my God, it’s full of cruisers!”
(or frigates, or fighters, if the points percentage of that ship type is higher than, oh, 75% say of the total points value of the enemy fleet at the start of the battle.)

“Excellent shooting! That’s the last of the enemy (shiptype)s out of the way.”
(if all the enemy cruisers, or frigates or fighters are destroyed.)

“Sensor analysis indicates that the enemy vessel we have targeted is a (shipclassname) (shiptype). Where do they get those names?”
(using whatever the other player called the ship as shipclassname)

“Flank speed achieved, cruise control active.”
(if a ship reaches its maximum speed)

Fighter chatter:

When engaging other fighters - “There’s too many of them!”, “Accelerate to attack speed!”

When destroyed - “They came… from… behind!”

Yes, they’re from Star Wars. Frankly, thats exactly why they’d be great.

“Damn the torpedoes, Full speed ahead!”
Farragut

“You may fire when you are ready .”
Dewey

“Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!”
Forgy

“, there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today.”
Beatty

" expects that every man will do his duty"
"Kiss me, "
Nelson

Honour the enemy by placing a stone on his grave.
after Richthofen


Added:
“Engage the enemy more closely”
Nelson

Co-operative:
All ships, engage my target
Follow me!

Vulture:
She’s gonna blow!
Just another wafer-thin Plasma

Cautious:
Run away!
Full speed to the rear.
I’ve just recalled an important appointment with my tailor/dentist/hairdresser.
Performing retrograde advance

Retaliate:
Call that a Plasma? THIS is a Plasma

'Tis but a scratch
Man the lifeboats!
To the Escape Pods!
Anyone seen my spacesuit?
So that’s what vacuum smells like!

Suggestions for faction specific ship chatter:

Federation:
Debtors spotted, its time to balance accounts.
Target destroyed, inform Federation salvage directorate and file a form 1739b.
Hull breach, but I only had three more payments left on this ship.
Get the records to the escape pod, the core is going to blow.

Alliance:
Soft skins spotted, execute swarm pattern delta 7.
One less biped ship clogging up our universe.
What do you mean they have cracked our exoskeleton? We are impervious.
For the queen mother and for…

Rebels:
Enemy spotted, lets make sure the never oppress any one ever again.
Every ship destroyed makes the universe a better place, just look at it burn.
My mom always told me this rebellion would end in flames.
I would rather be in a labor camp than stuck on this burning wreck. Abandon ship.

Empire:
Ok lads the eyes of the Emperor are upon us, do not fail him now.
Such is the fate of all who stand against the Empire.
This can not be, has the Emperor forsaken us?
We die for the glory of the Empire.

So many great suggestions. I especially like the race-specific ideas that hamster has.

I don’t see that the chat text adds much in the way of information, but it certainly adds flavor and entertainment. It’s the epitome of gratuitous. :smiley:

Shes gonna blow messages.

Save me an escape pod.

Somebody grab the mascot!!

Join the navy they said. See the Galaxy they said!

Well, At least I dont have to pay for this!

Sometimes a journey of a thousand parsecs…Ends very badly.

There shall be no spam for my crew.

I wonder if I can declare this as a deduction?

Different banter for each race is a wonderfull idea.

I love the smell of plasma in the morning, smells like… actually it smells rather like strawberries. Mmmmm!

I cant hold her she’s breaking up she’s breaking up (from 6 million dollar man - showing my age much?)

Has somebody farted? Wilkins have you farted? Ah, no, it’s just the smell of your face burning off.

Why is everybody targetting us all of a sudden? What the… Wilkins! Stop mooning them immediately!