Messages

1

Precursors / Player Advancement

« on: October 05, 2005, 08:22:51 pm »

sure!  People don't always do what they had planned to do...  Situations come up that change your plans.

I think that the whole offline thing will be just fine as long as a) there's just as much risk involved as online for any benefit, b) maybe it's slower because you aren't driving your character to do as much as you would when you're logged in, and c) god, that's really, really boring, just sitting offline waiting for my character to get better, slowly.  I want things to happen, I want to actually, um, play the game!  that's what i'm paying for!  if people want to just let the AI build them a mediocre character with moderate specialization (people tend to specialize thier characters much more than a real person would) then i say let them do nothing important and basically join as a paying NPC.

2

Precursors / What do Characters do when Players go offline?

« on: October 05, 2005, 08:13:43 pm »

i'm going to assume that people like this idea, because that's the way it seems.  I like it too.  Something that needs to be scheduled as well is something that college students may not have much familiarity  with.  "sleep."  If you try to play a character, and she/he' sleeping... some sort of penalty for not enough sleep?  a sleep deficit build up until a point where the character just conks out whatever they were doing?

If we're going to simulate what a character does all the time, then i feel that sleep should also be simulated.

3

Precursors / The Seventh Game: Tech Brief

« on: August 31, 2005, 09:58:04 pm »

just a follow-up question, then... are the coords in hyperspace basically like cartesian coords (1-1) or do they share more with polar coords (one point is given by an infinite number of coordinates) (just because I know the coordiantes to the enemy base, doesn't mean that someone else with a different set of coords that says it's also for the enemy base is necessairly lying.)

4

Precursors / Space Flight Controls, and Realism

« on: August 31, 2005, 09:51:59 pm »

indeed -- Space flight is only one of the three aspects of the game.  People aren't going to expect everyone playing to be able to pilot well, or even at all.  that's what the space taxi's are for!

5

Suggestions / Space Ship Velocity

« on: August 31, 2005, 04:21:18 pm »

what about this: absolute velocity in a system is measured from the sun, and if you're between systems, then you're probably in subspace anyway, where velocity is kinda screwey and might just be some sort of number based on how many times faster than when you entered subspace.

6

Precursors / The Seventh Game: Tech Brief

« on: August 31, 2005, 04:17:48 pm »

Are we going to have any "normal" engines for combat, or something?  Ion engines are pretty low on thrust, although are great for thrust per unit of energy thrown at them.  I'm just thinking manuvering thrusters (small bursts of plasma vented from the fusion reactor?) with a REALLY high impulse, but only limited use until you risk killing the reactor by forcing it to run too hot or something.

Also -- how small can subspace engines be made?  Specifically, would it be possible to create a missle that traveled at FTL speeds?

Can weapons be fired in subspace?  if maybe (i'm guessing it depends on how crazy you are feeling), then what are possible consequences of disabling the automatic AI restraints on such a thing and firing anyway?

Personally, I love the idea of the metaphasic tech.  I can imagine playing a character that runs a black-op metaphasic exploration ship, with the mission to find strategically important hyperspace co-ords.  dangerous, but fun -- you'd be popping around the entire galaxy, trying to find a better way from point A to B.  Does path taken matter in hyperspace?  that is: if i  leave A and get the co-ords for B, do i always have to travel A<->B or could I travel to another known point C from B although that specific path has not been taken before?

7

Precursors / Mulitple Star Systems, Subspace, and Navigation.

« on: August 31, 2005, 04:05:49 pm »

yeah, but a space station has an awfully small mass, compared to a sun or a planet -- i figured it'd be small enough to be able to subspace in while the freighter is still in missle range of the station, so that it can instantly have covering fire if it needs it.

8

Precursors / Capital Ship Movement

« on: August 31, 2005, 04:03:58 pm »

first thing that strikes me... can't one control yaw and pitch in one mouse stroke?  Why make it two?  (or if i'm making stuff up, correct me) <:o)

and just a clarification, for my benifit: we are going to have it be possible for one person to manage the nav system, and another to manage the targeting, and another to man a specific turret (fed targeting info from the targeting station), right?  Or is each area planned to be more defined -- as in, one person does nav and targeting. period.  you cannot split that job up, you cannot combine and jump into a specific turret after you set a course, etc.

I definitly like this, especially as it seems to naturally follow from the fighter control scheme.

9

Precursors / Mulitple Star Systems, Subspace, and Navigation.

« on: August 30, 2005, 11:09:19 pm »

is there a reason that freighters can't subspace in right next to a station?  just an accuracy issue, or is there soemthing more?

10

Precursors / Gameplay... and Death

« on: August 30, 2005, 11:08:02 pm »

yes, i like it.

Perma-death, but with some leeway in case of bad luck.

11

Precursors / Money

« on: August 30, 2005, 02:22:30 pm »

Hey -- I'm just noticing that the player-made organizations are being molded into something like corporations... we could simply let each player-group "go public" and release stock to get some capital, and from then on, the price of the stock is regulated by normal stock-regulation things (isn't it just a measure of what people are willing to pay for it??)  (And things like dividends need to be thought of... oh my!)

Tax Evasion Level II == Luck Level II -- you simply hope not to get audited!

12

Precursors / Gameplay... and Death

« on: August 30, 2005, 02:18:15 pm »

I like it.

Maybe we can explain the higher costs associated with higher "level" characters (yes, i know we are trying not to do "levels" as such, but for sake of argument) can be explained that the base cost is for the body, and the increasing part of the cost is in information storage space -- the more you know and the higher your skills, the more info needs to get programmed into your new brain, and the more info needs to get stored in the system, therefore higher cost.

or just not explain things, and have a set "death counter" or a set "death penalty", and say "it's a game."

I think either would work -- but not something in between.  I really dislike games that give glib, totally random-seeming explanitions of what happens when you die. <:o)

13

Precursors / Mulitple Star Systems, Subspace, and Navigation.

« on: August 30, 2005, 02:11:02 pm »

Why use them on ships?  use them in space stations, so if a freighter drops out of subspace and gets attacked and destroyed, then while the fighters from the station intercept the pirate, the station subspace engine is turned on  to prevent the pirates from escaping.

Such a station could be a major military asset too, in a war -- subspace it into the enemy fleet deployment path, have a fleet waiting around it, and when all the enemy ships suddenly drop out of subspace around this large "mass",  not at thier destination, then the fleet waiting in ambush gets the drop on the transiting fleet and destroys them.

Or do the same thing, but with minefields, so that ships can't subspace past them.

Maybe this would be a good "experimental technology" that gets used on rare occasions in big events because of the instability, and maybe through game developments, will be perfected later.  Maybe to make it stable, it has to be much larger, so can only be used on big space stations, and is really expensive, so the only places you might find this classified item is on a military station that people simply don't have access to.  

Or something.

14

Precursors / Space Flight Controls, and Realism

« on: August 30, 2005, 02:00:16 pm »

"makes it use more fuel, buy a VERY slight amount"

I don't think that this needs to be hard-coded into the AI system, if I understand how things are going to work -- the AI will use fuel to stop your roll just as much as you would to stop your roll when the roll thruster gets activated.  All the added "revert to zero velocity by default" in the other degrees of freedom will mean that the AI system needs to use fuel to accelerate opposite to what you have done so that your ship stops, which may not be necessary, esp if you accidentally let up on a key while rolling or yawing (etc) then the AI reverses thrust for the brief second while you let up and then you have to resume thrust in the original direction.

basically -- AI-control gives you a logical "pitch up, yaw right" etc at specified velocities, while "real" control will give you a "accelerate tilt up, accelerate roll left" -- direct thruster control.  

It's like using Java as opposed to ASM.  You accomplish the same tasks in both, but ASM will give you better end results (if you know what you're doing).

I think there should be a "momentary" key too -- one that switches off the AI controls on your fighter only while you hold it down, to make simple slides possible even for people using the AI system.  (think of this as C++ -- kinda a middle ground between the two systems.)

Or maybe just a "toggle" key.  At least a "toggle", and maybe a "momentary".

15

Precursors / Experience system

« on: August 29, 2005, 04:28:27 pm »

well, yeah, but the one who plays 23/7 probably will have more experince (character) than you anyway <:o)

Seriously, though, I'd still agree with the approximite balance you suggested -- that way, there isn't a few character "builds" that are more powerful than any other character (things can't be perfectily balanced, it just doesn't happen), and a fair amount involves the player.  That said, there's a lof of stuff in this game that isn't "tiwtch".  The RTS aspect of things is (probably) pretty much no twitch needed.

16

Precursors / Law Enforcement in the Galaxy

« on: August 29, 2005, 04:21:45 pm »

and, of course, there must be a way to get in the good graces of the law -- but harder, and any "bad" action will put you below 0, no matter how good you were before.  Just like life.  bad is a lot worse than good is good.  

but if you're bad enough, then people start to stay away from you, because if you've gotten away with THAT much, you have got to have some tricks up your sleeve.  Enter large sums of cash offered for you, _verified_ dead or alive...

17

Precursors / Game Music

« on: August 29, 2005, 04:16:42 pm »

if people want a winamp-style player, then they can turn off the game music and use winamp.  I think that the TA-style music should be used, with certian tracks ascribed to certian events/places (battle in desert planet different from jungle planet) (battle near sun different from battle near spaceport) (battle with pirates different from battle with cops)...

I'm divided on if the music should be user-replaceable.  I think that if they want to do that, they can turn off the music in the game, but if we're going to go to the trouble of putting in really good music, then i don't want it too easy to screw with.

18

Precursors / Races

« on: August 29, 2005, 04:11:06 pm »

I think that the players will absolutely love the idea that they can change something as basic as what races you can play as.

Also, be careful that intelligence isn't equated to knoweledge.  There may be a really intelligent race that simply lived underground for so long that they only recently realized that there was a "space" to go to, and so don't have a space program, or maybe they're more recently evolved and so don't have the knoweledge stored up that we do, or even thier society simply had more dark ages where science was heresey and so they had many setbacks in thier car program, much less thier space program.

19

Precursors / Space Flight Controls, and Realism

« on: August 29, 2005, 04:04:59 pm »

both -- certianly, more things are possible if you're using the "real" controls (6 degrees of freedom), but you should be able to have the AI in your ship control some of that, so that it flys more like a wing-commander type ship -- like the ability to set your foward speed, and have the computer automacially adjust throttle in all directions to attempt to keep foward velocity at the specified speed and all other velocities (slide, roll, pitch, yaw) 0, unless the controls specify a _temporary_ velocity in any of those other 4 areas -- so unlike the "real" controls, the "AI-assist" will stop you rolling after you let up the "roll right" key.  All ships should be able to do this, but there is no need for an artificial penalty to using the AI assist -- because certian things will simply not be possible using it -- like attempting to keep a firing solution on another ship while still moving in a single direction (you just turn off the foward thrusters).  AI Assist will either, with the thrusters left on, try to make you go towards the ship at a certian speed, or, with thrusters off, try to make you stop.  Neither is what you want to do -- you are going to have to fly using the "real" controls to do an advanced manuver like that.

20

General Discussion / Introduction Thread: New users, please post here!

« on: August 29, 2005, 03:55:43 pm »

Hey, I'm fehknt/Devin, and I met chris and dave in class (college), then at the computer shop i work at, and there they gave me this web address.  Ever since then, I've tried to voice my opinions on every topic that gets brought up... sometimes I regretted it afterwords, because I gave some kinda stupid ideas, but then again, that's what this place is for -- sounding out ideas to see if they'll work.  I may become a dev in the future, but at this point, i'm just a "power user".  Oh yeah -- Physics and Computer Science double major, Junior.