Characters as cargo
 

Take Darth Vader and make him a 1Kt cargo.
He gives special bonus' and can be moved from planet to ship.

You could have a whole range of characters that give bonus' or even penatlies.

Re: Characters as cargo
 

This is a very old idea that has been used. You can also make characters into facilities. The STM uses Captains as components and I think the Star Wars Mod (new one) does the same.

The problem is:
1. Cheating - Adding more than one character to design
2. AI Design - using AI_Tags you can get the AI to add one or more to a ship design, but getting them to add the best one....well thats the challenge.
3. Room to list all the characters. Most recommended at the end of the component list as to not conflict with other components.
4. balancing and tech.

Good idea, and great minds do think alike. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Thanks for suggesting it, it is always good to see people posting their ideas, even if they are old, it is still very good to see them posted none the less by new members. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif It means you enjoying the game and looking to get into modding.

Re: Characters as cargo
 

Darth Vader, both as a ground troop and as a ship component. Also includes a "Hero" troop type that can be used with..... well, a hero.

If it's redundant, please ignore this post. If it's redundant and annoying/already implemented/too overpowered/etc. tell me and I'll delete this post.

Re: Characters as cargo
 

In the Play By Committee game, we used 1kt troops to represent the players' avatars, and help keep track of where everybody was.

Purely RP though, since the military officers weren't really brave enough to be dropped onto a contested planet.

Re: Characters as cargo
 

If you had the character as a component, then you could limit them to one per ship.

On a side note, it is possible to make troops weigh 0kt and mod in weapons that weigh 0kt....

Re: Characters as cargo
 

"Purely RP though, since the military officers weren't really brave enough to be dropped onto a contested planet."

I lead from the front. NCO soon to be OC.

A NEW STAR WARS MOD!!?!?!?!?! Where, where, where? I'm not worthy.

I've been playing SE4 for some time but I just found this forum. As far as modding I have worked on Escape Velocity Nova , Freelancer, and Superpowers 2, but I am mostly in info guy. I haven't devled into graphics much.

I have yet to invade a planet in SE4 after over a year of many, many games. I just don't see the point.

Re: Characters as cargo
 

Too bad you weren't in the PBC game then http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

In stock, planet capture is not worth much. Grabbing one just to get a hold of new-atmosphere breathing population is about it.
There are mods which make ground combat more important though.

Re: Characters as cargo
 

Yes, but if you had more than one character, with abilities, then to avoid the UPGRADE bug, you would have to give them more than one family number. This means you can keep adding hero's to your design.

Re: Characters as cargo
 

Nope.
Only applies to facilities.

If you try to upgrade a ship design in a similar way, you can't save it until you clear the warnings by removing the excess illegal components.

Re: Characters as cargo
 

If you made a component that weighs 0 kt, wouldn't you be able to install an unlimited number of them onto a ship?

Re: Characters as cargo
 

I don't believe so. I have two components in the STM that are 0 cost KT but have 1 or 2 kt hit points that are limited to one per ship and seem to respect that restriction.

I really wish Aaron would have included a Hero system with SEIV like the one used in Rebellion. Who knows, my fingers are crossed for future games but I don't know - right now its just a nice thought.

The using a Facility as a leader is a good work around but again, what is stopping people from using them more than once? There are no limitis available for facilities, say for one per system on some abilities, which if used for a hero cannot be used for a facility.

Hero components are a novel idea and one that has not been exploited thus far. Sure we have a few who use them in a couple of mods, but really, I would love to see more in the way of generic uses. However, the likelyhood that a hero - say Admiral Thawn, could be used on every ship in the fleet kinda negates the prupose of having a single Hero such as Thawn. So we are back to generic "captain" components. Boring.

Re: Characters as cargo
 

I just had a thought, and forgive me if this has already been done, I looked but did not see it in any mod so therefore I am bring it up here.

The idea to use cargo space for characters might be able to be done by creating a new vehicle type, a troop, but instead of calling it a troop, call it Hero or something. Give this "Hero" a kt size of 200 with any ability you want. This way you can have this "hero" on a planet or on a ship, it can transfer to one or the other, and it is of sufficent size as to limit its use. Additionally it can only be added to ships that have cargo ability so either a ship has to have a minimum of x cargo space or have the ability with the preset 200kt limit already included in its abilities via the Hull size.

Since the "Hero" troop is just that, a troop, it can be named and therefore tracked.

Again though, using more than one would become a problem and I do not believe it can be regulated. You could have specific components for this "hero" troop, but they would have to be large and used only in conjunction with a mount dedicated to the "Hero" kt size to avoid being added by mistake or dilibrately to Troops/Fighters/Weap Platforms.

In this way a player could create a Captain - giving them a component that say improves offensive or defense or both. Or an Admiral that gives a fleet bonus or something like the neural net. On planets it could be a General or Cornel or something.

What do you all think?

Re: Characters as cargo
 

It allows for more variety and flexibility than the generic ship captain components. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif Make them pay through the nose for that Fleet Admiral's training or for a much smaller bonus train a large number of Captains and distribute them about the galaxy as they are needed. It allows for mobility on the part of your officers. They can be sent where they are needed and redistributed later. Invading a planet? Well don't forget your General. Your Admiral too important to risk on a ship? Then leave him on a nearby planet to coordinate your attacks. The idea definitely has merit. It could potentially add an entire new layer to ship training. Let's say you have a fleet where each ship has a well trained captain verses an identical fleet with no trained officers. One guess as to who wins. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Characters as cargo
 

*****HOWEVER***** how do you plan to let the Heroes/Officers/Starfleet Cadets actually give bonuses to the ship/fleet they're traveling on?

Re: Characters as cargo
 

If they are vehicles, say a troop, then you just add the ability to the abilities. Or you create large kt components with the ability you desire, and use a kt size specific mount, one that will only work with "hero's" and presto your in the money.

Re: Characters as cargo
 

CK just pointed out that cargo does not transfer its bonus so I guess this concept is mute. The limitations of the game seem to keep preventing us from implamenting a "hero" system no matter how we try to work around it. Oh well, I tried.