Interesting Items coming out soon...

[CaptSpoogy]

The Deep Space Array would be like a super long range scanner so you could spy on your neighbours although they may be really far away - like fifteen sectors (galaxy).

It would cost a lot of materials and take up a lot of space (sort of like that Argus array in Star Trek: TNG)

I'm not sure about the Warp Point thing - I'll look into tomorrow.

Also, how about a facility like a Command Centre - it could generate happiness, intelligence, military training...

[CaptSpoogy]

I've got some more ideas...

Multi-Vector Point Defense (Death Blossom)

This new weapon would be mounted on a specialized fighter. It would be really small, just 1 kT per component, but you would jam 30 or so on the fighter. The numerous beams would strike against seekers, fighters, drones. Remember "The Last Starfighter"? Just like that! What makes this weapon even more interesting is that I would create a new launch bay for just these fighters - so you don't need a carrier and even a cruiser could carry a couple. They would be cheap and expendible and could even chase down those missiles before they got near you...

I think I will make this component and post it tomorrow with the Deep Space Array - the remainder of my more basic components will be with the Spoogy Universe Mod.

Have you visited the Spoogy Federation YET? http://spoogyfederation.tripod.com/index.html

[Magus38]

Referring to Atrocities' idea of a facility that prevents warp points from being opened in a system... As stated that would be hugely unbalancing. Consider what would happen if an isolationist AI or human, whom you had on the ropes in every way, simply closed every warp point to their territory. This new facility would make them completely untouchable, rendering the game unwinnable...

A different approach, such as making a facility that prevents any warp point from being opened by a Quantum Resonator of a certain level, would be cool. You could include it in the Stellar Engineering research tree and have it go up to one level below the ultimate Quantum Resonator. This would afford some good protection, as Stellar Engineering is a massively expensive thing to research at the higher levels, but not be completely invulnerable.

What do you think?

[GruelThePurple]

Recall that in game terms, a SYSTEM is the star and all the planets/objects in orbit around it. This means all the items you normally see in the main scree.

A SECTOR is just a single block, which contains only a sun, or only a planet (with its moons).

Hence, a SYSTEM is made up of a grid of 13x13 SECTORS.

So, looking at this, the scanner array is a very interesting item, but I am not sure that it will work in the context you propose.

The Abilities file does have an entry for "Long Range Scanner - System", but it does not allow for multiple systems. There are no variables for range. The sector based scan does, but unless values that put it outside its current System carry into the next System (which I can not check right now), I am afraid that this neat idea is not implimentable within the current game framework.

However, if it does work, I would love to see it!

[Aussie Gamer]

I would love to see the LR Scanner work but I don't see that ability in the data files!

The same goes for the warp gate preventer.

The Command centre is very easy to make as the abilities are already in other buildings.

[GruelThePurple]

I forgot I had the game loaded on this machine (work and all)...

I attempted a simple test with Long Range Scanner III's to see if sector ranges would carry into the next system... They do not. I increased the ranges to 100, 1000, 10000, and 50000 and all had the same result; I could see anything within the system, but not outside of it.

I then tweaked a Research Facility to have the Long Range Scan - System attribute and gave it a value in the first catagory, of 2. Needless to say, that also did nothing outside the system it lived in. Increasing the value also did nothing...

Saddly, if this can be done, it is outside what I would have thought to use, and outside the default abilities of current scanners.

<sigh>

[CaptSpoogy]

Crap.

Maybe I can figure something out.