SE5, Tell Aaron what's on your Wish List

[Atrocities]

Don't make me fix this page!!!

[Ed Kolis]

About the scripting language...
I'd like the script files to be something other than .txt. Maybe .s5s (Space-empires 5 Script) or something. That way, those of us with cool multi-function text editors like Scite or PSPad can create language templates for SE5 scripts without having to rename them to something else to get the editors to recognize them as something other than regular text!

[Fyron]

Can't you just select a template after loading the file?

[Atrocities]

My Hero suggestion is still, IMHO, the best way to incorprate hero's on a grand scale into SEIV.

[Aiken]

Imperator Fyron said:
Can't you just select a template after loading the file?

It means 1 or 2 additional clicks, and I'm sooo lazy
Good idea Ed, and it's easy as pie to implement in se5.
And I would love to see se5 syntax free of spaces in keywords (like Shield Generation). Most syntax hilighters don't understand them (pspad is the one which does), and I still don't understand how to hack scintilla component to enable this. Utilization of "_" symbol is better.

[Ed Kolis]

Automatic name generator for individual ships!
Instead of "Paladin 0001", "Paladin 0002", "Paladin 0003", etc. for your Paladin-class ships, you could have automatically generated names from name fragments (i.e. you combine "USS ", "Ran", and "dall" to get "USS Randall") much as character names are generated in Angband, though perhaps with some more sophistication: you could have more or fewer than three name fragments per name, and name fragment choices could be determined by the role you assign to the ship (e.g. you could designate all attack ships and scout ships to be "USS Whatever" and all transports to be "UPS Whatever" )
Would help with role playing in larger games when it's not possible to name every ship manually, and I don't think it would be too hard to implement

[Atrocities]

Ed Kolis said:
Automatic name generator for individual ships!
Instead of "Paladin 0001", "Paladin 0002", "Paladin 0003", etc. for your Paladin-class ships, you could have automatically generated names from name fragments (i.e. you combine "USS ", "Ran", and "dall" to get "USS Randall") much as character names are generated in Angband, though perhaps with some more sophistication: you could have more or fewer than three name fragments per name, and name fragment choices could be determined by the role you assign to the ship (e.g. you could designate all attack ships and scout ships to be "USS Whatever" and all transports to be "UPS Whatever" )
Would help with role playing in larger games when it's not possible to name every ship manually, and I don't think it would be too hard to implement

Well As least the auto option to specify the lead name such as USS, IKS, or other. The names should come from a file like the class names. But do you know how large that file will have to be? We are talking 20,000 names at a min.

But having the ship come off the assembly line with the USS 0001 or IKS 0001 would be nice.

[AgentZero]

One thing I was thinking that would make ground combat a bit more interesting would be if Range and Rate-of-Fire actually mattered.
Here's one nince, simple way it could work.
Attacker:
Weapon 1: Range 3, ROF 1, Damage 10
Weapon 2: Range 2, ROF 1, Damage 50
Weapon 3: Range 1, ROF 1, Damage 60
Defender:
Weapon 1: Range 2: ROF 1, Damage 20
Weapon 2: Range 1: ROF 2, Damage 100

Combat starts at maximum range so in Turn 1, the Attacker takes no damage, being out of range, and inflicts 10 damage per unit on the defender. Round 2, the defender inflicts 20 damage per unit on the attacker, who in return deals out 60 damage (50+10). Round 3 and both sides inflict 120 damage on each other. Round 4 and the attacker does 120 again, but the defender only manages 20. And so forth.

Simple, but at least then range and ROF would be a consideration in troop/WP design.

On a vaguely related matter, I'd like to see a fighter component like 'Atmospheric Stabilizers' that give fighters the ability to conduct precision attacks against planets. When you give an attack order to properly equipped fighters, you'd be given the option of:
Attack Population Centres (kill people)
Attack Facilities
Attack Troops
Attack Fortifications (Weapons Platforms)

This would add a strategic dimension to fighter use, since they would be perfect for softening up a planet before invasion, while orbital bombardment from ships would just cause widespread destruction, and end mostly end up damaging the things you want to capture intact.

[Atrocities]

Agreed. That would be nice.

[Ed Kolis]

Atrocities said:
But do you know how large that file will have to be? We are talking 20,000 names at a min.

Large file? How so? Let's see, if we have two prefixes (one for military ships, one for civilian ships), twenty name beginnings, twenty name middles, and twenty name endings, that gives us 2*20*20*20 = 8000 unique ship names! And each name part will usually only be a few characters (e.g. the name "USS Enterprise" could be formed from the parts "USS ", "Ent", "er", and "prise"). Granted you will get a lot of nonsense names (such as "USS Trollumforce" to use a few synonyms ) but as long as some lexical rules are applied (at least for the human ship names) you won't get anything really silly (like "USS Zxbnft", which might be a good Xiati or Drushocka ship name were it not for the USS part )
Basically, the principle is to get the most out of your data entry. 8000 ship names at an average of 12 letters each would take up 96 KB of space, which would take a long time to type in; 8000 ship names in the 2x20x20x20 scheme I suggested earlier would only take 186 *bytes* (assuming each name part happens to be 3 letters). And if you add another name part to the list, it adds not just one name, but hundreds!