Modder brainstorming session

[Suicide Junkie]

So, how about those cloaks & engine suggestions?

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Ah, ok, much like what emissive armor is supposed to be like. Cool idea. Only problem I see is that once you do more than 10 points (or however many the component has), wouldn't the component be destroyed and no longer regenerate

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Ah, but you see, the component is not armor, so it could survive many hits by hiding behind other components!
These things could replace shield generators in a low-tech-feel mod (b5 or similar).

Once the generator is hit, though, it would die like any other shield generator.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 17 May 2001).]

[Devnullicus]

heh. You could actually do little ablative deflector shields. Make them 1kT each. 1 pt shields with 1 pt crystal shield regen. =) Hard to actually take them out. Hard to repair though, too.

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How's my Programming? Call 1-800-DEV-NULL

[Suicide Junkie]

They'd be nasty little buggers if you got 150kT worth on a BC. You'd practically need a WMG to cut through it!

Add organic armor, and you're invincible to everything but shard cannons & null-space.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 17 May 2001).]

[AJC]

I like the idea of reflective shields.

I did that very modification to cloaking and sensors. In my tech set Cloaking goes up to level 8 tech. I added tech levels to all sensors to detect the higher level cloaks. Mines had to be modified so that they wouldnt be detected by the new higher level detection abilities of high tech sensors.

Detecting mine fields;
I added up to tech level 12 advanced military science to my game. Hyperoptics at the top level in my game will detect mine fields.

I also went through the AI races and modified the research files so that they will use the higher levels of cloaking and sensors. Although I have never actually determined if the AI uses the top level Hyperoptics to avoid mine fields.
If anyone is interested in seeing the mod I can send you the files.. or post them in them in the mod forum...if asked to.

As for new Ideas -
how about Weapon platform mounts using the same range and damage bonus as the station mounts - But dont include the bonus to hit.

Reduce the amount of population that can be carried in a cargo bay.

Advanced Stellar manipulation components
Smaller, cheaper and maybe self repair. This could Allow individual warships the capability to open and close warp points etc..

Add levels to existing tech to allow for miniturization of components.

Faster missiles

Get aaron to allow towing of ships with tractor beams on the strategic map and tactical combat.....



[This message has been edited by AJC (edited 17 May 2001).]

[Devnullicus]

Yeah, there's the rub, actually. There needs to be a hard limit of how much damage can be deflected. The restriction of One Per Vehicle would actually be appropriate for these. The higher the component level, the more damage it would be able to block, but you would only be able to have one per ship. Otherwise, you'd just be able to make a ship invincible.

[Suicide Junkie]

well, not really invincible.

If you had 500kT of ablative deflectors (1 shield, 1hp each), then:
-16 meson bLasters @ 30 damage reduces shields to 20.
-one meson bLaster cuts down shields, destroys 10 ablatives. Shields rise to 30.
-one meson bLaster cuts down shields
-one meson bLaster kills 30 ablativs, shield rises to 30.
-one meson bLaster cuts down shields.
-etc.

As long as that one bug has been fixed, so the damage getting through the shields must be greater than zero for the crystalline effect to work.


I would still suggest making the deflectors the size of normal shields, so you can add multiple gens, but you can't abuse the ability.
One-per-ship restrictions are good too.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 17 May 2001).]

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Reduce the amount of population that can be carried in a cargo bay.

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Is there a setting in settings.txt for that? I can't remember.

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Advanced Stellar manipulation components Smaller, cheaper and maybe self repair. This could Allow individual warships the capability to open and close warp points etc..

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B5 jump drive anybody Actually, for that kind of thing, I took the map editor, and added a "hyperspace" system. for big maps, I link nine or so systems into a square, and the small sector squares of hyperspace map directly to the systems squares on the galaxy map! Add fifty wormholes to connect all the systems to their respective locations in hyperspace, and you've got a B5 universe! Add black hole effects to hyperspace, make it a level 5 nebula, and you get ships drifting off course in hyperspace, getting lost and dying, and no combat allowed.

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Add levels to existing tech to allow for miniturization of components.

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I like it. I'll have to write a program to read the file, duplicate every component, and reduce the price of the copy while increasing the tech requirements. It'll work great!

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Get aaron to allow towing of ships with tractor beams on the strategic map and tactical combat.....

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Ohh! ohh!
Idea! set tractor beams to allow targetting of friendlies. you can then catapult capture ships into the enemy force, or yank a crippled ship out of the way of enemy fire! (just like the defiant was saved in one episode)

BUT, even better, make a friendly-targeting only weapon that does negative damage to shields only!. You can boost an allied ship's shields, at the expense of your own supplies.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 17 May 2001).]

[Marty Ward]

How about in addition to normal engines, tactical engines that give extra combat moves but less strategic moves and vice versa.

[Suicide Junkie]

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How about in addition to normal engines, tactical engines that give extra combat moves but less strategic moves and vice versa.

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Use the afterburner ability! yes! and perhaps we could give an engine a "-1" afterburner, so it gives 2 movement in strategic, but gives a total of zero in tactical!

[Puke]

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Originally posted by suicide_junkie:

How about in addition to normal engines, tactical engines that give extra combat moves but less strategic moves and vice versa.

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Use the afterburner ability! yes! and perhaps we could give an engine a "-1" afterburner, so it gives 2 movement in strategic, but gives a total of zero in tactical!

wow, that would totally change the game. non-combat ships would be MUCH cheaper comparatively, as they would not need tac engines. so scouts and colony ships and transports would be able to be made for a much lower comparative price, but they would be dead in the water if intercepted. it would also mean that ships would have less capacity for weapons and such, unless the size of engines were reduced or capacity was increased

also, if tac engines and strategic engines both counted against the hull's engine limit, the limit would probably have to be raised. that means ships could either go for a balance, or have an incredible tac movement or an incredible strategic movement. this would be another big game changer, as people would build defensive interceptors to protect planets and long range high speed scouts to scout through systems.... Just like when we thought the U2 and later the SR71 were too high and fast to catch, but they got their clocks cleaned by super-sonic short-range mig interceptors!

I think this change is an excellent idea, and it would make things much harder to take, as local defenses would have higher powered ships than could be sent quickly over long distances.

ofcourse, if i remember, afterburners are a 1-component-per-ship-is-effective, and the ability may not even work on ships. just kicking some ideas about though.

[Nitram Draw]

Nice idea. I think the AI would have a tough time handling it though. I tried a few games with colonize home planet type and atmosphere restrictions, this is as close as you can get to the few and far between colonizable planets now. The AI did not fare so well.
Making colonies more expensive is a good idea, they are basically throwaways as you put it. If you only have 10 each becomes much more valuable. Again, I think the AI would have trouble with fewer colonies and it isn't very efficient in picking colony types but in a game with human opponents it should work real well.
If the number of systems limit is lifted I don't see why most of your ideas cannot be used.