docking escorts

[Nitram Draw]

Some things you just can't do but since MM keeps adding to the game maybe one day it will work. A carrier full of destroyers, wow a scary thought!

[dogscoff]

If they ever do add that perhaps they could put in a planetary dock facility - hide ships on a planet's surface so your enemies can't see your defences. (unless they have scanners)

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"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"Uh, I think so, Brain, but we'll never get a monkey to use dental floss!"

[Coal]

Planetary dock? That sounds neat. One thing that could do along with hide a ship is reduce its maintence costs, since its engines and systems wouldn't be running all the time.

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Rules? What Rules?

[dogscoff]

Yeah, but with a time and/or resource penalty to reflect the extra effort involved in moving around within a planet's atmosphere. Either that or require that a ship has a small "atmospheric maneuvering" component to allow it to get into and out of orbit.

Maybe planets with no atmos could have an advantage here? A use for those tiny moons at Last...

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"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"Uh, I think so Brain, but how are we gonna teach a goat to dance with flippers on? "

[Coal]

I read something about that. Using small, low-gravity, no-atmosphere moons and asteroids for starship bases. That would be usefull in SEIV. You could build a secret base in the asderoids of the enemys systems.

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Rules? What Rules?

[This message has been edited by Maverick (edited 02 May 2001).]

[dogscoff]

*Dogscoff smacks forehead*
...Not the asteroids thread again... please not the asteroids thread...

Sorry... don't know what came over me there

If ship-in-ship docking was allowed according to the beginning of this thread, and my idea on asteroid utilisation adopted (in some other thread somewhere. I'll see if I can find it. I'm sure not typing it again=-) then you could hide ships in aasteroids like that. Fighters too.

Now where's that thread..?

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"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"Uh, I think so Brain, but how are we gonna teach a goat to dance with flippers on? "

[dogscoff]

... Found it. From the "asteroids question" thread which died a few weeks ago. Here's how I think asteroid usage should be implemented. Obviously it's all hard code, perhaps in SEV / expansion pack?

<Wild idea>
Treat each asteroid field like a space station or group of space stations - You don't need to colonise it, you just have to get a construction ship there and take advantage of a free "hull" with natural cloaking, really low maintenance and space for scanners, fighter bays, cargo space, weapons etc.

In combat each "hull" (ie each rock) would be treated exactly like a space station. It would have a special graphic and it could be boarded or destroyed just like a space station. When destroyed the rock becomes available for someone else to build on.

Tiny asteroid field - approx 100KT hull
Small asteroid field - approx 200KT hull.
Medium asteroid field - 1 100KT hull + 1 200KT hull
... and so on.

When I say "approx", why not put in a random modifier? One tiny asteroid field has 109KT space, the one in the next sector only 98KT. I don't know i there are any components <5 KT but it would b a good incentive to mod some

</Wild idea>


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"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"Uh, I think so Brain, but how are we gonna teach a goat to dance with flippers on? "