What new abilities would you like to see?

[Aloofi]

[quote]Originally posted by Graeme Dice:

Warp point defenses are a _good_ thing, and are hardly overpowered as they currently stand. You absolutely need to have some way to defend your territory, and individual planet defense is not possible due to the speeds with which ships have to be able to move to make the game finishable in less than six months.

I always play without defending any warp point, and its far more realistic, cause I have to protect every planet independently and always have a colonial fleet for system defense and counter-strokes. Protecting the warp points is WAY too EASY. And way too cheap.

So yeah, its a problem of taste. Or a diferent concept of realism.

[Aloofi]

Originally posted by orev_saara:
Actually, this is not hard to mod! I've been using this solution to fix the way the same size master computer runs a frigate and a starbase, here's how it works:

1 You make the cloaking device as big as you want for the big ships with appropriate supply usage, etc.

2 You create a series of mounts that make cloaking devices cheaper and smaller and use less supply, but give them all the appropriate maximum size field.

.

That's a great idea. Is it possible to limit the size to a maximum, like say, Cloaking can only be used in ships below 300 kts?

[orev_saara]

Yes. You'd have to make the basic cloaking device take up about 5000kT, or something equally unworkable, then put in a mount that shrinks it down to what you want that cannot be used on anything bigger than 300kT

[Andrés]

IMHO it does not make sense to make large ships unable to cloak but that's you can mod whatever you like.
Using the mount method you can make large ships have to spend a similar % of it's tonnage in the cloaking device.

[Aloofi]

Originally posted by orev_saara:
Yes. You'd have to make the basic cloaking device take up about 5000kT, or something equally unworkable, then put in a mount that shrinks it down to what you want that cannot be used on anything bigger than 300kT

Thanks man, that's a great idea.
Will the AI use it?
Do I have to tinker with AI files to make them use it?
I've never touched an AI file. I'm a newbie, you know.

[Aloofi]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:
The thing about it is that it's almost universally true that a bigger ship will be better at the same tech level, simply because you can fit more onboard.

Yes, better, and unproportionaly expensier to build and maintain.

The Nimitz is considerably larger than any of the Battleships floated in WWII. It displaces 97,000 tons, while the Missouri displaces 45,000 tons. Modern ships are nearly twice as large as WWII ships.

You aren't comparing Carriers to Battleships, aren't you?.
No Battleship have been built after WW2. The Last american Battleships comisioned during WW2 were scrapped and the hulls used for Carriers. The largest warship in any fleet today its a Cruiser size.
The Battleship saw battle for the Last time in the Gulf War, and it was obvious that they have just become an ultra expensive platform to launch missiles, something that an AEGYS Cruiser do far better and cheaper.
Now Carriers, are a completely diferent ballgame. They do something nobody else can do, and they are pound by pound the expensiest floating structure ever build. The cost of one single Carrier is higher than the estimated price that NASA have for a permanent scientific colony on planet Mars. The maintainace of carriers is so high that the UK had to settle for the 3 mini Carriers they keep today.
That's why I believe that in SE4 big hulls have to be desproportionaly expensier to build and maintain, thus giving a chance to small ships to remain effective.

[Erax]

[quote]Originally posted by Aloofi:

Now Carriers, are a completely diferent ballgame. They do something nobody else can do, and they are pound by pound the expensiest floating structure ever build. [snip]
That's why I believe that in SE4 big hulls have to be desproportionaly expensier to build and maintain, thus giving a chance to small ships to remain effective.

You don't need a new ability for that, it can be modded with current capabilities. I agree that SEIV goes completely overboard with the 'bigger is better' way of thinking; QNP mods go a long way towards correcting this.

The 'can warp' ability for components would be excellent, creating many new situations (ships could get trapped in their systems by combat, sabotage or events).

Supply-depleting weapons would also be great, they would act like Star Wars ion cannons.

[JLS]

Originally posted by dogscoff:
Most "new features" threads soon degenerate into convoluted lists of peoples' pet ideas, so here's one with a more specific agenda:

What new abilities would you like to see patched into SE4 (or introdced in SE5) for modders to tinker with? I'll kick off:

- Can warp: This ability would be required for a ship to warp, enabling modders to deny warp travel to certain hulls or tech levels by witholding the ability.

-Inflicts X damage on own ship when destroyed: Would enable us to create "volatile" components. (ie one lucky hit to the warp core takes out half the ship)

- X percent chance of being damaged in ground combat: This ability could be given to units and facilities, allowing us to control their chances of surviving ground combat.

- modify ground combat defence by X percent for rock races.
- modify ground combat defence by X percent for ice races.
- modify ground combat defence by X percent for gas races.

The above 3 could be given to planets to give native combatants an advantage. Equally, all three could be given to a single facility to fortify a planet against invasion.

Come on then ppl, let's have your ideas...

-Can warp:
Can be modeled now (per Vehicle hull) in se4, but once opened it allows all size hulls to pass.
Some AI issues here as well.
~~~
-Inflicts X damage on own ship when destroyed: This is (some what) already done with structure size.
~~~
- modify ground combat defense.
Can be modeled in se4.

~
- X percent chance of being damaged in ground combat:
Agreed this is a must. I have not figured away to do this in se4 (YET)
--------------------------
EDIT:
Opps Noticed {Graeme Dice} already pointed most out in latter post.

[ May 03, 2003, 15:18: Message edited by: JLS ]

[JLS]

Originally posted by Aloofim:
-I would like to get rid of all the warp points. Hyperspace Jumps should be possible only to the nearest system (to the fringes of the system), so you'll still need to make several jumps to reach an enemy homeworld.
-Hyperspacing should be both component and hull based.
-Fighters should only travel as far as to a location where they can be retrieved. Not fighter should be in flight at the end of a turn. And no Hyperjumping, of course.
-Every time a ship or fleet hyperjump there should be a small hyperjump flash and sound, so it doesn't feel like now, when the warp points are barely a door to the next room.
-The ability to limit cloaking to a maximum size. If cloacking could be limited to small hulls the life of such hulls will not only be enlarged, but we could simulate submarine warfare with cloakers capable of launching spies, virus and nuclear bombs on planets without being detected unless the right sensor was in the sector. A cloaked vessel in combat should be detected only when it fires its guns, and then for a brief moment. And the best anti cloacker defense should be another cloaker.
-The ability to retrieve fighters in combat to rearm those "fire rate 30" weapons.
-Fighters shouldn't have shields (too small to fit)
-Some sort of diference between bombers and fighters. Bombers should need escort from fighters.
-Underground facilities and bunkers, that can't be destroyed from orbital bombing.
-Stealth Spy satelites to check on planets. (Deployable by cloakers)
-Exploration: Systems shouldn't be explored by just jumping to it. Visiting a system should only reveal the number of planets, size and location, but not resorce value or ruins. To explore a planet a vessel should visit the planet, and have a planet scanner component or explorer party on board.
-Ruins: should only be a random event happening some time after a colony have been stablished. (to simulate buried ruins that need to be excavated after found by chance by farmers or something)
-Diplomacy: First contact shouldn't mean combat! The lack of treaty shouldn't mean war. To attack a vessel there should be first an state of war, and if not, attacking that vessel would be a declaration of war.
-Trade: we should be able to see what the AI or other players have. And to know how much they want.

Oh my, i forgot that this thread its not for wishes.......

Agreed

[JLS]

Originally posted by Aloofim:
The good thing about cloaking its that it have the potential to make small ships valuables to the very end. When you make large ships capable of cloaking you throw that away.
I just don't like the "bigger it's better" aproach.

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:
The thing about it is that it's almost universally true that a bigger ship will be better at the same tech level, simply because you can fit more onboard.

PvK has done wonders with the scale of Components with Proportions. The way he handled Cloaking for larger ship do appear realistic. With in the confines of se4.

Cloaked ships should always get first to shoot, in se5.

[ May 03, 2003, 15:13: Message edited by: JLS ]