New Frames & Inventory Console Features

[DaveK]

I would like to see the maximum of eight equipment bays expanded to ten equipment bays.

It's part of the fun that limited assembly points and equipment slots and hardpoints make you have to compromise when you customise your ship - no just loading it with absolutely everything - just part of the fun . . . . so they tell me :P:P:P

[Viper]

I actually find this to be one of the things that makes the game interesting and balanced. If you could just mount every single goody on your ship that you could find, every player would soon end up with an 'Uber'-ship. After that point equipping your ship would not be an interesting part of the game anymore - everyone would just buy a new ship and go to the places where they know they can get the stuff and just slap it on.
Now you need to think about how you're going to set up your ship. This depends on the frame (configuration) you have chosen and for which purpose you are going to use it for. I have played Freelancer online for the last few years, and a lot of the MP servers all made that same mistake, and players got bored and stopped playing shortly after they learned how to build their super-ship.


~ Viper.

[Marvin]

Actually, having the clouds moving is not hard to do ...

In my game (even on this R1 server I've heard about), the clouds already do move. Drift. Wander about. Some even bang up my ship.

[Dingo]

I actually find this to be one of the things that makes the game interesting and balanced. If you could just mount every single goody on your ship that you could find, every player would soon end up with an 'Uber'-ship. After that point equipping your ship would not be an interesting part of the game anymore - everyone would just buy a new ship and go to the places where they know they can get the stuff and just slap it on.
Now you need to think about how you're going to set up your ship. This depends on the frame (configuration) you have chosen and for which purpose you are going to use it for. I have played Freelancer online for the last few years, and a lot of the MP servers all made that same mistake, and players got bored and stopped playing shortly after they learned how to build their super-ship.


~ Viper.

+1

[DaveK]

I actually find this to be one of the things that makes the game interesting and balanced. If you could just mount every single goody on your ship that you could find, every player would soon end up with an 'Uber'-ship. After that point equipping your ship would not be an interesting part of the game anymore - everyone would just buy a new ship and go to the places where they know they can get the stuff and just slap it on.
Now you need to think about how you're going to set up your ship. This depends on the frame (configuration) you have chosen and for which purpose you are going to use it for. I have played Freelancer online for the last few years, and a lot of the MP servers all made that same mistake, and players got bored and stopped playing shortly after they learned how to build their super-ship.


~ Viper.

+1

+ another 1

[Myrddin Macaulay]

I was chatting with a player Callsign Myrodin, who had an interesting suggestion. Make one of the Warzones an extreme challenge, with say 20 Vonari per waypoint, or make the Vonari in that warzone super V's with double the resiliance.

Talison conflict is perfect for new players building their mission count, however the other 3 systems are almost identical. Maybe they could be scaled up. Say Cerulean 7-10 / WP. Sierra 12-15 / WP and Avroch 20-25 / WP.

Thank you for posting this Bleve.

I would really be happy if the Warzones got a scaled increase in difficulty.
As it stands now Talison Conflict is for new combat pilots to test their skills and Cerulean, Sierra and Arvoch Warzones are all the same, just different name, station names and background, other then that they are the same.

Mostly this will also make it more fun to go in as a team because fighting 7 fighters and 1 capital ship with 2 or more players is way too easy.
The actual difficulty then is getting a kill before all the foes are vanquished.

[DaveK]

There is much potential in Myrddin's suggestion.

In the past people have suggested that Capital ships could/should be beefed up because a good combat pilot can take one down solo with a basic cannon/beam in a fairly basic frame.

Coding "heavier" capital ships with better shields simply requiring more damage points to be inflicted would only half sort the issue, because you would just have to hit them more times; if you can weave and dodge or find the "sweet spot" then it will simply take longer.

Coding for a better missile/cannon offense/defense system for the capital ships would be much more programming work and require more processing power and hence a bigger hit on lower spec machines.

However having significantly more hostile ships and possibly multiple capital ships to target would need a lot more planning and tactics. I am not a good combat pilot (yet ) but even I find it hard sometimes to have an opponent to play with long enough to get a kill before the aces have finished their targets and are piling into mine. (more often than not I appreciate the help!)

With a big fighter escort there would be opportunity to create an attack team taking on the defensive fighters and providing a defensive umbrella for a core "heavy attack" team moving in on the capital ships. At the moment everything seems to be a pile in there furball! You could even imagine some hostile fighters with a primary role to defend the capital ships and others to go out and meet the attacking team. It would require true cooperative action for the attacking team to succeed.

[Edited on 24-9-2011 by DaveK]

[Myrddin Macaulay]

I have another idea floating in my head.

The option to install an additional particle cannon of your choice, like an Excalibur pack it would take up 8 slots but instead of fabricating missiles you can have a secondary cannon array installed to turn your ship into a gunship for those (like myself) who don't really want or need missiles in the first place.

Exactly the same as a missile pack so you can swap it out if needed.
Or maybe more handy if the cannon pack simply copies the cannon you have already installed.
Or if possible (I would actually prefer this option) that you can purchase the cannon pack, then buy a particle cannon of choice and drag and drop it in the cannon pack to install it.

EDIT: It would also be grand if the secondary cannon array is activated with the missile fire button so you can fire them seperately from the first cannon array.

[Edited on 24-9-2011 by Myrddin Macaulay]

[Marvin]

To be realistic, adding a second cannon would require additional energy ... same as the current situation where a higher class cannon requires more energy that a class 1. Missiles, on the other hand, don't use up much energy at all. So, assuming eight hard points are needed for the new cannon, it would be sharing energy with the first cannon. Firing both, together, would then deplete your energy twice as fast.

[Viper]

I think that's an awesome idea! Especially for players like me, who prefer to use guns only this would create an real nice opportunity to make their setup more efficient and more competitive against ships equipped with a missile rack.

Excellent idea!

EDIT:
After reading Marvin's reply who makes a good point, I think it would even be better to make it a 'cannon upgrade package' (or however you want to call it), that would not only add a cannon and/or increase your fire rate, but which would also feature a system that would feed additional energy to your ships systems to support the energy usage of that second cannon.


~ Viper.

[Edited on 9-24-2011 by Viper]

[Myrddin Macaulay]

Ok, I have no idea how big an Excalibur pack is but what if you can upgrade the cannon pack with a cannon relay system, a heatsink and an energy system unit? (The energy system needs to be build into the game since there isn't one in the game already)

It will be a very expensive upgrade but that will make it more of an exclusive item.

[Dingo]

I don't think the cannon upgrade instead of secondary weapons thing works for this game. But since I prefer cannons to missiles, i'll support it anyway. And i'll throw out my desire for a 120 cycle 900 range kinetic cannon that does 1 damage again, just for the heck of it.

[Jameson]

I want the possibilty to add a second mine/tractor beam to my frame for double mining fun, and of course, a chance of asteroids exploding if you mine them too hard, lol.

Also, native support for screenshots would be nice. I never wanted to take screenshots so much!


[Edited on 9-25-2011 by Jameson]

[Dingo]

hi Jameson, in lieu of no native support, Gadwin Printscreen's free version takes great screenshots.

[Jameson]

Thanks for pointing, Dingo.

Will try in a week, that or Fraps, but only if I buy more RAM. Right now I'm struggling to run EM at max, with ENB, mods and LOTS of music - only 2048 MB.

Still I think the double tractor beam would make a nice setup for dedicated miners. Not that I'm one, mind you

[MMaggio]

Thanks for pointing, Dingo.

Will try in a week, that or Fraps, but only if I buy more RAM. Right now I'm struggling to run EM at max, with ENB, mods and LOTS of music - only 2048 MB.

Still I think the double tractor beam would make a nice setup for dedicated miners. Not that I'm one, mind you

Never happen, altho you can buy specialized mining beams that only extract a specific ore. They still work as normal tractor beams.

[DaveK]

To be realistic, adding a second cannon would require additional energy ... same as the current situation where a higher class cannon requires more energy that a class 1. Missiles, on the other hand, don't use up much energy at all. So, assuming eight hard points are needed for the new cannon, it would be sharing energy with the first cannon. Firing both, together, would then deplete your energy twice as fast.

Perhaps it needs 8 hard points because it has it's own extra enhanced "Relay System" with extra capacitors over the standard one slot system plus a "Heatsink" built into the "package"

[Dave S]

There is much potential in Myrddin's suggestion.

In the past people have suggested that Capital ships could/should be beefed up because a good combat pilot can take one down solo with a basic cannon/beam in a fairly basic frame.

Coding "heavier" capital ships with better shields simply requiring more damage points to be inflicted would only half sort the issue, because you would just have to hit them more times; if you can weave and dodge or find the "sweet spot" then it will simply take longer.

Coding for a better missile/cannon offense/defense system for the capital ships would be much more programming work and require more processing power and hence a bigger hit on lower spec machines.

However having significantly more hostile ships and possibly multiple capital ships to target would need a lot more planning and tactics. I am not a good combat pilot (yet ) but even I find it hard sometimes to have an opponent to play with long enough to get a kill before the aces have finished their targets and are piling into mine. (more often than not I appreciate the help!)

With a big fighter escort there would be opportunity to create an attack team taking on the defensive fighters and providing a defensive umbrella for a core "heavy attack" team moving in on the capital ships. At the moment everything seems to be a pile in there furball! You could even imagine some hostile fighters with a primary role to defend the capital ships and others to go out and meet the attacking team. It would require true cooperative action for the attacking team to succeed.

[Edited on 24-9-2011 by DaveK]

Here is a possibility for future versions of the game (if it is too much to add in EM). Add turrets to the capital ships that throw out laser or cannon fire. If the individual turrets can be blown up, then pilots will actually have to use their flying skills and sound tactics to maneuver around and really work to kill a capital ship. That would make them a stand-alone threat in their own right regardless of the escorts they bring with them.

The missiles they currently throw are of no threat which makes the capital ships a bloated pumpkin in space that is easily dispatched.

[Marvin]

The missiles they currently throw are of no threat which makes the capital ships a bloated pumpkin in space that is easily dispatched.

Unless you happen to be in close proximity to one and preoccupied with blowing up a horde of fighters.

[DaveK]

hi Jameson, in lieu of no native support, Gadwin Printscreen's free version takes great screenshots.

and it's very easy to set up and use, but versitile as well

[Myrddin Macaulay]

The missiles they currently throw are of no threat which makes the capital ships a bloated pumpkin in space that is easily dispatched.

Unless you happen to be in close proximity to one and preoccupied with blowing up a horde of fighters.

A horde of fighters? There are only 7 fighters, you destroy those in less then 2 minutes.

I agree with Dave S here, the capital ships in this game bare little to no threat to a skilled pilot, at any range, even with 7 fighters as escort.

[Viper]

The missiles they currently throw are of no threat which makes the capital ships a bloated pumpkin in space that is easily dispatched.

Unless you happen to be in close proximity to one and preoccupied with blowing up a horde of fighters.

A horde of fighters? There are only 7 fighters, you destroy those in less then 2 minutes.

I agree with Dave S here, the capital ships in this game bare little to no threat to a skilled pilot, at any range, even with 7 fighters as escort.

Let's not forget to place ourselves in the shoes of the new and unexperienced players. It might be mentioned that most of the missiles fired at you are destroyed by your auto-cm launcher or anti-missile system. So you don't really need to pay too much attention to them if you have your equipment sorted, especially if you have 99 or more cm's. For new players who have not found these goodies yet, the capships do in fact pose a serious challenge. I therefor propose to not change all the capital ships, but only those in selected area's, where more experienced players go.
This way challenges will be retained for all players, new and experienced.


~ Viper.

[Edited on 9-26-2011 by Viper]

[Myrddin Macaulay]

I don't use an auto-cm launcher or a anti-missile system either, just manual cm launching and shooting missiles.

I find the missiles the least effective weapon in the game, hence why I am thowing in the idea to replace them with a cannon pack to turn your ship into a gunship.

Maybe it's time to have some capital ships added, Vonari capital ships I mean, like the Navy ones different sizes with light to heavy weaponry so you can upscale the capital ship type with the increasing difficulty of the region.

[Viper]

This might be a bit cliché (but maybe also too obvious to mention) but I think it'd be really awesome if we would be able to affiliate yourself with the Vonari.

For players who like to play the 'evil side', it would pose the ultimate challenge. For that very same reason though, a friendly affiliation with the Vonari ought to be EXTREMELY hard to achieve and per example, could only be done in the most hazardous of places. Trying to get there should be a serious challenge on which players would have to spend a LOT of time and some serious effort. It would also have to have a serious downside: seeing the fact that the V are everyone's enemy, a friendly reputation with them should make that player fully hostile to all the rest of the factions.

To be truthful, I don't know whether there are Vonari bases in Evochron - I haven't seen any yet. But being able to affiliate yourself with the Vonari would open up the possibility to dock on these bases, and buy their merchandise (ships including).


~ Viper.

[Maarschalk]

Now that is an Interesting concept Viper, now if only that achievement would make it possible to land on earth!........:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P