Whilst flying and fighting like mad things last night, I realised that the key mapping could be improved a bit. By that I mean to target the next "Hostile" we have to use two keystrokes (Alt R) not easy when you are in the midst. Would it be better to have say R as nearest hostile and similarly with "next" ship (T for next and Alt T for next Hostile).
Also regarsding the cloaking function, I found out from BraveHart (cheers BH) that the cloaking function only worked when you fired a stealth missile. Could the gameplay be improve a tad to have a Cloaking factility, but to fire any weapon, you would need to be uncloaked. You could sneak up, but not necessarily be completely wiped out by an invisible foe. Alternatively, prove a very expensive "Stealth Detector" which would show up cloaked ships (albeit at close range).
You cannot fire weapons whilst cloaked, it is possable to sneak up on an opponant but in order to fire on them you have to de-cloak. This is a tactic the TERASIN and KLINGON'S use all the time.
I like the idea of a short range stealth detector, sounds like a good project for one of our resident experts.
Whilst flying and fighting like mad things last night, I realised that the key mapping could be improved a bit. By that I mean to target the next "Hostile" we have to use two keystrokes (Alt R) not easy when you are in the midst. Would it be better to have say R as nearest hostile and similarly with "next" ship (T for next and Alt T for next Hostile).
That's why there's also a single key option for hostiles, just check out page 2 of the key configuration menu. The default key functions are O and P and they can be remapped to other keys/buttons as desired. Alt-R is just optional in case someone wants to use the same key for two functions, but you aren't limited to just that.
As he states, you can't fire while cloaked, you have to disengage the cloaking device in order to fire. There are ways you can detect a cloaked ship, but giving the exact position away with a device might defeat the purpose of the cloaking device in the first place. However, if you think you're being followed by a cloaked ship, try a 'crazy ivan' and fire several rounds in a pattern. You can still hit a cloak ship with weapons and its shields will flare if you make contact, giving you the position to continue firing at.
Also regarsding the cloaking function, I found out from BraveHart (cheers BH) that the cloaking function only worked when you fired a stealth missile, but to fire any weapon, you would need to be uncloaked.
Yoda is Right: "You have to use a Stealth Missile to become Cloaked. And you cannot Fire Weapons while Cloaked. If you want to Fire another Primary or Secondary Weapon before the Stealth timer finishes its count down from 60 seconds...[i.e.: With 30 seconds left to go] you would press/pull the trigger AGAIN for the missile function to De-Cloak sooner.....You do not have to wait for the stealth timer to finish it's count down"
"Yoda is Wise in the use of the Cloak"
StarWolves Clan Wing Commander [SW] BraveHart Hellfire Squadron
Motto:\"When All Hell Breaks Loose!! Unleash the Wolves of War and We will Rain Hell Fire on All of Our Enemies\"
I had a small idea. Ideas are like armpits, everyone has them and they all stink; but I'll mention it anyways just in case it's liked. I think it would add some interesting tactical gameplay for muliplayer and it's a small enough that it might be easily implimented. Not that I would know. Also my ideas tend to lend themselves to making things more dangerous.
So anyways: My idea is to disable initiation of jump drives within a certain radius of a gravity field. IE can't jump if within 5000 of a space station. If you try and jump you would get a message of some sort like "Jump drive can not initiate: Gravitional Interfearance" (Only with proper spelling).
Jumping to a station would not be affected as local matter would only affect the initiation of a jump. Not sure if this would affect AI as they generally jump in, but not out of a location but i'm not experianced enough to know all there behavior.
The Pros:
1. During PVP you could attempt to lure your opponent near a gravity field in order to trap them for an ambush so they can't jump out. Would be a good technique for those flying hevier ships against nimble fighters as they generally need fewer hits to destroy opponent but opponent jumps when at disadvatage or recieving damage. Also If you trap opponent at a save point they would have to go inertial and dump counter measures to escape. Would make for some added fun.
2. Would possibly give more of an insentive to fly heavyer ships see number 1.
3. When traversing dangerous space on a shopping spree or quest you would be forced to run the gauntlet to get to jumpable space once you visited a station. Therefor increasing your skills as a pilot.
4. Would keep inexperianced pilots from obtaining good gear without risk. As they would have to have the skills to survive leaving stations.
The Cons:
1. Some may see this as a con, I wouldn't. No more quick grabbing of a mission then jumping to it. You would have to fly a distance away before jumping to the mission waypoint.
2. May make leaving the safty of Saphire even more intimidating to new players.
3. The pilot trainig I believe has the player jumping near stations, can't remeber but might be a pain to change if this is the case.
4. Would add a tactical element where if a clan was powerfull enough to defend a base they could hold the point for personal refueling and CM if the battle was taking place in that area.
[Edited on 8-14-2008 by slardy]
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Proud member of StarWolves
and parent to be.
I like pro points #'s 3 & 4. I pretty much liked the whole idea with one exception. The space station should not affect the jump, just planetary bodies.
Not a bad idea Slardy! At least you're using deodorant in your armpits!;)
\"To kill hubris with humility is a goal rarely achieved by men\"
Hey gang!
How about a little feedback for slardy's idea? The suggestion is that if you're too close to a planetary body, you can't "jump". No suggestion yet on what that distance should be, but obviously beyond the gravitational pull of the planetary body. Makes sense to me...
I wouldn't want it to affect stations tho, since contracts assign waypoints and we need to get there in a hurry.
Vice is listening...
\"To kill hubris with humility is a goal rarely achieved by men\"
So anyways: My idea is to disable initiation of jump drives within a certain radius of a gravity field. IE can't jump if within 5000 of a space station. If you try and jump you would get a message of some sort like "Jump drive can not initiate: Gravitional Interfearance" (Only with proper spelling)
The Pros:
1. During PVP you could attempt to lure your opponent near a gravity field in order to trap them for an ambush so they can't jump out. Would be a good technique for those flying hevier ships against nimble fighters as they generally need fewer hits to destroy opponent but opponent jumps when at disadvatage or recieving damage. Also If you trap opponent at a save point they would have to go inertial and dump counter measures to escape. Would make for some added fun.
[Edited on 8-14-2008 by slardy]
Interesting Thought [SW] Slardy......I think it would be logical for the Gravitational Pull of a Planet to interfere with the Jump drive (Try Jumping from the dock on the planet hehe)....but the Gravitational Pull of a Station would be far less then a Planet....Although starport authorities could impose a "No Jump Zone" near or around the starport for Safety reasons.....but, then again the gravity field at the starport keeps you from impacting and blowing up on the starport....So "No Jumping" until cleared of the Gravitational pull of the station seems like a good ideal.......Safety First
StarWolves Clan Wing Commander [SW] BraveHart Hellfire Squadron
Motto:\"When All Hell Breaks Loose!! Unleash the Wolves of War and We will Rain Hell Fire on All of Our Enemies\"
I like the idea as it applies to planetary bodies, but not the stations. When I take a contract and move out from the station, I like to locate & lock-on the waypoint quickly and make my jump before too many "reds" show up. I think it should apply to planets, moons, suns, asteroid fields, & nebula's.
\"To kill hubris with humility is a goal rarely achieved by men\"
If the limitation applies to planets and their gravity fields, it will increase the distance you can safely make a jump from about 150 M altitude (where it's at now) to about 350 M altitude, so for planets, it will merely be an increase of distance needed for jumping.
If it applies to asteroid fields and nebulae, consider that this will mean very long waits before you exit an area that has a lot of roids or has a large nebula cloud. We're talking having to potentially travel through an entire sector before reaching an allowed region to jump, could take upwards of 30 minutes to an hour or more at afterburner speeds.
A change like this applied on that many levels will be a major shift in the rules of the game.
Jump Jammer!! I likey!!!! Maybe something like: sacrafice all ship energy for 20second of a 10k jam. Though I don't think Shewter would like the idea. Awesome idea Carwash. Would reinforce squad tactics where maye one guy used ship slot for a jammer and stays back and jams while rest of squad goes in for the kill.
Maybe when someone uses a jammer and someone trys to jump it would say "Jump jammed by [SW] Slardy" that way an escaping squad could seek him out and destory in order to get out.
By the way I offer these suggestions not cause I'm dipleased with current features at all. Love the game the way it is, it's just fun to think of stuff that would be cool.
Slardy
Maybe ship component could be like excaliber missiles and take all slots and use all available ship energy with a cool down timer. This way someone could configure there ship as an electronic warfare ship for the good of there squad. This idea would inforce all the tactical things I was picturing in my original idea: but be even cooler and more balanced for gameplay as the source of the jam could be detroyed. Also the one jamming would have to be carefull not to trap themselves or there squad by an unwise jam.
[Edited on 8-14-2008 by slardy]
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Proud member of StarWolves
and parent to be.
Oh hey now THAT last idea sounds pretty awesome. Kind of like a Excalibur, but then for jumping, lasting 30 seconds and reloading in 30 seconds. It would use all hardpoints, jam all jumps (also allied) within let's say a 10.000 radius (so if you can see him on radar, you can't jump) and if someone tried to jump he would see the name of the jammer.
That would surely add interesting tactics, since we don't really have 'roles' at this moment. It would be good for carrier assaults and single player too - maybe you could set a wingman to 'jam'.
tha_rami - The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
Vlambeer - Dutch indie game studio
Twitter - Weird news, life updates & game-related news
What if it was a missile you could buy that would have to contact a target to disable its engines in that way? Wiping out everything in a 10K radius might be a bit much, but with a controllable, precise weapon, it might make a good addition. That way, it isn't 100% effective all the time and the target has a chance at evasion, but if contacted, the engine system is damaged enough to prevent warping and full functionality.
That sounds like a Good missile Vice.....I want one .......Maybe a limited range? so you would have to basically fire it as near to point blank Range ( or say 300-500 away?) for it to work effectively? If your going to use it you might as well take the risk of getting in close enough to use it. Hmmmm......I suppose if it had to make contact then the closer you are the better Great Ideal Vice
Yoda Says: " That would take the Beep Beep out of a Road Runner" hehe
StarWolves Clan Wing Commander [SW] BraveHart Hellfire Squadron
Motto:\"When All Hell Breaks Loose!! Unleash the Wolves of War and We will Rain Hell Fire on All of Our Enemies\"
That would basically just be a Leech Missile, wouldn't it? A forcefield around your ship sounds more fun...
tha_rami - The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
Vlambeer - Dutch indie game studio
Twitter - Weird news, life updates & game-related news
That would basically just be a Leech Missile, wouldn't it?
Nope, the Leech is designed for an EMP blast to disrupt all subsystems run by electronics. This would be an entirely different missile designed to target the engine specifically, particularly to hinder its ability to operate and thus, disable the jump drive.
That sounds like a Good missile Vice.....I want one .......Maybe a limited range? so you would have to basically fire it as near to point blank Range ( or say 300-500 away?) for it to work effectively? If your going to use it you might as well take the risk of getting in close enough to use it. Hmmmm......I suppose if it had to make contact then the closer you are the better
The more I ponder it, the more I like the sound of it also. I was actually thinking about this kind of thing today in the battle with you (for obvious reasons, lol It would seem to be a very practical, precise, and useful method to disable a jump drive. It would likely be a weapon I'd want to have handy in battles like today's.
It would also be a good missile to carry on a heavy ship as they gererally out gun the lighter craft you could stock up on them and force them to deal with your guns. Assuming you could land a hit. Which is sometimes hard.
Both ideas are good. A missile that jams jump drive would go with the lone wolf survival feel that you get in Evochron, while an ECM craft would be more real world team based stuff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EA-6_Prowler
I would be more then happy with either.
Just had another idea, possibly a third option. What if it was a stationary probe that you could drop, but it was very easily destroy i.e 1 hit point. And everything in it radius could not initiate jump.
The main concern I have about missiles is they rarely land against a good pilot. So you would stock up on 8, go fight miss, jump out restock come back miss....
[Edited on 8-15-2008 by slardy]
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Proud member of StarWolves
and parent to be.
Originally posted by Vice
What if it was a missile you could buy that would have to contact a target to disable its engines in that way? Wiping out everything in a 10K radius might be a bit much, but with a controllable, precise weapon, it might make a good addition. That way, it isn't 100% effective all the time and the target has a chance at evasion, but if contacted, the engine system is damaged enough to prevent warping and full functionality.
Sounds like the cruise disruptor missiles in Freelancer. A good tactical load out in Freelancer always included a mess of Hornet cruise disruptors to prevent an enemy from jumping out of a fight. As far as the game play mechanic was concerned it took a few seconds for your jump drive to engage which allowed a wary foe time to shut them down and then continue the onslaught .
I have the some problem slardy has: the accuracy of most missiles is near 10% for a good pilot, even in a close fly-by. Meaning you'd need 10 missiles to really shut down the engine of a potential foe. Which is impossible. On the other hand, a high accuracy missile would be unfair as well. That's why I'd prefer some sort of force-field which would surely not be dodgable - but in turn the craft using it would be quite vulnerable as everyone would know its name. In single-player, it could even be a mission type (Jam).
tha_rami - The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
Vlambeer - Dutch indie game studio
Twitter - Weird news, life updates & game-related news
I have a question Vice. When this new missile hits, will you surprise us with graphics that show some kind of energy field enveloping the target, wraping around the engine naceles?.
As for the posted complaints regarding the difficulty of hitting the target, and arguably justified, I would suggest an exceptionaly fast missile and/or one that is not easily distracted by CM's. Still, the target craft deserves the opportunity to avoid the missile as well. It is a fine line you have to weave, but since this missile seems to be relegated to MP play and an assigned player as in the HARM missiles that are carried specifically to knock out Radar Installations, I'd say a hit probability of 55/45 would be fair.
\"To kill hubris with humility is a goal rarely achieved by men\"
Similar to the probe idea suggested before, but a little different. Something like a torpedo that fires at a set range and effects a specific area. I'd say a radius of 4 to 5 k from the point of detonation and lasting for maybe 30 seconds. This way there wouldn't be a probe or ship to destory, but you could fly outside the field fairly readily. Perhaps the ENG section of your status could flash to show you are in a no-jump field.
Once this technology is in the game you could have new types of contracts, as suggested above, you could have a contract to jam an area before a specific ship leaves, like dropping cargo. There may also be more permanent jamming devices, not available to mercanaries that you could be contracted to destroy to reopen navigation. These devices would obviously be heavily guarded.
.......Maybe a limited range? so you would have to basically fire it as near to point blank Range ( or say 300-500 away?) for it to work effectively? If your going to use it you might as well take the risk of getting in close enough to use it. Hmmmm......I suppose if it had to make contact then the closer you are the better 