Idea!

[TGS]

I am just playing EL just cruising along then I noticed that my science officer started spitting out nearby container information and I got to thinking about it. How cool would it be if there was a "tactical officer" that essentially kept tabs on the local hostility situation. IE kept track of neutral/hostile targets coming and going and where abouts they are coming from or going to.

For example you're flying in open space and a hostile flies into range of your scanners and one jumps in it would look something like

H.L.B reports that a hostile vonari ship has been detected on heading 215 pitch 10 degrees and has us targetted.

H.L.B reports that a hostile vonari ship has been detected jumping in at heading 60 pitch 30 degrees and has us targetted.

Or on exit

H.L.B reports that a hostile vonari ship has made a jump of 5+ sector(s) last known heading 180 pitch 40 degrees.

Or in the case of like 3 or more hostiles he would simply give a talley report such as

H.L.B reports that there are 10 nearby hostiles nearest hostile is 3000 meters away and has us targeted.

I don't know if it would be too spammy but it would be very interesting especially if it worked on players as well. Not that military ships can hold crew members but it would be fun for those who try to build a civ ship with full crew.

[49rTbird]

One problem might be that when we have 10 to 20 Reds after us the messages might be to many to handle.

[TGS]

lol thats why when there are more than 3... it would just give a generalized readout of how many there are and perhaps even a breakdown of like x fighters x bombers x intercepters x cruisers x battleships etc... that way if you jump into a hot spot with 20 baddies you get a readout of what you're up against.

Originally posted by thetiebers
One problem might be that when we have 10 to 20 Reds after us the messages might be to many to handle.

[Maarschalk]

That would be reduntant, because you already have the info for up to 10 ships in your tactical screen left corner display up to 9999 meters away....

[Ravenfeeder]

Hit "G" on your keyboard, or whatever, three times, and you'll see a list of all the ships in the sector plus their range from you - handy when the reds are coming in mob handed.

[TGS]

Well I personally don't think its redundant as there are a few key things missing from that list. Firstly ships coming and going. Aside from them being there or not being there you really have no event to denote that a ship has entered or left. Nor do you get a good representation of numbers if there are more than that list can cover.

One thing I have always liked in a game is optional verbose information. And in a space game where there might be a lot going on... I would personally find it handy having various things "told" to me by a crew member especially things that may not be overly up front on the displays. I like the displays but shutting down an idea simply because you think it does the job doesn't mean that someone else wouldn't prefer something a bit different.

Plus I would love a means of chasing things down should they jump away. Though I don't know if Vice's AI is coded to actually exist outside of the local area (IE if something jumps away does it still exist in the universe or does it stop existing once the player can no longer see it). I know its rather odd when I'm in the middle of space inbetween systems and all of a sudden I see a ship appear out of nowhere.

[Marvin]

I'd like a crewmember to tell me when I'm about to die.

[DennyMala]

I don't think you can have the info on where they're going when they jump off.... nor about who they're targeting.

That will get you only moving ships (in or out of radar range) and numbers/type of ships. Providing this will be limited to hostile ships (if I'm getting this right) you'll get the messages on screen, but not a voice that gives you details I'm afraid (as it is with other comms).

In the end, it will get you very little more than what the display gives you.

This is what everyone is probably trying to say.

[verbosity]

I agree with the others that the idea is redundant.
But in saying that I like the idea of a tactical officer, maybe they could do something else?

for instance in SP they could automatically give wingmen orders ( "defend me" if you've taken damage, "form up" if all reds are outside of a given range, "attack my target" once a ship is within that range etc. ) or how about they automatically target the most dammaged subsystem of a ship ( yes i know i can do that, but i only have ten fingers )

and how about a smuggler crew member that increases the range of your cargo scanner?

[Maarschalk]

Originally posted by verbosity
( yes i know i can do that, but i only have ten fingers )

You just have to use them twice as fast to make them count like as you have 20, yes it is relative to speed and time...LOL...:P:P:P:P

[Marvin]

Let's go low-tech ... 20th Century. A tracking device attached to a missile. The missile hits ... but does minimum damage. Unbeknownst to the pilot of the attacked ship, he now has been tagged ... and can be tracked same as if he was in a clan (little green dot). Battery on the device lasts for maybe ten minutes.

[Maarschalk]

Or have the ability to cloack and attach your cloacked ship magneticaly to another players ship unbeknownst to them and hitch a free ride.....LOL...:P:P:P:P

[TGS]

lol interesting idea's guys. But yeah generally I guess what I'm getting at is I would like more "feeling" to the game universe and ultimately I'd like more multiplayer oriented features to come into play. But obviously it would be cool if they worked against npc's as well. Would be awesome if there were persistent npc oriented missions that went along with certain features such as jump tracking or "stalking". Although the cloaking in the game is limited... it would be awesome if more could be done with it.

That and tracking/radar/sensors etc.

[Maarschalk]

I was thinking that maybe increasing the time of the stealth generator to 2 minutes would be a good Idea. 1 minute does not give you enough time to sneak up on an experienced player. Once you'r in radar range you already have been detected as being in the vicinity of the player so the element of surprise is not there any more. But if you could enter the 9999 meter detection range without radar detection you could have two minutes to sneak up to a player and suprise her/him. You will need 2 minutes:

1. Because you can not jump close to the player while cloaked.
2. The player you'r trying to sneak up on might be moving away from you'r approach direction.
3. You'll need the time to accelerate to reach the player from the 9999 meters radar detection range.

Just my 2% worth on the Stealth Generator....

[Marvin]

Somebody could probably use a couple "stealth tips" from Romulan.

[TGS]

lol on the stealth I think it's a very interesting system in that there are two different types. The stealth generator and stealth device I believe. One basically uses your shield power to put you into stealth and afaik doesn't use energy but is on a set timer. This one holds a lot of offensive potential in that you can actually jump with it enabled and you aren't completely defenseless when you decide to jump your prey. The other one seems to be more defensive reactionary. The defensive one you can have indefinitely and if well managed you can stay stealth near infinitely with a roughly 12-16 second "visibility" window inbetween charges. I clocked it at roughly 15 seconds for the shields to become strong enough to reactivate it but if you have full shield focus you will only have about 70-75% energy when you're able to reactivate. So essentially within about 16 seconds you can reactivate your stealth. It would take anyone quite a bit of time to close any sort of distance on you if you avoid getting close with it active.

The offensive one however being "charge based" and removing the ability to use excals is obviously a lot more tactical in its design... you can activate it... if you know where a person is through probes etc you can jump pretty close to them and blow them out of space before they have a chance to react. Not something that's really possible with the generator as you can't jump with it active... and if you jump into sensor range and instantly disappear as you close for the kill... chances are that person would jump away.

All in all this really mostly impacts pvp/multiplayer. Which I really wish had more focus as this game has sooo much potential in that area if we could just get more players. I bet 10/1 romulan whom I don't believe I've had the pleasure of encountering in a fight yet uses the offensive ones. Which honestly I don't know how... there aren't that many places you can get them and they're quite expensive as far as I know. Too bad there isn't an item you can use at constructors to build them. I would love to use the offensive ones more but I like my excals. The range on those things is my favorite (And not having to restock)


By the way does anyone know what the latest multiplayer version is? Cause Vice said that a workaround for the "Download update needed" was to login with the built-in administrator account. It worked the first few times and I hadn't tried it for a few weeks... tried it yesterday and its back to doing it again.

[Edited on 6-24-2010 by TGS]

[Maarschalk]

Yes, Romulan uses the offensive ones and that is why he only attacks noobs. Cause once waisting his stealth device and not having any missiles left after destroying the noob he is prety much defenseless against experienced players loaded with exodus and leech missiles. He has no option but to run like a wabbit....:P:P:P:P

But I think he uses the Stealth generator too sometimes. Since noobs most of the time do not check their target list of who is entering their radar range...





*********************************************SPOILER ALERT!!!!!***********************************************



The offensive one is readily available in many places and there are hidden containers that carry them where you can get them for free....

[MMaggio]

You know, I don't think I have ever found an hidden container!
I did find a derelict once tho!:)

[Edited on 6-25-2010 by MMaggio]

[Maarschalk]

LOL....Now all of a sudden every one is looking for those hidden derelicts......:P:P:P:P

[TGS]

Sadly at the moment I can't seem to get into multiplayer anymore. Vice gave me a workaround but it doesn't appear to be working anymore.

I'm getting the "Download update" thing whenever I try to gather a list. Though I think later I might try to dig up the B5 ip and connect manually.

Originally posted by Oasis
Next time i come on EL, ill tell u where to find the containers.

[verbosity]

erm mm please edit your post and delete your IP's

u2u them if you need to, but you've just made public info that would make it very easy to hack you.

[Marvin]

I think it would be very interesting* if MM and TGS flew together.


* Of the "may you live in interesting times" kind of interesting.

[Maarschalk]

Originally posted by MMaggio
You know, I don't think I have ever found an hidden container!
I did find a derelict once tho!:)

[Edited on 6-25-2010 by MMaggio]

LOL....that is because once you find them they are not hidden any more and most of them are not really hidden they just float around in orbits of planets or in space....:P:P