Constructing Alien Techtree

posted on September 19th, 2010, 1:57 pm

I would like for it to be possible to construct the alien techtree if an enemy starbase or constructor is captured.  It would be realistic since the constructor or starbase would have all of the information required to build the units.  And, I'm building a mission pack for Fleet-Ops and some of the missions will require you to build units from two or more techtrees.

posted on September 19th, 2010, 2:26 pm

That would be less realistic; Mixed-Tech is the realistic version. Ever seen Starfleet build Cardassian stuff after taking Terok Nor?

posted on September 19th, 2010, 2:39 pm

No, but capturing the right unit would give you access to all of the information required to construct the other techtree.

posted on September 19th, 2010, 2:41 pm

No, but capturing the right unit would give you access to all of the information required to construct the other techtree.

no it wouldnt.

nor would u want to.

posted on September 19th, 2010, 2:50 pm

A constructor ship and a starbase would have to contain enough information to build every unit available build the techtree.  Otherwise, it would be a very short game.

posted on September 19th, 2010, 2:53 pm

Races take what interests them, nothing more; they take the tech and intergrate it into their own. They don't build enemy starbases with enemy or their own tech.

That's what mixed-tech represents.

posted on September 19th, 2010, 3:00 pm

A constructor ship and a starbase would have to contain enough information to build every unit available build the techtree.  Otherwise, it would be a very short game.

example:

a fed con ship would have the specs/intstructions to build only the buildings, not the ships. once the yard is made, the specs would be transmitted to it. why would the con ship need the specs for a sabre class?

and even if u captured a yard, which is used for building sabres, that doesnt mean u can build sabres.

if you (that is TCR500 the person) raised a force of criminals and captured a ford plant, you couldn't build cars. even if the specs were there and you could access all the comps. u couldnt make a car. u wouldnt know how the machines work. so if feds capture a klink yard they wouldnt know how to use it.

posted on September 19th, 2010, 3:22 pm

apart from using the alien vessels to sneak into there territory why would you make an enemy ship were it would be easier for you just to salvage the tech your intrested in and retrofit your own vessels. but anyway if u want an enemy vessel/station to still be buildable once you capture there starbase yh dnt you make an new odf for ur race but make it buildable (and show) once there starbase is made and make there ship hide once yours is available (or just hide in general) u can use the supply route build codes to show you how

posted on September 19th, 2010, 3:35 pm

Well, as in the original game you could do whatever you wanted with captured enemy tech, up to reconstructing their entire tech tree starbases included, you have to guess the devs of FO decided this was not the way to implement it for FO.

I think how it is now is quite inspired and gives some nice changes to the game if you have mixed tech.  Will be interesting to see what changes the next patch brings as part of the mixed-tech overhaul.  Thanks to the okinawa thread its clear we still get to build special ships... but what will change is still a mystery.

posted on September 19th, 2010, 6:30 pm

At first, that wouldn't be possible because you would be unfamiliar with the technology.  But give them enough research time, and eventually, you'd be able to build almost exact duplicates of any vessel.  At least make it so that a player can build more than one techtree provided that the other techtree is in cooperation with the player and not captured.

posted on September 19th, 2010, 6:32 pm

I can just see the Romulans allowing the Klingons to build their ships and stations... or the Federation building Cubes and an Assimilation matrix with the Collectives blessing.

posted on September 19th, 2010, 6:51 pm

That's not what I was talking about.  Remember the last few Borg campaigns in STA2 where the collective negotiated an alliance with the Federation?  The player was able to build both techtrees, but the Borg techtree was built by the Borg and the Federation techtree was built by the Federation.  Both were controlled by the player though.  That's what I want at minimum to happen.

posted on September 19th, 2010, 6:59 pm

Won't work with the buuilding restricted to the owner. You'd have to remove that for the entire race then start an 'Alliance' gametype with 2 races (map editor required).

The devs have probably done harder things, though. It would be useful for the alliance games that no-one seems to like.

posted on September 20th, 2010, 12:32 pm

Would a race want to copy the designs of another race if they can take the technology and use it/improve on it with their own designs.  Look at some of the mixed tech stuff you can get and they are often better than the standard variants or have something that the faction did not have before.

Consider, cloaking Defiants, repair beam Talons, V15s, E'djen.  All nice options.

You have to consider build time and resources as well as map space.  If you have the time and resources to build an entire new tech tree and stations then you probably should have already won the game and stop pissing around.  FO is oriented on multiplayer play, i can't imagine many players being happy sitting waiting for you to finish them off while you build your alien tech base and ships.... if they are still in a decent position then i presume they would be building ships to attack you while you spend resources on additional buildings and research... that would cost you bad.  On top of this your base would become twice as large allowing for a lot more raiding opportunities for your opponent.

posted on September 20th, 2010, 10:31 pm

There's also the fact that in most cases the race wouldn't want or have a reason to build alien ships.  Why would the federation build a klingon starbase when it's no better than theirs and they're already more familiar with their own?  (Remember - for the most part, each race probably thinks their ship/station design is the best way to do it, with the exception of certain technological advantages, which is what the current mixed tech system represents.)  The same goes for ships.  I think the devs have great ideas regarding mixed tech (and I can't wait to see the new system).

As loki said, the game is focused on multiplayer, anyway, and building a second tech tree isn't and shouldn't be viable there.