Hero Ships - I Figured it out!

posted on June 29th, 2009, 10:40 pm

I was thinking about how to best implement hero ships in fleetops, and i came up with this:
* you add a "subspace transmitter" buildbutton to all starbases
* this subspace transmitter needs resources and time to build
* it can only be built once per game
* when the construction is complete, the subspace transmitter "calls your out-of-sector command ship and requests assistance", warping it in
* This command ship is a cruiser of some sort offering 3 things above whatever class that is:
  * it offers a passive "fleet bonus" to ships in its sensor range (exact bonuses vary by race)
  * it has better stats then the equivalent normal class
  * it offers a race specific special ability
What do you think?

posted on June 29th, 2009, 10:43 pm

I think it is a decent idea, but I know that the FO team is opposed to making hero ships (hence the current Veteran status). Maybe adding it into your Cardie/features mod would be neat though

I know I'd certainly like to see how it plays out (even though personally I'm opposed to Hero ships as well).

posted on June 29th, 2009, 11:26 pm

I like this Idea, However I also like the Idea of a super vet, Commodore rank anyone?  It would have, say 5 kills after vet statous, then it would get a new wireframe, A specific captain/Commodore for each ship class, of whice You can have only one.  These would have limited upgrades from Veteran statious, but have a massive "moral" bonus, which increases the effectiveness of all aspects of the fleet it commands.

posted on June 29th, 2009, 11:30 pm

I'm doing something rather similar in my 3rd Avatar mod. When you select your avatar at the start of the game a small marker will appear near your starbase with a countdown timer on it. When the timer runs out you can warp in a particular hero ship (I haven't decided the specific ships yet, though the hero will be each avatar's representative). Since the marker goes away after that, once you lose the hero in battle they are dead for good.

posted on June 29th, 2009, 11:46 pm

Adding my opinion again

I also liked the Idea that Before the Hero was destroyed, it warped out of the game for about 5 mins, then warped back in.

posted on June 30th, 2009, 3:41 am

people alr try to "level up" ships and this would make it even worse, sorry. Personally i hope the vet system gets removed again .... Common its a Strategic game ... not a roleplaygame

posted on June 30th, 2009, 3:52 am

people alr try to "level up" ships and this would make it even worse, sorry. Personally i hope the vet system gets removed again .... Common its a Strategic game ... not a roleplaygame

Heroic and/or veteran ships do add quite a lot of depth and a new layer to strategy games though. They give the enemy a priority target to go after, and it causes them to think twice about their method of attack. Do you send your fleet in a direct charge at their uber hero while they take heavy fire from the enemy's fleet? Or do you simply engage the fleet as a mass and hope the hero ship's abilities do not counterbalance your efforts? On the other hand it also gives you tons of strategic flexibility. You've got this really awesome veteran ship that can take one a nice batch of ships on its own, but then you have to think twice since carelessness and arrogance can result in the ship being killed off. There's a good reason that Hero characters are used in virtually every RTS game to date. I do sort of see what you mean: Heroes should not steal the game and be a big focus. I don't see how adding in hero ships is roleplaying though...

posted on June 30th, 2009, 4:09 am

I too feel that Hero vessels would be awesome. I also think that hero ships should be one of a kind and unique to the avatar (playing off their strengths). I think you should pretty much start with one to let them level up and strengthen with your fleet. Oh Risner's strategy involves carriers? Oh look her flagship is a prototype Fleet Carrier that launches 6 fighters at a time, has very little offensive weapons, has Point defense phasers, Strong shields, and relatively a relatively slow ship etc.

On the whole roleplaying thing, these wouldnt be Warcraft 3 style heroes, these are more like unique and  graduated support ships.

posted on June 30th, 2009, 4:21 am

The problem with making hero ships available from the start is that it then becomes a game of "snipeyourenemiesminingwhileyoutechup" because you have a powerful ship early game. My solution fixes that because it A: prevents you gettting it off the start, and B: only gives you a cruiser which cannot overpower enemies alone and works best with fleet action.

posted on June 30th, 2009, 4:47 am

I'll grant you the first point, but then by the time you do get the Hero it'll be ineffectual in large scale combat. I'd say set a timer like the cease fire, that then auto builds the transceiver; making it so that you cannot get the Hero before a certain time. But you must also invest something to get it once it's available its not just a free ship to endanger in mining ship snipery.

As for making them cruisers, Here it just doesnt make sense. If you're going to invest in calling a one of a kind ship it might as well be the most fitting thing to the avatar... Like for Mayson, i'd imagine it;d be able to lay cluster mines, sort of like bajoran wormhole style mine fields grids (non cloaked, and like limit to 3?) and with a time cooldown based special ability (with a cost) that can place a Fed turret foundation. The ship would also (like all avatar heroes) have some unique aura ability, and itself not be helpless. For Mayson a cruiser wouldnt be a bad idea, a modified Akira class with mine laying sections, and some work bee docks. But for Risner who's faction already lacks firepower something big only makes sense.

I'm pretty creative i can come up with something like this for all of the avatars if anyone is actually interested in doing :-P

posted on June 30th, 2009, 5:01 am

Keep this under your hat, but i hear TUN is adding heroes to his mod and he might welcome your suggestions. Sssshhh!

posted on June 30th, 2009, 5:09 am

Keep this under your hat, but i hear TUN is adding heroes to his mod and he might welcome your suggestions. Sssshhh!

Oh yes indeed I am. I really do love the minelaying ability you mentioned HawkShark. I'll spoil a little bit I suppose... formy mod  Mayson is going to get a Norway, though I'm tempted to give him a Federation ship that has not shown up in FO yet. Risner's going to get a large 'experimental warp-in' ship that I think 99% of the people on this forum have been asking to show up in FO for a long time. Section 31... Shadow-ops Constitution all the way. 

[Optec]

posted on June 30th, 2009, 6:54 am

Last edited by Optec on June 30th, 2009, 7:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

yep we have no real plans for hero vessels, the veterans are ment to fill that role

however there are some plans for other non-rebuildable elements, which might pop up before v4