More Terrain! - Ideas?

[Zebh]

posted on August 2nd, 2009, 1:57 pm

Last edited by Zebh on August 2nd, 2009, 8:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

In Fleet Operations there is only  asteroids and nebulae with 3 effects. Different terrains that have effect on gameplay are the salt of every strategy game and I believe that more terrains would be a huge improvement to the Fleet Operations. As there is map object redo coming at some point I thought that perhaps I could post some ideas.

Although there are 2 damaging nebulae their damaging effect aren't too noticeable, as many Borg vessels can repair themselves faster than being damaged by nebula effects, and for other races the effects are quite superficial too. Because of that the damaging nebulae don't really make big difference in gameplay. Some damage increase would be good and make the damaging nebulae more noticeable and important to the gameplay.

There is also another small problem with current damaging system of the damaging nebulae when combined with shield disabling nebulae: This combination is very dangerous to non borg factions, but because the borg don't have shields, this combination in no different whether there is shield disabling effect or not. Of course, it is great that there are some differences what advantages/disadvantages there are between different nebulae for different factions, but it would be nice if there would be a nebulae type that would cause disadvantage for every faction. This would be really useful when creating maps, as sometimes it would be preferred that there would be an area that haves disadvantages when passing it, but current nebulae have the problem that the map would be a little bit unbalanced, as Borg would still be able to as they wish. One solution is that there would be a new type of nebula that damages directly a random/fixed subsystems and would have chance to disable if for short time. This would of course require that the damage and chance to disable are based on percentage of the system capabilities so it would be equal to every faction.

I remember some maps in 3.0PR that had moons in shield disabling nebulae. They were very interesting as the mining would have required extra attention because the ships would be without shields. When the Borg made comeback in 3.0 this become unbalanced (imo), as the shield disabling effect don't make any difference to borg and other factions would still be affected. If there would be a nebula that only disables sensors this idea could work.

It would also make the game more interesting if there would be terrain that would affect the engines of the passing vessels. I have suggested before that there could be a terrain that slows ships. This effect could be temporal when the vessels are in effect area or persistent like on b'rels graviton marker.

Another idea is damaging terrain which damage would be based on the speed of the vessel (plasma storm perhaps? I believe that something similar was posted a loong time ago). The slower the ship is the more damage it would take. Fast vessels could stay in the are for much longer time without being destroyed, and perhaps some vessels that are really fast (scouts?) wouldn't take any damage.

posted on August 2nd, 2009, 1:59 pm

Was the 'Crew killer' removed? I like that Nebula.

posted on August 2nd, 2009, 2:34 pm

Was the 'Crew killer' removed? I like that Nebula.

Yes it was (would be good... but again, only against non-Borg sadly) 

Another sort of thing that could be implemented would be some sort of nebula/asteroid that acts like "cover" in other games. For instance, you park your spacecraft in the nebula or asteroids and fire at ships nearby, and those ships would get a miss penalty when firing back. Perhaps torpedoes miss much more regularly, as do pulse weapons, etc.

Likewise, there could be certain asteroid belts that would be transversable but would cause you damage. Maybe destroying specific subsystems, or directly impacting the hull due to the speed of fragments (I know the main deflector helps protect... but... ).

Bringing back the blackhole would be really nice too... with an effect like the Sovereign's engine shutdown etc.... it might be a little too powerful, but all these types of terrain would add more to strategic combat too. I think this would be especially nice if this could be considered to go hand in hand with the planets system redo.

posted on August 2nd, 2009, 2:36 pm

(would be good... but again, only against non-Borg sadly) 

What is bad about that? The Borg are supposed to be better than others. Being highly resistant to most nebula types isn't a bad thing. It's just one more reason to not underestimate them.

posted on August 2nd, 2009, 2:45 pm

" Another sort of thing that could be implemented would be some sort of nebula/asteroid that acts like "cover" in other games ... etc. "

Well are there not enough nebula that do this ? Remember you always use the nebulas to your advantage.

"Likewise, there could be certain asteroid belts that would be transversable ..."

Considering that entering an asteroid filed is dangerous the possibilitie for the ship to get destroyed is much greater than to lose a random subsystem thax to the main deflector as you also mentioned.

I disagree, why would anny captain or commander fight near a black hole ? The danger to both ships is to great. Considering that getting an assignement on smaller crewed ships is already a death sentence for most races ( Borg are the exeption, and they dont care for the loss of a drone ).

posted on August 2nd, 2009, 2:46 pm

Another idea: Metreon gas Nebula. If weapon is fired in this nebula it triggers an area of effect explosion next to the firing vessel.

posted on August 2nd, 2009, 2:47 pm

I disagree, why would anny captain or commander fight near a black hole ? The danger to both ships is to great. Considering that getting an assignement on smaller crewed ships is already a death sentence for most races ( Borg are the exeption, and they dont care for the loss of a drone ).

Black holes are perfect for ambushes. If you can force an enemy there, you only need to damage engines then leg it.

posted on August 2nd, 2009, 9:01 pm

What do you think: a huge star that would have different damage levels, the more closer the vessels are to the star the more damage they take.

posted on August 2nd, 2009, 9:07 pm

I think that the midnight universe mod does that with sun radiation.   Either way, I think it would be a good Idea, however I like how the suns and planets in FO are currentally under the map.  It is much more realistic than being on a level plain with the ships.

posted on August 2nd, 2009, 9:09 pm

I think that it is nice to have some map objects that are just cosmetic, but there could be more terrain objects that have effect in gameplay too.

posted on August 2nd, 2009, 11:19 pm

It is much more realistic than being on a level plain with the ships.

Plus you don't have to worry about the scale. When they are on the same level, many Planets would have to be big, when they are below it doesn't matter.

posted on August 3rd, 2009, 12:24 am

right.  If they are all the same size, you can say they are just far away.

posted on August 3rd, 2009, 6:17 pm

I think a slow moving ion storm would be awesome, tons of lighting effects and massive damage to any ships that come near it. Also I have heard talks about bringing the black holes back. I suppose I wouldn't be opposed as long as they redid the annoying sound it made. It would be cool to use engine overload near it and watch how ships gravitate toward it.

posted on August 3rd, 2009, 6:18 pm

How about those old moveing asteroid betls?!?!?  That would be soo cool to see again.

posted on August 3rd, 2009, 6:31 pm

How about those old moveing asteroid betls?!?!?  That would be soo cool to see again.

I don't remember... did those actually destroy ships or just 'nudge' them gently out of the way?