New gameplay mechanic

posted on September 15th, 2010, 1:49 pm

I think it would be interesting to create a ship that can not regenerate special energy. So once you use it all  its gone. So this ships should probably have strong specials or lots of energy. And the only way to get its energy back is to buy some more.

posted on September 15th, 2010, 1:51 pm

That would be good for an experimental ship, as a bug in the design.

posted on September 15th, 2010, 2:04 pm

The first part can be done easily, just give it 0 recharge rate.

The second part, perhaps as a special weapon with a cost (eg: supply) to get your special energy back.

The question is, for what reason?  Tyler suggest for experimental ships which i suppose is a decent idea, perhaps it could be a good way to allow Dom prototypes to have their specials.

But what do you mean by strong special?  Specials by their nature are often quite stong, hence the SE cost and recharge time, so basically you are either suggesting just a manual alternative to an existing automatic process, or something perhaps a little stronger.

I certainly would never like to see anything close to a superweapon in FleetOps.  Seeing 3 BortaS in action is scary enough.

Another thing is that if the weapon is economy based (you can buy uses of the weapon), and if it is especially a powerful weapon, then if you have strong economy you would be able to spam uses of the weapon unless a cooling period was used in conjunction.

posted on September 15th, 2010, 2:13 pm

Maybe it could be recharged by a station or something, like the Romulan turrets do now?

posted on September 15th, 2010, 2:19 pm

I think this would suit the Dominion the most, as a means of giving them a slightly better start. I should apply to the prototypes, in order to gain their standard specials and could maybe be recharged by visiting a shipyard for repairs.

posted on September 15th, 2010, 2:22 pm

Maybe it could be recharged by a station or something, like the Romulan turrets do now?

Still could be unbalancing on a small map and some forward building.

posted on September 15th, 2010, 2:28 pm

It should be ok. The prototypes shouldn't really be used for front line action since their destruction results in a halt in production (they're also more expensive). I think if they only get 1 maybe 2 uses of their special before needing a recharge, then it takes the emphasis off direct front line action, in favour of last ditch tactics etc.

posted on September 15th, 2010, 6:33 pm

I vote on Bortas!

posted on September 15th, 2010, 6:35 pm

In fact, something similar is on todo

posted on September 15th, 2010, 6:39 pm

Actually, couldn't you just give it a replace weapon that replaces it back to its original ship, costs no energy, but supplies, and resets the special energy of the ship.  Basically, just resets the ship's energy via replaceweapon.

posted on September 15th, 2010, 6:40 pm

Can replaceweapon replace one odf with the same odf?

Not on the BortaS, though. It's a bitch getting them out without interference as it is.

posted on September 15th, 2010, 7:07 pm

its a doomsday machine...so supplycost for its special would be nice...

posted on September 15th, 2010, 7:12 pm

Yeah, I think you don't even have to have it replace anything.  You can just tell it to keepowner and have it replace nothing while resetting energy and cost supply.  I'm pretty sure it works that easily.

posted on September 15th, 2010, 7:16 pm

Just so long as the inevitable romulan acquisition, or Fed acquisition is accounted for.  Last thing we need is a nominally '1-shot' weapon being constantly recharged by a small fleet of Norway or a romulan generator.

posted on September 15th, 2010, 7:17 pm

reminds me of one of my first str trek games, where you needed to dock with a station to get torpedos reloaded