Map Objects, The Return

posted on April 9th, 2012, 7:14 pm

Can't wait to try these out ingame!

posted on April 10th, 2012, 9:20 pm

Just a couple of observations meant only for consideration and not necessarily aimed at changing anything: I'm curious to know if nebulae and alert status can be tweaked? Currently any ship will avoid or go around a nebula unless you click it in the center and force the fleet or ship to go in. I wonder if the pathing could be changed for green, yellow and red alert status so red alert might ignore nebulae altogether? Yellow alert might let your ship go through the less damaging nebs? ANd greeen would avoid them at all costs. Also I am wondering if for more nebulae rich maps the pathing could be improved so ships don't ignore or get confused by the "fastest" possible route to a pre-clicked destination? It may simply be a software limitation (probably) but i thought i'd ask the question anyway.

TIA
Decker

posted on April 10th, 2012, 11:28 pm

Ok, This may be a bit oversimplified of an idea, and may not be possible at all.  But why not have a Chrysalid (Green) nebula that grants a different bonus to the borg, or other shield impaired races?  Rate of fire for the Klinks, Hull Regen for the borg?  Special Energy for Rommies?  Could the race be given an attribute/value that gives them a specific bonus in a specific kind of nebula.  Just a thought.

posted on April 11th, 2012, 2:54 am

Green Nebula Continued:

Giving a downside like this (crew member loss) might encourage lone ship ventures into the nebula, and not allow fleet commands to go in together. So further micro whether that is good or bad. It might create better balance in causing people to think about these things. I would prefer other means to this end of lack of abuse.

AI Ping Pong would be less feasible. On maps like Nebula Gate? The one where there is a community of 3 tri moons and 3 di moons in the centre for three players, and then two passages with green nebulas to other side, and two wing asteroid openings. Take a fleet of say 40 ships, and attack the AI hitting high priority targets. Lose 25% of your ships and bounce back to a nearby green nebula to repair fleet shields (Ping). Pong back to attack AI again, finishing off as many more high priority targets as possible, i.e. single turrets, unprotected yards, units that can be annoying like B8s, breen cruisers, etc. Lose 25% more. Ping back to Green Neb, Pong Attack, Ping retreat.

I am very distressed right now... I love doing this. I can't be losing my crew while I recoup after all my attacks...!

On another related matter there is nothing to say (in fact there is a great deal to say it would have the opposite effect) that green nebulas causing death would necessarily result in crew working 1) better, or 2) faster in repairing ship functions. Increased stress, fear, pressure, etc etc would probably ruin any efficient workplace like success. 2 hours of repair while you hear about crew members you know dying, fear dying yourself, would rather just repair the shields like usual with no negative reinforcement etc.

Slight tweaks maybe to make something about the green nebula keep it from being abused, while not making the whole thing too out of whack.

On the other hand, as I already said it is just a game... so it can be said 'hey we need some downside, and despite the ethics (of subtracting numbers from a 2d screen display), this does balance fairly well so we prefer to keep it' which, well, ok... I was just pointing out.

posted on April 28th, 2012, 5:18 pm

Not talking about nebulae but of asteroid fields or other bigger space objects ...I have a question. Will we also see objects having an impact on sensors? sort of "I cannot see what lies behind the plant" feature? I'm talking of a fundamental change in sensor functionality in game. Objects would block the circular sensor range thus creating an shadow behind the asteroid field where enemy ships could hide. It could also be done for just a certain kind of map object that has special chemical properties - seen in quite some Star Trek episodes.

posted on May 2nd, 2012, 10:34 am

[align=center]Terrain Concept #5[/align]

was just thinking should ships show shield hits and explosions to hull when going through asteroids?

or would that just look odd?

posted on May 2nd, 2012, 4:28 pm

Objects would block the circular sensor range thus creating an shadow behind the asteroid field where enemy ships could hide..

It's novel ideas like this that add strategical flavor to the game. While I recognize the importance of balancing.

posted on July 12th, 2012, 11:22 am

after what optec and nutter wrote here
//www.fleetops.net/forums/viewtopi ... ead#unread

thought id continue it here rather than hijack The Undying Nephalim thread.
refering to
"an environment redo.. for a more.. epic feeling of space."

i would like to suggest (coloured for hazard level)

1...the dyson sphere map effect
2...the nexus from generations.... moves round path set by map editor as a hazard
3...unpredictable wormholes
4...civilian stations that can generate money (think king of the hill map types) area has to be uncontested to generate resourses
5... the badlands... like a nebula but the energy columns can be avoided while they move around but if hit could be heavily damaging
6...caretaker transportation wave... transports ships from targeted areas to the station and are temporarily disabled/damaged
7...random civilian ship traffic
8...dampening fields (made by nebula's or stations) slows speed off ships. maybe weakens other systems and de-buffs states while effected.
9...pirate ships patrolling certain areas around their station as a hazard zone

posted on July 23rd, 2012, 8:19 am

1. Duno what that is

2. The Nexus could be fun stealing crew and damaging or disabling your ships, just no Malcom Mcdonald please

3 could have random exit positions but you dont know until you try it

I like 4. Maybe make it a whole game objective. It cannot be destroyed no matter how hard you try but while its in your possession a counter would tick down, 1st to zero wins. It would also have to have a large no build zone so it can't be turret spammed.

7 + 9 Random Ship traffic would be cool. Traders and lone pirates that appear every x depending on the option you pick. Maybe they got have a small resource drop when destroyed or saved. if your feds maybe stay in close proximity for a few seconds, they will then drop off their cargo and leg it or go to warp.

posted on July 23rd, 2012, 10:43 am

4...civilian stations that can generate money (think king of the hill map types) area has to be uncontested to generate resourses

This one could even go further, to strategic locations - kinda like Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, and similar games.
Either to boost resource income, or to gain a capture and hold victory - hold 3 out of 5 points for 10 minutes, and so on.

(Really like the other ideas too, just not much to add there, some might go too far into a simulation direction, not sure how to include it in a RTS game)