An alternate way of looking at uber ships

[Capt. Murphy]

i don't think this will ever be addressed by the game engine. the game is what it is

I'm sure extending the scripting engine could go some ways towards allowing for this kind of mod, whilst maintaining the unmodified game behaviour. I love to see an Oolite that is scriptable enough that you could if you wanted treat it as a game engine as-well as a game in it's own right.

[DaddyHoggy]

Crack on...

http://mycryengine.com/

[Switeck]

I'm aiming for a more pragmatical way now by checking player ships (and NPCs) and will base offering for missions and reactions on that point. I really think we have lost already the base to compare and relate things to each other and I'm not going to try to keep things together anymore, so this is for me the only option.

Yes -- check to see if the player is in an OXP ship. If so, the mission/campaign could be made a wee bit harder just by increasing enemy numbers.

Got an "overkill" missile or bomb? (Depending on the mission, even the standard energy bomb or q-mine would qualify.) Have enemies get replaced from just off the radar immediately after it detonates.

[Bugbear]

<reads the thread, chuckles, and boards his trusty Cobra Mk III>

Why am I not suprised by your reaction?

Getting back to what the discussion was about, equipment degrading over time, it's an idea.

What will the player get out of it versus the difficulty to implement versus the effect on gameplay is a thought to ponder.

The player would get more realism, it would be very difficult to implement, another thing for the player to be concerned about that adds no fun factor.

Wow. 20 hours have passed since my initial post and it appears that I've kicked a hornets nest .

CSOTB - you're right - I concur (to some extent) with you in that this idea doesn't add much in the way of 'fun factor'. (I tend to think up 'realism' concepts without considering that we are supposed to be enjoying a game here. Maybe that's why I also like Pioneer...)

Another mistake I made was suggesting that this should be a core attribute - an equipment degradation mechanism could be introduced via OXP, provided that the object attributes to be degraded are modifiable via script.

So what was I trying to achieve? Rightly or wrongly, I suppose I was aiming to add some realism to my Ooniverse. It just doesn't sit with me that technological progress will plateau in a society that has the resources of a galaxy at its disposal.

Some attributes have natural limits - ship maneouverability, for example - too fast and the game becomes a twitch fest. Missile maneouverability, on the other hand, I would argue should be able to improve with time as newer processors and dynamic controls become available.

ECM and missile countermeaures should be in a constant state of progress. Old missile designs should become more useless and obsolete over time. So over time, new missile models and new ECMs with better technology would become available to the player as they are 'developed' (in reality the OXP would be autogenerating the new models and degrading the old models as necessary). New missile and ECMs names would appear in the shipyard, giving the player the choice on going 'premium' or 'standard'.

This would contribute to giving the Ooniverse a sense of vitality, and give the player a sense that there is more going on than is immediately apparent.

My intention was to suggest a way of creating an additional layer of immersion through these subtle changes over time.

I'm glad to see, at least, that this has sparked so much discussion.

BTW Drew, nice car. I would have got myself an MX5 if it weren't for the fact that I'm too tall for it...

[DaddyHoggy]

I'm aiming for a more pragmatical way now by checking player ships (and NPCs) and will base offering for missions and reactions on that point. I really think we have lost already the base to compare and relate things to each other and I'm not going to try to keep things together anymore, so this is for me the only option.

Yes -- check to see if the player is in an OXP ship. If so, the mission/campaign could be made a wee bit harder just by increasing enemy numbers.

Got an "overkill" missile or bomb? (Depending on the mission, even the standard energy bomb or q-mine would qualify.) Have enemies get replaced from just off the radar immediately after it detonates.

Lot of extra onus on the OXP creator - I say - if the mission is too easy because you're flying "uber" - well tough - don't complain - the mission wasn't designed for you (or your ship).

Thargoid, I recall, spends a lot of time on some of his missions creating situations where an uber-ship is just the wrong type of ship to do the mission, but Thargoid is the conscientious exception from the norm.

[Killer Wolf]

oooh, i'd love to have Oolite able to incorporate stuff from the CryEngine. proper scaled planets to fly over and shoot at, ditto space stations etc. gonna have to sign up for that and play. i need to retire soon, i've got all sorts of freebie tools like Sculptrix etc that i want to learn and play and create w/.

[DaddyHoggy]

oooh, i'd love to have Oolite able to incorporate stuff from the CryEngine. proper scaled planets to fly over and shoot at, ditto space stations etc. gonna have to sign up for that and play. i need to retire soon, i've got all sorts of freebie tools like Sculptrix etc that i want to learn and play and create w/.

Scupltris (same app?) - is great but with just mouse and keyboard I'd say pretty much impossible to use well - need a pressure sensitive pad/pen at the very least.

[Svengali]

oooh, i'd love to have Oolite able to incorporate stuff from the CryEngine. proper scaled planets to fly over and shoot at, ditto space stations etc. gonna have to sign up for that and play. i need to retire soon, i've got all sorts of freebie tools like Sculptrix etc that i want to learn and play and create w/.

Scupltris (same app?) - is great but with just mouse and keyboard I'd say pretty much impossible to use well - need a pressure sensitive pad/pen at the very least.

I've used it for the updates of 8-Bit Apocalypse' OXPs. It's really a cool toy and even without tablet or pad/pen very intuitive. The only drawback is - as far as know - that it needs closed meshes to work.

[Killer Wolf]

i use a Wacom pen. would love to get into Zbrush but Sculptris is a pretty good alternative from what i've read.