Oolite Bulletins

I was just thinking of an alternative to the standard energy bomb and thought of a electromagnetic bomb.

Basically rather than simply destroying surrounding ships the EM bomb would emit a huge electromagnetic pulse that would permanently destroy the electronics of smaller ships leaving them defenceless and unable to move while larger ships would need to reboot their electrical and computer systems leaving them defenceless and unable to move for varying periods of time depending on their size and energy levels.

Perhaps this idea will be of interest to someone with more scripting knowledge than myself (Otherwise I may investigate this idea in the future when I am more able).

What does everyone thing - Good or bad idea ?

The difficulty with weapons like the Energy Bomb is that they kill the game if you let NPCs have them, and if you don't let NPCs have them, it rather goes against the non-player-centric ethos of the game.

However, that said, some devices similar to what you're proposing can be found in the [wiki]Missiles and Bombs[/wiki] OXP, specifically the Orange Tear and Violet Flax missiles. As launched items rather than immediate area-effect weapons (as per the Energy Bomb), they can be given to NPCs – although personally I've not played with this OXP, and I can't tell you what the effect is on the player if you get hit by one of them.

Disembodied wrote:

The difficulty with weapons like the Energy Bomb is that they kill the game if you let NPCs have them, and if you don't let NPCs have them, it rather goes against the non-player-centric ethos of the game.

Yep. An important thought experiment with any new in-game weapon is "what would it be like if I got hit with one of these?"

If it would suck, but it didn't happen often enough to be frustrating and you could struggle out of the situation, then well, okay.

If it would suck completely, or be so frustrating I might quit the game, then maybe it's not a good idea.

As such, getting hit by this sort of weapon would probably fall into the second category, so I'd be against it.

Something along the lines of a flash bang grenade would be okay I think with visual interference elements in line with how Call Of Duty does it. You can still manouver, but have all sorts of visual artefacts and an image burned into your view for a short while until your vision (or viewscreen) clears.
So you'd launch it, have to turn away, or get temporarily blinded. Explain it along the lines of a view screen disruptor.

!m!

maaarcooose wrote:

Something along the lines of a flash bang grenade would be okay I think with visual interference elements in line with how Call Of Duty does it. You can still manouver, but have all sorts of visual artefacts and an image burned into your view for a short while until your vision (or viewscreen) clears.
So you'd launch it, have to turn away, or get temporarily blinded. Explain it along the lines of a view screen disruptor.

I like that idea.

Keep in mind NPCs don't use a viewscreen that can be distorted.
Unless a way is found to simulate that effect for NPCs, this would only be effective against the player.

Just try to attack a Areidis station or the Specialist (both Vector.oxp) when cloaked to get a visual EMP... .-)