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New equipment idea

 
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Phr00t



Joined: 03 Mar 2006
Posts: 203

PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 5:50 pm    Post subject: New equipment idea Reply with quote

In most RPG games, there are "spells" where you can place effects on targets... I want to bring that to FreeUniverse in some form. For instance, in FreeLancer, you have a "cruise disrupter" that temporarilly disables cruiser engines. I know my current weapons have item damage attributes, but this is rarely seen because it only damages items when you break through shields (and I believe that is the way it should be).

Additionally, the only real way to "interact" between ships is to shoot them.

This new piece of equipment would be like some soft of futuristic "spell caster", it could do bad things like disable engines, turners, weapons -- or good things like repair hull, fly faster, increase energy. This could also expand jobs, like "go repair a broken ship" etc.

Whacha guys think?
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pragma



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 607
Location: Washington, DC

PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 8:48 pm    Post subject: Re: New equipment idea Reply with quote

Phr00t wrote:
In most RPG games, there are "spells" where you can place effects on targets... I want to bring that to FreeUniverse in some form. For instance, in FreeLancer, you have a "cruise disrupter" that temporarilly disables cruiser engines. I know my current weapons have item damage attributes, but this is rarely seen because it only damages items when you break through shields (and I believe that is the way it should be).

Additionally, the only real way to "interact" between ships is to shoot them.

This new piece of equipment would be like some soft of futuristic "spell caster", it could do bad things like disable engines, turners, weapons -- or good things like repair hull, fly faster, increase energy. This could also expand jobs, like "go repair a broken ship" etc.

Whacha guys think?


Hi. Long time FreeUniverse lurker, first time poster.

This idea caught my eye, and really got a hold on my imagination. A few thoughts that crossed my mind:

- portable black holes (generate gravity around a point, ala spacewar)
- nuclear devices (large bomb/missile/torpedo with a shockwave)
- radioactive debris or neutron emitters (harm/kill crew without damaging ship too much)
- jettisoned engine cores (similar to above)
- clouds of crossosive materials, and possibly debris fields - damages ships w/o ramscoops or active shields
- EMP (knock out or damage ship systems)
- Blackout device - (prevents radar from working)

I have no clue how many of these apply to FreeUniverse's current design as a game - I can't run it here since my graphics card is quite obsolete.
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Phr00t



Joined: 03 Mar 2006
Posts: 203

PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 9:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yay for pulling lurkers out of the dark Razz

A "black hole" idea was proposed before, and it sounds pretty cool. I'm not sure how much of a performance hit the game would take having to calculate acceleration patterns for all the space objects vs. all created black holes...?

Many of these ideas include affecting many objects... things like a nuclear explosion with a shockwave could be done by applying a force to all objects in one frame...

Hrm... harming crew.. .how would this effect the game? Just make AI stop?

You can jettison your own engine if you want to already? You mean disable other ships engines?

Ramscoops..? What are ramscoops? Very Happy

Yeah, EMP/Blackout is a cool idea, this is what I was proposing with this "spell casting" equipment (among many other possibilities)

Thank you very much for your input Smile
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pragma



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 607
Location: Washington, DC

PostPosted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Phr00t wrote:
Yay for pulling lurkers out of the dark Razz

A "black hole" idea was proposed before, and it sounds pretty cool. I'm not sure how much of a performance hit the game would take having to calculate acceleration patterns for all the space objects vs. all created black holes...?


Perhaps. At worst such things would be permanent. As for the "military-grade gravity generator" variety, they'd probably be better off as temporary objects.

Outside that, it's really just another bounds check plus an additional vector, multiplied by an exponential falloff from the epicenter, applied to all objects within the area. If they can pull this kind of stuff off in Quake I or "Subspace", then IMO FreeUniverse can handle it.

Quote:

Many of these ideas include affecting many objects... things like a nuclear explosion with a shockwave could be done by applying a force to all objects in one frame...

Hrm... harming crew.. .how would this effect the game? Just make AI stop?


Possibly. Either dumb-down the AI to simulate a failure in the chain of command on a bridge or make it act like a temporary knock out - ship just keeps going in the same direction with no change in behavior. Players, on the other hand would have controls not respond either partially or completely.

Quote:

You can jettison your own engine if you want to already? You mean disable other ships engines?


I was thinking along the lines of a Star Trek style warp-core breach.

Quote:

Ramscoops..? What are ramscoops? Very Happy


Another quasi-trek thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussard_ramscoop

In a nut shell, it's a propulsion method that's one part particle accelerator, one part dust-buster. A ramscoop could also be used for sequestering gases from space and nebulae - kind of like a form of mining. In real life, the scale of such things are quite impractical, but for a video game it could prove interesting.

Quote:
Yeah, EMP/Blackout is a cool idea, this is what I was proposing with this "spell casting" equipment (among many other possibilities)


Ahh.. then maybe something to simulate "space sickness" then? Kind of like a "drunken mode" effect on AI and player craft?

Quote:
Thank you very much for your input Smile


You're welcome.
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clayasaurus



Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 857

PostPosted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 6:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

pragma, what are your computer specs? FreeUniverse should be able to run on computers with very basic OpenGL support, I think. Have you given it a try? You might be surprised...
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pragma



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 607
Location: Washington, DC

PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 8:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

clayasaurus wrote:
pragma, what are your computer specs? FreeUniverse should be able to run on computers with very basic OpenGL support, I think. Have you given it a try? You might be surprised...


I don't exactly recall, as it's been a while, but my card/driver combo chokes on a particular GL extension - believe me, it's a craptacular card (the make/model escapes me). Last I checked, my drivers were up to date.

When I get around to testing it again, should I send you a bug report?
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clayasaurus



Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 857

PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

pragma, yes. I would like to know which extension it is, because I probably do not need to load it through derelict.
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