Suggestion for Version 2.0
After having examined a lot of the different Mods and Missions that are out there, I think a good enhancement to see for Version 2 would be a way to include a vesselData.xml file in the mission folder that might add special ships and be merged with the stock vesselData.xml file, but not affect the stock vesselData.xml file. I've stumbled onto a few missions where all they want to do is add some special ship, but have to modify the vesselData.xml file to do so (and thus making it a Mod, instead of just a mission).
Something I'd like to see that isn't really related to the game itself:
A way to just donate money to Thom.
A way to just donate money to Thom.
Any chance that we could get alternative nebula? Say, maybe an orange nebula, or even more color options? Perhaps each nebula offers different benefits/drawbacks? Something like:
Yellow nebula - regenerates ship power like the Hamak Sector collector or the Fuel Collection System in the RP Community. But you must have shields up, and it depletes shields at X / second. Once shields are depleted or down, ship starts taking radiation damage.
Orange nebula - draws ship energy at X per second, but cloaks ship from LRS and Tactical. Only visual would be possible.
Blue nebula - Warp is doubled, and takes half the energy, but the energy signature is like a beacon, displaying the ship on LRS from ships anywhere in the sector, even when sensors are set to short range.
These are just some sample ideas to get the community thinking about it.
Any other thoughts or suggestions?
Yellow nebula - regenerates ship power like the Hamak Sector collector or the Fuel Collection System in the RP Community. But you must have shields up, and it depletes shields at X / second. Once shields are depleted or down, ship starts taking radiation damage.
Orange nebula - draws ship energy at X per second, but cloaks ship from LRS and Tactical. Only visual would be possible.
Blue nebula - Warp is doubled, and takes half the energy, but the energy signature is like a beacon, displaying the ship on LRS from ships anywhere in the sector, even when sensors are set to short range.
These are just some sample ideas to get the community thinking about it.
Any other thoughts or suggestions?
[Last edited Jun 04, 2013 15:29:09]
What do people think about alternative nebula types? Each type has a specific benefit, coupled with a drawback, that makes things a bit more interesting. Something like:
Orange Nebula - Drains ship's energy at X per second. While in the nebula, a ship is not visible on LRS or tactical (Only visual reveals the ship).
Yellow Nebula - Ships in the nebula can collect X energy per second (something like the energy collection in Hamak Sector or the Fuel Collection System in TSN RP Community). Shields must be up to protect from radiation. The nebula depletes shields at a rate of X per second. Energy collection with shields down is faster. If the ship is in the nebula without shields or with shields down longer than X seconds, ship damage begins to occur.
Blue Nebula - Warp speed is doubled at same energy cost as normal warp. But the energy dispersal makes the ship visible to LRS and tactical from any ship on the sector, even if sensor range would otherwise be limited to shorter range.
These are just some ideas. Does anyone think these would be cool additions?
Orange Nebula - Drains ship's energy at X per second. While in the nebula, a ship is not visible on LRS or tactical (Only visual reveals the ship).
Yellow Nebula - Ships in the nebula can collect X energy per second (something like the energy collection in Hamak Sector or the Fuel Collection System in TSN RP Community). Shields must be up to protect from radiation. The nebula depletes shields at a rate of X per second. Energy collection with shields down is faster. If the ship is in the nebula without shields or with shields down longer than X seconds, ship damage begins to occur.
Blue Nebula - Warp speed is doubled at same energy cost as normal warp. But the energy dispersal makes the ship visible to LRS and tactical from any ship on the sector, even if sensor range would otherwise be limited to shorter range.
These are just some ideas. Does anyone think these would be cool additions?
I think Thom had the idea of making different types of nebulae have different effects from the very beginning of Artemis. Perhaps he hasn't gotten to it yet, or perhaps he has found a reason why it would unbalance the game.
I think it's an interesting idea and I hope to see it implemented some day.
I think it's an interesting idea and I hope to see it implemented some day.
"Damn the torpedoes! Four bells, Captain Drayton!"
(Likely actual words of Admiral David Farragut, USN, at the battle of Mobile Bay. Four bells was the signal for the engine room to make full steam ahead).
(Likely actual words of Admiral David Farragut, USN, at the battle of Mobile Bay. Four bells was the signal for the engine room to make full steam ahead).
Interesting. Some of those don't seem to make sense. However the overall concept is very intriguing and I would enjoy seeing it implemented in the game. Limited though because if you got beyond 5 or so types it would get difficult to include a variety on each map and to know what each does. But on a limited scale I am rather interested.
To Mankind
And the hope that the war against folly may someday be won, after all
Isaac Asimov
And the hope that the war against folly may someday be won, after all
Isaac Asimov
The examples are just ideas, nothing I'm overly hung up on. And I would agree that more than a few and it gets to be too much.
It may be more difficult, but what might even be cool, is if missions scripters can associate different drawbacks and bonuses to different colors, dynamically. This way, you can maintain that exploratory and unknown feel like so many startrek anomalies/power sources had in common.
It may be more difficult, but what might even be cool, is if missions scripters can associate different drawbacks and bonuses to different colors, dynamically. This way, you can maintain that exploratory and unknown feel like so many startrek anomalies/power sources had in common.
I like the idea of varying the nebulae too. It would be great if Science had a little mini game to play to figure out a nebula's effects were, and the effects could be randomized so you wouldn't know what color meant what combination of effects ahead of time. Some effects could be disastrous, so testing before entering would be prudent, or a bold captain on an urgent mission might order the ship in and hope for the best.
I imagine creating a mini game for this would be a lot of work, but it could also add a lot of fun for the science station. A mini game idea might be: On a console screen, there are three bars to show energy levels, with sliders on them to assign a resonance frequency for each. The goal is to determine the three correct resonance frequencies which will allow the equipment to successfully analyze the nebula (and determine its properties). For each bar, the science officer can hit a button that starts a marker to move up the bar, hit the button again to stop the marker and also start a second marker to move from that position, and hit it a third time to stop the second marker. The bar then has a test range between those two markers. After all three bars have been set with test ranges, the test button initiates the test, and the officer finds out how many (not which ones) of the bars had their correct resonance frequency fall in the test ranges. The officer can adjust the sliders at any time to set the frequencies thought to be correct, and once correct values are found, they can then inform the crew what the nebula does.
Perhaps testing requires the Artemis to maintain a certain range of distance from the nebula to spur player teamwork.
On a mostly unrelated note, it would be cool if Comm had a mini game to decrypt enemy transmissions. An idea for that one is to have Comm hear a sequence of three tones. Comm then has three dials to set to try to generate a matching series of tones. They hear their sequence, and if it doesn't match, they keep adjusting and trying again. Once the correct match is found, the enemy channel is decrypted. By varying the number of tones in the sequence and the number of values for each tone position, the difficulty of this game could be adjusted significantly.
Mini games like these would give Comm and Science something interesting to do, which, when we've played in the past, has sometimes been the complaint, compared to other stations.
I imagine creating a mini game for this would be a lot of work, but it could also add a lot of fun for the science station. A mini game idea might be: On a console screen, there are three bars to show energy levels, with sliders on them to assign a resonance frequency for each. The goal is to determine the three correct resonance frequencies which will allow the equipment to successfully analyze the nebula (and determine its properties). For each bar, the science officer can hit a button that starts a marker to move up the bar, hit the button again to stop the marker and also start a second marker to move from that position, and hit it a third time to stop the second marker. The bar then has a test range between those two markers. After all three bars have been set with test ranges, the test button initiates the test, and the officer finds out how many (not which ones) of the bars had their correct resonance frequency fall in the test ranges. The officer can adjust the sliders at any time to set the frequencies thought to be correct, and once correct values are found, they can then inform the crew what the nebula does.
Perhaps testing requires the Artemis to maintain a certain range of distance from the nebula to spur player teamwork.
On a mostly unrelated note, it would be cool if Comm had a mini game to decrypt enemy transmissions. An idea for that one is to have Comm hear a sequence of three tones. Comm then has three dials to set to try to generate a matching series of tones. They hear their sequence, and if it doesn't match, they keep adjusting and trying again. Once the correct match is found, the enemy channel is decrypted. By varying the number of tones in the sequence and the number of values for each tone position, the difficulty of this game could be adjusted significantly.
Mini games like these would give Comm and Science something interesting to do, which, when we've played in the past, has sometimes been the complaint, compared to other stations.
Different nebulae types would totally be a cool feature.
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