Suggestion for Version 2.0

I like where this is going Greg and Eric!

the boarding party idea is silly if you ask me, realisticly, any boarding party sent to a ship would try and make its way to the bridge to seize control and how would you simulate that?

Realistically, a boarding team on the bridge would only prevent the bridge itself from being active. The entire rest of the ship would still be under control of the crew. It might operate at reduced efficiency, but the last set of orders given would still be in effect, and security teams would almost *certainly* be dispatched to clear enemies off the bridge.

As for simulating a boarding team trying to take the bridge, rather than some *other* critical subsystem like power, engines, weapons, etc., you treat the bridge crew as a 'security' team *always* stationed at the bridge.

If there is a hard point labeled "Bridge" and it has been taken over by an enemy boarding team, then all systems in Engineering become 0 UNTIL a DAMSEC team makes it to the bridge to "clear the bridge". If my suggestion is followed though, I would have the AIDS system be 90% effective on the bridge. So chances are the bridge would not be taken over.

But it would be fun to hear engineering "DAMSEC teams to the Bridge! Repell Boarders!"

Brainstorming & suggestions concerning COMMs position

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-Manage main view screen!
My helm and weapon officer would really appreciate that. Cause when battle begins, theyre often too busy to do it. Might as well give it to COMMs who does almost nothing during battle.

-Alerts
Red Alert : Give more meaning. And usefullness (automaticly raising shield, damcon movement increase bonus for some time, then slower cause they were running around. Introducing stamina to damcon maybe?)

-More communication options
+ ask station for DAMCON team to shuttle to your starship (adding an item to produce for station and manage)
+ Hailing frequencies (Translation of non-hostile alien ship, like the beam to shield frequency minigame. Receiving a message on a different frequency would not translate correctly, showing alien symbols maybe?)
+ Trading with ships and stations (ask for, exchange for, when docked or near (shuttle transfer goods?))

-Away team
Sending team on mission (Planet, station, other ship, etc) and monitoring and managing theyre action tru the comm station.
=Send team
=Beam back (or Shuttle back)
= Dialog with team on theyre finding. (Engage ennemy, fall back, hide, explore, etc)
= Away team status monitor (HP, Stamina, etc)
\\-> SCIENCE could monitor them with a surface/ship navigation chart (Switching from space map to away team map


-Managing crew's needs
We often forget about all those peoples living on the ship
COMM could keep an eye on "moral" and "needs" (ex: Food level low. Moral is dropping due to alien bug infestation, etc.)
And inform the captain of whats happening on board his ship

Boarding parties do add another dimension to star ship combat, but adding them to the game would distract from the central focus of being the bridge crew& commander.

Personally I'd like to see more for Comms & Science to do. In the games I've played in they appear to be the less important roles.

Science could...
+scan incoming missiles/fighters to identify their weakness.
+scan incoming mines to disable them. (ie mine-sweeping)
+have probes to fire at foreign bodies (ie mines/singularities/asteroids/etc) to enhance scanning (ie half the time) within a limited range (eg 1000km).

Comms could...
+control the take-off and landing of shuttles (& fighters)
+control away-teams on a planet

^^ Your first name isn't Jim, by any chance, is it?

Howdy everyone. I see that everyone is actually suggesting a lot of good ideas and I wanted to add some that I just had. Now not all these ideas are original. Some of them have already been suggested and debated by people with more skill then I could hope to do, but my ideas are in a big lump in my brain and I need to make sure I don't miss anything. All my ideas are in the hope of making a better Ship Bridge Simulator.

Most everyones complaints/ideas come from making the sim a little more complex as to give more things to do. Some of these should fit that requirement:

1. Magnetic Acceleration Cannons/Mass Drivers/Gauss Gun/Rail gun: With these the weapon officer would have to be mindful of not just making sure the weapon is charged and loaded but how much ammunition was available to use. These weapons could either be on turrets and function with firing arcs similar to the D.E.W. (Direct Energy Weapon/beam weapons)that all ships are outfitted with or they could be built into the superstructure of the ship leading to a very narrow field of fire at the front of the ship requiring top notch helmsmenship and tactics to attack effectively.

2.Jamming comms: The communications officer does more then just talk on the phone like a teenage girl with unlimited minutes. They also block the comm traffic of the enemy ships. Useful when you need a fleet to not call for reinforcements when you surprise them and disruption of communication between ships in a fleet, including Arvonian fighter squadrons trying to cordinate with each other or get orders from their carrier. Similar disruption for Torgoth drones (but not torpedos)

3. Comm buoy: This piece of equipment, deployable by the comm station, is capable of acting as a listening post and gathering intel on enemy fleets more detailed then monitoring fleet movement on a sensor scope. By eavesdropping on comm chatter you can figure out what the enemy plans are, where their installions are that repair and rearm them, and where they might be going.

4. Sensor probe: As powerful as the sensor array that a Science Officer uses is, sometimes you need to finish a mission to save DS7 instead of investigating something strange that pops up on the way. With a sensor probe you can do both. The sensor probe would be launched by a Science Officer and gather important information and relay it back to your vessel. This information can be of scientific or maybe tactical importance.

5. Jam sensors: Either a countermeasure to be used by a weapons officer or a responsiblity of the science officer. Jam the sensors of enemy vessels making them unable to match your shield frequency to their beam weapons and attack when you are weakest. In addition to limiting the information about the status of you ship. Enemies unable to see shield strength and which sections are damaged.

6. Scientific research: Even though the fleet is made up of warships there is still important research being done by science officers abort the ships. And research that is fruitful could be transmitted to a friendly space station for possible upgrades(or something)

7. Point Defense System/Drone: This idea is mostly for Skaraan ships. It would be a new elite ability that would make it more difficult to attack with a torpedo and maybe even a mine. In the form of either an active system on the ship that knocked most torpedos out of the sky or a drone that orbited the vessel and defended it from non energy based weapons.

8. Carrier: A new classification of ships for the TSN. Carriers would introduce a new officer postion to the bridge, the Squadron Commander. It is the job of the S.C. to take care of all the aspects of their U.S.V(Unmanned Space Vehicle) squadrons. This means their repairs, recharging, rearming(if they have weapons with ammunition, deployment, recall, and attack patterns. U.S.Vs can be build on their carrier ship and drained for power in the same way that torpedos can be. But unlike a torpedo you can recover them after they are used.


Those are all my ideas for improvements I would like to see in the future of this wonderful game. Please ofter ideas, constructive criticisms, and any input you may have.

I'm with Mr. Potts up there. When can we get a full 3D universe to play in? I know it requires some re-writing and it would slow the game on older systems, but it should be at least an option. I've seen this done in the all text moo wnohgb.org:1701 so I am sure it is within the realm of possibility.

I personally don't understand the mass appeal for boarding party mechanics (not to say I would oppose them). I think Eric's suggestion is the most implementable, realistic, and user friendly solution I've seen, though. It wouldn't add 'too' much to engineering's plate.

Edit: That being said, I'm fully in agreement that Science needs more to do to contribute to exploration, and comms needs more to do that's combat specific.

I am in agreement with Jacob about boarding parties. For a Spaceship Bridge Simulator you don't need to be boarding other ships. You are too busy running a ship to worry about what a group of marines are doing getting on a different ship.

I spend may hours reading through ideas and suggestions on the Artemis forums and I always find myself sceptical about how some will improve the game. Personally, I believe smaller improvements are better than many bigger and 'new' ideas being implemented. I wouldn't be particularly pleased if there was suddenly a new role added with an additional console, or if extra work was made for certain officers, such as the engineering officer. (I am also of the mind that comms/science is what you make it; if the captain and the officers in those role know what they are about, they can be very engaging and enjoyable). Things such as better AI, improvement in graphics and effects, additional enemies/allies, would be small improvements that could add great amounts to the game, but won't change the fundamental aspects. I am sure we all agree that in its current state, this game is awesome,and no additions should detract from that. I think that if some of the ideas I have read here, and in other threads, were implemented many of them would.

Until now though, I have generally held back from commenting on ideas and providing suggestions of my own. However I feel I have a suggestion that may be worth considering and one that I wish to share. It is with regards to the science console.

I think it would be a good addition if it was possible to select multiple enemy ships at once in order to view their status' together.

Currently, it is only possible to view the status of one enemy vessel at a time. In battle I have found that updating others on the enemy vessel status' when engaging a small fleet is rather difficult to manage as you have to continually cycle through multiple the enemies in the fleet you are engaging. With the common use of LR Nuclear torpedoes, may vessels can be damaged at once, and cycling through each enemy to determine damage inflicted is too slow when your ship accelerates to close the distance and engage with beams. I believe it would be a good addition if I could have multiple status displays up, for example 3 status', so that it is possible to read off the damage of enemies during the combat. Please note, I do not want to be able to scan multiple vessels, just see the status of several vessels together on the screen. It would mean that I could then suggest which ships to engage such as those posing the greatest threat, with weapons still operational, and also give info on those with the greatest amount of damage, and therefore more likely to surrender. With the information I could reel off, comms, tactical and helm officers would all benefit, becoming more focused and effective in combat.

As always, I welcome any comments or constructive criticisms.

Xavier, I love your idea and think it is a perfect 'small' change to be made. I'd still like to see new things added, though.

Keep up the work work on your Handbooks. They are a pleasure to read.

Or have a second button on COMMS called "Intruder Alert"

Clarification: my previous comment was in regards to EricWethington's post at the bottom of the previous page:

'AIDS system is active only when "RED ALERT" is active'