I need some input on this for my plug-in...
Any ideas and input on ship types in a 550+ system plugin? Like how many there should be, what they would look like, how big, cost, weapons, specialties, etc.....
-Lequis
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I would say about 7 different types of ship for each gov and lots of variations.
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"Are you sure the powers off?"
How many governments do you intend to have?
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- Macavenger | e-mail: (url="http://"mailto:e-gamerguy1@home.com")mailto:e-gamerguy1@home.com(/url)e-gamerguy1@home.com
Hm.
There are 3 major super-governments, 4 major governments, and then probably less than 6 other random ones.
But any ideas on the.. er... vocation might be the right word- for each ship? And mbits and stuff, can't forget them.....
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Some graphical work of mine.......:
www.exitfive.com/lupe/lequis.html
Šlequis software
Quote
Originally posted by Lequis MX:
**Hm.
There are 3 major super-governments, 4 major governments, and then probably less than 6 other random ones.
But any ideas on the.. er... vocation might be the right word- for each ship? And mbits and stuff, can't forget them.....
**
By vocation I assume you mean class. These are the classes that I would put in if I ever made a plug:
Interceptor
Fighter
Bomber
Frigate
Destroyer
Cruiser
Carrier
Battleship
Obviously there are variations you can make on these themes. Gunships, Light and Heavy Cruisers, Battle Cruisers, AAA Cruisers, etc.
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Quote
Originally posted by Lequis MX:
**Hm.
There are 3 major super-governments, 4 major governments, and then probably less than 6 other random ones.
But any ideas on the.. er... vocation might be the right word- for each ship? And mbits and stuff, can't forget them.....
**
What do you mean by vocation? Are we talking class of ships, like Carrier, Cruiser, fighter, etc. or something else?
Also, which game engine is it being developed for?
Sorry I've got nothing but more questions for you so far, but a fair amount of ship design dependds on the rest of your plug, or at least it should, IMO. 
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- Macavenger | e-mail: (url="http://"mailto:e-gamerguy1@home.com")mailto:e-gamerguy1@home.com(/url)e-gamerguy1@home.com
For civilian, publically-availabe ships:
3 fighters (like the lightning - but variations thereof)
2-3 ligh haulers (like the courier - but variations)
2-3 heavy haulers
1-2 things between heavy hauler and light gunship
2 light gunships (like the corvette)
2 heavy gunship (like the kestrel. If you have more than 1 you can have companies in a battle to release the most powerful civilian ship, and make that a plotline)
If you havn't noticed, I used stock EV ships for comparison. I think that a lot of ships available to the player adds to the realism and excitement of the game. The more classes, the more interesting the battles. And you need some heavy haulers available for the traders, just to get the player started. In stock ev it takes a long time to work up a few million with nothing more than light freighters as escorts.
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--ares
(url="http://"http://www.saberstudios.f2s.com/")Saber Studios(/url) :: (url="http://"http://home.cfl.rr.com/aresev/")The Legion(/url)
So patriotic art thee, S.U.V. owner, 5-dollar, made-in-china flag atop your Japanese vehicle, consuming massive quantities of middle-eastern oil.
Um, would it be too ludicrous and totally boring to have a pilot fly the best ship, costing let's say, um, like 28 millon? I have a whole file on my comp called "Trivial Ships" which has the Assault Cruiser, a monstrous warship... and a few other things. A gigantic tetrahedronal ship.... it's weird.
Hmmmmm... Perhaps these could exist with Nova.
Some other ideas, though:
a rapier-speed fighter which can carry like 12 heavy bombs, perhaps bay-compatible
a galaxy's edge-style manuverable fast warship
a freighter that goes really fast
etc...
(again, this will be much more of a reality once this fabled working editor comes out.)
-Lequis
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Some graphical work of mine.......:
www.exitfive.com/lupe/lequis.html
Šlequis software
The player should not have access to the most powerful ship in the galaxy at the beginning of the game no matter what the cost. When I play, I make it my goal to get my hands on the most powerful ship possible in whatever plugin. If the player can have the technology without doing missions, there is no motivation to do the missions. The most powerful civilian ship should be weaker than at least 2 of each governments ships, IMO.
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--ares
(url="http://"http://www.saberstudios.f2s.com/")Saber Studios(/url) :: (url="http://"http://home.cfl.rr.com/aresev/")The Legion(/url)
So patriotic art thee, S.U.V. owner, 5-dollar, made-in-china flag atop your Japanese vehicle, consuming massive quantities of middle-eastern oil.
Hmm... Perhaps I can have a Mission Bit that gives you access to the most powerful ships.
I will, however, have it so that there are ships that you can only buy at some worlds, i.e. the fighter-bomber...
But yeah, at least an Mbit or something first. However, a (monetarily) diverse array of ships can be good and bad.... IMO, this was bad in Frozen Heart... there was no Kestrel of Frozen Heart; thus the motivation for succeeding is lessened minutely.............
...
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Some graphical work of mine.......:
www.exitfive.com/lupe/lequis.html
Šlequis software
Quote
Originally posted by Lequis MX:
IMO, this was bad in Frozen Heart... there was no Kestrel of Frozen Heart; thus the motivation for succeeding is lessened minutely
Sure there was a kestrel; it was called the falcon IIRC. However, there was no reason for the player to use it when you've got the Tachyonic fighter.
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Don't make the mistake of giving every government the same basic ship types. Figure out a "personality" (basically what style of tactics they use) for each gov and base their ships and tactics around that. (the plugin I'm working on has one gov based on heavy weapons and brute force, another with huge slow ships with very long range high impact weapons, another uses swarms of fighters, and the fourth uses some extremely strange ships I'm still trying to categorize.)
Quote
Originally posted by Lequis MX:
**Hm.
There are 3 major super-governments, 4 major governments, and then probably less than 6 other random ones.
But any ideas on the.. er... vocation might be the right word- for each ship? And mbits and stuff, can't forget them.....
**
I find a great plug would be 9-10 ships per super govt., 6-7 for large govts, 2-4 for small govts, and all govts having a good helping off weapons/outfits of there own. I know this is over ambitious, but its my input.
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Quote
Originally posted by Regulus:
**Actually, The Frozen Heart's ships are lifted straight out of the the original EV, for the most part. They just have different graphics.
-reg
**
True. FH was originally intended as a storyline plugin, not a TC, and the changes to ships were to suit the mood. Some of the ships are slightly different from the EV originals, as are some of the weapons. However, these were for game balance. There are about half a dozen new ships available to humans:
Tachyonic Fighter
Hunter Killer
Stratofighter
(These were the original ships from the novel)
Rim Prospecter
Gun Platform
In addition, the following were technically 'ships':
Asteroid
Plague
Gas cloud
Black Hole
Femme Fatale introduces a load more ships. I'm not sure if it wasn't, in the end, too many.
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M A R T I N T U R N E R
It's hard to be exact on what you should have without more details on the plugin. However, there are some archetypal ships that no plugin should be without:
-A really, really fast ship
-A really weak almost useless fighter (the previous two can be one ship)
-A slow, clunky, but really heavily armed bomber
-A huge freighter so slow no one in their right minds would buy it
-A really cool looking, powerful ship that is about the best a civilian can buy
-A huge, ridiculously powerful "boss" ship (unpurchaseable)
-A small ship that is versatile enough to make a good freighter or fighter
-A large, sturdy freighter that can be a decent warship or blockade runner
And minimum for each government-
-A fighter
-A light warship
-A heavy warship, carrying fighters
Other than these, come up with your own. Or steal someone else's idea, that works well too 
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If at first you don't succeed, use more duct tape.
(This message has been edited by CrazyTom9 (edited 11-12-2001).)
I don't know how much ambition you've got...
Cold Blood has 39 ships total, and doing everything that needs doing for all of them has taken me about a year (200+ hours of work, on the side). Mind you, that's a unique graphic for each, and balancing each ship's weapon load, cost, cargo space, availability, etc. etc.
I've spent a good deal of time paying attention to the ships and outfits, and am just now getting to the galaxy itself. CB has a small galaxy, too. Your outline goes for 550+ systems, right? A dozen or so plotlines (assuming one for each government)? That's a lot of writing to do!
...What I'm saying is, manage your time wisely. In the end, how many ships you've got is rather trivial. I say make 'em as you need 'em. That way you know for sure what's going to be of use in the game itself.
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- () () / }{ -
(formerly fatalin.tycho)
(url="http://"http://coldblood.cjb.net")Cold Blood(/url)
Quote
Originally posted by CrazyTom9:
It's hard to be exact on what you should have without more details on the plugin. However, there are some archetypal ships that no plugin should be without...
Agreed, those are indeed the architypical ships we all know and love. Unless a plug is replacing all the original ships, though, you don't need to put in your own versions of all of these.
One last thing: I remember it being a thrill when you actually saw a cruiser-class ship first-hand in the original EV...don't show off all your stuff to the player to soon, or you'll kill some of the inherent magic of the experience.
whew...that's enough posting for me for one month...
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- () () / }{ -
(formerly fatalin.tycho)
(url="http://"http://coldblood.cjb.net")Cold Blood(/url)
Thanks for all the ideas. I do agree that the supercruiser must be... ...introduced later. And a huge-mega-ship too. But... yeah... I REALLY forgot to introduce the weak ships and weak fighters. A ridiculously crappy Defender-like ship will do... and the galaxy should be centralized into different areas, so like... hmm... I'd better... um.... get to work...
Thanks, ppl.
-Lequis
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Some graphical work of mine.......:
www.exitfive.com/lupe/lequis.html
Šlequis software
