yesterday i started typing up this big page about idea's for a plugin that i can't develop because my programming and time management skills would ruin it before i got started
so, here it is, it's pretty long, but i think some folks might be interested.
i'd be willing to collaborate with someone, and give advice on the storyline and whatnot...
i was thinking about the world that we live in right now, and had an idea that a satire of the world, incorporated into a plugin of EV/O, would be very interesting.
so, with that pretext, lets get on to the technicalities.
government I
-the galactic #1 economic power, somewhat of the confeds, or an empire, or something.
-strict regulations on civillian weapons, no ships with weapons/shields sold to civillians (ships would have no shields because they "don't need them", only armour and ECM is legal, all these ships are for trading purposes), no weapons, civillians expected to rely on military presence.
-very powerful military force, advanced ECM, homing weapons, high tech everything (you can buy this stuff as you complete more missions).
-outfits that are sold would include some low quality armour, ECM, engine upgrades, jump generator upgrades, cargo/mass expansions, fuel tanks, ect.
-heavliy exploitative of uninhabited planets, and some inhabited ones. lots of propoganda.
-to be able to buy light weapons/shields you must complete a mission proving your loyalty
government II
-rebellious, scattered organization, yet by no means any kinder than govt. I (after all, even the best of us can get greedy).
-sells some weapons and shields, but generally all of this very low key.
-geurilla (sp?) tactics, generally interested in defending their systems, occasionally striking against govt. I.
-initial missions might include smuggling or blockade running to get supplies such as weapons from govt. I (or other) space, into govt. II space.
-other missions relating to the storyline might be diplomatic, and also carrying out geurilla strikes against small, ill-defended govt. I systems
-semi-pirate tactics (occasionally attacks civillian craft and freighters to obtain supplies)
government III
-guild/consortium dedicated to the welfare of civillians and traders.
-sells, against the will of govt. I, highly advanced ECM, shields, armour, but no weapons (also sells anything availiable in govt. I space).
-also sells cloaking device, after completing certain missions.
-is not currently being bothered by govt. I or govt. II, but could later become target of either for various reasons.
-all outfits availiable without playing missions, but missions may render new technology, and a more peaceful universe (new technology might include weapons as this govt. fights for independence)
-might also sell some ships with larger cargo space than what is availiable in govt. I space, but once again, without weapons.
-only one or 2 planets controlled by this govt.
government IV
-basically the black market, sells all sorts of illegal weaponry, ships, more advanced in many cases than govt. II, though some less advanced (it depends on what they've stolen)
-similar attitude as is held by pirates/renegades in EV/O.
-well hidden, scattered planets.
-missions would include raiding fleets, smuggling, the usual pirate stuff.
government V
-a corporation that backs govt. I, has some interest in capturing govt II space.
-works along side govt. IV at times, to boost profits
-has generally well natured and peaceful appearance with a horrific reality of scams and (for lack of a better term)'sentient beings rights violations'.
-missions would fit in with govt. I for the most part, the goal being to capture govt. II space.
government VI
-this govt essentially represents the munitions companies who build ships and weapons for govt. I
-missions fit in with tech advancements for govt. I
government VII & government VIII
-lethe/cydonia style war going on here
-somehow relating to the india/pakistan conflict (2 govts. beating at each other with dead economies)
-initial missions might include basic strikes into enemy territory, and later on, buying weapons from govt. VI to fight enemy and defend against govt. IV, then a full scale invasion and eventually conquering the other.
-govt. I sends pathetic little diplomacies to try and 'bring peace' (all false propoganda)
government IX - government XII
-other economies which are allied to or enemies of govt. I and each other.
-generally just added for more interesting game play.
-could have a fantasy style semi-utopian government, slightly smaller economy and controlled space than govt. I, but less violent and less propoganda and more advanced technology (mainly defensive)
government XIII
-mystic alien race which you only encounter later on in the game, during some special mission given to you by one of the forementioned governments.
-only discovered due to advancements in fuel capacity (perhaps ramscoops would be developed, and larger fuel tanks fitted for the long journey (10-20 jumps through uninhabited space))
okay, that's the governments that i can think of right now...
on to
outfits
the roman numeral beside the outfit means signifies that it is unique to the government with the corrosponding numeral, no numeral means all governments can buy this from munitions manufacturers. if numerals I, II & IV are present, then VII through XII can buy this also.
weapons
(unless it uses fuel, it uses ammo. cannon ammo weighs nothing)
(all guided weapons are jammable (includes being distracted by asteroids) and susceptable to radar static except for, perhaps, specific weapons designed by govt. I that cannot be jammed (get them later on via missions or something?))
CO2 laser, particle beam - I, fictional beam weapons
-only does damage to armour (and a lot of damage at that)
-steady fuel drain
-very effective against larger warships with a lot of armour
-medium power turreted version availiable for warship
-extremely powerful, non-turreted version for warship
-smaller, non-turreted version for fighter
plasma cannon - I, antimatter cannon, rail gun (aka mass driver)
-ammo count, fires small spheres containing plasma or antimatter held steady with a magnetic field
-only does damage to armour
-effective, once again, against larger warships
-turreted & non-turreted versions
nuclear weapons, neutron nuke - I, H-bomb - I, A-bomb
-does mostly damage to shields, some to armour
-extremely large blast radius
-ammo is very heavy
-launcher could be a small, light rack, to allow anti-warship fighters to carry H-bombs, or a large launch tube that allows warships to fire longer range, faster flying, better guided neutron nukes
-fighter launched weapons fire similtaniously (example: fighter has 4 launchers, each weighs 2 tons, and 4 H-bombs, each weighs 5 tons, total load, 28 tons. fighter would fly at capital ship, drop all four bombs at once (which move very slowly), and get out of the way before the explosion, then returns to ship to reload)
EMP weapons, EMP fighters - I, EMP missiles, EM pulse lanched from medium warship - I
-only does damage to shields, none to armour
-massive blast radius (instantly takes out shields of all ships within a certain area of initial pulse)
-does damage to friendly ships (including the ship that launched it)
-does no damage to armour because shield generators are not able to be protected from EMP the same way that the rest of the ships systems are, so they get knocked down, but the ship is still generally okay
-EMP fighter would launch, fire pulse, which would drain it's fuel (pulse would drain fuel, maybe 600 units (6 jumps) per shot, and would not fire again for some time)
-EMP missile would have similar effect, but would not be retrieveable
-EMP launched from medium warship would be the same outfit as is used by EMP fighters
ion weaponry
-takes down shields by overcharing them with ions
-holds ship in place like tractor beam, but also does damage
-could be beam weapon or use ammo
plasma torpedo - I, antimatter torpedo
-see antimatter cannon, but long range and heavier damage
anti-fighter missile
-fighters generally have less armour and more shields, so these would be minituare versions of the emp or nuclear missiles.
-very fast moving and good turn rate
hyperspace missile - IV
-designed by pirates to disable ships entering hyperspace
-extremely fast, but poor turn rate
-very large launcher and ammo due to hyperspace drive attached to missile
-maybe have 2 versions, one for armour, one for shields, or just have one that does equal damage to armour and shields
heavy/javelin rocket
-i guess we can just throw these in for fun, though they wouldnt do much damage to shields, and they would do relatively little damage to armour...
-perhaps an unguided version of one of the nuclear weapons
fighter bays
(all fighter bays launch similtaniously, the more fighter bays a ship has, the faster it deploys its fighters. all fighter bays weigh 100+ tons, & all fighters weigh atleast 10 tons)
basic light fighter
-each government would have it's own variant, but these would be, on the whole, very similar.
-anti-fighter role, equipped with anti fighter missiles, lightweight beam weapon, maybe ion cannon or EMP
-has extremely light armour, or none at all.
heavy fighter - I, II
-better shields and armour than light fighter
-anti-fighter capabilities, also some capability for fighting light-medium warships
-slower than light fighter
-heavy rocket rack (as with the H-bomb, the rack is lighter than the ammo, but the weapon does not fire similtaniously)
bomber - I
-very light shields
-no armour
-extremely fast, very manouverable and good accel
-purely anti-warship role
-carries 4 H-bombs as is forementioned (see H-bomb in weapons section)
-best if escorted by light fighters
-has a couple of light swivel cannons, or a beam of some sort for defense
EMP fighter - I
-good armour (for a fighter)
-some shields
-large fuel capacity (for EMP)
-reasonable speed, manouvre, accel.
-only one weapon: the EMP emitter
-perhaps remote controlled
orbital defense satellite - I
-speed of 1, good turning, good accel.
-very light weight, if hit by missile, it will get knocked a few kilometers and then regain it's stability by using a magnetic sensor to judge distance from where it was deployed and it's relativity to the mothership and it's target.
-good shields & armour
-when strategically deployed, can be set in a circle around mothership, who is then barred somewhat from attack
-not exactly a bay, more like a rack, making it possible for a heavy warship to have half a dozen of these, with half a dozen racks, which, when launched similtaniously, will fly off in all directions and position themselves around the ship, thanks to complete inaccuracy (if this doesnt work, then you could make this bay unique in that it doesn't launch similtaniously)
-has an assortment of anti-fighter and anti-warship weapons, beam weapons, ion, and maybe EMP missiles, but no on board emitters.
-remote controlled
-may be difficult to get AI to use properly
armed shuttle bay - IV
-designed by pirates to utilize an armed shuttle from a freighter based fighter bay
-basically a light fighter that is slightly clumsier than others
destroyer bay
-see battlestation & destroyer in ships section
defense
basic armour
-standard material used on all non-combatant ships
-avaliable everywhere
-cheap, simple... armaplast style
heavy armour
-govt. I doesnt sell this until you have a weapons permit
-can be bought generally everywhere
-used by blockade runners
-one word: durasteel
specialty metals & carbon fibres - I, III, IV
-very dense, very heavy, very expensive, very good
-essentially tritanium, but more variations maybe, and only avaliable after completion of various missions
light shield battery
-weighs 1 ton each
-used in fighters, light freighters
-adds relatively little to shield total
-inefficient for weight:shield output ratio
medium shield battery
-weighs 5 tons each
-used by med. warship and heavy fighter
-more output than light shield batter
-slightly more efficient
heavy shield battery - I
-20 tons each
-used by carriers and big warships
-once again, larger output and more efficient
shield recharge thingy (think of some cool name for it later) I, III
-increases shield recharge rate
-larger models are more efficient
-see previous 3 items
note about shields - basically the shield is an energy forcefield that surrounds the shield generator, when it is hit with something, the energy is knocked back into the batteries. if all the energy is knocked back in, it could cause the batteries to overload. this is why only the EMP and ion weapons, and nukes, ect. do damage to shields. the more shield batteries you have, the larger amounts of energy can be pushed back into the shields. shields recharge by releasing static energy into particles of space dust which surround the ship. seems logical to me, anyway.
ECM systems & radar
(all ECM systems are unique to govt. III)
i've thought pretty heavy about ECM systems lately, and i've come up with a number of ideas.
standard ECM jammer
-basically the same as the missile jammer in EV or the needle jammer and miranu systems in EVO
ECM beam
-emits a beam which jams radar and destroys incomming missiles
ECM missile
-a turreted, unguided missile with a radar jammer instead of a warhead.
-essentially a decoy flare with propulsion
-can be used when fired at a large capital ship which is firing lots of heavy weapons at you
-very good range and 100% accuracy (makes up for being unguided)
ECM forcefield
-quite literally a very large decoy flare, you drop it, and a sprite appears, just big enough to surround your ship.
-capital ships would have to buy larger fields, whereas smaller ships could use smaller ones
-would last up to 5 minutes before needing to drop another
-would probably get destroyed when first missile hits it
ECM fighter ???
-if you could get AI fighter to use this, it could be launched, would fly towards enemy capital ship and basically drop a cluster of radar disrupting flares, though i doubt it would work because the missiles might need to target that particular ship to be decoyed (maybe not if it were an escort)
IFF system & density scanner
-same as in EV/O
radar upgrade thingy
-used for penetrating nebulae static
-i was also thinking that just to make it interesting, and to see the effects of weapons and whatnot, that every uninhabited system would have static, but inhabited systems would not, the idea being that a powerful radar beacon is in orbit around a planet/star which is utilized by the ships in that system. where there is no beacon, there is static.
cloaking device - I, III
-same as the other cloaking devices
-relatively expensive, can be bought in govt. I space after certain mission, and in govt. III space after a certain other mission...
misc. stuff
service robots
-launch a dozen of these little fellas at a disabled ship and they fix it up a bit. might not work if game engine does not allow for disabled ship to recharge armour, but you never know.
-could also be a fighter bay instead of ammo: you launch service robots which 'fix' (you could have a weapon that does negative damage to armour) the ships hull
shield recharge beam
-by connecting an electrical wire to the target ships forcefield, you increase their shield recharge rate
-problematic due to the fact that they will consider it an attack and not something to help them out
-same idea as service robots
-maybe you could increase recharge rate of target ship by spraying cosmic dust at them which abosorbs energy from the shields, or something like that.
fake ID - IV
-only on pirate planets
-various different ID cards for different govts.
-cant live without it!
turret and gun placement upgrades
-i saw this in galactic scourge, and i don't know how they did it, but it was handy, to be able to buy more turret and gun spots for a ship. this could be handy if you wanted to put guns on a freighter that didn't have any weapons spots (because you bought it in govt. I space, for example)
-i think that, as with all things there needs to be a maximum, but also, this upgrade should be as expensive as possible, and you should lose a lot of cargo or weapons space in the process, just to discourge people from buying 20 or 30 of them.
-there was also a reversal of this, in which you pay to have turret and gun spots removed to add to cargo (or maybe it was weapons) space.
mass/cargo expansion
-i'm not sure what is more reasonable, transferring for equal parts or losing some space by doing it, but i think that with many of the forementioned weapons, which have launchers that weigh very little (it never made sense that the missile rack was 10 tons, i mean, it is a rack, after all), it would be reasonable to have an equal transfer
extra fuel tanks/ramscoop
-to fit in with storyline, i think that we should not make these avaliable until you complete a mission.
-also, in galactic scourge, there was an upgrade where you could remove 100 units of fuel and receive 10 tons weapons space... pretty neat idea, but maybe 10 tons is a bit much for 100 units, 5 tons instead?
engine upgrades
(i think that the fuel used for most engines would be hydrogen, but in the encyclopedia, i read that there are solid fuel rockets, liquid fuel rockets, ion rockets and hydrogen-nuclear rockets. most ships would probably be powered by the hydrogen-nuclear rocket, and some weapons and light fighters would be powered by the slightly weaker ion rocket)
jump generator
-allows for a ship to jump from anywhere in the system
jump generator #2
-decreases time required to enter hyperspace
jump generator #3
-decreases hyperspace travel time
RCS, thrust, engine upgrades
-basically the same as in EVO
-smaller, lighter weight, inefficient for fighters
-medium weight for medium ships, ect. (same idea as shield batteries)
ships
i'll skip all the fighter's that i've already mentioned in the fighter bays section
civillian ships
(these ships would also be the main ships used by pirate raiders, with larger crews, weapons, ect. added)
shuttlecraft
-same deal as you always get, no weapons, no shields, light armour, small cargo space
light freighter (courier style)
-same as the EV courier, but less fuel
-designed for doing rush deliveries, fitted with all the latest jump generating devices to make travel time as little as possible, with still a large amount of cargo space
scoutship
-not your ordinary scoutship, this thing is a giant, with little cargo or weapons space, it is mostly fuel tanks to allow it to make long journeys to alien planets through uninhabited space.
-maybe has a ramscoop
-does not exist until you complete a certain mission for a certain govt...
med. freighter, bulk freighter, ect.
-basically the same as in EV/O, large, slow, but excellent for transport of raw materials, ore, fuel, ect.
combat ships
(variants of these ships are used by each government)
PT boat (or something like that)
-medium weapons load
-medium manouverability & speed
-light-medium armour & shields
stealth ship - I
-medium weapons load
-good manouvre & speed
-somehow incorporate cloaking device and ECM systems
-very weak shields, light-medium armour
-EMP weaponry as well as other weapons
-maybe no sprite for this ship, and target graphic is 'no target'
cruiser
-medium weapons
-good manouvre and speed
-light shields & armour
medium destroyer
-medium weapons load
-medium manouvre & speed
-medium armour & shields
heavy destroyer - I
-heavy weapons load
-not so good manouvre & speed
-medium-heavy armour & shields
frigate
-same as med. destroyer except less weapons and more cargo space
missile cruiser
-lots and lots of missiles, some close range cannons & beam, but mostly missiles
-same as medium destroyer
battleship
-very heavy weapons
-some ECM
-poor manouvre & speed
-heavy armour & shields
dreadnought - I
-orbital defense satellites
-extremely heavy weapons
-ECM systems
-speed extremely slow (not much faster than the defense satellite), manouvre poor
-extremely heavy armour & sheilds
carrier
-8 fighters
-lots of close range weapons
-ECM systems
-virtually no speed or manouvreability, relies entirely on fighters, very heavy shielding & armour, ECM, and close range weaponry.
heavy carrier - I
-4 fighters, 4 heavy fighters, 4 bombers
-orbital defense satellites
-lots of close range weapons
-ECM
-medium load of long range nuclear weaponry
-same speed & manouvre as carrier
-extremely heavy shield & armour
EMP cruiser - I
-2 EMP fighters
-on board EMP emitter
-ion weapons
-EMP missiles
-medium weapons load
-light shields, heavy armour
-medium speed & manouvre
battlestation
-8 fighters, 4 heavy fighters, 4 destroyers
-lots of close range weapons, no long range weapons
-very little speed & manouvre
-insane shield & armour
-very rare
-very expensive
-perhaps cannot be bought, probably worked in with the mission storyline
-perhaps more capital ships and less fighters in the bays
and i think taht covers it for warships
there's more to come, but this is all i want to post right now
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