I think I found a TC idea I could do!

Yay, big promise already from the topic line! Wooo.

Ok, I rembered a plug I was attempting once way back in the days of EVC which I called Battle Arena (imaginative, eh?) Basically, I emptied the system and deleted all the missions. The object was to kill ships, rob them for money, and work your way up through progressively harder systems. Being probably about 12 at the time, it didn't get past the first system. But what does this have to do with anything? I thought about a Battle Arena style TC. Heres my concept idea right now.

It all starts with the char resource. You use it to pick a class to fight with: Fighter, Medium, and Capital. You start off with a low amount of cash and a basic, weak ship in that class. The object is to compete in all types of battles ranging from 1v1 duels to large battles to make money and build your ship. You'll be able to buy one of three ships from the shipyard (there'll be other variants for the A.I.) and equip it with several weapons and outfits. Of course, it would be "winnable". I'll probably have some big tournament become available once you advance so far in combat rating. If you win the tournament, you win the game. Its intended to be a small TC with no real story (if any at all) thats just there for fun.

I'm not starting this yet, however. First I'm going to update my guide and make several my plugs 1.09 compatible that need it (ok, you can play them with 1.09, but they mess with some of the numbers in the data. So, it'll be about a month before I can start.

I can do or figure out how to do almost everything myself (and I intend to). What I can't do is graphics and sounds. No, I'm not recruiting anyone yet, not until I have some work done on it. Though, if all else fails, I can just use graphics from the EV trilogy. As for sounds, I have a bunch from RM2K3 and I could also borrow from the three EV games if needed.

If I'm not starting now nor recuiting people for a development team, why am I posting this? I'm seeing if anyone likes the idea. If nobody (or very few) people like the idea, I'm not going to waste my time. I'll just trash the idea and continue making little plugs.

As for whether if I did do it and its odds of going Vaporware, its always possible. It'll likely appear Vaporware at times as well, knowing myself when it comes to big projects like this, as I tend to take leave from these for long periods of time and then come back to them and do more significant work.

I'm also posting this on the Nova board.

Sounds great to me! I shall most certainly play it. Also, if perhaps you were interested in some intro music....PM me at one point or another.

I had a similar idea for a sequel to my own Battle Arena style plugin, where instead of outfits you went to the shipyard and purchased ships. While this doesn't allow the player to outfit their ship before the battle, it would pit stock ships (well, stock as in they get what they pay for, determined by the plugin author) against whatever opponents you want to put them up against. So, you could do a Civvie Viper against a Nil'Kimas Scarab or some such thing.

Your idea, however, using the char resource and whatnot, is a good one, and I would definately be interested in playing it. I just thought I'd throw the above idea out there.

Yeah, I find that this is actually a great way to test out ships and combat matchups when you're making a plug-in. The idea of using a mission for nothing more than the appearance of a ship is definitely a good one.

It's definitely a nice idea to make a plug-in out of this too...if you get around to starting this, good luck!

Alright, heres my to-do list of things before I can start on the TC. (In order of how I plan to do it)

Update my Close Combat Guide (almost done)
Update EVN Azdara for the bug fixes
Update Spinning Weapons
Update Dodge This!
Update Hit This!
Update Scatter Weapons

I also may need to update Longer Battles if any of the ship shield and armor values have changed since 1.06 to 1.09. I hope not though, that was one tedious as <insert inapproperiate word of choice here> to make, not to mention really long too.

This post has been edited by JoshTigerheart : 21 February 2006 - 10:18 AM

I probably should have posted this back when I did on the Nova Board version of this topic. But as long as I get it posted.

I've come up with a few possible features for the TC. Heres a list.

• Three characters, each having access to different ships, outfits, and battles (aka missions).

• Twelve ships, nine of which are playable. Four fighters, four medium, and four capital ships. This excludes variations of the twelve ships.

• Various types of battles, including duels, to free-for-alls, team battles, power duels, and tournaments.

• Weapons and outfits specific for ship sizes.

• Weapon variants, such as Light Mount and Heavy Mount versions that affect reload, damage, range, weight, ect.

I'm not sure on how many weapons and outfits there will be yet, but I plan on having alot of both.

I've also decided that if for some freakish reason I am unable to complete this, I'll release what I did make to the public so that people can use the resources. Or maybe someone else would be able to finish it if they chose. Though it really is going to have to a freak occurence to force me to be incapable of completing it, such as getting both my arms chopped off or something.

Looks like a flash drag racing game except...nova style.

This sounds great! I have the feeling it will become the subject of debates in the near future...

"I'm a better Nova pilot than you!"
"Oh no you're not!"
"Okay then, how far did you get in Battle Arena then?"

I remember how awesome the origional EV Arena was... Untill my friend and I laid waste to it... Ah, those were the days, when the engine got overloaded with everything we did... /rant...

Anyway, I've thought about re-doing the EV Arena with EVN ships for some time. Why don't you do that, get the origional variants available in the shipyard and pit yourself against progressively harder and harder ones? Make it no-holds barred; all weapons available, all outfits available (applicable ones, refueling should be free, and maybe all ships should start with escape pod and strict play...), things progress... Although I distinctly remember that that would overload the outfitter/shipyard, so splitting it into 3 types would probably be good. And you'd want some other upgrades (engines, reactors, sheild generators, etc) that aren't already available. But I'd be all for it (assuming I don't just build one right here...).

I think someone has already made a Battle Arena with Nova ships. Not exactly like your idea though, I don't think.

Though I intend to keep it as a smallish TC. You hit on some of my ideas though, but I'm not going to say which, even if you start guessing and guess correctly.

Oh, and this project is in no way related to any previous Battle Arena plugs on any EV. I wasn't around on the internet during the golden ages of the previous EVs. This TC probably won't be called Battle Arena either.

JoshTigerheart, on Feb 19 2006, 06:26 PM, said:

Oh, and this project is in no way related to any previous Battle Arena plugs on any EV. I wasn't around on the internet during the golden ages of the previous EVs. This TC probably won't be called Battle Arena either.
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Oh, that's sad. I was only kinda around back in the glory days and really came active right when EVN came out. Before that I had tinkered around with plugs and stuff for the other EV's with my neighbor. I finally released a plug for Nova, the Khamikazi Vipers one which is probably out of date now since they released the Rebel IDA.

I'm probably not going to release a battle plug, mostly because I'm working on government dynamics right now and want to see if I can cause the player to controll the government and the conquering of the (smaller test version) galaxy.

And...they're... DONE!

Now as soon as my computer comes in I can start work on the TC!

I think you should use uninhabited systems for battles, and have ship-less systems with stellars in between them. This would force people to battle, but give them a chance to rest (and save) between battles.

Or, you could do it like the film cube. It would have to be square though obviously. And each system would have a random chance of attack, at random difficulties, but the closer you got to the exit, the higher the chance of a difficult attack would be.

If you've never seen cube, either watch it, or PM me for an explanation.

You almost hit on my plan in your first line. The only difference is unless you attack someone all the battle will be arranged by missions. You'll go to the Mission BBS and you'll see something like this...

Battles Available
1 vs 1 Duel
Power Duel
Team FFA
Ect.

Of course, I plan on having some series of battles that form a tournament and winning that would make you "win" the TC, or at least as close to winning as Nova comes.

Edit: Whoops. I'm also having a poll on the main Nova board asking what I should call this. Place your votes now! Click here!

This post has been edited by JoshTigerheart : 21 February 2006 - 03:38 PM

What aobout a mision based Capture the Flag style game? You land on the enemy planet, accept a mission to take something back to "your" planet, and if you succed, you get another mission, or a "win" scenario. If you die, or get boarded, you have to try again. Conversly, you could accept a mission to board the "Flagcarrier," land, and thus reset the playing field. You could ramp this up with escorts, or with unevening the odds.

Just an Idea.
H^2.g