Actually, nix the tech on my guys. I'm changing the weapons for my gov to be more like the technology for the origional EV. That is most of my ships will be armed with the standard turret/missile/heavy close-range rockets arangements (basicly, I'm trying to make my guys more versitile). I'm keeping the particle weapons for primarys, though.
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Confucius say: "Man who stand on toilet, is high on pot."
Quote
Originally posted by Servack:
**Actually, nix the tech on my guys. I'm changing the weapons for my gov to be more like the technology for the origional EV. That is most of my ships will be armed with the standard turret/missile/heavy close-range rockets arangements (basicly, I'm trying to make my guys more versitile). I'm keeping the particle weapons for primarys, though.
**
Yeah, the primaries with distance-dependent damage rating are cool... you could make them stronger than normal cannons at point-blank range, but weaker at longer ranges... would be something new. 
Also, if you like new concepts, you could try out the shotgun-like spreadfire launcher instead of classical heavy rockets... you could buy a dozen or so of them, and they'd fire simultaneously, in a generous spread angle...
-- Cinga
(This message has been edited by Cinga (edited 06-22-2000).)
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Originally posted by Servack:
**Hey, that spread fire cannon is a good idea... Thanks, Cinga.
**
Make sure you define it as a launcher rather than a cannon. A ship with 12 gun slots is a bad idea, balance-wise... :rolleyes:
-- Cinga
(This message has been edited by Cinga (edited 06-22-2000).)
My advice:
In the interest of balance, you may want to have certain rules about how weapons and ships may be designed. For example, you may give designers a certain number of "points" to allocate when making weapons, based on cost, weight, and/or tech level.
The same could apply to everything else - fleets, weapons, dudes, etc.
Yo Cinga! I got a good idea for a gov. and a small storyline if you still need it. Count me in though. I can't really do graphics, or anything else except for writing but I will try and help you as much as possible. I tried to e-mail you but I couldn't. Just respond and e-mail me :). I can't wait to see this get off the ground. Also if you can, up date me on what you have now.
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Feel the Jive
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(Insert cool quote here)
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For anyone designing a civilisation- I am a very talented artist, and I can do conceptual art for ships/weapons, but someone else would have to implement my sketches into the game. I don't know how clear that just was, so here's an example: You tell me about your civ, what kind of ships you want, and I'll draw them. But then someone else would have to render them on a computer. I've also got scads of ideas on weapons, plot, planets, etc., anything but the actual programming, I think. I'm good at finding plot inconcistancies(sp?), so if anyone needs proof-reading, I'm your man. I also have a variety of other useless skills.
-Cogito ergo sum/Evan
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Oh, I was just thinking, and came up w two good plot ideas, and anyone can use these. I suppose they could even be used a few times in different situations, but moving right along...
The first would be that one gov. is colonizing a planet, but for a variety of reasons hostility brews and they go to war. However, an other gov. has started to colonize the other side of the planet, and until the war breaks out, the two colonies are unaware of each other.
You could enter this storyline a number of diff. ways: you could just be doing deliveries, and get caught in the middle, and have to choose sides; you could be the warring colonists who are valiantly fighting against their tyrranical mother for their G-d given right of freedom; you could be the gov. that sends out the colonists, who have now turned against you, despite everything you've done for them; or you could be the second colony, and choose sides in the war (my personal favorite, because of all the opportunities for double and triple crosses!).
The second would be more of a gov., somewhat like the freemasons. They would hire their services to whoever they deemed worthy. Their service would be that, for a reasonable(read:astronomical) fee, they would infiltrate the enemy gov., and sew strife, rebellion, and misinformation, while gathering intelligence.
Again, anyone can use these plots, and you're free to modify them however you wish, just give me (Evan) credit somehow, ok?(ie: planet Evan (or Nave), Evan the rebellion leader, etc...)
-Evan
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(This message has been edited by Cogito ergo sum (edited 06-23-2000).)
Oh, and maybe we could call it KWorlds or K-Worlds, instead of Thousand Worlds, just for the sake of brevity. Just a thought.
-Evan/Cogito ergo sum
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Quote
Originally posted by Cogito ergo sum:
**For anyone designing a civilisation- I am a very talented artist, and I can do conceptual art for ships/weapons...
-Cogito ergo sum/Evan
**
Thanks for reminding me. I am also a pretty good artist and I can send you some if I can get my dad's digital camera. Thanks again!
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Feel the Jive
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(Insert cool quote here)
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Just how likely is it that two governments build colonies on the same planet without noticing each other? Talk about inconsistencies... :rolleyes:
But yeah, I've been pondering about competitive colonization too... sounds thrilling. The mission would prolly end with the world becoming inhabited... you could even have two possible endings, with either of the governments succeeding... depending on the decisions of the player. 
Quote
Originally posted by Cogito ergo sum:
**Oh, and maybe we could call it KWorlds or K-Worlds, instead of Thousand Worlds, just for the sake of brevity. Just a thought.
**
I tend to abbreviate it with 1KW. 
-- Cinga
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Quote
Originally posted by Giule:
**My advice:
In the interest of balance, you may want to have certain rules about how weapons and ships may be designed. For example, you may give designers a certain number of "points" to allocate when making weapons, based on cost, weight, and/or tech level.
The same could apply to everything else - fleets, weapons, dudes, etc.**
The problem is that weapons can't be quantified that easily. How do you weigh the factors? Weapon type and behavior, speed, rate of fire, armor/shield damage, etc... virtually impossible. Also, we have to make sure the battles will be balanced when AI ships duke it out... the AI tends to use weapons in different ways than human pilots would.
I think the only way to regulate this is to use the general proportions of EVO as a template, and to iron out all the major and minor incopatibilities once the plug's on its feet.
-- Cinga
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Quote
Originally posted by Cinga:
**Just how likely is it that two governments build colonies on the same planet without noticing each other? Talk about inconsistencies...:rolleyes:
**
Ya, i geuss i shoulda taken a second look at that one before posting. Let me ammend my storyline- Both colonies know each other exist, but just hope that the other one will stay where it is and not bother them. Of course they begin to expand, but I suppose that the size of the planet would determine if there were hostities.
Which reminds me- I think that one of the focuses (focii?I never paid attention in Latin class, i spent most of it drawing my teacher being killed in a variety of interesting ways) of this plug should be the player's ability to change the galaxy. I think it would be great if the players actions couldchange the outcome of a war, or determine who colonizes where.
Also, (This is a question to the programming guys on the team) would it be possible to have wars not only going on, but have stuff actually happening (ie, space stations being built, planets being blown up, govs being formed/defeated) even if the player wasn't in that particular storyline?
That's all for now.
-Evan
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Since you aren't really responding to me, I'll tell you my idea for the gov. now. Though it has a few holes, I know I can fill them in in a few days of hardcore thinking (I'm good at making complex storylines in like two days(in fact this idea came to me in it's entirety in 2 minutes!)). Okay.
If you have a human gov, this gov branches off of that one. This gov is really all human but instead is called the Colorians. They are a group of people who were fed up of the way the origianal human gov was working. The origianal human gov was going great. They were expanding, trading, living, colonizing, and everything was going fine. Then (as human nature goes) a series of wars went on between the colonies. Over stupid things really. Ideas of independence, trading problems, new plagues, conflicting ideas, etc. The people who thought of independence soon called themselves the Colorians (they were called this because the idea came up on their homeplanet Coloria which is now there main military base). They soon expanded taking over former Earth colonies and earning themselves the names of rebels and outlaws. Wars raged on through the two govs until the Colorians finally won there independence.
What the Colorians think they are:
The Colorians see themselves as peaceful individuals who focus their minds on technology and expansion. They think they are better at defending the colonies and planets than the old gov ever was. They have a nice gov and so far has not fallen a part and is very succesful. They think they are the good guys in the human race. Though they still fight a war with the origianal gov, it has just been small battles on the frontier and isn't a problem.
What the Colorians are in reality:
The Colorians are really violent when it comes to expansion. They think it was there right all along to colonize every habitable planet. They do think alot about technology but it is mostly war technology. They are actually just barely being able to defend their colonies. They are overrun by renegades and the origiansl human gov every day and it is really a day to day struggle to keep alive. Their gov is actually sort of unstable. They will be split up again as well into a small force known as the Rahians. Though the Rahians are not active at the moment, it is soon feared that they will overthrow the Colorians just as the Colorians overthrew the origianal Earth gov. They are having major resource problems. They have to rely on raiding the origianal gov or renegades to survive. The battle with the origianal gov may legaly be over with contracts and treaties but is still raging on through the entire Colorian space.
Ships and technology:
They are very, very, very fast ships with weak weapons. They are all tiny ships. The biggest ship, their gunboat, is about the size of a UE Cargo Transporter. The smallest ship, their shuttle, is about the size or smaller than an Emalghia fighter. Their ships are small because they have limited resources to build them. Their weapons are similiar to a needle missile. Homing but small explosion. Alot of the technology though is stolen from the origianal human gov. They have really good shields though. Their recovery rate is not superior but rather better than most ships. They all have limited cargo due to there size. They either have weapon space or cargo, but not both. For instance a Colorian shuttle has 10 tons of cargo but 1 ton of space. A Colorian gunboat has 20 tons of space but 0 tons of cargo. All of their weapons are very light. They are mostly three tons or less. However, all of the weapons have bad hitting power.
Rahians:
This group of rebels can overthrow the Colorians in a mission string or something. They would have the same ships and technology as the Colorians but would hate the Colorians (kind of like the Hindwar and the Voinians). They could also be overthrown by the Colorians as well.
Interactions:
Since all resources are needed in Colorian space, all resources would cost tons of money. This is ideal for traders who can make tons of cash by dumping all of their commodities there for a ton of cash. This is also prime for renegades to raid these traders. Of course there is a lot of battles with other govs for planets to colonize since expansion is big with the Colorians. Also there is a lot of hatred towards the Colorians because of their raiding and violent nature. However they are not renegades themselves but rather just a gov trying to survive.
I hope you like my idea. I will try to give you some sketches of their ships weapons and such. I also hope this convinces you to let me be a part of this project.
Thanks.
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Feel the Jive
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(Insert cool quote here)
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Whoa, I know I'm way late, but can I contribute anything to this project? I'm busy with other stuff (Project Nebula, Necromion's EV-RPG, possible conversion of Pale to EVO, etc.), but I'm sure I can wedge some helpful advice and criticism in somewhere...
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"We shouldn't have pissed off the judge."
- Source inside Microsoft following verdict in the Microsoft antitrust case.
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Originally posted by Cogito ergo sum:
**...
Also, (This is a question to the programming guys on the team) would it be possible to have wars not only going on, but have stuff actually happening (ie, space stations being built, planets being blown up, govs being formed/defeated) even if the player wasn't in that particular storyline?
That's all for now.
-Evan
**
Well, the only way I know of to cause changes like that to occur is with mission bits/VisBits changes that take place as a result of the player's actions. But the mission bit that causes a change could be in a mission completely unrelated to the event, and the player need not know the results of the mission he performs.
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Joe Burnette
"I find that humans can be divided into only two meaningful categories: Decent Humans and Sonsofbitches; both types appear to be evenly distributed
among all shapes, colors, sizes, and nationalities." -- Keith Laumer
Quote
Originally posted by Jive 320:
**
What the Colorians think they are:
The Colorians see themselves as peaceful individuals who focus their minds on technology and expansion. They think they are better at defending the colonies and planets than the old gov ever was. They have a nice gov and so far has not fallen a part and is very succesful. They think they are the good guys in the human race. Though they still fight a war with the origianal gov, it has just been small battles on the frontier and isn't a problem.
What the Colorians are in reality:... They are overrun by renegades and the origiansl human gov every day and it is really a day to day struggle to keep alive. Their gov is actually sort of unstable. They will be split up again as well into a small force known as the Rahians. Though the Rahians are not active at the moment, it is soon feared that they will overthrow the Colorians just as the Colorians overthrew the origianal Earth gov. They are having major resource problems. They have to rely on raiding the origianal gov or renegades to survive. The battle with the origianal gov may legaly be over with contracts and treaties but is still raging on through the entire Colorian space.
**
Sounds like a great opportunity for gov. conspiracies, misinformation, etc.. ala x-files. A possible mission string could be becoming a gov. agent and quelling rebellions/assasinating ppl that could reveal the truth.
Quote
Originally posted by Jive 320:
**
Ships and technology:
They are very, very, very fast ships with weak weapons. They are all tiny ships. The biggest ship, their gunboat, is about the size of a UE Cargo Transporter.
**
Sounds like swarmer-type of fleet, like a hundred azdaras.
-Evan
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(This message has been edited by Cogito ergo sum (edited 06-24-2000).)
(This message has been edited by Cogito ergo sum (edited 06-24-2000).)
Quote
Originally posted by Joe Burnette:
**Well, the only way I know of to cause changes like that to occur is with mission bits/VisBits changes that take place as a result of the player's actions. But the mission bit that causes a change could be in a mission completely unrelated to the event, and the player need not know the results of the mission he performs.
**
Well, I guess what I'm getting at here is would a persistant universe be possible? Like, could we have scripted events ie:war between gov. A and gov. B starts once 2 weeks have elapsed(in game time), gov. B wins after 3 months,(assuming the player doesn't intervene) but within that you can only join a certain mission string for the last 4 weeks of the war. And maybe if you fail those missions, the war won't end for two more months. Would all/any of that be possible?
-Evan
PS: I'll let someone else post now, for a change 
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(This message has been edited by Cogito ergo sum (edited 06-24-2000).)
Quote
Originally posted by Cogito ergo sum:
Would all/any of that be possible?
Yes, but it would look a little awkward, I think. The only way to make environmental events happen exactly as you describe them would be to have a mission that automatically fails after a certain amount of game time, setting a bit when it fails. You could disguise them as real missions which are just impossible to complete or just ignore the normal structure of EVO missions entirely. The only other option is to make the player directly responsible for the war, which is the opposite of what you want, I think.
EVO doesn't really work that way and therefore a situation like that will probably look a little contrived.
Bubbles
(This message has been edited by Bubbles (edited 06-24-2000).)
