Ambrosia Garden Archive
    • EV3 wishs 1-5


      Ok. Since the concensus seems to be that begging for features (besides multiplayer, 3d, and other unreasonable things I don't want anyway) is acceptable here are 1-6 of 12 things I'd like to see. The first 6 are not unreasonable and I think could be done with a minimal amount of work. 6-12 would probably require much more reworking of the engine.

      EV3 Wish #1: Escape Pod Modification

      Rather than ending up on planet #128 after your escape pod is used, it would make more sense if you could start in a non-hostile system near where you were killed. Example from EVO: It makes no sense to start out on Earth again when you were killed in a Strand system.

      Also, on a related note, maybe it would make more sense to out landed on a planet sans ship. In this way, the newly dead pilot would have to buy a new ship rather than be given a shuttle craft automatically. Doing this would necessitate the creation of shuttle-like craft for each alien species in the game (so the pilot could actually buy something cheap).

      EV3 Wish #2: Asking to be escorted

      In the game computer controlled ships can ask the player to escort them to a destination. It’d be nice to allow the player to ask ships to escort him while in space. The player would then pay for his services. When the hired ship jumps, the players ship jumps as well. Essentially the player’s ship would be slaved to the computer controlled ship until the destination is reached, or until the player cancels the contract.

      EV3 Wish #3: Being boarded

      The player’s ship is never disabled. It goes from low armor to dead. It’d be kind of nice to include the ability of being disabled. That way attacking ships can come, potentially take your cargo and credits, and then leave. This also opens up the possibility of being adrift in space if the attacking craft is distracted after disabling the player. Asking for assistance from passing craft would then mean getting your ship up and running again (i.e. restoring some armor and providing fuel).

      As your credits could be stolen, this would make the game much more difficult for the seasoned player.

      EV3 Wish #4: Stealing technology

      When the player disables and boards a ship, they can take credits, cargo, fuel, and things like missles. It’d be nice to allow the player to strip technology from the craft such as turrents, fixed guns, jamming devices, etc.

      EV3 Wish #5: New map colours

      The map should have different colours for different govt groups.

      EV3 Wish #6: System names

      On a related note, it’d be nice to have systems be able to have different names. For example, if you start out as human in EVO and go into Strand space, you immediately know the Strand’s name for that system once you enter it. It’d be nice to have to land and then "get your onboard computer updated" to change human names to aliens names. The human systems would keep their human names.

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    • Wish number 1 makes sense. Magically teleporting back to Sol after you die is pointless.

      Wish number 2 doesn't make much sense. Why would I want to follow a stupid computer around? The only reason that ships that you are escorting follow you around is because Ambrosia didn't want to lock the player out. I can buy escorts in a bar if I wish, anyway.

      Wish number 3 also makes sense, but there would have to be a way to repair one's ship. And if this ability was given to the player, then it would have to be given to the computers, as well. That would add interesting things to gameplay.

      Wishes 4, and 5 also are good.

      But wish 6 is useless and unnecesarily confusing.

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      "The impossible is easy; it's the unfeasible that poses a problem."

    • (the post by cotton mouse was removed by a moderator ;))

      In EV3, DON'T MAKE THE ARMOR REGENERATE.
      -- Umm polymers and fractured veins can get armor to regenerate (materials flowing through the veins).

      In EV3, DON'T MAKE THE STARRY BACKGROUND SCROLL.
      -- That'd be terribly stupid a better idea by infinitefold would be a parallax scrolling starfield

      In EV3, DON'T LET SHIPS FLY THROUGH EACH OTHER.
      -- They don't fly through each other, they fly above and under each other Really, having space on a 2D plane is stupid.

      In EV3, DON'T GIVE THE SYSTEMS STUPID NAMES.
      -- The names aren't 'stupid,' they're 'original.'

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      ~a(m)

      (This message has been edited by blackhole (edited 07-13-2000).)

    • I agree that parallax scrolling would be much nicer.

      A related (and probably unworkable) feature would be to be able to go to any point on the map rather than just to systems. Each system would have a set of coordinates and they also show up on the map. Maybe have an additional field where you can enter coordinates and jump to that location.

      Implementing this feature would allow for hidden stations, cloaked worlds, and meeting places for use in missions. Would also allow for neat easter eggs, too.

      Might be able to be done by having a series of gerneric syst resources that have no spoobs. Ships present would be determined by which on of the generic system is visited (one for each alien sector). Then there'd be specific locations that have spobs of some sort. These locations would just be systs that never show up on the map and that you can only get to by entering their coorinates manually.

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    • Moose, those systems are all named after stars near us in our solar system. Don't be stupid.

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      "...Cotton Mouse... to say that the plug is royally messed up is an understatement. I'm taking a look at it with Plug Checker, and some of these errors I have just never seen before..."-Obormot, debugger

      ERA for EV:
      www.geocities.com/rhysmctharin/erahome.html

      (still in alpha stages)

    • I'm talking about the systems in EV, not EVO (especially not Frozen Heart). I mean, the systems were named stupid stuff like Jadzia and Zaphod. Come on, don't you find that a little annoying?

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      "Let's do this!"
      -Styth
      Titan A.E.

    • Quote

      Originally posted by Cotton Moose:
      **I'm talking about the systems in EV, not EVO (especially not Frozen Heart). I mean, the systems were named stupid stuff like Jadzia and Zaphod. Come on, don't you find that a little annoying?
      **

      No, I dont. System names dont really matter, as long as they're all unique.

    • if you look at a galactic map, you will find that currently, many of the names used in EV are used today.

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    • About Jadzia and Zaphod:
      Many system names in EV are some kind of SF reference, many of them to The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

      Anyway, these are my suggestions for EV3:

      -More planets in a system: this is ABSOLUTELY necessary!
      -More max ships in a system: again, this is very necessary for large space battles
      -Weapons that only damage shields/armor
      -Weapons that only disable ships
      -some more I forgot about

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      "I'm beginning to see the flowers from the wrong side"

      -The prophet Zarquon, shortly before passing away