Realism is very important for me and all my models are carefully planned out during the modelling stage. Why does this nernie go here? What does it do? Etc.... Although I add small stuff to increase detail, most of these do have a function in theory; like exhaust vents, intake valves, a little geometric shape that extrudes from the hull could be a row of escape pods. Before I design any ship, I first take into account of what kind of ships they are and so can expect this ship to have certain outfits.
Take for example the present thip I'm modelling a lil every day. It's the largest capital ship in the plug that serves a number of purposes. It's a capital ship, it's a carrier, troop transport and most importantly it also houses facilities for repairing other capital ships like cruisers and destroyers that are docked to it. Basically it's a mobile starbase. So in a word it's huge. I could simply design a Borg like sphere or cube but then the design would be totally different from the rest of the ships from this government. Instead I wanted a design that was unique, nice to look at and yet menecing at the same time. I wanted the ship to have complicated superstructures like WW2 battle ships. I also wanted it to have large turrets, secondary turrets and smaller weapons just like the old battle ships. I had to decide where the large main guns should be located and where the smaller one should go. I had to make sure that the placement of the guns would give the ship protection all round. Where should the hanger for the fighters. bombers and troop transports be located? Where would be the entry point and exit point for these small ships? Also where would the other capital ships dock to this large ships. I had to make sure that if another capital ship is dockedto this ship, it would not block or impare the use of it's hangers. That would be pretty stupid.
This brings me to another point about realism. I have for some time wondered about abilities of ships and weapons. Many people have said you need to be careful as to NOT make weapons or ships that unbalance the game. This in my opinion in not good. For one, the universe is unbalanced. If I were to have such a balance in my game, it means that the smallest of fighters could have the ability to destroy the largest capital warships. Pooh!! That must not be!! (not counting StarWars) So I will make my game unbalanced. There will be 3 classes of ships each with their own unique class of weapons:
Small (fighters, shuttles, scouts, small cargo ships and patrol ships)
Medium (corvettes, frigates, tankers, medium freighters and destroyers being the largest)
Large (Cruisers, Battles Cruisers, Dreadnoughts, monitors, Supertankers and Freighters)
So... as a player you can choose what you want to fly. But you will never (usless you real lucky) end up flying the baddest, meanest ship around that can mow through other ships. All the 3 ship types will have their advantages and disadvantages. The smaller one will always be faster and more manouverable. The larger one more powerful but always slower and less manouverable. It all depends on the flying style of the player. They will eventually find their preferred equalibrium and ship.
Now onto weapons. No two weapons are alike in the hands of different people. Consider this; a laser cannon on a small one man fighter. On the other end of the spectrum, a laser cannon that is used for planatary defense with a barrell diameter of 40m and length of 160m with it's own vast powersupply and 25 man operating crew. Both are laser cannons that use the same basic principles. Now in reality, that large planatary cannon cannot be mounted on a fighter. However the fighter's laser can be mounted on the base of the planatery laser; but why would they? So a weapon made for a Large class of ship cannot be mounted on a small class vessel. But it can be done the other way round, but why would they? However, with some modifications, a ship from one class mount the weapons in small numbers from the ships of the class above it. Now consider the destructive power of these two lasers. The little fighter can continue to fire at a dreadnought that mounts the space borne version of the planatery laser cannon. It's not going to do very much; maybe piss off the captain of the dreadnought. Like a fly buzzing a buffelo. Now imagine if that fighter is hit or even receives a glancing blow from a shot of that large planatary laser. You're space dust pal!!!! No more loving tonight!!
So with a plug that is specificially made to be somewhat unbalanced, I believe it keeps the player on edge and constantly looking over their shoulders. Which is good! How many times have you played EV and EVO after you get to the point where your ship gets so powerful that you become complacent and almost bored at the enemies you encounter. "Oh great here comes another Raider Turncoat, wonder what I should do with my UE Cruiser? Shall I blast it from the side, or from the rear or shall I just play around with him?" I think it's much better knowing that there are always ships out there that are more powerful and deadly then the players; no matter what level they might be at. There are ships out there that you should not engage but turn tail and run; unless you think going out with full glory is really cool. If you do that, the little merchant ship that has been watching the fight would say "What an idiot! Hope he doesn't have a chance to breed and litter the universe with more idiots!". So in retrospect, a fight between similer class vessels will be somewhat balanced; fights between different classes will be unbalanced unless throught he use of sheer numbers.
Realism = less balanced game structure = more exciting = good
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