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Originally posted by Curwen:
**OK, some first ideas, up to discussion:
1. star map:
Put LOTS of empty systems in there, and make navigation a bit more difficult (lots of dead ends etc.). I'm thinking of a blend of Auroran space in EVN and the solar system from that EVO plug, Galaxy's Edge. I can't remember what the maximum number of systems is for EVN, but I'm sure we can build a HUGE star map now...
Many of the empty systems will be really empty (I mean, other ships passing by will be a rare sight indeed) so solar panels and battery packs will be essential. IMO, anyone stupid enough to venture into deep space without adequate supplies deserves to be removed from the gene pool by choking/freezing/starving to death.
This should somewhat simulate the disadvantages of actual space travel (time debt), and encourage people to use the farcasters/hypergates as much as possible. And of course, that will make the Fall much more of a shock - as it should be.
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Agree totally
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Yes, i'm feeling a bit evil today 
Access to the farcaster system should be given fairly easy (maybe a little more difficult than in Nova, I don't know...) but there should be a small fee for making use of the 'casters. (this will be offset by the fact that you will almost never have to pay for recharging, so don't make that fee too small either - if you don't want to pay, you can always fly somewhere the old fashioned way, right?)
Agree, especially considering farcaster access was availible to near everyone in the hegemony, and they took extreme measures to make sure the Ousters didn't get ahold of the technology. And although I haven't tested with it yet, I do believe that theres a setting for hypergates which would allow them to charge for use
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1b. spobs:
quick sug: it would be nice to make multiple ports on some planets, as in the Frozen Heart. With the increased max. number of spobs in Nova, this would be very cool.
Especially since this is a TC, for total conversion, so we are basically wiping out all existing planets, which opens up alot of planets for use, same with missions, ships, outfits, etc..
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And with the new features of the Nova engine, the destruction of God's Grove, Heaven's Gate and those other worlds could now take place in front of the player's very eyes, rather than setting it with a mission bit and swapping systems... Using the overlapping spob trick and placing a "before" spob over the (then still unlandable) "after" spob, we could also do this without making the whole world blow up and have it reappear again later. (I don't know if I'm making sense here...)
I know what your talking about, I've seen (but haven't tested around with) the ability to destroy and resurrect planets using the cool new features in the EVN engine
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2. ship designs:
I've been making some rough, random sketches (couldn't help myself, even though I know I probably won't be doing the 3D stuff), but if anyone knows of some available reference material beside the books themselves, I would really appreciate hearing about it.
I'll look around
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I noticed I was making a lot of stuff with rotating sections (like the Auroran cruiser or the Leviathan) even though this isn't really correct - in Hyperion, force fields were used abundantly, also for creating artificial gravity. Still, those rotating sections would look quite cool... any thoughts on this?
Some rotating sections would be cool, especially on less-expensive or older types of ships, since they may be too old or built cheaply, for newer/modern ships, or more expensive ones I would think they would be built using standard/best technologies, such as making extensive use of force fields, and wouldn't have any rotating sections, aka the consuls ship
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Here too, it might (or might not) be a good idea to stay closer to reality: no space battle will ever be fought at close quarters ŕ la Star Wars. Not when you have so much space available (literally).
In other words: no Thunderhead lances anymore, I'd like to see more long-range weapons - but not so much as to take the fun out of it, of course.
Well, space battles read about usually speak about being many AU apart, which is a good distance and using FTL missiles and CPB lances (energy beams), in the endymion series (Pax and after) they have even more weapons such as hyperkinetic faster than FTL missiles and such things. But my point is that the CPB's weren't very short range, but they were much shorter than missile range, like maybe 1 screen away
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Also, I'd go for having less weapons that pack a much larger punch, and less weapons space, to make outfitting your ship a bit more challenging.
That's right, no more ships loaded with every kind of blaster (or FPC, yeah) available and ten different kinds of missiles/torpedoes, with room to spare for a couple of fighter bays and and a ****load of reactors, shield upgrades and the like...
Choose, and choose very wisely - your life may depend on it <wicked grin>
Agree
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3. storyline:
This is probably obvious, but I would suggest letting the player advance in a storyline that runs parallel to that of the books - you can encounter any of the main characters and get involved in whatever they are involved in, but you cannot actually play as one of them.
Agree
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(although I suppose that could be done, but we'd have to add a lot ourselves to make it interesting - with the exception of the Consul, Kassad and perhaps Het Masteen, I don't see any of the characters flying around in a spaceship very much)
or Raul in the pax era, it could easily be done via Char resources if we so decided
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Of course, this still leaves a lot of options open: one could be an independent trader/mercenary, or a FORCE serviceman, or a spy (like the Consul...). Playing as a Templar or a scientist (sort of like Rachel or M. Arundez) might also be feasible.
Or a Ouster grins
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Hell, and why not throw in some "semi-official" pirate factions like the Free Traders, too. This is still EV, after all.
I really don't think we want EVN groups in the hyperion universe, it just doesn't fit, however if we could find some information about a hyperion universe pirate group..
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Just my two cents...
4. miscellaneous graphics stuff:
Yeah, I might as well start working on that. Make a new title screen, start on the intro text etc...
I prefer very simple, graphic stuff, no bombastic screens full of exploding ships and space battles etc. I like it a bit dark and brooding (but not too much) without any "fancy" stuff, so the player has as little as possible knowledge of what to expect.
Shade18, CeRD and others who wish to contribute: as soon as I have something worth showing, I'll upload it somewhere and send the link via e-mail, so we can discuss it.
