@darthkev, on 31 October 2011 - 04:32 PM, said in Legacy TC Status Thread:

<facepalm>

Of course. Make things cheaper... actually, when I think of doing that, everything suddenly looks absurd because of how cheap it is...

I've actually considered changing the "Cr" moniker to "000 Cr" or "000,000 Cr" so that it looks way bigger than it is. Odd how you can change that but not the fuel cost...

Anyway, the purpose is merely cosmetic, there's an excellent webcomic I've been reading (Schlock Mercenary) where the space-faring peoples use "kilo-creds" that are worth way more than ground-based credits. You could just have some side-bar explanation on how your space-faring credits are worth 1,000,000x a regular credit, and flying between stars costs more than most people will ever see in their lifetime.

Edit: The only issue with that is if you wanted to have 1/1000th (or less) cost variations; in other words, you're pretty much stuck with to your cheapest thing costing 1 cr rather than .1 cr.

This post has been edited by Meaker VI : 01 November 2011 - 10:07 AM

Hmm... it's definitely plausible... I've got some thinking to do. If I can find a way to combine your ideas with StarSword's, it might work better than my idea with outfits and be much easier to implement.

In the meantime, happy Halloween, everyone! I would've said something yesterday, but work kept me till 10:00 at night (so I didn't get home till 11:00) and I had other errands to run in the morning.

@meaker-vi, on 01 November 2011 - 10:06 AM, said in Legacy TC Status Thread:

You could just have some side-bar explanation on how your space-faring credits are worth 1,000,000x a regular credit...

Isn’t it just as easy to assume that a single ‘credit’ is in itself a large sum of money? In our own world there is quite a wide range of what one unit is worth from country to country, and that becomes huge when you consider the variations that have existed over the past 150 years.

@david-arthur, on 01 November 2011 - 10:33 AM, said in Legacy TC Status Thread:

Isn’t it just as easy to assume that a single ‘credit’ is in itself a large sum of money? In our own world there is quite a wide range of what one unit is worth from country to country, and that becomes huge when you consider the variations that have existed over the past 150 years.

Yeah, it is easy - but you should probably say it to the user. If you don't, they'll wonder why a military-grade missile costs 1 cr and not realize that that 1 cr could buy Manhattan.

In other news, my new job has allowed me to get my internet back. Hopefully, this means more regular updates.

@meaker-vi, on 02 November 2011 - 10:19 AM, said in Legacy TC Status Thread:

Yeah, it is easy - but you should probably say it to the user. If you don't, they'll wonder why a military-grade missile costs 1 cr and not realize that that 1 cr could buy Manhattan.

But isn’t this a basic contextual issue, no matter what standard of exchange you use? I couldn’t say with any confidence that the real value of a credit is constant between the three Escape Velocity games, nor is it obviously related to that of any real-world currency.

Sorry if I'm missing something, but couldn't you get around the "military grade credit vs. civilian credit" problem by making subdivisions? Fantasy games frequently circumvent the problem entirely by having armor/arms/magic items cost X gold, while the general populace passes around copper to pay their tab at the tavern.

@david-arthur, on 03 November 2011 - 01:51 PM, said in Legacy TC Status Thread:

But isn’t this a basic contextual issue, no matter what standard of exchange you use? I couldn’t say with any confidence that the real value of a credit is constant between the three Escape Velocity games, nor is it obviously related to that of any real-world currency.

Oh I'm pretty sure it isn't anything near similar throughout- the Kestrel costs 50 mil in EVN and 10 mil in EVC (even though it's got some significant changes). The point is more that you'd probably need to have 1-cr weapons systems, and none of the games had anything that cost less than a few hundred credits or so. I'm not sure that players would inherently "get" 1-cr weapons or the logic that "they actually cost more money than most people make in a year, but space-credits are different," without being told somewhere. Be it by saying that drinks in the packed tavern are on you for a 100th of a credit or by explaining it more thoroughly.

I have to say I agree with Meaker. Low costs like that could be confusing to some if not explained. If I choose that method for making the game seem more 'real', I will explain in-game somewhere the significance.

In other news, I've figured out how to limit players' ship choices to not include smaller ships and have a good reason for it, too. Simply put, Fluxdrives are too heavy/bulky to fit inside a fighter craft. Askan Shipyards' starfighters will still have them, albeit limited, and shuttles might have a single jump before having to refuel. However, given that those craft are considerably larger than most fighter craft (I can make them even bigger if I need to) I don't think it's too much of a stretch to fit the other characters inside.

More to come...

Right now I'm thinking of remodeling the Eros ships (TIE renditions) and basing them on different vessels this time around. I'm thinking the V-Wing for the Defender, the Eta-2 Actis for the Avenger, and the ARC-170 for either the Vindicator or the Eros Starfighter, I haven't decided yet. My only problem is I don't have any ideas on what to use for the Collector and the Vindicator/Starfighter (depending which one I use the ARC-170 for). I'm willing to take suggestions.

I also partly want to redesign the Longsword cruiser after the Acclamator, but I know some of you really like the current design so I'm not sure how well-received remodeling that would be.

@darthkev, on 04 December 2011 - 01:55 AM, said in Legacy TC Status Thread:

Right now I'm thinking of remodeling the Eros ships (TIE renditions) and basing them on different vessels this time around. I'm thinking the V-Wing for the Defender, the Eta-2 Actis for the Avenger, and the ARC-170 for either the Vindicator or the Eros Starfighter, I haven't decided yet. My only problem is I don't have any ideas on what to use for the Collector and the Vindicator/Starfighter (depending which one I use the ARC-170 for). I'm willing to take suggestions.

Might want to try some Expanded Universe ships for the Collector and Vindicator. Take a gander at the Havoc:

... and the K-Wing (a successor to the Y-wing):

Quote

I also partly want to redesign the Longsword cruiser after the Acclamator, but I know some of you really like the current design so I'm not sure how well-received remodeling that would be.

I think making the Longsword -class look like the Acclamator would be a mistake, if only because it might be too similar to the Claymore -class battleship. How about a Dornean Braha'tok -class gunship, instead?

Believe it or not, that thing actually appears (very briefly) in ROTJ.

Ooo, I like the Havoc for the Starfighter (I'm gonna use the ARC-170 for the Vindicator) and the K-Wing could serve as the Collector. I'll just need to switch up its background details to explain why an asteroid-mining ship looks like a heavy bomber.

I have to disagree with you on the Acclamator looking too much like the Claymore, though. The Claymore is more of a diamond while the Acclamator is a triangle with engines jutting out the back. The Claymore also has two towers while the Acclamator has only one. And besides, Kuat Drive Yards didn't have a problem with making several wedge-shaped ships. Why should I?

Alright, so I've decided the Longsword will still be based on Nebulon-B, but I am going to tweak the existing model a bit for better quality. Just little things like making the spine look less fragile. Maybe making some visible bays, too.

So I've noticed the Dev Corner has been looking a bit dead lately. We're not gonna have to change the name to 'The Dead Corner' are we?

I think that describes most of the Ambrosia forums since Ambrosia has mostly stopped releasing games.

So I've been doing more work on models, though I'm not going to post anything just yet on the very possible chance I change my mind again (again (again)) and remodel stuff again (again (again)). I haven't really had much motivation lately to write, though that's not a particularly bad thing since I've already got all the planet/ship/outfit dëscs written up. What is a problem is the fact I haven't been motivated to code any ships recently. I'm almost done! I just need to push myself to finish the last few ships and then I can start remixing them for variants.

On that note, I'd be more than happy to see any suggestions people may have for variants of various ships I've posted in this thread. I do have my own ideas, of course, but nowhere near enough to use ALL of EVN's ship resources. If you have an idea for a variant, speak up and it could be added. If you'd like more info on any ship in the gallery (that includes the military ships I haven't posted here) I'm willing to give that out on request, though with a few exceptions. There will be no variants of the following ships, and I'm not likely to give out any info on these same vessels:

• ELX Jupiter

• ELX Deimos

• Navy Seraph

• Navy Hydra

• Eros Defender*

• Eros Avenger*

• Eros Vindicator*

• SD Ferox

• SD Slipcruiser*

• SD Phoenix

• SD Wyvern

• SD Sabretooth*

That's all the news for now. Stay tuned for more.

*May have variants, but still not likely. Information given freely.

Well, cat's out of the bag.

@hireshmont, on 01 January 2012 - 01:37 PM, said in Startup Crash:

And I promise I'll get back to you about ships for Legacy; I'm re-teaching myself all the ship/shan/outf/weap resources by playing around with ships from other plugs. Once I've got this and one or two other self-teaching projects worked out, you'll hear from me.

Hireshmont will be joining the team to help code once he's dusted off his skills.

Quick question: who can remind me how EVN picks which ship to use as the generic bounty hunter that chases the player after said player has dominated a planet? Also, is there any way to change the name of the bounty hunter so it says something other than 'Bounty Hunter' in the targeting display?

Far as I know, said bounty hunter does not exist: I've dominated several planets in stock EVN and was never chased by bounty hunters. Maybe you're thinking of a plug.