Character System

[NiteHawk]

I was thinking about the new ways characters should be during our changes. Some things here are just a repeat from other posts, but yeah, good for a refresher. I should be around to code again starting around Sun/Monday (Woot) So this is good! Anyways, back on track! I wanted to define the character system more. Please note that nothing is set is stone, feel free to discuss/dispute. First off:

There would be several stats instead of the plain kill/death/score system. Some to note would be. Kills, AI Kills, Planet Captures, Construction, etc. For ranking up, there would be one set stat, which is called Prestige. Prestige is a total of all of your stats, Kills, AI Kills, Planet Captures, etc. This will allow less of a hassle from the current requirement of kills/score as often you either have too many kills and not enough score. All stats will be viewable via the nexus at the portal homepage, and will be 'ranked'.

Badges/Achievements would be a good addition as well. They could promote using different types of ships and even possibly unlocking some special ships/weapons/features/etc (Not sure yet, might just leave it to 'earn' but thats all.). For example "50 Kills!" as an achievement, or "20 Kills in a Corvette!", "20 buildings created", etc. This can promote some fun and different gameplay, so that people play differently if they want to earn all there achievements/badges.


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Mainly the next one is something I want to discuss about. I've seen it done in many games, but SF has NEVER seen anything like it, and I don't want to 'ruin' the game overall. But it needs a pick me up in general and new things to do. I was thinking about player skills. I'm not POSITIVE on this one, but they could be simple factors, like passive skills or usable skills. Passive skills could be 10% speed, and usable might be 5% extra damage for 10 seconds. Things like that. But I'm not sure if this would even fit the game or if it would be beneficial. Overall the ship equipment system will be more defined in the future as well though (Most modules will have SUBMODULES, so you can equip to gain that extra juice out of a power 5 for example, but I'll discuss this another time.), and I'm not so sure how well 'skills' would actually benefit the game.

But I do think we need to define a character more in general. Please state what you think or any OTHER ideas you have. Nothing is set in stone, these are all ideas!

[Mars]

Well heres my thoughts on it ....


character in general is something that sf has always lacked,  in other words you could not upload a picture or flag or paint your ships a certain manner,  nor is there any character but what you discover about the other in a chat,  in other words nothing personalized. 

If for example as say you target a ship for combat,  you would also get a general dis also of the player, such as his avatar or flag ect,  and fleet info if any on that ship.   examples would be like, home planet, some details on his or her history or activities, ie.. "this player hails from Earth however has become rouge and is not part of the earth federation ect,   

this would give players upon targeting a ship at least some details that any good scanner would find out after a computer search matching the craft scanned.

also there is the fact that many have over a long time tried to use outside game items to enhance sf, such as gametalk, and other talk programs to talk to fleet members or other players during a game,  if some way to have a live talk as well as a chat for those not mic oriented would be cool.

then there is the use of external equipment such as joysticks which do not work well with sf at present altho a very very few expensive ones will..  if a way was made for simple ones to work like usb cheapos that work with other games like halo and other games for the pc that would be bonus.


then last of all what provisions will be made for spreading this all over the net?   one or two sites like gamefly or gametap wont be enough to fill sf up like in the old days.. who has the ideas of how we will over advertise this.   We plan on a massive cd burn however thats limited in scope even if we do manage to pass out 2000 cds the percentage of new players from that will be be 1/12 or less of the total.  And fewer yet that will ... adopt sf as a game they will play alot.
we have not heard much word on what when that time comes would be done to promote sf and how existing players can help.
Things like oh it will be taken care of.. isent as inspiring as a plan that many can grasp now and be ready to help jump on when the time comes.



i think so far 2.0 will be the relaunch of the century, but many new games recently have come out that i fear show folks just how much advancement has taken place in the game world with new graphics and other gameplay that will make sf seem still old school.. and my dream along with many other long time sf players is to make sure that the relaunch will be ...

beyond outstanding..

Mars and Hooters

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Hmm... So the long and short of it is you want to 'individualize' the player's "Characters"

A kind of MMORPGifying of the player so that when they log in, it feels more like they're roll playing the role of commander, rather than just flying the ship.

And then, once again, the perk system.

Well, a quick thought leads me to some issues.
If you decide to impliment any kind of individualizing system.  EVERYTHING about it has to be created from scratch.
Alternatively, a system that allows players to put in their own materials, you run the risk of any and all kinds of /b/tard level idiocy breaking out.


I'll slap something down real quick and see what it comes out.

I would see the player 'character' as a two stage system.

One that deals with the player as a character, and the other that deals with any perks.

This system I would see as:

Commander, & Crew.

The commander, the player character, would be defined only once at creation.  The player selects a race, a gender, and an allegence.  This will automatically preset the 'race' a character will log in as unless they wish to log in as another 'side'.  Once this is set, the player may only change their allegence, but it will deliver a blow to their prestige points if they change it.  (Turncoats aren't liked by anyone.)  However the penalty will only be accrued after they've logged into a server as a new allegence.  (Just in case someone decides to fiddle with the tag.)

  Players will recieve a very small multiplier bonus to all aqcuired points for siding in game with their allegence orentation.  No bonus for those considered neutral to that allegence, and minor penalties (fractioning) for playing as enemies of their allegence.

Players will then choose a 'proffession'.  Proffession comes with a commander perk, which is not a ship modification, but a specialized bonus to their character's ability.  Often with a downside.

For example:

Normal: No Commander Perks.

Academy Trained Officer:  Officers are high profile, high politics persons.  They gain prestige much faster when they play well.  (Which can allow for more rapid ranking.)  However, if they do things poorly, they can lose prestige just as fast, if not faster.

Excerienced Merchant: Merchants get a percentage bonus on all money making events and can purchase equipment at bargain prices.  However, they're a dime a dozen, and their prestige does not move but at a fraction of the pace.

Engineer: Engineers build stuff.  So they have a natural increase in construction speed, and discounts on building costs.  However, they get no other stats boosts.  And their prestige takes a hit when their stuff is destroyed.

Enforcer:  It's a lousy job, but someone has to do it.  Enforcers get no pay bonus, and almost no  bonus and are limited to small capital ships at best.  But they get globally functional server admin functions in ANY server no matter who's it is. (With Limitations explained below)  An enforcer is given the option to punish problem players from the server under strict, computer detected conditions.  Such as the detection of multiple teamkills, destruction of friendly property... things the server can confirm, but can't identify the circumstances.

It would work like this:

An Enforcer, (being any player) has at his disposal, a vessel of any race, of any allegence, with an added Enforcer Tag who's job it is, is to play, and enforce fair play conditions.  Enforcer 'Abilities' include detecting game ruining actions such as destruction of friendly property, and teamkilling. When one of these occurs, the Enforcer recieves a message in his box.  [XXXX] might be committing Fratricide against [YYYY].  And he recieves an ability to punish on a per-offense basis.  Usually allowing for discretion, rather than automatic computerized judgement.  Destruction of property on the first offense might be an Enforcer Warning.  Which essentially alerts the player that the Enforcer is watching them.  (Screen flash, sound effect, comms message and on-screen message.)  After the second offense, the enforcer could be given the ability to 'force destruct'... Which is.  Once the offender continues their activites, an Enforcer is given the option to quite simply make them explode with a button push, no matter which team it's on, how tough their ship, and all that jazz.  (Commit violation of fair play rules at your own risk.  Your fully upgraded and extremely expensive superdreadnaut, as well as all your assets such as any mines you might have, will spontaneously detonate if you're commiting fratricide offenses.)

Player on Player teamkilling will have the additional punishment of a kick command after so-many offenses.  Allowing an enforcer to literally do the job of the admin, since admins are rarely around.

Serious offenses, such as five-or-more PoP fratricide counts will even allow for the activation of the BAN command.  (Temp Ban, which expires after a day.  Or server reset, or admin pardoning...)

And of course, Enforcer 'powers' only work if the player is IN the server to witness the action.  (IE, logging out after seeing someone acting like a dick, and logging back in under an Enforcer character will not work.)

An enforcer would of course, be expected not to commit fratricide themselves, or they will automatically self-destruct, self-kick, and self-ban.  (For example, commiting fratricide under the enforcer proffession tag in an attempt to get someone else to fratricide the enforcer would automatically self destruct the moment they make the kill.  And would self-kick on the second fratricide.)  On top of such automatic self-kicks, an enforcer would be labeled 'corrupt cop' in their overview, which would serve as a warning to others to watch out.

Enforcer's will be 'invisible' to other players, instead played up as 'normal'.  So as to prevent 'acting innocent' while an Enforcer is around.  Enforcer powers will also be delivered Anonymously.  (IE: You get a warning along the lines of:  "WARNING!  AN ENFORCER IS WATCHING YOU, MISCREANT!" Rather than 'XXXX is warning you."

(Of course, Enforcers will have, as stated way up in the main overview on them, a limited ship selection, dismal pay, and low prestige.  To encourage players not to ALL be enforcers.)

Other jobs could be selected.  And as stated, a job is a fixed position for that player character.

For the player stats: The player will have the usual running stats archived on them.  Followed by a conduct overview which helps someone viewing the player profile to build an idea of what kind of player they are.

- An alleigence commentary.  Which is simply a short worded summary of how loyal the player is to their alleigence selection based on how often they play it versus neutral or enemy settings.  (With words such as:  Loyal and True, trustworthy, shady, trechorous, treasonous....etc)

- A 'criminal activity' commentary, that provides an overview with a list of counts of warnings, force-destructs, kicks, and bans.  (Overview showing things like 'Clean Record', Minor offender, major offender, dangerous offender, and capital offender.)

- A ruthlessness commentary, in which activities such as spawnkilling (Which can be argued as fair play.) are tallied up against some kind of sliding scale, and assigns a stat such as.  (A regular teddy bear.  Friendly, Amiable, Distant, Ruthless, Vicious, CRUEL.)


These are then followed by game area stat desciptors that only appear if the player triggers a flag.

For example, a player who frequently builds facilities that survive for long periods of time might get flagged: Expert Engineer

A player with a certain kill to death ratio threshhold might flag as: Brilliant Tactician.
A player who conquers many planets might be flagged: Cunning strategist.
One who destroys (Genocides) them frequently: "Destroyer of Worlds"

On the flip side, players who fail certain things alot might set off flags such as: "Pirate Bait", or "Target Drone", or if they're running freighter missions and keep dying.  "Poor Investment"... Perhaps bouts of "Suicide Bomber" or "Canon Fodder"

Thing is, these flags would be dynamic.  You don't EARN these, they're an analysis of your records made to describe how you perform beyond your main stats.

For example, you might select a player and see:

McKilljoy.  (Admiral)
Academy Trained Offficer
Stats: Blah Blah Blah

A trechorous, ruthless commander.
with: No offenses.

Known throughout space as 'The Destroyer of Worlds', and 'A suicide Bomber'


You can already tell just at a glance that this player explicitly likes to play to kill things as much as possible and wants to climb the ranks.  And you might have to watch out for frequent attempts to blow you to smitherines suicidally.  This player is probably immature and takes losses against enemies personally.


UWagh...  Anywho...  That's the commander personalization.

On to the crew.

The crew, would be the adjustable perks.  Much like perks in CoD or something.  That's what we're thinking about here, right?

Well, a ship needs a crew, and crews come in all flavors.

Customizing your crew would do things for your ship automatically without parts.

Essentially it would work like this.

Depending on Rank, Job, and Prestige Points, you get access to certain types of crew, with varying skill levels.

Essentially, it breaks down into the ability to select your crew chiefs, and their support staff.

You can choose to exercise points to get a really good chief engineer (Al La Geordie LaForge or Scotty) who can provide little tiny niche perks, such as engines that never go critical even under the worst battle damage.  Or you can take a slider to the crew class to improve your engineering team a certain number of points, which results in faster repairs.

Or perhaps your tactical station can be assigned a better officer, with niche perks such as 'fitting just a bit more ammo into the magazines' or 'getting just a little better range out of a sensor package'. 

The thing is, these crew adjustments can range from, you can barely improve one spot as a newbie, to, you have so MUCH prestige that you can crew your ship with the ELITE.

Just remember that as the amount of crew points you get is based on your dynamic prestige, you CAN lose your ability to have a good crew if you screw up a lot.  (Just like in real life, people won't want to work under you if you're a crap commander.)

The crew setting will be constantly adjustable, but only from the player's character setup screen.  In-server crew changes won't be allowed to prevent constantly changing crews.  (Think of it, as preventing insane crew rotation.)

I'd probably think into crew in more detail, but I'm getting tired.

[warfighter67]

I'd also like to see changing ships actually cost money, instead of just being able to choose which one you want. Here's my idea:

You start off with the beginner ship (most likely Corvette). Once you rank up, you unlock a ship(s). You can now go to a starbase and go under a SHIPS section in the modules list. There are ships available for purchase, being kinda expensive but not overly costly. My idea here is that you can own multiple ships. For instance, you own a Corvette, but you then buy a Frigate. You now own both of those ships. You should also be able to sell ships back for about 50-70% of the buy price. When you go to log in, you will be able to choose from a list of ships that you own, instead of each one you 'unlocked'.

Here's another idea (completely different):

I think it would be cool, for people who build things, to be able to build their own empire, Perseid. They would be able to buy an unconstructed starbase (maybe remove it from pilotable ships?), for a reasonable cost. That starbase could maybe take about 1-3 minutes to construct, so the player will have to guard it so it doesn't get destroyed. Once built, the player can purchase various different buildings which benefit the player in some way, defend the empire, or research further technologies for better defenses and benefits to the player. Defense buildings are quite self-explanatory, as with research buildings. Buildings which benefit the player, would probably generate a revenue of extra prestige, money, or sell special items not usually accessible. The revenue of cash wouldn't just go straight to the player, though, but rather the starbase in which the empire was created from. The player would have to dock at the starbase, at which point he/she would receive the generated revenue. There would be a max limit on how much revenue can be stored. That limit should be increasable, though.

Also, I think fleet management and control would be awesome, but then it gets too close to RTS-style gaming... which I actually don't mind. The concept itself is pretty self-explanatory so I won't really get into the details of that.

[Mars]

Tiger,  your brain does quite amaze me,  but i wanted to ask you about this....

""""" Which is.  Once the offender continues their activites, an Enforcer is given the option to quite simply make them explode with a button push, no matter which team it's on, how tough their ship, and all that jazz.  (Commit violation of fair play rules at your own risk.  Your fully upgraded and extremely expensive superdreadnaut, as well as all your assets such as any mines you might have, will spontaneously detonate if you're commiting fratricide offenses.)"""""

now what keeps that player say a fleet enemy from using that power vs you?  
other than that the entire post gets a A++

not only do i agree with it i would support it.  

[Mars]

""""""I think it would be cool, for people who build things, to be able to build their own empire, Perseid.""""""

Now Warfighter thats one of  the best ideas ive ever heard in sf period.

OMG.   


NOW all hear this idea one more time.. from a new point of view. 

IN years and years gone by sf has has wars brung on by infractions or words spoken,  or of belief systems and political turmoil.     WarFighter has suddenly inspired the entire OE senate to this one quote and a massive debate about it.     THIS was beyond golden. 

NITE, TROMP and TIGER think of this,   

imagine as most nubies do the vast area that sf does not use effective.   The huge bmp area of space that you can go for days in and get lost as heck forcing many to just log back in if gone to far after a drifting afk.      Imagine if this space were ... DIVIDED up.. 


omg...  this is too freaking good.   Why not have space divided up into the known fleets areas?   this way on public servers it is easy to know where the OE space is,  the Ace empire space is,  the Tribe space and unlike setting up systems with planets named for the various races,  yet  also have simple lines of space that could or could not be .... MOVED.... as in real conflict or peace time agreements.   Even have space that is open for new fleets later on and SOME certification for new fleets and the gaining of space they would call home,  (albit some grandfather clause for fleets that currently exist with years of known gameplay)   


This one idea alone would so add to sf so much,  such as a new reason for war and wars,  the motivation of fleets (and their JOBS) more than just what a tag says,,,,,  to patrol their space, Interact with other fleets and other players,  netural or not,  and allow the game a new pace of action because it will make  the JOBS of fleets defined,   no empire last forever,  yet as some in history for example,  hitler, or alexander who tried to command the entire world,  could yet be softly applied to the entire area of space, fleets and commanders.   

In other words if a fleet became huge or outstanding was peaceful or bold, hostile or insane such as a IE north korea then you would have huge issues of DRAMA     DRAMA     DRAMA   to help keep sf moving on a path of great fun and loyal play.

The game would be so advanced with such a thought, that it could compete with any other of the games that use players building a empire and the wars that are fought over it as well as the peaceful play of netural space.    NITE and DarkSun have done wonders to ...  fence off... the drama in sf to fleet areas in the fourm.    TO keep down the flash points of wicked words ect,  to extend this one idea into sf would in our belief not hinder the past segregation of fleets but rather enhance it.


reason being is that sf had never had a ..... larger picture..

this would by far and away provide it.    Fleets coming and going,  giving them mission rather than just some tag and pledge of honor to this group or that, mostly biased on friendships and political reasoning this would give sf ..  a huge = vs other games.     Now empires and allies, agreements or disputes to planets and lines of space would have great meaning.  And in our view provide FUEL for sf to GROW.  as now suddenly there is a bigger picture involved.


Even  to new players or non aligned players just to see the huge picture of a map that was set into a fabric of various stories would be indeed a sight.   


so many games now like the cheesy ones on face book and all the way back to command and concur as well as many many of the brand new games started out with this very concept, it would not change sf as we know it, but would rather define it on a scale that only the drama of real combat brings with purpose.


even if  the idea is not taken well,  i wish to thank warfighter for his idea.  IT was BRILLIANT!!!!

Mars, Hooters, Renegade, Vagan, illumini.   

[Mars]

my GOT EN HIBEN,  Warfigher this idea is causing a huge debate in the OE i hope Nite will consider it as for sf ive never heard of a idea so good.   

on a unrelated note,  the senate will vote today for your advancement. 

funny in all these years no one has come up with anything even remotely as brilliant.

[Hooters]

That is the best idea ive ever heard of for 2.0 ..   

I would hope nite would think about it.   it would add fuel for the game in ways its never had.

Warfighter that is a insanely good idea.   
This would allow sf to compete with games that are new school for sure.

Hoots
 

[alex136]

  the submodules idea is ULTIMATE
the fuel could be implemented like the boost, decreasing over time while the engine is used, and could be bought at the starbase or earned through debris
also, the fuel could explode if shoot at (case of debris), or produce some explosions when the ship explodes

the divided space idea is awesome, same for the user info/voice chat

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Tiger,  your brain does quite amaze me,  but i wanted to ask you about this....

""""" Which is.  Once the offender continues their activites, an Enforcer is given the option to quite simply make them explode with a button push, no matter which team it's on, how tough their ship, and all that jazz.  (Commit violation of fair play rules at your own risk.  Your fully upgraded and extremely expensive superdreadnaut, as well as all your assets such as any mines you might have, will spontaneously detonate if you're commiting fratricide offenses.)"""""

now what keeps that player say a fleet enemy from using that power vs you?  
other than that the entire post gets a A++

not only do i agree with it i would support it.  

Simple.  It can't be used unless you commit an actual, server-loggable, act of foul play.  If you don't teamkill, the button on an enforcer remains grayed out.  Essentially, the server decides you've teamkilled, but will not punish you unless the enforcer commits the final 'OK'.

[Mars]

sounds good what do you think about warfighters idea?

[alex136]

sounds good what do you think about warfighters idea?

Are you making a joke? :?
It isn't good, it is ABOVE GOOD.

[warfighter67]

* warfighter67 didn't know his idea would bring this much inspiration

*blush*

[NiteHawk]

Yes, submodules will be in, long with 'saving your ship schematic' since submodules will make equipping ships even longer. A submodule example would be lets say a "Ion Engine:4" has 2 submodule slots available. Submodule slots for an engine could be: "+5% to top speed", "5% to acceleration", "10% to turn rate", etc. So you can 'customize' even further!

For two stage system like ATC stated, I do agree. Commander and Crew to give perks. The perks however shouldn't be 'godlike' against others, but should give a small bonus whenever added. Though I'm not sure about the set names like 'Enforcer/Engineer/etc' as it more locks you into one thing, as I would 'still' like a player to be able to change what he is doing overall. Flags might be a neat idea as well though. And yeah, I agree with keeping any character development out of game servers and more of a standalone. I would say when you EARN points, you can add them in game, but to RESPEC, would require you to drop out of game first to trigger it. (Character/Crew Upgrade Center!) I want the commander/crew stuff to be SIMPLE, but give small benefits.

I disagree about starting as a corvette and upgrading, as it basically rips the who point of having a rank to begin with. HOWEVER, this would be acceptable in the server rank only games. It does not use your global score, but your score resets EVERY GAME. To balance this, ranks are alot quicker to upgrade. Lets say a full game can get you almost to a starbase rank. So it would be a 'quick game' with quick ranking up, for example.

For ships costing actual credits, that is a possibility. I'm not sure how to handle this just yet, as I would not want to limit people completely to the point where they are always stuck in corvettes. Building is already planned for the game however, we just need to plan out building properly so its not overpowered. Fleet management is going to be possible, along with attacking/defending/moving your fleet to specific locations.

Being able to 'build ships/starbases' might be too overpowering. I'm sure you will be ABLE to script this yourselves (As you will be able to handle how AI act, game events such as planet revolts, make single player missions, etc.). Since normally you are on 'one' race, having it so you can build like for example, Warcraft/Starcraft, I would say would not be in the default game itself as it would be too powerful. Though being a constructor ship in the default game, you should be able to build a variety of buildings, including turrets, shipyards, etc.

I could see a 'subgame' where everyone starts off with just 'one ship' and you need to work/upgrade your fleet to a powerful fleet (Like Warcraft/Starcraft/etc). It could be fun/different. But it won't be something I'd work on until the main game is done first. But it is a good idea to bring into SF as a different 'game' variations.

[warfighter67]

I disagree about starting as a corvette and upgrading, as it basically rips the who point of having a rank to begin with. HOWEVER, this would be acceptable in the server rank only games. It does not use your global score, but your score resets EVERY GAME. To balance this, ranks are alot quicker to upgrade. Lets say a full game can get you almost to a starbase rank. So it would be a 'quick game' with quick ranking up, for example.

I think you read what I said wrong, or I mis-worded it.

You would be able to choose from a starting ship (maybe there would be more than one), with the starting cash you get. Then, when you rank up, you have the ability to buy better ships. They wouldn't be insanely expensive either. You would then own all ships you have purchased. So, if you purchased 2 of 3 starter ships and 1 higher end ship, you would be able to choose from 3 different ships, and not the 6 available (assuming there are 3 per 'rank up'/tier).

OR MAYBE...

You unlock one ship from each tier every time you rank up, BUT you can buy better ones in the said rank, or ones meant for different things.