AdmiralTigerclaw
Sound Developer
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Posts: 734
Naval Commander: Forum Sound Admin
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« on: December 27, 2008, 03:39:36 AM » |
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Okay, so in the ships discussion I was reminded we need to come up with a few ideas to improve the dynamics and usefullness of the Freighter class ship for the game. Back in the credits thread, I discussed how the economics and industry in the game was a broken loop that favored skilled, long time runners of the game, and that newbs trying to break into the money loop stood almost no chance.
This brings up a pair of dillema that can be solved with one execution.
1: How to 'fix' the in game economy.
2: How to make freighters more than just unarmed colony tugs.
The execution is: Give the frieghters something they can DO. (And only THEY can do.)
First. Being a freighter, they transport... Freight.
So the first tier of freighter piloting and use would be the typical supply running. I suggested two basic trade tasks that could earn a new player a small amount of cash.
1: Standard Trading.
As I described in the credits thread, running some 'goods' between two planets like a typical trader is one way, the safest way, to make some easy (if very little at a time), cash.
2: Logistics Supporter
The second, more risky way I suggested that pays more, would be giving supply boosts to blockadable planets from self supporting planets... These boosts being of more value because of the probability of having to fly a gauntlet of enemy combat ships.
3: Miner
A third way, would be acting as a transport ship for asteroid mines. Asteroid mines (which will be explained shortly), would produce a certain number of tons of resources each second, which a freighter friendly with that mine, would come in, dock, and pick up. Then fly these supplies to the planet of their choice. Mined materials would have the same distance calculation as standard trading, but be worth more in base value.
Tier two of the freighter class involves more direct fleet support role, of which I suggested two options.
1: Resupply container drops. In which you fly close to a friendly and drop 'supply containers' which would restock their weapons supplies without having to head to a friendly world. Beware as enemies can grab them too.
2: Repair crews, which would work similar to supply drops, but instead of reloading weapons, would repair friendly ships.
Both of these would reward the player performing these actions with credits.
And then there's Tier three, which I thought about for a while to think of how to make it fit, and it clicked into place yesterday. Engineering and construction work.
Tier three freighter work would be the most expensive and risky, but most rewarding of the freight jobs. (Notice that RISK = REWARD factor I like to throw out?) A freighter takes on an engineering construction crew, who are paid to build a number of useful freefloating or orbital structures.
The engineering projects are as follows:
1: Defensive Gun Platform.
A free floating weapons position with just one medium gun. Cheap and an easy target by itself. But a few of these set up will make enemies think twice. Any kills it makes count as your own. This will stay in one place if you are in free flight, or if you're in orbit when you construct it, it will orbit the planet.
2: Asteroid Mine.
Built by an engineering crew, any other friendly freighter can come along and scoop up materials mined from this mine. Once built, it produces materials. Every time a friendly picks up these materials, you get paid, and again when those materials are delivered, giving you two payments for every one trip. When scaled up to two or three mines being used by several other pilots, you can rake in the cash. Asteroid mines can only be built on ASTEROID class objects. They can be destroyed by attacks, so one should consider location and defensibility.
3: Supply Depot.
A more risky, and costly endevour, a supply depot is a facility that will reload friendlies that dock with it and you will be paid handsomly for each time such an event occures. In large area games, a supply depot may be essential to an offensive in another system, where flying all the way back to base for a reload would be a bit of a stretch.
4: Jump Gate
Without a Q drive, towing a colony to another system is a brutal, sluggish task. The use of a point to point Quantum Tunnel Gate relieves this issue by providing an easily constructable gateway in which to transport colonies across the distance instantly. (That's FASTER than Q drive for those who don't understand english.) To build a Jump Gate, a freighter must build Gate A, and Gate B... which will then connect them. Players may only build ONE get set each. Gate's are tough, but explode violently when destroyed, potentially destroying ships near them. Also, when one gate is destroyed, the sudden collapse of the quantum tunnel shatters the other gate, resulting in mutual destruction. Because of the strong Quantum tunnel effect from the gate, Q drive is inoperative for a short distance (1 screen?) around the gate. (Preventing Q-hop ambush stunts.) Players do not get paid for gate transits. Be warned, gates work both ways and will allow the enemy to fly through it as much as friendlies.
5: Repair Yard
Like the supply depot, the repair yard is another essential to long range colonizing efforts. Ships that dock get repaired, and you get paid.
6: Equipment Dock.
Like a starbase, but without guns. The EQ Dock allows players to adjust their upgrades and loadouts without having to fly back to a starbase. No returns are gained here.
7: Battlestation
The ultimate freighter pilot investment, the battlestation is a seething platform of automated guns that compliment a starbase quite well. With four defensive weapons, and four offensive weapons, a battlestation is equally at home fending off attack, or nailing a battleship stupid enough to get close. However, they are costly, and investing in one should be a well thought out decision, as getting one, and having it destroyed in short order would be a multi-BILLION credit loss.
Okay, some imaginative scenarios.
1: The Mining Complex. (Using the SOL system for Beginners as a 'map'.)
FC1 (Freight Captain) has been busy, he 'owns' a couple of asteroids grouped together near Neptune, and Triton colony. Each asteroid has a mine constructed on it, and both AI and player frieght pilots are making use of them, getting him plenty of cash. In order to defend his assets, he's used the return on the mines to build several gun platforms, a repair depot, and a supply depot to assist combat ships in the area. After a recent skirmish near venus, he's become a little nervous, and recently built a battlestation. An enemy frigate chases one of the defending ships into the area, and not realizing how built up the asteroid complex has become, has walked his small frigate right into the firing line of six defensive guns, and the battlestation itself, and got creamed. Irritated by the loss, the enemy player rallies a fleet to attack the complex... they are successfull, but FC1 is long gone and has made gains off the mines and stations he'd built to offset their loss. The enemy fleet loses initiative while being distracted by the mining operation, and Venus is seccured before they are flanked by a battleship and carrier task force.
2: Staging point. (First contact map)
In an empty area of space outside the 'west' side of Tau ceti, a lone freighter lurks. Away from the prying eyes of the main travel rout, he's built a jump gate. The jump gate leads to the far side of SOL, near the Triton Colony. Completely undisturbed by the overall events of the game, he continues to work his mission. Using return from asteroid mines to fuel his construction, he builds a couple of battlestations, depots, yards, and docks, and then sets up a perimiter of guns. It would take a decicated assault to bring this staging area down and knock out it's jump gate. When the word is given that the gate is ready, his fleet pulls back to a token fight on the main conflict border, and colony tugging freight captains begin hauling triton colonies through the gate into Tau Ceti. Completely unprepared for the flanking attack, the enemy loses a planet to a full scale colonization effort before they even have a chance to react. Using the foothold gained by the staging point, the assault gains momentum and Tau Ceti gets pressured from two sides, one side by actual attacking fleet forces, and the other by a colonization force backstopped by a formidably defended staging area.
There are no limits asside from the Gate to the number of objects built. If a player wants to fortify something, he can fortify. The only limit is his 'bank account', the bigger the item, the more expensive it is, which will prevent all out spamming of battlestations. To prevent more modest spamming or, 'gun swarming' like mad without a significant planning time to set it up, all objects have a set 'build time' before they are active. Players may only build one item at a time, and construction sites can be destroyed in mid-build.
All items built in freefloat space will stay in the spot permenantly unless destroyed. If the object is constructed while the ship is in orbit, that object will gain an orbit path around that planet.
Thoughts?
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