Forums » Suggestions
I know the devs probably have their hands full at the moment, but if they are ever looking for ideas for content, I had a brainstorm strike me today...
Tube racing would be very cool if implemented, but a different type of racing could also be very fun: "street" racing (an anachronism left over from before the time of space travel on Sol II). Whereas in a tube race you are racing against the clock, in a street race you would be racing through a series of checkpoints with a group of people. Down and dirty, mano a mano, frowned-upon-by-the-authorities racing over, around, and through the asteroids and stations. Some players already do this informally around certain stations. See thread:
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/1/5940
The mission would work like this: someone would create a group, and at certain stations a "Street Race" mission would become available. Everyone in the group would assemble at a start area (a sphere of about 100m radius) marked on the HUD, and when all group members were within the start area, a timer would count down: 3.. 2.. 1.. GO! And everyone would hit the turbo, racing for the first of a series of checkpoints.
The checkpoints would show up one at a time on radar as small green (+) 'es. In the screen they would appear like small orange donuts (like the checkpoints in the tube races). Once each player passed through the first checkpoint, the next checkpoint would appear in the screen and on radar for that player. The first group member to clear all checkpoints wins the race.
Just imagine tearing through the cracks in the giant asteroid in Dau G-11 at 200 m/s, weaving in and out of station struts and zooming around the neighboring asteroids... neck and neck with half a dozen other players all jockeying for position...
Tube racing would be very cool if implemented, but a different type of racing could also be very fun: "street" racing (an anachronism left over from before the time of space travel on Sol II). Whereas in a tube race you are racing against the clock, in a street race you would be racing through a series of checkpoints with a group of people. Down and dirty, mano a mano, frowned-upon-by-the-authorities racing over, around, and through the asteroids and stations. Some players already do this informally around certain stations. See thread:
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/1/5940
The mission would work like this: someone would create a group, and at certain stations a "Street Race" mission would become available. Everyone in the group would assemble at a start area (a sphere of about 100m radius) marked on the HUD, and when all group members were within the start area, a timer would count down: 3.. 2.. 1.. GO! And everyone would hit the turbo, racing for the first of a series of checkpoints.
The checkpoints would show up one at a time on radar as small green (+) 'es. In the screen they would appear like small orange donuts (like the checkpoints in the tube races). Once each player passed through the first checkpoint, the next checkpoint would appear in the screen and on radar for that player. The first group member to clear all checkpoints wins the race.
Just imagine tearing through the cracks in the giant asteroid in Dau G-11 at 200 m/s, weaving in and out of station struts and zooming around the neighboring asteroids... neck and neck with half a dozen other players all jockeying for position...
I like it! :D
Hold on, it gets better...
If a player completes 100 or so street racing missions (doesn't matter what place they finish, just so long as they clear all the checkpoints) they are considered a street racing vet, and for a fee of 500k credits they can take a mission which allows them to design their own course.
They would message the mission computer every time they wanted to place a checkpoint, and they could place up to 20 checkpoints in all.
When the new race course was finished, people could choose to race it from the mission menu at the station at which it was created. The 500k creation fee would prevent people from creating race courses frivolously, and also if nobody raced a particular race course for one week, that course would go bye-bye. That way only the popular street races would remain.
This would give people something fun to do besides trading and combat, and it would give people a sense of satisfaction to see others racing the course that they designed. Well, that pretty much covers the idea I had... thoughts/comments?
If a player completes 100 or so street racing missions (doesn't matter what place they finish, just so long as they clear all the checkpoints) they are considered a street racing vet, and for a fee of 500k credits they can take a mission which allows them to design their own course.
They would message the mission computer every time they wanted to place a checkpoint, and they could place up to 20 checkpoints in all.
When the new race course was finished, people could choose to race it from the mission menu at the station at which it was created. The 500k creation fee would prevent people from creating race courses frivolously, and also if nobody raced a particular race course for one week, that course would go bye-bye. That way only the popular street races would remain.
This would give people something fun to do besides trading and combat, and it would give people a sense of satisfaction to see others racing the course that they designed. Well, that pretty much covers the idea I had... thoughts/comments?
maybe make a small set of disabling-only weapons that are the only legal weapons allowed on the race course.
I like it.
How do you detect/discourage false starts? Or is it a race against the clock only?
How do you detect/discourage false starts? Or is it a race against the clock only?
You start based on the colors of a stop light floating on a bouy in the middle of the lane. False starts are discouraged by a giant plasma cannon located behind the players, although there is a +-.25 second start interval, Okay, maybe there isn't a plasma cannon, but if you start outside the interval, you forfeit the reward no matter the outcome. Besides that, you start in front of your opponent who'll probably shoot you in revenge.
There is no official countdown with the stop light. "Ready?" flashes in front of you, and there's a 5-20 second interval before the light changes. For more "official" races, there's a drag race style light column, but it's more strict in enforcing false starts. Maybe a plasma cannon would do...
On top of that, you have a bookie bot floating around, and you /msg "bookie bot" odds to get race odds based on races won, races lost, and probably kills vs deaths. then "/msg "bookie bot" 3000, CrippledPidgeon, for" to bet 3000cr on CrippledPidgeon winning the race, or "/msg "bookie bot" 3000 Shape, against" to bet 3000cr on Shape losing the race. If you bet that Shape will lose, your odds of winning increase as more players enter, so your possible winnings will decrease. If you bet that CrippledPidgeon will win, your odds of winning decrease as more players enter, so your possible winnings increase. On top of that, the racers all put money into a pot to race "/msg "bookie bot" ante 3000", and of course, the winner receives that money. Racers are not allowed to bet on themselves in the observers pool.
There is no official countdown with the stop light. "Ready?" flashes in front of you, and there's a 5-20 second interval before the light changes. For more "official" races, there's a drag race style light column, but it's more strict in enforcing false starts. Maybe a plasma cannon would do...
On top of that, you have a bookie bot floating around, and you /msg "bookie bot" odds to get race odds based on races won, races lost, and probably kills vs deaths. then "/msg "bookie bot" 3000, CrippledPidgeon, for" to bet 3000cr on CrippledPidgeon winning the race, or "/msg "bookie bot" 3000 Shape, against" to bet 3000cr on Shape losing the race. If you bet that Shape will lose, your odds of winning increase as more players enter, so your possible winnings will decrease. If you bet that CrippledPidgeon will win, your odds of winning decrease as more players enter, so your possible winnings increase. On top of that, the racers all put money into a pot to race "/msg "bookie bot" ante 3000", and of course, the winner receives that money. Racers are not allowed to bet on themselves in the observers pool.
False starts could be discouraged by automatically aborting the race if one of the group members left the start area before the countdown finished. The mission computer would message the group saying "Player <x> false started. The race has been aborted." or something to that effect. The stigma of screwing up like this would be motivation enough not to jump the gun.
Another possibility would be to have the first false start go "to the field," and to make everyone return to the start area to try again. The second time someone false started, they would be disqualified.
Another possibility would be to have the first false start go "to the field," and to make everyone return to the start area to try again. The second time someone false started, they would be disqualified.
and there would be a badge of course for having ten races designed by you avaliable at the same time
Actually, I like the plasma cannon idea... So, how 'bout correspoding ricer missions? ;-)
how about having widgets floating in space marking the waypoint, each racer has to pick up that piece to continue, or just hit it. You could have the first piece appear in front of the racers at the start, if someone jumps the gun, they wouldn't get the first piece...
my 2 c
kernel.panic
aaaaaaannnndd....bump.
my 2 c
kernel.panic
aaaaaaannnndd....bump.
The problem with using widgets is that once somebody picks it up, then all the following players get to skip it? (edit: ah, I see what you are saying, if someone jumps the gun they effectively have to do one extra checkpoint. Hmmm, that may not be a disadvantage depending on the race, though).
There could also be a group race mission for each of the tubes... the mechanics would be exactly the same, only there would be just two checkpoints: the start and the finish.
There could also be a group race mission for each of the tubes... the mechanics would be exactly the same, only there would be just two checkpoints: the start and the finish.
I really like this idea. It'd make the races communal. Currently, they're very cool, but kind of dis-exciting and lonely.
I think that we should have to fly through large rings, rather than fly to + marks on the HUD. In fact, I wouldn't mind having a large sphere-shaped wireframe kind of thing surrounding a wormhole's "jump-OK" area, just so that it isn't a 2D event in a 3D game.
Well we had the Deneb run races sponsored by Martin and [BLAK], but those were marathons, and these would be sprints. Good.
The large "rings" would have to be new pieces of art? Kind of like the existing checkpoint "ends" of the racecourses in Sedina. Easily doable, since the code is already there.
You can race through the current tube racecourses courses now in small ships, 4-wide if you are careful. So this could be a fun event now if someone wanted to do it right.
The large "rings" would have to be new pieces of art? Kind of like the existing checkpoint "ends" of the racecourses in Sedina. Easily doable, since the code is already there.
You can race through the current tube racecourses courses now in small ships, 4-wide if you are careful. So this could be a fun event now if someone wanted to do it right.
I like all of this!
But going back to the idea of course creation, what stops someone from either a) racing their own course to keep it alive or b) paying someone else to race it to keep it alive
But going back to the idea of course creation, what stops someone from either a) racing their own course to keep it alive or b) paying someone else to race it to keep it alive
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Definately loving it...
On the subject of false starts:
That's easy to fix... have the first checkpoint (the starting line) start out a different color, and not activate, counting your pass through it until the race begins. When the first (oversized) starting ring activates, the players would be waiting on top of or immediately behind it, or they wouldn't be able to proceed to the next checkpoint with the rest of the pack.
EDIT: Station-racing is a must! All those big roid-stations should feature at least one racing course, and maybe even consequences for using them (frowned upon by authorities, because such a level of recklessness in the NFZ is a danger to transport and civilian traffic)
On the subject of false starts:
That's easy to fix... have the first checkpoint (the starting line) start out a different color, and not activate, counting your pass through it until the race begins. When the first (oversized) starting ring activates, the players would be waiting on top of or immediately behind it, or they wouldn't be able to proceed to the next checkpoint with the rest of the pack.
EDIT: Station-racing is a must! All those big roid-stations should feature at least one racing course, and maybe even consequences for using them (frowned upon by authorities, because such a level of recklessness in the NFZ is a danger to transport and civilian traffic)
I LOVE IT!
Unfortunately the only ship that could win would be valk if there aren't enough turns. I don't want this to be more straight shooting than the tubes are. Soooo, if you could fit that in :)
Lots of close, small turns so that battery capacity doesn't matter so much.
Then again it could just stand that the valk IS the best for the job, and then everyone would use a valk if they wanted to get a fast time.
Still works.
Unfortunately the only ship that could win would be valk if there aren't enough turns. I don't want this to be more straight shooting than the tubes are. Soooo, if you could fit that in :)
Lots of close, small turns so that battery capacity doesn't matter so much.
Then again it could just stand that the valk IS the best for the job, and then everyone would use a valk if they wanted to get a fast time.
Still works.
BoxCar:
That's easy enough to solve for... have the races restricted by class. Valkyries would be in a class of their own, while other ships, depending on their speeds, thrusts and weights, would be grouped together into seperate classes (i.e: cents/vultures, hogs/hornets, rags/taurs, busses, etc..)
That's easy enough to solve for... have the races restricted by class. Valkyries would be in a class of their own, while other ships, depending on their speeds, thrusts and weights, would be grouped together into seperate classes (i.e: cents/vultures, hogs/hornets, rags/taurs, busses, etc..)
Or the group leader could just as easily determine what classes/loadouts were allowed by controlling who is invited to the group for the mission.