Forums » Suggestions

RetCon Ion storms

Nov 17, 2014 cellsafemode link
Since ion storms are kind of a red headed step child in their current incarnation and dynamic/consumable roid systems etc are the realm of VO 2.0 how feasible is it to get a taste of 2.0 now while providing a new explanation and purpose for a much maligned feature such as the ion storm?

We all know ion storms are accompanied by hive bots, usually only a couple. This would change to include many. It's discovered that ion storms are a byproduct of a massive hive industrial project, moving entire roid fields across the galaxy. For what reason and by what pattern we dont yet know.

So under the mask of dense ion fog, the game server seeds the system with a new layout of roids. If the content of the roids can't be made dynamic under VO 1.x then just their position is re-seeded. This can occur even while players are in the sector.

This re-juggling of systems would occur wherever ion storms occur. So while we wont have consumable or "dynamic" roid sectors we would have a semi-believable mechanism for the game server to periodically re-seed the roids in a given sector.
Nov 17, 2014 Death Fluffy link
I'm not crazy about the suggested implementation but I would like to see a complete restructuring of mining so that scarcity becomes a reality.

The sad fact is that the best way to play Vendetta Online is cooperatively. This is because there is an infinate amount of most things and only a few items are scarce- and those can be gotten retlatively easily.

Miners don't need protection from bots or other players because there are plenty of locations they can mine with near zero risk. While there is a small market in mined goods, I dare say most folk do their own mining.

Asteroids should be depleted as they are mined- not heated up. In fact, I would suggest that ores should be extracted faster as the asteroid warms up. A good asteroid find should lead to a call to one's guildmates to come help harvest it, or the player could try to keep it secret and to themselves.

I don't really know what the best mechanism for replinishment should be, whether expanding existing asteroid fields, exploding planits or stars to create new asteroid sectors, new and very dangerous systems to explore and tame or something entirely different. I'm just not crazy about the magically rerolling the dice and I'd rather leave mining alone until something decent can be put into place.
Nov 17, 2014 cellsafemode link
well, that is supposedly part of the dynamic system and VO 2.0 plan ...this rolling of the dice method is a hold-over until whenever the date 2.0 is released. Which could be quite a while from now or next month.

in other words, an attempt to work within the confines of the current engine without massive coding effort to get _some_ of the effect of having a varying mine-field experience.

This variation will make self mining less attractive than having dedicated miners as well. Since no longer would you be able to rely on static lists and known locations and re-scanning every time you need to mine would be a hassle. It would at least begin to open the game up to mining guild's having a true purpose
Nov 17, 2014 Death Fluffy link
-1 to dev time being allocated to temporary fixes.

I"m not saying I don't agree with your argument. I don't want bandaids where they aren't absolutely necessary.

You know what? Itan has it fucking right. They've put up a store front and are selling items at inflated prices. I can pretty much buy and move anything I need right now, but when I was new, Scar Shop was a god send. I spent a lot of credits at that shop buying weapons and odd bits. I'm really glad to see a store front back in the game. If I had a clue about programming, I would try to do something similar.

The only real 'need' (and this surely needs to be fixed) for Mining guilds is to produce ore for trident builders. There is absolutely nothing stopping them from creating a storefront at all I8, M14, C12 and M7 and selling ore at high prices. If that had been available when I was building, I would have gladly paid a premium price.
Nov 17, 2014 cellsafemode link
the one thing that would stop a bot is the one thing that would necessitate a bot. Not having the persistance of members of the guild being there. Having a bot take the place of actual people opens you up to just having someone wait for the bot to blindly drop items .. Sure the buyer may be around. but who knows what port it will exit from and who has the faster ship to scoop up the dropped items. And when it comes to unfactioned stations, there is nothing stopping anyone from shooting those people.

in the current game the thing holding back non-combative guilds is the fact that there aren't enough players to make non-combative guilds not have to become combative to protect themselves. Because not enough people who are combative are online to protect them at any given time.

It would make much more sense at this time for the developers to allow depositing items in a guild bank the same way they deposit money and have that take up space and require rent if needed and have all the similar access restrictons etc. that currently exists. They're going to eventually allow that anyway with player owned stations etc.

But no, I'd much rather have devs spend a little bit of time to give us 50% of the functionality of fully dynamic roid systems now than have to wait over a year or more for the full 100% The current setup is just totally played out. Anyone can simply trade a list of all the roids in the entire game and never even need to equip a scanner if they use targetless.
Nov 18, 2014 Kierky link
The game is dangerous. If people haven't realised that shit by now, you need to stop and have a hard look at why you're playing a game called Vendetta. When I designed it I knew fully well that people would try to abuse it as such. It's just up to the buyer to choose the right moment to make the bot do it's thing.

It was motivated by the old "SCAR Bank" in the old days of VO, and I wanted to re-create that for the people of VO.

-1 to your suggestion of magic guild item transfers. The game should always have danger.

I'd much rather they spend 1 month on doing something well instead of implementing something in a week and spend the following 3 months patching fixes for it.
Nov 18, 2014 Yellowdog link
+1 to Kierky.

It is NOT that easy to release some features for 2.0 early. Not only is it not easy, it's #$***@ crazy to do so. Sofware development takes time, no ways around that. There is a joke/saying about software development.

1. You can have it done fast.
2. You can have it done cheap.
3. You can have it work correctly

Pick any 2 of the 3 above. WHichever 2 you pick, the third one will be just the opposite. :)
Nov 18, 2014 abortretryfail link
We all know ion storms are accompanied by hive bots, usually only a couple.

Do we? Last I checked, Ion storms contain the same bots the sector they appear on has.

+1 to mix up the roid fields. Throw something new in some empty space somewhere.
Nov 20, 2014 mitchness link
I like the idea that an ion storm can happen anywhere at anytime. Home systems, wormholes, and station sectors can also be effected. It would shake things up for players of all types.
Nov 20, 2014 Darth Nihilus link
Yellowdog's saying is awesome if I do say so myself
Nov 20, 2014 BigNastyone link
+1 to a guild bank to dump items for guild use with access restrictions also in station trades would be nice