Forums » Suggestions

Turbo speeds and engines

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Oct 20, 2004 Spellcast link
if you like the modifications can be part of the ship hulls themselvs (actually that might be easier yet to add to the game.) You would just have a few more variations on each hull with the different engine speeds / abilities built in.

The idea is to have differences in the ships so that they arent all cookie cutter duplicates of each other. 200m/s speed and infinite turbo are just silly.
Oct 20, 2004 roguelazer link
I disagree Celkan. This game is not about everyone being able to outrun everyone else. That takes away the whole sense of danger. And what server lag-outs? I haven't had any since just after the n00bs arrived...
Oct 21, 2004 Spellcast link
Having spent a night thinking about it, I've decided that adding the engine modifications as built in ship variants would be easier code wise, but very tedius in terms of gameplay.

Even if it were only limited to the first 3 suggestions for engine modifications i posted, we would have 15 variants of every ship hull. in some cases more. we now have the following hull variants; basic, light, cargo, armored, and faction specifics. each of these would need the different engine modifications, making the buy ships screen a nightmare to go through.

If the developers added more possible modifications, then the number of ship "variants" starts to go up rediculously.

I dont think changing the energy consumption back to what it was would solve anything, because then everyone will still be using the last ship in the series and still going infiniturbo. nothing will change at all.
Oct 21, 2004 dygituljunky link
These are definitely interesting suggestions. How about modifying the suggestion so that the ship modifications take up a heavy weapons slot (and each ship above license levels 4 gets and additional ship modification slot).

That way if I really wanna run instead of fight, I can. But if I wanna fight instead of run, I could configure a ship for that, too.

Items that could use the heavy modification slots:
- Engine modifications
- External Fuels tanks
- Heavy Weapons
- External Cargo Pods (limited to x kg per pod)
- etc.

Think of NATO fighter planes and NATO cargo aircraft: they have standardized slots that can be used for a number of items...

--Roberto Komercisto
Oct 21, 2004 Spellcast link
for the same reason that i told toshiro. By keeping the suggestion aligned with only the engines, it makes it much easier to code in. A device slot is a whole different thread. :)

If the idea is limited to only the engines, then there is less code that has to be modified.
Oct 21, 2004 dygituljunky link
Right, that's what I get for, ahem, reading the entire thread first.

I like the idea that you've posted, but the reason why you posted it is to give more variety. I also understand why you've limited it to engines. The reason that I still think that the eventual goal should be for a shared heavy equipment mount is that it would provide for even MORE customization and variation. Likely there would probably be a good middle ground that people would go for, but then the PvP griefers and the Traders (think tennis) and the Fly-around-and-explorers would all be able to customize their ships to their liking. You could very well end up facing someone in the same hull who likes to plasmafy so if you didn't prepare your ship to dodge and run, you're toast.

Additional items to add the the heavy modification point:
- armor
- additional small weapons mounts (better also add an additional battery if you plan on using this one)
- sensor packages
- package to identify the outfit another player has within the normal range (hull, modifications, cargo)
- package to pick up other vessels at a longer range
- scrambler packages (say a 2:1 apparent distance to actual distance ratio or any number of other options)
- package to increase the chances of detecting a space anomoly (a new wormhole)

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The other reason that I suggest doing a heavy modification point is that it would keep the game balance and it would allow the users to decide how to balance in their favor.

Me, I'd probably run most of the time and have sensor boosts and/or scramblers to make me seem less of a threat or less of a profitable target. Then again, I might decide to go on patrol and spread the atoms of any attacker across space. Depends on my mood that day.

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To summarize, if the goal is keeping the game balanced while adding variety, the more options one has, the better.

dyg|RK
Oct 21, 2004 Celkan link
Rogue, unlike you, I *Have* been experiencing server lag-outs at a rate of about 5-6 times in a space of thirty minutes. Every time I log in. Having infinite turbo is my ONLY way to even have the slightest chance against it because I'm usually low on energy when it occurs.
Oct 21, 2004 Magus link
If you're the only one experiencing it it's probably not the server.

And on top of that, Server issues are irrelevant to game balance.
Oct 21, 2004 Celkan link
I had also originally said that I only still played because I had the ability to run away. Take it away, and away I go. I'm not paying extra, hard-earned credits for that ability. I don't see what you people are whining about the f/c battery for anyway; even though it gives inf turbo, you still can't really do a lot of PvP/botting with it... only trading. If a trader doesn't want to get caught, that's *their* perogative. If you're a pirate, too bad. Use geminis or practice chasing a friend.

I still maintain that the engines are fine the way they are. If we make it so we have to buy engines, then make the hulls free and the engines' cost relative to the hull you buy.

FYI, I don't have the fast charge yet... so i'm going to be extremely pissed if it gets changed so that I can't trade effectively just before I get it.
Oct 21, 2004 Spellcast link
if you dont have it yet then you need to ,IMO, stop defending something you are not using.

The FC battery is EXTREMELY useful in combat. Most ships can mount a dual energy and combat very well with a FC. A missile ship can do even more with a all homer loadout, or 1 energy and the rest missiles.
Run in, attack, if the battle starts to go against you, you just run, no one has any chance of catching you because you can turbo forever with 1 point of energy.

Meanwhile if you feel that you cannot possibly continute to play in the event that the devs do make a change, perhaps beta testing isnt for you. The idea here is to try to bring balance to the game. As it stands it IS unbalanced, You are entilted to your opinion, but i wish you would have some experience with what you are arguing about before forming it.
Nov 10, 2004 Spider link
*BUMP*

due to Cam.
Nov 21, 2004 Spellcast link
bumped on general principle.

I'm going to be revising this idea some in the nearish future, and since i took the time to find it to re-read the comments on it, i thought i'd bump it while i was here.
Nov 21, 2004 mdaniel link
Only PIRATES can agree to these suggestions.. for me: leave things as they are now.

M. Duncan
Nov 21, 2004 Thomas link
I agree with Spellcast totally. I tried CTC today and was hoping for a CTF style experience. HAHAHA was I mistaken

CTC is horrible, and you know why?

Player A kills Transport, Player A takes cargo, Player A infi turbos away, done and done.

There is no combat at all. There is no way to catch the people with cargo, even ambushing at the wormholes only has midling success. They just run away far to easy. I agree 100% and personally have to say I won't buy this game until combat is fixed( infi turbo) so it is fun again.
Nov 21, 2004 Spellcast link
Mdaniel, I am not a pirate, and i proposed the suggestions. Is there something in the suggestion you specifically disagree with? I'm looking for constructive criticism.
I attempted to lay out the idea to correct a specific problem, eg that PVP is broken because its far too easy to escape.
This helps traders also because right now pirates can start an attack, or gaurd a wormhole, and it is impossible to stop them because they can just run away.
Nov 21, 2004 Phaserlight link
I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is a *good* suggestion, and I hope we see it implemented sometime soon.

That or I would like to see the ship engines tweaked so there is more variation between different ship types.
Nov 21, 2004 CrippledPidgeon link
Here's my thought - and some faded recollections from the past.

I thought that in the past, you could infiniboost, but it was in the form of a slower engine. Even if this wasn't how it was, certainly you can see the balance advantages of it - you can boost without recharging, but another player with a faster (and more energy thirsty) engine has the chance to catch you if they react quickly enough.

If you find yourself unable to run away from a battle due to low energy, that, in my opinion is your problem. You should have been managing your energy levels to leave that option open for you. That's why I like the large battery - you have a lot of energy, and a lot of leeway to play with (and I don't say that I manage my energy very well either, but I'm working on it). I also like the FC battery because it makes flying from Geira to Verasi that much easier because I don't have to wait long for charging completely.

I don't like that people can run away with 1 energy and an FC batt and travel as fast as me with my heavy battery. The FC battery wins every time because they don't need to wait to charge to run, nor do they need to wait to jump. In CtC, an infiniboosting player is nearly impossible to catch unless they're so weighed down that they don't accelerate as quickly as you do.
Nov 21, 2004 Beolach link
[quote mdaniel]
Only PIRATES can agree to these suggestions.. for me: leave things as they are now.
[/quote]

[quote Spellcast]
Mdaniel, I am not a pirate, and i proposed the suggestions. Is there something in the suggestion you specifically disagree with? I'm looking for constructive criticism.
[/quote]

I think mdaniel is probably looking only at solo player trader vs. solo player pirate. Solo player trader is in a fully loaded (likely unarmed) Centaur. Take away his/her infiniturbo, and s/he is toast, period. The problem is, the knife cuts both ways. As soon as you bring in escorts, either grouped players or players escorting CtC convoys, infiniturbo makes it too easy for what Thomas describes, "Player A kills Transport, Player A takes cargo, Player A infi turbos away, done and done."

IMO, it basically breaks down to: currently it's easy to solo trade, and easy to pirate the enemies CtC convoys. Spellcast's suggestion would make both harder. All in all, I'd agree with Spellcast, just because everytime I look at the Cargo Captures page, both Itani and Serco *ALWAYS* have more of their opponents cargo than their own. This just strikes me as really weird. And also, for solo traders, you can stay within your nations boundaries, and it should still be fairly easy to solo trade.
Nov 24, 2004 The Noid link
For starters, I haven't been playing long and haven't seen the infiniturbo F/C battery yet, but...
I get the feeling ships are all the same in terms of speed and only marginally different in term of handling. Yes, a fully loaded transport wraith handles like an elephant, but an empty wraith is faster then a Vulture and handles just about the same, so why on earth (or in space) would I want to fly a Vulture if the Wraith gives me an extra large weapon slot and much, much more armour for less credits and for less levels?

Shouldn't a Wraith have a much lower strafing speed than forward speed, have hardly any turning speed and slow acceleration?

Offcourse it could be I just haven't noticed the difference yet.

also, I think the buy-ship menu would be a lot more accessable if it gave a table of the available ships with the most inportant stats. Right now it's very hard to compare the ships, and if you want to know what the last one is, you have to click through all the others.
Nov 24, 2004 Spellcast link
please see thread http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/7625 for a more current discussion on these ideas.