Ideas

[RTyp06]

I have some Ideas that I think might improve WW and appeal to a wider audience. No, I don't want WW to be my ideal 4x or Space Opera, I love it just the way it is. That said, I'd like to introduce some new ideas that might add variety to the game and not overcomplicate it at the same time.

Fuel I've read complaints about the Hyperdrive making the game too easy. What if the Hyperdrive required purchasing,trading or finding of say Energy Crystals? Each crystal would allow for one jump? Or perhaps you'd have to find say an anti-matter fueling station? Perhaps all star drives require a varying amount of fuel? Not only would one have to consider time during a game but fuel requirements as well.

Money Instead of trading for every item in the game, perhaps allow direct selling and purcahsing of items? This might allow different game types where end wealth decides score. Different markets could have varying prices for the same items.

Unique Missions I love the science, pirate and military game options but ultimately the three mission types aren't much different from one another save for item value. What if each type had a unique mission? For example, as a science ship I might track and capture the coveted "Space Amobea". Bringing this bad boy home would net my team a nobel prize! Or to explore all the back holes.

The pirate mission could be simply the accumulation of wealth. The military mission could always be a Kawangi mission. Or rescue missions where the crippled corvette is sending a distress signal and you need to engage the enemy and save him/her from imminent doom? The idea is to give specific quests to each mission type.

Heavy Barrel An uber weapon turning your starship into a Dreadnought! The catch, you have to find 3 to 5 pieces to the gun. Perhaps not only do you have to find all the pieces strewn about the galaxy, but need say the Zorg passanger or maybe Fomax to assemble and construct the heavy barrel weapon.

Unique Homeworlds There is really nothing that stands out about the homeworlds in the game. If you win a homeworld battle you are simply told that it is a home world. Seems to me homeworlds should be the most heavily defended. Perhaps ramp up the homeworld enemies to 3X normal? Or perhaps give the homeworlds unique bases each with it's own unique defenses.

Unique Battle Items
Every battle seems straightforward, litterally. You move toward the enemy and he moves straight toward you. He who has the best weapon loadout, wins. Why not shake it up a bit and add a little more tactic as well...

As is, you can fire say, particle vortex projectiles until the cows come home. What about limited use weapons? For example, what if missiles type weapons could run out during battle?

Or how about battle items that don't cause damage but instead act like EMP, or Repel enemy fire. Perhaps even change an enemy ship's path, knocking it back or changing it's heading.

What about limited use items that can make any ship warp to a new position, freeze an enemy temporarily, cast decoys to confuse etc. How about dropping mines or minefields? Tractor beams?

Obsticles Objects placed in the battlefield such as asteroids or walls. Perhaps nebula you can hide in and confuse enemy radar. Perhaps even planets that generate a gravitational pull?

Thanx for reading.

[Godo]

RTyp06 said:
How about dropping mines or minefields? Tractor beams?

Obsticles Objects placed in the battlefield such as asteroids or walls. Perhaps nebula you can hide in and confuse enemy radar. Perhaps even planets that generate a gravitational pull?

The mine fields are easy. I made a mine-laying weapon for my mod. They lie dormant until the enemy draws near, then they home in on the ship...slowly.

Now the obstacle thing I would like to see/try. Because I think that would add a little more tactics to the battles. However it needs to be implemented carefully because the ships are often stupid and turn right into one another.

Keep up the good ideas! That's what fuels iterative design.

[RTyp06]

Godo: I'd be interested in DLing your mod. I've also seen the pic of your Raath destroyer, looks cool. I've downloaded every mod I can find from the mod/scen board but don't think I've seen yours yet.

Lates.

[Godo]

Cool, thanks. But the mod's not ready yet.

I've got 5 ships in right now, and I'm planning on the initial release to simply be a combat sim. Some of the weapons still need tweaking for range and damage as they're still in the proof-of-concept stage. I still need a lot more ships before I'd even consider putting out a beta.

If you want to see an alpha version, email me.

[RTyp06]

Thanx godo.. I'll be patient and wait for the beta like everyone else.

Lately I've tried some simple modding. Planets, sounds, races, backgrounds,items, events and all relevant text. Haven't tackled ship modding yet but have tried the user made ship editor. No luck, the program is too buggy at this point. But I will look over the VB code provided with the editor.

Anyway, two interesting ideas came to mind. A static universe option for modders. This would allow me to mod a universe and place the stars and nebulea where I choose. So, If I wanted say a pirate mod with the stars of the galaxy in a skull and crossbones pattern, I could do it and have it show up in every modded game. I envision specific scenarios/missions bound by less random rules..This might also include assigning certain races to a specific star system which would be exactly the same place in every run of the particular mod. Even further usefulness to modders might be to assign objects/ events/quests to specific star systems.

Off hand this may seem somewhat restricting, but I think it would allow modders to make some interesting challenges.

Second, specific battle backgrounds that I could either load randomly or depending on which star I assign a background to. This way, every battle / encounter could take place at it's own unique background that the modder assigns. Random selection could chose from a folder of background images.

Thanx for reading..