New features I would like to see>>>> - Page 3

apache · #21 November 14th, 2001, 12:33 AM

I dunno, I think that resource specific planets already exist. Personally, I don't use a planet for resourcing of resource X if the percentage for X is less than 100%. But I am not against making planets more special in some way to make them worth far more to fight over.
As for the flee option, I think it would be quite easy for the AI to use it. It already analyzes known ship strengths and decides when to fight or not. If it gets into a battle where it has superior speed, but does not want to fight, it should flee. It would give an advantage to those folks who are using Battle Cruisers in their fleets trying to battle Dreadnoughts and Baseships. I am all for a flee option based on ship speed.
Heres what I want:
A) Fix the typo with the shield regenerator V. It still takes 30 KT space, and only puts out 25 shield points per turn, while the shield regenerator IV weighs 20 KT and puts out 20 shield points per turn. This one has been around for ages too.
B) Drones!!!
C) I don't believe its a typo, but I find it hard to reason why a mine warhead III weighs 5KT, and does 300 damage, while a cobalt warhead III also does 300 damage, yet weighs 50KT. I would like to see the cobalt warhead drasticly reduced in size so that it actually becomes a viable strategy.
D) Another thing I have a problem with is how the larger base mounts give extra range to the weapons, yet weapon platform mounts do not. I think weapon platforms should have even better bonuses than the base mounts simply because they are on a planet, and have tons of space they can occupy. It would also make defending planets much easier. As bases use a 2,4,6 range modifier distribution, I would make weapon platforms have a 3,5,7 range modifier distribution, with similar to-hit modifiers.
E) Satellites are smaller than an escort, and should even be more compact than an escort, yet an escort has a 40% defense modifier, while a satellite has none. I suggest a 50% defense modifier to sats, based on their small size.
F) I would also like to see the torpedos get a to-hit modifier to make them more useful.

OK, I guess these requests aren't as grand or as far reaching as other people's, and I know I can mod the files to do this stuff (and I do), but I think they should be standard in the game.

jimbob · #22 November 14th, 2001, 01:30 AM

What I'd like to see added...

Stuff that just can't be modded

1) Components that explode if hit. Perhaps something that gives you quite an edge, but if it gets hit, yur ded. (S.J.)

2) Area effect weapons. The ability to hit several ships simultaneously. Possibility of injuring your own ships by accident or necessity. I'd give em' a minimum range too. (Val and others)

3) Morale on the galactic and ship level. There are entire threads on this topic. Sun Tsu said it was *the* single most significant variable in war. Vimy Ridge was won by the vastly out gunned Canadians because of it. Morale needs to be added, IMHO

4) Unearthing the occassional monster and/or nasty race when exploring ruins (mac). I really like this one a lot. Maybe some monsters would be homebodies, while others would rampage the quadrant.

5) One word - Drones! (Apache and many many others)

6) I'd really like to see the capacity to beam people around... A la Star Trek. I just can't believe this is absent!

7) Star Gates? You know, as in the movie and TV show. Beaming civilians, troops and fighters (and maybe weapons platforms) from planet to planet IF there is a star gate on both. Forcible Star Gating to enemy planets IF they have a Star Gate too.

8) Okay, I know I'll get burned for this one but... I really think there should be a way of building individual intelligence agents, like in Star Wars Rebellion. *The* redeamable feature of the game was the complex nature of using agents to accomplish missions. I far prefer this to the current intelligence procedure in SEIV. I'm experimenting with troops with counter intelligence components (hope they work) but wouldn't it be great to make troops that could infiltrate other planets and pull off missions? Currently the abilities section allows for intelligence modification in the broadest of strokes (planet wide +/-, system wide +/-). How 'bout a component that decreases the likelyhood of a single ship defecting? Protecting a specific ship from crew rotation by adding a component? Creation of spies (new class of unit) that can be outfitted with different abilities to pull off different missions.

Just my thoughts on the many suggestions so far.

-jimbob

mac5732 · #23 November 14th, 2001, 07:06 PM

I like the flee option, however, some type of restrictions would have to be in place otherwise, everytime you get into a battle and find you can't win, the human or AI would always flee without taking any losses or damage. Maybe you have to stay 50% of the combat round lst (15 turns). This way you would have to at least fight/defend until you could start retreating, otherwise it would take the fun out of it especially in SP play.

Drones a definite YES...

Morale, I think in another thread someone stated the possibility a morale/experience combination, otherwise to much hard coding to get it into the game... Good Idea tho

Jimbob, ref #8 good idea, maybe put it as a trait found in ruins, that way not everyone would have it and it would be a random factor. (makes you want to find those ruins)

In standard game, un-modded, have AI use troops for invasions.....we need some ground fighting on these planets by the AI,

Stargates/transporters, I'm still thinking on this one, sounds good but what would it do to play balance in current game?

WP mounts, most definite, need to be more massive then allowed on ships, more range, etc. Make planets a little harder to take without taking some damage or losses, also would eliminate those w/seekers standing off and glazing planets or wiping defenses before invasion because of the range differences.

How about instead of simultaneous, you have a say 5% chance of when you miss l ship it strikes an adjacent or l within say 2 hexs of the target?? Those missing beams have to go somehwhere, would make you work more on formations that way you couldn't always count on your ships striking intended target. This could be tied into various levels of Multiple tracking etc the higher the level the less chance of striking non target, lower/none more chance of errant beams, could even strike your own ships if they were close to the target...

just some ideas mac

[This message has been edited by mac5732 (edited 14 November 2001).]

capnq · #24 November 15th, 2001, 02:55 AM

quote:
Satellites are smaller than an escort, and should even be more compact than an escort, yet an escort has a 40% defense modifier, while a satellite has none. I suggest a 50% defense modifier to sats, based on their small size.

OTOH, satellites can't maneuver; all they'd have would be station keeping thrusters. The escort can use its engines to "dodge" and otherwise make itself a less predictable target.

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Cap'n Q
My first SE IV mod! Hypermaze quadrant
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

Taqwus · #25 November 15th, 2001, 04:53 AM

Maybe a flee option could be balanced by a) requiring that fleeing ships be faster, b) that they be out of range of all enemy weapons, and c) letting it be a random die roll based on relative experience.

Hrm. Maybe variable combat-initiation distance, too -- an attacking fleet, especially a cloaked one, might try to "start" the battle from an unusually close range.

Morale/loyalty I'd definitely like to see -- in a sequel, say.

Simultaneous combat, or at least somewhat interleaved to better reflect the probable chaos (not just UGO/IGO on a per-player granularity) would be nifty.

Greater tweakability of ministers would always be nice. e.g. being able to specify what areas you might want to see mined, or a population movement priority, et al. Speaking of ministers, it'd be quite nice to have a 'skip minister-controlled ships' bit, and for the iterate-through-ship arrows to stop (or pop up a dialogue, before looping again) when all ships had been iterated through.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

dogscoff · #26 November 15th, 2001, 03:08 PM

Flee option would be nice. If that went in, it would be nice to make it so that you can't skip warp-point defences.

For example, If I have 50 satellites sitting a few combat squares from a warp point, you'd think that any enemy ship trying to pass through would have to fight / evade them in order to get through the WP. You can cheat, however by initiating combat, staying out of range and then after combat just warping through.

It should be so that using the warp command initiates combat, and the only way through the warp point is to fly up to it in tactical and "flee" through it, bringing you within range of all those static WP defences.

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SE4 Code:
L GdY $ Fr- C- Sd T!+ Sf-- Tcp-- A% M>M+ MpD! RV Pw Fq+ Nd- Rp+ G-
/SE4 Code
Go to my meagre SEIV pages to generate your own code.

mac5732 · #27 November 15th, 2001, 04:55 PM

Any attacker coming thru a defended wormhole should have to do some fighting before it can proceed. This is especially true if defender is only sats. In games i've played I've had AI ships come thru defended with only sats and never fired a shot and got into my systems, this doesn't seem right. Some type of combat should be initiated otherwise its worthless to defend with only sats. Or is this a bug??

In addition to everything mentioned in this thread. I would also like to see a choice when you have/want to destroy minefields, sats, etc, where you can choose the number similiar to when you launch them. Example, you have minefield w/100 mines, you want to destroy say only 50, (to build elsewhere), It would be nice to be able to destroy the 50 and leave the rest the same with sats, you have 30 over a planet, you want to scrap or destroy only 15 leaving the rest in place, etc.

just some ideas mac

jimbob · #28 November 15th, 2001, 11:10 PM

Quote "you have minefield w/100 mines, you want to destroy say only 50, (to build elsewhere), It would be nice to be able to destroy the 50 and leave the rest..."

Would laying mines in say Groups of 25 overcome this problem. Perhaps it would be a pain to squirt them out 25 at a time when laying mines, but then you have finer control over 'decommissioning' them later. Of course I never use mines or sats so I could be talking out my butt...

-jimbob

Dracus · #29 November 16th, 2001, 02:24 AM

quote:
Originally posted by mac5732:
In games i've played I've had AI ships come thru defended with only sats and never fired a shot and got into my systems, this doesn't seem right. Some type of combat should be initiated otherwise its worthless to defend with only sats. Or is this a bug??
just some ideas mac

If the enemy ships or your sats are cloaked then no combat will take place.

Suicide Junkie · #30 November 16th, 2001, 03:03 AM

quote:
uote "you have minefield w/100 mines, you want to destroy say only 50, (to build elsewhere), It would be nice to be able to destroy the 50 and leave the rest..."
Would laying mines in say Groups of 25 overcome this problem. Perhaps it would be a pain to squirt them out 25 at a time when laying mines, but then you have finer control over 'decommissioning' them later. Of course I never use mines or sats so I could be talking out my butt...

You could have done that in older Versions of SE4, but since v1.35 or so, all units deployed into space go into the same group. The only divisions are between sats/fighters/mines.
It is possible to have multiple independent Groups of fighters in the same sector, but that requires that they are launched at different places/times, then flown to one spot.