I'm not sure if you guys are planning on making the PC ships faster with big time upgrades in the main game or what, but I think that the fighters need to be a lot faster. mainly though, you need to be able to buy faster bullets. (more upgrades?) it would also be nice to see some kind of machine gun. like a gatling gun or something. plasma is cool, but bullets can never be replaced. maybe something like the fighters in homeworld or the fighters in the movie "wing Commander" (bad movie cool guns)

Why is faster good?

The guns idea is nice, and the faster too. For example, picture a "Scout" which could go fast enough to dodge all weaponry and could be used to distract cap ships. Now arm it with an extremely high rate of fire machine gun and you've got a cool little fighter. :)

/me loves Homeworld, and will love Homeworld2

as your character advances through the game, your skills as a driver increase. so when your character has a kick ass ship, and you have been playing the game for a long time, it would become more and more like a fast pased dog fight where you have to rely on strategy and hand-eye coordenation instead of slowly trying to avoid volleys and just sitting there blasting away at your enemy. more finess involved. faster looks cooler, is more fun and is more intence! would the action in 'top gun' be fun to watch if the dog fights went at 20 knots? hell no!

For some people "faster" may mean "more exhilerating".

For me, "faster" means "more likely to crash into an asteroid, oncoming fire, or myself". :-)

well, if you play a lot you should get better? and whay kind of logic is that? if you drive a more responcive car, you can obviously dodge things more safely...

Due to the fact that nerve signals propogate at finite speeds, there are limits to the actual control you would excert at scale speeds significantly higher than those already simulated.

I think I have plenty of playing experience. That is not in question.

Actually having to rely on strategy would be best simulated by fighters that moved at a mere 30 m/s. The faster that fighters move the more they really on the fact that human reflexes can't respond fast enough, and the more one pass battles you have. this is matter of historical record. Intence tactical furballs were much more common place in WWI than in WWII. By the Korean war and the introduction of the jet fighter, the number of actually dog fights was minimal. In modern war, with the addition of homing missiles and the like, dogfights are almost entirely theoretical.

But, I guess I don't know anything.

But maybe you should ask the question, if driving a more responcive car is safer, why do sports cars get in more accidents proportionately than other cars, and why does your insurance agent demand more money if you have a two-seater rather than a four?

Maybe because if you have a 800 horsepower engine, you are tempted to drive a little fast. And maybe because it is easier to get into an accident if you are going 120 mph and everyone else is going 60 mph...

I too like the idea of faster paced combat... Faster ships, less damage per hit, faster firing guns.

The ion cannon is still too strong, considering there's no regenerating shields. Battles are over in a matter of seconds usualy. Would be more fun if they would last for minutes... I'm talking somewhere in the 5-10 minute/battle range for an average battle, and longer when playing cautiously (although there's less need to avoid getting hit if u got regenerating shields).

As for the comments on making it harder to play... Dunnow. Anyone remember the game "Pod Racer"? Gave you a great sense of speed, yet it was still pretty easy to control. Give that kind of speed to the ships in vendetta, and dogfights between asteroids become more intense as someone flees and zip-zap between the asteroids, dodging.

[edit] Oh, and it would be great if there would be huge roids with canyons in them, and tunnels & whatnot. ;)

What about available power ups or random cargo with mystery effects such as, instant boost or smart rockets. There could be a short limit to uses or whether they last for a period of time?

Then again, perhaps we should get out our games consoles and battle on games such as mario cart or Red alert ?


Just my 2 cents!!!


WM.

/me prefers the idea of getting experience for his copilot which inturn helps accuracy,speed or manuauverbilty.

I'm hoping that the current lasers will eventually look and behave like REAL lasers. Not the archetype image of lasers in classic sci-fi flicks, but rather a continuous stream of beam that would flash and then slowly fade away with time and distance (gradiant effect). Not like the current hidden railgun weapon that the devs have been playing with, but more like the railgun of Q3A. A bright flashing beam, and then a delay to reload as the vapor trail quickly disappears. At close range it could be deadly, but the damage it inflicts could get weaker with distance to balance it out. And its ultra accuracy (no aimbot) would make it harder to aim.

A lightning cannon would also be nice, but probably for heavy ships only since they have such a slow turn rate. Some type of gatling gun or non-energy/projectile-based weapon was another thing I've suggested in the past. But yeah, ultimately I agree that there should be some type of faster weapon for fighters.

nighty, then IO think you didn't do battle against asp, I mean ions only. It took me 5 minutes to take him out, and for him to take me out

hehe

that was fun

I love that dodging tactic :D

cheers

well, you can make a battle last for ages, but most people just wanna kill the enemy as fast as possible. Now every hit means you'll lose some hull which u can't repair anyway. Why bother being cautious? Chances are equal that you'll kill the enemy before he kills you, or vice versa.

Now, introduce shield and everything changes. You can effectively absorb some fire before u get permanent damage. That'll make u fly around a bit more cautious because you want to keep that hull intact (although u wouldn't care about the shields). And when damaged, a fully charged shield will still protect u, so you'll make sure u don't get hit too much after taking damage.

It may sound weird that making u stronger by giving shields on top of the hull we already have makes u more cautious, but to me at least it feels that way. Since all damage is permanent anyway, why bother with stupid tactics to avoid getting shot too much? Every hit decreases your hull permanently anyway, so there's no point in running and getting shot in the arse. Makes more sense to do a head on and at least inflict some damage while taking enemy fire.

As for the speedier fighters: if the fighters are faster, it's easier to put some distance between you and the enemy. After a head on it takes longer for him to turn around and catch up with you. This effectively puts you out of weapons range. Or at least out of efficient-targeting range. You can use this time to regenerate your shields and think of a tactic to kill the little bugger. ;)

Sorry if this reads like a mess, but I'm dogtired. Guess I'm finaly dying of old age, 'coz I been feeling like that a lot lately. ;-)

well i think things should be faster in general cause i think it would be cool to have dogfights while weaving through the asteroids realy fast.

You CAN have some pretty intense close calls if you're constantly boosting around or trying to avoid an enemy with 2% hull. And yes, it's pretty damn fast right now. I just don't think you've had that kind experience yet.

=b

I don't think speed is the problem. I think the problem is how what I would call 'bullfighter' tactics are most effective. If you're trying to kill someone while staying alive yourself, basically the best thing to do is to boost in close, fire some missiles and/or ions, boost away so his/her missiles and ions don't get you, turn around, and repeat. This comes from the relative safety one has from weapons while boosting and the freedom of movement granted by 3D space. I think it's somewhat of a problem, but I don't see a good solution.

Boosting makes you more vulnerable during combat, since you can't turn or strafe. It should only be used as a last resort.

i prefer the boosting whilest minning method :)

Ill tell you what I think takes away from the dog-fights that you people want on this game. The fact that you can instantly turn around and ALWAYS be facing your foe. All the great movie and jet-sim dog-fights have someone being chased from behind which physically can't instantly turn about to blast the enemy. If you made it so that ships turned more slowly and there were more roids and narrow spaces to fight in, you would find that fights become much more intense and dependent on using your surrounding to your advantage and not as much meet in an open spot and see who is the better shot with ions. I personally like it the speed and way it is, but if you want dog-fights like what your describing, limit your ship MORE, and make the terrain much more hostile to the pilot.

Thanks,
Princess_Penelope

Yes, perhaps bumping into a roid should take more damage. I was annoyed about it at first, maybe because of the random damage bug that was occuring, but if it's consistent where tapping a moving roid would mean death, then I'm all for it since it's realistic.

Second thing... uhh, I gotta disagree with your suggestion on not being able to turn around instantly. It's not as quick as you think. You can look around freely in any direction while you're boosting, since the interior cockpit isn't drawn out to obstruct your view, but that's really the only extent of the advantage you'll ever get. The turn rate is fast, but not too fast. Enough for it to look right for each ship class. And while we don't see it, retro rockets are mainly used for this unbelievable maneuver. I don't know whether it's planned for the future, but I think tiny bursts of light or conical flames should shoot out at appropriate areas from the sides of the ship's model to indicate the use of these retro rockets. It would definitely look more believable.

Also, responding to your comments about classic dogfight scenes, keep in mind that this is a space combat simulation. Earth-based modern fighter jets don't use retro rockets. Some have vector thrusting to improve maneuverability, but no retro rockets. Gravity makes it hard for jet fighters to turn on a dime, due to the requirement for the wings to be in constant motion for lift. Since there is no gravity or air in space, space fighters can basically move in any way the placement of retro rockets will allow it to. It feels weird, but that's just the way our universe is. Maybe if some gravitational pull is coded into some large celestial bodies for future versions of Vendetta, you may get your wish. But for now, this is what it's supposed to be.