Forums » Suggestions

Service with a smile!

Apr 14, 2004 harvestmouse link
/me flexes muscles as she heaves a 2 lb bus cannon onto her vult
Apr 13, 2004 Arolte link
I was thinking, who does all the work in the stations when you navigate through all these tabs and request for all these actions? Should all the stuff that goes on in these stations cost money? Let me give you a few examples...

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Task: Repairs

Description: I know recently repairs were made free. For a free ship like the EC-88 this would make sense. But let me tell you, if you bust up your car in real life it's going to cost you A LOT. I'd imagine that repairing a spaceship for damages wouldn't be any different. Please bring back repair costs.

Proposal: Free repairs for EC-88. Moderate repair charges for non-special ships. Expensive repair charges for special ships.

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Task: Cargo Movement

Description: Somebody has to get that cargo on and off your ship, and unless you happen to own a hover forklift of your own you're going to need that additional help. The cost of loading/unloading cargo on your ship should be minimal. But it should be a payment nevertheless.

Proposal: Again, free cargo loading for EC-88. Minimal cargo loading expense (per widget) for all other ships.

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Task: Weapon Grouping

Description: Are you a technician or a spaceship mechanic? Do you know what wires to cross to get your brand new Vulture to fire two tachyon beams at the same time instead of one? Didn't think so. That's why you'll be paying a mechanic to do it for you! With a minimal cost you can have the weapon groupings of your dreams.

Proposal: No cost for EC-88. Minimal cost for all other ships.

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Task: Ammo Reloading

Description: You ever see those nifty dollys or vehicles that the military uses to put rockets on to the wing pods? Yep, you should be glad that you have underpaid workers at your disposal to carry around all your explosive ammo and equip it on to your ship. That's why you're going to tip 'em everytime they do their job.

Proposal: EC-88 no cost. Non-specials moderate. Specials expensive.

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Task: Trade Route Info

Description: While this isn't in the game right now, it sure would be nice to have an NPC give you hints as to which trade routes are the most profitable. In a game that will contain hundreds of sectors, you'll be glad that NPC tipped you off on the best route. Of course you had to give him 20c to cough up that information, but the profit you got out of your trade route was well worth it.

Proposal: For varying fees, get advice such as trade routes and hidden shortcuts from NPCs located in the station lobby.

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Hmmm... okay I think that's all I have for now. For the most part the reason why there's varying expenses for non-specials, specials, etc. is to encourage the careful use of the more valuable ships, while being more forgiving for those that tend to take more damage or abuse. Trivial stuff like loading cargo and weapon groupings would naturally cost less. But more combat related tasks such as repairs, reloading ammo, etc. will be more or less expensive depending on the type of ship you're flying.

What do you guys think?
Apr 14, 2004 Durgia link
I think its all included right now just not shown.

Repairs obviously will cost money eventually, just a pain in the but for testing.

loading ammo would be included in the cost. If I buy tires for my car I buy them installed. They could make it say +5c service fee etc, but for the test this is pointless

same with cargo

Weapon groups maybe just computer controlled and need know mechanical ability, who knows. Maybe by typing things in the computer it regroups them, if I can bind my keyboard or joystick to do different things I don't see why a futuristic computer could not do the same.

And I think NPC with hints would be better suited for training missions. IE finish the mission and the bot says "By the way the price for x is $y in sector z"
Though if their are hundreds of sectors it would be nice to have a map that shows prices and what sectors buy, this could be purchased or made or whatever RP role suits it.

Apr 14, 2004 HumpyThePenguin link
Actually, I like the idea that it should cost more to repair and rearm special ships, as sort of a subtle deterrent to buying them
Apr 14, 2004 Durgia link
I agree that ships repairs cost should vary, but right now its not all that helpful to the test. It would, I hope, be in the sale versions though.
Apr 14, 2004 ctishman link
What about buying a HoverForkBot5500 as an outfit to save cargo costs?
Apr 14, 2004 UncleDave link
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Task: Repairs

Description: I know recently repairs were made free. For a free ship like the EC-88 this would make sense. But let me tell you, if you bust up your car in real life it's going to cost you A LOT. I'd imagine that repairing a spaceship for damages wouldn't be any different. Please bring back repair costs.

Proposal: Free repairs for EC-88. Moderate repair charges for non-special ships. Expensive repair charges for special ships.

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Fine. Somewhere around a third the cost of your ship for 99.9% repair would be good.

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Task: Cargo Movement

Description: Somebody has to get that cargo on and off your ship, and unless you happen to own a hover forklift of your own you're going to need that additional help. The cost of loading/unloading cargo on your ship should be minimal. But it should be a payment nevertheless.

Proposal: Again, free cargo loading for EC-88. Minimal cargo loading expense (per widget) for all other ships.

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No, its included in the buy/sell cost.

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Task: Weapon Grouping

Description: Are you a technician or a spaceship mechanic? Do you know what wires to cross to get your brand new Vulture to fire two tachyon beams at the same time instead of one? Didn't think so. That's why you'll be paying a mechanic to do it for you! With a minimal cost you can have the weapon groupings of your dreams.

Proposal: No cost for EC-88. Minimal cost for all other ships.

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I'd think that the ships would be sophisticated enough to do that for you? How advanced is it to tap in a few combinations into your control panel or whatever? Maybe ship-based (ie. it would cost on something as old-fashioned as a, oh I don't know, HORNET?)

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Task: Ammo Reloading

Description: You ever see those nifty dollys or vehicles that the military uses to put rockets on to the wing pods? Yep, you should be glad that you have underpaid workers at your disposal to carry around all your explosive ammo and equip it on to your ship. That's why you're going to tip 'em everytime they do their job.

Proposal: EC-88 no cost. Non-specials moderate. Specials expensive.

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Why? If you're flying an expensive spacecraft then surely you'd have the basic knowledge and physical strength to load a few straightfire rockets. Not only that, do you buy microwaved food that you have to carefully arrange in your microwave before you can try and cook it? No, its in a tray, pop it in and off you go.

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Task: Trade Route Info

Description: While this isn't in the game right now, it sure would be nice to have an NPC give you hints as to which trade routes are the most profitable. In a game that will contain hundreds of sectors, you'll be glad that NPC tipped you off on the best route. Of course you had to give him 20c to cough up that information, but the profit you got out of your trade route was well worth it.

Proposal: For varying fees, get advice such as trade routes and hidden shortcuts from NPCs located in the station lobby.

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Nice idea, but Vendetta would do better to have players trading this sort of info amongst themselves.





Um, this all seems either blindingly obvious or fiddly and pointless. Sorry.
Apr 14, 2004 Arolte link
*sigh*

<sarcasm>
Gee thanks, UncleDave. I just thought some people would be interested in actually roleplaying the game more. Guess I was wrong.
</sarcasm>

I can understand some of them being a bit extraneous, but the cost for repairs and NPC info would be a definite nice touch to the final game.
Apr 14, 2004 SirCamps link
I like the ideas, but why shouold the EC88 be exempt from weapon grouping fees? I mean COME ON THAT BUS CANNON IS L33T!!!!! =P Oh yeah, it has one gun, doh! ;-)

Another feature that would be nice is changing the repair feature. Sure, you wreck your car, but it is never as good as new. In the same way, after that Valkyrie docks with just 4% after an intense exchange of sunflares, it should NOT be functioning as well as a brand-new, shiny Valkyrie. Repairs should not go higher than 94% of the hull. If it's damaged again, it can only go to 88.36%, etc. Eventually you can buy boosters to increase this, yada.

Dave, those sunflare rockets probably weight around 900 lbs each. You care to load em yourself? All 32 (for your prom)? Haha. Thought so. ;-)
Apr 14, 2004 UncleDave link
I agree with the repairs thing. But the NPC info takes away from one of the main pillars of the game: discovery.
Apr 14, 2004 roguelazer link
For once, I agree with 100% of Arolte's starting post. Now I'm scared...
Apr 14, 2004 Pyroman_Ace link
Well, while I like Arolte's preliminary ideas I spot several small things that could be changed:

1)In the US Armed Forces most repairs to military vehicles are done by the operators. (excepting Fighter Jets and some Large Scale vehciles (chinooks))

2) Also, the weapons loading is not nessicarily done by dock workers or underpaid people. It is often done by specially trained soldiers...(I propose looping the cost of load into the cost of the weapon originally to keep the programming simple and also a lot easier on us, the pilots in terms of logistics)

3) How's about a tax on incomming goods? Because really, on the station the loaders/unloaders benefit from trade because it keeps their otherwise empty station alive.

4) weapons grouping: Not nessicarily done via a mechanic...just like the AMRAAM it can typically be "paddled" offline by the pilot. Otherwise, for every config it's going to add to the craft's weight and everything and that is even less practical.

The way I currently view weapons systems is there are panels (On, Off, FIRE) for each weapon on the craft. Therefore I can fire two at a time by pressing both FIRE buttons together (or in some cases by pulling a forefinger or thumb trigger)

5) Trade route info...Okay, why risk an NPC being blown to smithereens during a sector battle? Simply add a terminal in station and charge everytime the pilot accesses the terminal. The pilot can then view all current information about trade good prices in the universe (exempting Hostile Nation Territory and some other random sectors (eg. perhaps s13 doesnt show s7's current price))

Well, I guess I shot down a few more ideas then modified so I'll stop. Anyways, I like some of the basic ideas Arolte mentioned.
Apr 15, 2004 Archon link
I agree with pretty much everything UncleDave said.
Apr 17, 2004 Phaserlight link
>Task: Repairs
>
>Description: I know recently repairs were made free. For a free ship like the EC-88 >this would make sense. But let me tell you, if you bust up your car in real life it's >going to cost you A LOT. I'd imagine that repairing a spaceship for damages >wouldn't be any different. Please bring back repair costs.
>
>Proposal: Free repairs for EC-88. Moderate repair charges for non-special ships. >Expensive repair charges for special ships.

What if repair cost was simply a function of the cost of your ship's hull? The formula would go like:

repair cost = (% hull needing repair)x(cost of ship)

So for an EC-88, repairs would always be free. A vulture with 25% hull left would cost about 1,500 creds for repairs. A valk with 50% hull left, repairs would cost 15,000.
Apr 17, 2004 Pyroman_Ace link
I like Phaser's idea!

It would allow things to be more proportional than just setting a flat rate. Also, it wouldn't encourage pilots to fight in their damaged craft so that they can get the most repair for their money. That leads to pilots being killed in stupid situations.
Apr 18, 2004 toshiro link
another tweak:

1. repair cost:
you can let your ship be repaired by any backyard tinkerer, okay. but you have a given chance that he will do irreversible damage to your ship.
if you want a "good" repair, so that you don't have depreciation/degradation, you have to pay for it.
if anyone remembers diablo by blizzard, the warrior there had the ability to repair his equipment, at the price of damaging it over time.

2. cargo movement:
sure, you can tell those drifters over there to haul your cargo from dock A to dock B.
but don't expect to get it always back the way it was when you load it into another vehicle.
cargo transports involve security, customs fees and so on. did you think that was free?

3. weapon grouping:
if you let your computer handle the grouping for you, it has to use rocessor time for that. if you make the changes permanent, you get an increase in the fire rate (only a slight one).

4. ammo reloading:
again, the drifters can load teh ammo to your ship. just don't expect every rocket to fire...

5. trade route info:
here, i again blatantly rip off blizzard (this time diablo2):
you can trade infos about trade routes with players, there you bargain on your own.
or, you can ask an NPC and get a mediocre, yet 100% functional trade route for a mediocre fee.

i agree with arolte that these things would contribute greatly to the rpgishness of the game. you just get more immersed if it provides little facts that are in the end useless, but they enhance your gaming experience.
Apr 18, 2004 Magus link
I'm a vice-president in the Neutral Territories. If a vice president isn't entitled to free-repairs while he's out defending his nation, I don't know what is.
Apr 18, 2004 simondearsley link
I think SirCamps idea has merit. Could be cool if the HUD indicated 100% still, so the total hp the ship can have decreases based on the serverity of the damage. 99% damage would result in the total HP dropping by 20%. This would be compounding... So a Valk in this situation would now have a hull of 7200, the next time, it would have a hull of 5760 etc...
Apr 18, 2004 Pyroman_Ace link
I think Magus has an idea here.

I think that once Guild Support is introduced, certain guilds should be allowed slightly lowered prices on items in their home space (such as SDF, we defend the area, so we should get a discount in s12 and s2 and a SLIGHT reduction in s13 and s5 (even though we are actually based in 5))

While pirate guilds are given increased prices on goods and repairs in areas and they get a lower amount of money for everything they sell, including cargo and equipment