Aetherships!!!

by Estarra

Back to Common Grounds.

Shamarah2006-02-04 23:08:30
I like that idea Tully, but starmetal shouldn't boost weapon stats (that'd be way too powerful), just make them decay less quickly.
Laysus2006-02-04 23:09:56
Also, being able to steal more than just cargo would make the whole ships thing more interesting. Then you get frontier/elite-style cargo scoops and after blowing something up, salvage biggrin.gif
Ekard2006-02-04 23:12:46
QUOTE(Phred @ Feb 5 2006, 01:02 AM)
A couple more ideas.

Perhaps we could occasionally have a ship in distress far away.  Maybe cargo ships heading for a specific community, with a lot of supplies.  For instance, Gnomes heading to Serenwilde or Celest, Finks for Glomdoring or Magnagora.  They shout a distress, then it's a race to either resuce the ship or raid it (depending on their alliance), with battles likely as each ship tried to get there first. 

I'd love to see unique substances in some of the bubbles, such as the following ideas.

* starmetal:  Forging with this produces weapons with a bonus, such as +25, or whatever is good without being too powerful.
* aethercloth: Tailored items last longer.  Or have an automatic protection against a type of damage.
* mindheal:  Unique herb that heals insanity.
* spacegem commodites:  Greater chance of getting powerstones from this gem.

Etc...
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Nice ideas, but +25 to weapons stats is way to much, +5 would be enough.
Shamarah2006-02-04 23:14:52
The Facility is annoying... the secretary doesn't even respond to anything!
Verithrax2006-02-04 23:15:18
QUOTE(Phred @ Feb 4 2006, 08:02 PM)
A couple more ideas.

Perhaps we could occasionally have a ship in distress far away.  Maybe cargo ships heading for a specific community, with a lot of supplies.  For instance, Gnomes heading to Serenwilde or Celest, Finks for Glomdoring or Magnagora.  They shout a distress, then it's a race to either resuce the ship or raid it (depending on their alliance), with battles likely as each ship tried to get there first. 

I'd love to see unique substances in some of the bubbles, such as the following ideas.

* starmetal:  Forging with this produces weapons with a bonus, such as +25, or whatever is good without being too powerful.
* aethercloth: Tailored items last longer.  Or have an automatic protection against a type of damage.
* mindheal:  Unique herb that heals insanity.
* spacegem commodites:  Greater chance of getting powerstones from this gem.

Etc...
254003


Love all of that, although using those special commodities should require some knowledge of Planar and a fairly high skill level in the tradeskill. A few others:

Aetherwood, which is just like wood but grows in the Aether; it can be collected by ships (Solving the wood shortage).
Bussard ram-scoops for ships, so we can have Aetheric gas commodities!
Gold and silver mined from Aetheric asteroids.
Different types of weaponry for ships. Turrets can shoot beams of Power, or grenades (Made by an artisan and filled with alchemical compounds), nets (Slows down a ship, and is made by tailors) and blades (Made by forgers). Eventually, I'd like to see all tradeskills being involved with the ship system.
Estarra2006-02-04 23:21:54
QUOTE(Laysus @ Feb 4 2006, 04:09 PM)
Also, being able to steal more than just cargo would make the whole ships thing more interesting. Then you get frontier/elite-style cargo scoops and after blowing something up, salvage biggrin.gif


What's the Elite-style trading system? Someone mentioned it on TMS but I don't know what it is.
Unknown2006-02-04 23:24:42
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_%28computer_game%29
Laysus2006-02-04 23:31:56
Different systems in it had different prices for different things, which would fluctuate occasionally, and on the bulletin boards you might find people who would pay as much as twice the price for certain things in demand, if you were lucky, and even more for illegal goods. Pretty simple. But what I was referring to was the fact that if you destroyed a ship, there would be bits of cargo floating around afterwards, and if you were a skilled pilot, you could use a fuel scoop with cargo scoop add-on to grab it. Of course, perishables and some fragile goods would turn to rubbish on hitting vacuum, and the like.
Rhysus2006-02-04 23:43:44
I'd be wary of any ecosim right now, any time people screw around with the economy around here credit prices shoot through the roof and there's an enormous public outcry. Let's go with what's worked for us thus far and expand the command and conquer aspect by making specialized ship types and conquerable territory.
Tsuki2006-02-04 23:44:43
QUOTE(Estarra @ Feb 4 2006, 04:20 PM)
I was thinking that the empath may realize the ship is about to go, so performs the special ability that drains the ship's power at a steep rate and lasts for (let's say) one minute. If the ship's hull goes to 0 during this time, the ship would not implode but instead immediately reform back in its home port (with the crew intact).
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QUOTE(Estarra @ Feb 4 2006, 04:32 PM)
Note we were thinking that the Empath would be able to lay out an 'aether buoy' (or aether beacon?) that would allow a Commander with a high enough skill to make a 'jump' to them.

EDIT: The aether buoy/beacon would decay eventually so you would pretty much have to re-create them each voyage out.
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worthy.gif

Those would be incredible to have. The Avaerin imploded during aeon storms (the bad lag) because I couldn't repair the hull as much as I would've been able to without the lag, but I could tell we were going down. Something like the first empath idea there, I could've kicked that in and we'd've been alright, even though we'd've lost where we'd been.

And aether bouy. wub.gif What more can I say?

This is all amazing. smile.gif

user posted image
Laysus2006-02-04 23:44:59
That's why I was suggesting the bit for taking things after destroying ships rather than a trading system tongue.gif
Laysus2006-02-05 00:42:09
Also, it's annoying because people don't kill the creatures they create in their wake, leaving many, many more creatures around, which is only gonna get worse, it's kinda like overlinking astral except you can get away from these slightly easier.

That's my next point. They hit fairly hard, they're fairly tough to kill, but they don't follow easily enough!
Shorlen2006-02-05 00:43:44
Mines! We need mines, which perhaps you can detect at short distance (adjacent) to see them before they explode. Combateers fire them from the turret modules.


And Shorlen has come up with a coordinate system for tracking movement through Aetherspace, and OMG IT'S HUGE! We were at (1300,-400) or so at one point. blink.gif
Estarra2006-02-05 00:46:07
QUOTE(Laysus @ Feb 4 2006, 05:42 PM)
That's my next point. They hit fairly hard, they're fairly tough to kill, but they don't follow easily enough!


Fixing that now!
Shorlen2006-02-05 00:47:05
And black dragons need ranged attacks. To protect Candyland, of course.
Nokraenom2006-02-05 00:48:53
Has anyone had a problem with targetting lately? I've had 2 people now in my crew who can't seem to get it to work, whereas people weren't having any problems earlier today.

Maybe I just need to abandon my crew on the most isolated bubble I can find... ninja.gif
Unknown2006-02-05 00:48:57
Ialie Better get a Turret Now!!!!
Shorlen2006-02-05 00:50:11
QUOTE(Nokraenom @ Feb 4 2006, 08:48 PM)
Has anyone had a problem with targetting lately? I've had 2 people now in my crew who can't seem to get it to work, whereas people weren't having any problems earlier today.

Maybe I just need to abandon my crew on the most isolated bubble I can find...  ninja.gif
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People who spend 12 lessons to learn BATTLE in Aethercraft and know no more can't seem to target creatures, from what I can tell. People who are Master can with no problem. Except Aerenna...
Nokraenom2006-02-05 00:52:23
QUOTE(Shorlen @ Feb 4 2006, 06:50 PM)
People who spend 12 lessons to learn BATTLE in Aethercraft and know no more can't seem to target creatures, from what I can tell. People who are Master can with no problem. Except Aerenna...
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That's probably what it is then. I had them learn higher than 12 lessons (they had 4 credits worth of lessons), but it evidently isn't enough. That would be a bug with the skills or the AB files though.
Roark2006-02-05 00:58:10
QUOTE(Laysus @ Feb 4 2006, 08:42 PM)
Also, it's annoying because people don't kill the creatures they create in their wake, leaving many, many more creatures around, which is only gonna get worse, it's kinda like overlinking astral except you can get away from these slightly easier.

That's my next point. They hit fairly hard, they're fairly tough to kill, but they don't follow easily enough!
254036


I am improving the AI so that walls won't confuse them as much. Also, if an aether monster does not detect prey after a long while, it will go back into hiding (ie-get deleted). That should help with leftover aether monsters.