Locutus701

A little late to the party (again), I know... MP is, by and large, the reason I play 'action' related games. While other types (the Master of Orion series, or Civ 3 for example) lend themselves better to single-player play, games like BCM get 'old' quickly even with the best AI (and yours is up there)... It's the one thing that has never been dilivered yet by anyone (although the fan-organized 'Alliegence Wars' came close to giving this to the old MS Allegiance): combining the MP action of a 'simple' 1st person space game like X-Wing v TIE with the strategy of a simple 'MP space strategy game' like Netrek. The level of detail possible with a BC related MP game (fight over individual systems, instead of 'bases' ala BF42, etc), and the ability to operate something BESIDES a small fighter would create a completely unique MP experience. And due to the nature of this game's player-base, there would be alot less trouble with the miscreants found in BF1942 and Tribes2... From what I'm reading, BCMG will have the oft-discussed MP mode, being somewhat like an 'expansion' pack for BCM Original... With this being the case, BCM multiplayer becomes an 'I wish it had got there, but now I'll get BCMG for it...' Just as long as BCMG:MP doesn't becaome a promised-but-delayed feature in that title too... That would be very disapointing...

NIIICE gunship, SC... I discounted them in my shuttle comments because the BCM gunships are more like attack-fighters (A-10, Su-25, etc) than helo gunships (no free-fire-rockets, tracking chin turrets, or other helicopter features). That mode of play would add even more realisim (since IIRC, the Army usually gives transport helicopters a gunship escort in these sorts of situations) Reminds me of an RAH-66 Commanche, or the 'Orca' from C&C... Now if that chin turret actually auto-tracks like a modern helo-gunship (where the pilot or gunner looks at a target (= selects it in the BC series) through a helmet-mounted-display, and the gun auto-aims, just fly and fire) and can carry FFARs (guided missiles are great for hard targets, but on troops, small scatter-fire rockets are much better)... Then we've got a 3010AD helo replacement...

quote:Originally posted by Fox__Trot: that would work but why not just have a lone marine escort the shuttle? or do what i do and park your ship on the ground near an enemy base (park as in shot down)'Cause we don't get NPC marines in MP, iirc... Basically, we're dealing with forces the size of a Star Trek away team. So whoever flies (since unlike ST, redshirts don't fly) either joins the assault party or sits back to defend the ship. Due to the nature of BCM character classes, he can't really expect to survive as a member of the assault team (i.e. do things the Star Trek way, where they just leave the shuttle and hope no one finds it). So he sits back and defends the shuttle. Of course, he can't do that well with the pistol, so he bugs out or dies (neither of which help gameplay)...

30-06 and .30 Carbine have been out since Korea (IIRC).... But of course, 7.62mm NATO is a 30-cal round (.308) in the generic sense, which is what I was referring to (since the 2 most common door-guns are the GE Minigun & the M60, both in 7.62)... As for the personal weapons issue, I was commenting that since we don't HAVE door guns (or any guns for that matter) on shuttles, and since BCM shuttle pilots will find themselves on the ground waiting for their troops to come back, they should have some means of self/ship defense above the pistol... Otherwise, they face 'If I stay, I get trashed & my team has a long walk home. If I bug out, my team has a long walk home'... And my version of the mobile base idea came from (gasp) Tribes 2. A mobile base doesn't have to be a full service base, with all buildings, and such. The idea is to have a forward outpost of the main base, which can transport in reinforcements & supplies, and quickly fix or evac injured players & damaged hardware... Then again, we're dealing with 4 players per team on the public servers, IIRC... [ 12-15-2002, 01:03 AM: Message edited by: Locutus ]

Well... I was one of those guys who generally lived inside the Beta Discussions (now Area 51) forum, and didn't step out too much... That and I dropped the '701' from my name (it's still in my sig)...

With regard to concerns about shuttles dropping directly on a base, if you've kept your AD assets up, they'll get trashed & hashed before they can deploy anything (unless the EMD stays as effective and ever-lasting as it currently is.)... Also, as opposed to heavy reliance on DJPs (which, as fixed points, place alot of predictability into the game), the shuttle system places HEAVY reliance on teamwork and parimeter security (find the enemy LZ before they can build up enough to attack you). On the issue of ship-jacking, I've allways been a fan of 'you can use anything, but don't expect to be any GOOD at it' style restrictions. Basically, player-based PRY (troops) and accuracy or HP modifications (pilots) so Marines don't drive well, and Pilots die real easy if they are dumb enough to play Rambo. Plus, in the current unarmed-shuttle environment (as opposed to, say, having a 'planetary assault shuttle' with door guns instead of hyperspace capability (like the modern-day Blackhawk or Huey helicopters, which are by no means gunships, but have .30 cal door guns in case things go south while landing troops)), the Pilot should have some means to help defend his ship (i.e. at least a rifle, like the MP5-carrying helo pilots in Blackhawk Down), or he'll just dust off when things go south, and maroon his teammates... Once again, more off-the-top suggestions...

Well, I'm back (of sorts)... I just graduated from college (MIS degree) on 23/November, so I'll be around more often... This has been on my mind since the earlier days of beta... Of course, it depends on the ability of orbital units to select precise LZs, and drop qucickly onto them from orbit (which, last I checked, was possible)... My thoughts: Some sort of 'deployable forward base' that could be loaded on a shuttle as a vehicle, combined with the ability to transport units of any size between friendly bases might solve this. Scenario this creates: Shuttle with marines & forward-area-base-vehicle blasts off from planetary base, enters orbit, and drops down into desired spot. Once there, the forward base is deployed (should take a while to come online, or something similar), and the marines defend it. Once it's up, space-incapable units can beam in from other planetary bases. Another Idea: Allow space-incapable vehicles of any kind to be transported in shuttles. This mirrors the present-day ability of the military to carry helicopter gunships, tanks, etc... in transport aircraft. Scenario: Shuttle carrying gunship, aircrew, spare ammo, and marines for parimeter defense blasts off into orbit, lands near enemy base, and deploys the gunship as if it were a tank. In this case, the shuttle itself becomes a 'forward area rearming point' of sorts. As for the sensor comments, IIRC the SC implemented the passive vs active sensors option to enable 'low-signature' operations. The logical end to that would be to create power-level related signature conditions (i.e. no weapons, shields, sensors, or high-power engine operations) where you are invisible to sensors at medium-to-long range (i.e. 'grey mode' or 'run silent' operations). Of course, if found in this state before you can power up, you're one dead duck (thus balancing it)... Basically, the sort of combat that MP in this game will foster is more like modern airborne and marine operations than army combat. Drop in, kick butt, then blast off & go home... It also strikes me that this sort of gameplay will eliminate mindless-rushing and 'all-offense' games, since if your enemy is just an orbital jump away (and can approach from any angle at any time, just drop in below the SAM envelope, deploy vehicles, and attack), you can't just grab your guns and charge out the front gate (ala CS). You asked for suggestions, SC... [ 12-04-2002, 03:23 PM: Message edited by: Locutus ]

As for SOS, it has another usefull function: it shows up on the radar which of your ships are still healthy... i.e. if your buddies are turning grey fast, it might be time to lock tractors on the survivors and jump out...

Heh... Death Star... Now I gotta figure that trick out so I can load in my cubeship... Then we can answer the long standing question: who would win - Vader or the Borg... heh heh...

I've had DSL before, but I'm 56k now... As for connection filtering, it's a bad idea, since there's no real reliable way to do it. You can set min/max pings, but then what happens if you get a lag spike in the middle of a game? Booted because my sister logged onto AIM?? Not fun... You can't really tell by IP address, since some smaller DSL ISPs use the same pool for DialUp and DSL. And of course, if you rely on the honesty of the players, there's allways the few who will get a kick out of lying about their connection... Also, as someone who's played many MP games at 56k, I can say that most games with a reasonable amount of depth (like BCM) have roles for laggy players built in (like the Engineer in TFC, or the commander of a huge, iceberg-slow carrier in BCM). I, for one, will just play the role that fits my connection...

I got the PM before I posted that, and I would have used the short handle when I re-registered if I had known about the displayed-name thing... Oh well... Whatever works for you... [ 03-06-2002, 00:48: Message edited by: Locutus ]

One question SC... If I want to lop the 701 off my publicly displayed name, is that ok, or should I keep it the same as my EBT profile??

Heh... Shuttletowing... Maybe the SC should factor in the weight of what the shuttle is towing when calculating power drain (i.e. tow a stormcarrier, run out o juice in 2-3 jumps)...

First PC game: Tetris (Spectrum Holobyte, on a Zenith 80286 laptop with a CGA-mono LCD) First 'real' PC game: F-19A (Microprose)

Heh... SC a redshirt??? Well, he's gotta be a pretty good one, seing as how he's still here to post...