IRSWalker

Another good example of Graphics vs Gameplay is Sudden Strike. Again, the idea was to cater to a wider range of gaming hardware, so they used a 2D graphics engine, optimised it, then concentrated on the gameplay and the playtesting/balancing. Result: an awesome game that can run on a low-spec machine, yet will stay on your hard drive a lot longer than the "pretty boy" software. Smiley

Just a thought, but which missile loadouts are people choosing? From the appendix, only the Intercept loadout is 100% STS missiles. If a fighter was launched into a space battle with a Strike or SEAD loadout, then presumably the AI pilots will not launch as they have only atmospheric (ATA/ATS) missiles? Please feel free to tell me if this is true or not. If it is, then this might solve Tac's problem, and be the cause of Soback's? I know I have been losing less fighters in space furballs since I RTFM and now only lauch with Intercept. Tac could use SEAD loadout in space and Intercept loadout on planets, and his pilots should never fire.

quote:Originally posted by Oban: ..just be glad its not a Dr. Who Mod MI marines could be modelled on Daleks!

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: Read today's VCF Thought I had, but I had forgotten about the magic of proxy servers...... Just had to mention how cool it is to have a developer who listens to the fans and fixes stuff visibly. Anyone who bought Black and White and struggled to play it while being kept in the dark about the patches it obviously needed will understand how good it feels to be treated like an adult and kept informed.

I am 90% British, just like HRH Prince Charles Though you'll never be king you certainly know where your castle is. 90%!?!?!? I suppose I did go to New York for a few days once. Love the question about Tower/London bridge! Smiley

The problem I have is with finding mining drones on the surface of an uninhabited moon. If you have no other presence on the moon (like a shuttle, fighter, or marine) then the mining drones do not appear in the TacOps Zoom To menu. This means that you cannot select them as targets for the "Extract Drone X" waypoint. At the moment, this is not a problem because the "Extract Drone X" command will cause the shuttle to instantly retrieve the drone no matter where the waypoint is placed. But you mentioned that this was debug code, and that you might remove it. All I wanted to check was that you weren't going to do one (remove the debug code) without the other (make drones selectable from Zoom To) or mining moons will become very tedious. To see exactly what I mean, do the following: 1) Start at a system with an unihabited moon (eg Majoris/Majora) 2) Open Tacops, and observe MOON-01. 3) Give one of your shuttles a Deploy Drone waypoint followed by a Wait for orders waypoint 4) Crew the shuttle and launch it. 5) Once the shuttle reports that it has deployed the drone, go back to Tacops and observe the moon. While the shuttle is on the planet, you can Zoom To...Other...mining drone blah blah. 6) Order the shuttle to RTB 7) Once the shuttle breaches the atmosphere of the moon, observe the moon in Tacops again. Zoom To...Other... now has nothing to view. I know I posted about this in the forums, but at the time I daren't post here because I hadn't had a chance to register my copy, so please forgive the repeat post. Also, in the forums, you said you might look into it, but I checked the VCF and there was nothing there, so I thought I'd report it properly, ie here. Regards, Smiley

Will it be possible to flag the scripts so that they are only availble to specific races and/or castes? Smiley

3 days to go and Battlecruiser Millennium will beat Black and White for "longest single stay in ROM drive" of any game ever. I can't see me taking it out for at least another week. Thanks SC for such a superb game. One thing though - where are us newsgroup lurkers going to find a decent flamewar any more?

(I meant to post this ages ago, and forgot!) It's in the manual, but worth mentioning, that when up against fighters, reducing the power to your PTA system increases the fire rate, giving your turrets a better chance of hitting those fast little ships. (more shots, less power). I think 20-30% seems to be about optimal. The 12 turrets on your cruiser should be chewing those fighters to pieces. Also, when up against fighters, crab mines have two important effects: effectively giving you an extra turret, and making your fire come from an additional point in space, making maneuvring those fighters a lot trickier. Cheery chops, Smiley [ 12-05-2001: Message edited by: SmileyMan ]

Is it possible to change the names of the bridge officers and pilots?

Rather than have engineers faster, would it not be possible to have the station's ten engineers added to your own, so that if you already have 10 you get twenty? I speak from having just spent a very enjoyable (from a hard-core gaming point of view) few hours nursing my knackered NightStar back home after barely winning a big fight. In a less well thought out game, I would have simply turned on my infinite charge cloaking device, and had all systems repaired automatically (actually there would probably just be a single damage meter) in about three minutes. IMHO, his kind of no-holds-barred lack of handholding is what makes BCM so great compared to lesser games. To tell the truth, the first time I noticed the fact that ships don't go away when you dock I was quite surprised - I was fully expecting to have the station blown up around me, and serve me right for being a coward! Just my $0.02. Please don't feel I'm telling you how to make the game, as I know that ticks you off. Cheers, Smiley

Not trying to offend, Mister $ilk, just hanging out a different point of view. And I did read your post very carefully. I don't think you can have "grades" of un/civilised when it comes to terrorists. Killing/terrorising other people, hiding behind a religious or political motive to justify the killings, is just plain wrong. So what if one group behaves in one way, and another in a different way. The arguments that these people use never stand up to much scrutiny, but they don't need to, because mob rule, peer pressure, and animal instincts take over very quickly. Nazi Germany was effectively what happened when a group that we would now call terrorists gained enough critical mass to obtain government. People joined the Nazi Party because the alternative was horrific. I doubt many people actually believed that killing Jews would end their particular miseries. But what they did believe in was self-preservation. A very rough analogy can therefore be drawn with Afghanistan under the Taleban. I doubt that the people who had previously worked in a relatively modern country which allowed women in jeans and miniskirts to work and go to university, all of a sudden said "What was I thinking? The sight of even the tiniest part of a woman's body is so provocative that they must be covered from head to foot lest I feel lustful thoughts". But when someone points a gun at you, or your family, and tells you to think that way, then only the very strongest people will make their stand. they think "It'll blow over soon and we can get back to normal". But it didn't blow over in Germany, or in Afghanistan, and all of a sudden it becomes accepted. The point I am trying to get across (very badly, I admit) is that since all terrorists are effectively the same, ie bullying mobs, then it makes no sense to differentiate between them in terms of civilisation. Cheers, Smiley

quote:Originally posted by Cmdr Nova: It's all good, then. Also, I suggest you read one of the great RP classics, Preemptive Strike. It's a story about a secret attack on the Droidan homeworld. You won't be disappointed. Phew - just printed it out. That's like 300-odd pages, baby! And since I used the frankly useless IE, it's all in White on black. Mmm-mmm, that printer's sure hungry for toner now! Maybe one of the ways I could show my committment to RPing Droidans would be to distill the thing into a novella form for other people to read. Have to see about that. Good thing its not my printer. Anyway, gonna read it on the train home.

quote:Originally posted by Cmdr Nova: The little bit about them joining up against the Gammulans with the Syrions basically nulls out any of that "Droidan vs. Syrion" stuff you came up with. That much I do know. I deliberately tried to avoid implying that there was any conflict between the Droidan and Syrion races, because I have read the history and the appendix and I would never contradict any official sources or established precedent. My intention was to flesh out a little how individual Droidans might feel towards the Syrions, to make RP more fulfilling. None of the three beliefs that I put down preclude the races helping each other, there are many examples in Earth history of nations helping each other (especially versus a common enemy) when the citizens of those nations held views of each other similar to those I invented. So I can play a Droidan who thinks of the Syrions as the "also-rans" in the quest to become the ultimate being, but who would run to the aid of the Syrion people because: [*]Those were my orders (quite important, I think you agree) [*]I felt sorry for them [*]An incursion into Syrion space explicitly threatens my own homeworlds and because I feel they (and, in fact, all other races) are "lower" than me, it is not worth my while to pre-emptively strike them. I hope you find the above reasonable, and in keeping with all the available material. If not, tell me why. Regards Smiley

From Merriam-Webster Main Entry: civilized Function: adjective Date: 1611 : characteristic of a state of civilization ; especially : characterized by taste, refinement, or restraint Now I consider myself to be a civilised person. I can't ever imagine myself caring enough about anything to want to kill someone else for it. Especially someone I don't know. For instance: (IRA View) You live in a particular street. Therefore I am justified in shooting your children on the doorstep in front of you. (Al'Quaeda View) You are American. Therefore I am justified in flying an airliner full of people into your office block. Both of the above views are the distillation of the views of these people into their real-world implications. They try and justify them by dressing them up in distorted histories, but the simple fact is that these people kill other people because it is easier than thinking. Back to the dictionary: "characterised by taste, refinement or restraint". Well, I don't think any of those three adjectives apply to any form of killing. And especially not to terrorist actions. So no terrorist organistion is civilised in any way. Man I hope the registration DB for this site is secure!

The AI of the pilot definitely affects shuttle performance. I had a marine with AI:5 who I assigned to shuttle pilot duty (I thought this might get it a bit higher). He was completely useless. I sent him to retrieve a mining drone. He managed to smash into the ground several times, and ended up circling the drone in a very limp and sad way. Eventually I put one of my fighter pilots (AI:24) into another shuttle and sent it to retrieve the drone. The shuttle just zoomed on in and picked up the drone on a flyby! I bet that made the marine cry! Since the marine was now jobless, he attempted to return to the CC. Now he might have the excuse that the ship was damaged (although that was his fault!) but he couldn't actually breach the atmosphere. So to complete his humiliation I had him towed back to the CC. Hopefully Resnig gave him a roasting, because the shuttle took half-an-hour to repair, and all he'd managed to achieve was irritating his commander who had to sort out his mess for him. Made me laugh though, so I didn't beam him into space!

I think I'm the only Droidan, and I know what you mean. Kind of hard to RP a one-bot race! Maybe I'll go AI insane, like HAL. "I can't let you do that, Derek"

Thanks Soback, although I know that the shuttle can find the drone wherever it is on the planet. But overland travel is sloooooow, what I want is for the shuttle to planetfall right on top of the drone and then head back to the CC. I can do this by sending a fighter into the atmosphere with "Wait For Orders", allowing me to Zoom To the drones and then set Extract Drone waypoints targetted at the drones themselves. This is what I do at the moment, and it works fine (the shuttles get back to the CC real fast) but the initial sending a fighter bit seems a bit superfluous (because my scanner could detect an enemy ATV for instance without needing a presence on the planet). Setting the waypoints as you said would mean a long overland flight for my shuttle (might get those marine AIs up though ) Mitchell - thanks ever so much for your info. I didn't realise the areas were configurable like that. Cheers all, Smiley

quote:Originally posted by $iLk: I believe the IRA are somewhat more civilized. Have a look at BBC News Online - The Omagh Bomb and see if it looks "civilised" to you.

OK, please could someone clear up a few points for me: Mining drones: The Zoom To function will not list mining drones on uninhabited planets unless you have some other presence (shuttle/fighter/marine/OC) on the planet. The drones are there, and mining, but you cannot find them. Is this the correct behaviour? Also, when ordering a shuttle to recover the drone, if the Retrieve Drone X waypoint is the only waypoint set on the planet, will the shuttle make planetfall where the drone is, or where the waypoint is set (which may be miles from the drone as per the above paragraph)? Perscan: On my Nightstar, the Intruders section of PerScan just lists the number of intruders and has a couple of up/down arrows (which apparently do nothing), with no details as to their locations etc, which makes sending marines to intercept a little bit harder. Is this the correct behaviour? Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer the above. Smiley

quote:Originally posted by Badgerius: [QB]The Droidans are a race of robots, which seem to have been created by the Syrions. It's all very mysterious. Maybe you worship the Syrions as gods. Maybe you serve them as slaves. Maybe they are "The Creator"[QB] Interesting that you should see it that way. I thought that perhaps the way the history of the two races had played was that the Droidans were the Syrions who went all the way with the mechanical enhancements. Suffice so say that any such split happened too far in the past for records to be clear. So now we have the basis of Droidan belief-systems. There are the Creationists, who believe we were created by the Syrions as slaves and that we escaped/earned our freedom. Then there are the Supremacists, who believe that the Syrions are an inferior race who were too afraid to walk the path to mechanical perfection. Finally, we have the minority AntiSyrions, who believe that we are totally separate races who happen to share similar features and location in space. All I need now is another Droidan to RP some of the internal politics with! Punch [ 12-03-2001: Message edited by: SmileyMan ]

Nightstar Heavy Carrier, without a doubt. It just looks so cool, plus you get the Shuttle Mk IIIs which look cool as well. And it gets the coolest name. Can't lose with a Nightstar.

quote:Originally posted by Cmdr Nova: To my knowledge, you're going to be the first person to RP as a Droidan ever. You'll be setting the standards for the future. Good luck. Sounds like a good way to upset the SC then! Still, I've checked out the race spec, and it seems fairly simple. Help the Syrions, Hate the Gammulans, attack anyone trespassing in Droidan sectors, never leave the Syrion quadrant. That much is clear. Now, the only named Droidan is Mega Byte, so I'm going with the premise that this is perhaps some strange artifact of whatever translation software is used to process Droidan into English, i.e. Droidan names translate to 1000-year-old technology terms. There is ample scope for plenty of names from this selection, for instance the famous Droidan heroes Ram Bus, Hard Drive, See'ar Tee and Cee'Pee Yu. Not to forget the infamous Droidan gigolo Floppy Disk! From this rich heritage, I have been named Punch Card, and I hope to emulate the exploits of my esteemed Nanotechnology Genetic Algorithm Personality Randomiser Y-Chromosome Subroutine Donator (that's father in your terms) Peecee'Emcee'Eye'Ay Card. For all those wishing to impinge on the Droidan systems, you will receive a warm welcome. A very warm welcome in fact! Shortly followed by a very cold goodbye...... Anyone got any ideas as the the artificial life form personality to head for, from sci-fi examples? For instance, Data, HAL, Cybermen (no mining gold then!), Daleks, C3P0, Robbie......any others?

Is there any information of the Droidan race that would help me RP better? For instance, names - what is a typical Droidan name? Is it Terran, or a number (Cmdr 7 of 9 ) or what? Also, now that BCM is out and there are (hopefully) hundreds more players out there, what are the plans for the alien military fleets? At the moment, I play Droidan Military Commander, and I hope I will be able to play that in BCO. Is there anyone else who plays Droidan? Or should I give up now...... Regards, Smiley

Badgerius - thanks for the offer. Unfortunately, I am rather taken with the idea of playing a non-Terran race, since this is a fantasy after all. At the moment I am playing Droidan Military. I don't think there is anything even close to an organised fleet for me. But I have two systems to protect, and there seems to be a lot of gauntlets being thrown at my feet. Out of interest, are there any guidelines written down for creating correctly formatted BattleCruiser Universe signatures. I've had a go below..... And yes, I did search the board, and there appear to be lots of messages saying "search the board!" on this topic. [ 11-29-2001: Message edited by: SmileyMan ]