Supreme Cmdr

Correct again Gallion.

Well said Gallion

Well, since I'm the only living soul on the planet who knows the game inside out, I don't have time to do tutorials. I started doing one and it turned out to be a 166 page manual. If you guys ask Pan nicely, maybe he will spend a week or so highlighting all the important aspects that would get newbies up and running. I can then use that shortlist as a guideline on who to proceed. If I do it without a plan, it will end up being another manual. Trust me, I know.

No, I have not thought about it....and I don't plan on thinking about it either.

Scratch that. I just received some information from rTIME (the developers of the mp engine I'm using) that they have incorporated real-time communications into the api and that I should be getting an update in March. Now I don't need yet another third party api to deal with. Go figure.

I will be licensing the BC technology from www.shadowfactor.com for use in BC:3020AD multiplayer. This will allow up to 32 players to voice communicate with each other over a dedicated (like the one 3000AD will be hosting 24-7) server. More on this later.

I have a better and more robust plan for Perscan. It will be a 3D interior model of the ship in a tacops like 3D view. From here, you will be able to do assignments and track personnel by their TTD tags. 'nuff said.

DaveO, the game engine already supports strobe lights. Anyone with the GBS can read the docs for TED and see how to implement them. I removed them from the objects because they were eating up processing time. That was back when this game was supposed to run...confortably, on a P90. Yeah right!

If I have to tell you or anyone, one more time, not to post any BC3K v2.0x wishlist item here, I will throw you in the detention hold. Which means you won't be able to post for an indefinite amount of time. I am not putting anything else in v2.0x and I don't want to have to continue filtering through crap and bullshit when I'm looking for genuine wishlist items for the sequel. What? don't u think I have better things to do with my time other than to put in pointless features for a value title? This is exactly the reason why (a) I used to ignore this thread and ( why I'm considering closing this particular forum. Consider yourself warned. [This message has been edited by Supreme Cmdr (edited 02-07-99).]

LOL, pretty cool Pan. Send me this as an official fleshed out proposal via the proper channels. I'll augment it with what I already have and a couple of modified ideas I just got. We can polish it as we go along.

v2.0x is on a feature freeze, so please, this thread is not for v2.0. Thanks BC:3020AD will support up to 1024x768

I have been planning (and those who have followed this development, have read about from time to time) for sometime to allow co-op play from within the BC3K. Nothing complex, just the ability for various players to be different key crew members. For instance, when the game is being setup..(and this is a rough sketch from my current dev docs, mind you) it could be something like this (this is just brief): quote: Player #1 (FO/CMDR) - responsible for all flight and decision related issues. In short, getting from here to to there, is his problem. He would actually be the Commander and not necessarily just the 'pilot' per se. Also has complete control over the game quote: Player #2 (TO) - Weapon systems. PTA, FATAL, turrets, ship deployment as well as tacOPS control (though he would normally ask the CMDR for permission to make certain critical decisions) quote: Player #3 (CO) - Troop/Ship readiness etc. If it is going out, this guy gets to make sure that the AI personnel are prepped for the job, including searches, weapons armanent/loading etc quote: Player #4 (CE) - Ship repairs, power management etc quote: Player #5 (MO) - Medical ops. Cloning, treatment, infection screening (when people come back from off-ship excursions, handing out condoms etc quote: Aux players (Pilots or Marines) - The pilot and marine slots can be filled by players and the others handled by AI pilots/marines as normal. So player #6 could be a pilot assigned to IC1, player #7 assigned as co-pilot (though the rules would be relaxed so that only 1 pilot is required to fly an IC), player #8 as a marine etc. So when deploying an ATV or shuttle, player #8 (and everyone else who assumes a marine persona) gets to fly the craft to the combat zone or transported by the TO from tacops. The pilot gets to fly the IC when launched etc However, online gaming it not exactly an organized affair. To get people to play in co-op effectively is non-existent especially if the game is about racking up kills and chest thumping. In the above scenario: CMDR: I would always want to be commander because it gives me control. If I screw up then Rattler and his crew over at Spectre, get to paint tatoos in our honor, on their butt cheeks. TO: Since I share some commands, ie, tacops with the CMDR, it could get hairy and I'd probably get put it in the detention hold for disobeying indirect orders (now there's a shock!) or gross insubordination. CO: Well, think about this. All I would be doing is watching the game as directed by the other interesting crew. All I have for company are a set if AI controlled morons who couldn't catch a cold, let alone catch an Intruder if he/she was mooning them from the floor above. Of course, give me a team of player controlled marines and it gets worse. I can hear the constant "...are we there yet?"..."when do I get deployed"..."darn it Derek!" CE: Same as the CO but I only have AI controlled SEs to direct. Of course, if our trusted commander and his moronic sidekick TO, decide to take us into Insurgent territory on minimal shields, no cloak and a prayer, guess who has to make sure we get out alive and get those repairs cracking. I can just hear it now "...hey moron, turn your butt toward the Sun if you want more power, the NRE is shot cause you and you girlfriend up front, screwed up!" or "...we have no weapons control because its shot and won't be up for another 10 mins. Use foul language if you come up against a hostile entity and hope it works!" MO: I doubt that I would want to play the MO Why? because I am action oriented and thise assignments, like the CE and CO, are boring. I'd be hoping the commander screws up and we get killed so that I get to choose another assignment when we respawn. Either that, or I inject an intruder with the Ebola virus and set him loose. Either way, I'd be getting off the ship after experiencing boredom at least once. Heck, I'd probably just saunter over to the airlock location (new in BC:3020AD) and let myself out...ending it all. Pilot: if the commander of the BC delays in deploying me, I get to sit in front of the machine, twiddling my thumbs and watching the game until he does. Assuming the pilots have launch control once their ship is ready, the commander should be seeing the "unauthorized launch detected" message a lot. I'd be up on charges every time we play. Also, I if I come back, I still get to sit around while the CE gets to assign SEs (AI) and the CO gets to assign FEs to rearm my craft. Tell me to escort the BC when all I want to do is play offensive and rack up kills..ha!, escort this, pal! Marine: As a marine (at least without the Strike Pak add-on), I get to, again, sit around and watch the game go on, while I wait to be called into action to go after intruders or deployed on a planet to take out a SAM. In fact, once I get deployed, I probably won't want to come back to the ship! I'd probably be pissed if the TO brought me back when I wasn't ready. If I have to activate my IFF emitter in order to be designated for a pickup (as dictated by tacops rules) I'll break the darn thing as soon as my feet land on solid ground. Then, I get to ambush every hapless NPC or real life player for rations and ammo when I run out. Hell, leave me on Sygan with enough ammo and rations. Come back for me in a week. I'll be in sniper heaven, provided that the Insurgents dont send in shock troops after me. The BC3K kernel of engines already supports independent control access and that is how the NPC crew operate. Converting this to manual control and modified for multiplayer, is just normal work in the addition of features. However, as I mentioned above, the end will probably never justify the means because this sort of co-op will be one of those features that is hardly used because everyone wants to command their own ship and make do with an NPC crew. I would have loved to carry out this original plan for multiplayer because it would be far simpler and easier to process, than using an NPC crew. However, as I mention, it would be a wasted exercise. In fact, as we speak, several aspects of BC3K as you know it, will change in multiplayer or no more than 4 people would be able to play at anyone time. The crew processing and other AI tasks are fine because that is all client-side operation. However, imagine having 16 people playing and each with access to 13 deployable ships and 40 marines! So a LOT of rules change for multiplayer and this revolves around the amount of ships/crew that can be deployed and active at any one time (per player). The reason that my original idea above would have been better is because with human players, you just fill in the slots and don't use any NPCs. Less processing, less development, less hassles, faster game. I do intend on doing BC3K Online (online only game, like UO, Everquest etc) and I will get the opportunity to do my original design described above. When? Dunno. I would guess sometime in 2000.

I am putting in a secret system in v2.04. Its discovery will be part of the upcoming SDF campaign.

quote: P.S. Dr. Smart, how about some more posters for sale? The front box cover would make a great one (I alreay cut it out and hung it up) just needs to be larger That is already in the works quote: So, we're all ready to sign off on overtaxing some poor inocent Commander's P166 processor for eye candy? Not in my book, but maybe the SC has different ideas. Who knows BC:3020AD will require at a *minimum* a Pentium II 233 with 32MB of RAM. quote: Also, to order your Fleet around it would be nice to have an option of " order all fighters" or "all cruisers" or "all carriers", etc, menu. This would allow the player to increase his response time (by not having to tediously order each individual ship) in battle. The advanced version of Fleet C&C does better than this. Didn't I already discuss this? quote: So my wish would be to have the ships to think : "Hmmm.. im an fighter and one of those big missiles will kill me in one shot..I'd better not follow that RTB fighter and pick another target". " I will only attack the station if ordered to do so" and "eeek! starstorm coming at me.. Hypering out!". Primitive wish. Observe the game some more. Will be much better and improved in BC:3020AD. In case you didn't know this, the AI processing alone (dynamic thread) takes up about 50% of the game's processing. What do you think its doing? Teaching the NPCs how to play cards?

quote: "If someone who speaks three languages is trilingual, and someone who speaks two languages is bilingual, what do you call someone who only speaks one language?" American?

Gee look...I took a wrong turn at the water cooler and ended up here!

It'll never happen.

The Advanced version of Fleet C&C in the sequel has over 30 additional features, some which include the ability to set waypoints and orders for any object under fleet control, the ability to break them up into fleet wings (with a leader) and five levels of priority so that you can put ships in priority lists depending on what you want to do with them. This takes the place of 'tagging' ships which would be tedious and confusing. The lite version of Fleet C&C, as I mentioned in the docs, it nothing compared to the advanced version. Nothing. It is as different as v2.0 is to v1.0. Think about that for a minute.

No and its never going to happen unless someone pays me a fortune. I have been toying with the idea of an OS2 port for v2.0 and it may still happen depending on time constraints and the financial gain involved. Unless its going to make money, I ain't doing it.

I guess Tac doesn't know that the TTD declutter mode also works in tacops? Sheesh!

Ferris, I'm going to tackle this in one fell swoop. Tacops is the system of choice. Not only do you have tactical data on EVERY item by moving the mouse over it, you know their targets, orders, states etc. What more could you want? Everything else is based on common sense. If you see 2 targets attacking one, what other info do you need. If you are using the bridge for this stuff, then of course you are using the wrong tools for the job. Also, the TACSCAN gives you range to target and closure. Do the math. If you see 5 red dots clumped around 1 green dot, someone's getting clobbered and it ain't the guys in red. Having a probe follow a target must be one of the dumbest ideas I've heard of in a long time. Thing about that for a minute and mull over the implications. Probes work fine and do what they are designed to do. This will never change. Trust me. The issue with the tacops is something that will be fixed soon. The hot zone is being missed especially when the system has a high frame rate. You CANNOT hope to play this game exclusively from the bridge and that there my man, lies your first problem.

Obviously Daryl has been reading the docs. Good job. Anyway, BC:3020AD will contain a new galaxy about twice the size of the current one and linked to the current one somewhere in Obsidia. Since you can build stuff in BC:3020AD, you will have to build a station there because at the start of the game, GALCOM don't have any stations there.

There will be a full blown GALCOM NEW NETWORK interface in BC:3020AD. AI NPCs will be able to make entries and it will change dynamically as the world progresses. Also, the Battlecruiser will be more dynamic in that you can access the personnel commlink page and see comms going back and forth. Since there will be more ship locations, there will be more realistic encounters going on. quote: Marine #1 - Hey Craig, where the heck is my money? Medic #5 - Thats the LAST time I work overtime, my ass hurts. N.O - Paul wanna join me for a drink? System: A fight just broke out on deck 1. No casualties. System: Marine #1 and Marine #7 confined to detention hold. System: The CO is not on duty today. M.O: Great, the hydoponics lab is infested with Empirian Crybabies again. Darn it! Medic! System: Trader ship requesting docking clearance for guest transfer. F.E #1: Yeeehaaw, two more hours and I'm on shore leave. Intruder #1: The food sucks!! You jackasses had better deposit me at the nearest station before I barf the rest of the drivel on this terminal. Intruder #3: Shaddup Borgdorf, I'm trying to sleep. System: Transporter Activated Guest #1: Are we there yet? System: Marine #9, Marine #10 are off the ship. T.O: Where are they going? System: Intruder detected on deck 3 System: System breach on deck 3 C.O: R&R [This message has been edited by Supreme Cmdr (edited 01-22-99).]

Marco while you are burying yourself in ideas that make no sense, consider this: quote: if the universe is ever shutdown, how will AI entities, say your probes, ships, ACM entities etc, get processed? Why else do you think BC3K runs in real-time, all the time.

Reven, Intruders only beam from other ships and only if you are not cloaked. Read the manual. Interceptors only carry two people. Read the manual. Plus, if you are foolish enough to have unmanned ships in your bays and two intruders get in there, you only have yourself to blame.