109 replies to this topic

[Supreme Cmdr]

BCG, from my magic 8 ball, is about six months from release. While it has a major graphics overhaul in lots of areas, as well as tweaks here and there, advanced multiplayer (the mp in BCM Gold pales somewhat in comparison) is the main focus because it is the single most important feature in a Battlecruiser game. The BCM Gold multiplayer is the first foray into this area and its not by any means perfect nor the full impact of what I have in mind going forward.

That said, I'm sure that some people are expecting a lot from BCG (apart from multiplayer)and some don't care for multiplayer. So, this thread is going to be my official overhype-quelching thread so that come Aug/Sept. nobody tells me they didn't know wtf I was talking about or that I made promises I didn't keep.

So, if there's anything in BCM that is missing, needs improvement or something you'd like to see in BCG that is in line with the series, by all means post it. As always, foolish postings will be ignored - but not deleted. And if it gets out of hand, see this? I'm not afraid to use it.

And I'm talking about gameplay features - not technology (because thats pretty much covered and is a given).

e.g.

• Will there be communications with NPCs?
  
• Will I be able to upgrade from one ship to another?
  
• Are you going to finally put in the ability to orbit a planet before you can scan it?
  
• I'd like to be able to build my own units (e.g. station) in space and on planets. Is that possible?
  
• Will there be a reputation system

Stuff like that.

[ 02-25-2003, 09:30 AM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

[Epsilon 5]

Of course you can guess I want all the stuff you already said (point 3 and 5 are less important IMO),

- 1 thing I would like that wasn't said before is some way to send your crew into classes while docked so they get more AI points (at a cost) Afterall, everyone likes to go to school!

- Would also be interesting to be able to own several ships with several crews, which you park at stations. You could only use 1 at a time, and the crew in the idle ship(s) would still need to be fed. That would only be a bonus, but depending on your objective some ships are better suited for the job than others, and it would make things most certainly different.

[ 02-25-2003, 02:56 PM: Message edited by: Epsilon 5 ]

[Stadred]

What I think would be interesting is the ability to jury-rig components to your ship that wouldn’t normally work on that specific ship class. For example, as the commander on an unarmed transport, you can buy a single gun, or externally mounted missile launcher, or even an entire weapons system, and have your engineering crew jury rig it into place. It wouldn’t be as functional as if your ship were designed to accept the system, but it might be better than nothing, if you decide not to implement upgrading to an entirely different ship class.

The same aspect would work with artifacts, and ships that can’t use them, like super carriers. You could buy the artifact, and have your CE just sort of jam it in somewhere, and cross your fingers.

And another random thought, the ability to claim planets. It would be cool to be able to deploy an ODS and vigorously defend your new territory.
/Stad

[Epsilon 5]

- I'd also like to be able to capture starbases and other ground bases

- I'd like to be able to hyperjump to waypoints. This is pretty important IMO

[ 02-25-2003, 03:02 PM: Message edited by: Epsilon 5 ]

[Supreme Cmdr]

I would like to see each item/question either in an itemized list or in separate paragraphs. Otherwise, I'm not going to reply to them.

So, please go back and edit your posts accordingly.

Also, note that I'm NOT going to reply to every single post or item. If I don't respond to a specific one, you can safely assume that the answer to your question (if it was a question) is no.

And I'm not going to pay ANY attention to arguments about the merits of one thing over another. Nor should ANYONE else. That goes double for you Epsilon5. So please don't turn this thread into a debate about what someone types. I'll be the judge of the merits of the posts.

[ 02-25-2003, 10:01 AM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

[Commander Jamont]

Can you name your whole crew?

[Fractux]

Will there be an ability to befriend an "enemy" caste so that [outside of the reputation system an on an individual basis], for example, I was in an MP game and I was an assasin, a TER/POL could get in contact with me, we could make a deal [i.e. the POL could pay off the assasin to fight with him, for him]. This way, on the radar, he would show up as a netral target, and not an enemy, so my assets would not attack him.

[Pedro Pablo Laracuente]

1) In BCM, when you were flying a fighter if you reduced the throttle to zero (0%) the fighter would stop inmediately...

Has that been changed for BCO?

2) Do ships have more durability?

in BCM the ships can be destroyed very fast.

3) Have the space stations armor,firing rate, shields, and power (how much damage the lasers do) changed?

They are virtually invincible in BCM unless you use a cloaking ship.


That's all for now!

[AllenKG2001]

1 - The ability to fly to waypoints in space would be cool.

2 - Ruduce the amount of damaged reports that Kendrick says coz it's annoying hearing him list every ship part that has been destroyed or damaged. I think he should only report the main probs.

3 - GBS to go with the game so we can make our own missions.

4 - Some more control over assigning crew on CC. For example, the ability to say exactly where I want my marines standing guard on the ship.

5 - Conditional waypoint assigning. By this I mean, setting up waypoints for say marines that will only carry out that waypoint when a certain other condition has been meet, like the fighters have completed their SEAD waypoints.

The most important to me is point 1. Points 4 and 5 would also be cool.

[quantum]

1. Docking! Manual OR Automatic that would take you into the ship.
2. More ship durability. Ships( esp. Cap ships) not destroyed quite so quickly by starstations and other ships.
3. More interaction (verbal) with NPC's
4. Is it possible to have more Alien looking cities and space vessels, i.e. not all cities and ships have the same architecture.
5. Ability to target ship systems.
6. Space/Planet weather that affects ship performance.

[Pedro Pablo Laracuente]

i forgot this one:

Will there be more exclusive ships? Only the gammulans have an exclusive ship

[DREADA]

Well, when I first saw the 'original' full planned feature set a while back I was pretty content as it seemed to have almost everything that fans agreed on as good ideas for upcoming BC incarnations. But since that list isn't around anymore, apologies if I repeat anything from there that has been already addressed:


1) A reputation system would be very cool and IMO would be a start to getting more involved in the politics-side of the galaxy as opposed to just combat.

2) Auto-generated missions available from stations

3) 'Option' available to make all 'requests' through comm officer's drop-down menu ie. request for docking, tow, acm mission, tactical support etc, thereby boosting officer's AI quicker

4) Auto-ejection of escape pods with pilots from critically damaged fighters

5) Inclusion of an in-game manual onboard ship, station or starbase as a library.

6) External game-world continues to run whilst at station or looking at system screens etc.

7) Auto beam-up of officers including AE by CC if LF falls below a critical value whilst away from CC (if possible) eg. planetside or aboard shuttle etc (in this case shuttle would be destroyed if AE was sole crewmember).

8a) Ability to use transporters to transport non-crew personnel between ship and planet ie. civilians - see below

8b) Populating "busy homeworlds" planets (eg. Earth, Gammula, Trenis etc) with a few auto-generated harmless caste civilians roaming the planet (or starbases,) just as harmless castes vessels do in space regions. (Loss/Gain of EP's for attacking/assisting).

9) Ordering your AE about planetside in auto-mode, eg you want your AE to walk/run to a target/waypoint whilst you do something else such as monitor tacops etc

[Cruis.In]

Im sure Ill think of something to ask about later on. However, I just wanted to say that after reading through the feature list for BCG, and seeing that you can select multiple ships and order them with one order is enough for me.

it was tedious ordering ship ships separate in bcm.

[Soback]

1. I'd like to be able to build my own units (e.g. station) in space and on planets. Is that possible?
2. Will there be a reputation system

[Gryphon]

The only things I'd like to see:

1) Tougher capital ships, to allow for longer, perhaps even more strategic fights. This would make assaulting one of those invincible starstations easier.

2) "Auto-generated missions available from stations" - Quantum. If they can be generated in difficulty according to rank, that would own. It would also give mercs/assassins something to do, and might even give explorers something to do. "ie. go explore planet mars, zone xx, leave probe behind, gain 30,000 credits"

[Supreme Cmdr]

To make my life easier, I have updated and uploaded a printable version of the planned feature set. Please read it carefully. You can ask specific questions about the contents if something isn't clear.

I also revised certain items in that document so that they are clear enough to answer some of the questions already posted here.

If you don't see a feature listed, its not going to be implemented.

e.g. the ability to build your own units is a BCO feature and not planned for BCG. There is no reputation system and I don't plan on implementing one etc etc

As for the unit stats, I have not changed mosts of them because IMO they are well balanced in BCM and I don't plan on messing with them. Only stations and some capital units have revised stats.

The station/base news feeds pinboard feature, though still listed,may be dropped, depending on how much time there is to completion. It is pretty complex because it has to be based on the galactic events system. Just piping in chatter (e.g. like probes chatter) is going to be pointless if the news feed is largely meaningless.

I toyed with the idea of doing auto-generated missions but quickly abandoned it because it requires extensive modifications to the AI kernel and which I didn't want to make at this time, since I have to do it for BCO (which is still almost a ways off).

The Stormcarrier is no longer a unit unique to the Gammulans. There never will be, race/caste specific units in BCG - only in BCO.

[Pedro Pablo Laracuente]

[indent]quote:

---

I toyed with the idea of doing auto-generated missions but quickly abandoned it because it requires extensive modifications to the AI kernel and which I didn't want to make at this time, since I have to do it for BCO (which is still almost a ways off).

---

[/indent]Damn, that was one of the features i was mostr eager to see!

Well, then it means that it shouldn't be listed on the planned features list.

Another thing: BCG uses a new GBS-III or is it a typo?

[Wolferz]

I just want to se Resnig's head mounted on the wall of my quarters

[AllenKG2001]

[indent]quote:

---

I toyed with the idea of doing auto-generated missions but quickly abandoned it because it requires extensive modifications to the AI kernel and which I didn't want to make at this time, since I have to do it for BCO (which is still almost a ways off).

---

[/indent]Yeah, I was hoping for that as well, but I guess GBS III will do.

Looking though the feature list, looks like most the other things are all ready planned. I like the pertrack idea.

[Supreme Cmdr]

[indent]quote:

---

Originally posted by LBM:
[indent]quote:

---

I toyed with the idea of doing auto-generated missions but quickly abandoned it because it requires extensive modifications to the AI kernel and which I didn't want to make at this time, since I have to do it for BCO (which is still almost a ways off).

---

[/indent]Yeah, I was hoping for that as well, but I guess GBS III will do.

---

[/indent]Its not a simple thing - and thats why I didn't even want to start it. I'm not particularly interested in doing macro missions all of which will get repetitive after a while. My design calls for something more sophisticated and which is built into the current events of the game world as well as the race/caste alliance relationships.

I may come up with something post-ship if I have time and am not bogged down with GCE (XBox project), but thats about it.

I am going to ship GBS-III on the CD (with complete docs etc) and if I expand its scripting macro support, then someone else can come up with a repetitive string of missions based on that (which is exactly what I don't want to do).