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Have the realism in BC:M been taken too far?


Guest DustBuster
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Guest DustBuster

Have the realism in BC:M been taken too far?

I can understand why realism is important in a game like this. And I have no problems at all with the realism in BC3K. But when I read that reparations even docked at a base is in realtime, i was getting doubts.

Realism features like marines and other personell moving around in the ship in realtime and such is just cool. Its like they have to be there. But reparation in a base in realtime... how fun is that?

As i can remember from BC3K (it should be said that I have only played BC3K 1.0 a little years ago, and the demo of 2.0) reparations could take several hours. I can see why this is necessary in multiplayer. But seriously, is this needed in singleplayer? What am I supposed to do those hours? Eat dinner? Watch TV? Go to bed?

If the reparation time was maximum an hour, but usually much less, it would have been ok. Or there could be a setting in the options, so those who don't like it, can disable it for singleplayer.

BTW, Galactic Command is going to support indoor environments and water/underwater units which BC:M won't. Why is this? If you first write an indoor engine for GC, would it be very hard to use this in BC:M?

Pleace correct me if I'm wrong at anything here! smile.gif

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You dont *HAVE* to repair at a station... if you don't want to wait, buy the parts and have your own engineers do it. if you ask me it helps plug the time warp hole in BC3k that allows you to quickly fill your mining drones.

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Commodore Kyle Antilles

ICV-Eclipse, Destiny Starstation (Nevuela)

Commanding Officer, Destiny

Spectre Fleet

"You can only love or hate something you truly understand"

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Dustbuster,

Eclipse is correct, it plugs various cheats especially with mining drones. Do you want to see BCM soon - Think of the coding required to have one way for Single player and one for Multiplayer. This is an extremely complex game as it is, trust me when you get your hands on this one you will understand. Remember developing computer games is a business, creating a game with everyone's wish list would be a game that is never completed thus no profit. Being in real time will make you really have to think like a commander, you will now have to decide which repairs are absolutely necessary and which ones can be handled by your ships Engineers. I hope this was of some help can't say more due to NDA restrictions.

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quote:

BTW, Galactic Command is going to support indoor environments and water/underwater units which BC:M won't. Why is this? If you first write an indoor engine for GC, would it be very hard to use this in BC:M?

Read the Dev Diary pages. The story is there - go find it.

TTFN

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Rear Admiral Gallion

ICV-Graf Spee, Spectre (Antis)

Executive Officer, Spectre Fleet

"You can only love or hate something you truly understand."

Official Tester, Battlecruiser Series

Leader, Team 1

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Would it cross the boundries of the NDA to have somebody comment on whether or not they've gotten used to the change, any other effects it has on gameplay.

I'm a little worried about the change too. I honestly don't think it was a good idea. Why repair at a station at all then? If your engineers are in the middle of a repair and you dock, does letting the station take over the repair speed things up, or does the station repair at the same speed as your own engineers?

I'm willing to be persuaded by someone who actually finds it adds to the game.

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Why repair at a station?

Heres an answer. It's a lot safer than sitting in open space just waiting for someone to attack you.

Why do the repairs in realtime?

Realism is the key here. Repairs take time. Time sat around waiting for repairs teacher you restraint and good judgement when going into combat. You are less likely to engage in a near fatal suicide run if you're going to have to sit back and spend a lot of time repairing your busted assed ship.

Sure, you might get unlucky, and if you play it right your engineers can repair the damage in flight or you could buy replacement systems and just swap it out. Of course, that cosys money.

End of the day, the real time repairs teach you to respect your asset and force you to carefully consider your in game actions before commiting to them.

I for one welcome it.

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Fleet Cmdr. Karl Savage

GCV - Tsunami, Orion Starstation (CENTRIS)

Fleet Leader, ORION FLEET

www.orionfleet.com

'Here cometh the storm!'

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It's not much safer. If the base gets destroyed while you're docked, you get blown up too. And you can't do anything about it.

I know all the reasons why the change was made. It makes sense to me. I understand! I'm just a little worried about the fun factor.

Isn't it realistic that a starbase would have some advantage over your own crew? Repair times a little faster? Not instant repairs, but more effecient maybe?

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quote:

Originally posted by Kush:

Isn't it realistic that a starbase would have some advantage over your own crew? Repair times a little faster? Not instant repairs, but more effecient maybe?


That's a very good point Kush. Well I guess we'll just have to "wait and see"! wink.gif

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Commander Badger

GCV - Accentia, Orion Starstation (CENTRIS)

Tsunami Battle Group

www.orionfleet.com

Here cometh the storm!"

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With regard to downtime under station repair:

According to the BC3K keyboard reference there were keys to accelerate the passage of time up to 4x and as slow as 0.25x. The availability of this feature in BCM would perhaps help speed up the "penalty" of waiting for repairs without letting you off scot-free either.

Without violating the NDA, would it be safe for anyone to say if this feature carried over?

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Cmdr Alan Mach

GCV Camhanach

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The time acceleration feature was removed from BC3K around version 2.04 or so. It is not in the current 2.09 version. The only artifact of it that remains is the 1x that displays on the screen.

It was removed because it interfered with the AI processing, as well as for future planning of the online multiplayer version. This is also why station repair was made realtime. Everyone has to play by the same clock. You can't dock at a station and have 3 hours worth of repair take place in an instant while the rest of the universe is chugging along at real time.

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quote:


Isn't it realistic that a starbase would have some advantage over your own crew? Repair times a little faster?

..thats why

    the engineers at a station are faster than your in-ship engineers

  1. the station is more likely to have replacements - even though they have limits (since you don't want players rushing off to replace stuff just because they can)

  2. the station always has spare parts

  3. the station will always assign a team of engineers to do as you please

And apart from the cheats that making this real-time plugs, the game IS and ALWAYS has been real-time based. I just forced a pause in previous versions to make things easier. With the new interface that is easy to use, as well as multiplayer, EVERYTHING has to be in real-time. Steve's post is spot-on in this regard.

And the fact that its in real-time, also discourages you from just docking at a station indefinitely. You can, but if the station comes under attack and you're there when it goes boom - well then....

Its realistic. Its how I designed and implemented it. Its not changing. Ever.

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Well, I suppose that answers that.

Actually, Steve, I never did try using the time acceleration function, so I never realized it was disabled. There's simply a ton to keep track of in BC3K at normal speed, let alone at 2x or 4x.

Hm. Was that in the Version Control file? I did a quickie scan of it prior to posting, just in case. Probably missed something.

------------------

Cmdr Alan Mach

GCV Cavanagh

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[rp]

"Commander Epsilon 5, in a few months, you will be assigned to your new ship, the StalkerIV."

"Why in a few months?"

"First, we have to build it."

"Couldn't you do that BEFORE?"

"No sir."

"Why?"

"Cause the game is made that way. Dismissed."

"But..."

"See you later."

[rp]

Hehehe... cwm35.gif

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Commander Epsilon 5

GCV - StalkerIV, Orion Starstation (CENTRIS)

Deterrence Battle Group

www.orionfleet.com

'This Far, No Farther!'

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I don't mind having everything happen in real time (including the repairs) it makes the game more realistic, thus you would consider your actions and care about your ship more, it's kinda like the hardcore mode in Diablo2, where if your character dies, that's it, no resurects, nothing. Well, be happy that you still have saves.

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I would say if you are getting killed, then retreating is the best option, then you can repair, rearm, get yourself together and get your revenge, at least if you retreat, you live to fight another day. So, I don't think it's dishonorable, it's just smart. I am pretty sure that if a couple of guys would be beating you to death and you had the chance to run away, would you stop and think, "Oh man, if I run away, what will my friends say, No, I better die here, at least I will not be thought of as a coward" I would run away, heal, then pick those guys off one by one, that way the fight is more equal and fair.

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I agree, loosing your entire command for not wanting to be seen as a coward is dishonorable. That ship and its crew where put under your command, which along with that command comes responsiblity. Never fight to the death, unless A.)retreat is impossible. B.)surrender is not a option or C.) Your homeworld is going to be nuked till it glows cwm11.gif

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Besides you will learn from that previous battle in which you had to retreat from and maybe in the next battle your not the one doing the retreating. Also remember you are not alone there will be other friendly's there to help especially in MP. Not many battles have been won single handed, it takes team work!

[This message has been edited by Gordon (edited 03-07-2001).]

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Guest Mikel

Orion? No! Or...maybe.

[rp]

I'd rather have them join ISS.

Failing that I'd rather have them join Orion than those stinking Insurgent bas*ards!

[/rp]

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Master Gunny. Sarge. Nimitz "Defcon" Adams

Marine Detachment, GCV-Dauntless

ISS, Tactical Support

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