It's the little things!

[Guest David Sanftenberg]

Wow it's been awhile since my last suggestion, and my posts seem to be popular for some reason. Well, I've come to the conclusion that, yes, big features make the game, but it's the little features that make the game feel "right." So, without further ado, here's my list of "little things" that would make BC3K and its sequel "feel" better.

Just before I start, my current knowledge is limited to the 1.04B 3DFX patch, so excuse any suggestions that have already been implimented.

1) When your ship is damaged, perhaps the lights on the outside of the battlecruiser could flicker and/or go out? Same with reactor shutdowns. BTW, reactor shutdowns should have some purpose. How about making ships whose reactors have shut down invisible on radar? Sounds good to me.

2) More upgrades! I know everyone and their mom is saying this, but let's be able to upgrade every facet of the ship. And make it hard to do, such as having advanced weapons only available for outrageous prices on distant starstations.

3) More automation. I should be able to tell my chief engineer to "fix the ship" and he'll do what he can to "fix the ship" to the best of his ability, according to IQ, without me having to lift a finger.

4) BC3K seems, um...empty. There should be more crew interaction on a verbal level.

5) Add some mystery! Perhaps an ancient star faring civilization that has left artifacts (yes I know there are already artifacts), and/or ruins, perhaps hulks of ships invisible to radar, but very valulable.

6) I believe someone else suggested being able to build new ships. Sounds good to me, but I suppose the artwork required might be a bit much. I think this is best left to total conversions and the sort. I'm still an advocate of being able to fly ANY ship in the game.

7) Dynamic Scenery. Civilian trucks driving along on the surface, just like you have transports in space. Civilian aircraft, and civilian boats.

8) Hull temperature on reentry. If you take that shuttle in through the atmosphere to the surface too fast, you might have it burn up.

9) Emergency comm traffic. And the ability to destroy comets/asteroids, and also lock onto them with the BATTLECRUISER'S tractor beam, only being able to move them slowly. In other words, for this to work you would need to model momentum. Coupled together, you might have an emergency situation where an asteroid was about to collide with a galcom friendly planet, and they might hail you and request that you attempt to deflect or destroy the asteroid.

10) Last, but not least. SENSORS. You should be able to SCAN the surface for mineral deposits, or perhaps scan other ships for crew compliment, cargo, etc. That would make for a truly interesting pirate's life, where you could scan transports and only pick off the "juiciest" ones. Of course this has legitimate galcom uses as well

I hope some of these suggestions influence BC3K or its sequel for the better. I know some of them are daunting, so I don't exactly expect them in the next patch Frankly I'd be happy with just about anything new.

[Guest Lucas]

#1, Having some lights flicker when you're hit would seem to make sense. I'm not sure if ships with their reactors shut down should be invisible, but it would make sense that they would have a lower emission/radiation output level than one with an active reactor, thus making them harder to spot at longer range.

From what I've heard, your ideas #6 and 7 are going to be implemented (to some extent) in BC3020ad. Not that that helps you any just now of course...

Yes! I realy like 9. I can't remember exactly what the tractor beams can do, but it seems to me that if you could tow a few asteroids there could be several interesting options that would open up.

For instance: You could line a few up at the edge of a system, then one by one, tow them up to a good speed and lob them at those pesky ODS platforms.

About the "Emergency Comm": It does seem that it could be fun to help out your allies in ways other than blowing up intruders. Saving planets from asteroid hits, retrieve & deliver equipment to outposts near dangerous areas, tow a comet so that it could be used by a terraforming operation. Maybe ways to use your shuttles or interceptors to disperse dangerous weather conditions on a planet?

Anyone here ever read "Cities In Flight" by James Blish? That book has a wealth of inspiration for ways that a large space traveling ship could interact with planets! If you ever shut off your computer and (*gasp*) stop playing BC3K for the moment, go read that book.

[Guest SkNova]

I like the scanning idea.

How about being able to scan transports for contraband that can be turned in to Galcom for EPs? or some cash?

[Pandora]

>Wow it's been awhile since my last suggestion, and my posts seem to be popular for some reason.

Entertainment value. <duck>

>How about making ships whose reactors have shut down invisible on radar? Sounds good to me.

If an airplane turns off it's engine - does it vanish from radar?

If Buddha trips and falls and there is nobody around to hear it - does he make a sound?

> I'm not sure if ships with their reactors shut down should be invisible, but it would make sense that they

>would have a lower emission/radiation output level than one with an active reactor, thus making them

>harder to spot at longer range.

If the rector is shielded badly enough to be usable as a beacon then I would NOT want to serve on THAT ship. <g>

If it's reasonably shielded BUT the radiation has crept through the shielding material (a matter of time) then it wouldn't matter if the reactor is on or off. The 'shielding' would emit the rads all the time.

I want a diesel engine for my carrier!

>3) More automation.

You know, there is a war going on between the Automators and the Micro Managers. Both positions are heavily entrenched. <g>

>BC3K seems, um...empty. There should be more crew interaction on a verbal level.

I created a 'hack' in order to partially silence the pilots. Each to his own.

>Add some mystery! Perhaps an ancient star faring civilization that has left artifacts

Good idea! I say we call tham Galaxians or somesuch.

>Dynamic Scenery. Civilian trucks driving along on the surface, just like you have transports in space.

>Civilian aircraft, and civilian boats.

Couple that with your request to pilot every ship in the game and we'll need control models (and cockpits) for boats, motorcycles, trucks, hang gliders, cessnas, skis and reindeer sleighs.

The reindeer sleigh would need to be able to dock at chimneys, too. Means new frontend gfx for the chimney bay not to mention a reindeer charger system.

>perhaps hulks of ships invisible to radar, but very valulable

I like that idea. Now, assuming you find one of those - what do you do with it?

If it doesn't show up on radar then you can't target it.

If you can't target it, you can't tractor it.

Blowing it up could work but that's a bit excessive. <g>

Pan,

Lead Tester BC3000AD

writing at 04:24 Bavarian Time (GMT+1) on 2 Jan 99

[Guest David Sanftenberg]

quote:

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If the rector is shielded badly enough to be usable as a beacon then I would NOT want to serve on THAT ship. <g>

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Television police in Britian use radiation from televisions so that they can track who is watching TV where, and even WHAT they are watching. Does this mean we should not watch tv because of radiation? What I'm saying is that Battlecruiser takes place in the distant future. Presumably they have much better technology, and hence, better scanners/radiation detectors. Would it not be possible then for ships to detect another ship's radiation signature even at extremely low output? The engines I imagine put out some radiation. Your comment doesn't make sense.

quote:

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cockpits) for boats, motorcycles, trucks, hang gliders, cessnas, skis and reindeer sleighs.

The reindeer sleigh would need to be able to dock at chimneys, too. Means new frontend gfx for the chimney bay not to mention a reindeer charger system.

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Not anywhere in my post did I mention reindeer sleigs. Okay, so perhaps I did get carried away with "every ship in the game." I'd settle for maybe a few different CLASSES of ships in the game (beyond what we have now). Nothing fancy.

[Charles Lindsey]

Pan's comment makes perfect sense. R.A.D.A.R. (does anyone remember the acronym?)is the bouncing of radio waves off of solid objects. If your reactor quits working does your BC cease to be solid? Nope.

If you only had a radiation scanner your idea might work. A perfect BC with perfect shielding would exhibit X number of units. A damaged BC with a damaged reactor and damaged shielding could possibly exhibit the signature of a fully functional BC. Interesting huh? <G>

Pilot any ship in the game? That is still sort of interesting. Wanna be a trader? Fly an LRT-10 or a Jenstar. I would like that maybe. But Pan is still right in that all new cockpits/bridges would have to be modeled.

I can see both sides of it.

But Pan? A Diesel? <G> What kind of life support system you gonna have? How many Cubic Feet Per Minute of air does that thing consume anyway to generate the kind of power a BC would need?

Generally teasing.

Commander Chavik

ICV Phoenix

[Guest David Sanftenberg]

I don't usually make a habit of replying to my own suggestions, but, if we're going to get technical about R.A.D.A.R, then you'll know that RADAR is limited to the speed of light. Hence, if a Battlecruiser is using RADAR (wouldn't it be obsolete by 3000ad? ) then you would need to model latency. Far away objects, when they appear on radar, would not have their actual positions appear on radar because of the latency of light speed. And that would create a problem for tracking objects moving faster-than-light (read "objects in hyperspace").

But since it's just a GAME, I suppose we could give it the benefit of the doubt...but then again, this isn't just any game, is it?

[Supreme Cmdr]

I came up with all the names for the tech used in BC3K. I used radar in order that folks who don't have time to understand my mundane acronyms, have something to relate to. The BC does *not* use radar in the strict sense of the word.

[Guest Lucas]

Charles:

quote:

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R.A.D.A.R. is the bouncing of radio waves off of solid objects. If your reactor quits working does your BC cease to be solid? Nope.

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I would have guessed that the BC would be using a sensor system that, while designated as "RADAR", is in reality nearly unrecognizable by todays meaning of the word.

The word RADAR is an acronym for: RAdio Detecting And Ranging

I would expect that by the year 3000 we would have some sort of wave that would travel faster than radio waves. Maybe partialy phased in HyperSpace waves?

Of course that depends on wheather we really are testing for physical presence, or if there is something else that the RADAR system looks for. As was mentioned before, trace radiation amounts.

So, one of the questions would be, is there possibly more than one scanning method that the RADAR system uses? Maybe it can detect physical presences, but it picks things up at longer range by radiation detection.

Now there's an idea! It would seem that if the cruiser could detect radiation produced by other ships engines (just suppose that it was given that ability), then it would make sense that you would be able to track another ships path through space if it had a damaged reactor or engine. You could turn on a certain mode in TACOPS and then you could see little colored trails that ships with various types of malfunctions had left behind.

Pandora:

quote:

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You know, there is a war going on between the Automators and the Micro Managers. Both positions are heavily entrenched. <g>

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Well, we all know the answer to that, put both options into the game! But seriously, the way things are now, only people who want to micro-manage should get the game. I've always favored having the option to control everything myself. Though there could be a little more automation to streamline certain things. Like, as several people have mentioned, the organizing of the crew into shifts that come on duty and go off duty by themselves

And an instance for less automation: just have an option to turn off that goon of an officer's automated Marine assignments instead of having to drop him off somewhere.

(I noticed, after I posted this that the SC mentioned that no, the RADAR is not what we would tend to think of today, but just an acronym that was retained for the sake of convience. Ah-Ha! Field day time! Lets define the BC3K RADAR system! Heh, well, at least it gives us plenty of room for conjecture.)

[This message has been edited by Lucas (edited 01-02-99).]

[Charles Lindsey]

I didn't mean to stir this much trouble up. I did not think that the BC did all it's own scanning. I saw this in the manual a while back about the HUD,

quote:

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its main view of the outside world is provided by its internal navigation systems with triangulated data from several GALCOM probes and satellites scattered across the galaxy.

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and I was guessing that the "radar" worked in much the same fashion. Lot's of satellite's and probe's collated data being transmitted around the region that every ship could tap into. You still have the problem of light speed lag. I like Lucas' phased hyperwaves for those that want to know why it works. For me it is enough that it does. I still think there is some sort of solid mass detection going on.

Keep them coming David. You have some good ideas. Now for mine.

No more Autorun on the Cd. It was nice the first time but is annoying now when I change CD's. The install wizard always tries to come up. I have to wait for it to load then cancel. (1.08a cd. Problem may be fixed by now). Or you could have the autorun check for an installed game (install log?)before it runs the install wizard. (got this fixed, thanks Akira. Knew it had to be in there somewhere just couldn't find it.<G> )

Access to the manuals without the cd. That was quite a shock. I like to check things often. I usually go thru the start menu, then BC3000, then choose whichever manual I want. Bugger wants the CD in the first. <G> (I just took the cd out and I can access them with explorer. So it is now a very minor issue since I can access them without the cd but still would be nice.)

The one other "little" thing that bugs me is the NID computer counts down waypoints backwards. Don't get me wrong. Navigation works perfectly. It's only the countdown I have problems with. The first jump is 1 of (abitrary)5. This is how many it takes to get from Earth to Polaris1. The second jump is 2 of 4. The last one is 1 of 1. I would expect it to countdown 1 of 5, 2 of 5, 3 of 5, etc. Even the math works out that way it is but it just doesn't feel right. Perhaps a spot in the NID that tells you how many jumps you have left? Just one of those little details that would be nice to have.

I love ship's name in the CVD. Those that are named. I love the ability to hover the mouse pointer over the BC icon on the HUD and being able to tell where you are. Sometimes I forget. Especially if I target the nearest attacker to tell how far away he is and the NID changes.

Derek, how about changing the display status of shields and such in Tacops to always have three didgits? Shuttles often flicker between 100% shields and 99% shields. This causes the text to flicker also. If you had it display 099% shields it would alleviate this.

I've been thinking for a long time how this might be done but let me throw it out there. I would like all ships in a given region numbered. Example: Enemy IC's 1-4 are in the region. You destroy enemy IC #2. Then only 1, 3, and 4, are displayed in the targets list you can access from Tacscan. Say more jump in. Then they are labelled 5 and 6. You already know where 1, 3, and 4 are so you want to target 6. You would know which enemy ship you are targeting. I think this would help when there are many of the same type of ships in the region. If you leave the region all that would be cleared.

I love the improvements I have seen in the 1.09d patch. I can't wait for my 2.0 to get here. I have been reading that they are even better.

Oh and the last thing. I would like a back cycle for the J,K, and L keys. once in L (CVD) you can cycle back and forth with the period and comma keys. But what if you went to far in the L cycle? You have to go thru the whole thing again. How about coupling shift L for a backwards cycle?

These are my "little" things I would like. Standard disclaimers apply. Suggested with the best of intentions.

Again, David keep the ideas coming. This is what makes this game great. Derek listens. I'm sorry if it seemed I was dogging you pretty bad. I like most of the ones you have put forth.

Commander Chavik

ICV Phoenix

[This message has been edited by Charles Lindsey (edited 01-02-99).]

[Supreme Cmdr]

The ONLY time that the autorun will start is if the BC3K.INI file is missing from your Windows folder. It is put there by the setup program. If you ran BCSETUP.BAT (which is what autorun runs), then it checks for this file and if it finds it, will not restart the setup program.

[Charles Lindsey]

Ok that sounds good. Just another quirk in my system then. I should have realized that if everyone were experiencing this we would have seen it before now. I did do a search for those files and did not have either one. This must be my problem. I'll just wait for Ver 2.0. I can put up with it for now.