Galactic Command Online FAQ

[Epsilon 5]

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if you want to be a military space craft commander, you get to be a pilot first.

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You can't be serious?!? I mean, I unable to drive a fighter efficiently, I always get my ass kicked in those situations, What I want is AT LEAST a cruiser.

In this case, it will mean you'll have a bunch of fighters when GCO will launch, nobody in cruiser-carriers?

[Outlaw]

I'm assuming I get my Sunflash cruiser to start off with since I'm a merc and not start off as a spacefighter pilot and move up the ranks and earn that carrier or cruiser with experience points in the military caste right? If so, there's gonna be a lot of fleet types here gonna hire me for protection!

[Supreme Cmdr]

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SC i was wondering,,, could Baloogan.com become GC-CNN probillity

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No. But of course, fan sites can have their own GCO news portals if they want.

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You can't be serious?!? I mean, I unable to drive a fighter efficiently, I always get my ass kicked in those situations, What I want is AT LEAST a cruiser.

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I'm as serious as a heart attack. The whole purpose of an MMOG, especially a pay-for-play one, is the progressive nature. What you start off with, will depend on your chosen race, caste and career path.

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In this case, it will mean you'll have a bunch of fighters when GCO will launch, nobody in cruiser-carriers?

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By the same token, you could still have a bunch of carriers if there is no career path.

I don't have the career and tech trees fully designed yet, but I expect that a player wanting to be the Commander of a cruiser, would start off as a fighter pilot first and then move through the ranks. You'd have to play for what I estimate to be at least a year, before you get to see the inside of a carrier. Thats just a guestimate, btw. Even traders, before they even get to command a transport, will have to remain planetside (or space side at a station), trading and gathering wealth so that they can expand their operation.

From the word go, there will be folks in cruisers and carriers, mostly the dev and int/ext Beta team members (as well as NPCs) since they will serve as Game Masters (GM).

I mean, why is this so strange to you? If everyone started off as they do in BCM, what exactly would be the purpose of GCO - apart from the new technologies and other engine enhancements?

GCO is about building a character and a career. So, before you go hot-jocking into a situation, you should think very carefully about it....unless you want to keep building your character from scratch.

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I'm assuming I get my Sunflash cruiser to start off with since I'm a merc and not start off as a spacefighter pilot

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No. You don't. See above

[Epsilon 5]

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I mean, why is this so strange to you? If everyone started off as they do in BCM, what exactly would be the purpose of GCO - apart from the new technologies and other engine enhancements?

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I thought you would start in a small cruiser, then gather money to get yourself a bigger thing, a super-cruiser.

How can a fighter pilot make money, and have a big ship? I'm not so sure you can exchange 125000xp for a Sunflash, heh?

And I suppose we don't have even the leisure to choose any fighter, just light ones?

[ 05-17-2001: Message edited by: Epsilon 5 ]

[Hector Socas Navarro]

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How can a fighter pilot make money, and have a big ship?

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A fighter pilot is not supposed to make money. S/he will advance in his/her military career by earning experience points, kills, etc. Once a certain rank is attained, s/he'll be allowed to command cruisers and carriers.

[Epsilon 5]

Yeah, that way I suppose you are "awarded" your cruiser?

[Tyrn]

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Originally posted by Epsilon 5:

Yeah, that way I suppose you are "awarded" your cruiser?

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And non-military basically have the added variable of money, now you're getting the picture.

[Soback]

So would traders be awarded their trade ships based on their experience or will they have to save up money and buy them? Or a combination of both, ex. you would need to have a certain ammount of experience to command a certain ship and then get enough money to buy it?

[Tyrn]

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Originally posted by Soback:

So would traders be awarded their trade ships based on their experience or will they have to save up money and buy them? Or a combination of both, ex. you would need to have a certain ammount of experience to command a certain ship and then get enough money to buy it?

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from this

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Even traders, before they even get to command a transport, will have to remain planetside (or space side at a station), trading and gathering wealth so that they can expand their operation.

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I would say that trade ships are purchased but until the SC actually lays out all the ground rules, which he hasn't done yet (see his post above), I can't say that's absolutely the way it will be.

[Sunanta]

IMHO, I think that making players aspiring to command cruisers and carriers start out as pilots would not be the best route. In today's military, for example, officers do not fly combat aircraft. Enlisted men with entirely different skillsets are given that job. Essentially what I'm saying is that flying a fighter in combat would require fps-like reflexes, whereas commanding a larger ship generally does not. The skills of the greatest online commander that ever lived would be useless in GCO if they couldn't get past the fighter pilot rank due to lack of dogfighting skills, even though they might be able to engineer the capture of Galcom HQ (or New America, if you prefer...) single handedly with nothing but a battlecruiser and their wits.

[Epsilon 5]

That's what I said. I am NOT good at flying a fighter... I always get my crew dead or/and my IC destoyed after 1 or 2 cruiser attacks... and practicaly unable to destroy other fighters... all that in bc3k.

[Supreme Cmdr]

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In today's military, for example, officers do not fly combat aircraft. Enlisted men with entirely different skillsets are given that job

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Indeed. But I'm developing a game, not a real-life military sim.

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That's what I said. I am NOT good at flying a fighter... I always get my crew dead or/and my IC destoyed after 1 or 2 cruiser attacks... and practicaly unable to destroy other fighters... all that in bc3k.

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....and as I said before, there will be a career and tech tree. I have not fleshed it all out yet, but what I DO know is, you're NOT going to start off a career in ANY powerful CC. Period.

The same person whining about not being able to command a fighter, is most likely the same person who is going to take a cruiser or carrier and irresponsibly proceed to lay waste gamers of a lower tech tree, thereby unbalancing the game, and having everyone flocking to that career.

[Tyrn]

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Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr:

The same person whining about not being able to command a fighter, is most likely the same person who is going to take a cruiser or carrier and irresponsibly proceed to lay waste gamers of a lower tech tree, thereby

unbalancing

the game, and having everyone flocking to that career.

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emphasis mine

If the SC were silly enough to make it nearly impossible for us to move from cadet to commander in GCO he wouldn't have a very good product on his hands now would he? He's planning on producing something that is balanced and that's a good thing. I mean, when was the last time the SC let us down? Now, everyone pratice a little Internet Zen and stop worrying so much, you haven't even had a chance to enjoy BCM in it's full glory yet!

[Epsilon 5]

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The same person whining about not being able to command a fighter, is most likely the same person who is going to take a cruiser or carrier and irresponsibly proceed to lay waste gamers of a lower tech tree, thereby unbalancing the game, and having everyone flocking to that career.

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Alright, alright... I'll practice and be happy

Another thing: IF someone finally get its promotion to commander, and get blown, does he lose his ship, permanentely? I mean, If he don't have enough money to buy another one, how will he get a new one?

If you are "awarded" your ship, is it the same for non-military castes (mercs)?

[Tyrn]

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Originally posted by Epsilon 5:

Another thing: IF someone finally get its promotion to commander, and get blown, does he lose his ship, permanentely? I mean, If he don't have enough money to buy another one, how will he get a new one?

If you are "awarded" your ship, is it the same for non-military castes (mercs)?

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From the SC's post above where he said:

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GCO is about building a character and a career. So, before you go hot-jocking into a situation, you should think very carefully about it....unless you want to keep building your character from scratch.

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I would say that you start from scratch.

[aramike]

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In today's military, for example, officers do not fly combat aircraft. Enlisted men with entirely different skillsets are given that job

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Uhm, in the US military, one MUST be an officer in order to fly combat aircraft (with the exception of helos, I believe).

Enlisted men do NOT fly.

[Epsilon 5]

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Q. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIE?

A. You will be resurrected at a city or base of your affiliation. You will lose everything that you are carrying at the time, but your skills will remain unaffected. Be warned though that you will only be allowed a certain number or resurrections before you are forced to create a new character from scratch.

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Now, I ask again. Die as a cmdr, what happen to your asset?

[Soback]

If you die you will be forced to undergo vigorous training. Then a week later you will be given another chance at command, if you blow that one too, then you will be labeled as a failure and forced to create an entire new character from scratch and hopefully learn from the experience that when the going gets tough, throttles to max and back to mama station.

[Sunanta]

You're right aramike- apparently I got it backwards. Nonetheless, most commanders of military warships probably weren't originally figther pilots. While I fully understand that SC is not creating a modern military simulation, I personally believe that hotshots in fighters who happen to have excellent fast-twitch reflexes won't necessarily make the best commanders- for example, in a fighter, it's 90% flying and 10% shooting, whereas in a capital ship, it's, say, 25% flying, 40% shooting, and another 35% strategy. I understand the need for balance, but forcing everyone to fly fighters should not be, in my opinion, the way to go (I am sure that there are many people who are far better fighter pilots than commanders, and vice versa). Sticking people in armed transports for a while until they prove their worth might be a possible option. Since SC seems to have made up his mind, I will not, unless asked (something I seriously doubt), press this point further. I will probably get GCO nevertheless, however, since this is but a small aspect of an infinitely large and complex experience. I respectfully disagree.

[ 05-19-2001: Message edited by: Sunanta ]

[Supreme Cmdr]

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Another thing: IF someone finally get its promotion to commander, and get blown, does he lose his ship, permanentely? I mean, If he don't have enough money to buy another one, how will he get a new one?

If you are "awarded" your ship, is it the same for non-military castes (mercs)?

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My plan is that once you attain a certain rank, you keep that rank/skill. You don't just lose everything. Sure, you'd lose EPs, the most valuable asset for military careers. If you die and lose enough EPs, you'd find yourself busted back down to fighter pilots, because it is those EPs and your acquired skills (unlike BCM, GCO has a skill tree) which define who you are.

e.g.

Say you started as a pilot career assigned to a starstation. You'll get your fighter etc. From my dev notes, commander career starts from basic pilot trainee, all the way to Supreme Commander. There are about 8 ranks in between and with skils ranging from escort to planetary excursion. So, say you were a Wing Commander and you died one time. OK, so you lose 500 EPs and a few points on your combat skill. If you keep dying, you could eventually find yourself busted all the way down to Combat Pilot 2nd Grade - which is about 3 notches up from Combat Pilot Trainee. Of course, while you were at a WC level with a choice of fighter assets, you are now a trainee, forced to fly (God forbid, a lowely IC MK1) until you're good again. Military careers, because they give your asset for free (you don't have to buy anything), are more rigorous than, say, the Merc career. Mercs, when they die, lose their assets and are, again, given a POS craft (randomly picked). If they don't like it, they can go and find another one, either by capturing it or buying it.

quote:

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If you die you will be forced to undergo vigorous training. Then a week later you will be given another chance at command, if you blow that one too, then you will be labeled as a failure and forced to create an entire new character from scratch and hopefully learn from the experience that when the going gets tough, throttles to max and back to mama station.

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Stop. You don't know that.

[Epsilon 5]

I think there is too much speculation here by people. Hey people, unless you work with Derek, you can't know how it will work.

SC, except the fact it will be hard for me to be a good pilot, I might like it.

Here is MY questions... hold on

• What is the "limit" for dying, before you have to create a new player? Or you say that you lose all your xp's to 0, and you "create" a new player because of that?

• If you are assigned to a better vessel because of your skill, can you choose to keep what you have? I mean, If I get to drive a BCmk1, but I want to stay in a warmonger, can I, freely? (Imagine a Tacops commander in a Sunflahs )

• Do you have to "buy" all your crew when you buy a bigger ship (with more officers)?

• What do you do when you create a player on the nearest server, but there is no friendly station? (a raider in the gam quadrant, for example)

• If all friendly-neutral station have been blown away, are you stuck with your present cargo until a station is repaired?

• Will you finaly be able to change the fighter type in your carrier in gco, what you can't in bcm?

• Can you be in first person in all capital ships?

• Will the corridors and room really reflect the true size and shape of the vessel?

• As a commander, could you walk in your own ship?

• Will you be able to see outside when in the ship (windows)?

• Can you see your vessel been torn apart while inside?

• If yes to the last question, can you be sucked into space? See the shuttle-bay actually destroyed?

Is that enough?

[Epsilon 5]

It's not enough...

• Can you hire a PC marine, as a replacement for your dead ones?

• Can you have PC marines as guests if you have your ship roster full?

• If a buddy in a shuttle don't have clearance to leave a planet, but you have clearance and a big ship, can you take his shuttle and give him a lift?

• How do you increase your security clearance, if ever you want to do server hop?

• Will you be able to walk in a spacestation after you docked? To go from one ship to another?

• If you are in a no-gun area, does it mean you can't shoot, you can't show your gun or that if you shoot you'll be attacked?

• What appens to OTS weapons in a no-guns area?

• How will you know if you are in a no-gun area?

• Who will handle the NPC cpu processing, the players or the server?

• Do you need some clearance to leave a region to another one on the same server?

• HOW WILL YOU HANDLE HACKING?

The last one is a crucial one... the game masters will not be everywhere everytime...

[ 05-19-2001: Message edited by: Epsilon 5 ]

[Soback]

Originaly posted by SC "Stop. You don't know that."

Sorry, I was just kidding.

[Supreme Cmdr]

LOL!!!! no way am answering all that, E5

np, Soback

[Epsilon 5]

Why? I'm just speeding up the questions. That is about all that I want to know... (for now ) and I know a few people how would like those answered.

C'mon!