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@delphi, on 29 January 2014 - 03:03 AM, said in EVN - Delphi:
While I respect his insane ability to do that, it definitely reveals something of an improperly-balanced environment when such a little ship can take down the largest battleship.
It was always entertaining playing EVE Online and trying to take down my friends' warships with my frigate. My minimal weaponry would never be able to eat through their shielding, much less their armor or hull, but their blaster weaponry was never going to hit me. Missiles and especially drones were a completely different story.
Looking at it from that perspective, it makes more sense why a larger ship wouldn't be able to take down a smaller, more nimble vessel, but that's not me saying they should. Especially since any vessel that size should have some form of PD weaponry.
Delphi, as far as your combat balance issue goes, why not make your BFG cannons homing weapons with an incredibly bad turning rate? I'm not sure if a value of 0 would be recognized, but even the EMP torpedo has a rate of like 20, so if 0 doesn't work, 1 might be a miniscule-enough value.
Another idea I had while reading your post was to make your more powerful weapons as guns. I had the idea a while back to change how the stock blasters work. The light blaster is weakest and had the shortest range, while the heavy is strongest and has the greatest range. My idea was to reverse the range: heavy blasters would inflict the most damage, but would be short range. Light blasters would still be weakest, but have greatest range.
Another option you have is to make fighters planetary ships that could only be targeted by special anti-fighter cannons. Think about a naval destroyer: they pack some huge cannons, but they're almost useless against fighters. Thus, standard practice is to also pack smaller, more nimble guns.
You may consider playing some other plug-ins as well, for inspiration. Realm of Prey has some huuuge badass capital ships, but the smaller ships hold their own as well. It gave me some ideas.
edit: Delphi would you mind if I used your "colonise weapon" idea? There's a "destroys enemy stellar" option in the misn resource. My idea would be a mission where you have to fend off a ship attempting to deliver troops to your planet. So while not exactly the same idea, it was definitely inspired by you & I just want to ask permission.
This post has been edited by Sklent : 29 January 2014 - 10:55 AM
Making them planetary ships might not be necessary. I think that one good thing to do would not be to mess with firepower of the larger weapons, but to, as you mentioned, kit them differently. My one question is to how A.I. would deal with weapons like that.
You could make a secondary turret that is similar to, but has a shorter range than than the 100mm railguns. Or a PD weapon with enhanced range, but that would be able to target missiles as well.
EVE Online is different because combat is all between players, but there were weapons capable of one-shotting smaller ships, but it was incredibly hard to dodge. Unfortunately, this is against an A.I. issue that can't easily be overcome.
In a Player vs. A.I. battle, something like that would work better, but not A.I. Vs. A.I.
@sklent, on 29 January 2014 - 10:30 AM, said in EVN - Delphi:
Go ahead! I actually got the idea from someone else during a conversation on the old EV-Nova.net boards. They talked about creating a "planet-healing" weapon, where in their hypothetical scenario, the planet uses a really big magical device to regenerate life on a dying world. While it made good fiction, I felt it was a little too hyper-futuristic. Instead, I thought, "why not modular colony ships?" The idea being that you go to a world whose "living" state is unpopulated, and the "dead" state is an inhabited spöb. Then, just to really finish it off with some finality, it could cycle through a long cron event where after a few weeks/months, the system is replaced with a different one, switching visibility, and your fledgling colony has additional services added to it. If you really go deep down the rabbit hole, you could set up several development stages over the course of several in-game years, adding services like a shipyard, an outfitter, additional traded items, etc.
In Delphi, it's primarily just going to be military bases, as you play an enlisted officer of the NDC when you start. This, coupled with a few systems where you can build a station in orbit; no colony pods are used, just visit an invisible spöb in the system center and it triggers the mission scripting where your "station parts" cargo is removed, and construction begins in that place.
This post has been edited by Delphi : 30 January 2014 - 09:49 PM
I haven't produced anything for the Enclave in a while. Here's a battle station:
And yes, the ring in the middle rotates. Why? Because, that's why.
This post has been edited by Delphi : 31 January 2014 - 04:15 AM
I like that idea. It reminds me of the Assassin's Creed games, and building up your Villa, manor, whatever to get better services, more money etc. It was always a bit tedious, but I felt accomplished at the same time.
Looks like a weapon that would be awkward to handle, but deadly once you learned to use it.
I just looked at the front page for the EV Developer forum and how sparsely populated it has become. I fear that when I release my project, it may be the last one ever made.
Or, it'll spur on a, new era of activity and inspire more plugs and TCs! If I'm still here when you release Delphi, I've given myself the task of PMing everyone who's ever posted in this thread but gone inactive.
It was a TC for Override that gave rise to Nova. I'm halfway hoping that your project might just lead to EV4...
I dunno, krug, convincing Matt Burch to even look at the code again is not an easy undertaking. Perhaps with a new engine under a different name, but I don't think it will officially be EV4. Sorry to be negative.
I think there are enough unexplored possibilities within the Nova engine to make EV:4 without, y'know, actually making it.
I think "Delphi" will suffice
I don't figure it's likely, but a guy can dream...
so when will we be able to play in this sandbox?
edit: i don't mind if i find a bit of cat poop encrusted in the sand- they make for great barriers to protect my green army men from the tan army men.
This post has been edited by daowei : 25 February 2014 - 08:23 PM
Any news is good news hehe How are things pluggin (see what I did there?) along Master Delphi?
Your battle station looks pretty sweet! I literally can't wait for the day I get to be a part of your creation here! Keep up the great work.
Any update master Delphi?
@1purevengeance1, on 29 March 2014 - 09:25 PM, said in EVN - Delphi:
Most of the past few months have been a mixture of really boring math - I've probably logged at least 24 hours of time in the game JUST testing a single ship. Stupid "iconic" ships, having to be so perfectly balanced - writing, and brainstorming. See, the equipment in Delphi works a bit differently than the typical stuff you'd find in EVN. Many of the game's weapons are controlled in availability by bits that are bound to certain hull types. For instance, a missile frigate is restricted from buying the heavier Nichron cannons, but it can buy the lesser ones, while it instead gets access to a load-out of specialized missile weaponry, such as faster launchers and a higher maximum missile capacity. Missile ships can also purchase "manufacturing centres" that allow them to replenish their supply mid-flight, albeit very slowly, whereas these upgrades may not be available for a gunboat. In addition to all of this, outfits don't take up "mass", per se, because the mass system is instead interpreted as "CPU Load" on the ship's processor. Therefore, "mass upgrades" are actually "processor upgrades", giving your ship greater capability to handle multiple complex weapon systems. The outfits that typically would've controlled the ability to add more guns instead unlock certain bits, giving your ship cross-compatibility with other restricted systems. For instance, you could build a warship with two Artillery Control CPUs, and a Torpedo CPU, giving it supreme ranged capabilities, but its turret load-out will be limited; only light turrets appear unless you have an adequate control module. Conversely, a ship can install fighter systems that improve its ability to stock and launch heavier fighters and drones, coupled with a whole series of turret-based CPUs, increasing not only the number of turrets that can be installed, but also the heavier types of turrets that can be installed. Because these upgrades are worked right into the hull of the vessel, they cannot be sold once installed, so you have to pick your specialties carefully. You can try to make a "jack of all trades" ship, but it will likely suffer from the worst weaknesses of each category, or beef your ship up in the artillery upgrade path and then rely on escorts for close-quarters fire support. The preliminary testing I've done with this system is VERY cool, in my opinion, and its flexibility is unparalleled. However, it's also an absolute NIGHTMARE to structure in a fair and balanced fashion. Fortunately, the complete removal of mass and the bit-control of systems means that there doesn't have to be such a realistic measurement scale between systems; a Nichron Cannon can occupy two "processing slots" while a light turret can occupy one; they don't have to reflect accurate measurements of actual size. It's more about the installed system's complexity. I've also been sure to implement a system of "you can fix anything if you throw enough money at it": if you're really hard-up for additional CPU capacity, you can simply buy exorbitantly expensive upgrade modules that increase the output of whatever system you already have, giving you that late-game boost to really max your vessel out, or to help a critically-weak system catch up a little, if you have the money to spend.
With upgrades in mind, I suppose I'll talk a bit about missile weaponry. The Delphi universe is structured primarily around massive capital warships performing artillery combat, with the occasional heavy fighter sneaking in a hit-and-run strike. With this in mind, the concept of hurling volleys of missiles at each other is somewhat dated, so what guided weapons are present are either highly specialized or used in very limited capacity. Although missile boats exist, they fill a niche purpose and aren't seen nearly as often as gun-battery-toting cruisers, lobbing energy shells at each other. However, there do exist a few forms of guided ordnance, the most recently-produced being the NDC "Venator", a torpedo weapon.
The Venator torpedo is a slow-moving guided projectile, with an extremely potent warhead and advanced tracking systems that make it VERY difficult to jam; you'd need to be in possession of the actual launch codes associated with the original launcher to completely dissuade it. However, its low speed makes it a target for point-defense weaponry, so it's not impossible to destroy before it delivers its payload. It is equipped with a shield disruption system, allowing it to pass right through refractor shielding, delivering its entire payload to the enemy's armor. The torpedo body is massive, measuring 4 meters in length and carrying armor typical of a small fighter. The only real disadvantages to using the Ventator are that its launcher operates very slowly, taking several seconds to reload one of these massive devices, and it is far from cheap to purchase and restock. An even costlier variant exists that splits into a MIRV configuration shortly after launch, improving the device's effectiveness in combat against large craft and vessels with point-defense systems.
The launcher for the Venator is gigantic, occupying an entire bay-sized space in a vessel's hull, and as such, it cannot be carried by anything smaller than a cruiser, and its processor requirements are high. The launcher carries the torpedoes from storage a along a mag-lev track, before being dropped into the "chute" for firing. Though prototypes for the device featured an entirely sealed launch system, this open concept design allows technicians to inspect or modify the torpedo immediately before release, reducing difficult maintenance work and allowing the launcher to fire customized variants of the weapon without additional launchers being installed.
You'll only see this device fitted to the absolute largest NDC capital vessels, and purchasing one for yourself is a commitment to a costly future if you ever wish to reload it. However, you'll practically never find a superior fire-and-forget system, though its efficacy DOES take some of the fun out of direct combat.
Does anyone else scream like a little girl when they see that Delphi posted?
raises hand
That's a nice little space nuke you got, Delphi. You mentioned custom modifications were possible thanks to the open design of the launcher. Are these modifications visible in-game? Or do you mean minor things like adjustments to tracking to compensate for regional interference?
@darthkev, on 11 May 2014 - 07:54 AM, said in EVN - Delphi:
It's more just about lore, similar to Star Trek, in which you often heard a variation of the phrase, "modify a photon torpedo to do $thing". The idea is that a warhead could be customized with additional hardware, or stripped down to become a probe when necessary, though you'll not really see this as an actual "playable" mechanism in the spaceflight view. With that in mind, the torpedo launcher is similar to the Radar Missile Launcher in EVN, which allows you to purchase just the one launcher, but you are capable of firing both the regular and the disabling-variant Radar Missiles. The torpedo launcher will allow you to fire regular torpedoes, high-yield warheads, and MIRV rounds, to name a few.
To create proper differentiation between the Enclave and the NDC, each faction will handle their projectile weapons differently. The NDC focuses primarily on the use of high-yield weaponry, such as the Nichron Cannon and the Venator torpedo, which makes them great in capital ship battles, but somewhat at a disadvantage against fighters and other small, quick ships. The Enclave, formed out of a reactionary stance towards the NDC, capitalizes on this and manufactures smaller vehicles designed for rapid hit-and-run attacks, and carrying lighter weapons but in greater quantity. To put the two factions into a proper comparison, if the NDC is like a World War 2 artillery piece, the Enclave is like a box of Thompson machine guns and hand grenades. Each follow a different philosophy, but when applied correctly, they can cause practically equal damage to an opposing force.