Controlling the difficulty

by controlling outfits

This is what comes out of making a Battle Arena plug-in that Ravens can dominate too easily...just wondering if anyone's done any trials of controlling the difficulty level of Nova or a TC by preventing the player from actually buying any weapon outfits.

Imagine what Nova would be like if CPL's indeed only came on the Scarab, Arachnid, and Raven. If you couldn't shove four QLBT's on your Raven to protect yourself from fighters (or Nanites).

For some reason this idea appeals to me immensely. Not just using the Control/Require Bits to prevent certain outfits from going on certain ships, but preventing the player from buying any weapons at all.

I would make an exception for weapon "loadout" kits that replace all of the weapons on your ship with another set, for instance changing a long range missile carrier to an interceptor, or a railgun toting fire-support Cruiser to a mini-carrier. (probably easiest implemented by using the "Variants" system and just replacing the player's ship)

Won't SFA be using this in some fashion? Can't remember...

Anyways, just thought I'd share.

GutlessWonder, on Oct 17 2005, 09:10 PM, said:

Won't SFA be using this in some fashion? Can't remember...

Correct. Since Starfleet's not in the habit of "custom-fitting" their vessels, all ships' weapons are set in SFA. With the exception of reloading your complement of photon torpedos and updating your star maps, the only "purchasable outfits" in SFA are officers.

I am not using 'blaster', 'missile', etc... MAny items are default on only a few ships and the ammunition or replacement for them are only rarely available. Occasionally things also break...