Planetside Idea Lab

[7ruth]

oh oh! i wana be a moderator! I already moderate my outfit forums and made our website =D

[Hayoo]

Originally Posted by EarlyDawn

I was also thinking that prehaps you should be able to wirelessly connect the NTU refueling stations to AMSes and any other emplacement that needs to be in supply to work, if the owner allowed you. Kinda like setting up a forward base, as long as you keep it in supply.

At first I had the AMSes only initiate the NTU drain if they were in enemy territory. Then I was reading this topic by nexus8 on NTU Fuel, specifically the posts by soydios, DeronokGeris, and Tieom. I started thinking how cool it would be to marry my ideas with theirs and I came up with an interesting hybrid that had potential for some fun while encouraging drivers (especially skeeter pilots) to be more careful but not make it too hard on them.

• ANTs become even more important since that they can quickly fill any NTU silo, or recharge the capacitors of AMS, vehicles, or landed aircraft.
• Recharging a capacitor would only take a few seconds, much less time than it takes to recharge a shield.
• To extend the operating time of your vehicle, you can replace ammo with NTU powercells, which can only be gotten from an ANT's trunk.
• Engineers can also manually recharge vehicles and silos if they have the tool and a powercell in their inventory.
• Powercells can also be purchased with your rank-salary from the goods terminals in Urban Outposts. Outpost in enemy hands? No problem, just hack the terminal and pay for it.
• If a recharge point (base, tower, outpost) is surrounded, no recharging takes place, regardless of intact lattice links. This promotes encircling attacks to limit enemy vehicle movement because vehicles don't hop off the pad with a full capacitor.
• Lodestars would have the ability to recharge aircraft while in flight, and vehicles while on the ground.
• All vehicles can recharge directly from a warpgate, repair-rearm silo, ANT, Lodestar, or deployable emplacements like the landing tarmac and NTU storage. With so many options, a recharge is only a few seconds away.
• Galaxies will be able to drop supplies from their cargo hold as well. These supplies can include ammo or powercells to recharge a base or its vehicles.

I need to run these by those guys first though before I can continue developing the concept or start making graphics.

Any ETA (Even a rough estimate) on those illustrations?

Can't really say yet. I've been busy setting up the new forums and building my outfit's website. On top of that I'm still job hunting, although I do have a short-term job prospect with Disney Imagineering , no lie! With my luck it's probably just "data-entry."

Originally Posted by 7ruth

Well its what i came up with after an hour and a half, or so, but you get the idea. Its not realy finished, but oh well I couldn't make it much better...
Basicly 1 by 2 kilometer colony, and obviously abandoned.

Nice graphic, 7ruth. I can so imagine that in my head. Such a thing could reasonably be on each of the home continents. Perhaps the empires tried to push their civilizations out from their sanctuaries (where they'd have their Sanctuary Capitals) and tried to build a defendable metropolis, only for them to be attacked and abandoned.

On being Moderators for Idealab forums

I think the site needs to grow some more before it requires moderators, but sure, when the time comes I can give you guys a ring.

[7ruth]

yea I've never tried an over view image before, but its really the quickest way to get the idea across. I'll try to whip something up, a picture looking in from the water.

I remember you saying something about being jobless a few weeks ago, glad you finaly found something =)... "I don't see you having a degree in fungineering" lol

As for being a moderator, I'll always be happy to help =D

[EarlyDawn]

Fuel sounds good. The ability for the gal to drop supplies also sounds pretty cool.

[Lartnev]

I'm not sure if fuel would be a logistics nightmare or not. You have to be careful not to make it too hard for the average player let alone a complete newbie.

For a start it's pretty much going to spell the end for AMSs mainly because however you chose to get fuel to it, it's going to be a pretty clear sign to the enemy where it is (at least using something like a gal drop or ANT). I think in the end people won't bother and it'll just stop.... hmm when it runs out of fuel would the cloaking field fail?

[Hayoo]

Originally Posted by Lartnev

I'm not sure if fuel would be a logistics nightmare or not. You have to be careful not to make it too hard for the average player let alone a complete newbie.

For a start it's pretty much going to spell the end for AMSs mainly because however you chose to get fuel to it, it's going to be a pretty clear sign to the enemy where it is (at least using something like a gal drop or ANT). I think in the end people won't bother and it'll just stop.... hmm when it runs out of fuel would the cloaking field fail?

I understand your worries and made every effort to make NTUs have multiple and convenient options to acquire and use. All newbies would need to know are the locations they can go to for recharging and they'll be fine. The more advanced players will know how to bring the NTU's to them.

Fuel, or capacitor in this case, would act like the shield, automatically recharging when in an SOI or in proximiity to an outpost repair silo, tower repair silo, NTU emplacement, or Lodestar.

The AMS is unique in that it can still function and drive without fuel. This was done because it doesn't have a trunk for extra powercells. An AMS's capacitor is only drained when players spawn from it while it's deployed in enemy territory (like at the backdoor). Zergs will logically drain an AMS after 10-15min of constant respawning, but Spec Ops teams needn't worry about that. An AMS deployed in friendly territory can spawn the entire Auraxin population and not drain because it's assumed 'connected' to the supply line back to a Capitol or warpgate.

Once drained, the AMS only ceases to provide heavy equipment like Rexo, HA, SA, AV, Vehicle ammo, etc. Nothing else changes. Players can still spawn and acquire Agile, Suppressors, and support equipment. Drivers can choose to deploy the AMS outside the SOI (which happens often anyway) in friendly territory to prevent the capacitor from draining. Outposts are a convenient source of recharging whether belonging to friendly or enemy forces. If friendly, simply drive up to a functioning repair-rearm silo, if enemy just sneak in and hack a goods terminal to purchase powercells.

The cloak shield continues to function as normal even if the capacitor hits zero.

Yes, using the ANT to refuel an AMS is risky but the danger adds tension and fun. It would become standard op to bring several loaded ANTS to a fight, some even teaming up with AMS drivers so they can hide in the cloak bubble. What I also see is an ANT being used to simply transport powercells close to the fighting, engineers grabbing the cells from the trunk, and then running to the AMS to refill it by hand like you'd repair it with a nano gun.

With the presence of an ANT, the enemy won't necessarily be able to guess that an AMS is nearby because ANTs can also be used to recharge vehicles and tower silos extremely quickly (the driver hops out, deploys, waits 3-4 seconds, and presto that tank's capacitor is revilled, along with any other vehicles in a nearby radius. A tower would take a few moments more).

Same thing with linking Gal drops to AMS, the enemy won't know what is being dropped since it could be requested ammo, vehicle ammo, or other support equipment. Gal drops will most likely happen for a besieged base or outpost though.

Bringing ANTs to the battle should become a common practice. Recharging should become as second nature as repairing or charging a shield. It's not completely necessary for everyone to use but it keeps you in the field longer. Plus it allows for closer ANTs needed to recharge a base. ANTs will also be certable as a 1 point cert for those who don't have vehicles.

On a side note, when the devs said they'd have to modify the ANT if they include tower silos, I envisioned a two-seater ANT, perhaps with a 9mm suppressor-type weapon. This would make the ANT the game's cargo truck of sorts.

UPDATE: I think I'm going to keep the Nano-dispenser as the primary tool for manually recharging NTUs. The tool will have a secondary fire mode that, when select, will begin to draw from the powercells rather than nano-juice. That seems the most convenient option anyay. The repair animation can show up differently like sparks or lightning-like effect. Remember though that manually recharging something takes longer than using an ANT. This prevents the ANT from becoming extinct.

UPDATE 2: I should point out that like soydios's post (in the previously mentioned thread by nexus8), the capacitor will always drain NTU powercells in the trunk first. So while a heavily armored tank could conceivably be used to transport NTUs from an ANT at a warpgate to a base, it will have less NTUs than when it started out with. This helps prevents trying to hold powercells in trunks for safe keeping and invulnerable transportation.

UPDATE 3: I should point out that there's another reason for wanting a type of vehicle capacitor or power requirement in the game: See cert description for the Advanced Tech

These temporary system upgrades act like the Core Combat modules and are placed (read: installed) in the trunk of the vehicle. When retrieved from an equipment terminal they are only allowed in the game world for a set time. In addition to the time limit is the ammount of space these take up (either 4x3 or 4x4) so like your inventory loadout you must juggle how much of what item is more important to you; ammo, powercells, or system upgrades.

The system upgrades come in four types: Passive (always on, no capacitor drain), Passive One Time Use (auto-activates in situations), Activated (drains capacitor), Activated One Time Use (drains capacitor).

Passive upgrades include, but are not limited to:

• Detect Radar/Sensor location - when the radar icon lights up, a location marker pinpoints on the map where it's coming from.
• Laze option for stationary vehicles - adds an additional firemode of a laze pointer.
• Capacitor regulator (more efficiently preserves NTU powercell consumption, this doesn't effect the actual regulator, only the additional powercells you place in the trunk)
• Reload speed - beefs up the reload time for weaponry, but has a side effect of less damage per shot.

Passive One Time Use upgrades include, but are not limited to:

• Emergency Power - when fully drained, capacitor gives second wind reserve to vehicle

Activated (toggled, drains capacitor) upgrades include, but are not limited to:

• Vehicle jumpstart - lurches vehicle from standstill to high gear
• Stealhy radius - disrupts enhanced targeting of enemy outside a certain radius
• Quieter motor - sound of motor deminished for easier stealth
• Recharge Afterburner - recharges afterburner quicker
• Darklight upgrade - this would go along with the free darklight use from vehicles being removed.

Activated One Time Use (drains capacitor) upgrades incude, but are not limited to:

• Damage-control system - regenerates armor over time)
• Overdrive speed increase - warm-up required after activation, disappates after short period

UPDATE 4: Oh yeah, as mentioned on the forums, Ancient Tech vehicles wouldn't require a capacitor.

Note: my main concern with introducing these 'system upgrades' is that these abilities are the kind of thing that the Developers would probably want to use for their Elite Abilities. So I'm trying to come up with things that might not be used for that. It's very frustrating not knowing what kind of vehicle Abilities they want to add.

[EarlyDawn]

I'd suggest some way to tie fuel support into Task Forces so a member unit in a task force (Platoon, Squad, Division) could request fuel if they needed it.

[Hayoo]

Originally Posted by EarlyDawn

I'd suggest some way to tie fuel support into Task Forces so a member unit in a task force (Platoon, Squad, Division) could request fuel if they needed it.

Good idea.

[EarlyDawn]

So how do Gal supply drops work? This idea intrigues me.

[Hayoo]

Originally Posted by EarlyDawn

So how do Gal supply drops work?

Beats me.





LOL. Just kidding. There have been several suggestions over the forums, the most popular is letting a Gal drop an limited-time equipment terminal. Well that's just too easy in my view, plus it wouldn't work with my powercell stuff.

So I thought of this straight-forward thing that is related to my inventory items:

• Player goes to an equipment terminal and gets a Supply Crate . These are kinda big, probably a 6x6 box or larger.
• Player drops crate on the floor and opens it with the G key like he would a trunk.
• Player starts filling the crate with powercells, ammo, medkits, nano juice, ACEs, guns, etc. from his inventory.
• The supply crate can hold as much as a Deliverer. Supply Crates cannot be placed inside other supply crates.
• Player places crate back in his inventory and runs outside.
• Player drops box on the ground and selects permissions to "Empire" so that other can access the contents and pick it up in a gal.
• Galaxy drops in and hovers near. A message appears to click "G" to pick up Supply Crate.
• Galaxy pilot accepts, loading the box into the Vehicle Bay, and flies off to destination.
• Once over the target, the Gal pilot accesses his Vehicle window, selects the Vehicle Bay slot, and ejects the box from the aircraft. OR he can simply click the 'eject Vehicle Bay' icon that appeared in his hotbar when he picked up the box.
• Supply Crate falls with inertial dampners and lands.
• Besieged players rush to the box and can grab it's contents since it's permissions were still set to "Empire".
• Should the owner of the box (only one crate allowed per player) decide he doesn't want that pilot carrying his stuff, he can switch the permissions to Group or None and the crate will immediately eject from it's Vehicle Bay to the ground.

How's that? Too much? People would prefer the equipment terminal wouldn't they. *sigh*

edit: switch Cargo Bay to Vehicle Bay

[EarlyDawn]

I really like that! Gives the gal an interesting purpose. Does this go in the vehicle bay or some obscure slot on the gal. Can the gal carry more then one?

[Hayoo]

Originally Posted by EarlyDawn

I really like that! Gives the gal an interesting purpose. Does this go in the vehicle bay or some obscure slot on the gal. Can the gal carry more then one?

Whoops, switch Cargo Bay to Vehicle Bay. I figure it should only carry one, since a Del sized trunk is pretty huge. I could even make the crate bigger to like 8x8 even, if necessary.

[EarlyDawn]

The question is, how does it get in there, and if it's that big, how does it fit into your inventory

[Hayoo]

Originally Posted by EarlyDawn

The question is, how does it get in there,

Same way people hot-drop out. It's gotta be magic because we never see those passenger doors open. I'm sure some kind of quick-drop door could be added and an animation of the crate being drawn up. Or we could cheat and use the advanced tech energy animation for mounting an AT vehicle.

and if it's that big, how does it fit into your inventory

Same way that you can fit a bunch of AV or Vehicle ammo boxes in your inventory. Magic of Matrixing. An AV box is 4x4 and the Supply Crate would be 6x6 or 8x8. On the ground, it will be about human height. But the only vehicle it will be bigger than is probably a Basilisk or something.

[EarlyDawn]

Fair enough. Gotta love those solid-state nanite matrixes.

What's next?