PS2 may feature space based combat- Massively - Page 2

Lonehunter · 2011-08-16, 12:53 AM

I have 5-10 friends that would play this just for good space combat. It's all ready the only MMOFPS. But Space Flight FPS is another not well done genre.

TerminatorUK · 2011-08-16, 03:43 AM

Could be fun but depends on the format (xwing vs tie fighter or fps in space only?).

My concern is that it may become an uneccessary time-sink for dev time like BFRs were in PS1 over more Auraxis-based content.

CutterJohn · 2011-08-16, 04:44 AM

Originally Posted by TerminatorUK

My concern is that it may become an uneccessary time-sink for dev time like BFRs were in PS1 over more Auraxis-based content.

BFRs were auraxis based content.

DviddLeff · 2011-08-16, 05:03 AM

I would love for the game to have an X Wing style space combat element. With the ability to pilot, land in and capture capital ships and space stations to boot.

Controlling the space above a continent could determine if drop pod respawns and orbital strikes are available to players below...

**Malorn** · 2011-08-16, 05:51 AM

They could start simply with that mechanic - fighting over the orbital stations that enable drop-pods, OS, etc. Those might be the ships we saw in one of the pictures.

Though I hope they take caution adopting too much from EVE. It is a great game to tell stories about but incredibly boring to play unless you're really into the economics and don't care for action. Spend a lot of time in EVE building up for, waiting for, or avoiding a fight and very little time actually in them. I think most of my time in eve was spent coming up with ways to make money so I didn' thave to worry about it and could just pvp all day. But even then in 0.0 it wasn't very lucrative unless you were camping empire shipping lanes or war-deccing in empire (where most of the population was). As a FPS lover I need more instant gratification. I love strategy and stuff but something needs to happen a lot faster than it does in EVE. Of all the time-consuming MMOs I played my wife tells me that EVE was by-far the worst in terms of time-consumption. And I think through all that and didn't have a whole lot of entertainment out of it for all that time investment.

Too early to know for sure what all they're planning but I hope the space aspect involves infantry and vehicles (boarding parties, yeah!) and conflict is encouraged as opposed to avoided like in EVE. I look forward to seeing what they are thinking in this area. Could be promising, though I have concerns that it will end up too eve-like and make for boring gameplay.

The problem with introducing resources and such is that it introduces the idea of greater loss, and having more to lose means you take things more cautiously and are pickier with your fights. Too far into that extreme and conflict is discouraged. But too far the other way and conflict is meaningless. Its a tight balance they need to walk to give it meaning but not so much that people are discouraged from taking risks. One way to counteract it is to put limits on how much resource can be acquired, which encourages people to 'use it or lose it', but always want a source for more. Then resources pool becomes a buffer that you always want maxed instead of something you just keep hoarding. Resource caps are also something that can be monetized and a differentiator in paying vs free customers, sort of like bank slots in MMORPGs.

TerminatorUK · 2011-08-16, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by CutterJohn

BFRs were auraxis based content.

Hehe, very good...punctuation failure

What I meant was "...too much of a dev time sink (e.g. Like PS1 BFRs were) over regular content"

The context was the dev time not that biffers were space content.

MasterChief096 · 2011-08-17, 10:51 AM

I think if they actually do space combat in an FPS sense, all will be fine.
Boarding parties to capture orbital stations to use orbital strikes, resources on asteroids (in moderation, not more than is on Auraxis), etc would all make for some fun space fights.

Just have fighters, infantry suits that can maneuver in space, and possibly larger ships such as frigates and destroyers that take more than one man to operate. Keep it simple. Use flight mechanics from existing aircraft such as being able to barrel roll and flip, etc. Could be fun if the space aspect doesn't dwarf out the land aspect in terms of content.

There's always the possibility that the space combat will be part of an entirely different GAME altogether, as they have alluded to following Eve's outside-in approach, and Dust 514 is indeed a separate game.

Death2All · 2011-08-17, 02:25 PM

I always thought the space system in SWG was amazing. Although, I'm not sure if it's a complete copy off of EVE since I've never played it, but considering that most updates/patches to SWG were to mold it into other games, I wouldn't be surprised.

Even still, it was pretty awesome to fly around in these huge open areas, although there wasn't much to really do.

But I can see capturing territory in space (however that would work) could be pretty awesome in Planetside.

Tatwi · 2011-08-17, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by DeeTwoEh

I always thought the space system in SWG was amazing. Although, I'm not sure if it's a complete copy off of EVE since I've never played it, but considering that most updates/patches to SWG were to mold it into other games, I wouldn't be surprised.

Space in SWG was based upon the X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter games from the 1990s. The JTL xpac was in production two years before EVE was released (2001) and it took SOE/LA until Oct 2004 to polish it, which was why it was held back from the June 2003 release of SWG. EVE hit the market in May 2003 and was a very niche market, "Homeworld" clone game with little following at the time. In effect, EVE did not factor into the SWG space design at all.

**Malorn** · 2011-08-17, 04:31 PM

Oh man I played TIE fighter for a long time. Was one of the few good PC games back ages ago. And now I'm aging myself. Great game for the time and technology.

kubacheski · 2011-08-17, 05:50 PM

Say for instance, some resources can't be collected on other planets and can't be sent via a gateway. You have to transport them via space travel. The suggestions of boarding parties, camping shipping lanes, and fighter support all lend themselves for resource transport between planets. Think of a resource reallocation system like this as an ANT on streoids. Gotta have the resources to expand bases on different planets. If the planet doesn't have it natively you've got to move it there. This really puts the space battles on the map as you'll have to transport it physically.

In order to make it a "secondary" option and not the primary on the planet shooter, envision space travel and battles as a resource sink. Space battle would cost a lot of resources that are readily available to transport rare resources. This way it really becomes important to plan your "off world" travel. Solid and liquid rocket fuel cost more than jet fuel which costs more than standard fuel which cost more than foot travel.

Resources really could change on-planet battles if the opposing side(s) cut off your resource supply lines. Or you use too many resources in making fighter support for your transports and you can't get all the way to your destination.

exLupo · 2011-08-18, 01:03 AM

Originally Posted by Tatwi

I never understood what was so hard about adding "space" combat.

Mostly doing it right. Using a planetary flight model in space isn't space combat. You can fake it enough to make folks happy. I mean, I still love Tie Fighter, but that isn't space combat.

Originally Posted by Bags

If you want space ships go play eve.

When CCP makes EVE a JGE style space shooter then that'll be a relevant suggestion.

Talek Krell · 2011-08-18, 04:16 AM

Have any of you played Eternal Silence? It's a source mod that I noted a while back. Not really sure what became of it, but the basic concepts are similar to what I'd expect in Planetside space combat.

(Sadly, this was the best video I could find :\ )