Strategy Game Collaboration

Experimental RTS/Space sim Collaborative Coding Project.
The goal is to design a game with structure/settings/balance of Starcraft and scale of Eve Online(i.e. huge space battles, space empires,etc).
Though this wouldn't stop anyone from contributing code/feedback/criticism, i'll be coordinating the project.
All code/ideas should be posted in this and subsequent threads which i'll start as needed.
step #1: We will collaboratively create a name for our project.
Each suggestion must explain why this name fits the project and why its better then any other generic name.

>>679 read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass%E2%80%93energy_equivalence
The technology is advanced enough to create matter and manipulate it to any computer-aided design(e.g. Sentient particle cloud, aka nanobots).

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 our array warning sensors can help us, for the mind worms infiltrate through every crevice and chew through anything softer than plasma-steel.

>>681
That doesn't sound very efficient.
And what are these "crystals" made of, and why can they contain the energy equivalent of an entire spaceship?
Can the crystals be used as weapons?

>>682 Crystals are used as storage units. They are mined and can be recharged.
Naturally occuring crystals contain 1/10 - 2/10 of their max energy.
If the energy inside a crystal exceeds the molecular matrix maximum capacity its explosively released.
I'm going to add "crystal concentrator overload" as weapon of for cargo ships(it will destroy the cargo ships,the crystal and everything in radius of several light years). 
Normally energy cannot be extracted without special equipment(its locked in the crystal's matrix), which creates a pressure wave inside a crystal stimulating massive photon production.
Other energy generation options will be added , black hole reactors(converts mass to energy,requires asteroids or chunks of mass)(base-only for now), space-time vibrational collectors(which operate on space-time distortions cause by large object stealing their gravitational/movement energy) and photon arrays(which collect star's energy in all electromagnetic ranges).


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There is no war crime, war is a crime.

>>681
(e.g. Sentient particle cloud, aka nanobots).
a.k.a. MAGIC!

Why do you have to add all this magic when pretty much everything can be implemented with modern day technology.  (Without magic wormholes there would be no travel between star systems.)

I'm going to add "crystal concentrator overload" as weapon of for cargo ships(it will destroy the cargo ships,the crystal and everything in radius of several light years).
What the fuck.

New weapon:Crystal concentrator overload:Superweapon(self-destructive).
requires: Cargo ship+min 1000crystals,
Process,activate crystal concentrator on all stored crystals. Energy is stored in single crystal at once. Its matrix cannot handle the pressure and all energy is explosively released: the cargo ship is destroyed and every ship in X radius is
 destroyed too. Damage far away(>X and less then X*2) from crystal concentrator overload will be calculated as percentage of distance to source of explosion(e.g. 20% further then X will have damage for 20% of ships hitpoints). 



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The substructure of the universe regresses infinitely towards smaller and smaller components. Behind atoms we find electrons, and behind electrons, quarks. Each layer unraveled reveals new secrets, but also new mysteries.

This is boring. Let's go back to arguing over interesting things instead of gameplay and fluff.

>>684
Why even have travel between star systems? Gratuitous. Space is already bigger than you'll know what to do with.

>>684 travel is handled by
1.Wormhole(permanent location)
2.subspace portals(temporary)
3.warp( warp mode simply allows the spaceship to skip space-time regions in predetermined chunks at expense of energy.
While traveling via warp, the ship is invisible to radars(except subspace scan) and immune to weapons until it stops warping.



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Remember happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely on what you think.

>>683
Now the scales are messed up. There's no way something of that size can have a blast radius of that magnitude. I'd have to research a bit more, but I don't think even supernovas can explode like that.

I'm not even going to comment on the technobabble.

>>687 Maps will be huge and randomly generated(via fractal/procedural generation).
Only fraction of map is visible at once. Fast travel is necessary for exploration.



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Eternity lies ahead of us, and behind.

>>687
Why even have travel between star systems? Gratuitous. Space is already bigger than you'll know what to do with.
Because this star system is not big enough for you and me, boy.

>>689 Its a balance issue(radius of crystal concentrator overload blast).
 It should be weapon of last resort against cargo raiders. 
It will be useful in base offense if the cargo ship approaches undetected. 



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Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, whereas culture has invented a single mold to which all must conform. It is grotesque.

JUMP DURATION

Although the preceived duration of a jump is very short, the actual time is much greater.  It takes a week to make the maximum range jump for any engine.  For example an engine with a maximum range of 10 light years will take a week to jump that far or 3.5 days for a 5 light year jump, and so on.  A ship with a maximum hyperspace jump range of 4 light years will take half a week to jump only 2 light years.  This has implications for piracy because a pirate ship with a Hyperspace Cloud Analyser and a lighter ship can `overtake' you and lie in wait.  Contact in Hyperspace is not possible.

Note on crystal concentrator blast: the energy is released as one pulse which occurs at exactly 1 planck time.


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A free press is not a privilege but an organic necessity in a great society. Without criticism and reliable and intelligent reporting, the government cannot govern. For there is no adequate way in which it can keep itself informed about what the people of the country are thinking and doing and wanting.

>>693
Disregarding the magic technology, this actually doesn't sound too bad.

>>693 there is no hyperspace(subspace is used).
Hyperspace Cloud Analyser analogue to subspace scan.
"maximum range jump for any engin", there is no maximum range, there is no "time limits" warp process take seconds.
you simply warp into direction x,y,z until you run out of energy or stop manually.


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Uncertainty is the essential, inevitable and all-pervasive companion to your desire to make art. And tolerance for uncertainty is the prerequisite to succeeding

>>690
Hey, stupid. I'm asking why you'd make a map so big that you and the enemy never even have occasion to fight. Let's apply our brains here: merely operating in orbit about one planet would be far more space that we could make good use of. Flying about a solar system would be an embarrassment of empty space. Flying from solar system to solar system = lolwat.

>>691
Well you see I think that's quite correct, but unless this is a game of emigration rather than a game of war, staying in the solar system and killing everybody would be the idea.

>>695
Hyperdrives almost never go wrong, but if you are unfortunate enough to suffer a spontaneous mis-jump, you can get into serious trouble. You will emerge somewhere other than your planned destination, which may be out of range for your remaining fuel. It is even possible to mis-jump beyond the maximum range of your drive. If indeed your fuel reserves are too low or the Hyperdrive is broken, your only hope is to call for help and risk pirates responding. It is not entirely understood why mis-jumps happen but an unserviced Hyperdrive is a likely culprit. There are no reliable statistics available on the occurrences of mis-jumps as most ships are never found. A missing ship could just as easily be the result of piracy.

>>697 multiplayer maps will have teams with bases within several systems range for large maps, and closer with smaller maps.(all maps are huge, just the distance-to-enemy is shorter).




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The medium is the message.

>>698 the game technology is way more advanced then this. Warp is completely safe.
Warp disruptors will merely stop the ships traveling near them and will be expensive enough to use only as base perimeter defense.


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The law is a trade secret and the public process a business owned and operated by the legal profession.

>>699
Why do you keep describing this bad setup instead of justifying it?

>>698
And then you land on the Atevi homeworld and have a nice war?

700 GET in a troll thread

>>702
I really need to start refreshing /prog/ more :(

>>700
Forced Mis-jumps

Faulcon De Lacey do not condone this practice as it has an unpredictable effect on the Hyperdrive. It is the equivalent of blindly jamming a screwdriver into the works. We feel that it needs to be mentioned as a warning because foolish pilots do use it as a last resort to escape pirates. If they are being pursued by a larger pirate ship with a Hyperspace Cloud Analyser they force a mis-jump by pressing the mis-jump key while activating the Hyperspace jump. The pirates follow them into hyperspace only to find that their quarry is nowhere to be seen and is in fact somewhere else, frantically trying to work out exactly where they are. The Hyperspace Cloud Analyser cannot distinguish a mis-jump from a normal jump.

Actually all his posts are copypasta from http://www.ironfrost.co.uk/elite/usehyperspace.html
Crappy game, crappy balance, no user-friendly design.


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It doesn't matter how you feel inside, you know. It's what shows up on the surface that counts.

Here's a quick proof-of-concept I threw together which shows what I think this game should be like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3srzdBAsdQ

>>705
Wrong!  I typed the first one by hand, and copied the other two from http://cap.vapor.com/Frontier/Manual/ .  Good game, good balance, user-friendly design.

>>706 The game isn't mean to be artificially hard. Warp is for travel.
Introducing danger and difficulty where none required is syndrome of bad game design.




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The fact that we are I don't know how many millions of people, yet communication, complete communication, is completely impossible between two of those people, is to me one of the biggest tragic themes in the world.

>>707
We have the means, we can fix it, and make a bigger, badder, game.

>>707
Right, that's why all good games play like the Manhole.

>>708  "All old games were good, since they were hard"
Old games operated on principle of allowing least gameplay for money spent(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_game


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There's nothing in the world so demoralizing as money.

>>710
We have the means, we can fix it, and make a bigger, badder, game.

>>711 You also have no deadlines and can fork the game anytime you like.



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A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have

>>710
Ah, yes. As did Nintendo games and early PC games. Wait....

you begin to realize what such plans "lets enlarge gameplay time by increasing difficulty. Gamers will not pay for such crappy game unless its hard" mean in the end.
 Bad design + difficulty= artificial sense of accomplishment+wasted player time+profit


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If our society seems more nihilistic than that of previous eras, perhaps this is simply a sign of our maturity as a sentient species.

>>714
We have the means, we can fix it, and make a bigger, badder, game.

http://kayin.pyoko.org/iwbtg <--this is the logical end of all such "hard" games



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When the rich wage war, it is the poor who die

New weapon: Chronopulse.(superweapon(superweapons are rarely used, they are not unique, just expensive))
When used freezes ships in radius of effect(including the source ship), until timer runs out.
used: to call backups,trap enemies within minefields,freeze base defenses to allow infiltration/warp etc,etc


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Turn on, Tune in, Drop out.

>>717
Okay, so this is the strategy of any multiplayer game:

1. Send in unit freezer.
2. Send in several-light-year-destroying unit.

BOOM!

Also that shit isn't logical at all, take your shit back to fantasy land.

>>718 countered by:

1. Send in unit freezer.*It should not get killed before it starts the chronopulse.
*1.5 Any enemy units outside of range,can close in and gleefully destroy you powerless ship with laser/phasers/etc.
Chronopulse is not working after its use. Its instant freeze time for all objects_in_range.
2. Send in several-light-year-destroying unit. Sense of scale: Several light-years in game is not much. Maps are Huge.
2.5 which is not going to get through if warp disruptors are there.Chronopulse has no effect on warp disruptor continued operation(even after warp disruptors are destroyed subspace isn't navigable until disruptions wear off: that time is significantly larger then chronopulse duration).
 

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The news and the truth are not the same thing.

Note on : crystal concentrator: the energy it releases in overload is exactly the energy of all crystals onboard the cargo ship. It can be higher or lower. If you destroy a cargo ship with 20 crystals it wouldn't be felt outside of small radius.
If you destroy a fully loaded 100000 100%-filled-energy crystals cargo ship in overload(it takes quite awhile to collect that much crystals and charge them) this would have the effect of several light years.
 Destroying bases with it would be quite expensive and risky endeavor.




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Go with your fate, but not beyond. Beyond leads to dark places.