Hi everyone, i was thinking:
The Horizon DLC/season is supposed to bring planets as a major feature, but planets are not that important.
I hoped we could have a lot of stuff to do on planets but after a couple hours on the ground, well... you clearly see those planets are empty deserts. I'm not saying that planets are trash, there not, there really good looking and i could stay for dozens of hours on them while doing tricks or just recovering cargo, but it still feel empty, mostly on the combat side.
Even with the planetary bases, planetary combat is quite dull, you just fire the only and same boring plasma repeater and repair yourself (and the repair feel like cheat, it's cheap and immediate)
So here I come with some little ideas:
First, vehicles (and it would be amazing with multi-crew because it's really hard to aim and drive)
Frinckin' TANKS ! Well, not just tanks, i also thinked about other vehicles.
But there was a problem, the size. The SRV hatch, which is also the cargo hatch on most ships, is way too small. I thinked of vehicle made of multiple parts which will assemble at the exit of the hatch but it didn't sound good or even realistic (multiple parts mean gears and junction stuff which decrease the internal module size and those junction are weaker). Then, I came to realize we already had a big hatch: the fighter hatch ! problem solved !!
The idea is simple, you have a main body which is customizable, you can choose different type of turrets, cannons, wheels and tracks, utility points... it's basically like a ship but on the ground and you deploy it from the fighter hatch.
First, the deployement :
there is still a problem, you can't open enough (most ships)/at all (anaconda) the fighter bay when landed, but you can still drop the vehicle from the sky (the hatch lower down, incline itself so the back of the vehicle is pointing downward in a 45° angle and then drop). Of course you can't drop it from too high and it will depend on your altitude, on the planet gravity plus your speed toward the ground.
But how do you know if your not too high? Well, we can have a "gauge" that pops up when you first press deploy and then you have to confirm to drop (red : destruction assured/ orange : may take damage, it depends on where you are on the gauge/ blue : safe to go). Maybe the vehicle will have some boosters (like the Soyouz capsule) to slow down the fall at the last moment.
Second, the recovery :
It's the biggest problem. The ship should align the hatch with the vehicle, lower it and recover it.
Or the ship do the same thing but the hatch is cut in half (the cut parallel to the fighter launch track) and it open in half while still being lowered and it grab the vehicle from the sides and then bring it up. (developer, do what is easier for you, if you ever read this and plan on doing it)
I like using the fighter hatch because it make the Keelback really useful. (and i don't see any other method)
Now the vehicle it self
I've thinked of different customizable body (correspond to the spaceship but on the ground), all of them only have 1 utility point (T= tank; M= mining; E= exploration; C= cargo); the units for resistance and weight doesn't mean anything, there are just here for comparison :
-Class-T1: the lightest and the weakest of the three tanks good to build an APC. Quite small internal slots in general. 100 resistance, 100 weight. (2 crew)
-Class-T2: a bit heavier but stronger with a bigger turret point. Medium internal slots in general. 200 resistance, 150 weight. (2 crew)
-Class-T3: heaviest and strongest one with the biggest turret point and an extra weapon slot at the back (more of this later), here is the beast you wanted in world of tank. Quite big internal slots in general. 300 resistance, 200 weight (3 crew)
-Class-M: big and bulky, not really strong and quite heavy with a special utility point, it's made for mining. Really big internal slots in general. 150 resistance, 300 weight. (2 crew)
-Class-E: The only i have for this one is ground analyses, you can extract little bits of ground, but you store those in samples storage modules and then sell them like exploration data. Medium internal slots in genral. 100 resistance, 150 weight. (3 crew)
-Class-C: A truck-like vehicle which is lighter than the Class-T1 but even weaker. Big internal slots in general (for a land vehicle). 50 resistance, 75 weight. (2 crew)
(It's Class-"something" because i don't have ideas for the names)
Then we have the mouvement (which is basically like thrusters):
-Tracks: with higher grip but slower (even with high mass you'll be able to climb steep slope).
-Wheels: faster but you know what the SRV does... (maybe better wheels will change of look because of better grip).
-Maybe some hover thrusters like the sentry skimmers but for extremely light vehicle.
We also have turrets and not cannons, it is only the turret but it does increase the armor like hull reinforcement module on ship depending on the one you install:
-Light tank turrets: turn fast but are not that tanky. 100 resistance.
-Medium tank turrets: medium... 200 resistance.
-Heavy tank turrets: slower but can take a beating. 300 resistance
-Light AA turrets: turn fast but weak and can have AA cannons. 75 resitance.
-Medium AA turrets: medium... can have AA cannons. 125 resistance.
-Heavy AA turrets: slower and stronger and can have AA cannons. 200 resistance.
-Artillery turrets: slow as hell and as a medium AA turret but can have an artillery cannon. 125 resistance.
(AA turrets are weaker than a tank turret of the same level)
Turrets have 2 weapon slots, 1 main weapon and 1 secondary weapon.
Now the weapons (weapons are all fixe but attached to turret so...):
-Main weapons:
-Basic cannon: because it's a tank... (they shoot slower than regular cannons but hurt like, a lot)
-Railgun: because it hurt...
-Plasma accelerator: because why the hell not...
-Heavy auto cannon: an APC cannon for those who miss a lot
-Artillery cannon*: long range (like really) but slow to recharge (slower than cannons).
-Anti-Air cannon: mostly for taking down fighters or small/fragile spaceships.
-Secondary weapons:
-Multi-cannon: good luck shooting a sentry skimmer with a cannon.
-Lasers (all 3 types): because lasers are cool.
-Missiles: dumbfire, seekers and pack-hound-like.
-Grenade-launcher: for smoke, flare, or just basic explosifs.
-Extra weapons for Class 3 (I told you i'll come back to this):
-Mortar*: explosifs, smoke, flares and special one which light the area.
-Bombing missiles*: like the pack-hound but they don't target and just bomb the area you targeted.
-Mine-dropper: and they call it a mine... A MINE !!!
*The idea for the targeting of those weapons is that you have a zone which appear on the gound (a big blue circle basically) when you select the weapon, then you know where it is going to hit.
Utility points:
-ECM: basic ECM if you're alone with a quite short range (will simply disable the tracking on missiles like... normal ECM) but if you have a crew member, he can take control of ECM and target a missile, aim at it and the missile will go back to the one who launch it (may sound OP but good luck doing this).
-Heat sink: they are thrown into the air.
-Chaff: simple chaff fired high in the air.
-Shield boosters: just shield boosters.
-Scanners: Kill warrant, cargo...
-Special mining: only for the mining vehicle, it allows you to drill the ground and mine (it's a mining system pointing downward at the back of the vehicle.
Optional internal:
-Shield generator: i guess you want those, right?
-Cargo rack: because cargo = money !
-Hull reinforcement: better be a good tank.
-Module reinforcement: you know, you're dead without your powerplant.
I didn't specify things like powerplant, radar and stuff... because it seem quite obvious that your going to need them.
ALRIGHT, this was just the first part !
We need to talk about bombing ! I promise it's going to be quick.
The idea is simple, you got bombs in your cargo and you mass drop. You just need an optional internal module (like the limpet system) and you fire, the better is your module, the faster you drop the bombs. You don't need different system for different bombs, you just select them in your cargo and if have the system on board you'll have the option to use this one. (It's, for me, the easiest method)
Bombs do more damage the closer they are to a target.
You have 3 different bombs:
-Normal bombs: big bulky bombs which does a lot of damage in a area.
-Cluster bombs: bombs which doesn't do a lot of damage but cover a huge area (the higher you drop them the bigger the zone but also the weaker the damage)
-Targeting bombs: less damage than the normal one but they will try to directly hit for your target (the higher you drop them, the more chance you have to do a direct hit), those bombs take more time to fire because you have to program them (it's just an RP method to balance them)
-EMP bombs: don't do any damage to armor but does a lot to shield and a little bit to system. (engineer or expensive to buy)
And the final : NUCLEAR bombs ! no, just kidding, you can't play with these
NOW, the final part !
Ground combat zone:
You have 2 teams (because with only 1 it's not a war) wich both wants an outpost not the planetary stations, but those where you can steal data. You just have to place a conflict zone there !
I know it's not easy devs, you got to make an AI for the bombing ships, one for the ships who try to kill the ground units and one for the ground units ! I'm pretty sure this won't be in your top todo stuff, but still, i'll propose my ideas.
My idea is a remake of the bases. We can hack and we can destroy the generators so we can control the turrets, either we take the turrets or we can destroy generators to get combat bounds.
How do you win? Well, you make the most points !
What are those points? Well, combat bonds !
If you hack the AA turrets controls you'll win combat bonds and if those turrets kill ennemies you gain progress in the fight (the turrets win combat bonds but because it's NPC...). Same for generators, you destroy one you get combat bonds. Things is, the generators have to be hidden under and behind structures so we can't dumbfire them and the range of the turrets have augmented so we can't even try. The turrets also have to be really hard to kill so you just don't directly aim for them.
We can also have the usuall data to hack by getting all the pylons in a set amount of time.
And you still get combat bonds for destroying ship
And there you have it, a combat zone where people have to use land vehicle but where spaceships are still really useful ! And even if you're not that rich, you can still go and participate with a Keelback !
People, feel free to tell me what you think of this and your ideas to improve it.
Oh and please don't blame for my mistakes in english, i'm french
Good luck devs, you're doing a great job !
CMDR TimeAtomicz
The Horizon DLC/season is supposed to bring planets as a major feature, but planets are not that important.
I hoped we could have a lot of stuff to do on planets but after a couple hours on the ground, well... you clearly see those planets are empty deserts. I'm not saying that planets are trash, there not, there really good looking and i could stay for dozens of hours on them while doing tricks or just recovering cargo, but it still feel empty, mostly on the combat side.
Even with the planetary bases, planetary combat is quite dull, you just fire the only and same boring plasma repeater and repair yourself (and the repair feel like cheat, it's cheap and immediate)
So here I come with some little ideas:
First, vehicles (and it would be amazing with multi-crew because it's really hard to aim and drive)
Frinckin' TANKS ! Well, not just tanks, i also thinked about other vehicles.
But there was a problem, the size. The SRV hatch, which is also the cargo hatch on most ships, is way too small. I thinked of vehicle made of multiple parts which will assemble at the exit of the hatch but it didn't sound good or even realistic (multiple parts mean gears and junction stuff which decrease the internal module size and those junction are weaker). Then, I came to realize we already had a big hatch: the fighter hatch ! problem solved !!
The idea is simple, you have a main body which is customizable, you can choose different type of turrets, cannons, wheels and tracks, utility points... it's basically like a ship but on the ground and you deploy it from the fighter hatch.
First, the deployement :
there is still a problem, you can't open enough (most ships)/at all (anaconda) the fighter bay when landed, but you can still drop the vehicle from the sky (the hatch lower down, incline itself so the back of the vehicle is pointing downward in a 45° angle and then drop). Of course you can't drop it from too high and it will depend on your altitude, on the planet gravity plus your speed toward the ground.
But how do you know if your not too high? Well, we can have a "gauge" that pops up when you first press deploy and then you have to confirm to drop (red : destruction assured/ orange : may take damage, it depends on where you are on the gauge/ blue : safe to go). Maybe the vehicle will have some boosters (like the Soyouz capsule) to slow down the fall at the last moment.
Second, the recovery :
It's the biggest problem. The ship should align the hatch with the vehicle, lower it and recover it.
Or the ship do the same thing but the hatch is cut in half (the cut parallel to the fighter launch track) and it open in half while still being lowered and it grab the vehicle from the sides and then bring it up. (developer, do what is easier for you, if you ever read this and plan on doing it)
I like using the fighter hatch because it make the Keelback really useful. (and i don't see any other method)
Now the vehicle it self
I've thinked of different customizable body (correspond to the spaceship but on the ground), all of them only have 1 utility point (T= tank; M= mining; E= exploration; C= cargo); the units for resistance and weight doesn't mean anything, there are just here for comparison :
-Class-T1: the lightest and the weakest of the three tanks good to build an APC. Quite small internal slots in general. 100 resistance, 100 weight. (2 crew)
-Class-T2: a bit heavier but stronger with a bigger turret point. Medium internal slots in general. 200 resistance, 150 weight. (2 crew)
-Class-T3: heaviest and strongest one with the biggest turret point and an extra weapon slot at the back (more of this later), here is the beast you wanted in world of tank. Quite big internal slots in general. 300 resistance, 200 weight (3 crew)
-Class-M: big and bulky, not really strong and quite heavy with a special utility point, it's made for mining. Really big internal slots in general. 150 resistance, 300 weight. (2 crew)
-Class-E: The only i have for this one is ground analyses, you can extract little bits of ground, but you store those in samples storage modules and then sell them like exploration data. Medium internal slots in genral. 100 resistance, 150 weight. (3 crew)
-Class-C: A truck-like vehicle which is lighter than the Class-T1 but even weaker. Big internal slots in general (for a land vehicle). 50 resistance, 75 weight. (2 crew)
(It's Class-"something" because i don't have ideas for the names)
Then we have the mouvement (which is basically like thrusters):
-Tracks: with higher grip but slower (even with high mass you'll be able to climb steep slope).
-Wheels: faster but you know what the SRV does... (maybe better wheels will change of look because of better grip).
-Maybe some hover thrusters like the sentry skimmers but for extremely light vehicle.
We also have turrets and not cannons, it is only the turret but it does increase the armor like hull reinforcement module on ship depending on the one you install:
-Light tank turrets: turn fast but are not that tanky. 100 resistance.
-Medium tank turrets: medium... 200 resistance.
-Heavy tank turrets: slower but can take a beating. 300 resistance
-Light AA turrets: turn fast but weak and can have AA cannons. 75 resitance.
-Medium AA turrets: medium... can have AA cannons. 125 resistance.
-Heavy AA turrets: slower and stronger and can have AA cannons. 200 resistance.
-Artillery turrets: slow as hell and as a medium AA turret but can have an artillery cannon. 125 resistance.
(AA turrets are weaker than a tank turret of the same level)
Turrets have 2 weapon slots, 1 main weapon and 1 secondary weapon.
Now the weapons (weapons are all fixe but attached to turret so...):
-Main weapons:
-Basic cannon: because it's a tank... (they shoot slower than regular cannons but hurt like, a lot)
-Railgun: because it hurt...
-Plasma accelerator: because why the hell not...
-Heavy auto cannon: an APC cannon for those who miss a lot
-Artillery cannon*: long range (like really) but slow to recharge (slower than cannons).
-Anti-Air cannon: mostly for taking down fighters or small/fragile spaceships.
-Secondary weapons:
-Multi-cannon: good luck shooting a sentry skimmer with a cannon.
-Lasers (all 3 types): because lasers are cool.
-Missiles: dumbfire, seekers and pack-hound-like.
-Grenade-launcher: for smoke, flare, or just basic explosifs.
-Extra weapons for Class 3 (I told you i'll come back to this):
-Mortar*: explosifs, smoke, flares and special one which light the area.
-Bombing missiles*: like the pack-hound but they don't target and just bomb the area you targeted.
-Mine-dropper: and they call it a mine... A MINE !!!
*The idea for the targeting of those weapons is that you have a zone which appear on the gound (a big blue circle basically) when you select the weapon, then you know where it is going to hit.
Utility points:
-ECM: basic ECM if you're alone with a quite short range (will simply disable the tracking on missiles like... normal ECM) but if you have a crew member, he can take control of ECM and target a missile, aim at it and the missile will go back to the one who launch it (may sound OP but good luck doing this).
-Heat sink: they are thrown into the air.
-Chaff: simple chaff fired high in the air.
-Shield boosters: just shield boosters.
-Scanners: Kill warrant, cargo...
-Special mining: only for the mining vehicle, it allows you to drill the ground and mine (it's a mining system pointing downward at the back of the vehicle.
Optional internal:
-Shield generator: i guess you want those, right?
-Cargo rack: because cargo = money !
-Hull reinforcement: better be a good tank.
-Module reinforcement: you know, you're dead without your powerplant.
I didn't specify things like powerplant, radar and stuff... because it seem quite obvious that your going to need them.
ALRIGHT, this was just the first part !
We need to talk about bombing ! I promise it's going to be quick.
The idea is simple, you got bombs in your cargo and you mass drop. You just need an optional internal module (like the limpet system) and you fire, the better is your module, the faster you drop the bombs. You don't need different system for different bombs, you just select them in your cargo and if have the system on board you'll have the option to use this one. (It's, for me, the easiest method)
Bombs do more damage the closer they are to a target.
You have 3 different bombs:
-Normal bombs: big bulky bombs which does a lot of damage in a area.
-Cluster bombs: bombs which doesn't do a lot of damage but cover a huge area (the higher you drop them the bigger the zone but also the weaker the damage)
-Targeting bombs: less damage than the normal one but they will try to directly hit for your target (the higher you drop them, the more chance you have to do a direct hit), those bombs take more time to fire because you have to program them (it's just an RP method to balance them)
-EMP bombs: don't do any damage to armor but does a lot to shield and a little bit to system. (engineer or expensive to buy)
And the final : NUCLEAR bombs ! no, just kidding, you can't play with these
NOW, the final part !
Ground combat zone:
You have 2 teams (because with only 1 it's not a war) wich both wants an outpost not the planetary stations, but those where you can steal data. You just have to place a conflict zone there !
I know it's not easy devs, you got to make an AI for the bombing ships, one for the ships who try to kill the ground units and one for the ground units ! I'm pretty sure this won't be in your top todo stuff, but still, i'll propose my ideas.
My idea is a remake of the bases. We can hack and we can destroy the generators so we can control the turrets, either we take the turrets or we can destroy generators to get combat bounds.
How do you win? Well, you make the most points !
What are those points? Well, combat bonds !
If you hack the AA turrets controls you'll win combat bonds and if those turrets kill ennemies you gain progress in the fight (the turrets win combat bonds but because it's NPC...). Same for generators, you destroy one you get combat bonds. Things is, the generators have to be hidden under and behind structures so we can't dumbfire them and the range of the turrets have augmented so we can't even try. The turrets also have to be really hard to kill so you just don't directly aim for them.
We can also have the usuall data to hack by getting all the pylons in a set amount of time.
And you still get combat bonds for destroying ship
And there you have it, a combat zone where people have to use land vehicle but where spaceships are still really useful ! And even if you're not that rich, you can still go and participate with a Keelback !
People, feel free to tell me what you think of this and your ideas to improve it.
Oh and please don't blame for my mistakes in english, i'm french
Good luck devs, you're doing a great job !
CMDR TimeAtomicz
Last edited:
