Newcomer / Intro NUKING THE ENEMY.

JIM COLDHAM · Mar 19, 2018

Hi guys.

Can we see new missions created where you can NUKE enemy bases (like in FRONTIER from the 90's), this was the highlight of the game, being given a military mission to go and NUKE an enemy military base, but instead of human bases, say, lets go and NUKE the Thargoids. Missiles available only from the military upon accepting a mission and as before these cannot be used on other targets apart from the one specified. It was great fun and added so much more to the game.

Regards.

Jim Coldham
Player of ELITE since 1984.

Raino · Mar 19, 2018

true, would be cools

especially, as by now, people only energize/refill those big thargoids ships

that way we would be able to destroy those befor they come back alive to sky

ArchEmperor · Mar 19, 2018

There will be problems with the game being addressed to kids. Nuking is scary and real, thus would create true night terrors for young aspiring Elite players.

In other words: Nothing that is realistic can ever be in a kids game.

Damage of a magnitude beyond the comprehension of common sense will never be allowed. Even though it is absolutely for real.

However, they could mask it and give it a lighter touch:
Love bombing. Not calling it nuking but carpet bombing instead. Or Frameshift Bomb ( Friendship Bomb ).
Also, allowing the target to mitigate full damage by shielding and some form of anti-nuke armor dug in under the ground. Thus everyone survives, only material damage and everyone is happy again afterwards. MLP style.

I can hear the computer voice saying : "Frameshift bomb armed ... release in 5 .... 4.... 3... 2... 1... Bombs Away!"

Mr_sukebe · Mar 19, 2018

Like the idea, but understand the point about terminology.
How about simply using term "anti-matter warhead" and let us have those as torpedoes.

Maenden · Mar 19, 2018

As the game is set 1286 years in the future I would have thought nukes would have been obsolete by then.

On the other hand we still have a navigation system that can't navigate to a space station without zooming straight past - but can stop you on a sixpence if you get too close to a planet or sun.

The devs are obsessed with things that go bang so perhaps you should put it in the Suggestions forum.

aRJay · Mar 19, 2018

Now if we could accelerate to near light speed in normal space we could chuck rocks at them, nothing all that scary about a rock.

lecorsobreton · Mar 19, 2018

Maybe not nuking but some sort of aerial attack on pirate/deserters/bandit bases would be a welcome change.

krylite · Mar 20, 2018

As the game is set 1286 years in the future I would have thought nukes would have been obsolete by then.

One should think so in 3304, but ED's tech is kind of interestingly lopsided. The ships still use fusion power, and fission power and nukes were used in Frontier. In the sci-fi movie "Dune" which supposedly took place 20k years in the feature the Harkonnen used tactical nukes to bomb in their raid of the palace. Star Trek phasers can reach terawatt range effectively the force of targeted nukes and devastate continents on whole worlds in time, yet ED's lasers are limited to a few megawatts of power. So far there doesn't seem to be sign of anti-matter power used in ED ships' weapons and the powerplants seem to still use hydrogen for presumably (cold) fusion power generation. In another lopsided tech contrast, FSD doesn't seem to need more than a few megawatts of power while Trek warp engines need the power only reachable in its lore through anti-matter reaction.

Now if we could accelerate to near light speed in normal space we could chuck rocks at them, nothing all that scary about a rock.

If I'm not mistaken, in FFE, the velocity was limited to 10k km/s ~ .033c where the stardreamer device allowed time to seem to speed up in the mind of the pilot effectively looking like travelling faster than light in appearance only. Granted it was still more than fast enough to smash out of control into planets.

here will be problems with the game being addressed to kids. Nuking is scary and real, thus would create true night terrors for young aspiring Elite players.

In other words: Nothing that is realistic can ever be in a kids game.

Strange to see that ED has a family friendly awareness yet has slavery, narcotics, pirating, assassinations, death in brilliant ship explosions, etc. Perhaps because in general the "Star Wars" and similar fictional media worlds was accepted into the mold deemed kid-friendly where the sci-fi & special effects are perceptually removed from reality.

If bombs were used as OP suggested, for family game awareness, perhaps they could just be described only as x-amount ton bombs or such and not mention their specific construction , presumably tactical fission bombs within the ED lore.

Maenden · Mar 20, 2018

krylite said:
....but ED's tech is kind of interestingly lopsided..

I think 'lopsided' is being polite.

Apart from the station navigation issue I mentioned I still don't understand why ships slow down in airless space when you drop the landing gear or open the cargo chute.
We have a six digit counter - to count down from four, your Fairy Godmother wafts you from a destroyed SRV back to the safety of your ship, NPC's have a vocabulary apparently learned from a bad 1950's movie and a 16t cargo rack takes up the same space as a Sinclair Spectrum (aka a docking computer).
You can super-charge your FSD by dancing with stars, but you cannot have a battery pack to increase its range.
You can destroy mighty Thargoids and heavily armoured, large ships but you can't scratch the paintwork on a nav beacon. So why not apply nav beacon technology to shielding ships??????

Etc.

[VR] scipio_77 · Mar 20, 2018

Heck, let's just call it "orbital bombardment".

That sounds awesome anyway.

aRJay · Mar 20, 2018

Maenden said:
I think 'lopsided' is being polite.

Apart from the station navigation issue I mentioned I still don't understand why ships slow down in airless space when you drop the landing gear or open the cargo chute.
We have a six digit counter - to count down from four, your Fairy Godmother wafts you from a destroyed SRV back to the safety of your ship, NPC's have a vocabulary apparently learned from a bad 1950's movie and a 16t cargo rack takes up the same space as a Sinclair Spectrum (aka a docking computer).
You can super-charge your FSD by dancing with stars, but you cannot have a battery pack to increase its range.
You can destroy mighty Thargoids and heavily armoured, large ships but you can't scratch the paintwork on a nav beacon. So why not apply nav beacon technology to shielding ships??????

Etc.

The Guild of Navigators won't let us have the technology.

Seizewell Warrior · Mar 21, 2018

Humans were still using "nukes" in B5 set in the 23rd century and still quite effective even against more advanced races. Or for that matter Starship Troopers, whenever that was set.

I used to enjoy those bombing runs in FE2, if you survived the approach without auguring in ISTR you got a little fizz pop and flash of light when the missile detonated.

Another option would be some form of wider beam laser which could knock out entire settlements.

As regards protecting the kiddywinks, not like there's any blood or gore in ED, enemies are just... gone whether in space or on the ground.

Schmack · Mar 21, 2018

ArchEmperor said:
There will be problems with the game being addressed to kids. Nuking is scary and real, thus would create true night terrors for young aspiring Elite players.

In other words: Nothing that is realistic can ever be in a kids game.

Damage of a magnitude beyond the comprehension of common sense will never be allowed. Even though it is absolutely for real.

However, they could mask it and give it a lighter touch:
Love bombing. Not calling it nuking but carpet bombing instead. Or Frameshift Bomb ( Friendship Bomb ).
Also, allowing the target to mitigate full damage by shielding and some form of anti-nuke armor dug in under the ground. Thus everyone survives, only material damage and everyone is happy again afterwards. MLP style.

http://orig12.deviantart.net/81d0/f/2011/269/2/6/friendship_nuke_by_physicallypossible-d4azabo.jpg

I can hear the computer voice saying : "Frameshift bomb armed ... release in 5 .... 4.... 3... 2... 1... Bombs Away!"

So the word "nuke" would give night terrors but there are massacre missions galore, terrorists, wedding party barges and even missions to kill innocent civilians and trade slaves.

Pretty sure the nuke aspect isn't the straw that would break the camel's back.

Gun Star · Mar 21, 2018

Hate to burst peoples bubbles but nukes are actually not effective in a airless vacuum.

Most of their energy and destructive power comes from air pressure

pzykozomatik · Mar 21, 2018

How about a death star laser for the C4 hardpoint?

Or something like the Species 8472 superweapon for wings, requiring all ships to fire their share of the main beam simultaneously. Mission type: Obliterate pirate outpost. Need to defend the ship holding the C8 Focus Unit on approach to station, then simultaneous C4 beam fire (needs experimental fusion mod) for x seconds on focus device subsystem for MAXIMUM OVERKILL. Sorry, I meant friendship beam. Could later be used against thargoid hive ships.