Hi everybody!
I recently took a look at the old forum's threads about scavenging from the devs and got a little scared.
It was just a variant of mining with ships instead of asteroids.
But shooting a laser beam at a carcass and getting little bits of ships once in a while seems very weird and would pull me out of the immersive world I'm in.
Plus, when we can leave our cockpits, I hope to be able to look for stuff on board the derelicts I find too.
What do you think?
So I thought of something different. For a lot of the mechanics, I had different versions in mind so I'll put them all here.
SCAVENGING :
Equipment :
-Scanner : A scanner that would allow players to know what parts are still usable and there integrity.
-Option 1 : "Cold Scanner". It would allow the players to scan targets that don't emit heat. (only when directly selected. We don't want the radar picking them up or people in silent running would get screwed).
Has to be bound to a fire group.
-Option 2 : "Probes". Players would shoot a drone (like a limpet) that would attach itself to the husk and put just enough energy into it to analyse what works and what doesn't and send it to the player. It could be the same probe that would come back physically to the player's ship with the info and be used again or an ammo based tool and every probe would be used only once.
Has to be bound to a fire group.
Concequences of Option 1 : "Cold Scanner"
I can't think of anything... Maybe, this tool, being used mostly for illegal purposes, could be illegal in most jurisdiction. Or maybe not if it's used by cops to "salvage" rather than scavenge.
Concequences of Option 2 : "Probes"
I like this one better for its practical explanation and its gameplay possibilities.
For the returning drone, it could almost be a R2D2 type of thing. So if you lose it, you lost your little friend and have to buy an other one.
You could also have to remote control it yourself to get in the husks and find a interface for it. That would leave the player open to attacks too. I can't think of anything else relevant but it would be cool.
Also illegal so, you'd have to find it in some shady markets.
-An Ultra Focused Laser : It will be used to cut pieces in the derelicts and husks' hulls.
-The maximum distance is of about a 100 meters (or whatever seems fair. needs testing).
-It would need to be used slowly so players can't rush it and to make sure, if used in combat, players would have to be very close but wouldn't cut their adversaries in half with one pass.
-Recovery equipment : Most ships pieces will be to big to put through the cargo hatch. So here are two solutions (both could actually cohabit in the game)
-Option 1 : A "Refinery". It will take the ships part that was cut off and pull it apart to keep only the usefull pieces that will be put in a cargo slot (like mining)
-Option 2 : A "Hook" that will allow the players to attach a piece of scrap under their ships belly or on top of it.
Concequences of Option 1 : "Refinery"
The husk's parts could be to big to fit in the cargo bay, so the dismantling would happen outside of the ship. This would mean low speed or slow acceleration (however the FD people like it best) and the players ship is vulnerable. There is room to think about how the shields fair when that happens too.
Once you have your cargo, it's just marked as stolen but it doesn't show on the outside like "the Hook" does.
Concequences of Option 2 : "The Hook"
Again, the husk's parts could be to big for the cargo bay, so they could have a module on there ship that allows to simply attach a whole piece of scrap on their ship. Scavenging being illegal, they couldn't bring it to regular stations but they could take it to pirate outposts or asteroid bases.
It would also have concequences on the maneuverability or the player's ship, the shields would be weakened because they'd need to expend or couldn't activate and the scrap could be damaged in combat and crashes.
Does it replace the cargo hatch?
This also means one or two scrap parts at a time but remember that you have to pay some big amonts to buy them for your own ship so you'd sell for a fair price as well.
Plus, imagine, a base embeded in a huge asteroid (like the artworks) and sidewinders and what not with a big ship parts attached under it like ants with dry fruits going to the anthill.
Gameplay : The actual scavenging
Scanning:
The player comes upon a husk or pieces of one, in a USS or freshly made (though freshly made drift, so they'd have to synchronize with it in Flight Assist Off. That'd be cool too).
-With the Cold Scanner : They center it within the scanner range and reticle and hold the fire button like any other scanner. Everything in range will be highlighted.
-With the Probes : They shoot at the target (remember, the husk have no heat so it's like a fixed weapon unlike the limpets). Wait for the scan and the info to come back (maybe the drone has to come back for the player to have it. No wireless transmission of the info, no wireless interception. But an other player could hack the drone maybe ? Would it be usefull ? Could there be a wired drone with a huge cable ?).
-The Probe might be able to give it enough of a signature for the player who gets the info to have it on his/her radar.
-They have to repeat the operation for every seperated piece of scrap of derelict ships out there.
Nota : Both scanner method could cohabit in the game but the cold scanner would be used by cops to find those low emitting carcasses, indicating a scavenger is probably around doing his thing. Just throwing in ideas here. I'm not sure this would be useful.
Selecting Part(s) :
Once the info is in, the player can check it in the sub-target's, where it usually is with live targets, to find what modules are there and their state. The player can then select which one they want and it will be highlighted in the list and on the husk. There will be a line to show where to cut to get it.
Cutting the parts :
-The player can now use the Ultra Focused Laser to cut the ship's parts off the husk.
-Cutting through a part will ruin it.
-To get to a part, the player might have to cut out other parts.
-Some parts might overlap. Getting one may mean breaking an other.
Here's a quick photo shop of what it might look like : http://imgur.com/QvT9x5a
Getting the part :
-The players can selects the cut off part and put their ship above/under it. The HUD will display a help not unlike the cargo scoop's. Once the part is gently attached to the ship one of two things can happen :
-Refinery : The refinery will pull the part to scraps and store it the cargo bay and the players can repeat the operation until the cargo space is full.
-Hook : Either the player's ship has enough space for more hooks and more parts or they don't and can now leave for a illegal trade place.
-Bigger parts might need more than one hook ?
There. That's all I could think of.
Remember, a lot of this is just a bunch of ideas thrown in. Some just for reflection and others I really believe could work and need tests.
Do you guys like it?
Do you guys have ideas to enhance this ?
I hope FD will be interested too. I mean, it is for them ^^
I recently took a look at the old forum's threads about scavenging from the devs and got a little scared.
It was just a variant of mining with ships instead of asteroids.
But shooting a laser beam at a carcass and getting little bits of ships once in a while seems very weird and would pull me out of the immersive world I'm in.
Plus, when we can leave our cockpits, I hope to be able to look for stuff on board the derelicts I find too.
What do you think?
So I thought of something different. For a lot of the mechanics, I had different versions in mind so I'll put them all here.
SCAVENGING :
Equipment :
-Scanner : A scanner that would allow players to know what parts are still usable and there integrity.
-Option 1 : "Cold Scanner". It would allow the players to scan targets that don't emit heat. (only when directly selected. We don't want the radar picking them up or people in silent running would get screwed).
Has to be bound to a fire group.
-Option 2 : "Probes". Players would shoot a drone (like a limpet) that would attach itself to the husk and put just enough energy into it to analyse what works and what doesn't and send it to the player. It could be the same probe that would come back physically to the player's ship with the info and be used again or an ammo based tool and every probe would be used only once.
Has to be bound to a fire group.
Concequences of Option 1 : "Cold Scanner"
I can't think of anything... Maybe, this tool, being used mostly for illegal purposes, could be illegal in most jurisdiction. Or maybe not if it's used by cops to "salvage" rather than scavenge.
Concequences of Option 2 : "Probes"
I like this one better for its practical explanation and its gameplay possibilities.
For the returning drone, it could almost be a R2D2 type of thing. So if you lose it, you lost your little friend and have to buy an other one.
You could also have to remote control it yourself to get in the husks and find a interface for it. That would leave the player open to attacks too. I can't think of anything else relevant but it would be cool.
Also illegal so, you'd have to find it in some shady markets.
-An Ultra Focused Laser : It will be used to cut pieces in the derelicts and husks' hulls.
-The maximum distance is of about a 100 meters (or whatever seems fair. needs testing).
-It would need to be used slowly so players can't rush it and to make sure, if used in combat, players would have to be very close but wouldn't cut their adversaries in half with one pass.
-Recovery equipment : Most ships pieces will be to big to put through the cargo hatch. So here are two solutions (both could actually cohabit in the game)
-Option 1 : A "Refinery". It will take the ships part that was cut off and pull it apart to keep only the usefull pieces that will be put in a cargo slot (like mining)
-Option 2 : A "Hook" that will allow the players to attach a piece of scrap under their ships belly or on top of it.
Concequences of Option 1 : "Refinery"
The husk's parts could be to big to fit in the cargo bay, so the dismantling would happen outside of the ship. This would mean low speed or slow acceleration (however the FD people like it best) and the players ship is vulnerable. There is room to think about how the shields fair when that happens too.
Once you have your cargo, it's just marked as stolen but it doesn't show on the outside like "the Hook" does.
Concequences of Option 2 : "The Hook"
Again, the husk's parts could be to big for the cargo bay, so they could have a module on there ship that allows to simply attach a whole piece of scrap on their ship. Scavenging being illegal, they couldn't bring it to regular stations but they could take it to pirate outposts or asteroid bases.
It would also have concequences on the maneuverability or the player's ship, the shields would be weakened because they'd need to expend or couldn't activate and the scrap could be damaged in combat and crashes.
Does it replace the cargo hatch?
This also means one or two scrap parts at a time but remember that you have to pay some big amonts to buy them for your own ship so you'd sell for a fair price as well.
Plus, imagine, a base embeded in a huge asteroid (like the artworks) and sidewinders and what not with a big ship parts attached under it like ants with dry fruits going to the anthill.
Gameplay : The actual scavenging
Scanning:
The player comes upon a husk or pieces of one, in a USS or freshly made (though freshly made drift, so they'd have to synchronize with it in Flight Assist Off. That'd be cool too).
-With the Cold Scanner : They center it within the scanner range and reticle and hold the fire button like any other scanner. Everything in range will be highlighted.
-With the Probes : They shoot at the target (remember, the husk have no heat so it's like a fixed weapon unlike the limpets). Wait for the scan and the info to come back (maybe the drone has to come back for the player to have it. No wireless transmission of the info, no wireless interception. But an other player could hack the drone maybe ? Would it be usefull ? Could there be a wired drone with a huge cable ?).
-The Probe might be able to give it enough of a signature for the player who gets the info to have it on his/her radar.
-They have to repeat the operation for every seperated piece of scrap of derelict ships out there.
Nota : Both scanner method could cohabit in the game but the cold scanner would be used by cops to find those low emitting carcasses, indicating a scavenger is probably around doing his thing. Just throwing in ideas here. I'm not sure this would be useful.
Selecting Part(s) :
Once the info is in, the player can check it in the sub-target's, where it usually is with live targets, to find what modules are there and their state. The player can then select which one they want and it will be highlighted in the list and on the husk. There will be a line to show where to cut to get it.
Cutting the parts :
-The player can now use the Ultra Focused Laser to cut the ship's parts off the husk.
-Cutting through a part will ruin it.
-To get to a part, the player might have to cut out other parts.
-Some parts might overlap. Getting one may mean breaking an other.
Here's a quick photo shop of what it might look like : http://imgur.com/QvT9x5a
Getting the part :
-The players can selects the cut off part and put their ship above/under it. The HUD will display a help not unlike the cargo scoop's. Once the part is gently attached to the ship one of two things can happen :
-Refinery : The refinery will pull the part to scraps and store it the cargo bay and the players can repeat the operation until the cargo space is full.
-Hook : Either the player's ship has enough space for more hooks and more parts or they don't and can now leave for a illegal trade place.
-Bigger parts might need more than one hook ?
There. That's all I could think of.
Remember, a lot of this is just a bunch of ideas thrown in. Some just for reflection and others I really believe could work and need tests.
Do you guys like it?
Do you guys have ideas to enhance this ?
I hope FD will be interested too. I mean, it is for them ^^