Hey all, i haven't had a huge idea in a while, so here's one!
It's broken up in to sections, which in theory, get more difficult to implement as you go down the list.
All should be pretty good for gameplay!
NPC Ships Deploy Sentry's
This, in theory, is the most simple and "easy" idea to implement. All it is, if you attack an installation or POI, there's a chance that support ships from the owners faction will deploy more sentry skimmers to assist them in defending the base. Ideally, they'd fly out to your rough location, come to a low hover, and deploy them nearby, if you're still driving your SRV.
You can tell if a ship is able to deploy Sentry's, because it will have the planetary vehicle hangar module fitted. Larger and higher ranks ships will be able to deploy more sentry skimmers, or even Goliaths!
Sentry's will always be from the same faction, and have the same legal status as the ship dropping them.
Once Sentrys are deployed, the ship won't try to shoot you, unless all of its Sentrys are destroyed.
Why not just keep letting ships shoot at your SRV? Because it's usually instant death if any of the ships have Railguns!
Plus skimmers are fun to fight in the SRV, ships are not. Plus, see next idea!
Allow Players to Deploy Sentry's
A much harder task already!
Ideally, when driving the SRV, you can recall your ship (if it's landed, it will take off and fly to you), and it will hover and deploy Sentry's(in the same manner as NPC's). Once deployed, they work in a similar manner to NPC SLFs, but you can control them all as a group, or issue orders individually. If you have more than one in your ship, you can deploy multiple Sentry's at once! (Mini army!).
They come with basic orders, attack target, fire at will, hold fire, defend and follow. Sentry's are throw away items, and can not be reused once deployed.
They do not require crew.
For this, you need to have atleast 1 planetary vehicle hangar installed, with more than two slots. One for the SRV, and the others for Sentry's.
Sentry's are only controlled via the SRV. If the SRV is destroyed, or boards the ship, you'll lose the Sentrys.
There would be various types of sentry available to buy from your local surface port with outfitting. Each one takes up a slot in the vehicle hangar.
You can only command up to 3 at a time.
Why can't they be reused? For balance, mostly, and to force players to decide when to use them. Also because docking them is probably harder to implement.
Why are they controlled from the SRV only?Seems like a good idea. Easier for them to take orders like follow and defend if you're with them on the ground. The ship will outrun them too quickly, and it can't target stuff.
Remote Control Single Sentry
While in the SRV, you have the option when a sentry is deployed, to command one of them directly. This leaves your SRV vulnerable, but allows you to distract defences or complete objectives from relative safety.
However, the range is only 500m! Flying out of range doesn't destroy the sentry, just disconnects it, and it'll revert to hold position orders. You need to drive within 500m to connect again, and reconnect. Sentry's are still not allowed within restricted zones, and will set off alarms. They also have no data link scanner, so can not scan anything.
They also have no "cockpit", so just display a simple HUD like the SRV turret.
You can still order other Sentrys while commanding your own.
Sentry and Terminal Hacking
You can also hack other Sentrys for your own uses, either to control directly, or order remotely. You are required to be within 25m of a Sentry, and maintain that distance while you connect, and use a new built in hacking tool (which can also be used on terminals for other things). Once connected, it will open up some sort of mini game(I haven't thought of yet- but think along the lines of Deus Ex HRs hacking mini gams) to either;
Win without detection,
Win but trigger alarms,
Lose without detection,
Lose and trigger alarms.
Some Sentrys are harder to hack than others.
Hacking the main Sentry Terminal can temporarily shut them down, or turn them on each other, or the base.
Hacking turrets allows you to set them to fire on anything, shut them down, or even take direct control of one, which would be particularly handy for taking out ships with the anti aircraft turret.
Depending on what you choose to do, hacking will be harder, and failure more severe.
Multicrew!
Probably the hardest thing to implement, is multicrew manning of sentrys.
For the sake of gameplay or consistency, you can't have an SRV deployed to use this, it's only available from the ship.
Instead, your crew telepresence to a sentry, and control it independently, as long as they stay within 3km of your ship, which can still be flying!
Flying out of range will self destruct the Sentrys.
I pondered the use of SRV by the helm, but with the ship dismissed, what happens to your crew when the skimmer pops?
Ideally, crew can also use SRVs, and SLFs at the same time. So in theory, you could have a ship, with an 2x SLF bay, a 2x Vehicle Hangar, with 1 SRV, and 1 skimmer, and 1 human crew can take the SLF, another take an SRV, and another control a skimmer. And an NPC crew can take another SLF, or maybe a sentry...?
Sentrys
Sentrys themselves can target anything within sensor range, and anything within 150m will be highlighted for your SRV, ship, crew, and wing members.
They have no data link scanners, but each class of sentry comes in a preset loadout you can select, much like the SLF, with different strengths and weaknesses.
They're all pretty cheap, except Goliath type Sentrys.
Goliaths require 2 vehicle slots.
And that's all of it so far.
Thoughts?
CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
It's broken up in to sections, which in theory, get more difficult to implement as you go down the list.
All should be pretty good for gameplay!
NPC Ships Deploy Sentry's
This, in theory, is the most simple and "easy" idea to implement. All it is, if you attack an installation or POI, there's a chance that support ships from the owners faction will deploy more sentry skimmers to assist them in defending the base. Ideally, they'd fly out to your rough location, come to a low hover, and deploy them nearby, if you're still driving your SRV.
You can tell if a ship is able to deploy Sentry's, because it will have the planetary vehicle hangar module fitted. Larger and higher ranks ships will be able to deploy more sentry skimmers, or even Goliaths!
Sentry's will always be from the same faction, and have the same legal status as the ship dropping them.
Once Sentrys are deployed, the ship won't try to shoot you, unless all of its Sentrys are destroyed.
Why not just keep letting ships shoot at your SRV? Because it's usually instant death if any of the ships have Railguns!
Plus skimmers are fun to fight in the SRV, ships are not. Plus, see next idea!
Allow Players to Deploy Sentry's
A much harder task already!
Ideally, when driving the SRV, you can recall your ship (if it's landed, it will take off and fly to you), and it will hover and deploy Sentry's(in the same manner as NPC's). Once deployed, they work in a similar manner to NPC SLFs, but you can control them all as a group, or issue orders individually. If you have more than one in your ship, you can deploy multiple Sentry's at once! (Mini army!).
They come with basic orders, attack target, fire at will, hold fire, defend and follow. Sentry's are throw away items, and can not be reused once deployed.
They do not require crew.
For this, you need to have atleast 1 planetary vehicle hangar installed, with more than two slots. One for the SRV, and the others for Sentry's.
Sentry's are only controlled via the SRV. If the SRV is destroyed, or boards the ship, you'll lose the Sentrys.
There would be various types of sentry available to buy from your local surface port with outfitting. Each one takes up a slot in the vehicle hangar.
You can only command up to 3 at a time.
Why can't they be reused? For balance, mostly, and to force players to decide when to use them. Also because docking them is probably harder to implement.
Why are they controlled from the SRV only?Seems like a good idea. Easier for them to take orders like follow and defend if you're with them on the ground. The ship will outrun them too quickly, and it can't target stuff.
Remote Control Single Sentry
While in the SRV, you have the option when a sentry is deployed, to command one of them directly. This leaves your SRV vulnerable, but allows you to distract defences or complete objectives from relative safety.
However, the range is only 500m! Flying out of range doesn't destroy the sentry, just disconnects it, and it'll revert to hold position orders. You need to drive within 500m to connect again, and reconnect. Sentry's are still not allowed within restricted zones, and will set off alarms. They also have no data link scanner, so can not scan anything.
They also have no "cockpit", so just display a simple HUD like the SRV turret.
You can still order other Sentrys while commanding your own.
Sentry and Terminal Hacking
You can also hack other Sentrys for your own uses, either to control directly, or order remotely. You are required to be within 25m of a Sentry, and maintain that distance while you connect, and use a new built in hacking tool (which can also be used on terminals for other things). Once connected, it will open up some sort of mini game(I haven't thought of yet- but think along the lines of Deus Ex HRs hacking mini gams) to either;
Win without detection,
Win but trigger alarms,
Lose without detection,
Lose and trigger alarms.
Some Sentrys are harder to hack than others.
Hacking the main Sentry Terminal can temporarily shut them down, or turn them on each other, or the base.
Hacking turrets allows you to set them to fire on anything, shut them down, or even take direct control of one, which would be particularly handy for taking out ships with the anti aircraft turret.
Depending on what you choose to do, hacking will be harder, and failure more severe.
Multicrew!
Probably the hardest thing to implement, is multicrew manning of sentrys.
For the sake of gameplay or consistency, you can't have an SRV deployed to use this, it's only available from the ship.
Instead, your crew telepresence to a sentry, and control it independently, as long as they stay within 3km of your ship, which can still be flying!
Flying out of range will self destruct the Sentrys.
I pondered the use of SRV by the helm, but with the ship dismissed, what happens to your crew when the skimmer pops?
Ideally, crew can also use SRVs, and SLFs at the same time. So in theory, you could have a ship, with an 2x SLF bay, a 2x Vehicle Hangar, with 1 SRV, and 1 skimmer, and 1 human crew can take the SLF, another take an SRV, and another control a skimmer. And an NPC crew can take another SLF, or maybe a sentry...?
Sentrys
Sentrys themselves can target anything within sensor range, and anything within 150m will be highlighted for your SRV, ship, crew, and wing members.
They have no data link scanners, but each class of sentry comes in a preset loadout you can select, much like the SLF, with different strengths and weaknesses.
They're all pretty cheap, except Goliath type Sentrys.
Goliaths require 2 vehicle slots.
And that's all of it so far.
Thoughts?
CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Last edited: