Surface Conflict Zones

CMDR Yates

C
Most people seem to agree that Horizons has been sorely lacking in meaningful PvE interactions on the surfaces of planets. I'm aware there are unresolved technical challenges involved in getting NPCs to drive the SRVs, so racing and ground-based vehicular combat are probably a long way off, but is there any reason we can't just have regular ol' Conflict Zones spawn a few kilometers above the surface of a planet?

Gravity, surface features, dogfighting in canyons, etc. would add a degree of variety to the challenges players face in CZs, and seems it might be a quick and easy way to add another reason for people to actually go down there to the surface.
 
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DocLooshkin

DocLooshkin
That's a very good question, Mr Yates. :)

I'd like to see this. Proper fights above planetary surfaces seems like one of the great, unexplored opportunities of Horizons.

Fights too near to a starport or major base might be tricky - who do they shoot at for breaking the No-Fire Zone and trespassing rules? Does a missed shot hitting a building count as an attack on the base? I can see fights breaking out above those little mini-installations, though. I wonder what will happen to all the debris? Should be fun, whatever happens. :)
 

CMDR Yates

C
DocLooshkin said:
Fights too near to a starport or major base might be tricky - who do they shoot at for breaking the No-Fire Zone and trespassing rules? Does a missed shot hitting a building count as an attack on the base? I can see fights breaking out above those little mini-installations, though.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I imagined; fights over the mini installations, or just generally over interesting terrain.

You could also have battles within visual range of a starport, but not centering directly overhead, which would avoid the no-fire issue, offer an interesting sight from the starport itself, and allow for new tactics like speedy repairs and trying to lead enemies into range of the port guns (assuming you align with the controlling faction of the starport). Another idea, potentially connected to this, would be having enemy faction ships patrolling just beyond the no-fire range, trying to bring down ships coming in in order to influence the economy, like a blockade. These would have a chance of escalating into a surface CZ (when the affected faction sends ships to deal with the aggressors). It would make more sense than the current CZs, which just seem to happen at random locations in empty space.

There are so many possibilities.
 

Bunkerkind Anni

Bunkerkind Anni
combine this with my request for horizons "conflict zones missions" that would integrate CQC into the main game:

accept a misson from one of the factions, and then get telepresented into a conflict zone, launching as SLF pilot from a capship.
this could be expanded with one side launching the fighters from a surface port.

imagine all the gameplay that could be added, using the CQC system for this,
with additional Bomber-SLFs that are required to disable capship or surface installations subsystems in a certain pattern to either force a retreat or take over.
... or "escort the npc dropships"


hell there is a lot room to expand...
 

CMDR Yates

C
CMDR_Cosmicspacehead said:
+1 from me.

You may also be interested in this idea I posted about conflict zones and dynamic temporary CZs.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/374455-Conflict-Zones-Ideas

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Click to expand...

Yes! Your concept for dynamic combat zones, having a chance of developing out of a straightforward interdiction, would be incredible to see in-game. I'm sure there would be a bunch of technical hurdles to overcome with that (would it mean the game having to simulate systems even when no players are present, in order for CZs to appear?), but that should totally be the end goal for these locations.

In the meantime, I think "cheating" on the dynamic nature of combat zones by simply having them spawn in more interesting locations (on planets, near starports, in rings, at asteroids, etc.) would at least be a big step in the right direction.
 

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
CMDR Yates said:
Yes! Your concept for dynamic combat zones, having a chance of developing out of a straightforward interdiction, would be incredible to see in-game. I'm sure there would be a bunch of technical hurdles to overcome with that (would it mean the game having to simulate systems even when no players are present, in order for CZs to appear?), but that should totally be the end goal for these locations.

In the meantime, I think "cheating" on the dynamic nature of combat zones by simply having them spawn in more interesting locations (on planets, near starports, in rings, at asteroids, etc.) would at least be a big step in the right direction.
Click to expand...

Of course, adding super low 'orbit' CZs is the easiest solution. Lol
Don't forget CZs in rings too. And CQC assets. :D

My concept, apart from the selecting sides and legality overhaul bit, is actually pretty 'simple'.

A basic script would run an RNG on any military ship taking hits from an opposing military, and call(spawn) reinforcements (with a delay to prevent the same ship calling each time it's hit), and this script would run on all ships in the instance which are part of either military, including yours (and other players).
Then the dynamic CZ is actually just a series of ships arriving to support their own(Just like cops turning up for crimes), until the instance limit is hit.

Nothing would actually be created without your presence, and the 'skirmish' USSs would be RNG spawned on entry, similar to weapons fire detected USS's.

So apart from the selecting sides, and whatnot, the rest is almost entirely already in game in one form or another. :)

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
 
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SushiCW

SushiCW
CMDR_Cosmicspacehead said:
Of course, adding super low 'orbit' CZs is the easiest solution. Lol
Don't forget CZs in rings too. And CQC assets. :D
Click to expand...

Came here to say this. Open space is the *least* interesting place to have a CZ!



CMDR_Cosmicspacehead said:
Of course, adding super low 'orbit' CZs is the easiest solution. Lol

So apart from the selecting sides, and whatnot, the rest is almost entirely already in game in one form or another. :)

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
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Just make it so that you select sides when you enter the system, in supercruise, and it persists until you leave the system (or even longer.) So effectively the whole system is a warzone. EDIT: Oh right, you say exactly that in the thread of yours you linked. Carry on!
 
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CMDR Yates

C
CMDR_Cosmicspacehead said:
Of course, adding super low 'orbit' CZs is the easiest solution. Lol
Don't forget CZs in rings too. And CQC assets. :D

My concept, apart from the selecting sides and legality overhaul bit, is actually pretty 'simple'.

A basic script would run an RNG on any military ship taking hits from an opposing military, and call(spawn) reinforcements (with a delay to prevent the same ship calling each time it's hit), and this script would run on all ships in the instance which are part of either military, including yours (and other players).
Then the dynamic CZ is actually just a series of ships arriving to support their own(Just like cops turning up for crimes), until the instance limit is hit.

Nothing would actually be created without your presence, and the 'skirmish' USSs would be RNG spawned on entry, similar to weapons fire detected USS's.

So apart from the selecting sides, and whatnot, the rest is almost entirely already in game in one form or another. :)

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Click to expand...

Sounds eminently sensible and do-able.

I hadn't forgotten about rings and CQC assets. It would also be nice to have a non-mining reason to go to asteroid clusters, which I don't think I've set foot in for over a year, at least.
 

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
CMDR Yates said:
Sounds eminently sensible and do-able.

I hadn't forgotten about rings and CQC assets. It would also be nice to have a non-mining reason to go to asteroid clusters, which I don't think I've set foot in for over a year, at least.
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I actually forgot Asteroid Clusters even existed. I have my nav panel permanently filtering then out. Lol
They serve no real purpose, and are worthless to scan.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
 

SushiCW

SushiCW
CMDR_Cosmicspacehead said:
I actually forgot Asteroid Clusters even existed. I have my nav panel permanently filtering then out. Lol
They serve no real purpose, and are worthless to scan.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
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Under the right circumstances they can be good for mining: if you find one that has rich veins of the stuff you want, you can return to it again after a couple of hours and re-mine the same rocks for the same goods. Dedicated miners use them in optimized memorized circuits sometimes.
 

Marc_Hicks

Marc_Hicks
CMDR Yates said:
Most people seem to agree that Horizons has been sorely lacking in meaningful PvE interactions on the surfaces of planets. I'm aware there are unresolved technical challenges involved in getting NPCs to drive the SRVs, so racing and ground-based vehicular combat are probably a long way off, but is there any reason we can't just have regular ol' Conflict Zones spawn a few kilometers above the surface of a planet?

Gravity, surface features, dogfighting in canyons, etc. would add a degree of variety to the challenges players face in CZs, and seems it might be a quick and easy way to add another reason for people to actually go down there to the surface.
Click to expand...

Yep, I've been pushing for this since 2.1 dropped. I'd also love to see salvage missions and assassination missions actually incorporate the region between space and the surface of a planet on a semi-regular basis.....forcing players to have to allow for gravitational effects whilst scooping a black box or taking down their quarry. Oh, & imagine how it would be when we get our first atmospheric planets?
 

Marc_Hicks

Marc_Hicks
CMDR_Cosmicspacehead said:
I actually forgot Asteroid Clusters even existed. I have my nav panel permanently filtering then out. Lol
They serve no real purpose, and are worthless to scan.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Click to expand...

Yes, I believe that Asteroid Clusters need to have value added to them-both in the forms of commodities you could mine, value in terms of exploration (even if it's far less than a planet's value) & as a potential backdrop for missions.....imagine if those "Planetary Scan" or "Surface Salvage" missions could actually be in a belt cluster or even on the surface of a particular asteroid?
 
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