Astronaut Gear: The forgotten ones!

[Markus_McCloud]

Hey, everyone! Markus_McCloud once again!

So I've seen countless threads commenting about additional Astronaut Mode equipment. You know the ones: "We need jet-packs!" "We want more guns!" "We need to improve helmets!" Yada yada yada...

There is some gear that I've yet to see mentioned, however. What makes it more baffling is that the programming for my ideas is already in the game! All of my ideas are personal versions of systems that already exist for ships.

Null Signature Device
This is essentially a personal Radar Jammer. When activated, this device eliminates the target indicator that points to you. You're still completely visible, but missiles can't get a target lock on you, and automated turrets will have to dumb-fire their weapons. If it needs a limiting factor, it should be less restrictive than the one for my next idea.

Cloaking Device
Why just be invisible to radar, when you can be invisible, period? This is the astronaut's equivalent to a Cloaker, making your character completely invisible. It would likely need some sort of limiting factor to prevent people just using it 24/7.

Deployable Drones (not related to the automated ships)
Whether they are used to shoot down missiles, astronauts, or other ships, turrets are a staple on many ships. But why should ships have all the fun? Now, with one of these guys hovering over your shoulder, you too can have all the perks of having a turret. Whether you use them to take care of pesky missiles, or just want a second gun, these would have you covered.

I'm just kind of throwing ideas at the wall here to see what sticks. What are your thoughts?

 

[jayman38]

I like Null-sig, but if a player can cloak, I would prefer that the devs implement some sort of "shimmer" effect, like in the movie Predator, so that a player is not completely invisible. They should be discoverable without the use of a scanner, and if it uses the skills of the actual player instead of equipment, that skill requirement makes it more fun. (Likewise, a player using their cloak to effectively avoid detection versus a player who lets themselves be easily discovered is another fun way to use the players' skills.)

Drones at the astronaut level? I think we need NPCs, and especially pets or mercenaries or NPC crewmembers, in place of this. Astronaut-level drones wouldn't be buildable at that scale, so we'd get stuck with something that wouldn't be our best drone product. (If we can get design-able weaponry, such as building our own laser gun or sniper rifle out of blocks, by all means, let us have design-able pet micro-drones as well!)

 

[captainairspeed]

jayman38 i think the devs want t0 stay away from microblocks and the such but i do agree that we do need some more characer customization even if it was that you have the ability to make your won weapon skins and use the ingame similar to Player skins.

different games take different aproaches minecraft lets you enchant your armour to increase its stats and other gmes have countless combinations you can put together to make guns and weapons unique to you.

the devs currently are working thier buts off to iron out kinks in the code and improve the core mechanics so more astronaught gear will probably come once the games out of alpha.

but yeah i agree we do need some more gear for our player but it probably wont come for awhile longer as although we love our space daves <3 hes not that important right now till crews get implemented.

 

[Sachys]

Another vote for a null sig thingy here - though I would say it should have limited capacity and a recharge time (bit like the grapple gun), so people cant simply walk around "jamming" all the time - but enough for you to maneuvre into a core, build block or spawn from a BP and get on board. An emergency use kit I suppose. Maybe even make them single use - 60 seconds charge and unscannable. prohibitive costs?

 

[kiddan]

Cloaked astronauts would require a few balances. The most notable would be cloaking and using a sniper to insta-kill a player before they can see you. Maybe with the upcoming sound engine, there would be some sound cloaked players would emit with a range of about five blocks? Warping light is common in sci-fi games, but I don't know how viable that is in Starmade.

 

[jayman38]

Cloaked astronauts would require a few balances. The most notable would be cloaking and using a sniper to insta-kill a player before they can see you. Maybe with the upcoming sound engine, there would be some sound cloaked players would emit with a range of about five blocks? Warping light is common in sci-fi games, but I don't know how viable that is in Starmade.

And even then, the counter-balance against cloaked players is not good enough. A 5-radius sound will not help you in the least from being sniped from 50 blocks away.

Sure, you could implement other balances, such as extremely-short usage times with long cool-down periods, and active damage to the player being cloaked, but the issue of one-sided ambushes carried out with impunity remains. This might be fun for the ambushers, but not for the ambushees. (IMO: fun should always trump features.)

 

[terra mining corp.]

The astronaut should have deployable mines(could be used against them also) and placeable munitions,station infiltrations could become the norm

 

[Dr. Whammy]

I like this thread. Rather than let it die out, I'll offer a few of my ideas.

Sentry gun: A small stationary robotic NPC unit that can be armed with a personal weapon (sniper rifle, rocket Launcher, laser pistol, healing beam, etc.) then placed on any ship, station, planet or asteroid; including enemy structures. The unit is attached to the structure like a regular block and will not drift away. Once placed, it will attack enemy astronauts with weapons or heal friendlies with the healing beam; which ever is equipped. It will have an interface similar to the Bobby AI or faction block but with a single inventory slot. In this interface you can switch the unit's weapons and set it (if you choose) to heal or attack neutrals (depending on load out). You can also put it back in your own inventory when its no longer needed. To prevent spamming, it requires a large amount of inventory space (not compressible like other blocks) and must be physically picked up from storage (no quick-inventory "personal cargo" swapping). The unit does not share shields or passive effects with the structure it is attached to but can be repaired with the healing beam or astro-tech.

Personal Sentry: Mobile version of the sentry gun, used for personal protection and to boost offense vs astronauts. Basically a small flying robot entity that follows you around and matches your orientation, alignment and gravity. Can be equipped with weapons or a healing beam and has the all the same options and abilities as a Sentry gun. Only one personal sentry can be used at a time.

Demolition charge: A timed explosive charge that uses a warhead as a component. This device can be placed on any structure (even enemy) like the sentry gun. Interface with the device to access its inventory. Add warheads in the C4 inventory to determine the damage output of the explosive. There will also be a timer; start the countdown to detonation and stand back. To prevent spamming, C4 also has a high inventory space requirement and similar restrictions to the sentry gun.

Personal shield: A regenerating personal barrier that adds 200 shield HP to your character. Regenerates 1 HP/sec. Cannot be equipped with personal cloak/jammer due to whatever inverse quantum phase polarity paradox reason comes to mind...

Shotgun: Short range, high damage spread gun. Click-Click BOOM!

Hologram A: Change your signature to friendly, neutral or enemy for trickery, espionage and other shenanigans. Can be equipped with personal shield. 60 second duration. Consumable item; single use only.

Hologram B: Deploy a small device that will generate an illusion of blocks to conceal your presence and confuse enemies. Blocks displayed can be 'built' using creative mode within a 10 meter radius and will be attached to the structure in which deployed and not drift. Holographic blocks are invulnerable but also intangible so they can be walked/shot through. 60 second duration. Consumable item; single use only. Best used with a personal jammer.

 

[kiddan]

And let's not forget Hologram D: A hologram of yourself, running away from your position in the direction you were facing.

 

[Coyote27]

Flamethrower: Shoots a somewhat-dodgeable stream of fire with a limited range (30-50m or so) and long cooldown; does heavy damage to astronauts and space creatures but little or no damage to blocks.

Flare launcher: Shoots a highly visible flare in the direction fired, affected by gravity if you're in a gravity field. Might be useful if you want to send a visual signal and call attention to a location.

Taser: Deals no direct damage, but momentarily stuns an astronaut or space creature. Might be useful if we can someday capture space creatures and tame them, but there's probably other situations where you'd want to make an astronaut stop their actions without killing them. Very limited range, maybe 10m.

 

[Valiant70]

Since ships are going to combine radar jammer and cloak into one entity, I think the personal equivalent should be a "personal stealth field" which does both.

Personal drones sound fun. I once came up with a concept for a power suit that had an interceptor turret on the shoulder to stop incoming projectiles/grenades/missiles. The drone could fill a simlar role.