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- Dec 2, 2015
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I originally had a much more in depth post than this but then my laptop decided to run out.
So this is a (not so) simple suggestion to give players who don't like building or combat something to do with those exploration ships on the community content, this suggestion expands the game to new audiences and can also add a little bit of lore or RP about the game.
________________________________________________________________________
New Game Mechanics:
Data Cache:
This is a separated sector from the main universe with some interesting "ancient looking" structures with cargo in them, however this cargo is not accessible without playing a little minigame.
Different Kinds of minigames follow:
Combat Site: Defeat a wave of enemies (NPC ancient ships guarding the cache not aligned with any other NPC faction) once they are all defeated one of them will drop a key that can be used to access the building, inside the building (potentially filled with spiders maybe?) you can get to the cargo with the same key and get the loot, if you die, the site will self destruct and become
inaccessible
Hacking Site: I was thinking of something like this:
Like a slot machine, the letter wheels will spin, with the red letter being the one you want to stop the wheel on (by left clicking) maybe ancient symbols instead of english letters will look cool, once you stop one on the red character the next wheel will need to be stopped (the next one will spin faster than the last) if you get all the red characters lined up, then the loot unlocks and you can grab it, if you miss one of the red characters 3 times then the building you were hacking (assuming there is more than one) will self destruct, if they all go boom, the site is useless and you will be warped back to normal space.
Puzzle Site:
If you have ever played the nordic pillar puzzles in skyrim, you will know how this works.
If not, allow me to explain:
Obviously not looking exactly like this, on each building there is one of these pillars with a pillar, a button will rotate these pillars (using rails and logic) to one of 4 symbols (one on each side) you have to get the correct symbol facing the right way then press a button to confirm get it wrong and the building goes boom, clues to the correct combination can be found around the site, clues come in the form of cryptic text, with references to the correct pattern, the text will be written in different languages and scattered all over the building (so that people who do not know english can still do them)
Rewards:
Chart of rewards like so [obviously configurable in configs]
35% chance of a starchart showing the locations of other sites (can go directly to them without scanning) and other explored territory
40% Chance of a bunch of hull/system blocks and minerals
10% Chance of a common Relic
5% Chance of an uncommon Relic
3% Chance of a rare Relic
2% Chance of an exotic Relic
Galaxy Map Filters and Explored Territory
Firstly, no more "I know a pirate station is here because I can see it on my map" the only things that can be seen on the Galaxy map without exploring the sector is shops and the sun colors, home bases and stations with warp gates.
To find anything else you need to be in the adjacent sector to something for it to be revealed what it is, NPC stations, asteroid sectors etc, will need to be discovered, not just looked at on the map.
Then we have different map filters and map data.
You can chose to filter out certain icons on the map to allow you to clean up your map so you can see the bubbles better.
The fog of war system mentioned previously can be revealed on behalf of yourself, your faction, specific players, or publicly data is uploaded to these different maps through starcharts.
This allows pilots to make money from selling starcharts with this info (star charts explained in the "new blocks section"
NEW BLOCKS:
Cosmic Scanner:
Simple Computer and System block that will, when activated allow will show 3d "bubbles" on your galaxy map.
These show the area where a Data Cache can be found within, you have to keep going to different areas in this bubble, the bubble shrinking in the location as it is scanned, once it is small enough, you can travel to it and you will be warped (same animation as a black hole) to a Data Cache, once it is discovered It can be seen as a signature on the nav, information on that signature shows how many structures are present in the Cache and what type of minigame it is.
Starchart (Item)
All (or selected areas) of your galaxy map can be exported to a psyical item than be dropped or given to other players and put in storages, these maps if given to another player can be consumed to have the data in the chart put on your galaxy map.
Starchart data can also be uploaded to your faction, specific people, just yourself or publicly.
Relic:
Simple Item that can be sold to trading guild shops for an amount depending on its tier (configurable)
Common: 50M
Uncommon: 75M
Rare: 115M
Exotic: 150M
This item could also be dropped on death regardless of block death penalty settings.
Improved Display Blocks:
Seriously, they current ones suck, they need more text space and perhaps different sizes of display blocks (4x4 anyone?) oh! and more font sizes!
________________________________________________________________________________
So this is pretty much my contribution to PVE exploration, fell free to add constructive criticism or brainstorm your own ideas.
So this is a (not so) simple suggestion to give players who don't like building or combat something to do with those exploration ships on the community content, this suggestion expands the game to new audiences and can also add a little bit of lore or RP about the game.
________________________________________________________________________
New Game Mechanics:
Data Cache:
This is a separated sector from the main universe with some interesting "ancient looking" structures with cargo in them, however this cargo is not accessible without playing a little minigame.
Different Kinds of minigames follow:
Combat Site: Defeat a wave of enemies (NPC ancient ships guarding the cache not aligned with any other NPC faction) once they are all defeated one of them will drop a key that can be used to access the building, inside the building (potentially filled with spiders maybe?) you can get to the cargo with the same key and get the loot, if you die, the site will self destruct and become
inaccessible
Hacking Site: I was thinking of something like this:
Like a slot machine, the letter wheels will spin, with the red letter being the one you want to stop the wheel on (by left clicking) maybe ancient symbols instead of english letters will look cool, once you stop one on the red character the next wheel will need to be stopped (the next one will spin faster than the last) if you get all the red characters lined up, then the loot unlocks and you can grab it, if you miss one of the red characters 3 times then the building you were hacking (assuming there is more than one) will self destruct, if they all go boom, the site is useless and you will be warped back to normal space.
Puzzle Site:
If you have ever played the nordic pillar puzzles in skyrim, you will know how this works.
If not, allow me to explain:
Obviously not looking exactly like this, on each building there is one of these pillars with a pillar, a button will rotate these pillars (using rails and logic) to one of 4 symbols (one on each side) you have to get the correct symbol facing the right way then press a button to confirm get it wrong and the building goes boom, clues to the correct combination can be found around the site, clues come in the form of cryptic text, with references to the correct pattern, the text will be written in different languages and scattered all over the building (so that people who do not know english can still do them)
Rewards:
Chart of rewards like so [obviously configurable in configs]
35% chance of a starchart showing the locations of other sites (can go directly to them without scanning) and other explored territory
40% Chance of a bunch of hull/system blocks and minerals
10% Chance of a common Relic
5% Chance of an uncommon Relic
3% Chance of a rare Relic
2% Chance of an exotic Relic
Galaxy Map Filters and Explored Territory
Firstly, no more "I know a pirate station is here because I can see it on my map" the only things that can be seen on the Galaxy map without exploring the sector is shops and the sun colors, home bases and stations with warp gates.
To find anything else you need to be in the adjacent sector to something for it to be revealed what it is, NPC stations, asteroid sectors etc, will need to be discovered, not just looked at on the map.
Then we have different map filters and map data.
You can chose to filter out certain icons on the map to allow you to clean up your map so you can see the bubbles better.
The fog of war system mentioned previously can be revealed on behalf of yourself, your faction, specific players, or publicly data is uploaded to these different maps through starcharts.
This allows pilots to make money from selling starcharts with this info (star charts explained in the "new blocks section"
NEW BLOCKS:
Cosmic Scanner:
Simple Computer and System block that will, when activated allow will show 3d "bubbles" on your galaxy map.
These show the area where a Data Cache can be found within, you have to keep going to different areas in this bubble, the bubble shrinking in the location as it is scanned, once it is small enough, you can travel to it and you will be warped (same animation as a black hole) to a Data Cache, once it is discovered It can be seen as a signature on the nav, information on that signature shows how many structures are present in the Cache and what type of minigame it is.
Starchart (Item)
All (or selected areas) of your galaxy map can be exported to a psyical item than be dropped or given to other players and put in storages, these maps if given to another player can be consumed to have the data in the chart put on your galaxy map.
Starchart data can also be uploaded to your faction, specific people, just yourself or publicly.
Relic:
Simple Item that can be sold to trading guild shops for an amount depending on its tier (configurable)
Common: 50M
Uncommon: 75M
Rare: 115M
Exotic: 150M
This item could also be dropped on death regardless of block death penalty settings.
Improved Display Blocks:
Seriously, they current ones suck, they need more text space and perhaps different sizes of display blocks (4x4 anyone?) oh! and more font sizes!
________________________________________________________________________________
So this is pretty much my contribution to PVE exploration, fell free to add constructive criticism or brainstorm your own ideas.
Last edited:
