New game mechanics that would diversify combat

[downedpilot]

As we all know, combat in StarMade is very bland and seems to repeat the same formula, fire all your weapons as fast as you can and if your shields go down, give up, but I believe with the addition of some new features as well as the upcoming crewsystem will allow combat in StarMade to become much more entertaining for all of us.

The system that I am thinking of will allow ships to have multiple different specifications within them that would allow for boarding to be a viable tactic, and actually have a reason to board ships during combat other than you are just out-matched. What I am thinking of is that every system block that we currently have (power reactor, shields, thrusters, etc.) will get a computer tied to them. The computers wouldn't be necessary for a ship to work properly, but when added, the computers would allow the ship to have a plethora of new features. For example, when you add a reactor core (the compute for reactor blocks) you can choose to overdrive the reactor for a short amount of time to get a boost in power, the drawback to this would be that when shot the computer would "explode" in the same way that warheads currently do, but with a bigger blast. When you add a reactor core, you would also get this Power Management window, which would tie into the other computers. This would allow you to "divert power to _____" which would cost some of your other systems their abilities, but would give the system that you diverted power to some major upgrades, for instance, say you just entered combat with a station and you need to be prepared for some heavy hits, you could then divert more power to shields for more defense, but you would lose speed and some overall power generation. Then, in this scenario, say some heavy ships warp in to defend and you are clearly outmatched, you would then divert all of your thrust, and your shields would gradually lower to the new number now that they have less power, but in turn, your thrust capabilites greatly increase, allowing you to get out of the situation fast. These paired with the Reactors Overdrive ability would allow you to increase your abilities even more, but then you are at risk for two new mechanics that I have thought of. 1. destruction (obviously) 2. Hacking

This new hacking system would allow boarding parties to be much more effective in the sense that they would have new purpose other than drilling the ship core. This system would be where you could go up to a computer, for this example, lets say a shield computer, and you could A. torch it, and be blown up in the blast, or B. hack it. In order to hack a system, one would have to get within a certain distance, and press the [H] key, this would then open up a new window, where you would be faced with multiple challenges based on the system's size and how much power is being distributed to it. The puzzles that would open up would be timing based, like a green dot going back and forth over a line with a red spot in a random position and you would have to press a button when it hit the red spot. After you finished 3 of the hacking trials, you would get the option to do 1 of three things, 1. Overheat the system, this would be like a way of detonating that certain system, when you do this, the system would "overwork" itself to the point where it blows up, the drawback to this is that when a system is in the process of overworking itself, the stat that the computer controls say shields, gradually increases, like if you had 330k shields with it standard, your shields would increase to 660k until the system blows up, which would take 45 seconds to do so. the second option is the intense cooldown, where the system drops all of its current stats for 20-30 seconds, but the power generation is multiplied by 1.5 while the system is dumping all of its current usage. the third and my personal favorite option would be the malfunction option, where the system would be working incorrectly, for instance, with shields, the shield effect would look as if it were working, but as energy based projectiles passed through it (lasers, AMC's, and damage beams) they would be given a damage boost until the system is either reset or rebooted through the power management window. Thrust computers would change around the movement controls, and power cores would say that they are giving off more power than they actually are. but with all of these new features for boarders, you are going to need more things to combat them, thats where the new weapon comes in, the Charge Rifle, when fired with the left mouse button like other weapons, the charge rifle will deal 15 damage to what it hits at the same rate of the laser pistol, but when you hold down the right mouse button, the charge rifle would charge up until it hits a max. when released, the charge rifle could deal a maximum of 150 damage, but then need to cool down for 15 seconds. In addition to this, when the charge rifle hits its maximum, it would then deal 35 damage to its user and fire a standard projectile to whatever the user was trying to hit.

This new system would also tie into the planned crew system by allowing you to assign crew to man/guard each of these new computers. as they man them they would earn more experience over time with each encounter, and be more efficient at diverting power faster, or making the systems more effective, in addition to that, the NPCs will also get a weapon grade and a Combat skill, the weapon grade will be a rating of their current gear, of which they can only hold two weapons. the weapon grade will be useful when gauging how much equipment they are going to need. a high combat skill NPC would be more worthy of stronger weapons like the charge rifle or rocket launcher, while a low combat skilled NPC would often get hurt from overheating his/her charge rifle if they have one, and be more prone to missing and have worse pathfinding.

 

[ZektorSK]

But still, I didn't even read it :D But looks nice so far

=EDIT=

Ok readed it, it is great idea, I am surprised for so much details Very well written

 

[downedpilot]

But still, I didn't even read it :D But looks nice so far

=EDIT=

Ok readed it, it is great idea, I am surprised for so much details Very well written

ok, well, thanks I guess, I try to make my posts as descriptive as I can, that way if a dev likes it, they don't have to do much thinking for how the idea will work, but have a significant outline. anyway, glad you like the idea, please share it so that it may be implemented

 

[Galladinator]

Looks like a good idea.

However, hacking and boarding would be useless on non-RP ships. What is to stop someone from putting ship computers inside 5 thick advanced block walls? This would stop "Hacking" and make overdriven reactors really powerful.

 

[jayman38]

tl;dr:
1. Give systems an optional control computer (these will probably be introduced in some sort of crew update anyway).
2. While these computers aren't compulsory, they would add additional features, such as adding power management control.
3. Control Computers explode like a warhead with a larger radius when shot.
4. Systems given more power in power management would get boosts, bonuses, and other buffs, at the expense of other systems.
5. Astronauts can hack control computers.
6. Hacking involves multiple (E.g. 3) minigames for a successful hack.
7. Three hacking options:
A. Overheat (overwork the system over the course of 45 seconds to double it's power, then explode).
B. Underwork (system drops stats over 20-30 seconds, but increases recharge rate to a factor of 1.5.).
C. Malfunction (systems look like they are working at a glance, but are actually working against the ship).
i. Shields allow weapons through.
ii. Movement control binds are changed.
iii. etc.? Power Generation reports a wrong number.
iv. Weapons provide shield boosts instead of damaging the target.
v. Missiles explode immediately upon launch.
8. New astronaut weapon: Charge Rifle.
A. Normal fire same as the laser gun.
B. Hold down the other mouse button to Charge it up.
i. When released, fires up to a 150-dmg shot, depending on charge level.
ii. 15 second cooldown.
iii. Astronaut is self-damaged for 35 pts at maximum charge level.
iv. Overcharge? Astronaut is self-damaged for 35 pts and fires a regular laser gun shot.
9. NPC Crew can be assigned to man Control Computers.
10. NPC Crew gain experience over time, which increases the rate at which requested changes are implemented (diverting power faster, implementing other management requests faster.)
11. NPC Crew get a weapon grade and combat skill.
A. weapon grade affects the type/heaviness of weapon gear that NPC uses.
B. combat skill affects the use of the weapon. (more skill means the NPC will experience less over-charge blowbacks or will improve rocket launcher pathfinding and provide better AI pathfinding, meaning, it would get to places faster, use better cover, and be less likely to miss when firing its weapons.)

 

[downedpilot]

Looks like a good idea.

However, hacking and boarding would be useless on non-RP ships. What is to stop someone from putting ship computers inside 5 thick advanced block walls? This would stop "Hacking" and make overdriven reactors really powerful.

while that is true at the moment, this system is heavily dependent on the crew system, which will pretty much require you to have interiors
[DOUBLEPOST=1459545900,1459545690][/DOUBLEPOST]

tl;dr:
1. Give systems an optional control computer (these will probably be introduced in some sort of crew update anyway).
2. While these computers aren't compulsory, they would add additional features, such as adding power management control.
3. Control Computers explode like a warhead with a larger radius when shot.
4. Systems given more power in power management would get boosts, bonuses, and other buffs, at the expense of other systems.
5. Astronauts can hack control computers.
6. Hacking involves multiple (E.g. 3) minigames for a successful hack.
7. Three hacking options:
A. Overheat (overwork the system over the course of 45 seconds to double it's power, then explode).
B. Underwork (system drops stats over 20-30 seconds, but increases recharge rate to a factor of 1.5.).
C. Malfunction (systems look like they are working at a glance, but are actually working against the ship).
i. Shields allow weapons through.
ii. Movement control binds are changed.
iii. etc.?
8. New astronaut weapon: Charge Rifle.
A. Normal fire same as the laser gun.
B. Hold down the other mouse button to Charge it up.
i. When released, fires up to a 150-dmg shot, depending on charge level.
ii. 15 second cooldown.
iii. Astronaut is self-damaged for 35 pts at maximum charge level.
iv. Overcharge? Astronaut is self-damaged for 35 pts and fires a regular laser gun shot.
9. NPC Crew can be assigned to man Control Computers.
10. NPC Crew gain experience over time, which increases the rate at which requested changes are implemented (diverting power faster, implementing other management requests faster.)
11. NPC Crew get a weapon grade and combat skill.
A. weapon grade affects the type/heaviness of weapon gear that NPC uses.
B. combat skill affects the use of the weapon. (more skill means the NPC will experience less over-charge blowbacks or will improve rocket launcher pathfinding.)

thanks for the summary, I'm sorry if I type a bit too much, and as for the etc. power would say it is generating more than it actually is, energy based weapons (beam, amc) would instead work as shield supply cannons and missiles would blow up upon firing
[DOUBLEPOST=1459546059][/DOUBLEPOST]

tl;dr:

B. combat skill affects the use of the weapon. (more skill means the NPC will experience less over-charge blowbacks or will improve rocket launcher pathfinding.)

not improve rocket launcher pathfinding, but have better AI pathfinding, meaning, it would get to places faster, use better cover, and be less likely to miss when firing its weapons

 

[ZektorSK]

tl;dr:
1. Give systems an optional control computer (these will probably be introduced in some sort of crew update anyway).
2. While these computers aren't compulsory, they would add additional features, such as adding power management control.
3. Control Computers explode like a warhead with a larger radius when shot.
4. Systems given more power in power management would get boosts, bonuses, and other buffs, at the expense of other systems.
5. Astronauts can hack control computers.
6. Hacking involves multiple (E.g. 3) minigames for a successful hack.
7. Three hacking options:
A. Overheat (overwork the system over the course of 45 seconds to double it's power, then explode).
B. Underwork (system drops stats over 20-30 seconds, but increases recharge rate to a factor of 1.5.).
C. Malfunction (systems look like they are working at a glance, but are actually working against the ship).
i. Shields allow weapons through.
ii. Movement control binds are changed.
iii. etc.? Power Generation reports a wrong number.
iv. Weapons provide shield boosts instead of damaging the target.
v. Missiles explode immediately upon launch.
8. New astronaut weapon: Charge Rifle.
A. Normal fire same as the laser gun.
B. Hold down the other mouse button to Charge it up.
i. When released, fires up to a 150-dmg shot, depending on charge level.
ii. 15 second cooldown.
iii. Astronaut is self-damaged for 35 pts at maximum charge level.
iv. Overcharge? Astronaut is self-damaged for 35 pts and fires a regular laser gun shot.
9. NPC Crew can be assigned to man Control Computers.
10. NPC Crew gain experience over time, which increases the rate at which requested changes are implemented (diverting power faster, implementing other management requests faster.)
11. NPC Crew get a weapon grade and combat skill.
A. weapon grade affects the type/heaviness of weapon gear that NPC uses.
B. combat skill affects the use of the weapon. (more skill means the NPC will experience less over-charge blowbacks or will improve rocket launcher pathfinding and provide better AI pathfinding, meaning, it would get to places faster, use better cover, and be less likely to miss when firing its weapons.)

Sorry... I just... Have to....

 

[downedpilot]

Sorry... I just... Have to....

Not one for reading then?