Read by Council Voice/Text Radios

[Rixxan]

OK hey everyone Rixxan here with another suggestion I developed in chat today (Yay chat!)
The basic premise is ship-to-ship and ship-to-entity radios. Here's what I have thought out for this. As part of a ship core you have a radio built in. This radio has access to certain radio frequencies. You can only chat on a certain frequency that both players have to be on and in a certain range, as the signal will dissipate if it is too far away. You would have access to the frequencies 1-999, send the other person a message to contact you on frequency 27 or such and watch the fun happen. This would allow for more interaction and RP elements within the game. If trolls find you simply go to another wavelength, and also have designated "Trading Guild" freqs that you use to be contacted regularly, like a normal HAM set, but that channel would be text only. Voice communication in the server would be OFF by default, and would have to be turned on by the server owner.
EXAMPLES OF FREQUENCIES:
Channel 1: General local chat, Accessible to everyone and default of always ON, text chat only, use /radio to send a message on that frequency.
Channel 16: General distress beacon, could be triggered by logic or a command /distress ?
Channel 16 would have limited range (One or two sectors?)
EXAMPLES OF USE:
(channel one): JSR Destroyer to JSR Cruiser, contact LSO on channel 118.
(Channel 118)(Voice): Hey LSO, It's John what's up?
EXAMPLE TWO:
Channel One: Incoming contact, call docking control on channel 264
Channel 264: Colonial Heavy 275 requesting docking clearance.
Docking Control to Colonial Heavy, docking bay four is clear for your arrival. Welcome aboard.
EXAMPLE THREE:
Channel 16: Krypter! Krypter! Krypter! This is [Ship Name] Requesting assistance! [Repeats every ten seconds]
This would allow for more RP aspects as well as more immersion in the game, plus less time typing for all to see and more time talking with those you want to see.

This would allow more coordination with PvP, where two ships could have voice comms between the two to discuss tactical info (Their Battlenet), and the third could attempt to locate and break in to get an advantage.

EDIT ONE: Well another thing is that factions could have designated "Public" and "Private" channels that only they know?

 

[Reilly Reese]

OK hey everyone Rixxan here with another suggestion I developed in chat today (Yay chat!)
The basic premise is ship-to-ship and ship-to-entity radios. Here's what I have thought out for this. As part of a ship core you have a radio built in. This radio has access to certain radio frequencies. You can only chat on a certain frequency that both players have to be on and in a certain range, as the signal will dissipate if it is too far away. You would have access to the frequencies 1-999, send the other person a message to contact you on frequency 27 or such and watch the fun happen. This would allow for more interaction and RP elements within the game. If trolls find you simply go to another wavelength, and also have designated "Trading Guild" freqs that you use to be contacted regularly, like a normal HAM set, but that channel would be text only. Voice communication in the server would be OFF by default, and would have to be turned on by the server owner.
EXAMPLES OF FREQUENCIES:
Channel 1: General local chat, Accessible to everyone and default of always ON, text chat only, use /radio to send a message on that frequency.
Channel 16: General distress beacon, could be triggered by logic or a command /distress ?
Channel 16 would have limited range (One or two sectors?)
EXAMPLES OF USE:
(channel one): JSR Destroyer to JSR Cruiser, contact LSO on channel 118.
(Channel 118)(Voice): Hey LSO, It's John what's up?
EXAMPLE TWO:
Channel One: Incoming contact, call docking control on channel 264
Channel 264: Colonial Heavy 275 requesting docking clearance.
Docking Control to Colonial Heavy, docking bay four is clear for your arrival. Welcome aboard.
EXAMPLE THREE:
Channel 16: Krypter! Krypter! Krypter! This is [Ship Name] Requesting assistance! [Repeats every ten seconds]
This would allow for more RP aspects as well as more immersion in the game, plus less time typing for all to see and more time talking with those you want to see.

This would allow more coordination with PvP, where two ships could have voice comms between the two to discuss tactical info (Their Battlenet), and the third could attempt to locate and break in to get an advantage.

EDIT ONE: Well another thing is that factions could have designated "Public" and "Private" channels that only they know?

It's a good idea but it shouldn't change current mechanics too much.

 

[Rixxan]

It's a good idea but it shouldn't change current mechanics too much.

Not planning on it changing them, just adding new options for RP and gameplay. The regular chat would not be changed at all, it would be left alone and this added on top of it. As was said, the voice would be OFF by default with server owners to decide how many channels and whether to even use the system.

 

[kiraen]

Voice chat integration would be cool, but there are a lot of third-party programs out there already.
If Schine can fit it in, that would be great, but I don't see reinventing the wheel as a priority.

 

[jorn818]

OK hey everyone Rixxan here with another suggestion I developed in chat today (Yay chat!)
The basic premise is ship-to-ship and ship-to-entity radios. Here's what I have thought out for this. As part of a ship core you have a radio built in. This radio has access to certain radio frequencies. You can only chat on a certain frequency that both players have to be on and in a certain range, as the signal will dissipate if it is too far away. You would have access to the frequencies 1-999, send the other person a message to contact you on frequency 27 or such and watch the fun happen. This would allow for more interaction and RP elements within the game. If trolls find you simply go to another wavelength, and also have designated "Trading Guild" freqs that you use to be contacted regularly, like a normal HAM set, but that channel would be text only. Voice communication in the server would be OFF by default, and would have to be turned on by the server owner.
EXAMPLES OF FREQUENCIES:
Channel 1: General local chat, Accessible to everyone and default of always ON, text chat only, use /radio to send a message on that frequency.
Channel 16: General distress beacon, could be triggered by logic or a command /distress ?
Channel 16 would have limited range (One or two sectors?)
EXAMPLES OF USE:
(channel one): JSR Destroyer to JSR Cruiser, contact LSO on channel 118.
(Channel 118)(Voice): Hey LSO, It's John what's up?
EXAMPLE TWO:
Channel One: Incoming contact, call docking control on channel 264
Channel 264: Colonial Heavy 275 requesting docking clearance.
Docking Control to Colonial Heavy, docking bay four is clear for your arrival. Welcome aboard.
EXAMPLE THREE:
Channel 16: Krypter! Krypter! Krypter! This is [Ship Name] Requesting assistance! [Repeats every ten seconds]
This would allow for more RP aspects as well as more immersion in the game, plus less time typing for all to see and more time talking with those you want to see.

This would allow more coordination with PvP, where two ships could have voice comms between the two to discuss tactical info (Their Battlenet), and the third could attempt to locate and break in to get an advantage.

EDIT ONE: Well another thing is that factions could have designated "Public" and "Private" channels that only they know?

I also suggested this a few months ago, but allot of people said that it would be hard for the server to handle it without lag

 

[Rixxan]

Voice chat integration would be cool, but there are a lot of third-party programs out there already.
If Schine can fit it in, that would be great, but I don't see reinventing the wheel as a priority.

Yes, however many servers rely on third party hosts to power their servers and their teamspeak/mumble/whatever, so if this came with the game that's less strain on the finances of the server owners. It's also one less thing that could go wrong with their service providing.

I also suggested this a few months ago, but allot of people said that it would be hard for the server to handle it without lag

Which is why it would be OFF as default, something that is off in config shouldn't (I hope) be resource consuming too much. Also, in an alpha game there are many things to come that will be a lot more taxing on servers, so there's also that to consider.

 

[whooplaah]

If it were implemented, here are a couple of things I'd like to see:

1. Chat Room creation, password protection, faction locking.
You need to control who is and is not in the voice chat, and you need to be able to adjust it during gameplay. The way text-chatrooms are handled in game is a pretty good example of how the voice chats should work. Additionally, having an extra room that is "local" so that you can speak to characters standing within 50 yards of your character (or within X-yards of your ship, as suggested by Rixxan ).

2. Filters and Distortion
This is mostly for the thrill of RP servers and will make more sense when aliens and species are introduced. Having voices sound like they are over an intercom, via ham radio, under-water, through a helmet, or out of a Zoidberg-like mouth would be really neat. This feature would obviously take up a good bit of server resources unless the filters are calculated client-side (before or after being sent), and will also increase lag. It would be super immersive, though. If calculated client side - a player could opt in/out rather than having to accept server settings.

3. Recordings
It would be nice to have a block that plays an audio-clip when activated. Instructions for docking procedures, warning sounds during an invasion, welcome messages in a station's main commons, and RP-element journal logs.

 

[Rixxan]

If it were implemented, here are a couple of things I'd like to see:

1. Chat Room creation, password protection, faction locking.
You need to control who is and is not in the voice chat, and you need to be able to adjust it during gameplay. The way text-chatrooms are handled in game is a pretty good example of how the voice chats should work. Additionally, having an extra room that is "local" so that you can speak to characters standing within 50 yards of your character (or within X-yards of your ship, as suggested by Rixxan ).

2. Filters and Distortion
This is mostly for the thrill of RP servers and will make more sense when aliens and species are introduced. Having voices sound like they are over an intercom, via ham radio, under-water, through a helmet, or out of a Zoidberg-like mouth would be really neat. This feature would obviously take up a good bit of server resources unless the filters are calculated client-side (before or after being sent), and will also increase lag. It would be super immersive, though. If calculated client side - a player could opt in/out rather than having to accept server settings.

3. Recordings
It would be nice to have a block that plays an audio-clip when activated. Instructions for docking procedures, warning sounds during an invasion, welcome messages in a station's main commons, and RP-element journal logs.

1) Well this is more local based, for subspace over maybe 1-5 sectors, and being able to break in and spy would be kind of the fun of it, Plus there isn't half-a-galaxy spanning chatrooms. That would be another suggestion for another time. On the password angle, that could be nice but again maybe if two ships using the same frequency drift into range the radios don't work if they're using different passwords. Or no passwords, open comms. This is also more ship based, it could be used with astronauts but my original idea was to incorporate this into ship cores.
2) That sounds good, but that'd be client side probably in order to not put undue server stress.
3) That could be interesting, but again there's the mitigation of server lag to deal with.