The Transcendence Future Thread

[ThePrivateer]

The Transcendence Future Thread
This thread is designed to be a place for general suggestions and speculation for future additions to Transcendence. I hope for this thread to be sticky-ed and be a more collective place for ideas rather than the messy Bugs&Brainstorms forum.
This thread is not a place for bugs, nor a place for utter specifics on every tiny detail of the game. Please post only things that would make worthy additions to the game.

[ThePrivateer]

I would like to see Transcendence become much more of a squadron type game. With the semi-confirmed ship-swapping idea, I would like to see the player really feel like they are become a force in the game.

Of course, Trans still needs to be open, but their should be an option to enlist multiple crew to help fight the battles against the ares etc.

Imagine for a second, piloting an Antigua, surrounded by a dozen supporting ships and going into the fray of other battles like Point Juno....

[Arisaya]

Antigua? You mean Aquila? Aquila is the CW cruiser that only shows up in the into menu and the save antarctica mission, despite my saying that it should show up more often.

[Atarlost]

I'm pretty sure giving the player a crewed ship will never be in D&O. It simply doesn't fit the player's status as a pilgrim on an apparent suicide run to the core.

[ThePrivateer]

I'm pretty sure giving the player a crewed ship will never be in D&O. It simply doesn't fit the player's status as a pilgrim on an apparent suicide run to the core.

The player is not just a pilgrim -- although that may be the greater goal, from the very beginning, the player is able to defeat a Centauri warlord, become the hero of Korolov, defend space stations, save lost miners, become a drug dealer, become a military hero with state of the art equipment, fight in wars against the Ares Orthodoxy, protect capital ships and deal with super-intelligent aliens in far-out systems.

Sounds like the game is a little bit more than a pilgrim quest to me.

Now, maybe some people deliberately play that way, eg Get to the Core with only a dual laser and a hull ionizer.

But the game hasn't been designed like that -- George, as a games designer, has provided guidelines for the player, given them the choices to go down that path.

The player doesn't have to, but without doing those missions, the game's procedural level difficulty is far too high.

So, it seems only natural, that after defeating the "final Boss", a behometh starship, that on the quest to the Core, at some point, the player will be allowed to sit behind the wheel of a massive starship.

[Song]

I just want a gun that shoots stars. But then, that's just me.


(No, I don't want someone to code this for me, I'll do it myself some day)


Mind you, I'll be interested in how the final final endgame final boss goes once the D&O campaign is finished in several years.

[Atarlost]

So, it seems only natural, that after defeating the "final Boss", a behometh starship, that on the quest to the Core, at some point, the player will be allowed to sit behind the wheel of a massive starship.

So who's going to crew it? You're on your way to the core. That's suicide. Even if you survive you're lost and so is everyone with you. Nobody is going to sign on with an obviously suicidal captain or put someone obviously suicidal in charge of a crew.

[Song]

Unless they're ALL suicidal and want to go out with a bang, but that's somewhat unlikely, even though it is possible.

[ThePrivateer]

So who's going to crew it? You're on your way to the core. That's suicide. Even if you survive you're lost and so is everyone with you. Nobody is going to sign on with an obviously suicidal captain or put someone obviously suicidal in charge of a crew.

Other pilgrims, of course. No sane common person would join you, but we know that there are others like the player out there.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the very first ship you get to buy will be an Aquila (or similar) -- like most space games, you will need to trade up to it. It will require crew (maybe they cost money to employ) and will need massive amounts of fuel etc. It won't come without some drawbacks.

And the player will need to have suitable military ID as well; players that didn't do the Military quest paths won't get the option -- but ones who did Korolov quests/missions will be able to pilot an Antares.

Same thing with the Black Market, Commonwealth and Miners -- the more you do, the better ranking you'll get and the happier they will be to give you better ships.

[Atarlost]

And these pilgrims will have all the right proficiencies to crew a ship, and the military will give it to you knowing you'll be driven by Domina to run off with it? I don't buy that at all.

[Arisaya]

Well, if you gave them enough money, they probably would hand it over, but still, I find a whole crew of pilgrims rather hard to swallow.
Crewed ships work better in settings like sandbox or TSB (non-domina storylines or sandboxing mode) where the player isn't a suicidal pilgrim. It would be easier to get away with an approach sort of like Escape Velocity's where they simply ignore the crew and treat it is a ship stat.

[ThePrivateer]

And these pilgrims will have all the right proficiencies to crew a ship, and the military will give it to you knowing you'll be driven by Domina to run off with it? I don't buy that at all.

Well I'm sticking to my guns. Ship-changing will obviously be the most exciting and game-changing component in Part II, and I sincerely hope that all ships get unlocked in some way.

Aside from that issue, I would also like to raise the issue of an easier Domina system, in regard to gaining respect with her.

Most of the anti-Aquila reasons from users (Atarlost, mostly), has been to do with being a sucidial pilgrim, yet I don't feel like Domina has much to do with me, considering I find it very hard to get new abilities from her.

And let's face it -- the only reason ( game wise) you would bother praying/donating and otherwise hurling yourself through deadly foes to get to her at the Core -- is if there is some kind of carrot.

The carrot being a) acheiving true victory of the Transcendance game or b)short term, getting awesome godly powers.

Unless I'm mistaken and it is infact easy to get said powers in the existing game, I would like to see more helpful tips to appease Domina and for her to be a bigger part of the game.

[Arisaya]

Railroading [the player] is a very, very dangerous thing to do.