changing ships in game

[Betelgeuse]

I had a couple ideas on changing ships later in the game.

Not all ships should be available in every time. A couple beginning ships could be the same but you shouldn't be assured a certain ship.

There should be multiple ways of getting new ships. If you don't like the commonwealth or you want to be more a pilgrim of Domina you should be allowed to do so. Some ships would be available with cash others with missions or rewards in a casino.

Beginning ships shouldn't be as good as the ships you earn but you should still be able to get through the game (it would just be harder).

Downgrading ships should be available. You could get something for giving up your ship for a weaker one. (maybe like donating it to Domina or trading it for a weapon you couldn't get otherwise)

[Sponge]

I personally think this would be a great idea. Shipyards should be able to sell you ships. Reward ships shouldn't be given often at all, and should be pretty tough to get. Maybe if you reach a point in the Commonwealth Military they will allow you to trade your ship in for a military grade ship.

Either way, this would add much more replayability to the game.

[Fossaman]

I agree. Even just military missions where they put you in a different ship for the duration could be interesting.

I would think that the main difficulty would be ROMs...would targeting and visual display roms transfer? It seems like they should, just to remove the headache.

I think the coolest way to work it would be so that you could pilot any ship in the game. Have some randomly selected ships available for purchase each game, and then have an item or device that you can use on wrecks to create blueprints of the ships. These would be taken to shipyards, where they could build them for you. Different shipyards would of course have different limitations...

That might not be the most enjoyable way to do it, but it would be fun to try out all the different ships sans mods. Probably not realistic, but...I can dream.

[Sponge]

Or, as an alternative, you could tractor damaged ships into your hold (provided you have space. Wolfens would probably be more limited to only buying ships) and cart them off to a shipyard to get them repaired for cheaper than buying a new ship. The cool thing about this is that as you get bigger ships, you have more cargo space to cart different damaged ships to a shipyard. Perhaps you also have the ability to sell wrecks if you don't want to have the Ronin you picked up repaired. It could even allow for a new "tractor" damage type that, like mining, works better as the tractor damage is higher. This would allow for better types of tractor beams, maybe even making some of the higher grade ones viable weapons in a pinch.

[Fossaman]

There were some really great old threads on the UTF about towing wrecks and selling or repairing them...let me see if I can find the one I'm thinking of...

Nope. Wasn't the thread I was thinking of. I did get to see just how much crazy-babble I put into the suggestions forum over there, though. I'd forgotten some of those ideas. One of these days I'll have to go through that and link to ideas I think are still good.

[OddBob]

I know this is a losing battle, but: why use a tractor beam when you can have a grappling cable? First of all, it makes actual sense - no magic gravitational pulseometers or quantum fromulators involved. Now don't get me wrong, I love a good quantum fromulator when it's necessary (i.e. FTL travel, etc) but now you're just making things up.

But even forgetting that, a cable can do everything the 'tractor beam' can do plus some, in addition to not requiring any significant power.

[george moromisato]

I know this is a losing battle, but: why use a tractor beam when you can have a grappling cable?

Actually, I'd love to add a grappling cable to the game. I think the dynamic interactions possible with a grappling cable would add some cool challenges to the game.

[Of course, this doesn't preclude a tractor beam...]

[Sponge]

I've got nothing against a grapple, it's just 'tractor beam' came to mind first. If you think about it, though, grappling cables aren't nearly as useful in a battle situation, because your claw would have to be able to penetrate the enemy's hull to do any real good. If you've got technology to penetrate a hull with a relatively slow moving grapple, you're probably just better off just using fast moving bullets .

However, you could probably employ a magnetic based system, where instead of launching a claw, you basically just launch a high powered magnet on the end of a cable that grabs the target. This would be cool, because some armors could be magnetically charged to resist such attacks. Or perhaps an item that, when used, knocks all magnetically locked items off your hull? This could make for some seriously cool pirate battles. Two pirate ships approach from each side of your ship. Instead of wasting their time shooting, they both grapple on and try to pull you to a stop, beating the crap out of your armor as it's being stretched by two magnets pulling in opposite directions.

Also, it may or may not be completely accurate to say tractor beams are pure fiction. On a small scale, scientists can use an 'optical tweezer' to hold, attract, and repulse molecules. It's an interesting read, if you feel like googleing it.

[evilbob]

to be honest, I'd love to throw a hornet around on the end of a grappling cable...

[Sponge]

Throwing it into another ship would be ideal.

[Fossaman]

*drools*

I want a grappling cable. That would be much cooler. Especially if you had grapple autons...

[Betelgeuse]

I know grapple the slow cargo ships and tow them so I can do those missions fast

[Sponge]

Exploiter That's an easy fix, though. For one, the grappled ship's engines would have some effect on your navigation, making it hard to pull something with large engines (read: cargo ship) around. Also, grappling someone would be considered an attack, making the freighter station a bit mad at you.

[OddBob]

Also, grappling someone would be considered an attack, making the freighter station a bit mad at you.

They only care if you destroy it. It doesn't sound like an exploit to me - sounds like rewarding a clever player.

[kaypy]

You could get at least part of this happening with mods. While tractor beams and grappling hooks are a bit hard, a repulsor ray is just a weapon with only momentum damage. (a bit harsh to use a weapon slot for it tho, could it be done as a usable item?...)

I believe you could rig up certain stations to give you additional options if a wreck is within a small distance.

This would allow a 'push the wreck to a station, get some reward' mod.