Various ideas

[Jocken]

Ok, I didn't see exacly what I wanted to say in discussion (lots of them were inacive). From what I could collect, this forum is where the developers read what the users think would be good features for the program. Correct me if I'm wrong.
To start off, I just signed up and I wanted to tell everyone involved: great job, I've never seen an old classic game revamped so sucessfully before. The innovations are stunning, I was a big fan of the old school game and I think this is a great way to bring it into the 21st century. A few things I wanted to ask.
The camera. Is it possible, or rather would it be a good ides o give the userthe option to roll and tilt the camera so that, amoung other things, it could be positioned to look similar to the unit command camera?
Terrain modification. I know some weapons will change the terrain, but I think it would be conveniant if there was a specific terrain kbot or vehicle. something similar to a tractor or steamroller. It would have a command which would cause it to move forward horizontally, flatteningand filling in the land as it goes, this would make it possible for a player to, with some effort, make a patch of rough terrain usable.
Ina similar thought, was about a tunneing vehicle, something that could make an underground path, say, under a mountain. I realize this would open a whole new can of worms for the developers, so if it's unreasonable, just tell me.
This also seems difficut to pull off, but: weather. I think this would add more realism to the game. Rain, for example would make navigating bare rock and metal more difficult for units. High wind would impede motion in certain vectors. Lightning would strike the larger units, or units at hight elevation, causing some X amount of damage. Also, other natural hazards could be incorperated by certain maps; gourges, swamps, active volcanoes, avalanches, etc.
A kbot idea: parasite kbot. A small, hard to see kbot with one ability: capture. When activated, instead of doing the commander's nanlation-like capture, it would simply attach to the target (seen as a small blob on the enemy) and begin to work. For effectiveness's sake, it would be rather difficult for the target unit to attack it after attachment, but significantly easier for nearby allys of the target to remove it.
Also, the nukes. I know there is alread an emp missle in the game, but regular nukes do create a stromg emp. Perhaps, outside of their damage impact range, they could have the stun effect for an additional distance.
Flying units have an air repair pad, perhaps ground units could have a waystation or repair tower which works the same way.
Also, I thought of the possibility of an arsenal enhancing station, something which would have several ports for mobile units to link up to ( |_| shaped). This could add small lasers to non-combative units and missiles, rockets, med. lasers, etc. to units w/o them. This would simply serve the purpose of modifying the combat capabilities of an individual unit.

[Argh]

Sigh. Welcome to Spring. Please look up the Monthly Topic Rotation in the Wiki, almost all of this has been beaten to death...

[Jocken]

oh, ok, sorry.

[j5mello]

im kinda surprised we don't have a "New People read this" thread.

Hell putting a sticky to MTR HERE would be useful i think.

[Jocken]

ok, I went to the wiki, i found camera angels and many other interesting ideas, but not a lot of what I suggested. Terrain leveling, parasite kbot, nuke's emp, unit in-game mods, etc. Any feedback, maybe? Or am I overstepping my bounds?

[j5mello]

see everyone says things are MTR but that page is probably horribly outdated. regardless everything u asked for has been suggested in one form or another.

The nuke EMP effect would actually be mod specific i think since that could be added to the weapon or something like that.

Basically Welcome to the Forum and enjoy the ride as u never know what might crop up in the next version

[j5mello]

Yeah yeah im doubling i know deal with it...

The Terrain leveling is done to a degree when ever u build a building. transfering that to a unit as an ability is a whole nother matter.
U could make a unit that build structures that are either invisible or have some kind of road/path texture on em. With Empty yard maps units could pass right thru em and u would get ur desired effect. But u gotta remember that doing that messes up the slopes which might make certain areas unreachable. Upgradeable units is definitely a hot topic and has been brought up multiple times.

If ur looking to find out about topics like these search in this forum rather than GD or development as most of those thread ended up here.


EDIT: for the love of god don't rez them though.

[Jocken]

ok, I'll try.
As a side, I noticed that laser-type weapons don't regester visually in my games, is this on purpose or is there something wrong w/ the way I'm running it? Some other weapons don't show up either, they simply impact. This looks very awkward.

[Dragon45]

Post your specs please.

[SinbadEV]

yeah... what we call MTR is only official when you post the relative, recurring topics to the MTR page and link to the MTR... ading the current thread to the list if it contains new developements to currently added items...

the parasite idea is cool and I don't remember seeing it before, and a unit that built... maybe platforms or something on uneven surfaces would be kinda cool...

there are a few modders looking into the "loading up upgrades" idea... mine got as far as a single nano tower and I gave up...

and a groud based repair platform is something that I don't think I've seen discussed before... I kinda like the idea...

BTW don't feel too bad, we have a lot more developers/moders/mappers around here then people good at recording and documenting things so it will take a while to get used to everything... my favorite starting spot is

http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/Using_Spring

and the MTR list we mentioned.

http://taspring.clan-sy.com/wiki/Monthly_Topic_Rotation