Creature Handler Archive
Thread: Time to start addressing the problems with mounts...
GrendelsMother wrote:
2. Not only should we attack from mounts again, but they need to allow mounts to attack while being ridden. There is no reason a bantha cannot gore, kick and trample while someone is in the saddle. War horses were always a major factor in old battles, and mounted police are still being used for crowd control. Pikemen were mostly employed to deal with charging cavalry, as thisgave theriders asignificant advantage in combat. To keep things fair, specials should restricted from use for both rider and mount. Ranged specials should bepermitted though, since spitting should not be hindered either. Allowing both rider and mountto fight would not upset gameplay balance, since dismounting now allows both to fight anyways....
The issues with mounts a vehicles is a difficult one but I think the reasonable solutions have been addressed multiple times. Here are some of the better solutions.
1. No vehicle zones adventure planets simply shouldnt have speeder use on them. This is good content for all it makes going to these planets a bit more challenging. This would help with useable mounts.
2. Remove mission waypoints while useing speeders. Nobody should be to a 600 meter mission in under a minute flat anyway. This will allow people a reason to use mounts.
3. Reduce the vitality points on low level mounts. This is all pretty simple like many items in the game mounts need to decay with time.
4. Increase gallop speed in truth it should be faster then a speeder since its use is restricted.
5. Increase non ch mount level. When players can actually use their mounts in combat it gives value to useing them as mounts.
6. Reinstitute calling penalties on vehicles. A vehicle should only be pullable in cities near dungeons and near residence. Keep mounts as they are. Callable anywhere.
7. Fighting on mounts would take serious code fixes. Remember while mounted a player at no time in the past could special or use passive bonuses. Its a moot point
What we need is to have mounts and vehicles be divergent in one area mounts are preferable to vehicles. My favorites are reduceing low level mount vitality, removeing vehicle use from adventure planets, and increaseing non ch level to a useable state.
Message Edited by Luxora on 07-27-2005 06:26 AM
Dodece wrote:
The issues with mounts a vehicles is a difficult one but I think the reasonable solutions have been addressed multiple times. Here are some of the better solutions.
1. No vehicle zones adventure planets simply shouldnt have speeder use on them. This is good content for all it makes going to these planets a bit more challenging. This would help with useable mounts.
2. Remove mission waypoints while useing speeders. Nobody should be to a 600 meter mission in under a minute flat anyway. This will allow people a reason to use mounts.
3. Reduce the vitality points on low level mounts. This is all pretty simple like many items in the game mounts need to decay with time.
4. Increase gallop speed in truth it should be faster then a speeder since its use is restricted.
5. Increase non ch mount level. When players can actually use their mounts in combat it gives value to useing them as mounts.
6. Reinstitute calling penalties on vehicles. A vehicle should only be pullable in cities near dungeons and near residence. Keep mounts as they are. Callable anywhere.
7. Fighting on mounts would take serious code fixes. Remember while mounted a player at no time in the past could special or use passive bonuses. Its a moot point
What we need is to have mounts and vehicles be divergent in one area mounts are preferable to vehicles. My favorites are reduceing low level mount vitality, removeing vehicle use from adventure planets, and increaseing non ch level to a useable state.
I agree unfortunately... while Dodece's idea's make mounts much better, none of these changes sound realistic. Why could I pull a bantha out of thin air, but not a swoop? And why would a largeanimal gallop faster than an advanced vehicle? I do not want to see mounts forced upon the SWG population, and I like how they are rare to see these days. All I am asking is that using mounts should have some "realistic" advantages implemented into the game mechanics, and then the player should decide whether a vehicle or mount fits better into their playing style. It is all about the choices you give to us, but as of now.... there is no benefit to using these troublesome animals. And this is unacceptable.
Fighting from mounts once more seems like an easy fix to me, noone even seems to know if it was supposed to be removed in the first place. And if they planned on this change, our CH correspondent at least deserves a explaination as to why...
Strangley enough, and now you say about it i think what happened to me was a bug, but last night i was sampling dna from the back of my carrion spat (i use a macro that dismounts samples then remounts) and i got aggro from the creature, i tried to run and got about 3 steps when the spat turned round and started screeching and doing the attack motions, i could not move the spat away or anything, i ended up getting off the spat and walking away and stood watching it fight. Was well strange, i serioulsy thought that they had added mounts fighting while you're on them to the game for a moment.
GrendelsMother wrote:
2. Not only should we attack from mounts again, but they need to allow mounts to attack while being ridden. There is no reason a bantha cannot gore, kick and trample while someone is in the saddle. War horses were always a major factor in old battles, and mounted police are still being used for crowd control. Pikemen were mostly employed to deal with charging cavalry, as thisgave theriders asignificant advantage in combat. To keep things fair, specials should restricted from use for both rider and mount. Ranged specials should bepermitted though, since spitting should not be hindered either. Allowing both rider and mountto fight would not upset gameplay balance, since dismounting now allows both to fight anyways....
* Allow melee weapon and ranged weapon combat while mounted. There is a long tradition of using a mount while in combat and I see no reason why it can't be part of the game. Optionally allow CH mounts to be taught additional mounted attack capabilities (trample etc) that regular non-CH mounts can't learn.
* Raise the level of mounts that non-CH can use to something like CL22. Add more mountable creatures and increase the availability of wild ones.
* Add the ranching suggestion to CH as requested before in some other thread. This would allow CHs to raise, breed and manage mountable, and harvestable creatures in a new type of building structure that provide breeding pens and a corral to hold animals.
* Give BEs a drug that they can combine with mounts when created to give the creature a max level cap, so that they can make a level 10 Brackaset without any difficulty by making ahigher level one, then applying the level cap substance to it to max its growth level at whatever was imbued into the cap drug.
* Give mounts the ability to climb and descend hills without slowing down, ensure that all vehicles can move over hills as they currently do but take increased damage as a result, so its a viable option to use a mount when going cross country, but still possible to do so with a vehicle.
* Give mounts the ability to carry items in paniers, say another 50 storage. Thus they can be used as pack animals when going to harvesters.
* Increase gallop speed, its hardly noticeable on some animals. Extend its duration, and shorten the recovery period.
* Make animals require feeding when out.
Well the camp removal was the devs trying to appease I want it all crowd who couldnt handle that scout might have a useful skill and passing that up had to have a cost. Needless to say it was a bad call. Limited numbers of scouts means limited inflow of scout resources and more polarized combat. Many players did not want to take any scouting for the simple reason they wanted to fire a gun .1 seconds faster and so forth.
The higher level no ch level is pretty straight forward a level 10 carion spat cannot take too much damage from kealing over, and useing mounts invariably results in takeing attacks. Meanwhile the speeder flashes past spawns before they actually spawn and never takes damage. The first part is merely survivability the second is the ability to use the pet in say an ambush situation. Makeing it a handy weapon on hand as a short term tank or a escape destractions is worth investigateing.
Lower vitality its pretty simple more items in the game need to be decay enabled to justify a trade. If everyone has a television and the television lasts forever how many places will sell televisions. Its not just tamed mounts for players but vehicles need to decay to explosion as do droids. The only thing that motivates a player to buy a service in the game is the lack of haveing that service active, and the only thing that will drive another purchase is the need to replace either a depleted or less worthy item. Ergo if CHs ever want a market for mounts they must be decay items.
No missions on speeders is simple enough. By denying the aspect of fast mission transit players by default will use mounts. The fast mission turn around is and has been a known issue. Its a major reason for economic woes.
Mount only zones is simply a good all around way to reinstill many aspects of gameplay. First it provides one more reason for mounts. Second it returns epic scale to the game. Getting there is half the fun and zooming by on a speeder means no interaction with the enviroment. Takeing 5 or 6 minutes to reach a secluded dungeon is generally a more challengeing idea.
Super gallop while not visually or continuity wise pleaseing it does impart worth to a mount. This is a game and continuity is not really the developement teams job one. In the starwars universe mounts are used rather then vehicles for numerous reasons. Creatures do not break down nor need repairs. Mounts can handle adverse climate situations. Mounts are easily maintained and are cheaper to operate. Mounts can defend themselves and their masters. The list is endless but the devs will never make it so sandstorms rip speeder intakes to shreads, or have a swoop suffer malfunction. We need to have some valid skill for the mount master to call on. Mounts are relegated to transport, and in transport speed is the key. A fast gallop exceeding a speeder would be a way to involve mount use.
Combat on mounts will never be viable as anything other then an eye candy moment thats what firework packages are about. If mounting applies any advantage the net result will be the same as doctor buffs or even super comp armor. It will only devolve into multiple players fighting mounted. Generateing un needed lag and generateing screen clutter.
The only resolution is to make mounts more effective transports. Any combat implementation would be mere eye candy and the developement team is right to focus attention elsewhere. Fighting from mounts has never been more then eye candy at best, and at worst used as a means to exploit spawns like kimos and krayts.