Development Cycle Archive

I've come up with a really detailed suggestion of how a Starship (ie SD's, Mon Cals, etc) expansion could work in the game. There's been a lot of discussion about it. The idea came to me one night when I couldn't sleep (followed immediately by an irresistable desire to play galaxies). It covers everything from getting to ships, what is inside a ship, upgrading ships, battling with ships, contingencies for /afk, purchasing ships (and who is allowed to), starships in harmony with starfighters and ground troops, NPC crewmembers, a new system of factional ranks based on navy ranks, and a whole lot more. Its quite thorough...at least, I think it is. What I'm probably going to do is adapt it into HTML format, and make it into a little manual, complete with diagrams and charts, which I will upload onto the net somewhere, and link to.

What I was wondering was, who needs the link? Should I just post it in here?

Some actual game suggestions other than what I just posted...


1. 2-weapon fighting for Pistoleers and/or Smugglers.


2. Instead of purchasing xp points with Factional points (which seems to me like an utterly stupid system, TBO), why not have it so you can purchase skill points? Most of the skill sets I've come up with leave me one skill point short of getting Exploration 3 or something.


3. Factional professions. I remember trying to post about this before, but I don't remember if I did. Stuff like "Stormtrooper", "Scout Trooper", "Snowtrooper" and "Storm Commando" for Imperials, and "Rebel Trooper", "Jungle/Endor Trooper", "Hoth Trooper" and "Rebel Commando" for Rebels. They could come with a few basic proficiencies and stuff, but they'd mainly just boost your bonuses. Scout Troopers, for example, would gain the "Scout Blaster" proficiency, even if they didn't have it in pistol. However, because their pistol-shooting skills wouldn't be as good as a Pistol Marksman (unless they were one), they'd be less effective. A Pistol Marksman as a Scout Trooper would be better than normal with said weapon. Stormtroopers could get the E11 Blaster Carbine (the standard Stormie sidearm). We saw Snowtroopers using an E-Web, although Stormies would probably be able to, too. Storm Commandos (seen in the EU comics...look like Scouts, but with Black armour) could have a few of the Commando skills, like explosives, and maybe Conceal Shot (but ONLY Conceal Shot). For the melee-orientated people, you could have the Imperial Guards which would automatically give you a proficiency for a few basic polearm weapons, including the "Imperial Guard's Force Pike" or something. The Rebels could have an equivalent, maybe based on senate guards, or Gungans, or something.

You could even make particular items of armour "gifts" when you attain a new step on the tree...like the free wooden staff you get in Brawler when you start learning polearm. For these, the cost (instead of skills) would be faction points. Right now, everyone in the Empire is just an Imperial Army person...which sucks slightly. You could learn bits and pieces that would boost your regular skills, but also make you a better Imperial...for example, if there were a "Squad Leader" tree in Stormtrooper, you could be given the ability to give basic "Pet" instructions to the NPC Stormies we see running about ie "Follow Me", "Follow Them", "Guard", "Attack", etc. It'd make having Stormies in the area a tad more useful. Scouts could get access to an "Imperial Speederbike". It'd be like the normal Speeder, only with a gun attached or something. It makes normal characters better, and good characters better still.

To kick-start a factional skill, you'd have to find and visit a specific NPC. To join the Imperial Guards, you might need to speak to the Emperor himself, or something. You'd have to find a Scout Trooper trainer, perhaps on Endor. After that, however, you could learn skills from people who had already taken the proficiencies (as with normal skills), or from a "Training Officer" at a garrison base or something.

Armour for professional Storm/Scout/Snowtroopers, Storm Commandos and Guards could offer protection and bonuses to the wearer that would be particularly useful. Right now, Stormie armour is fairly pants. But, it might improve the chances of you making a successful "Intimidate" attack. Scout Troopers (and Storm Commandos, who wear basically the same armour) could carry less encumberance than the armour of equivalent protection. The helmets specifically could take a lot less off the mind penalties they make. Commando armour could add a bonus to hide/camoflage stuff. Just wearing the armour could maybe add bonuses to some of the profession skills...a Storm Commando (if they had sniper abilities) could get an accuracy bonus just from wearing the helmet.

Also, because these are done with faction points, they would stack. You couldn't get rid of one in order to boost another non-faction skill, but you could, for example, be trained as a Snowtrooper, as well as a Stormtrooper. In fact, Stormtrooper could be made the "basic" Profession for Imperial, with the others requiring a "Master Stormtrooper" in order to be learned.

The idea certainly would add a new depth to the whole idea of the factions, and it would tie in with the idea of Piloting skills being done on a Faction basis. The concept of the "getting armour as gifts" could tally across with the TIE/Rebel Pilots uniforms, maybe giving a few piloting bonuses. The existing pilots outfits and stormie armour could be re-designated as "Decorative Stormtrooper Armour". It can still be worn, and would carry the same stats, but seeing as most people only use it as decoration in their houses, or for "costume parties", it wouldn't be much of a problem.

Surprisingly, I have sample trees drawn up for this, too. I'll upload them the same time I upload my ship suggestion thingy.


4. I suppose it'd be of more "importance" if ^ that idea ever came into play, but as far as I know, there is only one colour of Imperial Uniform availiable...which is, strangely, the Navy one. The Army (I think) has a more tan uniform. Stormtroopers have black. There's also a sand-coloured one, and I think I've seen people in white running about, although that could just be my memory.


5. Either make rank visable as a title, or an "Examine" field, or have a wearable Rank insignia that, when you mouse over it, flashes up the rank of the individual wearing it. That way, you'd be able to see their rank if they were in uniform, but not when they are in civvies, which does make some sort of sense.


6. Mentioned it in number 3...Imperial Speederbike. The model used for the regular Speederbike shows that there is a gun attached, but it doesn't work. The Imp Speederbike could actually HAVE the gun on there. It'd require a lot, I know. But, if it fitted in with a factional profession tree, maybe you could have a "Speederbike" tree that would allow you to drive an Imp Speederbike, allow you to fire the gun on it, and maybe it'd eventually allow you to fire a pistol from said mount. You already get penalties to accuracy when you're moving about on the ground, so they could stay the same. But if a Scout Trooper had a special "Mouted Shot" thing, they could stop and shoot, while still staying on their Imp Speederbike. The gun underneath the Speederbike would be equivalent to a rifle, or something.


7. Maybe a few more factional items (for decoration in houses) could be developed, to tie in with the JTL expansion...things like little models of TIE Fighters or something. Also, with my number 3, you could get stuff like Stormtrooper recruiting posters that you could put up in your house.


8. This ties in with number 7. Maybe, when you master an ability, as well as it showing up in your bio, and having a selectable title, you could get a little certificate, which you can put on your wall. That way, when people try to get Masters in everything, they can collect all of the certificates on their wall, as "evidence".


9. Last, but by no means least, and I might have mentioned it already...I'm sure some people have...PURCHASABLE SKILL POINTS!!! I did mention it...it was my number two. But its important enough to need repeating. At the cost of SOMETHING, be it faction points of gold or something, extra skill points should be availiable. It might be worth stating that you can't buy any until you have mastered an ability. Maybe, each time you master something, you automatically gain the skill points to purchase a novicehood in another skill. It'd make sense. There are some skills that would tie in well with each other. You could do Master Commando, and then go for Master Rifleman, or Master Pistoleer, as well as Master TK, so that you've got as good a set of stats as you can manage with that skill. With Smuggler, you could get Master Smuggler, Master TK, and Master Pistoleer. That'd give you all of the pistol bonuses that you can possibly get, and all of the unarmed stuff. Bounty Hunters are known for their versatility. You get all sorts of Bounty Hunters. If we take Jango Fett, for example, in Galaxies, we've seen Bounty Hunter and Pistoleer abilities (he was a damn good pistol shot). Boba Fett has a Flamethrower (I seem to remember that from somewhere), so he must be a Bounty Hunter/Commando. However, he carries a Carbine and, one would assume, he'd train on it until he was good enough to be a Master Carbineer. I'm pretty sure you don't have enough skill points for a BH/Commando/Carbineer...at least, not up to mastership levels. Once you've mastered everything you need for Bounty Hunter, there's not actually much left anyway. I'm not even sure you have enough to master an advanced weapons proficiency. Which kinda sucks. Extra skill points would have to cost A LOT (100k per SP or something), and you'd need to put a requirement of a "Master" thing, maybe in one of the higher professions in order to get them, but it does make sense that, once you've learned everything there is to learn, you don't forget it all when you start to learn something else. Maybe there should be a limit on it to stop us getting uber-characters, but I'd thing that making it so you can Master an extra 1 or two professions would be good. You could end up with a Master Pistoleer/Smuggler/Weaponsmith, for example...the Pistoleer would ensure that they're capable of defending themselves, and help them get the pistol xp for smuggler, and the Slicing abilities of smuggler would give them pretty good Weaponsmithing abilities. You could get a Master Commando who was a Master Rifleman, Master TK, and a Master Scout, so they're good at Sniping, Unarmed, and moving about their area. You could get a Rifleman/Squad Leader/Combat Medic, with a few extra skills here and there, who'd make an excellent support member of a team - Sniping, Ranged Support and Healing, rolled into one. People like that would make far more rounded characters. People like me, who have gone for Smuggler and Rifleman (I know I'm not the only one) would benefit perhaps from attaining either Pistoleer or TK, as well as a crafting profession (Weaponsmith or Armoursmith), so we can utilise as many benifits of the Smuggler profession as possible.



Ok, I've written enough for now. I'll write the second installment a bit later...j/k

Dang, I do write a lot, don't I? Its hard to tell with these body boxes being wider than the posts...

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LeBob wrote:

This is mostly aesthetic, but I would really like to see more buildings with windows! I know windows are possible because there is one in the space station used in the tutorial and there is also one in some of the static cloning centers. A few places that would be nice for these to be placed are the following: any indented spaces on walls such as the player cantina, the floor of a PA hall and maybe medium and large houses, the ceiling of some buildings to let in some sun or moon light (could be toggleable). I do not think these would be difficult to implement since they are already in the game.

It would be nice to receive a response as to whether this is possible or not.

thanks

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TH?