Jump To Lightspeed Archive
Thread: Docking Bay 94? My idea to do instanced starports! (This works too!)
-Joe-
Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:24 pm
#27
ME ME I GOT A IDEA ! ya know how we can build houses harvesters factorys why not be able to build your own hannger!?
soal-farous
Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:58 pm
#28
i have a few ideas i would like to voice on this thread (awsome post btw, loved everything about it)
-dont instance the whole starport. in JTLS you will have to turn right to get to the ship launch terminal (you can see them on TC now). we all know that you have to turnleft to get to the shuttle. well, leave the main lobby and the left half the same, so people without JTLS can shuttle with ease. now, when you go right to go towherethe player ships are, it loads and goes into your big space port idea with all the bays and such. the good thing about this is that we can put the HUGE instanced starports on the JTLS servers, causing nolag for the ground game
-change the external view just a little. the right half of the star port (the instanced half) could have maybe 2 or 3 bays with NPC ships that leave and arrive every now and again.
-Rebel faction crafts can land only on certain planets. I.E. not on naboo/rori/corrilea/talus since they are under heavy IMP control. the rest of the palents are on the outter rim, so Rebel craft cna land there.
-a building that takes 5 lots that is placeable by PCs. its a personal docking bay. you and only you (the owner) can land and take off from this small port. maybe only big enough to hold smaller craft and not the surbosub, YT-1300 or Firespray.
-faction bases act as a star port too. maybe 1 or 2 ports that you can launch and land your Xwing or TIE.
-what do you guys think?
Message Edited by soal-farous on 02-27-2005 03:57 PM
Do You Need Some Soal?
ImmortalRobot
Fri Jan 07, 2005 4:39 pm
#29
really cool idea!
....
i doubt we would ever see something so involved though
-
i didnt read through the whole of this thread, but it sounds like it would require tons or new art and remodeling of existing starport structures but there are ways to work around this and still get the feeling that youre in your own docking bay:
when you go up to your starship term in a starport as is, you get the managment screen, and it shows your ships, and you can invite whoever from your group to join you like now, but instead of launching, you enter your docking bay, which takes you to your totally instanced personal docking bay with whichever ship you chose in the middle of it, and whoever you invited with you. you can then launch from there, with whomever from your group you chose, and those that decline can actually watch your ship take off!
you, or anyone who came in to the bay with you can leave whenever they wish by going to a door on the side of the bay, where you can access a radial menu to return to the starport proper.
well anyways in fantasy land, thats where i'd like to see things....
some problems:
-whats the word on logging out when you're someplace instanced instead of in the normal gameworld?
-jedi, specifically if they felt the heat they could just book it to theirparked ship and just hangout till the BH died of old age, no way to get at someone at all in a situation like that.
-there are so many more really, like time and resources being devoted to work on a system that, well already WORKS, when you know, theres so much still that doesn't, but hell one can dream right? maybe someday i could actaully see my ship on the ground and run my hands under the wing like luke did right before he launched off yavin 4, or go see a friend's new multi-player ship and exclaim "What a piece of JUNK!" when i first lay eyes on it
anyways,
-robot
Starson
Fri Jan 07, 2005 5:05 pm
#30
Sounds good, and to add.....I think Starships should be treated like camps. When you are rdy to land a overhead map, sorta like to one used to palce factories,pops up and you land. It should be 1000m from any city, just like a camp or storage house. This would cut down on the trafic at starports, and get us closer to our player cities. Oh there is precedence for this in ep I, when they landed far outside the city limits of Mos Esley.
TFA_Maverick
Fri Jan 07, 2005 9:39 pm
#31
Just a thought... one possible revision to this idea that could maintain at least a bit of the flavor and cause less drastic art revision and lag increases...
If there really are that many docking bays in these starports, it stands to reason that many are underground or layered or otherwise spread out over a long distance, so that there would be some sort of turbolift system to get around. There are a couple of places in the existing starport models where you could fairly easily slip in a bank of turbolifts... You simply go into one of these, and clicking on the controls would give options for each of your docked craft and the main level. *click*
After clicking, the lift doors would close, lights would start pulsing to indicate moving, and you'd be locked in, perhaps with some Star Warsy elevator music. Whilst in the lift, an instanced hangar with your personal craft would be loading.This is the #1 thing I'd ask any dev that read this post to take away from it: clever ways to cover loading. I know it's not easy, but there are so many games out there now, particularly in the console realm, that have low intensity means of loading and keeping you in the game without presenting you with a loading screen; recent example, Metroid Prime series, where every time you blast a door, the room behind it loads before the door opens... it just sometimes takes an extra second or two for the door to pop open for intense rooms. But that's a different rant...
So yeah, as soon as it's done loading, the lift door would pop open, and voila, there you are in your own personal hangar bay with your craft there before you, to do with as you see fit. This would mean you wouldn't be able to randomly cruise around and view other people's craft, however it would at least let you and your group access yours without causing major lag issues (or total re-designs) for existing starports.
romuski
Sat Jan 08, 2005 3:11 am
#32
Great idea, makes the game feel more like Star Wars by the sound of it.
/sign
LukeaErot
Sat Jan 08, 2005 4:25 pm
#33
I think you should have to pay a docking fee or rent out a space for your ships.
Masvo_Tuvarr
Sun Jan 09, 2005 6:22 am
#34
What if there are only 100 bays in each Starport, one gets filled up when you either land or Manage/Prep Ship.
Maybe it could work like this:
Go to the Starship Terminal.
Select your ship - Radial Menu like Speeders.
Select - Manage/Prep Ship
This will start loading your ship in an *Empty* *Random* Docking Bay. This could simulate a busy environment. You get a message to "report to Docking Bay 42" or wherever.
You go down a corridor, into a elevator, travel to the level you want. (The radial command in the elevator would idealy show you which level you are on.) Docking bays are split into levels 1-10, 11-20, etc.
You then find your docking bay.
Click on your ship, choose Launch or Manage.
It would be useful to have Chassis Dealer on each level, but hey.
Also, current way of using the Chassis Dealer is a bit cumbersome. Not in the way of selling, that is easy, but in cross referencing betwenn CD and your loot.
Maybe it could work like this:
Go to the Starship Terminal.
Select your ship - Radial Menu like Speeders.
Select - Manage/Prep Ship
This will start loading your ship in an *Empty* *Random* Docking Bay. This could simulate a busy environment. You get a message to "report to Docking Bay 42" or wherever.
You go down a corridor, into a elevator, travel to the level you want. (The radial command in the elevator would idealy show you which level you are on.) Docking bays are split into levels 1-10, 11-20, etc.
You then find your docking bay.
Click on your ship, choose Launch or Manage.
It would be useful to have Chassis Dealer on each level, but hey.
Also, current way of using the Chassis Dealer is a bit cumbersome. Not in the way of selling, that is easy, but in cross referencing betwenn CD and your loot.
TheOneCH0908
Sun Jan 09, 2005 4:05 pm
#35
I love it...I will bump this thread everyday...so everyone can read it In my 6 months being with the game, this is the best idea...I have ever read I would like to post this on servers and the pilot threads Just to get the word out!!!!
In my 6 months being with the game, this is the best idea...I have ever read I would like to post this on servers and the pilot threads Just to get the word out!!!!
Freedom-II
Mon Jan 10, 2005 6:37 am
#36
Great THread, ANd great idea. as with most of the other reply's I wonder about how much more lag it would add. Maybe using the same set up you spoke of, however using an instanced only path to your ship, and only your group memebers,( if you have a multiperson ship). As for the Overt hunt and escape idea, just add a TEF bubble around the starport dening entry to flagged individuals,(Similar to Aurellia).
Excellent I dea though.
Excellent I dea though.
nefarious2
Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:23 am
#37
TFA_Maverick wrote:
Just a thought... one possible revision to this idea that could maintain at least a bit of the flavor and cause less drastic art revision and lag increases...
If there really are that many docking bays in these starports, it stands to reason that many are underground or layered or otherwise spread out over a long distance, so that there would be some sort of turbolift system to get around. There are a couple of places in the existing starport models where you could fairly easily slip in a bank of turbolifts... You simply go into one of these, and clicking on the controls would give options for each of your docked craft and the main level. *click*
After clicking, the lift doors would close, lights would start pulsing to indicate moving, and you'd be locked in, perhaps with some Star Warsy elevator music. Whilst in the lift, an instanced hangar with your personal craft would be loading.This is the #1 thing I'd ask any dev that read this post to take away from it: clever ways to cover loading. I know it's not easy, but there are so many games out there now, particularly in the console realm, that have low intensity means of loading and keeping you in the game without presenting you with a loading screen; recent example, Metroid Prime series, where every time you blast a door, the room behind it loads before the door opens... it just sometimes takes an extra second or two for the door to pop open for intense rooms. But that's a different rant...
So yeah, as soon as it's done loading, the lift door would pop open, and voila, there you are in your own personal hangar bay with your craft there before you, to do with as you see fit. This would mean you wouldn't be able to randomly cruise around and view other people's craft, however it would at least let you and your group access yours without causing major lag issues (or total re-designs) for existing starports.
Star Wars elevator music, cool.
With the ability to customize your ships I don't like the fct that no one can see it except for those who are in your group. And I don't think that we will have a whole starport, I think that would take too much in system resources for the servers.
One soloution for this is have it similar to housing in EQ2(I know, but this is a basis for where I"m going) you can set the level of acces so that people can enter or be private, and when you enter, you go down the stairs, like ben, luke, 3po, and r2 did and reveal the ship. It will have the ramp lowered for access to the ship, and if you have more than one ship docked there you can see all of your ships, upto 3 ships(nothing in datapad) you can enter any of your ships from here, and then people can explore your ships. The lot requirement can still be enforced, as larger landing pads take up more space.
Han_Solo_67
Mon Jan 10, 2005 12:42 pm
#38
Oh man that would be awesome! I would love to walk up to the outside of my ship, or have this horrendous PvP fight going on whil my guys try to scramble aboard and we blast free in the nick of time!!! THATS Star Wars baby!