Jump To Lightspeed Archive

I had this idea ages ago...I'll try to remember it. I posted this over in Pilot. It isn't really "Jump to Lightspeed"...but its certainly connected.


A lot of people want atmo-flight, but the nay-sayers say it'd be too complicated to have the ground stuff going on, and the air stuff, at the same place, at the same time. Simple solution then. Don't do it that way.

All you need to do is create a "Zone" for Atmospheric Flight, that is inaccessable from the ground. On Tatooine, for example, they could create a "Beggars Canyon" Zone, which would be a pilot race course. There'd be a building at one end, where the official-type people and the race droid would be housed...that'd also serve as the Airport. From it, you could travel to any other Starport on the planet (but not into space). You'd access the Airship terminal, launch, and race round the Beggars Canyon track, much like you do in one of the special levels on Rogue Squadron. Beggars Canyon could be "off the edge of the map" on Tatooine...or on the other side of the planet, or something like that. The airport would only be accessable by ship, from a Starport.

Another thing you could use Beggars Canyon for is shooting womp rats. Rather than registering yourself with the race droid, you could register with a farmer, who's annoyed about those "pesky Womp Rats". He'll pay you for each Womp Rat you successfully shoot.

Coding-wise, all you'd need to do was create a "bottom" to a space zone. The bottom would be the ground. You'd have to have autopilot level on permenantly (since people will be flying on repulsorlifts, regardless of their craft-type). Starfighters equipped with space engines would have handling problems. The TIE would have turning problems too, but to keep it fair, design an "Atmospheric Engine" that you can substitute for your standard space one, of you ever want to fly in an atmosphere. Also, develop Airspeeders that are unable to carry non-Atmospheric Engines...the T-16 Skyhopper as a "basic" availiable-to-all ship, the T-47 Air(Snow)speeder as a Rebel Airspeeder, perhaps the TIE/At "Atmospheric" for the Imps, maybe that "Dunespeeder" that was in the pre-JTL paintings as Privateer, perhaps the LAAT/i Republic Gunship as a MP ship, etc.

Beggars Canyon would only be the start. That'd be the "neutral" Air Combat Zone, with very little in the way of combat. For a place to have combat, you could introduce the branches of Kashyyyk, and have Rebels flying against Trandoshan slavers, Imperials flying against Wookiee liberators, people fighting the Rodians hunters that are camped out, etc. The "bottom" would be the upper canopy of Kashyyyk...unless you wanted to give us some obstacles, in which case, move it below that, so we can weave through the upper trees.

Other locations, based on non-existant worlds (ie. worlds that aren't yet mapped) could include Bespin (Cloud City), which could be quite fun to do, with raiders after the Tibana Gas, and so forth. Kessel could have an Air Combat Zone, with pirates and smugglers around after the spice. Hoth could be added, allowing Rebels (and Rebels only) to fly around, patrolling the area around Echo Base while it is constructed, leading up to an eventual "Battle of Hoth" event, which could then open the world up for everyone. And I'm sure there's probably an Imperial planet that could be used. Some of these ACZs (Air Combat Zones) could have multiple "Airfields", allowing players to fly from A to B.

The ACZ could also be a jumping-off point for developing Coruscant. If a few "landing platforms" were created, floating in the skies of Coruscant (like Space Stations in JTL), they could be used as the airfields for the ACZ. Players could fly from one to the other, visiting the major sites of Coruscant. Places like the Senate building, Imperial Palace, Museums, Shopping Malls, etc, could have a landing site of some kind, in addition to the main "Starport" landing pad. If you want to leave your ship behind (or have something like a YT-1300, which is too big to cruise around in), Coruscant could offer "Airspeeder" rentals...perhaps vehicles like the one flown by Anakin, that you could rent out (as well as craftable ones) to cruise around. Instead of "Shuttles", there could be Air Taxis to take you around the city. The actual amound of ground space needed for Coruscant could be pretty small. If you coded in a number of "Landing platforms" (numbered), players could choose which, out of a set of instanced Imperial Centers, they landed on. The city could offer a few Imperial quests; extensions to the Imp theme park. It could also have a Black Sun theme park...or parts of.



Thats all I remember at the moment. What do you think?

Lol.

Unfortunately, the friendly NPCs keep flying behind me, and still firing. I got shot by an X-Wing a few times...

Stupid thing.

It would be fun to see non-atmo over-terrain space combat too, like giant asteroids and such that the falcon hid on. It could be easier...not sure through, those space sectors seem pretty small.

Hitting a rock or anything in space should at least do serious shield damage.

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padren wrote:
It would be fun to see non-atmo over-terrain space combat too, like giant asteroids and such that the falcon hid on. It could be easier...not sure through, those space sectors seem pretty small.

Hitting a rock or anything in space should at least do serious shield damage.

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Then make a big asteroid field in an extra mini-sector. *shrug* If they ever get round to making "Hoth", they could use the a' field there.

Flying about near Clous City could be fun, too. That'd be a good first step - the atmosphere of a gas giant. Just re-texture and "shrink" space a bit, down to planet size, and it'd be fine. If you hit the end of the map, pop up a "You are reaching the edge of the atmosphere. Would you like to enter space?" message, with a "Yes" and "No" option, and boom.


Alternatively, rather than doing "over terrain" stuff, they could put the upper atmosphere of a planet. Take an "arial shot" of the server every time it shuts down, map a low detail version of that (so you get all the player cities and stuff) onto the "bottom" of the air region, and let people fly around over the top. If people fly low (ie. at the bottom of the air zone) over a Starport, they get offered permission to land. If people hit the top of the air zone, they get the option to go into space.

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jimbrown wrote:

oooooOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooo my spine is tingling.

i love you groovysplat. you are my hero.

MAKE EM DO IT! WOOOHOOOOO

i love this idea lol

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*rips off shirt*

SuperSplat, to the rescue!