Pilot Archive
Thread: A Pilot's Dream (JTL Wish list)
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Vampiric_Hoshi
Mon Jan 31, 2005 7:19 am
#1
Docking
All three of the multiplayer craft (not including the Yacht) have hatches modeled into the ship. I would like to see these become usable by allowing us to dock with other multiplayer craft. Once docked, you'd be able to move between the two ships freely.
There are also a number of what look like docking ports on the space stations. I would like to see these become usable by allowing a multiplayer ship to dock with the port - Once docked, any grouped member at a starport on the surface would have the option to get "shuttled" to the station and thus transported to the multiplayer craft ... essentialy allowing a pilot to pick up players without actually having to land. I ask this because its a real pain in the butt when someone decides they want to join you and you have to land and go through the process of inviting everyone, launching and loading again - especialy when you have a mission live and dont wish to risk ending it by landing.
Manouevres
As a pilot I attempt to pull off as many "sparky" manouevres as my ship will allow.. but with the in-game physics of JTL and lack of "thrusters" there are many star warsy manouevres we simply cant do. Instead, these manouevres should come in the form of "commands". As you progress through the pilot skill tree you'd gain more manouevres open to you. By activating the command your droid or flight computer would initiate the manouvre. Such manouvres would include:
- 180 "on the spot" spin - Spins your ship 180 degrees instantly via the use of thrusters. This effectively would give you the ability to do an emergency 180 spin to shoot at whoever's behind you
- 520 rudder spin - Spins your ship's rudders forcing a 520 degree fast spin - this would spin faster than you would normaly be able to do with rudder control and can aide in performing a corckscrew manouvre to avoid enemy fire
- Emergency reverse thrust - Releases a burst of the forward thrusters slowing the ship drasticaly. If used in conjuction with the throttle this could create an almsot imediate stop which may not be useful for fighters but would come in handy for bigger slower ships
- Emergency "mini hop" - A very risky manouevre to pull off, the hyperdrive is used to create a "mini hop" hyperjump. Such hops push the ship a small distance forward but holds its own risks as you have no way of knowing what you'd be jumping into.
Engine Control
There is always a degree of control a pilot wishes to have over his engines and I don't think JTL yet reaches a level of control that satisfies people. One very big way of helping to achieve this is;
- Add a reverse ability- Give us some reverse power!
NPC AI Physics
"In space no one can hear you cry" - Especialy if it involves watching an NPC fighter pull off a turn that is physicaly inpossible and something you yourself can not do. Improve NPC space AI to perform to the same physics as players. This includes the turning archs of their ships. I shouldn't be facing a Y-Wing that can spin around on-the-spot constantly and attack me if I am unable to do it myself. These are things that need to change:
- Large vessels such as cargo ships and Corvettes should have a very wide turning arch - in other words they should turn VERY slowly and move sluggishly. They shouldn't be spinning faster than an A-Wing
- All fighters should perform exactly the same as a standard player craft of the same type. In other words, a Tier 4 X-Wing should have the exact same engine stats as a standard player X-Wing with a mark 4 standard engine (or there abouts)
Capital Ships
Star Wars was never about fighters alone, it was about the large space battles invoked between capital ships. Yet I fly around space and see none aside from the very rare spawn of a Nebulan-B Frigate, the ISD in deep space and the Corvettes. Where is every one else?!?!
- Add static "non attackable" cruisers throughout space. We see Star Destroyers in orbit around planets that have Imperial starports so we should be able to fly up to these an give 'em a wave. Likewise, CorSec should have a few cruisers in orbit of Corellia and RSF in orbit of Naboo. They dont need to shoot... they just need to sit there an look pretty to add to the "feel" of space.
- Add randomly spawned NPC starship battles - A Rebel ship jumps in followed by an ISD or VSD or whatever... they then get themselves in a fire fight. Players can then decide to delcare and join in or just sit an watch.
Astromech Droids
I'm a Droid Engineer .. and as a Droid Engineer I felt very hard-done-by yet again when I was promised that "droids would be a valuable part of JTL and would be used in every ship" only to find out that droids ARNT used in every ship.. flight computers are. Sorry devs but a Flight Computer is NOT a droid as far as we are concerned. Its a cheesy replacement.
Quite frankly, even we don't see our little R2 poking out the back of our ship I would still like the option to install it. I'm a role player and I role play heavily with my R2 unit... I would like to be able to fly with that R2 unit without having to be a Rebel. Would it really be that hard to allow us to use them on all ships? There are even several freelance ships that have the room for a droid socket.. some of the hutt ships even look as if they have one. Give us our droids!
Local Authorities and Pirates
So I jump into Naboo and head to the Naboo space station with a hold full of contraband. I then laugh sheepishly as there is no authorities what-so-ever to stop me. How can I get away with such a feendish plot?
- Add local authorities patrols around space stations. These patrols would act similar to the Stormtrooper patrols planet side.. they swarm you and demand you hold still while they conduct scans. The ships would then scan the pilot's inventory, inventory of any grouped members aboard (if flying a multiplayer craft) and also the contents of the ship (if flying a multiplayer craft). If they find contraband then depending on the type of authority they will either demand you pay a fine or just simply open fire on you. Smugglers would gain a better chance of avoiding such scans just like the planet-side versions
- Add pirates - I don't just mean more targets that fly around casualy and randomly attack you if you get near.. I mean pirates that jump into the system, scan you and attempt to steal your cargo - effectively a more agressive version of the authorities patrols. They'd appear out of no where, scan your cargo and if its considered good enough shoot the crap out of you to try an get it. Before shooting however, they'd offer you the ability to: pay them to leave; Drop your cargo (affectively deleting whatever items in your inv. they are after). Smugglers would gain a better chance of avoiding such scans just like the planet-side versions
I'm sure there are plenty more things I could think up but I'm done typing for now 
Kaelmythe
Mon Jan 31, 2005 9:02 am
#3
While we're wishing....I'd like to add one:
- Make turrets droid-able. That is, give Droid Engineers a specific new schematic for a droid that can run a turret for you. Not necissarily in a MP ship, but in a Y-Wing/Krayt/Aggressor.
...doubt it'll ever happen for balance reasons, but it's a neat idea .
Thatguyfubu
Mon Jan 31, 2005 9:17 am
#4
Wow is looks like you should play this game called FrreLancer. They have the physics you are looking for, pirates attack you and offer you the chance to drop your cargo, local authorities scan you and if you have contraband they attack you. When I say attack you don't just mean the NPC ships but all the bases in that area and all of their aliied factions too.
I really like JTL but if the devs had played Freelancer and used their physics engine, there scale of everything, even how the NPC interacted with people. Then JTL would have been an award winner. I don't mean to boost about another game but. In FreeLancer you had the ability to be transporter, a fighter, a pirate and steal the catgo from the transporters, or even a smuggler and smuggle contrband. Heck they even had the ability to mine for stuff.
-Zaran
Coran_Sienar
Mon Jan 31, 2005 9:26 am
#5
Just for kicks, try reading the credits for Freelancer and them compare them to JtL. You may be surprised.
Thatguyfubu
Mon Jan 31, 2005 9:30 am
#6
I am at work right now, but if you tell me that some of the devs worked on both then WTH happened. I still feel that FreeLancer is one of the best space sims of recent times.
-Zaran
SwordNMace
Mon Jan 31, 2005 10:18 am
#7
I love this kind of post. I'm of the opinion that we've got no right to complain about the state of the game unless we offer our own ideas to help improve it, so five stars for you!
Afew of points, though:
- If ships are going make extreme maneuvers like that, I really think it should stress the craft somehow. Something along the lines of overload four programs would work.
- I think point-to-point hyperspace jumps have the potential to be abused.
- Certain space stations do have factioned npcs patrolling nearby space. Naboo has RSF npcs and Corellia has CorSec.
Again, awesome ideas. Keep it up.
Zade_Taerin
Mon Jan 31, 2005 10:40 am
#8
Customization
- Apply assorted decals to various parts of the ship
- Allow Shipwrightto customize the look ofa component (ie. booster, engine, weapon) and allow them to do so even after it's been created without having to RE the piece. I want all of my weapons on the tips of my X-wing to look the same
PrestigePoints
- Make it such that Prestige points can be turned in for unique items... ie. new helmet, respirator pack, new ace jacket, ace plaque, schematic for a new a new spacecraft variant
Space Ports
- Make them so you can dock and walk about... in the tutorial we first land on a spaceport... it will just be like another zone... have a cantina, med bay, a shopping concourse with a bazaar, for smugglers have a smuggler contact which will allow them to take contraband delivery missions (with a chance to be scanned and attacked)
Capitol Ships
- Enough said there...
Collisions
- Make collisons with NPC objects (asteroids, NPC vessel) count for something... and inflict damage both to the target and to the attacker... heck a disabled A-wing in a kamikaze run took out a Super Star Destroyer, Tie's collided with asteroids and were destroyed
Spaceports
- In player cities...
Message Edited by Zade_Taerin on 01-31-2005 12:41 PM
sillyrack
Mon Jan 31, 2005 2:50 pm
#9
I remember reading a post that someone was asking for real physics engine and basically they did use one in BETA and the players decided it was shiite. I wasn't on BETA,,, can anyone give a ya or na to the truth of this.
Some nice ideas tho..
sumner
Tue Feb 01, 2005 5:24 am
#10
Scrotumrack wrote:
I remember reading a post that someone was asking for real physics engine and basically they did use one in BETA and the players decided it was shiite. I wasn't on BETA,,, can anyone give a ya or na to the truth of this.
Some nice ideas tho..
I was in beta, and the high inertia flight model was interesting, but it had real playablity problems. First, you could turn so fast that you would be facing the oposite direction you were traveling, this allowed the target and the attacker to always be facing/attacking each other. I'm sure that is how a real space fight would be (like B5) but it just made dogfights pointless, and most people ended up just parking and spinning their ship like a turret, not much fun.
Vampiric_Hoshi
Tue Feb 01, 2005 10:30 am
#11
Thatguyfubu, it was actually Freelancer I was thinking off when I mentioned the authorities. Freelancer on the whole kinda sucked once you got the ultimate fighter... but I loved the whole authorities and trading aspect of the game. It was always my wish that JTL would bring in the cool eliments of Freelancer and plonk it in the SW universe.
But I ofcourse missed one big thing here!!!
NEW SHIPS!!!!
I would love to see some of the large transport vessels turned into multiplayer "capital" ships. An example here would be the Civilian Transport you can find flying around in every system. From studying the model, you can make out a pheasable series of 3 decks spread over the entire hull. Wack a few laser batteries on it an you've got yourself a capital ship. It could work like this:
The bridge would contain a series of stations. These stations would be:
Pilot - Allows the player to pilot the ship
Navigations - Basicaly co pilot - aiding in droid commands etc.
Warheads - Responcible for targeting and firing warheads and countermeasures
Turret 1-4 (yes 4) - 4 Seperate stations within the bridge for each turret. When you access the station, the player's view would snap to the turret though he'd still appear to be in the seat to everyone else.
Turbo Laser 1-4 (yes turbo laser!) - 4 Seperate stations within the bridge for each turbo laser. Like the turrets it'd snap the player to the appropriate turbo laser battery. Turbo lasers are slow and cumbersome to aim, making them inoficient and praticaly impssible to use against fighters though their shier fire power makes them essential for taking on other larger vessels.
Navigations - Basicaly co pilot - aiding in droid commands etc.
Warheads - Responcible for targeting and firing warheads and countermeasures
Turret 1-4 (yes 4) - 4 Seperate stations within the bridge for each turret. When you access the station, the player's view would snap to the turret though he'd still appear to be in the seat to everyone else.
Turbo Laser 1-4 (yes turbo laser!) - 4 Seperate stations within the bridge for each turbo laser. Like the turrets it'd snap the player to the appropriate turbo laser battery. Turbo lasers are slow and cumbersome to aim, making them inoficient and praticaly impssible to use against fighters though their shier fire power makes them essential for taking on other larger vessels.
The shield system of these ships would be so intense that like the Corvette, a single fighter couldn't possibly hope to take it out. It would require either a small fleet of fighters or other larger ships.
This would effectively give the players the "capital ship" combat aspect into the game without having to add things as big as Vette's or ISD's.
As for landing on planets? Well these babies wouldn't land. Instead, the pilot would need to use one of his/her ships to launch into space and then "deploy" the vessel (effectively requesting it to jump into the system). The pilot would then dock with the capital ship where s/he'ed effectively be transfered onboard. By using the "docking with a station" idea in my first post, the pilot would then be able to pick up crew.
Imagine the battles we'd now have... a series of fighters and a capital ship. The commander of the fleet sits back in his capital ship watching the battle unfold as his fighters engage and then the big ships open fire on each other.... now tell me how much more Star Warsy can ya get!
P.S. Thanks for the good comments on my ideas
entrailsgalore2
Tue Feb 01, 2005 12:51 pm
#12
what I wish is that they make it wher eyou can actually fly your hsip into a planets atmosphere and land your ship somewhere. You could land it in the middle of the dester, or in an open space on endor or whereever. And the starports would have docking bays where you could land your ship directly at the starport but the starports would charge you maybe 10 credits or so to park for 30 minutes. But you could also still park it in space if you choose. I think that woudl make the game mroe realistic in terms of star wars , and make it mroe fun and easier for peopel since they can go in and out of their ship when they wanted even if they were flying, and have otehr peopel wlak in and out of their ship as they pleased. The ship could have an entry and ban list same as a house so not anyone could walk in IE: you have a Yt-1300 parked with teh ramp down, the only peopel who could walk in are people you add to your entry list. And to everyone else you would get an invisible wall like you do on the lambda shuttle at theed. The way the sequence where you ente rthe atmosphere could work is that no matter what angle you fly into the planet youll always fly in the designated map area. You could fly over the different cities like you would drive but you can go alot higher. Whenever you would reach the maps boarders your ship would automatically turn around. Whenever you leave or ente rthe planets atmosphere you would see clouds and dust and lots of particles untill you saw space. They could add a loading menu here to save time on loading the sapce scenery. In theory this could work, but I know lots of ideas work in theory then in real life fail. Its just an idea that could work if the SWG devs planned it out and tried to make it work. I woudl really enjoy seeing this in the future. But what would the point of all this be? Well if yorue a non star wars fan it woudlnt make a difference. But if you are, its the almost total freedom you will have in the game. You could go from space to the planet to landing to driving then back in yoru ship then back in space. This would also encrourage peopel to buy JTL since its a free shuttle from one city to anotehr since ships woudl be faster than swoops. Just a thoguht. Feel free to add in any ideas.
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