[NGTM-1R]

This topic basically exists for what it says it does. I'm trying to devise missions to be played in an environment that is inimical to your fighter, yourself, and/or your fighter's systems. I'll outline my own concepts below, but other ideas are welcome (and preferably a justification or several).

We already have subspace, which we know renders shields inoperative. We also have nebular (and presumably, atmospheric can make the same conditions) electrical storms with EMP effects.

One of my current concepts is a similar situation to subspace, but instead the conditions are dense nebular or atmospheric, and the amount of particulate matter means that you cannot activate shields or that they cannot be kept up.

I've also envisioned missions that will penalize you if your shields go down, either subsystems (nonshielded ones like comms and nav, not stuff you need to move or shoot; I'm not that cruel), or actual hull damage. Radiation, heat, whatever, mostly situations suited to being too close to a star.

Any other thoughts?

[Retsof]

Well there's black holes / accretion disks, or ion storms, or jimungus solar flares.

[JGZinv]

Rain...Ice... particle storms...plasma emissions... solar wind...
gravity, heat, fog nebula, asteroids full of little critters that can eat your ship.

[terran_emperor]

Big critters that hide in astroid belts and eat your ship
Plot-holes  get da reference?

[Rodo]

Radiation from a nerby star causes shield weakening and eventually hull damage per sec on the ship, thus making the mission imposible to win after 5 minutes of flying and a light combat.

[General Battuta]

These all sound insanely frustrating, though. There's a reason most modern games are moving away from these scenarios.

[Rodo]

dont need to be a long mission, maybe a recon on a hostil enviroment..

command: make those scans alpha one, and before your hull melts!!

These all sound insanely frustrating, though. There's a reason most modern games are moving away from these scenarios.

you mean space-combat games or every type of game?

[NGTM-1R]

These all sound insanely frustrating, though. There's a reason most modern games are moving away from these scenarios.

See, the point is that Nintendo Hard is not always unjustified.

[terran_emperor]

Supernova - get out before it happens

[Colonol Dekker]

Refractive nebulae = no laser, beam, shield or radar. Only missiles, Flak, comm, engines and Line of Sight work...

Featured in upcoming Dekker-mod

[Rodo]

Refractive nebulae = no laser, beam, shield or radar. Only missiles, Flak, comm, engines and Line of Sight work...

Featured in upcoming Dekker-mod

sounds like fun


reconsider the name though, refractive makes me think about bouncing beams, maybe it could be a energy consuming nebulae of some kind.

[terran_emperor]

Refractive nebulae = no laser, beam, shield or radar. Only missiles, Flak, comm, engines and Line of Sight work...

Featured in upcoming Dekker-mod

This sounds like the Mutara Nebula from Wrath of Khan.

What about mass driver weapons like Rail Guns or the Maxim. Since they're slug throwers, they should be un affected.

[Colonol Dekker]

ENergy weapons = Mass weapons (dependant on propulsion method) =

[terran_emperor]

Rail guns use Magnets to propel the projectile at High Velocity. As i understand it, the Maxim works on the same principle.

According to the Tech Room Description, Maxim is defined as an energy weapon. Though is behaves like an energy weapon, accelerating a Uranium slug. in my opinion, anything that throws a physical projectile is a mass driver.

[karajorma]

I'm pretty sure that the reference to the Maxim being classified as an energy weapon was just a clumsy attempt to explain why it used up energy every time it was fired but never ran out of bullets.

[terran_emperor]

I'm pretty sure that the reference to the Maxim being classified as an energy weapon was just a clumsy attempt to explain why it used up energy every time it was fired but never ran out of bullets.

Probably. Thats why i thought the ammo counter for the maxim used in earliar builds of FSO made sense

[karajorma]

Except that none of the missions had been balanced for an ammo counter and no provision had been made for the fact you might run out.

[Narwhal]

What about some sort of either "wind" or "gravitationnal" put pushing you / attracting you in one direction ?

It it's a wind, since everyone should be "affected", you might want the battle to take place around a "fixed spot" (a starbase, an asteroid, whatever).
If it's a gravitational pit, everyone is attracted to a central point, and fight happens around it. Just don't get to that "point". Mini black hole, maybe.


The Shivans might even be immune to those effect ? Think the Arilou in Star Control who were not affected by gravitational fields around planets.


Another completely different idea : battle "inside" a (huge) ship or an (huge) asteroid. Think Terminal Velocity

[terran_emperor]

or Descent 

[Narwhal]

Never heard of this. Is it any good ?