If you want I can manage system changes, and also the whole trading idea that will mean escorts are necessary. I'm actually on another mod team but not actively needed at the moment. Just an offer, this sounds like an interesting mod if we can pull it off

"There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary and those who don't"

Anyone can join, but first, i just want to get the groundwork down...you know what the main features are etc.

Just a few mroe questions

1.) Do you think that the speed of engines should be changed so that some are faster than others? (like a dagger faster than sabre etc)

2.) What about emphasising differences between shield types?

(e.g. Graviton have large shield capability but slow recharge, Positron have average shield capability and average recharge, and Molecular have low shield capability and High recharge rate.)

3.) Also weapons which work better against certain types of shields, should the difference be emphasised?

(E.g. Laser weapons which are more effective against molecualr shields would do a more exaggerated amoutn of damage, compared to original freelancer.)

They sound good to me. In fact, I've modded my own copy of FL to include the first two.

Upping the speed works nicely, as long as you don't make ships too fast. What I did was have most Heavy Fighters fly at around 100 to 110 speed, and Light fighters from about 110 to 130 speed. VHFs and Freighters stayed the same. I also consequently found it necessary to up the shot velocities of weapons. While the ships' speed increases only look minor they actually make quite a large difference in the game, especially when afterburners are being used (ships with 120 normal speed will be faster than Cruise engines when using afterburner). To that end, I just tagged 100 to 200 on top of all the weapon shot velocities.


If you decide to do the third option then I'd recommend making 9 sets of shields: The three resistance types (Molecular, Graviton, Positron), each in three sub-types (High strength/slow recharge, average, and low strength/high recharge). This will offer maximum variety and customization. So if you're headed into Hessian territory for example, you can slap on the laser-resistant shield with the recharge/strength ratio that you most prefer.



BTW, here's an idea for a co-operation boosting kinda thing: Make a large asteroid belt or nebula filled with loads and loads of wrecks, like hundreds of them. Have one in twenty wrecks filled with some very valuable cargo, the rest all empty. Make two Infocards - one will be for the empty wrecks, one for the wrecks filled with goodies. The empty wreck infocard will say something like "Scanners show that this hulk is empty" and the full wreck infocard will say "Scanners show that the holds of this vessel still contain cargo".

Now, here's the catch - the nebula/asteroids will have a big scan-range reducing effect, AND the area will also be filled with high-level pirates (or possibly Nomads, to stop criminal-friendly players from just breezing through safely). Players will have to co-operate to get the goodies from the wrecks, with one player scanning and shooting the derelicts and tractoring in the loot while the other players keep the bad-guys off his ass.

If you look at the ini file dictating the shield/weapon damage modifiers, you see that within each type of shield/weapon are actually three subclasses, so there's even more customising potential. As for the ships, yes, make the speeds different, but also, an idea that's found its way into most mods, alter the cruise engine charge time, so an LF pilot can make a much quicker getaway than a VHF or Freighter

"There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary and those who don't"