Mon May 24, 2004 12:52 pm
The Nexus
Greetings fellow lancers!
This is going to be sort of diary like...
Well, I've not had FL long and I've only posted once in these forums, but I saw many flaws in FL and now I've decided to do something about it. I wanted a modern day "elite" and as many have pointed out, I too was pretty disappointed with where FL goes once the SP missions are complete. Where's the variety of missions ? Wheres the expansive universe ? Wheres the challenge at ? I couldn't find it. I got to lvl 38 easily, got hold of my uber ship outfitted with the best everything, turned trader for a while, turned bounty hunter, turned pirate turned everything and eventually turned round on my head. I am proactively doing something about it now.
Just a few niggles.
I tryed out a fair few mods and found the same problems almost everywhere. It seems fellow modders are happy to add new systems, ships, weapons and a whole host of things, but I found the content in general uninspiring and transparent. It wasn't beliveable. I realised along time ago that what the average gamer wants is very simple, yet few ever seem to clock on to the idea. I won't speak for you all but *I* want to feel immersed! I want to feel like I'm there and I want the illusion that there is no end and always something new to discover. I also want the details to be ...erm...detailed. I shan't whine though, I couldn't find what I was looking for so I'm going to make it.
The Nexus.
I've planned this out over the space of a few weeks and done a fair bit of prelim work.
So far I've got 70 or so custom commodities all with rich, detailed info cards and custom icons working in game(although I've not populated anywhere apart from manhatten to sell them yet, Ive also not made the illegal things illegal yet or NPCs able to drop them but that shouldnt take long.), just that has taken me a month so far, but thats OK, I know I've got months of work to do yet.
I'm currently scouting all the systems looking for the descriptive clues that will help, but I'm going to completely change the economy of the whole game thats for damn sure.
Something else that I must fix is digi anvils damn prices. How much is one of the prototype lvl 10 weps worth for resale (say a WILDFIRE...) ? Enough to buy one of the lower lvl ships and I can't swallow that as being in scale.
I've made space and I think I'm going for about 25 to 30 complete new systems, my draft maps are complete and Ive planned local factions and what industries and products will influence the in system economies. Luclily I've still got my old elite map and manuals. Plaigarism is everywhere so expect to see system names like DELTA PAVONIS, CYGNI DRACONIS, BETA HYORI, OMICRON ERIDANI, EPSILON INDI, ZCANIS MINORIS etc etc I feel these sort of names will fit in real well with whats already on offer in standard FL. I intend to work system by system, planet by planet, filling in the detail I deem absolutely necessary.
Some things I want to do that I have to work on the "how to" as well before I can implement them, I want the maximum amount of ship upgrades that the game will allow but Im not sure what is possible and what isn't (new scanners, power plants, and any other useful addon the game will allow for).
Some weapons balancing needed for sure and specialised turrets only available for freighters is an idea I want to get working.
Working on custom missions and more varied random encounters seems a tricky beast to do, but I'll get there.
Sorry to ramble, but I've got a real bug at the moment to bend FL to my ends and make it the game it could have been. As far as I am concered digi anvil made a complete mess of it. The whole open endedness which I loved elite for is lacking big time in FL, I will keep working until I make it fill it's real potential.
I'll be back!
XOR
This is going to be sort of diary like...
Well, I've not had FL long and I've only posted once in these forums, but I saw many flaws in FL and now I've decided to do something about it. I wanted a modern day "elite" and as many have pointed out, I too was pretty disappointed with where FL goes once the SP missions are complete. Where's the variety of missions ? Wheres the expansive universe ? Wheres the challenge at ? I couldn't find it. I got to lvl 38 easily, got hold of my uber ship outfitted with the best everything, turned trader for a while, turned bounty hunter, turned pirate turned everything and eventually turned round on my head. I am proactively doing something about it now.
Just a few niggles.
I tryed out a fair few mods and found the same problems almost everywhere. It seems fellow modders are happy to add new systems, ships, weapons and a whole host of things, but I found the content in general uninspiring and transparent. It wasn't beliveable. I realised along time ago that what the average gamer wants is very simple, yet few ever seem to clock on to the idea. I won't speak for you all but *I* want to feel immersed! I want to feel like I'm there and I want the illusion that there is no end and always something new to discover. I also want the details to be ...erm...detailed. I shan't whine though, I couldn't find what I was looking for so I'm going to make it.
The Nexus.
I've planned this out over the space of a few weeks and done a fair bit of prelim work.
So far I've got 70 or so custom commodities all with rich, detailed info cards and custom icons working in game(although I've not populated anywhere apart from manhatten to sell them yet, Ive also not made the illegal things illegal yet or NPCs able to drop them but that shouldnt take long.), just that has taken me a month so far, but thats OK, I know I've got months of work to do yet.
I'm currently scouting all the systems looking for the descriptive clues that will help, but I'm going to completely change the economy of the whole game thats for damn sure.
Something else that I must fix is digi anvils damn prices. How much is one of the prototype lvl 10 weps worth for resale (say a WILDFIRE...) ? Enough to buy one of the lower lvl ships and I can't swallow that as being in scale.
I've made space and I think I'm going for about 25 to 30 complete new systems, my draft maps are complete and Ive planned local factions and what industries and products will influence the in system economies. Luclily I've still got my old elite map and manuals. Plaigarism is everywhere so expect to see system names like DELTA PAVONIS, CYGNI DRACONIS, BETA HYORI, OMICRON ERIDANI, EPSILON INDI, ZCANIS MINORIS etc etc I feel these sort of names will fit in real well with whats already on offer in standard FL. I intend to work system by system, planet by planet, filling in the detail I deem absolutely necessary.
Some things I want to do that I have to work on the "how to" as well before I can implement them, I want the maximum amount of ship upgrades that the game will allow but Im not sure what is possible and what isn't (new scanners, power plants, and any other useful addon the game will allow for).
Some weapons balancing needed for sure and specialised turrets only available for freighters is an idea I want to get working.
Working on custom missions and more varied random encounters seems a tricky beast to do, but I'll get there.
Sorry to ramble, but I've got a real bug at the moment to bend FL to my ends and make it the game it could have been. As far as I am concered digi anvil made a complete mess of it. The whole open endedness which I loved elite for is lacking big time in FL, I will keep working until I make it fill it's real potential.
I'll be back!
XOR