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the FL cynic''s voice (1)

If you are stuck in a mission and do not know how to continue, this is the place to ask for help. Missing that elusive Level 10 Shield? Don''t know where to find the lost Ohtori ship? This is the only place where spoilers are allowed!

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 10:28 am

the FL cynic''s voice (1)

First, let me say that I love FL and already spent more thasn 50 hours playing it, with maybe another 50h coming up. Still there are some things in this game that plainly _hurt_ the rational mind.

Take those tradelanes, for example. Hmmm, so they connect bases, jumpgates and planets. Now, while this isn't much of a problem for bases and jumpgates, there's one concerning the planets.

You know... planets have a nasty habit.
They MOVE.
Around their sun, mostly. One full circle each 'planet' year, just like earth itself. In Summer, earth will be at one end of the solar system, in winter at the directly opposite end. But... well:

Scenario 1) "tradelanes are immobile"
Hm, so that means the planet will move away from the ending point of the tradelane corridors during a planet year. In the worst case, you'd come out of a tradelane just to notice that the planet you were looking for is right on the other side of the system because the exit is set to its "winter" position and they currently have summer on it... bad.

Scenario 2) "tradelanes move with the planets"
Ok, lets say the tradelanes are drawn along with the planet, "following" it around the system. Oops, nope - bad idea. Since no matter from which point of the system the tradelane starts, if it ENDS at some planet, then it will cross the sun's path sooner or later as the planet moves around. Simple, unavoidable geometry...

Hmmm, so it's either "coming out in the boonies" or "stellar toast". Oh yes, I think Sirius is in _desperate_ need of those Nomad Hypergates. Otherwise, half of its economy would crumble and die in half a year from now, because most planetary tradelanes would end in the middle of nowhere then.

(mind, this is not a rant or something - just a slavishly loyal cynic's voice. )
D_R

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 11:04 am

Well, basicly you're right, planets should move, and the gravity would make the tradelanes move aswell. But DA choose to use Wing Commander/Starlancer physical laws (or something) instead of the Newtonian laws. Hoe that answer your question

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 12:47 pm

Yes, when the Ageira engineers were designing the tradelanes, they realized the problem of moving tradelanes was going to be too difficult to overcome. So, instead, they stopped the orbit of all the planets.

It took some doing, but they had 800 years, so they got it done eventually

ER

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 1:00 pm

True, True, The planets be a movin, hehe. There were a couple older space sims I remember that had planets that followed set orbits, and I can remember some of the nightmares created trying to chase some of these down if you overshot. Also if memory holds these planets also rotated, so then once you caught the planet you still had to catch your landing pad.

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 2:37 pm

Nasty engineering solution - curve the Trade Lane over the top of the Sun so they don't pass through it.

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 2:52 pm

LOL luv this post!
Imagine those tradelanes would go right through a sun! It would be so much fun watching tons of ships going through and getting toasted on their way! Heheheh!

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P4 3.06GHZ
ATI Radeon 9700 pro
1536MB RD-RAM PC1066
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Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 3:20 pm

And what about the distances? The furthest planets in a system are about 100Ks apart

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 4:34 pm

The scales are a constant annoyance for me. Ever notice that your pilot's size is different in bases compared to in space? They seem to be about half-scale on the ground. Of course, the bases change in scale just as much. Land on some miniscule border station, or an asteroid base, and marvel at the extra-dimensional space you find within.

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 5:06 pm

HARD POINTS
let us not forget the fighters that have room, that would be symetrically and geometricly sound, for 2 or 4 more hard points. Just because you only have so much energy potential doesnt mean you couldnt use the extra spot for some missle launchers... Ever had 2 missle launchers (at max class for your ship)? widdle the shields off your oppenet and as your about to overshot him, fire those missles and then it's all but over.

THE SUN(s)
DId you know that the amount of light and heat a sun gives off is enough to basically deep fry the human flesh without protective barriars such as mirrored visors like our current astronaughts have on their helmets, or an ozone layer? Ok so why is it our fancy ships dont? ok just a graphical thing -

ASTEROIDS (and other large floating objects)
The fact I used the word floating is the whole problem. Asteroids DONT just sit there. In fact just like a planet, they move, and they move realy realy fast. why is it only the ones I can shoot move?

MINING
If my lasers blast a little rock to dust, why cant I pound on a larger one expecting some kind of fruit for my efforts? At least chip off the smaller 'mineable' class of rock. Or hell give us mining ship attachments, maybe that hammerhead trades in its front 2 hardmounts to support that asteroid cruncher

JUMP HOLES
No not jump gates, the random holes you find. Why do you have to 'dock' with them, and how the hell can they 'be in use'! Where did nature put the que for natural anomolies like that?

TORPEDOS
Why even bother with these useless things. They are more for cinimatic purposes in the SP cut sceenes. They (yes both) do far less damage then the comperable weapon configurations you will have by the time you would normally look into spending on an ammo driven weapon. period

FREIGHTERS
Why is it I can scan the freighters, or accroding to my kill statistic sheet, transports (you know the ones that need to moore, not dock). Yes those. When you scan them they have ungodly amounts of cargo. Blow them up and you get a nickel. Blow up a 'pilotable' cargo ship and get the lost treasure of captain Morgan.

More on FREIGHTERS
Why can't I fly ships I can see taxing around? If this really is an open eded universe, and I am supposed to be able to be a merchant, why cant I use the ships the REAL men use?

STUPID ASS MINES
Ok so you invest millions of credits to develop a new weapon, the *smart* mine. You would think, that since your magic reputation card that every bounty hunter and his sister needs to see to get a job, can correctly identify friend or foe in your ships HUD, that mine makers might stop and think - hmm, maybe we could make the seeking mines chase ENIMIES! Or no wait, if we kill the people buying our mines we'll make less money... lets do that

(as just mentioned)
MAGIC REPUTATION CARD
If I kill jo mamma in BFE-21 and no one is around, and of course my scanner range is what 5k? whatever it is, why does my Magic Rep Card adjust my faction with them? If a toilot flushes on Jupiter now, would you know if it was a stinker?

IM SCANNING YOUR CARGO
Ok and you can eat laser if you have an issue with it. Oh wait only illigal goods are going to get me in trouble right? Well lets not forget that if jiminey police officer is scanning me for illigal goods, he can presumably see everything in my ship - why is then, that a human being that would naturally respond to an overwhelming situation by calling for help, attacks? If he sees my uber Class 10 ship, and he is in a starcracker more aptly named a wheat cracker, why oh why does he fire? Call the battleship that won't move at least!

BATTLESHIPS
More like docking bay with less firepower if you ask me. I started with a ship that has almost as many hard mounts as a battleship does. Granted the battleships guns are bigger, make a cooler noise, and do more damage, but I would rather be flying a Titan, then one of the immobile battleships anyday.

MAGIC REPUTATION CARD meets Mr. Battleship
OK so Battleships are invunerable in multiplayer, why then do I have a stat on my magic card that says I have killed none of the invunerable ships? Why not put planet kills on there, and stars to boot, since of course I have a torpedo that has a name that hints to it's ability to kill suns.


Ok as much as I attacked the game just now. I love this game. It is absolutely solid. It met all expectations and more. The storyline was planned well, and overall the game deserves all its praise.

But you started it!




Stop.
Before you reply just remember, the truth hurts.
Now chances are if you hated what I said I was right

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 5:22 pm

You must be joking right.........how long did ya waste your time in coming up with this theory just becoz its not in the game........Mate get yaself a life and be happy with what you got.

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 5:26 pm

I enjoyed a good rant whats it to you? Don't you consider it a REAL waste of time to comment on other peoples use of their time? Either way makes no difference to me, I didn't make anything in that up except possible Ideas in some situations like mining.

Stop.
Before you reply just remember, the truth hurts.
Now chances are if you hated what I said I was right

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 6:11 pm

Naaah, lookitthat... ColdJustice posted all the sequels that I had planned in one big bad shot. To make things worse, he unfortunately wasted a serious amount of humoristic potential with his slightly aggressive tone.

*shrugs*
whatever...

slavishly loyal FL cynic signing off
D_R

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 6:23 pm

damn im sorry I tried so hard to put in some 'humoristic' content but that daisy character made it all a mess.... I still can't wait to buy a mine that cant tell enimies from ME....

Stop.
Before you reply just remember, the truth hurts.
Now chances are if you hated what I said I was right

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 9:32 pm

lol
I really enjoyed this post

After reading the first post I was thinking 'Oh yeah .. and and and'

Then I had to only scroll down but a cm to see how cold outlined everythign else ;p

Really hits home though ..

The mines should just waste less time and blow up inside your ship to get it over with

The tradelanes should be made out of a material that has alot of elasticity (whoa .. not sure of spelling on that) that way they can bend and stretch with the planets all over the system ;p (or a gps type system that allows the gates to move and still be functional by changing the trajectory based upon where and when)

I think its ridiculous that when I pop out of a jumphole in my death machine (sabre) every level 4 pilot who has bad faction with me charges with their ineffectual pee shooters. In elite they RAN when you entered a system near them.

I dont see why I can't land on a planet other then through the docking ring (I know the 'game reason' ... but .. cmon)

Or I blow up a train to get nothing and when I blow up a freighter ...

Why can't I fly a train ?
Why can't I fly a battleship that can blow up?
Why cant I blow up a battleship?
Why do the monkeys know my character at first sight?
The 'all ships will go the same speed' thing kind of bugged me until I modded it
The level 2 junker demanding I drop my 250 Diamonds is a hoot

I still love the game and am having fun playing some mods.. And yes .. I know that if you want to pick ANYTHING apart you normally can. However I see some glaring problems with the logistics here ;p Of course .. on the other hand so many things were done SO well.

I hope its nearly time for the 'full scale battle with realistic trading and explodeable/pilotable everything' mod ... oh yeah .. that will breath alot of life into this.. and maybe we can get a news item added into the game explaining that gravitational pull can be negated by using a little mineral water and sugar pill ;p

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 9:38 pm

I think you mean "Pea gun"

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P4 3.06GHZ
ATI Radeon 9700 pro
1536MB RD-RAM PC1066
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