Thu May 01, 2003 10:12 pm
On Ships, levels, and other assorted babble.
Hookayee...I just got a little idea, not sure if anyone's thought it up yet, but I'll post it anyway...
We all know how leveling works. You make the megabucks, you buy a kick*ss ship, you blow crap up, right? And we all know that all but 3 of the ships are completely useless once you get one of said 3 ships. Of course, those 3 are the Eagle, the Sabre, and the Titan. And we all know those are the only ships in the game, besides nomads and capital ships(which are all unplayable anyway, nyeh), that can mount the coveted class 10 shields and guns. And we all know how every last ship has the same speed.
Now, the idea: What if DA had made the ship's class determined by your pilot level? OK, don't flame me yet you VHF lovers, let me flesh this out a bit.
A "normal" RPG would work-as you level up, your character gains health, capabilities, and ability to handle better and better gear. That got me to thinking.
In Freelancer, aside from your secondary and barely important role as Edison Trent, Freelancer, you ARE your ship. You buy it, you love it(or hate it), you stuff it full of nice components and pricey cargo. But then you inevetably shove it into the scrap heap in favor of something bigger, badder, and more powerful.
DA made the statement that they wanted us to get a deeper connection with our ships by giving us only one at a time...how is this possible if we are forced to get a new one every other mission? I imagined a ship you would buy as a barely useful hunk of metal, name it, paint it, take care of it, and upgrade it until it was a finely tuned machine unique to your own special flying style. However, this didn't happen, and we all get turned to the three cream-of-the-crop VHF's as our gods, saviors, and way of blowingt he pathetic AI's to kingdome come.
So what I propose is to make a ship that will level up WITH you. Here's the details:
1. Pilot level will determine hardpoint class, armor, and speed.
2. At any given level, you can purchase any ship for or below your level and it will adapt itself to your level.
3. Ship purchase price will go up as your level goes up.
4. You recieve a new weapon/shield class for every three levels gained, until level 30.
5. You recieve an armor upgrade for every level gained, until level 38.
6. You get additional shield battery/nanobot space for each new level.
7. During the story, you get armor upgrades after every story mission, and weapon classes every two(bringing you to the base class of the anubis by mission 12)
8. Ships will retain their base class and level requirements. In other words, a Sabre/Eagle/Titan will STILL start out as a class 10 ship(with the same level requirement). Every other ship could just be worked up to that level.
9. Speed upgrades will be available for every level. They would be as follows, beginning at a base speed of 80:
*1 speed unit per level for VHF and Freighter(total at 118)
*2 speed units per level for Heavy Fighter(total at 156)
*3 speed units per level for Light Fighter(total at 194)
*thruster and cruise speed would increase by the same values
Other minor details:
*One set of all the class 10 guns would be available to every player who joins a server.
Three questions:
1. Do you think such a system would benefit Freelancer, and why/why not?
2. Is all that moddable into Freelancer as is?
3. Am I just living in a fantasy world?
Reaper: $200,000,000.
Rockets: $100,000
The look on that pilot's face when you launch a full pod of screamers up his tailpipe: priceless
Edited by - NukeIt on 01-05-2003 23:17:27
We all know how leveling works. You make the megabucks, you buy a kick*ss ship, you blow crap up, right? And we all know that all but 3 of the ships are completely useless once you get one of said 3 ships. Of course, those 3 are the Eagle, the Sabre, and the Titan. And we all know those are the only ships in the game, besides nomads and capital ships(which are all unplayable anyway, nyeh), that can mount the coveted class 10 shields and guns. And we all know how every last ship has the same speed.
Now, the idea: What if DA had made the ship's class determined by your pilot level? OK, don't flame me yet you VHF lovers, let me flesh this out a bit.
A "normal" RPG would work-as you level up, your character gains health, capabilities, and ability to handle better and better gear. That got me to thinking.
In Freelancer, aside from your secondary and barely important role as Edison Trent, Freelancer, you ARE your ship. You buy it, you love it(or hate it), you stuff it full of nice components and pricey cargo. But then you inevetably shove it into the scrap heap in favor of something bigger, badder, and more powerful.
DA made the statement that they wanted us to get a deeper connection with our ships by giving us only one at a time...how is this possible if we are forced to get a new one every other mission? I imagined a ship you would buy as a barely useful hunk of metal, name it, paint it, take care of it, and upgrade it until it was a finely tuned machine unique to your own special flying style. However, this didn't happen, and we all get turned to the three cream-of-the-crop VHF's as our gods, saviors, and way of blowingt he pathetic AI's to kingdome come.
So what I propose is to make a ship that will level up WITH you. Here's the details:
1. Pilot level will determine hardpoint class, armor, and speed.
2. At any given level, you can purchase any ship for or below your level and it will adapt itself to your level.
3. Ship purchase price will go up as your level goes up.
4. You recieve a new weapon/shield class for every three levels gained, until level 30.
5. You recieve an armor upgrade for every level gained, until level 38.
6. You get additional shield battery/nanobot space for each new level.
7. During the story, you get armor upgrades after every story mission, and weapon classes every two(bringing you to the base class of the anubis by mission 12)
8. Ships will retain their base class and level requirements. In other words, a Sabre/Eagle/Titan will STILL start out as a class 10 ship(with the same level requirement). Every other ship could just be worked up to that level.
9. Speed upgrades will be available for every level. They would be as follows, beginning at a base speed of 80:
*1 speed unit per level for VHF and Freighter(total at 118)
*2 speed units per level for Heavy Fighter(total at 156)
*3 speed units per level for Light Fighter(total at 194)
*thruster and cruise speed would increase by the same values
Other minor details:
*One set of all the class 10 guns would be available to every player who joins a server.
Three questions:
1. Do you think such a system would benefit Freelancer, and why/why not?
2. Is all that moddable into Freelancer as is?
3. Am I just living in a fantasy world?
Reaper: $200,000,000.
Rockets: $100,000
The look on that pilot's face when you launch a full pod of screamers up his tailpipe: priceless
Edited by - NukeIt on 01-05-2003 23:17:27
should ave made a new thread 