Buyable Ships

[John Cordell]

Well, when we're going to have 2 versions we could make the "original" called version really original like, so no extra upgrades and the option to land on kilrathi vessels should also be removed, i've read somewhere a guy landed on a Kamekh, how crazy is this?! So my vote is to stay as close to the original Privateer as possible, put all the "strange stuff" in the Enhanced Mod.

 

[Unregistered]

well, one thing that's bad about 2 versions is having to track changes in both...

it would be much simpler if we just added alternative ways to aquire extras.
and leave the 'standard methods' as allowing the basic privateer canon.

we already have easter eggs, so we could just expand on that concept.
special encounters... it worked well for fallout, it can work well for us.
examples :
-special encounter where you kill a renegade kilrathi strakha... and you tractor in its cloaking device
-special encounter where you assist a confed transport under attack. it then lets you dock and [for that one time] buy some confed item.
-special encounter where you find a derelict out in space somewhere, and you salvage a part of it.
-special encounter where you save a kilrathi ace from destruction, and he grants you docking rights to some kilrathi outpost.
-special encounter where you run into some rich dude's escape pod after he was lost and presumed dead. you tractor him and take him to a planet, and he rewards you with some 'random' thing. maybe a ship. maybe a gun. maybe some other strange device. not necissarilly one you can't get anyways. just something expensive, or unavailable otherwise. could een be something pointless... like a space yaht... whatever.



alternatively. there is a blatantly artificial way to do both...
use unlocks, like in fighting games.
beat the campiagn, and you get more options.
maybe have different unlocked options depending on who you're allied with after you beat the game. like 'buy a talon at pirate base, given you're friendliest with pirates when you beat the game'.
have some standard unlocks (still after you beat campaign), like 'can buy talon+"that 4th ship" normally, can buy drayman if you join merchant guild, and demon if you join mercenary guild'


and maybe use these together.
like, if you got a drayman after the campaign, and you run into a special encounter where you jump in, and you see 2 ships ram each other, one blows up, the other goes dead in space. then you can tractor in that ship and recover it (since you have the cargo room).



we can do a lot of interesting things here. we don't have to ruin the privateer legacy, and we don't have to limit the possibilities either.

-scheherazade

 

[MamiyaOtaru]

Well, when we're going to have 2 versions we could make the "original" called version really original like, so no extra upgrades and the option to land on kilrathi vessels should also be removed, i've read somewhere a guy landed on a Kamekh, how crazy is this?!

This was acknowledged as a bug, and shortly thereafter it was announced that it had been fixed. To clarify, you can still land on a Kamekh. But only if you are friendly with the cats

 

[John Cordell]

we already have easter eggs, so we could just expand on that concept.
special encounters... it worked well for fallout, it can work well for us.

I wouldn't call that easter eggs but possibilities you have in the game that are believeable because there's a believeable reason why you have them, they were not only added like "Hi i'm there, eat me or die". The important thing is that you've got a believeable universe otherwise the game won't make any sense or fun.

To clarify, you can still land on a Kamekh. But only if you are friendly with the cats

Ahm, i'm not sure but it's really strange to land as a human privateer on a military class Kilrathi capital ship (for an always available option), feels even this must be embeded in somekind of story.

 

[Unregistered]

well, i don't mean to say special encounters=easter eggs.
simply both depend on you finding some undocumented thing or event.

but all in all, i guess it is mostly a way to pass off added features in a way that is both alternative, not an 'anytime event' (always accessible), and is believable.

special encounters would also help keep the game alive beyond simply upgrading until you're maxxed out and feel like you have nothing more to do. there would be an aspect of discovery in the gameplay, and later on in multiplayer special encounters would be like bragging rights. like "omg dude guess what happened yesterday, i found this blah blah blah...". sort of like what happened in diablo when you found some special item that nobody has seen before (or was really rare). it is also a motivating factor to go into the darkest niches of the galaxy. in priv you really had no reason (outside the story missions) to leave the perry/new constantinople/new detroit/blockade general vincinity.

-scheherazade

 

[Unregistered]

Locks, unlocks, eastereggs and tempers.

Locks, unlocks, eastereggs and tempers.

Hrm. . .

Conformists -vs.- Non-conformists
Boxes/Boxen -vs.-free-form.

Peanutbutter on my chocolate!
Chocolate in my peanutbutter!

Yes I'm that old.

This has probably been addressed but...

well, one thing that's bad about 2 versions is having to track changes in both...

it would be much simpler if we just added alternative ways to aquire extras.
and leave the 'standard methods' as allowing the basic privateer canon.

It's a remake. Hollywood'd version of a remake is often vastly different from the original. One look at Bogart movies that have been redone is enough to tell you that. The idea is to re-make the original to bring it up to date. Granted this isn't something from the thirties that you are bringing into the new century, but it IS making it current with technology. In so doing, YOU, as the authors/re-creators, have the right -- and in my opinion, the duty -- to add YOUR vision for the game, TO the game. Just as Hollywood's directors do to movies.

we already have easter eggs, so we could just expand on that concept.
special encounters... it worked well for fallout, it can work well for us.
examples :
-special encounter where you kill a renegade kilrathi strakha... and you tractor in its cloaking device
-special encounter where you assist a confed transport under attack. it then lets you dock and [for that one time] buy some confed item.
-special encounter where you find a derelict out in space somewhere, and you salvage a part of it.
-special encounter where you save a kilrathi ace from destruction, and he grants you docking rights to some kilrathi outpost.
-special encounter where you run into some rich dude's escape pod after he was lost and presumed dead. you tractor him and take him to a planet, and he rewards you with some 'random' thing. maybe a ship. maybe a gun. maybe some other strange device. not necissarilly one you can't get anyways. just something expensive, or unavailable otherwise. could een be something pointless... like a space yaht... whatever.



alternatively. there is a blatantly artificial way to do both...
use unlocks, like in fighting games.
beat the campiagn, and you get more options.
maybe have different unlocked options depending on who you're allied with after you beat the game. like 'buy a talon at pirate base, given you're friendliest with pirates when you beat the game'.
have some standard unlocks (still after you beat campaign), like 'can buy talon+"that 4th ship" normally, can buy drayman if you join merchant guild, and demon if you join mercenary guild'


and maybe use these together.
like, if you got a drayman after the campaign, and you run into a special encounter where you jump in, and you see 2 ships ram each other, one blows up, the other goes dead in space. then you can tractor in that ship and recover it (since you have the cargo room).



we can do a lot of interesting things here. we don't have to ruin the privateer legacy, and we don't have to limit the possibilities either.

-scheherazade

I love the ideas of the eastereggs, I hate the ideas of you must be either or. It usually ruins the start and finish for me. I do NOT fit into a box and I hate it when I HAVE to "conform." I usually will "conform" if I'm not forced. You can have the Stiletto if... You can have the Drayman if... I tend to rebel and possibly even unload it because. I liked it when someone "unlocked" Morrowind the Elder Scrolls so that I could join all the guilds. I wound up as a Magic using thief with excellent fighter combat skills. It opened up more aspects of the game that I could play ALL AT ONCE.

That said, it's your game and you do what you want with it. I'm already trying to figure out how to get a better video card so that I can play your game. Yes, YOUR game is inspiring me to spend money I don't have, and have VERY little hope of getting, just so that I can play it. Hrm...maybe a nice four button Joystick with throttle, too? Time to beg for it with Darling Hubby. I wonder if I promise him...

ANyway, don't lock people into a box and they'll enjoy it more. I think that that is PART of the issue in the first place.


And HellcatV, Your idea about what to call the choices. . .

It will say
"Privateer Original Ship Choices"
"Privateer Righteous Fire Ship Choices" (Fusion cannon, speed enhancer, etc)
"Privateer Original + New Fighters"
"Privateer Righteous Fire + New Fighters" (also will include the Shoklar/salthi if someone is brave enough to give us such a model)

Why not a box in the config/setup that says
Flyable Ship Types
The choices being:

Original Privateer
Original Privateer & RF
Privateer/RF Plus
Privateer HellcatV

Just my $0.02
Wendy

Darn I wish I could get my viedo card to "SEE" it.

 

[Unregistered]

Viable? It's a BIG FAT TARGET

Ideally, we could get some people trying out the Orion etc and letting us know if they feel it is a viable ship as is.

I think that having the options discussed is a good way to go. Those who want can have their remake, those who want to just have a little fun in a Stiletto may do so (provided they come up with the cash)

This remake is not a final priduct yet, so please keep those opinions coming.

The Orion is slow, ugly and not as much of a tank as the original game would have you believe. I did better in a Galaxy, but I was P.O'd that it didn't have more cargo room, the turrets were nothing more than show, THEY SHOULD be manned or auto-fire AND it's flight characteristics STINK. It was the closest thing in the original game to the Milenium Falcon and I LOVED the idea of it, but I went back to the Tarsus after I found out what a pig the Galaxy was! Yes, I started the game anew and REALLY saved my pennies in that Tarsus.

Once I had a Centurion, Orions were nothing more than big fat SLOW targets. I would come away unscathed EVERY TIME. The Orion is and was NOT an option. It is not viable, because it has too little cargo space for all the added "protection" that isn't. It's death in a box to fly it. At least the Tarsus made no bones about what it was.

Oooh. . .I guess I really had an opinion of sorts, huh?

No flames, please. It is just peanutbutter and chocolate again.

Wendy

 

[Unregistered]

What is a privateer anyway?

This was acknowledged as a bug, and shortly thereafter it was announced that it had been fixed. To clarify, you can still land on a Kamekh. But only if you are friendly with the cats

Well, Privateers TRADITIONALLY, at least in the military history of the world as we know it, were thieves and pirates that vowed NOT to attack their government of choice, were issued letters of marque and were pirates that flew a nation's flag as opposed to a banner of death and destruction. SO, they would disable and board a MILITARY ship. Then, if it was a better ship than theirs, they would take IT and sell theirs. IF theirs was like the Centurion, and the ship they took was like the Stiletto, they might keep BOTH, split their crew, and sail both. THAT is a privateer. Why NOT have military ships? You can buy or build ANYTHING in today's market, assuming you have enough money. Howard Hughes did it during the days of propeller driven craft, Hughes Aerospace did it, ad infinitum.

Who's to say you didn't raid a raider?

Heck, it's JUST A GAME

Wendy

 

[Lynx]

It's a remake. Hollywood'd version of a remake is often vastly different from the original. One look at Bogart movies that have been redone is enough to tell you that. The idea is to re-make the original to bring it up to date. Granted this isn't something from the thirties that you are bringing into the new century, but it IS making it current with technology. In so doing, YOU, as the authors/re-creators, have the right -- and in my opinion, the duty -- to add YOUR vision for the game, TO the game. Just as Hollywood's directors do to movies.

But, on the other hand, you have to admit that most Hollywood remakes are shit compared to the original.

I really hope you'll put in those separate configs so that people who want can play it as close to the original as possible in the engine. I'm quite worried with the direction the development is taking. Having a few ships you can get as Easter egg is one thing or adding some ships that makes sense like the Draymen. But you can now buy a Paradigm for example. How wierd is that? There's absolutely now friggin way to explain that fact. You can buy cloaking devices and whatnot. What's next? If someone says "I want to fly a Star Destroyer lololol!!!11ontwo" Do you put it in too? Where do you draw the line?

 

[MamiyaOtaru]

The Orion is slow, ugly and not as much of a tank as the original game would have you believe. I did better in a Galaxy, but I was P.O'd that it didn't have more cargo room, the turrets were nothing more than show, THEY SHOULD be manned or auto-fire AND it's flight characteristics STINK. It was the closest thing in the original game to the Milenium Falcon and I LOVED the idea of it, but I went back to the Tarsus after I found out what a pig the Galaxy was! Yes, I started the game anew and REALLY saved my pennies in that Tarsus.

Is this in the original game or in the remake? I know it sucked in the original. I would like to make it a bit more viable in the remake, so I need opinions on how the remake version flies. And the turrets are for more than show in the remake

 

[MamiyaOtaru]

I'm quite worried with the direction the development is taking. Having a few ships you can get as Easter egg is one thing or adding some ships that makes sense like the Draymen. But you can now buy a Paradigm for example.

The ability to buy a Paradigm has been in htere from the start, its presence in the current beta is therefore not a very good indicator of any sort of trend or "direction" It's already been clarified that you won't be able to buy a paradigm in the final version, the implied direction then is the opposite of what you fear: you don't need to worry yourself about stemming the tide. Lines are drawn.

But if someone wants to fly a star destroyer, they are welcome to put it in themselves and I can't stop them I have some lovely shots of an X-Wing and a Centurion flying side by side lol. Anything's possible, if one isn't afraid of Notepad.

 

[Unregistered]

orion still sucks in the remake
its actually even worse, cause the AI misses less, so it'll shred you while you can't get out of the way to do anything.

we don't wanna add much artistic vision beyond the look of the game.
we want to add functionality, but not the kind that would change the gameplay of the original game.

there will be some inevitable drift, but it'd be better because of technical limitations or setup decisions for future things like multiplayer, than because we just want to give it our own spin.

priv remake will be what it's name is.
look to WCUniverse to open thigns up to anything-goes, beyond the scope of privateer.

-scheherazade

 

[Unregistered]

Is this in the original game or in the remake? I know it sucked in the original. I would like to make it a bit more viable in the remake, so I need opinions on how the remake version flies. And the turrets are for more than show in the remake

Original.

I got some ideas on fixes in my mail just now, and I'm going to try to get the "Shattered Glass" menu issue resolved. Then I'll see what I can see with the remake and give you my opinions.

I can already see that it's going to take some getting used to. I'm used to the "FLAT" way the original handled flight. IF I can get it working, I'm looking forward to a FUN time in River City.

If you want to make the Orion more viable, you need a bit more speed and maneuverability. A tank it is NOT. The Tarsus is more viable as a ship than IT is.

Maybe give it more base speed and less afterburner or something. More cargo? All I can tell you is that it is sooooo slow, that any merc in one is dead meat. I almost NEVER get hit by it, jus tjink right and left then shoot. I strafe. In the first pass, it's usulally VERY badly shot up, if it isn't already dead, I invariably kill it in the second. So, you need to make it so it can dodge some. Granted I'm in a Centurion with four Plasma guns, but hey, BANG BANG BANG and it's DEAD. Three hits.

As for cargo, if you are going to suffer with the Orion, at least make it have SOMETHING attractive about it. 250 cargo, or more speed, or a veritable tank that takes hit after hit to kill. In the original, it is so bad that I tried it once, for ONE RUN, and never went back. I loaded a new game and did it with the Tarsus.

Wendy.

 

[Unregistered]

But, on the other hand, you have to admit that most Hollywood remakes are shit compared to the original.

I really hope you'll put in those separate configs so that people who want can play it as close to the original as possible in the engine. I'm quite worried with the direction the development is taking. Having a few ships you can get as Easter egg is one thing or adding some ships that makes sense like the Draymen. But you can now buy a Paradigm for example. How wierd is that? There's absolutely now friggin way to explain that fact. You can buy cloaking devices and whatnot. What's next? If someone says "I want to fly a Star Destroyer lololol!!!11ontwo" Do you put it in too? Where do you draw the line?

Most people don't even know when they're watching remakes. Look at Sabrina. The original was sooooo long ago, that most people NEVER saw it. Hollywood did a nice job on the remake. Now if you could cast it over with a MIX of the casts... LOL But YES, MANY of the obvious remakes really do pale in comparison with the originals. Again, take a script, which is basically dialogue and VAGUE scene references, add vision, imagination and hellified camera and lighting crews and you can have another blockbuster. WITH THE SAME SCRIPT. I hope P-Remake is the Sabrina of the gaming world. Only time will tell.

Now if I can get the thing so I can see menus instead of the shattered glass. . .

-- I DO have input on the fix, I just need to do some file editing.

-- THANKS GUYS!

Wendy

 

[Unregistered]

remember that privateer remake is a MODIFICATION of the vega-strike engine.

there is a lot of vega strike stuff in the game right now.

thigns like 'buy anything' and 'cloaking devices' are there because they haven't been removed yet. be patient. there is a lot to do still.

-scheherazade

 

[hellcatv]

actually we added everything in from ground up
including the cloaking device and all ships...
but they will be taken out from the _standard_ gameplay....

 

[Unregistered]

i c. i thought the old old version which just had ships replaced and a differnet map had mutated into what we have now. guess not

-scheherazade

 

[ilricca]

Well well well...
The idea of a Privateer both "Standard" and "Ehanced" is appealing...
The problem is: what kind of ship we put in the "Enhanced" version?
:
The Demon and the Drayman (and we know well what kind of Drayman I have in mind... ; ) are ok...
The Military ships are a "little" out of place, for me and many people, if I have read well the forum. After all the U.S.A. Government won't sell to me a F-22 if I am a "privateer", no matter how rich and influent...

Anyway we should catalogue these ships, along with the "Standard" ones...

FIGHTERS: good Vs. other fighters, no good vs. capital ships
Light Fighter: Demon
Heavy Fighter: Centurion

TRANSPORTS: no worth of explanation
Light Transport: Tarsus
Heavy Transport: Galaxy
Transport Frigate: Drayman

CORVETTES: good Vs. capital ships, no good vs. fighters
Light Corvette: Orion

Ok, but what can we do now?
:
We can fill the holes!
:

Heavy Corvette: could be something like a civilian Broadsword: roughly same number of cannons and turrets but a lot less missile lauchers, for example.

Assault Frigate: anti-fighter capital ship. Good Vs. other fighters, no good vs. capital ships. Something like the "Assault Frigate" of Homeworld 2, but with less firepower than a Paradigm (after all a destroyer is more powerful than a frigate!!!)

Battle Frigate: anti-capital capital ship. Good Vs. capital ships, no good vs. fighters. Something like the "Ion Cannon Frigate" of Homeworld 2, but with less firepower than a Paradigm (after all a destroyer is more powerful than a frigate!!!)

Suggestions?

 

[Unregistered]

acutally, you wouldn't but military equipment form the government.
you buy it from GE/raytheon/lockheed, etc.

they will sell you what you can afford.
but they are legally limited to what types.

if you want a brand new block60 F16, SURE!

if you want an F22, HECK NO!

basically, the us government has a law saying that it's the prime customer, and the private manufacturers are not allowed to sell to anyone else anything that is equial or better to the best that the us government buys.

there are a number of rich-folk military fighter enthusiast clubs in the country. a lot in florida actually. basically rich guys flying their f16's, su-27's, etc.

the armaments issue is another thing. you can have an armed F16 just fine. you just won't be allowed to fly it in civillian air space in the US. if you wanna fly it in the US, you need to disarm it.


as far as the F22 bit, i'm sure that some big wig in lockheed could have one for 'historic' reasons... prolly just to look at tho.

anyone been in the udvar hazy center to see the JSF? it's big. bigger than i thought it would be. larger than an F4 actually. i was pretty surprised.


-scheherazade

 

[ilricca]

:
It's so strange...
In Italy isn't possible to have a military craft, plain and simple, same thing for military weapons...

Anyway: the idea of the heavy corvette and so on is worth something, or it's just another useless suggestion?

People, let me know!