7. Here's a neat idea for a new ship.
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This article is from the netrek Frequently Offered Clever Suggestions list, by Tom Holub doosh@best.com with numerous contributions by others.
7. Here's a neat idea for a new ship.
Problem: There's a gap in Netrek that really needs to be filled.
Proposal: I want a new ship X that can do Y and Z.
Why not: KSU-Galaxy/Chaos servers are a prime example of ship design
run amok. The GA had huge torps, fast phasers, an incredible refueling
rate, and eventually they even boosted the manuverability on some
servers. As a result, nobody played anything but GA (there were some
DD holdouts, but once you could turn in GA at a reasonable warp most
of those switched over).
You may think your new design will fit perfectly into Netrek. You're
probably wrong. Some examples from the past:
* mini-starbase. Like your normal SB, but less filling. You'd get a
couple on a team, or maybe just have them more often. Two of these
together, pressoring each other out of danger, would be damn near
invincible when guarding a repair planet. It's basically a Super
Planet Defender, like a BB on steroids, and it really wouldn't add
anything new to the game, since it's easier to ogg than an SB and
slower than a BB.
* fighters. SBs would launch these, perhaps they'd be
robot-controlled. Again, neat idea, but so what? They would either
have to occupy a player slot (reducing the number of other robots
you can have) or require modifications to both client and server
(which is a Bad Thing). Again, what do they add? Are they any
different from plasma torps with a high tracking setting? See the
Sturgeon changes, which implemented them as slow-moving tracking
torps, which SBs could fire instead of normal torps.
* floating fuel platform. Another pseudo-SB, which looks like an AS
but has fuel like an SB. Easy ogg target; what good is it if you
have to keep it sitting behind your home planet? One BB can off the
thing, so it's not even valuable as a distraction.
* ogger ship. Maybe it uncloaks fast (a la the old Calvin scheme), or
it does 200 points of damage when it explodes, or it has small
torps but a big phaser, or whatever. Anybody who thinks they need
this has never been ogged by somebody in a CA who knows what
they're doing. This would just make Ogging by Idiots that much
easier.
* super scout ship. Strip off most offensive weaponry, make it real
fast. What's the point? Try stopping a good SC player, and THEN see
if you really want to propose this.
* big fat starbase. This one has the actual size increased, making it
easier to hit, but is given better shields to compensate. So what's
the point...? It would involve changing a lot of code in the server
and client to special case the various options, plus new bitmaps
(for shield/cloak as well), etc, etc.
Many suggestions like these come from people trying to compensate for
inadequacies in the ships (sounds vaguely Freudian, doesn't it?) It
takes time and a lot of practice to become a really effective player;
even the lowly SC can be a marvelous dogfighting ship when it's flown
by a skilled player (with no lag).
The "paradise" server introduced a number of new ships, but it also
changed a LOT of other game features, and required a new client to
play. One was the "jump ship", which could carry 4 players and go warp
30, but had only 25 shields and 25 damage. (Paradise continues to be
refined, so I'm not going to try and describe their setup.)
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