The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

I'm not sure if this has been a topic on this yet, but I wanted to know if there were any cool ideas for implementing new devices in the game and if so, what are they, what do they do, how do you get them and is it possible to code it?

I thought of a few fun gadgets

1. Animal Collector- (found in Zoq-Fot space, used to be for trapping Zebranky). Contains 10 collection pods, which can be placed on any non-gas planet. A number of bio credits will be generated after a certain time, the number of credits based on an algorithm including lightning, earthquakes and temp. Is it possible to code? I think so.

2. Precursor Dice- Found on a remote star system with no one near. Its action is simple. Roll the dice and pop out at a random set of coordinates. It costs 5 fuel to use. Possible to code? Probably trivial.

3.  VUX Viewscreen Filter- That one captain who insulted the VUX built it and left it near Vela. Go to a VUX system and use it. The VUX at that system will fall in love with you, possibly even enough to give you a fleet of ships. It will probably be a hard quest to get this item, maybe a race must tell you about it before you can see it. Possible to code? Not likely.

Zarla would very much like the #3 , I think  ;D
I don't think #2 is a good idea - the Spawner fills in this role already .
I really like the #1 , although it poses tiny issue of Melnorme's bridge colour . You can't gaher enough credits without cheating , and this way you could gather the needed amount .

In line with Zex's warp nullifier there could be warp-in nullifier , that would , it you are battling with the Vindicator , prevent another ships of battle groups from warping in after first battle . Don't know how hard it would be to implement .

I would love any artefact to be able to do a joe on Umgah's expence , don't have a clue what or how so far .

I don't see why #3 would be hard to code. There are already devices that you can use on a system (Caster for Ilwrath, TPet for Quan) that change behavior for that system. Then you just need to write up a separate dialog tree for the VUX and voila! -- friendly VUX. And giving ships to the captain is easy enough to do.

That's true. I was a bit vague on what I meant by "hard quest" before obtaining the device, but it could probably be just as easy to find as any other device if you're looking in the right place.  However, some additional things that would need to be done include working out the details of the shipyard after you acquire the VUX vessels, which may or may not be easy, I'm not really sure.

I believe that the shipyard code is pretty dynamic, basing my only fact on that in the debug executable you can buy any ship that's in the story mode.

The hard quest could be doable, simply have an infinite number of ships guard the device, and make it difficult to obtain what is needed to appease them, or distract them allowing you to land on the planet it's on and collect it.

Viewscreen filter? I'd rather just have the Utwig design an appropriate mask for you.

I like the first idea. And the Utwig mask to get the VUX to like you also sounds good, but I think that if it gives you ships it should add them directly to your fleet rather than creating an alliance.

And I'd also like a cloaking device for the flagship. It would cause ships to ignore you in systems and (possibly) in HyperSpace, but have no effect in combat (the explanation could be that the flagship is too big for the cloak to work at close range, or something).

I like the cloaking device idea.  And those ideas are intriguing.

Remember how the Kohr-Ah bombarded the Zoq-Fot-Pik homeworld?  Some sort of energy bolts?  I don't think that was F.R.I.E.D....  Maybe there's some sort of a bombardment device?  Maybe if that could be used by the Vindicator, if the Melnorme comply....

I personally think the most awesome mod would be a random Ur-Quan ship (out of the many fleets there are, one bubble) that is willing to be recruited.

Strange though it may seem, I don't think I would like that. It simply doesn't make sense for them to want to change sides. Also they're essentially insane.

On the other hand, if it was willing to be recruited due to the Talking Pet's influence, then maybe...

Maybe give it some plot, give us a chance to show them that they're wrong, etc.  But yeah, some Dynyarri influence would make it all the better.

I seem to recall that there was originally going to be a cloaking device, but TFB couldn't find a way that made it better than the Ilwrath cloak. It really wouldn't be so cool; what makes the Ilwrath cloak so fun is that one minute you can't be seen, and then all of a sudden you appear out of nowhere and fry your opponent. At least, in theory (in reality, it is all too easy to determine where the Avenger is). On the Vindicator, it would be pointless. It would be quite stupid and boring.

But my suggestion is quite different from the Ilwrath cloak. The Ilwrath cloak is a combat ability, but my idea was more of a stealth thing. You could sneak all around a star system without the ships ever seeing you (unless you attack one).

That would be boring.

Why?

You could travel in enemy territory without ever having to worry about running into a fight.

But only once you have the cloaking device, which (presumably) would be hard to find. It could even be deep within Ur-Quan space, meaning you need to risk encountering the Ur-Quan in order to find it at all.

And there are really three separate possibilities for the cloak. It could hide you only in a star system, or it could hide you only in HyperSpace, or it could hide you in both. I think perhaps the first would be best.

(Of course there's also the possibility of a cloak in combat, but I don't think I would like that as much. I don't like the Ilwrath's cloak because it's almost impossible to tell which direction I'm facing while using it.)

So essentially, it would be like a cheat code?

Um... let's go with "no"?

I'd like to see a cloaking device that would just work in hyperspace. Something that would keep me from getting swarmed by friendly ships over and over.

Maybe a temporary cloaking device that lasts until all enemy blips have disappeared (they all immediately lose you and go do something else when activated). Useful in UQ space if you get stuck in a loop of dudes.

This would be my use for it...

I don't worry about enemies, but I hate my time wasting friendlies.

Yeah, loops like that lost me a game once...

The cloak could have a significant drawback, like a fuel cost and a cooldown time... but we'd need to decide on behavior for the pursuers in the event you disappeared.

The idea of stealthing past fights seems almost unnessicary. The nature of the game actually seems to minimize such encouters anyway and I find that problematic as is. In detail...

Time is an important resource and this is one of the best aspects of the game, you can loose, you have to plan intelligently. However this means it is vital to get speed upgrades on the Vindicator and the Quasiportal ASAP. Since the upgraded Vindicator is faster than any enemy alien ship dodging fights in hyperspace or systems is rather trivial. In fact I more or less feel like the encounters aren't random but chosen by the player at their whim. Manuevering through a system full of dozens of enemy ships and not getting into a fight just requires a bit of patience and planning. All of this is of course contingent on the aliens behaving as if they have no tactical or strategic sense whatsoever as they move toward your current location in a massive horde and make no attempt to devise an interception course or maybe even create a net if enough fleets are availible.

So I'd say a stealth device only has merit if such a mod also makes the fleets behave inteligently.

So, attempting to surround you and such-like...

This should do it, it's a decent trade-off. Put a bit higher cost for activation and voila - it's not cheating anymore (but I still think it's a bit broken).

Another thing came to my mind concerning the "stealth approach": why have one cloak when you can have two? One of them would be used to hide you while navigating the starmap ("Hyperspace Shroud") while the other one would hide you while moving around in solar systems ("Cloaking Device"), with separate quests for obtaining each device. In addition the Vindicator could support only one of these devices so you would have to choose which one you want to use.

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Here's my 2 cents concerning the new devices in UQM:

1) Escort Bay - provides all necessary room on board for more spacecrafts for your fleet. It would allow you to take 2 more ships with you for your travels. This "device" (module to be precise) could be implemented multiple times in the same manner as other modules are used (takes one slot and each one gives you +2 to max number of ships in your escort).

I always wanted to have one of every ship types in the game, just for fun :)

2) Warp Interdictor - this device prevents all ships from running out of combat via defensive hyper-jump. So no more running away for you...and your opponent. Let me explain:

I always found somewhat boring the fact that enemy can't run away from you and will always act as a most fanatical kamikaze while in battle. I mean ether all races have a death wish or the Shofixti culture is the most influential in this region of the Galaxy :P

This is ok for some races like Ur-Quan (Submit or DIE!/ DIE or...DIE!), Slylandro (~mindless probe ships) or Mycon ("We are the Mycon. Resistance is futile") and the said Shofixti, but I mean not even the Spathi would attempt to flee when facing death in the form of your triple Hellbore Cannons (not to mention when it's ship vs ship combat)! Furthermore the game itself states that warp escape module is a quite common piece of tech and that it's available to almost all races...so it's kinda lame that all of the alien captains are serial suicidal maniacs on the loose :-\

So if this device is to be implemented, the cyborg AI should be also altered to make it a bit more "cowardly" (and realistic) and an option for warping-out should become available to him. When an enemy ship loses almost all crew units it would attempt to flee rather than to meet his premature demise (doesn't have to happen 100% of time but at least some 60-70%); it would also lower the income a bit I guess (more fleeing = less cash) but it's not like you're not swimming in RUs most of the time in the game.

3) Voidsphere - inspired by the Egg of Darkness from the Inkal comics, this is a toy for the dark siders; if you want to destroy some alien race that bugs you (or to do it just for fun), why to torment yourself with laying siege to their homeworld and facing wave after wave of enemies ready to fight till their last breath? When you could just turn-off their sun and let them die as their planets freeze in the infinite void of cosmos! 8)

So essentially this device destroys a star in a system in a matter of days. After that the race occupying the system can either flee to another colony or (more likely) die off, unable to counter a disaster of such proportions.
 
This "attack" should only affect the colonies in the system in which the Voidsphere was used. Also the sphere of influence should shrink (or even disappear) proportionally with the number of systems you "erase".

I'm just not sure should it have a limited number of uses or some ludicrous activation cost (~1000 Fuel?); also I'm not sure to which race exactly should go the credit for making such an horrible weapon (definitely one of the exterminated Milieu races, Yuli, Drall or Yuptar ). And of course an appropriate quest to get this item it is in order.


I guess that all these things are not so hard to code (IMO, but I'm not a programmer so... :P) and that they would be a nice add-on to already formidable gameplay this game has.



p.s.- I really like the ideas for the VUX screen and the friendly Ur-Quan (under the Dnyarri Pet influence of course), these changes would fit in great!