Units

[Sirbomber]

Alright, I have a crazy idea, so live with it.  
Eden likes Terraforming and stuff, and Plymouth doesn't.
Eden could build a vehicle that produces oxygen and water vapor in the air. If they bring it to an Eden base, morale their morale goes up. If they bring it to a Plymouth base, their morale goes down. (because they don't want terraforming)
And Plymouth has something that gets rid of oxygen and water vapor. It boosts morale at plym bases and reduces morale at eden bases.
And maybe it can have even more effects than morale! Eden's thing can make tornadoes and storms worse, and Plymouth's can make volcanoes and earthquales worse! (I'm not exaclt sure how, but it would).
Then, Eden's could reduce the power of earthquakes and make lava dry up or spread slower, and plym's could make storms/tornadoes slower and disappear quickly!
Somehow I'm guessing this won't work too well though...

[Leviathan]

Yeah i would like to see a artillery unit. Not sure if its realy outpost style but o well. As well as being slow, expensive to build, slow to build and a slow fireing rate it should be not that acurate. Also it needs the option to fire at location/ground. And its turret should be slow moving so if a fast unit was moveing from side to side fast the artillery would never get in line with it.

[Freeza-CII]

Well I was thinking it wouldnt use a turret the gun would be fixed forward and aim by turning the vec this also helps with the auto attack the unit would have to turn to fire and the turn rate for the vec would be low because of the big ass gun

[Leviathan]

I think the idea of a biger con vec is good idea. in TA you have levels on con vecs. the level 1 units can build the basic level 1 structures. level 2 units can build the level 2 more advanced buildings. and they can build levels under them.

[TH300]

1.  A mobile anti emp missile.  Found only on the Tiger because the size of the missile required would kill a lynx and panther.  It only capable of firing at incoming missiles not other units.  Mostly a Eden unit its not really a weapon more of a anti weapon.  MAEM Tiger is the only name I can think of.

Yea, emp missiles are way too powerful in op2, although they are expensive.
Due to some undecided questions on the general unit design (will we make an editor that allows to build the unit from components) we should not talk about whether it will be mounted on a tiger or on whatever else, yet.

2.  A Artillery Unit some thing that has the same or less amount of armore as a lynx but is slower then a tiger.   Capable of firing at long ranges but in long intervals.  But I dont see a the normal attack units being capable of using this weapon so a new platform would need to be created specifically for the large adjustable cannon is uses.  Now its not like there would be emp sticky thors hammer variations of this unit.  Its simply fires a High Explosive shell in a Arching style to smite the enemy.  Puma Artillery Unit.

Yeah i would like to see a artillery unit. Not sure if its realy outpost style but o well. As well as being slow, expensive to build, slow to build and a slow fireing rate it should be not that acurate. Also it needs the option to fire at location/ground. And its turret should be slow moving so if a fast unit was moveing from side to side fast the artillery would never get in line with it.

Well I was thinking it wouldnt use a turret the gun would be fixed forward and aim by turning the vec this also helps with the auto attack the unit would have to turn to fire and the turn rate for the vec would be low because of the big ass gun

I personally don't want Artillery in Outpost3. Its not Outpost-style and it would also make gameplay too complex. No matter how hard it is to turn/move/etc. its still too powerful. Think of how it could destroy enemy-bases from far away. The only defense would be Artilleries in the own base, and how insane that can end, I have seen in C&C: Tiberian Sun

3.  An explosive aracnid unit.  Like a starflare but not as powerful.  Now its not really an aracnid but I see a crab because it would use its pincers to latch on to a unit then explode.  Crab Ready lol.

good idea. That'd make the Arachnid factory more useful. And since arachnids can't be emp'ed there would be a reason to use them instead of flares/novas.

4.  Newer version of the trusty Convec.  Perhaps to carry new buildings that will be created in OP3.  For these building will be big so a construction kit wouldnt beable to fit in a normal Convec.  However with increased cargo space you lose some of your ground speed and it would be bigger then a normal convec.  Not sure what it would be called though.

I think the idea of a biger con vec is good idea. in TA you have levels on con vecs. the level 1 units can build the basic level 1 structures. level 2 units can build the level 2 more advanced buildings. and they can build levels under them.

Sounds good. At the beginning of a game you'ld use the smaller convecs which are also cheaper and faster, but can do everything they need to do at this stage. Later in game you have to build an advanced Convec to construct buildings like a spaceport, but the normal Convec would still be of use because its faster.

5.  A plasma thrower unit.  Like a flame thrower only more deadly because its sperting out a part of the sun basicly.  But dont think of it as a constant stream of plasma.  It would fire more like a sticky.  I see this as a eden unit because it would take the tech of a bunch of crazed scientists to make such a thing work right. Plasma Lynx/Panther/Tiger

sounds also good. But is this technology in Outpost3 realistic? The technology to heat matter up enough is there, its the nuclear fusion. What do others think?

6.  A plymouth unit that uses X-rays instead of microwaves.  I cant remember if X-rays are more or less powerfull then microwaves but I do know I dont need to wear a lead vest when cooking ramen lol.  I see it as a more powerful weapon but slower then the microwave.  X-ray lynx/Panther/Tiger .  Dont any one say gamma rays because there are over used in games time to let the other rays shine.

now, WHAT are X-rays??

 

[Betaray]

x-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation that is much higher in frrequency and energy than microwaves

I dont think an x-ray wep would work though, becuase x-rays just eather bounce off or go through mettal, while the reasion microwaves work is because it causes an electrical induction in mettal, causing circuit shorts, and oxidizing the mettal decreasing its integraty, so sry on that department

on the otherhand, because im an engineer (you can probly tell from teh previsous paragraph) I would like a custimize unit section, simmiler to that battle bots game, where you can build your own robot

you would have weight, power, armor, suspention, wepion, track type, engine, sensor, and computer componets, and they would all balence logicly, (a bigger weppon would require a bigger powerplant, and that would weigh more wich would need a bigger suspension system, ya de ya de ya)

although pre-made templets would be good for those who dont enjoy designing their own units, or find that its too time consuming

[Freeza-CII]

Plasma is nothing more then super heated gas.  Right now in the real world we can make plasma in two ways.
1 coming off the space shuttle at reentry
2 in some lab that i can remember but it was on a show that was talking about magnets and such.  Plasma made from hydrogen i beleive.  And since you need magents to controll it good eden would have the best shot have Directional magnets and Electro magnetic pulsing.
I think it would be very op3 because investigation into the reentry through the thick atmosphere of "BOB".

The artillery unit if the numbers happens to be the problem then a limit could be put on them like you can only have 1 for every 10 units so if you wanted 10 you would need 100 units and since there is going to be a unit limit of 200 i think.  A person could only have 20 of them.  Or do a unit limit on the so that you can only have 10 at a time and you dont get any more till there isnt 10.  So if you have 9 you can build one more.  I dont think that C&C should ruin the artillery unit thing tho.  Remember those are old games and most old games didnt have very good limits on them.  If there slow and weak and have the name of a cat then I think it should be good.  Because what army doesnt have a long range bombardment tool?

X-rays are the radio wave they use to take pictures of peoples bones and other solid objects.  They can be very fatal to computer equipment and lifeforms.  X-rays are just below the power of gamma rays.  If they are powered up to the point of a coheriant beam like the microwave lynx then it would be nice and powerful.  But i see it using more power so it would fire slower but do more damage.
 

[Betaray]

well the units are unmanned, so thats not a problem, and the elecronics are hardened, so it would take, a hell of alot of power to damage them, and even than they have backups

just seems like more trouble than its worth

[Freeza-CII]

well if a weaker radio wave converted into a visible beam you can see can do damage then i would think that a stronger radio wave would do even more damage but yes the power requirement would be more but that is why the weapon has a slow recharge/reload.  Perhaps it would go along wish some kind of capasiter tech that would allow the weapon to work but it would only allow the X-ray weapon to fire.  If the capasiters were used on a microwave the weapon would be kaput.

[Hooman]

If you want to weaken artillery, make the ammo cost money, and they can only carry a few rounds at a time. That way you can't just pull up a big army and then hide some artillery behind them and pound away at their base. I don't like games where you can do something like that. If they can't overpower your army, they can't kill the artillery, and if they sit in their base and do nothing, they suffer a slow death. It makes base defenses useless. All they'd do is slow down the attack. If you want a form of bombardment like that, you either need to make sure it's really easy to kill, or it's rate of doing damage is so slow that the person being attacked can compensate for it in some way.

If they had to return to base to reload their ammo, it would significantly slow down their rate of damage. Or, if you decreased their attack range to some medium value, where they outrange other weapons but not by much, then you can't hide them behind an army. If they needed to be positioned at the front of the army to be within range, it would make them easier to kill. Especially if they were slow turning and moving since they wouldn't be able to run away. Instead, to protect them, you'd have to rush your units up, possibly within range of their defenses. And even then, you can't stop people from targetting your artillery, and then pulling back.

Also, I like the idea of some sort of delay for the first attack. Like how siege tanks in StarCraft need to deploy before they fire. That gives tanks in a defensive position an advantage, so if you're gonna attack with artillery against artillery, then the attacker either needs to seriously outnumber them, and expect the first few units to be slaughtered, or they need to provide support with other units, possibly strong defensively against artillery.

So yeah, basically artillery shouldn't be some sort of super weapon. Just a useful support.


And yeah, I think Lev is right. Artillery doesn't seem very Outpost style of a unit.

[Freeza-CII]

If the artillery unit has a limited shot this brings up the possiblity of a AMMO dump/depo to resupply them.  I see it working like the garage but resupply not repairing.  I would say 3 to 5 shots with a 35% successful hit and the splash damage would hurt like normal not much tho just a basic ring of influance where the damage is less then a direct hit.

[HaXtOr]

you could add different sized convects to build certain buildings. Small medium and large. small can only build small things like guarf posta residences and such medium command centers tokemaks and such. large for fatorys advanced lab and space ports

[Freeza-CII]

NEW IDEAS: APC that hauls around 6 spiders or 3 scorpians or 2 of those crab things I mentioned above.  Makes them much more effective if they can get to where you need them faster and in a group.  This APC wont have any weapon just some armore.  How ever if the APC is blown up the units inside only have a 30% possiblity of surviving with out damage. 70% possiblity of half or greater damage.

[CK9]

I remember reading somewhere before about capturing buildings as a new idea for an OP2 game (can't remember what thread it was...)
Anyway, imagine a vehicle that could capture ememy buildings that are completely isolated from tube connection.  It would cause more use of the lonely earthworker, which I hardly  ever see put in use in OP2 anymore, which is a shame as it is very helpful if you know how to use it properly.

[TH300]

you could add different sized convects to build certain buildings. Small medium and large. small can only build small things like guarf posta residences and such medium command centers tokemaks and such. large for fatorys advanced lab and space ports

Too many Convec types can make gameplay too complex. 3 is too much. 2 is probably ok. And if there is an 'advanced' Convec it should probably be able to load either one big SK or two small SKs.

NEW IDEAS: APC that hauls around 6 spiders or 3 scorpians or 2 of those crab things I mentioned above.  Makes them much more effective if they can get to where you need them faster and in a group.  This APC wont have any weapon just some armore.  How ever if the APC is blown up the units inside only have a 30% possiblity of surviving with out damage. 70% possiblity of half or greater damage.

I don't exactly know what an 'APC' is. All I got from your post is that it transports arachnid units. We are already planning on some sort of unit-transport. I doubt it'll be useful for arachnids though, because they are already fast, the transport would actually make them slower or at least not faster.

[Leviathan]

i cant see any need for a spider/scorp carrier. also APC is armored personal carrier.

it would be good if the artillery has to deploy first before it can attack, like in StarCraft and C&C tib sun.

as for ammo, if they could only carry a few on the unit and it cost for more to be produced (like scrabs in starcraft on the protoss reavers) there would most  likely be a ammo transport that could pick up shells at the ammo factory at base.

[leeor_net]

Yikes! There is a LOT of stuff to read here!

gamercd0, I'm assigning you the task of taking ALL of the posts in this thread thus far (and after this post) and organizing them into a Word document for easy reading.

Thanks everybody for all of the ideas. A lot of suggestions that were posted here (if not all of them) will probably be incorporated in one way or another (e.g. the Cargo Train. Easily my favorite idea above all the rest).

Betaray, I'll be looking at your robo/seed post pretty soon. I have some things to clear up and then I'll do the search for it (unless you would rather just e-mail it to me to make sure I don't forget).

As a side note, I want to make everyone aware that no ideas or suggestions go unnoticed and all will be considered and looked at by myself as well as the rest of the team. So thank you all...  (thumbsup)  

[Mez]

On the mobile CC thing. and hoomans line of sight microwaves.

  the CC is a computer control center that needs tube links.
 I think there should be a mini CC for mining bases that can sustain say 4 buildings but it can only be built if a full CC is operational.
 However if the main CC gets destroyed then it can still run the four buildings it has attached to it and possinly it could be upgraded to a full CC with rare metals or something at any time

[leeor_net]

Good thoughts, good thoughts.

I do like the idea of mobile CC's but I'm not 100% sure how to implement that... StarCraft had Teran CC's that could hover off the ground and could be moved that way (actually, a lot of their structures could do that) but that wouldn't work too well for Outpost 3. Maybe it could be something like a deconstructable building which could be easily packed up into a ConVec or something and then rebuilt here and there.

The limited nature of the Mobile CC is a definite must. Everything needs to be balanced in some way to make it fun and fair... Hmmm... I wonder which colony should be able to develop and build the Mobile CC's?

[BlackBox]

Well, how about a command vehicle that's only available in certain missions?

Or even, perhaps ditch the idea of the CC in a way for remote bases. Just replace it with 'radio towers' or something, to communicate with the main base, and the main base helps run it.

(Analogy: Is there a white house or pentagon connected by a 'pipe' to each and every government facility? Nope)

[Highlander]

Vehicles that can survive driving through Lava, and vehicles that can pass over hills!

[Freeza-CII]

A mobile CC if used would have to have some sort of temporay tubes.  Perhaps if the mobile CC could be deployed and have 4 set of tubes come out but it would only have enough power for 3 or 4 buildings depending on what you connect it to.  Also when it is deployed it should give damage to its self like a tokamak.  Say they use a simular power supply when deployed.   I could see a mobile CC used more so for a temporary mining outpost or in missions where you would have to move around alot to avoid lava and such.

As for vec that can go through lava i dont think so the material it would have to be made out of would make it invunrable to attacks.  How ever vecs that can go up mountains.  since this is a 3D game i think alot of the vec will beable the traverse the hills and mountian at a decreased speed because there going up hill lol.  But I dont see any vec going up a Cliff unless it were a aracnid unit.

[leeor_net]

Vehicles that can survive driving through Lava, and vehicles that can pass over hills!

The Lava bit would be tough. A Vehicle with an outer Titanium hull with a layer of heat-absorbing tiles (similar to that found on the shuttles of today) would make it feasible but there is another solution that has been proposed (I like the idea though!)

As far as hills, yeah. Vehicles will, for the most part, be able to traverse hills but will be able to do so at varying speeds and not every hill would be shallow enough to actually climb up it (even for a six-wheeled or treaded vehicle).

However, despite those hills and of course cliffs, again, there was a solution proposed that I believe we are going to go ahead with.

[Highlander]

As long as you have the Hull underneath a vehicle reinforced to withstand lava it should pretty much be ok.

Thor's Hammer is artificial lightning right ?
Lighting = 30k Degrees Celcius
Lava = 800 -3000 Degress Celcius (Or something along these lines..)

Just making the point that impact weapons such as RPG, Rail, ESG and so on, could perhaps not kill it, while Thor, Laser and Micro's will because they potentially can reach damaging heat level.

EMP's Would easily disable this vehicle aswell.
Acid Cloud would also be able to tear it down because it would wear away the protective armor.

[TH300]

Vehicles which can drive through lava would probably loose hitpoints gradually when on lava, because there is just no technology to keep out heat for ever.

However: this type of vehicle will likely not be necessary.