Ideas for future CM! Post yours!

[Legacy]

I doubt it. Shouldn't be too hard to code. Just place a mini-turret on top of the craft and have it replicate the same X and Y coordinates as the player. I envisage rail guns, EMP missiles, and anti-missile flack being a much greater challenge. That would require a whole new script. Not to mention the whole issue of graphics and the capital needed to make such a melioration. We're talking about a need for a whole array of graphics.

And no, I don't think a turret mounted on a ship would incur any adverse changes in physical appearance. Seriously, I'm a huge fan of WWII airplanes. And let me tell you this, I don't think any of those turrets on that B-17 Flying Fortress make it at all "ugly". 13? M2 Browning .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns in twin turrets, including single dorsal, fore and aft beam positions (with optional extra nose armament fitted in glazed nose). Wanna play?

From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from the dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

[Old Man Johnson]

Right, guys, let's give it a test; see what you think of what I've got so far. It's a bit sloppy since I've not put much work into it yet, but here goes:

[Legacy]

Methinks your "Critical Mass Engine" is a gas V12...

Otherwise, methinks I see the potential for something amazing here.

[Old Man Johnson]

Heh heh, yeah, I was a bit lazy and don't know how to draw schematics, so I just used a stock photo : /

[Fighter_Ace]

OoooOOOooh! Love the storyline so far! Awesome intro! Awesome picture! Must agree with Legacy on the engine thing; however, it doesn't ruin the setting. I'm loving it already. Please tell me a story follows? I'm hooked!

[Old Man Johnson]

Err, I haven't really thought too much about it yet. I just felt like trying my hand at a battle sequence, lol. I'll think about doing some more with a story.

[Legacy]

Err, I haven't really thought too much about it yet. I just felt like trying my hand at a battle sequence, lol. I'll think about doing some more with a story.

If you ever want to bounce ideas around, or whatever, track me down somewhere.

[Fighter_Ace]

Oh, that's perfectly understandable, OMJ. I wasn't saying there had to be a story that followed. Although it would be kinda cool you have to admit. Maybe your pics could tie into Legacy's fan-fics or something somewhere. Duno. Then again, as they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words." Seriously, just look at that.... masterpiece! *still in awe*

[Legacy]

Radio Intercept module: Allows you to hear enemy comm chatter, possibly allowing you to triangulate the position of enemy ships if you have multiple ships equipped with this electronics warfare package.

[Nomadic]

Capitol Ship battles. I can just picture two gargantuan ships sliding past each other, each with loads of rotating turrets firing off at each other. All the while the smaller fighters flit between them, engaging in dogfights and strikes against the enemy ships turrets. You could even have things like docking bays where your ship could repair and restock. And destroying a docking bay makes the enemy unable to use it.

[jftsang]

My request: to have ships keep their damage when they finish the mission, and for money to be required to buy more missiles and to repair after a mission.

[Fighter_Ace]

My request: to have ships keep their damage when they finish the mission, and for money to be required to buy more missiles and to repair after a mission.

This is actually EXACTY how Sean had it in the early days of Critical Mass. (However, the only problem was you couldn't sell back the ships that you bought. This was extremely annoying.) Anyway, Sean completely redesigned the game and you no longer need to repair your ships.

I actually rather miss getting to have my own "class" of ships. I always--like ALWAYS-- flew with the Ravens. I really don't like having entire, unorganized armies of completely random ships, like it is now. It no longer feels "special." Currently, you can't even tell which ships are from which flipp'n group withought continually clicking on them! It's all over the place! I'm always thinking, "Is he with me? Or is he from an ally AI unit?" *click* *click* *click* *click*

It also dissappoints me the Rodent class no longer exists. Those guys were my worst enemies. Kinda like the insect team with the Hornet. You don't expect such firepower from such a little ship. Only difference is the Rodent team used Daycorns. *whew* Talk about sharp! Rodents made the BEST "Dangit! I can't get him off me!" ships....

[BlueSmirnoff]

I to prefered the original v 1.0 for gameplay, though lack of customised ships, and ability to sell off current ships was a glaring omission, but I found it more fun to have fights against lots of little ships and maybe 1 or 2 bigger ships, the poor little cheap, fast, manoeverable fighters now are obsolete after the 1st 2 missions now, they need to boost the price of the bigger and more advanced ships alot more, reduce the cost of smaller ships and allow bigger squadrons. Radar range is also a bit too extreme.

I'd love to see a long range anti radar missile, for targeting enemy scouts (locks onto the strongest radar emiter), chaff dispencer module, 1 use every 5 turns, but has a high chance of being targeted by missiles, but reveals your position to the other side as a big radar blip.

Mines and anti-missile missiles sound fun, but I think would change the gameplay loads, making it alot less fun, but maybe worth an experiment.

What I'd really love to see though was a campaign mode, where you fight over systems in a strategy game, capturing factory systems, resource gathering systems, etc, which in turn allow you to build ships, research better technology/ship designs, to aid your fight. when a conflict comes up you get one of the good old missions we all know, but this would give success or failure a meaning that we will feel, with Sean's previous strategy games, I'm surprised he's never gone for this, though it is alot of work I'm sure.

I have to say, the games are still great, which is amazing as I 1st played CM in 1996/7, CM and Slay I have never got bored of !

[Jonkenden]

well I like the idea of a radar missile or a mine, even some kind of machine gun for thoose "out of missile" moments. Fuel I feel is pushing it too far, thinking about it logically a fire fight would be over way before fuel is. Atleast when you have limited ammo and only missiles, also I'd hate running out of fuel and just float around unable to do anything but eject.

I'd rather see the fuel depo's just give your missiles a boost of fuel so they fly further.

I think there should be some kind of upgrades to the existing missiles as the one that are there feel sorta obsolete once you start running into the bigger stuff. Maybe the option to upgrade damage at the cost of speed or turning.

Maybe a weapon that you can use to place protection on or at a place. Like a small ball with nothing but shields that when fired at a target will hover around it and protect it from damage. When dropped at a spot it stays there and is a obstacle in general, could be nice in base defence.
Needs a limit, maybe max number of 3 of them, call them shield drones.

I like the idea of a multi missile, that would be fun. In the same mind I'd ask for a missile that shows up as a ship on the radar. Name it Decoy or something, it does at most 1 damage and has tons of fuel.

"edit"

That comic looks like it could be wicked sweet

[Conzul]

In my opinion, the easiest and most needed addon to the game would be an immobile mine. To make up for its immobility, the mine would have a larger collision box around it. The mine should be fired from a normal missile-tube and you could carry 3 or 4 of them right next to your inventory of other missiles. It could do around 7-8 megatons of damage. You know the way dogfights, after the initial head-on rush, sort of disintegrate into a turning contest. Having a mine to drop would change that dynamic. You would have to follow farther behind for fear of the opponent releasing one, and if you were a more cumbersome ship you could actually have a practical defense against the interceptors on your tail.