Making "Critical Mass" more complex and chalenging

[EA6B]

Among the Critical Mass ships are designs such as "Factory Ships" which are supposed to build things such as missiles, engines and ships, "Comet Miners" which mine resorses, "frieghters" which transport materials, and so on. It would be neat if the Critical Mass gameboard could be like 100 times bigger, and we could ACTUALY USE factory ships to build our fighting ships during the game, frieghters to transport the materials, and so on - you know, like an empire building game.[/b][/u]

[Sean OConnor]

Yes, in a way that would be great. But, how many people would be happy to click "End Turn" 200 times before even meeting any enemy ships?

[Old Man Johnson]

Mmmm..."End Turn" button...but I think he is thinking about making it more like a RTS. That would be really cool, but also very very hard for Sean (who will have to program it!).

[Legacy]

A critical Mass RTS would kick so much ass...

On the other hand, I thought of something that may be more plausible. I think there should be a 5th race, a custom race that we can name and assign a certain default list of ships to so that people can download entire races, making it easier than importing things one ship at a time. Alternatively, I'd settle for a mass import that allows us to go to the open dialog and select multiple items.

[Quitch]

I don't see how the model as it stands could work as an RTS, it would be a completely different game.

[Legacy]

It'd require some interface overhauls. You'd basically produce ships and assign wing leaders. I think it'd be better as a turn based strategy game where you command the resources of a production starbase facility and directly command your wing leaders. I'm thinking a complex version of this game would be similar to the simulator Ender used to destroy the buggers in Ender's Game, except this would be 2d. Maybe even have a 8 player game with one base commander and then three wing commanders under him for head to head games.

[McLauren]

It would be really neat if the critical mass universe was integrated in a way that makes starbases and all other ships useful by an economy kind of thing where if you left one setor you go into another one. Some sectors may be barren and empty while others may have planets an starbases and stuff. Youd have to resupply and rearm at starbases and mining ships would have to actually mine comets, bring the stuff to the factories where they make the missiles, engines, and ships. Then the missiles and enginge will be loaded onto freighters and transported to starbases in neighboring sectors and stuff. I guess it would be like an RTS, but you start off as a fighter pilot. Then you move up into bigger ships, commanding a more powerful squad, and then multiple squads, then you retire from personal command and you move into sector command, where you command the traffic, resource, and defense affairs of a sector. Your first sector might be a fortified asteroid belt or something. Then you move up to commanding something like a sector base. Then you could get the home planet sector, and once you get command over that sector, you get to control the whole shebang, or whatever. Of course that is ALOT of stuff and it would be a completely different game. Ive always wanted an in-depth, high quality space game. I must be the only one because no one has made what im looking for yet.

[Old Man Johnson]

I want one too! But apparently this isn't the best place for an unbiased survey; this is a forum for a space game after all!

[TheKangaroo]

As you are talking about games you would like to see but never got I might as well take it more off topic. I'd like a space game played more or less like a First-Person-Shooter but instead of running around shooting everything you are the Captain of a capital ship and can run around your ship and issue orders to people and so on.

[Fenris]

Perhaps I shouldn't even mention the name, but I seem to recall that a certain "Battlecruiser 3000" intended to simulate the command of a starship.

Anacreon (Neurohack) and the Space Empires series (Malfador Machinations) come to mind if you want good larger-scale space warfare games. Anacreon can pose interesting challenges when fleets are huge but your worlds are running out of trillum for fuel, and the jump fleets' mobility makes it difficult to be too defensive and survive. The Space Empires series have more traditional elements (ship design, race advantages/disadvantages, big tech tree) and insane amounts of moddability at the cost of making it that much harder for the AI to cope.

Neither is very pretty, but if you're looking for a game that demands substantial planning and logistics, both will do.

[Legacy]

If anyone wants a fun space RTS, find a copy of The Outforce.

[Fenris]

Aye, it might be interesting to have a mission whose sole objective is to survive an onslaught until a relief force comes in.

If you want something -really- ugly,
1. Allow 'wormhole arrival' missions, where ships appear through the wormhole one at a time, and
2. Start a mission with a wormhole arrival where the enemy's already there. Well, it'd still probably be easier than destroying the Sa-Matra...

Or, you need to shut down the wormhole before too many enemy ships have come through, or before an enemy task force elsewhere on the map has arrived.


One might also do interesting things with collision damage and debris, and perhaps battling in a gravitational well (hellllooooo, Spacewar!), be it natural or artificial.

[Quorad]

Aye, it might be interesting to have a mission whose sole objective is to survive an onslaught until a relief force comes in.

If you want something -really- ugly,
1. Allow 'wormhole arrival' missions, where ships appear through the wormhole one at a time, and
2. Start a mission with a wormhole arrival where the enemy's already there. Well, it'd still probably be easier than destroying the Sa-Matra...

Or, you need to shut down the wormhole before too many enemy ships have come through, or before an enemy task force elsewhere on the map has arrived.


One might also do interesting things with collision damage and debris, and perhaps battling in a gravitational well (hellllooooo, Spacewar!), be it natural or artificial.

I agree totally.
Gravity well:) good game that is.
But a wormhole is cool.
And once you destroy th ewormhole they stop coming through.
I already suggested the onlsaught. I called it an arena or survival mode. Maybe a mission where it is a HUGE map and LOADS of stuff in it.
I HATE COLLISIONS!!!!!

[TheKangaroo]

Collisions really are not too much fun, making your way through the narrowest passages between Asteroids evading the enemy is fun on the other hand...