New weapon ideas

[jhb]

I'm liking the Captain Jameson game so far, and I would love to see some new weapons implemented. Here are a few ideas:

Railgun
This fires a projectile at extremely high speeds, and transfers some momentum to the object it hits. It could also cause the ship firing it to move as well (chronogears + forward railguns = alternative retrorockets), but not as much. It would cause little/no damage to bubble shields (projectiles could bounce off them), but would cause extra damage to girders and would even be able to damage blurst shields.

EMP
This would fire a projectile similar to the torpedo launcher, but when it hits a ship, it shuts down all propulsion/support/weapon modules in a small radius for a short amount of time. It wouldn't cause any direct damage, though.

Mines
Pretty simple; just make them missiles with severly reduced thrust, greater lifespan/HP, and short tracking distances.

Bombs
Basically giant missiles with slower forward/turning speeds, except it damages multiple modules when it hits.

Drone Bay
This would be a 3x3 module with a drone command module in the middle of it. You can attach modules to the drone only while it is docked in the bay. When you release the drone (by clicking on the drone module), it flies out and follows you around, automatically attacking the nearest enemy ship or the last ship you fired upon. Click the drone module again and it will try to dock in the bay (any part of the drone touching the bay would dock it). Once the drone command module is destroyed, it's gone forever; however, you can get/buy more at certain stations (probably repair or factory). Losing the bay while the drone is undocked could destory the drone, or cause it to become an enemy (though it would still attack other ships). It might also be possible to directly pilot drones.

I have zero experience with coding and making games, but I tried to suggest things that I thought wouldn't be too hard to make and wouldn't break the balance of the game (with the exception being the drone bay, of course). I just want to see a lot more cool modules added to Jameson, especially weapons (btw, the new shield looks awesome, Farbs!)

Criticisms and more ideas are welcome.

[scrander]

The Directional Shields should act as ramming spikes on the curved sides, i.e. pointy end = spike. Ramming something and doing damage to it would cause the shield to lose energy.

I've never encountered Torpedoes damaging blurst shields before, so maybe Torpedo Blurst Shields are cool too? whoops

Also someone mentioned a drill, and I second this. I think it should do less damage than the ramming spike in collisions as a trade-off.

[Vaconcovat]

A while ago I had the idea of an "Arc module". It's a cross between short-range and lock-on weapons. It shoots an arc of electricity for as long as the fire button is held, constantly damaging the closest and in-range enemy module. Increasing it's tier would increase range and DPS (Damage/second)

[amade]

I was just reminded of Freespace's 2 Anti-Capital Ship Beam Cannons:



I'm thinking that we could have something that shoots in a straight line like a normal laser, but instead of firing in bursts it should fire a continuous beam like in that gif. Activation would be similar to Sprint Boosters, you press spacebar and it fires for a few seconds before you have to recharge it. DPS should be slightly higher than lasers.

Of course, if you had a bank of chrono gears you'd essentially get a continuous beam of lasers which never deplete. Though an actual beam weapon would be lighter and would fit a small vessel without having to lug around heavy chrono gears. Imagine needlers running around with a beam weapon...

Would also be very cool if we can have also have a beam weapon that that swings around like the laser sprinkler!

[ggodeye]

I've posted it elsewhere, but I really like the drill concept. I think that the current CJ version favors building chronogeared behemoths, and powerful drills would lead to slim, agile and fun builds.

I'm a fan of jhb's emp idea in general. Being able to turn off enemy sprint boosters would help a lot with enemy command module sniping. The specifics of implementation are a different issue. Should it be a laser or missile? Should it effect just the mod it hits, or AoE effect?

[scrander]

Gamebreaking stuff:

Prismatic Torpedo Launchers, i.e. tri-shot Torpedo Launchers.

Trick Shot Torpedo Launchers, which are long-range and gradually accelerate to high speeds. Can be fired 1/10th of the rate of all normal lasers in a ship class.

An EMP Laser that disables the command module for two seconds. Does 5 J of damage and increases in very little increments per ship class. Laser projectiles are bluish-green. If the player's command module gets hit, the HUD disappears and it appears like you're dying, until the HUD boots up again. 5 J damage is universal to all modules. The EMP only works on the command module.

Type II EMP Laser(-splosion-thing) that does no damage but disables all modules (bar girders and blurst shields) in its blast radius for 2 seconds. Firing rate is 1/10th - 1/20th of laser firing rates. Small blast radius is constant.

[Farbs]

I've always wanted to try adding an EMP weapon. I might have a go at that a bit later.

Since the effects of each module are handled by its update() function, and the update() function walks the ship like a tree, I could just cut it off at an offline module. That means anything attached to the affected module, and anything attached to it an so on, would also stop functioning. Chrono Gears do a similar thing by modifying the time delta passed through these functions.

[Vaconcovat]

Oh yeah, that'd be cool. You "grey-out" a part of an enemy's ship for a small period of time, then when the effect wears off, it lights back up again like the stations do

[Darkond2100]

This feels like a really fresh idea (and I usually don't use the word 'fresh' or talk about how I feel) How about a weapon that makes enemy modules come off without becoming damaged in the process? It would deplete a separate point meter (rather than hit-points) for modules, and do no other damage.
This popped into my head while thinking about a tractor beam, but we kinda already have that. This would disassemble enemies without hurting them, so that you can use their modules for yourself!

-----------------------------------

But Capt. Wm. Chase made a brilliant idea on Farbs' blog, and I absolutely MUST repost here:
I had an interesting idea. I was thinking of a hitch module that would pivot like a trailer hitch. You could attach scrap modules to it and tow them like a trailer. Then detach at the hitch and they would hold together so you could continue the battle unhindered by the extra mass of it, afterwards reattaching and continuing on your way. Also, there could be trucker missions that you could take on for extra credits, from a scrap yard to a factory for example. Along the way pirates could try to hijack your cargo. What do y’all think?

To that I replied:
I LIKE Cptn Wm. Chase’s idea! A joint module! A chain of joint modules! with lasers at the end! Buahahaha! I could make a deadly jellyfish-like ship. Whichever direction I went, physics would push my laser-tentacles behind me so I can shoot whilst I flee! Love it! THIS is what I’d like to see in CJ
Oh course, my idea wouldn’t work out that well and would probably have a tendency to shoot itself to pieces if the chains were that long

[jhb]

A drill would be a great addition to the game, and could maybe even be used to mine asteroids! C'mon, a space game just HAS to have asteroid mining in it!

The arc module would be useful, especially if you don't have a very maneuverable ship. Perhaps it could even damage multiple modules at high tiers.

Beam weapons are also something that a space game virtually requires. It could be like the Void Ray in Starcraft 2, where the longer it fires the more damaging it becomes. It could add some visual appeal as well; the powered-up beam would have something like shock diamonds and lightning bolts branching off it like a wave motion gun.

I like the Trick Shot Torpedo Launcher idea, but I imagine it could be tricky (sorry for the pun) to use if its initial speed isn't high enough.

Farbs, I'm happy to hear that you are considering EMPs! The idea of it affecting all attached modules is a very unique take on the EMP concept.

Any way to detach enemy modules without having the destroy the command module would be awesome. Perhaps the drill could serve this purpose. If not the drill, maybe a special demagnetizer/degausser module that would need to be in constant contact or at least very close to the enemy module to detach it. (I assume that modules are attached via electromagnets, please correct me if I'm wrong). Vaconcovat's arc idea could be adapted here to make it a bit easier to use. It would take some time to detach an enemy module (2-3 seconds?), but EMP'ed modules would take less time to detach. The separate point meter could be energy, which would slowly regenerate over time.

I love the hitch idea. It would be very useful if you could manually pivot it, or at least lock/unlock its position, to avoid shooting yourself. It could also help with steering if you decided to put boosters on the hitch.

Edit: I just had another idea; the retrorocket launcher. This launches a Unibooster module that attaches to the first enemy module it touches. After attaching, it automatically fires so that it opposes the ship's intended movement (if the ship is trying to move forward, it will try to face forward and fire to slow it down). It would have a limited fuel supply (~10 seconds) and would self destruct when its fuel runs out, damaging the module it's attached to.

[Admiral Kirana]

Throwing out several ideas, including a new concept: Interceptors!
Mortar
A very strong gun, which does 4x the damage of a laser of similar level and fires half as fast, but it fires indirectly meaning it cannot hit enemies at point blank. (The projectile would grow larger and then smaller; when it is smaller it can do damage, when larger it passes over ships and does no damage)
Plasma Cannon
This gun fires a piercing ball of plasma, which can go through anything and everything, dealing damage as it goes. Additionally it moves slower and gets larger the farther it travels. However, it deals very little damage, 1/5 the damage of a laser per second, slowly decreasing as it gets larger, spreading the damage over a larger area but not doing as much per section.
Airburst Gun
An interceptor gun. It fires automatically and does 1/10 damage of a laser, but can shoot down missiles and torpedoes and fires twice as fast as the equivalent laser. Higher level missiles and torpedoes take more shots to destroy. (Red = 1, Orange = 2, Yellow = 3, and White = 4)
Point Rocket
A weak interceptor-style missile launcher that does half the damage of a normal laser, but instead of firing on sections it locks onto lasers to block them and prevent them from hitting. It fires at the same speed of a normal laser.
Decoy Cannon
An unconventional interceptor that fires off a dummy command module, distracting enemies for several seconds before dissipating.

[10tativ]

Jul 12, 2011 22:51:02 GMT 10 Admiral Kirana said:

Decoy Cannon
An unconventional interceptor that fires off a dummy command module, distracting enemies for several seconds before dissipating.

I love this!

[scrander]

BLURST BEAM LAUNCHER!!!: Laser that fires Blurst Shield-like projectiles at the enemy. Fires at half the rate of any normal laser in any class, has a short reach, moves slowly in a straight line, and does very little damage on contact with the enemy. Like Blurst Shields, though, the Blurst Beam can deflect normal laser fire, missiles, and torpedoes back at enemies. Recommended use: line up all your Blurst Beam launchers in a row and hold SPACE! Great for taking out those pesky high-class boot/jackers, I think!

Cog Drill: A reskin for the Drill, if any. Instead of pressing SPACE to fire, it is automatically powered up by how much thrust/booster power you are using. The more power, the faster it goes, and the more damage it does. Higher classes mean higher damage, HP, and size increase. [1 by 1] to [3 by 1]. Very lightweight, too. Supposed to be more powerful and rarer to find than the Drill and Ramming Spike are.

[Admiral Kirana]

Two more weapon ideas, each is the opposite of each other. One hits many enemies over a wide area, the other hits a single section of a ship with a precise shot.
Proximity Blaster
This does only 1/5 the damage of a normal laser, but hits an enormous area; everything in the area will be dealt the same amount of damage. However it needs some time to charge up before firing and thus only fires about 2/3 as fast as a normal laser.
Tachyon Gun
This fires at 1/10 the speed of a normal laser, but does 5x the damage and hits instantly. The projectile is very small so it can easily miss smaller ships.

[korvash]

Auto Laser: Deals 1/4 the damage a regular laser does per shot, but fires 4x faster. So basically a laser, with increased levels of awesome.

[evilc]

Stasis beam: Select module on enemy ship (like when targetting a missile) and hold fire. Impedes the movement of the targetted ship based upon the power of the stasis beam(s).

Tractor beam: same but pulls.

Repulsor beam: same but pushes.

Obviously stuff like this and EMP would probably also require some alternate fire methods to be possible.

And for my super-silly suggestion: THE WRECKING BALL
Basically a heavy ball at the end of a rope. Obeys laws of physics - ie pulls the ship around, spin can be built up by thrusting at the right time... If you ever played the classic "Thrust", you will know what I mean. I would say though that the rope should be flexible, so you can damage your own ship too. Could be an absolute scream - maybe a good option for early game when you don't have much to risk but everything to gain.

[Daniel Brauer]

One thing I'd like to see is Sprinklers made into weapons that can actually be used. Right now they're the most impotent and self-destructive weapon you can have.

What if Sprinklers tracked the nearest enemy command module, and fired directly at it? They would still have well less firepower than prismatics, and if an enemy was moving laterally then they would be missing their targets regularly. You might still have to play with range, power or firing rate in order to make them reasonable, but I think you could find a balance where Sprinkler Factories weren't the biggest disappointment in the game.

[Farbs]

I added sprinklers mostly to vary enemy ship designs, since they make it difficult to use the standard attack-from-the-side tactic that was the dominant strategy in Forever. They're really not meant for use as a primary weapon, which is why they aren't much good at it.

That said, I'm planning to experiment with a tighter sprinkler arc in 0.5 which should put them somewhere in the middle ground.

[sfsdfd]

Two rather simple ideas that I'd like to see:

1) A megalaser. VERY slow recharge (10 seconds?), VERY heavy, maybe even large (two modules wide?)... but does very large damage - huge damage to a single unit (taking down a Juliet-level shield in one hit?), and/or penetrating damage to more than one module (if it destroys the first module that it hits and has spare damage left over, it should keep going to the modules behind it). Could also make the laser travel faster than other lasers.

Would be really fun to pair with weaker lasers that could do follow-up damage after the megalaser takes down the main shield. Also.. would be really damn easy to implement. Don't even need new graphics (other than a simple visual modification of the standard laser module - maybe just a simple resizing!)

2) Laser targeting... sort of like a laser scope for a rifle. Just points forward and does no damage, but shows you where you're aiming. (My aim sucks. )

[Vaconcovat]

sfsdfd, your megalaser you've described seems to be an over-powered torpedo launcher.

Personally, what i'd like to see weapon/module wise is more misc. modules. I like the targeting idea, a small, faded beam of light that increases length with tier, but otherwise serves no other purpose. And, once again i'd like to mention the NAV module. Either a simple mini-map system or some sort of indicator of your not-so-immediate surroundings would be nice. I think we are pretty much set on weapon types, though.