Re: PBEM design thoughts wanted (again)

From: dkass@cco.caltech.edu (David Michael Kass)

Date: Sat, 07 Feb 1998 00:00:00 +0000

In article <19980206041800.XAA04417@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
EricSum <ericsum@aol.com> wrote:
>
>Okay,
>
>I mentioned in an earlier post that I was designing and programming a space
>opera type PBEM. After lengthy consideration and having read the posts that
>people placed here, I have decided to go with the format of everyone starting
>on the same homeworld, and branching out from there to do as they see fit.
>
>I am in the progress of programming the "mundane" commands such as moving from
>system to system, buying and selling, and orbitting and such, but will soon
>need to program the battle engine, and here is where I am looking for input.
>
>Currently, ships can have 3 types of weapons : Long Range Missile weapons,
>Short Range Missile weapons, and Beam weapons. As the game progresses, various
>'flavors' of these weapons can be bought or developed.
>In addition, ships may carry 3 basic types of fighters : Bombers,
>Interceptors, and Dual Role.

Make sure that the cost, size and effectiveness of the various weapons
match so that they are balanced.  You might also want to not allow
certain types of weapons to use some of the options (ie long range
missiles versus fighers).  Are you going to allow beam weapons (or
short range missiles) to shoot down missiles?  Why two types of
missiles and only one type of beam weapon?  How about kinetic weapons
(ie regular guns/mass drivers/sand throwers...)?

>Ships and weapons can be 'programmed' to behave differently. For instance, any
>bank of weapons can be set to one of the following options:
>Target smallest enemy ship
>Target largest enemy ship
>Target fighters
>Target only ships that fire on this ship
>Target only ships that fire at ship XXXX
>Random Targetting (default until player actually sets)
>
>Fighters, due to the chaotic nature of their flight, will follow preset rules:
>
>Interceptors will target enemy bomber fighters first, then dual role fighters,
>then other interceptors.
>Bombers will target a random enemy capital ship and attack it as a group.
>Dual Role fighters will randomly target, as a group, enemy fighters, bombers,
>or capital ships.

I'd suggest allowing two special missions for interceptors and dual
role fighters.  CAP (or some equivalent name since Combat "Air" Patrol
is a bit silly in space) only attack fighters within X of the launching
ship.  The other role is escort where the designated flight attacks
interceptors and dual role fighters close to (or even just attacking)
a bomber or dual role wing.

As is, dual role fighters are currently less useful in combat since
you don't know what they are going to target.  I'd also suggest having
flights/wings of fighters that operate as a group (ie having all of
your dual role fighters go after the ennemy's lone bomber is a waste...)

--
David Kass				Caltech Grad Student
E-Mail: dkass@cco.caltech.edu		Planetary Science
I wonder what circle of Hell is reserved for spammers...

References

PBEM design thoughts wanted (again)
ericsum@aol.com (EricSum)
Fri, 06 Feb 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

PBEM design thoughts wanted (again)
ericsum@aol.com (EricSum)
Fri, 06 Feb 1998 00:00:00 +0000