Messages

1

XPiratez / Re: Negative scores on missions

« on: March 07, 2016, 04:28:16 pm »

Unfortunately, there are several mission types that can be flown by the Government that are indistinguishable from normal ones. They can sometimes fly Mineral Extraction, for example, which is impossible to figure out without a Hyperwave Decoder or landing at the wreck. After that it's just constant prayer that they don't retaliate.

Basically, don't shoot things down unless you need points to avoid getting shut down or you know who you're shooting. If you're playing it safe with your interceptions it should be easy to bug out if you happen across the Government.

2

XPiratez / Re: The slow grafix revamp

« on: February 07, 2016, 02:07:46 am »

Oh, wow. These are  beautiful.

3

XPiratez / Re: [MAIN] XPiratez - 0.97D - 29 Jan - High Times

« on: January 31, 2016, 04:42:37 am »

I was just browsing through the Bootypaedia for the nth time when I realized that, with a decent damage roll, the Fusion Torch could cut through a UFO's outer wall.

Why am I just now realizing this?

4

XPiratez / Re: XPiratez MMO - discussion thread

« on: January 30, 2016, 01:25:59 am »

I think the main problem with such a game would be the PVP aspects. The Geoscape could easily run in realtime, with an update every hour or so; research, manufacturing, transfers and such would all work easily enough. Perhaps finding UFOs could be abstracted a bit; you could send your craft out on a patrol with a fuel/hour cost, and depending on the radar you have installed you would get a list of UFOs that you detect in your airspace. Simple radars would only catch Runabouts, Cutters and such, while you would have to research and upgrade your radar to find larger craft. Once an aircraft is shot down/has landed, you can send your crew out to it. That would trigger a fight against AI opponents would could easily be resolved as in the main game.

The problem comes when you introduce the idea of PvP, mainly because getting both players together together to do a match in a timely manner would be very diffiult if they didn't know each other. One such solution would be to just have a play-by-mail setup where one player does their turn whenever they log on, and the turn is moved to the next player who does theirs when they get the chance. The problem would be that the Geoscape is still running, and it would be a bit strange if a skirmish between two player ships took longer than it did to finish week-long research topics. A solution would be to limit direct player interactions to things like trading and organized duels; perhaps the black market would have only bare-bones staples available, forcing players to purchase from other local players on the geoscape if they want more than rusty peashooters. There could be a lucrative slave market where valuable interrogation subjects can be purchased from a proxy if you can't (or don't feel like) finding them yourself, or you could spring for a shiny new plasma repeater to bring on an important mission.

I think the factions thing would work best with a sort of reputation meter like the one in World of Warcraft, just with a bit more complexity. Stopping pogroms would earn you respect from the Mutant Alliance and piss off the people you fought, whereas you could do the reverse by helping the factions do their thing by taking up low-level mercenary work like guarding landing sites or escorting VIPs. Pogroms could be another PvP opportunity, where players who choose to execute them run the risk of another player coming to stop them.

Of course, the whole thing is a pipe dream, but it's a lot of fun to think about.