Corpses

I'll put this bluntly: the game needs better corpses.
I'm not really ok with the whole "spawn a few of this and a few of that" idea, I think orbital structures and capitol ships need to spawn debris that looks very close to the actual structure. a great example is the akkan and the gauss cannons, the akkan should go titanic and split down the middle and float derilect for a little while, the gauss cannon should have piece of it blown off but should remain otherwise largely intact.

if performance becomes an issue its as simple as letting the complex debris float derilect for a few seconds before making it explode into a set of smaller, "random" debris. but to have actual immitative persistant debris would be the best scenario.
6,603 views 40 replies
Reply #1 Top
Haegemonia: Legions of Iron had persistent debris of the actual ships for wreckage recyclers to recover for credits (Now theres a thought devs ). However as more ships were destroyed the lag got worse because all of the wrecks remained. So when The Solon Heritage was released they made the debris timed to last on screen for only a few minutes. Long enough for a recycler if any to recover it. This can be used as an example of what could be done. I wouldnt do this for every ship. Just the caps, and large structures.
Reply #2 Top
I remember when I first started playing Homeworld 2. The debris sometimes added up till the point the game started to lag.

The Homeworld 2 Warlords mod had tons of debris and slow down became an issue even more quickly. In fact, I ended up editing out all the debris in the ship files.

Since the SoaSE ships don't have moving turrets and stuff, this should be less of a problem for us. But the Developers need to be careful about putting too much debris in the game.
Reply #3 Top
it need not nescessarily be more, it just needs to be a little longer and with a lot more attention to detail.
Reply #4 Top
It shouldnt be that difficult to make a duplicate model of a ship, and "wreck" it. It has been done before in other games. It also shouldnt cause too much more of a performance hit. I think 1 minute for duration is plenty of time, or you can have the debris scatter away then explode themselves as schem suggested. Ether/Or is better than the burnt box's we have now.
Reply #5 Top
I'd rather have more debris , than specific types...
Reply #6 Top
im personally for a mix of debris and specific types. kind like the wrecks in freespace, let me youtube one or two videos. However I would like debris to be a factor in battles, nothing like having a piece of a battleship slam into a group of frigates. Yea, it sucks, but then maybe you shouldn't bunch up.

Freespace 2 intro
http://youtube.com/watch?v=khIWdolT9xY

What a true mega capital ship should be like.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DX6bzq3M4M4

Gameplay
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PpiwRrzpHQ0

More action oriented gameplay video
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-6VhyMzu12c

Epic Gameplay Video.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8HFEmGcJcWA

P.S. cutscenes aren't really that dark, it's all youtube's fault.

Also Freespace is now free, source code was released so torrenting the game is actually legal. here's a link to the current torrent complete with the updated source code project courtesy of the team working on it. it's got tons of cool gfx enhancements. Highly Recommended.

Also the Torrent here contains the Freespace 1 conversion to Freespace 2 so you can play both from the same game via the Freespace 1 conversion mod.

Torrent
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,38195.msg896412.html#msg896412

also somewhere I found a voice recognition mod that would allow you to give all the squadron commands via microphone, which was funny because the mic would hear the speakers and every time the game would say "ship" "wing" etc the comms channel went nuts. There is a way that they have rejuvenated the multiplayer, but i never messed with it.
Reply #7 Top
FYI, devs have stated that debris is on the "to do" list.
Reply #8 Top
Hmmm, debris as obstacles and collision risk sounds pretty cool. Still, a gravity well could quickly become unnavigable after a few big battles.
Reply #9 Top
Hmmm, debris as obstacles and collision risk sounds pretty cool. Still, a gravity well could quickly become unnavigable after a few big battles.


that's why they would be targetable, not perma-corpses, maybe even have the construction frigates salvage them for some resources. Waste an entire attacking fleet and use salvaged wrecks against them. !!! Salvage cap ships and use them against their owners. of course you wouldn't be able to lvl them or use any of their abilities, and they would be half as effective and half the health of their factory fresh counterparts.. but you could salvage and refit them in 1/4th the time to make another cap ship.
Reply #10 Top
FYI, devs have stated that debris is on the "to do" list.


Actually I think it's been said that it's already there, just not in the beta.
Reply #11 Top
I think the Devs should create just a dev-only thread where they place photos from their in-house versions.
Reply #12 Top

FYI, devs have stated that debris is on the "to do" list.


Actually I think it's been said that it's already there, just not in the beta.




Stoodid me.
Reply #13 Top
who did you?
Reply #14 Top
The will be a mix of debris types, including custom capital ship pieces designed directly from the original ships.
Reply #15 Top

who did you?


Stoopid, sorry.
Reply #16 Top

The will be a mix of debris types, including custom capital ship pieces designed directly from the original ships.


Now thats what im talking about
Reply #17 Top

The will be a mix of debris types, including custom capital ship pieces designed directly from the original ships.


I saw an option for custom capital ship debris, but never actually saw said debris... Can't wait!
Reply #18 Top
perfect
Reply #19 Top
Reply #20 Top
Would the debree be minable or no?

I remember that before the betas came out this was discussed in length and many agreed upon the fact that it should be mined.

It would also get rid of the lag factor not to mention keep resource in circulation.
Reply #21 Top

Would the debree be minable or no?

I remember that before the betas came out this was discussed in length and many agreed upon the fact that it should be mined.

It would also get rid of the lag factor not to mention keep resource in circulation.


I hope it is, and many the constructor ships could be given that purpose. As most of the time they just sit around doing nothing...
Reply #22 Top
or perhaps over time it could group together via gravity and form new, or enlarge existing, asteroids, moons, ect; adding some resources to what already exists there
Reply #23 Top

or perhaps over time it could group together via gravity and form new, or enlarge existing, asteroids, moons, ect; adding some resources to what already exists there


As I've experimented, it seems that debris actually moves apart over time... Then again I've only watched it for a minute or two...
Reply #24 Top
If you wanted to be realistic you could also make the debris orbit the planet in a ring

Also, if you made it so that the debris could hurt ships if they moved into them,
1. wouldnt it be annoying if your ships were moving through a system
2. Would that make the option of minelaying accessible?
Reply #25 Top
If you wanted to be realistic you could also make the debris orbit the planet in a ring


this is what is actually supposed to happen if a large object were destroyed, one thing that would be interesting to see is the incorporation of wormholes and black holes