Resource OVerhaul

posted on November 10th, 2012, 12:41 am

I have been thinking for a long time. And I have thought of doing it in one of my own mods. But since I don't have the skills or the resources. I am willing to give the idea to you. This is very extensive. But I think if this is achieved it could actually make the game much more enjoyable and more complex as I think Star Trek should be. There will be some bringing back of old A2 material such as planets to do this. But I believe overall this could do much more good than harm to the FO community.

Part 1: Dilithium and other crystallized resources
First off is the Dilithium resource. I believe that we should bring back planets and colonization to make this happen however. We have moons that are rich in dilithium. However these would only hold so much (lets say for example, about 100,000). Having finite moons would of course mean that one would have to keep moving resource stations. And of course trying to control their economy better. This would also prevent games from going on forever where it would become spam wars with late game ships. The reason to bring back planets is so that they can be colonized. Planets can act as a steady supply for Supplies. But the amount coming in is not an amount that could be relied upon by heavy builders. (Say about 1 supply every 5 seconds; faster rates for planets with better atmospheres with the exception of Borg) But of course you can build on the planet a mining colony (which is costly upfront) that starts mining the planet for Dilithium (or other crystalline resources) or for Tritanium (or other metal resources). The choice has to be made on construction, and once built cannot be reconfigured. Construction of the mine will nullify the supply production and be giving a steady amount of the chosen resource. (This would be roughly 1.5 times as fast of an income as a fully operated moon) Planets of course have infinite amounts of the resource as they can be mined for many years without running out. (There was no mention of how long the Reman dilithium mines have existed, but it has been around longer than Shinzon's childhood which could be reasonably measured at least 10 years.)

Part 2: Research Particles
I was thinking of having at least 12 different varieties of particles that you can mine (and 3 that you can create). The mined particles for the most part come from either asteroids or nebulae. These particles would be used in the research part of the tech tree. Some particles would include Tachyon, Tetryon, Metreon, and other commonly referred particles. Particles that would be able to be created would include Graviton (Borg), Theleron (Romulan), and Omega Particles. This would take the place of Latinum in the base code replacing it with X amount of resources. Each particle collected has specific purposes for research. The Klingons could use Metreon particles to improve their weaponry or create special warheads. The Dominion would use Tetryon for the majority of their specialized weaponry. The Federation would use Tachyon particles to help them research advanced Sensor technology to improve detection of cloaked vessels or to improve sensor accuracy. The Borg would use Gravitons for their weapon research. All races would use the majority of the mine-able particles and whatever one race does not use at all or not a lot of could be given to an ally who has trouble finding those certain particles. This would make the research tree much more intricate and allow expansion of research having more resources to work with making it even more interesting for the player.

Part 3: Mining Rates
I believe that another thing that could be improved upon is the ability to upgrade mining rates. This could be exclusive to certain avatars or maybe even to a single race. In the beginning freighters are cheap but their mining rate is slow. The mining rate can be upgraded but would increase the price of new freighters. And there would be a supply cost that fluctuates depending on how many freighters are currently active (so that once the research is finished the freighters are automatically upgraded). This could take some coding and might be difficult. But I think its worth it.

posted on November 12th, 2012, 3:59 am

This sounds great.

Part 1: Dilithium and other crystallized resources

I'd like planets as resource points too. At least they'd have a use aside from map objects. However, the idea of moons running out of resources isn't good. If you cant grab a planet cuz the enemy uses Cubes vs your Sabers, your stuck with moons that will run out in minutes while your enemy is laughing as he deploys his Tactical Cubes.

Good for them, bad for you.

Part 2: Research Particles

This could be a problem, as if you don't collect enough before anyone else, (or they're collected by a horder) then your screwed when the enemy is able to use that Borg Tactical Cube while your stuck with Sabers.

Now if the partials regenerated...

Part 3: Mining Rates

This area is good too. My only problem is that, for my mod, I am trying to set high mining rates for my freighters, but the game refuses unless the value's modified in the resource files, meaning both sides get the boost.

If the code could be changed so freighters could mine at different rates, that would be sweet.

All in all, good ideas.