Windows An idea for a space sim like no other ive ever seen

In short, Im thinking of a space sim that would resemble being a crew member of the Battlestar Galactica, rather than controling a Viper craft. In most space sims (that Ive played or have heard of, at least) you play as the pilot of a single manned spacecraft, usually some type of fighter craft, with at most, some wingmen to back you up.

I would like to see much larger craft, with crews of human players. Each ship would have several possitons to play. For example, there would be a pilot to control the ships flight, gunners to control the ships turrets, and a hangar with a couple smaller craft, fighters that are faster, and more manuverable. Switching positions would not just be a matter of pressing a button to switch views, but actually having to walk over to the other station through inside your ship. If the engines were destroyed or damage, one of the players would have to leave their station and go to the engine room to repair the damage. Ships, both large and fighters, would have limited ammo and repair materials, so materials would need to be collected, either at depots, where ships could dock to bring on new supplies (a process which players would actually have to carry the packages into the ship), by salvaging parts of destroyed ships, or by boarding enemy ships and stealing supplies.

With a little talent, i think this could easily be made into a mod for one of the next gen FPS (ut2k4 seems like it might be able to do it). Voice comm would be a must for this type of gameplay, as it would require lots of coordination.

What do you guys think? I tons of more ideas with a lot more details, but i dont want to make a huge post. If anyone has any ideas of their own to add, or maybe questions about my idea, let me know.

 

The only problem with such an idea would be getting enough players to man the ship. I think a lot of it should be done with bots. It does sound like a very cool idea.

But are you envisioning something where you simply have a battle between two ships, or something with a storyline?

L J

 

I was thinking about mostly a multiplayer battle, perhaps with different objectives. Single player could be done, but like you said would require some (intelligent) bots. Also ship could in theory be manned by 2 players, though id imagine it wouldnt be as fun. Most game engines are capable of handling many players on a server at once, so if each ship held a max of 8 crew members, then youd have 16 people on a server, i think thats pretty reasonable.

 

True but for a large capital ship, 8 crew is nowhere near enough. That is why I think there should be some bots to control the guns(or maybe just an auto aim setting) until you come in, or an auto-pilot for the ship that you can turn off/program.

Also getting servers that can support 16 people with out much lag can be hard, then you have to get 'em full.

L J

 

I think the best way this might work would be as a mod for something like UT2004, whereby as a pre-cursor to the FPS action, the teams had to fight some sort of boarding action. One ship defending whilst the other attempted to board, with critical points on both ships that could be defended and attacked from space, to provide various advantages or disadvantages later, or effect the goals in the FPS action. For instance destroy the reactor to neutralise the ships powersupply, giving the attackers fewer automated defenses to contend with. Or the defending team could destroy the attacking ships rear boarding bay, so they are forced to board the ship from a more difficult direction instead.

I think that would foster a good sense of team work as both sides would have something to aim for (har har). I think simply pitting two teams against each other in space ships would either end up with individuals ****ing about and spoiling it, or no one playing it.

 

most of the features you have described (with the exlcusion of the larger ships acting as hangers for smaller ships) have already been used in star wars: x-wing alliance, which is probably the best space sim i've ever played and just wish they'd make a sequal.

In multiplayer you can assign different players to different functions. I.e on the millenium falcon you would have one pilot and then assign a person to each turret

 

Or in X2 which altho wasn't multiplayer, had most of the features.

Perhaps a MMORPG with the above features is in production - who knows.