Ideas to add more immersion to the game

[Nomenluni]

I thought I would write up a post detailing what I think could be good additions to the game in order to increase the immersion factor.

I have been gaming since the 80’s and have played all sorts, but the games that always get me are the ones that really fire up your imagination, the ones the make you feel as though the game world is alive.

Here are some of my ideas/changes that I think would help increase immersion and maybe add some more realism.




Space/Navigation – small changes to make a big difference.

1 – first I would like to remove the ship engines stopping when you access the computer, sometimes I need to get info quickly but stopping dead in space is not what I want to be doing at that moment in time. My ship needs to keep moving unless I decide to stop the engines myself and I need to be able to keep controlling it at the same time.

2 – Move the ship computer screen to the front and allow the user to change opacity , this way I can quickly bring up info and keep moving whilst seeing where I am going.

3 – Speed info on targeted ships. When I click on a ship , without going to the ship computer, I want to immediately be able to see its speed , I also want to be able to hit a button that will match my engine speed to my current target’s.

4 – Scanning to see a ships cargo – I want to have to scan a ship to see it’s cargo, I don’t want this information to come up automatically , It seems too easy that we can look at any ship and see what it is carrying.

Enemies

1 – Need to be a lot tougher and need to work as a team , small fighters would be much more of a challenge when hunting in packs, they should be faster and they also need to use their missiles.

2 – Random enemy spawns outside of station areas. I would like to see the odd random enemy spawn in outer space areas, pirate groups loitering near highways, or small battle fleets preparing for an attack , mini skirmishes, anything to give us the impression there is life outside of station areas.

3 – I would like to see ‘named’ enemies , famous pirates or bounty hunters that have a reputation throughout the galaxy , they could be implemented into rare missions , or you could hear rumours about where they were last seen or crimes they have commited from npc's which could help you track them down.

They have a reputation for a reason , so should be very tough, have followers and have a big price on their head.

4 – Privateers – I would like to see other ‘Ren Otani’s’ , other privateers that are out there doing what we are doing, in upgraded ships with random cargo’s and good combat skills, not necessarily enemies.

5 – Random missions – In the future I would like to see some more interesting mini-story missions that could be offered to the player, let the community come up with some ideas and use the best , put them in as one-off random missions that can appear anywhere.


Long Range Scanning

I feel it is way too easy at the moment to go out in space not far from station complexes and find valuable cargo floating around , it is also unrealistic , why would it just be left there floating around?

Here is how I would like it to be.

‘Space junk’ is moved to scavenging areas (shipwrecks etc), these areas could be commonplace , but not too close to stations , they need to be further out in space.

These areas would be marked with signs that you would see as you zip past in a highway, you could then exit the highway and proceed to the area and start scavenging.

Seeing as all this precious junk is out there, it only makes sense that others should also be looking for it, therefore I would like the enemy ship spawns apply to these areas too, having to fight for my junk would make me feel like I earned it.

Whilst I am on the topic of loot, I would also like to remove all station loot completely from the game.

News feed , or Rumour network

There could be a news network that you could access in the lounges.

They could give you news on things happening, like pirate attacks on stations, or if named villains have been spotted and where and anything else worth knowing.

Would be a good reason to visit the lounges every now and then.

[Lord Morpheus]

I really like your ideas

[jeroll3d]

Who is real extension possible in sector or sistems?

1 - Well, no more sector's, but, regions and much major;

2 - Distance too, recalculate to AU, if possible. This is sugest more immersion.

[Zakuak]

Yes
Yes
YES
All of it...good stuff.

[ICO_hr]

OP send this in the form of email to Egosoft to start building it for the next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Btw long range scaning idea is AWESOME, i frakin love it.

Btw btw this scavenging thing can be the start of something great.What if some of these zones are controled by a faction(Space Junkies) with stations and ships that looks like something from the MadMax.These zones can be used for extra misions and tons of other stuff.Even this way the game will have something like social clases more or less and mores stuff in the space outside the cities.

[jeroll3d]

Other



Camera view with balance like X-Plane 10 and EVE, (short and smooth moviment involuntare - this is a secret to more immersion in space too)

[SEBA_DECEMBER]

Let the people in stations where you can dock be more "fitting there", related to place purpose, not random characters

When you see repair station (wrench icon) you should be able to find there an engineer and mechanic.

When you docking at small ship shipyard section you should be able to find a respective ship dealer i mean if there is a facility , someone should work there

Bars are more flexible in this matter . It should be places to eavesdrop rumors, to get important informations about discounts, commissions, well yielded asteroids, to meet those Privateers NPC Nomeluni mentioned in his post, or even to pickup a quest etc
But there has to be a Bartender behind the counter, not some Blackmarketer or other trader.


Sorry for my english, it is not my native language.

[Nomenluni]

Bars are more flexible in this matter . It should be places to eavesdrop rumors, to get important informations about discounts, commisions, well yielded asteroids, to meet those Privateers NPC Nomeluni mentioned in his post, or even to pickup a quest etc

I like that one.

"Hey, I heard there's a big old rock half way between smokestack and dormant bear, word is the Cartel have already found it though , better stock up on ammo if your thinking of heading out there".

[SEBA_DECEMBER]

It would be nice to join forces with some Privateers or hire one of them and go to reclaim this "big old rock", wouldn't it ?

[Iosyn]

A news feed you say? Something like... A bulletin board?

[Vim Razz]

Long Range Scanning

I feel it is way too easy at the moment to go out in space not far from station complexes and find valuable cargo floating around , it is also unrealistic , why would it just be left there floating around?

Here is how I would like it to be.

‘Space junk’ is moved to scavenging areas (shipwrecks etc), these areas could be commonplace , but not too close to stations , they need to be further out in space.

These areas would be marked with signs that you would see as you zip past in a highway, you could then exit the highway and proceed to the area and start scavenging.

Seeing as all this precious junk is out there, it only makes sense that others should also be looking for it, therefore I would like the enemy ship spawns apply to these areas too, having to fight for my junk would make me feel like I earned it.

Another approach to this idea might be to add a "salvage" type mission, where you "buy" the location of a wreck from the mission-giver then get guidance to where the salvage area is. Then it'd be up to you to find enough of the loot to justify the money you spent buying the location.

Stuff could be scattered pretty widely and still be plausible as salvage spread out by the explosion of a ship.

'Easy' salvage missions could then be set to spawn no enemies, while 'hard' or 'very hard' salvage missions could spawn waves of enemy ships to 'compete' with you using the MD script.


Does anyone happen to know how space junk is spawned, or what it's called in the scripts?

[KRM398]

How junk is spawned in game files no clue, in reality those enemies make it, so yes, good fresh (not picked over) salvage including missiles and weapons and shields if your quick enough, would be around enemy ships of different sizes so yes, I like salvaging in space. Also for more immersion and to give us old space jockeys something else to do for fun...mini-games in the bar...slots/poker maybe dice. Everyone likes getting a cold one and either sitting in on a game or playing one of those video poker machines from time to time. Make one in each station BIG maybe one whole corner, 6 feet wide with pictures of ships on it, and a recording teasing you to try and 'win the ship of a lifetime' and then show pics of different ships, and see who all will dump big bucks they got from salvaging and doing missions into this machine trying to win a free ship...(odds equal to winning the lottery)..lol.

[Anubitus]

Me likes your ideas..

[AndyCapobianco]

not sure if it was mentioned, the hitbox on the ship is the size of just the cockpit. it needs to be enlarged to something resembling the size of the whole ship. really kills immersion for me

[jeroll3d]

1 - No more superhightway

2 - external camera with balance smooth, (like EVE Online and X-Plane)

3 - increase distance inter-sector and inter station, (to minimal 1000KM)

4 - super boost.

[Daedalus29]

All your ideas are logical and sadly common to every space sim I played recently (for example Tachyon and the I-war serie).
I also wanted to open a topic to discuss about all the things egosoft missed from all the great space sim out for a decade, but I'll just put all this stuff here:

- Great idea from I-war 2: Jaf: Since you have no cargo hold in war-2, you could call your friend jaf to pick up the goods you reclaimed. He jumped a few second after the call and help you take all the bounty you tagged with his cargo ship.
Meanwhile you had to defend him from random events, or let him collect everything when you leave the zone.
> Have a sidekick like this with you who for example can collect the wrecks to extract some materials from them would be interesting.

- (I-war again) Random distress signal from outside of zone where you can jump and fight if you are quick to respond to the signal.

- Making the Rahana move slowly from one zone to another is just painful to watch and follow. Allow them to charge a jump and spawn a few mile next to the station and leave his last manoeuver like it is.

- One thing that I was sure to see but was greatly disappointed: A fully customizable ship, with more rooms as game goes on, and parts that serve a specific purpose and match your game style.

- No more boost but infinite speed and farspace exploration mission (like following beacons to a special plot mission).

- Missions in asteroids (descent-like)

- (immersion) Actually have to flight IN THE STATION and dock in them. Manualy or with autopilot. Watching

- Replace the docking plateform in larger ships with an actual bridge. Since the player spawn in them like in a new level, I think it would be easy just to replace the docking icon to target the bridge and spawn in a bridge with a view on the exterior.