Superweapons

[Mick666]

Yeah, i know, this idea has been shot down multiple times, but i thought id have a stab at trying to supply a balanced super weapon loadout for each tree.

 

Imperial:

Galaxy Gun.

Similar to the TEC Novalith. More powerful, however, but only one can be built. The damage is sufficient to kill any planet. Requires all tactical slots on a Terran planet. The pre-firing sequence is alerted on the map by about a minute. After effect is that it stops credits being earned at the planet and said planet from being recolonized.

Unable to move, only turn. No defensive weapons. Slow turning. Very long cooldown.

 

Yuuzhan Vong:

Yo'gand's Core.

Similar to the Vasari Loyalist's Titans planet sucker ability. Requires a ship to be built to transfer said cargo to the planet. Cargo ship is slow, bulky and lacks any offensive weapons. V. expensive. Activated by approaching an enemy planet, and activating ability. Countdown of about 2 minutes until the moon is plucked from the sky (cool if an effect could be made for it). Can't be stopped. Hence the requirement for the ship, and the weak ship. A small garrison could easily kill it.

The crashed moon cripples the planet, making it uncolonizeable for a long time (x3 of the Galaxy Gun.).

I was caught on which path to take next- so heres both.

1- A package of resources is delivered to the faction that used it. Req. that they have ships in orbit inside a window (about 5 frigates).

If they dont reach it in time, another faction in orbit (the most amount of ships) can get it. The attacking faction has an exclusive window to get it.

 

2- (alternatively) the crashed moon generates an additional 2-4 asteroids (more likely to be metal). Also, the terror effect means that if said planet is recolonized by another faction it suffers a weakness (opposite to cultural resistanve) to the attacking factions culture. If attacked again, the latest attack receives said bonus.

If the attacking faction recolonizes, the planet gets a major boost to its cultural resistance.

Nearby planets get the same thing, but in a far smaller amount.

Pick whichever seems the most balanced.

 

Republic;

Hammer.

Nothing extra-ordinary here. Massive battlestation- incapable of movement (potentially though if it is too weak in comparison)- of which only one can be constructed. Exceedingly expensive. Has the same upgrade style as a regular starbase- but comes equipped with 8 hangar slots, and massive amounts of weaponry. The planet where it is built is highlighted during construction. Doesn't take up tactical slots. Takes up three starbase slots however. Can manufacture Frigates, cruisers- and capital ships.

The balancing factors of this is simple- for being so large, it has a very slow repair rate. The shield mitigation is also low. It doesnt have a specific weakness for ranged weapons or numbers- but as a defensive weapon, of which only one can be made, i dont think it can be considered too OP. The range isnt great- cant cover more than a single phase lane effectively. No tractor beams that can be utilized on ships. Can draw in asteroids and fire them out from a cannon (this is canon) but the AM cost is so high its the entire reserves, and has a long charge up and cool down.

 

Tbh, that was one of like 2 Republic Superweapons on the wiki. Alternatively, you could include something more basic, like a massive trade station. No defences, but ridiculous credit making.

 

CIS:

Starkiller.

This destabilizes hyperspacing in ships.

In game, this translates to one facility- defenceless, cant move.

The effect can be one of two things:

A passive ability or an active ability: It has a 5-10% chance of destroying ships phase jumping in. 50% of ships will be sent off course to a planet within 2 phase jumps. The remainder will jump per-normal.

If it was passive, the values for destruction would be lowered.

If it was active, itd also supply phase jump detection directly to said planet.

And you couldn't construct it around a star.

 

New Republic:

Starlancer Project:

Only superweapon for them i could find.

Would be a small- very fragile- piece of equipment that can control several small enemy ships, or one large one.

Up to three can be built. All three are needed to control a Titan.

The structures can release a captive ship. When it is released, the damage of the ship is doubled- the enraged crew releasing they were tricked- and their shielding is increased (to stop them being released before death. Released ships are also immune to be controlled again for several minutes.

Destroying a Project, when all three are controlling a Titan, will return the Titan to your control.

The range is also moderate, so they are a very tactical weapon.

Only works within its own gravity well.

 

Couldnt find anything for the alliance.

Perhaps a giant Ion cannon? Stop anything in its track for a proportional amount of time. Like a structure version of the Malevolence cannon, except more powerful.

Again, only one can be built, cooldown is slow. Moderate AM cost. After the hammer, it has the best armour. Can take a few hits. Makes up for the lack of offensive power.

 

Hope these are balanced.

[Lavo]

We aren't going to put in superweapons.

[Mick666]

Any reason why not? They're useful in adding variety between races and ending late game stalemates.

[Lavo]

Because it would hurt gameplay, and canon wise, the various factions were never throwing around superweapons like in Sins; only the Empire and Sith truly fielded superweapons and truly used them. The CIS always got their stomped out before they could be used much.

[Ludo Kressh]

I was under the impression that the supercaps were the "superweapons" of the game.

 

Even if we wanted to, as well, most superweapons were planet-killers (IE: The Death Stars, Tarkin Superlaser, Galaxy Gun, Darksaber, etc.). Others, more feasible, were like factories (Star Forge). The rest were supercapitals, if they could be called "superweapons" (Eclipse I and II, Malevolence, Executor, Procurator, etc.).

 

The gameplay required for the planet-killers is currently impossible with the current game engine. Hard-coded, and unassailable.

[Mick666]

I was under the impression that the supercaps were the "superweapons" of the game.

 

Even if we wanted to, as well, most superweapons were planet-killers (IE: The Death Stars, Tarkin Superlaser, Galaxy Gun, Darksaber, etc.). Others, more feasible, were like factories (Star Forge). The rest were supercapitals, if they could be called "superweapons" (Eclipse I and II, Malevolence, Executor, Procurator, etc.).

 

The gameplay required for the planet-killers is currently impossible with the current game engine. Hard-coded, and unassailable.

Note that only two of the mentioned weapons were planet killers, and would have effects similar to a Novalith.

 

Because it would hurt gameplay, and canon wise, the various factions were never throwing around superweapons like in Sins; only the Empire and Sith truly fielded superweapons and truly used them. The CIS always got their stomped out before they could be used much.

They aren't throwing them around- most have just one- and to be fair, of the multitude of ships in this game, only a minority i have ever seen or heard of. Heck, it takes a fair bit of effort to find some on the wiki. The backbone of my fleets- the Bayonet last time i played- is a rather minor ship.

 

Canon isn't a great defence- its a great mod, trying to bring as much of SW into sins, but theres not a great deal of canon in it. I.e. most battles ive seen in SW were all cruisers and battleships, no frigates like we use.

If nothing else, you could include it as a seperate module in addition to the current ones, so players have that choice.

 

Not trying to be rude, just expressing an honest opinion.

[Ludo Kressh]

Canon is adequate. Yes, there are blank spots for imagination, but the canon argument is sufficient. SW's were expensive, impractical, and rare (generally speaking, over a 25,000 year period. Only the Imperials really had a fetish for them, perhaps even the CIS as well) If you go beyond the movies, frigates are present. The movies are not the complete picture of the SW universe. They are the core, and good summaries, but the books and other works elaborate in ways the movies could not.

 

Frigates were the most practical of ships, especially for use in outlying sectors and systems far from major refueling/maintenance yards for dedicated cruisers, battleships. The Empire could afford the several thousand ISDs because of the logistics of it placed directly into naval supremacy (lessons learned from the Clone Wars). Everyone else seemed to use the frigates as support ships in fleets. Real world logic applied to in-universe operations is not far-off, even if GL didn't sign-off officially on it. It's quite simply implied.

 

All the "planet-killers" I listed were designed for just that, or at the least for cracking the crust of a planet's surface. The DS's were the dedicated ones, yes, but the concept is not too far off.

 

Again, as nice as having the superweapons present would be, it would screw with balance and be a lot of work for little overall upgrade from the supercaps. If you want to try getting one in, you're welcome to try. Copy the Novalith coding, slap in a model, and see what happens.

 

And thanks for the post-script: if you didn't warn me, at least, I would've said something I might have regretted in the morning.

[Lavo]

We are also stretched very thin when it comes to manpower; I do the bulk of the coding and rigging nowadays and I simply do not wish to divert time towards this. That's on top of the fact that we lack the models/skins for most of these. You're welcome to put them in yourself however.

[Mick666]

And thanks for the post-script: if you didn't warn me, at least, I would've said something I might have regretted in the morning.

If you mean the 'just an honest opinion thing', then yeah, i just dont like wasting time skirting around it.

 

We are also stretched very thin when it comes to manpower; I do the bulk of the coding and rigging nowadays and I simply do not wish to divert time towards this. That's on top of the fact that we lack the models/skins for most of these. You're welcome to put them in yourself however.

Would they be included as an optional add on if i put enough work into them?

 

I might try with a few basics- see if i can model a Galaxy Gun- what program is used for modelling for these?

[Ludo Kressh]

If it works well enough, and we (or rather Lavo) can tweak it if necessary, it'd probably be included outright with the main build.

 

Personally, I'd recommend staying away from the Death Stars, simply because of scaling issues and inability t destroy planets ingame. The rest were huge guns, basically, designed to crack planetary shields or crusts, or give heck to capital ships, so they could work quite well ingame, unlike the Death Stars. The Galaxy Gun, or the Darksaber, would be a good start, IMO.

[Mick666]

Yeah, ill just add whats in the OP.

What program do you guys use for the modelling and coding?

I might be able to model them, and ill take a stab at coding..

[Lavo]

Notepad for coding, 3DS Max for model making (or so some modellers use), Softimage 7.5 (free software) for rigging.