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SF RPG: Captain, heros, crew
The Game: A 3D isometric SF RPG
The Problem: I need ideas for captain and crew
The Details:
I''m planning to represent crew abstractly as skills / stats that enhance a spaceship. Looking for ideas on stats (or skills?), crew personality types, how advancement would work, and random events that could happen to a crew member.
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More Details?
I can''t show crew in detail yet, say like the Sims. But I can hint that they''re "onboard." One way to do this might be to have a subgame about hiring the right crew, and having them enhance (or not) your ship''s natural capabilities.
You meet potential crew at different ports. You can hire and fire them at will, or contract them for a lower rate for a guaranteed time. They can also leave, usually when morale is low.
There are two types of crew to hire: Senior Staff, and Regulars. Senior Staff have multiple skills, special talents, and personalities (ideas wanted here). Regulars have only one skill and no personality (they''re abstract).
How this works is pretty sketchy right now. I can see you advancing individual skills for Senior Staff, or upgrading the skill of the Regular crew as a whole. Or maybe I should treat the Regulars like crew member, with multiple skills? But then how to handle combat losses? *sigh*
Any help appreciated...
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Just waiting for the mothership...
Some thoughs again..
Crew personalities should probably involve bias towards (or against) other races, e.g. You weapons officer is more likely to "accidently" destroy a ship of a race (s)he hates.
For your standard crew members they will probably be able to work in a few areas. One way to handle them coud be to divide your regulars up into groups, i.e. Security, Weapons, Engineering, Medical, Communications, etc...
Sub-divide these groups into ranks, each rank provides so many "points" to the running of the ship... e.g. Junior security officers provied 1 point of "boarding" defence and 1 point of "boarding" attack, where as seniors provide 3 and 3.
I''m not 100% sure how to work the promotion in the regulars aspect of this yet.. and I''ll post as soon as I figure it out... But it will have something to do with how much "action"they see.
Each of your regulars provide "Points" in each of your ships "Skills". You can have as many of each as you like, however there is a maximum amount of possible points in any skill, (this skill represents the working efficency of your ship, maximum efficency happens when your "Skill Points" provided by the crew >= the maximum amount of "Skill Points" possible for that ship) A frigate for example requires less crew to run efficently than a Battleship does. Also there should be a finite amount of space for crew members aboard each type of ship. The more enhancements you get the less space there is.
As to Combat losses.. Amongst regulars, each group should a certain "mortality" rate (depending on the type of attack, e.g. during normal ship-ship combat Engineering/Weapons are probably more likely to get killed, but during boarding raids it your security ppl that are going to get it in the neck)
Random events could be things like..
* Personal berievement, this causes the crew member in question to perform his duties at 50% efficency for a time, or to go on planet leave...
* Marriage, which causes 2 crew mwmbers to go on planet leave for a short time, but when they get back they operate at 150% efficency (or something)
* Ship board accident, which either kills them, or puts them out of service for a while.
More ideas to come soon.. I hope
Crew personalities should probably involve bias towards (or against) other races, e.g. You weapons officer is more likely to "accidently" destroy a ship of a race (s)he hates.
For your standard crew members they will probably be able to work in a few areas. One way to handle them coud be to divide your regulars up into groups, i.e. Security, Weapons, Engineering, Medical, Communications, etc...
Sub-divide these groups into ranks, each rank provides so many "points" to the running of the ship... e.g. Junior security officers provied 1 point of "boarding" defence and 1 point of "boarding" attack, where as seniors provide 3 and 3.
I''m not 100% sure how to work the promotion in the regulars aspect of this yet.. and I''ll post as soon as I figure it out... But it will have something to do with how much "action"they see.
Each of your regulars provide "Points" in each of your ships "Skills". You can have as many of each as you like, however there is a maximum amount of possible points in any skill, (this skill represents the working efficency of your ship, maximum efficency happens when your "Skill Points" provided by the crew >= the maximum amount of "Skill Points" possible for that ship) A frigate for example requires less crew to run efficently than a Battleship does. Also there should be a finite amount of space for crew members aboard each type of ship. The more enhancements you get the less space there is.
As to Combat losses.. Amongst regulars, each group should a certain "mortality" rate (depending on the type of attack, e.g. during normal ship-ship combat Engineering/Weapons are probably more likely to get killed, but during boarding raids it your security ppl that are going to get it in the neck)
Random events could be things like..
* Personal berievement, this causes the crew member in question to perform his duties at 50% efficency for a time, or to go on planet leave...
* Marriage, which causes 2 crew mwmbers to go on planet leave for a short time, but when they get back they operate at 150% efficency (or something)
* Ship board accident, which either kills them, or puts them out of service for a while.
More ideas to come soon.. I hope
In relation to the marriage proposal. They work at increased efficiency until something happens to the partner at which point their efficiency is severely affected, more so than just general bereavement of a friend or colleague.
Also, consider the possibility of crew resigning due to stress or too much danger. Or maybe if the captains a real prick.
____________________________
You are more likely to be bitten by a shark than struck by lightning.
You are more likely to be infected by flesh-eating bacteria than bitten by a shark.
Lightning strikes the earth 6,000 time every minute.
Also, consider the possibility of crew resigning due to stress or too much danger. Or maybe if the captains a real prick.
____________________________
You are more likely to be bitten by a shark than struck by lightning.
You are more likely to be infected by flesh-eating bacteria than bitten by a shark.
Lightning strikes the earth 6,000 time every minute.
Ok, promotion system idea (1st attempt at explantion):
As already stated there are a number of crew members in each rank, each rank also has a promotion percentage, which is the chance that anyone will get promoted from that rank, and the number of crew members up for promotion (this will be an overaly percentage of the number of crew members of that rank). Both of these increase the more action that type of crew member see''s.
Promotions are only considered on a regular basis (i.e. once every n "turns") and only if the ship isnt currently engaged in any kind of combat.
If promotions are to happen for that rnak (i.e. a dice roll against the chance) then a random number (upto the max available) of crew members are promoted...
That simple..
As already stated there are a number of crew members in each rank, each rank also has a promotion percentage, which is the chance that anyone will get promoted from that rank, and the number of crew members up for promotion (this will be an overaly percentage of the number of crew members of that rank). Both of these increase the more action that type of crew member see''s.
Promotions are only considered on a regular basis (i.e. once every n "turns") and only if the ship isnt currently engaged in any kind of combat.
If promotions are to happen for that rnak (i.e. a dice roll against the chance) then a random number (upto the max available) of crew members are promoted...
That simple..
How big a crew are you talking about? 10 - 50 -1000?
Because if you have a small crew I would not differentiate between leaders(heroes) and normal crew members. Leaders just have better skills....
Let everyone have skills like
tech, weapons, diplomacy, strategy, leadership...
An ideal gunner would have high weapons stats, a good captain a high skill in diplomacy, leadership and strategy..
Also you could have "department heads" (lead engineer) whose leadership abilities affect their whole staff...
As for "sims" ideas like marrying and so on.. i´d be careful about that, because people will buy the sims if they want them...
The rest of them might want to do the space rpg only..
For big crews i wouldn´t even bother with skills for each individual, just let the department head have skills (if you have to hire 30 engineers, who will bother about their stats much?).
Personalities: yes, for the officers, but only in the most extreme cases: You wouldn´t have a chance of your weapons officer "accidentally" destroying anyone but rather something like a reluctance to fire upon freighters loaded with troops/civilans and such (maybe a stat for this? 0- will do everything you tell him, 10-will do only what he thinks is right). Then you might want to compromise hotheadedness for a good gunnery skill..
Because if you have a small crew I would not differentiate between leaders(heroes) and normal crew members. Leaders just have better skills....
Let everyone have skills like
tech, weapons, diplomacy, strategy, leadership...
An ideal gunner would have high weapons stats, a good captain a high skill in diplomacy, leadership and strategy..
Also you could have "department heads" (lead engineer) whose leadership abilities affect their whole staff...
As for "sims" ideas like marrying and so on.. i´d be careful about that, because people will buy the sims if they want them...
The rest of them might want to do the space rpg only..
For big crews i wouldn´t even bother with skills for each individual, just let the department head have skills (if you have to hire 30 engineers, who will bother about their stats much?).
Personalities: yes, for the officers, but only in the most extreme cases: You wouldn´t have a chance of your weapons officer "accidentally" destroying anyone but rather something like a reluctance to fire upon freighters loaded with troops/civilans and such (maybe a stat for this? 0- will do everything you tell him, 10-will do only what he thinks is right). Then you might want to compromise hotheadedness for a good gunnery skill..
What I ment by the "accidently" destroying someone (and I shoulda been more specific) was instead of disabling them, a little too much power to the weapon, or not hitting them in quite the right place...
Mariage, is more just a message the 2 ppl got married and all it does is bump your ships stats up a bit for a short period of time...
Edited by - NightWraith on December 11, 2000 9:03:50 AM
Mariage, is more just a message the 2 ppl got married and all it does is bump your ships stats up a bit for a short period of time...
Edited by - NightWraith on December 11, 2000 9:03:50 AM
In addition to giving them specialized skills, how about also giving them general skills. Skills like mathematics, engineering, human resource management, biology, etc. This way, if the doctor dies, perhaps someone with biology skills could fill in more effectively than say Mr. Engineer.
Avoid a purely stats based combat system with little or no player control at all costs.... you have to put some action into it, because the ai-controlled battles that I´ve seen so far always end in disaster for one side and are too predictable...
usually it´s
NumberofAttackers*Equipment Modifier*LeaderModifier*Morale against
NumberorDefenders*Equip*Leader*Morale
that way once the luck shifts to one side this one has usually won...
and also there are either no (overpowering force) or a large number of casualties... and it won´t do to have to hire a new security team each time you dock..
If you don´t want to make it isometric then how about displaying a schematic of the enemy ship (if you attack), and letting you battle through it section by section. (Turn based)
MAYBE LIKE THIS:
Green squares-controlled by you, red them.
If you attack them:
you can choose the number of attackers from the adjacent sections (attack from more sides gain you bonuses), choose how much force they should use ("please don´t break ANYTHING" (as you´d do in the reactor room) to "waste them no matter what, and if you have to blow the damn section into space").
after the attack round choose what to do next: move on, fortify this section, block a section, sabotage section, salvage cargo/equipment (and assigning a certain number of crew to guard duty, in case of counterattack)......
apart from various non-essential sections capturing key systems would have different effects:
Bridge: controls over weapons, maneuvering, internal security systems, environmental controls, bulkhead access..... captain dead/captured -> morale of defenders lowered.
Engineering: 2nd essential system next to Bridge, if you control both the ship is yours. Option to blow up the reactor core.
Environmental Controls: Change atmosphere/gravity throughout the ship (If you brought space suits -> hindrance in combat ,but once the atmosphere is gone the ship is yours...)
Security stations: gain easier access to near sections, disable security systems (sentry guns...)
And then there´s the question of how to enter a ship: Through the airlocks (heavily defended of course), or through a hangar door, maybe drill through the hull (takes longer),
The possibility of sending infitrators (sneaks in and opens the hangar doors for the personnell carrier).
If you have to defend yourself:
You can distribute your security people to different regions, place automated defences (force fields, sentry guns).
The defend orders include when to retreat, and to which section to fall back.
THis way you could try and delay the enemy troops while you cut off their way back, or mount a counterattack....
Defend options: To the last man (the bridge) - Withdraw at minimal losses - Withdraw causing maximum delay (a lot of damage to equipment, imagine plasma conduits being breached to make corridors impassable, doors welded shut.....)
You can make this as complex as you want, and it has the advantage that it works for very small ships as well (they just have 2 or 3 sections)....
usually it´s
NumberofAttackers*Equipment Modifier*LeaderModifier*Morale against
NumberorDefenders*Equip*Leader*Morale
that way once the luck shifts to one side this one has usually won...
and also there are either no (overpowering force) or a large number of casualties... and it won´t do to have to hire a new security team each time you dock..
If you don´t want to make it isometric then how about displaying a schematic of the enemy ship (if you attack), and letting you battle through it section by section. (Turn based)
MAYBE LIKE THIS:
Green squares-controlled by you, red them.
If you attack them:
you can choose the number of attackers from the adjacent sections (attack from more sides gain you bonuses), choose how much force they should use ("please don´t break ANYTHING" (as you´d do in the reactor room) to "waste them no matter what, and if you have to blow the damn section into space").
after the attack round choose what to do next: move on, fortify this section, block a section, sabotage section, salvage cargo/equipment (and assigning a certain number of crew to guard duty, in case of counterattack)......
apart from various non-essential sections capturing key systems would have different effects:
Bridge: controls over weapons, maneuvering, internal security systems, environmental controls, bulkhead access..... captain dead/captured -> morale of defenders lowered.
Engineering: 2nd essential system next to Bridge, if you control both the ship is yours. Option to blow up the reactor core.
Environmental Controls: Change atmosphere/gravity throughout the ship (If you brought space suits -> hindrance in combat ,but once the atmosphere is gone the ship is yours...)
Security stations: gain easier access to near sections, disable security systems (sentry guns...)
And then there´s the question of how to enter a ship: Through the airlocks (heavily defended of course), or through a hangar door, maybe drill through the hull (takes longer),
The possibility of sending infitrators (sneaks in and opens the hangar doors for the personnell carrier).
If you have to defend yourself:
You can distribute your security people to different regions, place automated defences (force fields, sentry guns).
The defend orders include when to retreat, and to which section to fall back.
THis way you could try and delay the enemy troops while you cut off their way back, or mount a counterattack....
Defend options: To the last man (the bridge) - Withdraw at minimal losses - Withdraw causing maximum delay (a lot of damage to equipment, imagine plasma conduits being breached to make corridors impassable, doors welded shut.....)
You can make this as complex as you want, and it has the advantage that it works for very small ships as well (they just have 2 or 3 sections)....
Wow! Great ideas, guys!
Let''s see if I can compact my reply...
The ship crew size is anywhere from 1 (you, in a shuttlepod) to a capital ship with 1000s of crew. But I''m NOT going to make you worry about 1000 crew!
As Hase was saying, a ship with a small crew (8 to 10) would be made up of individual characters. These correspond to stations (Engineering, Medical, etc.) For ships with 10+ you have Senior Staff / Department Heads and generic Regulars. This way, you can grow from a small ship to a capital ship and keep the same core crew.
Ok, combining the ideas here so far, here''s another try:
You''ve got a ship made up of a bunch of internal modules / compartments, like Bridge, Sickbay, and Engineering. Each has a crew requirement to run. Each is enhanced by a Department Head (hero).
As far as combat goes, would it be even work bothering with detail if you don''t see internal ship schematics? I''d like to do this eventually, even make it a level you build by buying modules and arranging cooridoors... but for abstract combat, what would work best?
I''m only right now planning on showing modules as a list. So it''s hard to make tactical choices when you don''t have a map.
I do like the idea, however, of more granular choice. Maybe you could target a module to invade, and the method to invading. If you''re attacked, maybe you can assign security forces as a flat resource (x points to module y). The more you get in detail, though, the more it seems you need a graphic representation of the combat area...???
--------------------
Just waiting for the mothership...
Let''s see if I can compact my reply...
The ship crew size is anywhere from 1 (you, in a shuttlepod) to a capital ship with 1000s of crew. But I''m NOT going to make you worry about 1000 crew!
As Hase was saying, a ship with a small crew (8 to 10) would be made up of individual characters. These correspond to stations (Engineering, Medical, etc.) For ships with 10+ you have Senior Staff / Department Heads and generic Regulars. This way, you can grow from a small ship to a capital ship and keep the same core crew.
Ok, combining the ideas here so far, here''s another try:
You''ve got a ship made up of a bunch of internal modules / compartments, like Bridge, Sickbay, and Engineering. Each has a crew requirement to run. Each is enhanced by a Department Head (hero).
As far as combat goes, would it be even work bothering with detail if you don''t see internal ship schematics? I''d like to do this eventually, even make it a level you build by buying modules and arranging cooridoors... but for abstract combat, what would work best?
I''m only right now planning on showing modules as a list. So it''s hard to make tactical choices when you don''t have a map.
I do like the idea, however, of more granular choice. Maybe you could target a module to invade, and the method to invading. If you''re attacked, maybe you can assign security forces as a flat resource (x points to module y). The more you get in detail, though, the more it seems you need a graphic representation of the combat area...???
--------------------
Just waiting for the mothership...
A map isn´t that hard to do.
You´d basically have a few bmps as backgrounds for the ships and then overlay that with color-coded shapes for the different sections (I wouldn´t go so far as to put actual individual corridors in there, because then a battle through a 1000-crew ship will take forever -> players are more likely to chose the ai-fight option...)
If you don´t have a graphical representation I´d let the player at least specify the objective of the boarding mission (capture, raid, sabotage...)
You´d basically have a few bmps as backgrounds for the ships and then overlay that with color-coded shapes for the different sections (I wouldn´t go so far as to put actual individual corridors in there, because then a battle through a 1000-crew ship will take forever -> players are more likely to chose the ai-fight option...)
If you don´t have a graphical representation I´d let the player at least specify the objective of the boarding mission (capture, raid, sabotage...)
This topic is closed to new replies.
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