Topic: Plasma bolts - possible?

[FPF-DieHard]

For SFC2 CE . . . is it within your power to add plasma bolts to the game?

The lack of direct-fire plasma was huge, unbalancing, and caused more issues than most even realize.

[Strat]

No Promises. However.

Describe this weapon. What type of damage? How much damage? Effects on target? Graphically what would it look like?

[FPF-DieHard]

it was a direct fire options for plasma.  Did about half damage over that seeker version of the torpedo with accuracy that photons torps would laugh at.

[Strat]

Direct as in phaser? Or the x type disruptors?

Describe what they would look like.

Shoot me some numbers of damage, ranges, and percent to hit.

I have never heard of these before, which is why I ask so many questions.

I also need to know how they damage the ship. Is it like a photon or laser, in that it hits a facing shield, or like plasma that also have a mode to do damage to all shields?

[Nemesis]

This is a mixture of what I remember + an online SSD .  My memory says damage =1/2 of the standard plasma at that range, power requirements are the same.   Range and hit chances from the SSD.  I am miles from my SFB stuff if I can even find it so I can't check it right now.

Range           0-5   6-10    11-20    21-30
Hit Chance      1-4   1-3     1-2        1 

Standard power.  I don't recall if you can bolt a shotgun or enveloping.  Hope this helps.

[Strat]

Is this a weapon mode or weapon type?

[Nemesis]

Weapon mode.  Instead of firing the torpedo in its standard mode you detonate it in the tube and focus the burst on your target.  Standard torps up to the moment of firing.  You can get effective damage even when your opponent could have just outrun it if fired in standard mode. 

My group never used it so I'm no expert on it.

[TarMinyatur]

I once lobbied for Plasma Bolts...

Yet I think plasma bolts would diminish the flavor of SFC's plasma-chucking races. Perhaps if Plasma moved at speed 32 (instead of 36), bolts might be necessary to compete. But the greater issue regards regular combat in SFC...combat between all-too-common BCH's, CWL's, DWL's and other elite ships. If players usually flew ships with far less impressive power curves (e.g. Fed-CA, Klink-D6), plasma would truly show its strength in SFC.

In an environment that permits battle groups comprised of three K-AD5's or H-APA's...yeah...Plasma Bolts are beckoning...but are they truly needed? Hmm.

SFB's Enveloping/Shotgun Plasma torps would lose their extra energy if bolted. So a 100-pt Enveloping-R torp would be treated as a 50-pt warhead, which could do 25 points max, assuming it hit (66% accuracy up close, subject to ECM, Erratics).

I never bolted Plasma in SFB. It just wasn't a good return on the investment.

[Strat]

Philisophical discussion aside, adding an addition weapon 'mode' to any weapon is not possible without the ability to freely edit the sprites.q3 file.

Also, I think adding a new weapon 'type' of plasma bolt does not introduce the same balance as bringing in a new weapon 'mode'. You run into issues of more hardpoints, energy use of separate weapons, .. just they would be completely separate weapons, not different modes of the same one.. I hope you get what I'm trying to say.

That's like breaking up plas r,s,f into different hardpoints and weapons on each ship. That's not balanced.

[TarMinyatur]

I seem to remember MagnumMan coding Plasma Bolts for SFC 2.013ish. He implemented Control-Z to fire plasma in "bolt" mode. It required no new artwork. Taldren's people said "no." And that was that. Shrug.

[Javora]

I remember something about that as well.  Seems like Eric Bethke said no after the Plasma Bolts were added.  What I don't remember is if the code for that was commented out or flat out removed.  The only way to know is by looking and that might take too much time away from pressing issues at hand.  Even if it is there, we don't know how un/balanced it is.  This might be something to look at/for after the other issues are addressed.

Personally I'm just hoping that FireSoul adds a F-FFL+ to the ship list.   

[Age]

I thought it was more like the plasma torps that you see in SFC3.

[Strat]

While it is technically possible to adjust the game to store weapons info in an editable file, it is in reality a major change to the core programming of the game. Right now they are all 'hard coded' into the exe.

Right now there is not enough interest or demand to warrant me spending the next 500+ hours rewriting the way weapons mechanics are stored and read.

As for me making changes to existing weapons in the code manually, or creating new ones using existing code- that is easier. But still right now there is not enough interest or demand YET to warrant me spending the next +200 adding them in, testing, and balance testing them...

I ask to get a sense of where things are. It's good to have ideas, perhaps they can come true. But that's why I opened my initial response with "No Promises". I don't want to discourage goals and brainstorming, but even I have to admit that this all takes valuable time from RL for me.

I am really pushing just to get this release out to you as is. I'm really sorry I am limited as to what else I can do. If there is a great demand, I may add more weapons later.

[Tulwar]

I thought plasma bolts are good for when you're chewing on a web.  Then, there are no Tholians in SFC.  If I had a team of programmers writing my version of SFC from scratch, I wouldn't leave them out.  Well, maybe if I win the Powerball....   Three firing modes is enough for any weapon in this game.

[Nemesis]

I believe that they are also useful against high speed phaser boaters.  They can't just maintain a little distance and out run every shot. 

[KAT Chuut-Ritt]

A bit off topic but a bit on topic as well since we are talking weapons more. 

It would also be nice if it was possible to mix drone loads so some lights and some heavies could be carried.  Don't know if it is remotely possible but if it is it would be nice.

[Commander Maxillius]

Bolts would be real handy fighting X/phaser boats, and everything else that will run out an R-torp fired at range 10 down to less than 10 points.

Sure it's not a very good return on power investment, but it would make the difference between landing your shots and watching your big orange ball dwindle to a tiny orange ghost before it hits.

[Dizzy]

Would adding plasma bolts make us drop Plasma speed to 32? Or do the roms get their cake and eat it?

[FPF-DieHard]

Would adding plasma bolts make us drop Plasma speed to 32? Or do the roms get their cake and eat it?

That would probablu have to be done, play testing would determine what's needed.

[Dizzy]

It took a while, but I finally mastered the plasma ballet and other related romulan tactics. Changing the plasma speed to 32 while having bolts would completely rewrite romulan tactics. They wouldnt feel or play the same at all.