What about Star Wars Galaxies?

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2003-12-09 05:55pm

CmdrWilkens wrote:They seriously need to talk to the Battlefield 1942 guys about vehicles. i mean they have full up freakin battelships and aircraft carriers (with 4 and 5 seats respecitvely) operating online all the time. This is not to mention the APCs and tanks which are multi-person as well.

That takes huge amounts of bandwidth to accomplish. The 56kers would explode if they tried to implement those kind of vehicle physics. MMOs are designed to transmit as little as data as possible, so that both the servers can handle the huge amount of players and so dial-uppers can play, too.

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2003-12-09 08:02pm

Then in that case, perhaps something could still be managed as long as only one person is commanding each ship, which would mean only the highest-ranking Captains and officers get a chance at SDs, with every other Naval person regulated to frigates, corvettes, fighters, and the like. You wouldn't be able to command a PC ship crew, but you could still have a PC-commanded fleet.

You might be able to get away with also having non-cockpit ship interiors as long as they are separate from the cockpit/bridge and from the outside environment. Or perhaps stick them in separate gunnery sections and they can operate almost like separate craft. Afterall, if you're going to have 40-50 people going into space over Corellia, wouldn't it be a lighter load if there were only 10-20 ships swarming around intead of 40-50? Maybe i'm just missing some essentials of bandwidth.

But then that way, after a nice long battle, the ship Captains can go from their bridge to the docking bay, take a shuttle to the command ship, and have tea with the Fleet Commander. Good, joyous, rebel-crushing fun.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2003-12-09 09:28pm

Tribes managed multiperson vehicles by a few shortcuts... But frankly, I wouldn't want to take part in something which had SD's just as a big vehicle. Ideally, they should be modeled as their own locations; who wants to command an ISD which is just a place you sit in to move?!

How they'll handle it, I don't know. I'll be interested to see if they manage.

Meest · Post by **Meest** » 2003-12-10 05:17pm

I just don't think that kinda scale is planned, the game is more about your character than anything, the whole premise is not to make yourself a hero of the galactic war, but to be the average citizen and then some. Remember the game takes place in the old trilogy before Endor, so they can't have you change much of the outcome. Think that's their biggest mistake, the timeframe of the game.

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2003-12-10 08:19pm

SirNitram wrote:Tribes managed multiperson vehicles by a few shortcuts... But frankly, I wouldn't want to take part in something which had SD's just as a big vehicle. Ideally, they should be modeled as their own locations; who wants to command an ISD which is just a place you sit in to move?!

My personal guess (or at least the way I'd personlly try taclking it) would be to have internal locations, but they'd be totally disconnected from the outside. (much like buildings interiors are separate from the exterior city, unless SWG actually does keep players connected to both, which I imagine would be a waste of bandwidth).

It would only be when they take their spot on the bridge or the cockpit when they actually cut to an external view and take control of the ship (or their part of the ship). So with everything other than fighters, they would in fact be like two separate interiors and exteriors, where players can walk around and not get lagged by the outside battle, but can hop into a gunnery seat and get moved to a 3rd person view with some control overlays (1st person would be doable, like the XvT games, but I get the impression htey're using 3rd in SWG). I wouldn't bee surprised if something in this direction might be implemented.

Anyway, as for the whole 'changing outcome' thing, I don't see how commanding large capital ships does anything like that. There's a difference between having power and having influence, and that's the major reason they chose the balance of the late Imperial setting. Characters can get together and wreck all kinds of havok on various scales, even scales that are large in the scope of the planet or the massive battle, but as a whole it doesn't change the stability between the main forces.

One way to have powerful ships and their command positions would be to have a set number of military ships to serve on. For example, if the number of Star Destroyers in the 8-planet server is 24, and three of them get destroyed in battle over Talus, the Rebels may have one the battle, but over the next day or few hours those SDs are goint to be replaced with 3 new SDs, and their Captain's seats refilled. So much in the same way that ground battles or taking over cities has a sense of completetion a a relatively big scale without chaning the overall picture, having player-controlled cap ships can still be utilized without having massive 'wipe out the enemy fleet and take over the galaxy' accomplishments.

Unless they try to add in orbital bombardment capabilities, which I can't even imagine how that could not end up being unbalanced or a bandwidth hog.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2003-12-11 03:12pm

I'm considering dumping UO and moving to SWG, is it worth it? Also if i make the move whats the best server for a guy in the UK and what planet on that server?

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2003-12-11 03:22pm

well, I'm not sure if there are regional limits or disadvantages to servers, but if not, I'm looking into Scylla, mostly because of JediNeophyte's Imperial escapads. The more SD.net people in the galaxy, the better, i'd say.

Imagine having a SD.net-run city all to ourselves:

"All the little Wongs down in Wongville liked science, anal sex, and what not, but those pathetic asshat rebels... did not!"

Embracer Of Darkness · Post by **Embracer Of Darkness** » 2003-12-11 03:59pm

It got delivered last Friday and I've not stopped playing since. I can never make my mind up about my characters though, and I keep deleting them. I usually play on Eclipse and Chimaera Europe.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2003-12-11 05:31pm

Darth Utsanomiko wrote:well, I'm not sure if there are regional limits or disadvantages to servers, but if not, I'm looking into Scylla, mostly because of JediNeophyte's Imperial escapads. The more SD.net people in the galaxy, the better, i'd say.

Imagine having a SD.net-run city all to ourselves:

"All the little Wongs down in Wongville liked science, anal sex, and what not, but those pathetic asshat rebels... did not!"

From a thread in ASVS long ago...

NOW ENTERING **** (Scribbled in Crayon) SDNET TOWN.

POPULATION (Scribbled out, replaced with more crayon) NOT YOU FUCKTARD.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2003-12-11 06:03pm

Darth Utsanomiko wrote:well, I'm not sure if there are regional limits or disadvantages to servers, but if not, I'm looking into Scylla, mostly because of JediNeophyte's Imperial escapads. The more SD.net people in the galaxy, the better, i'd say.

There are two European servers, the rest are here. No limitation on what server you can play on, you can make a character on one of the European servers even.

For any n00bs interested in Scylla, /tell or email Rathnan - I can hook you up with shizzle if you need it (though that can take some fun out of the early game), and I'm also commander of a semi-roleplay Stormtrooper guild if you're interested.

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2003-12-14 07:02pm

Well, I had the opportunity to add to my Chrismas list, so I went ahead and added SWG. Scylla will most likely where I'll be playing, and I've had the idea of making some kind of rifle and sword-using commando (or whichever class has a variety of good combat skills), and possibly a few minor crafting skills. I'm also thinking of being a Wookie, just for the interesting notion of serving the Empire and hunting down rebels as a way to keep out of slavery. 'Rrraowr!'

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2003-12-14 08:55pm

Darth Utsanomiko wrote:Well, I had the opportunity to add to my Chrismas list, so I went ahead and added SWG. Scylla will most likely where I'll be playing, and I've had the idea of making some kind of rifle and sword-using commando (or whichever class has a variety of good combat skills), and possibly a few minor crafting skills. I'm also thinking of being a Wookie, just for the interesting notion of serving the Empire and hunting down rebels as a way to keep out of slavery. 'Rrraowr!'

Wookiees can't wear armor. Or speak anything except for Shyriiwook.

Not to mention the fact that any race other than human gets penalties with Imperial equipment and support...

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-12-14 09:03pm

Darth Utsanomiko wrote:Well, I had the opportunity to add to my Chrismas list, so I went ahead and added SWG. Scylla will most likely where I'll be playing, and I've had the idea of making some kind of rifle and sword-using commando (or whichever class has a variety of good combat skills), and possibly a few minor crafting skills. I'm also thinking of being a Wookie, just for the interesting notion of serving the Empire and hunting down rebels as a way to keep out of slavery. 'Rrraowr!'

Maybe it's just me, but with the growl at the end, you made it seem like the Wookie was gay.

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2003-12-14 09:43pm

JediNeophyte wrote: Wookiees can't wear armor. Or speak anything except for Shyriiwook.

Not to mention the fact that any race other than human gets penalties with Imperial equipment and support...

Knew about the first two, but penalties for using their equipment and support? Damn. Oh well, maybe I can manage with the Wookie anyway; just be a bit more a freelance Ipmerial sympathizer than a full-fledged Imp commando. I've got more than enough time to think it over.

And Neoolong: You wish.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2003-12-14 10:19pm

Darth Utsanomiko wrote:Knew about the first two, but penalties for using their equipment and support? Damn. Oh well, maybe I can manage with the Wookie anyway; just be a bit more a freelance Ipmerial sympathizer than a full-fledged Imp commando. I've got more than enough time to think it over.

For example, as it stands its near-impossible for non-humans to get ahold of AT-STs. My Zabrak friend recently got one after a huge amount of grinding, but then again Zabraks' penalties aren't as severe as the other aliens'. But AT-STs are getting messed around with in this week's patch, and its rumored their price is going way down, so ya never know.

Wookiees do have a lot of good bonuses though to make up for no armor and some specialized Wookiee-only gear is on the docket for the design team so I hear.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2003-12-22 08:42pm

This is related so i hope the mod doesn't mind me resurecting it.

I fiannly got Galaxies today, i've blinked and lost 12 hours of my life. Very much fun. I joined Chimera Europe and i'm a marksman in training, level 2 pistols. The major problem i'm having is lag in the city. I was told in Game that i'd be best off adding more RAM but i already have 512 and i think 1024 might be a bit excessive. Should i buy some more RAM?

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2003-12-22 09:44pm

Lord Pounder wrote:This is related so i hope the mod doesn't mind me resurecting it.

I fiannly got Galaxies today, i've blinked and lost 12 hours of my life. Very much fun. I joined Chimera Europe and i'm a marksman in training, level 2 pistols. The major problem i'm having is lag in the city. I was told in Game that i'd be best off adding more RAM but i already have 512 and i think 1024 might be a bit excessive. Should i buy some more RAM?

Definitely! I had 512MB too and got another 512 just last week. Gigantic performance increase, its insane. Before I had to turn the graphics down quite a bit, now I can turn on volumetric shadows and maximum flora and decor and still get >20 FPS in very busy cities like Theed (with all those settings off it used to be around 10 with 512MB).

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2003-12-22 10:54pm

*Wonders where he can get 512Mb RAM for under $80...*

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-12-22 11:09pm

Darth Utsanomiko wrote:*Wonders where he can get 512Mb RAM for under $80...*

Your brother's computer. (Zing!)

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2003-12-22 11:12pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:
Darth Utsanomiko wrote:*Wonders where he can get 512Mb RAM for under $80...*
Your brother's computer. (Zing!)

Hmm, no, he;s only got 256mb. Though I could possibly raid my old Dell 450MHz of its pair of 128mb sticks... Unless that wouldn't work.

mauldooku · Post by **mauldooku** » 2003-12-22 11:17pm

Are any SD.NET peeps playing as rebels? I'm not getting the game, but I still think it would be rather cool/fun/interesting when it comes to roleplaying purposes.

Can Imperial/rebel 'team up'? As in, if I'm an Imperial and my friend's a rebel, would I be obligated to shoot him (assuming he doesn't want to hurt me, either)? How about if they're declared rebel?

Edit: Spelling.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2003-12-22 11:24pm

Badme wrote:Are any SD.NET peeps playing as rebels? I'm not getting the game, but I still think it would be rather cool/fun/interesting when it comes to roleplaying purposes.

Can Imperial/rebel 'team up'? As in, if I'm an Imperial and my friend's a rebel, would I be obligated to shoot him (assuming he doesn't want to hurt me, either)? How about if they're declared rebel?

Edit: Spelling.

Yeah, declared Imperials and declared Rebels can group together. Obviously some arrangement will have to be worked out beforehand, as a red blip on your screen generally means fire at will to most players. I grouped with a Rebel once on Endor, where we really didn't want to bother fighting each other (we were out killing large shit in the middle of nowhere), as we both had skills useful to the group as a whole.

mauldooku · Post by **mauldooku** » 2003-12-22 11:41pm

Thanks. Oh, and another thing: If I'm covert Imperial/Rebel, what does that actually do? Other than being allowed into Imp/Reb installations, is there a chance I could be 'caught'?

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2003-12-22 11:50pm

Badme wrote:Thanks. Oh, and another thing: If I'm covert Imperial/Rebel, what does that actually do? Other than being allowed into Imp/Reb installations, is there a chance I could be 'caught'?

Yeah. Most people maintain covert scanners at their bases (as well as other places, like in front of shuttleports). Get too close for too long, and suddenly you won't be so covert any more, in fact, you'll probably be dead given the amount of NPC troops and turrets at bases.