New hoverbike, vehicle mechanics, AND new vehicles (including MECHS).

Discussion in 'Vehicles and Mounts' started by STCW262, Dec 28, 2015.

  1. STCW262

    STCW262 Heliosphere

    Right now, hoverbikes are really impractical, as they don't work properly on anything but smooth terrain (Which is usually player-made)
    The issue is that they cling too much into the terrain. Another issue is being unable to fight in them.

    Now, for the actual suggestions:
    New hoverbike mechanics: Rather than the current behavior, they now would use the UP (W) and DOWN (S) keys in order to change their altitude, and, instead of hovering at a fixed distance over the ground, they are now able to hover up to 16 blocks over the ground, meaning that they are now able to fluidly move in somewhat uneven terrain.
    Rather than changing altitude upon hovering over higher ground, they now keep their altitude unless doing so would get them 16 blocks over solid/liquid blocks. This also means that they can't jump any longer, as the new mechanics would render that ability obsolete.​

    New vehicle mechanics:
    Weapon slots: Most vehicles now have slots in them. They're used to switch their weapons from a pre-made Pool of generic weapons.
    -Weapon slots are divided by several kinds of slots, and each slot can have one out of several weapon options. Each slot has 600 Energy, and empty slots will cause their energy to be distributed among the other slots. The weapons are free and only have to be swapped without having to find or buy them, but Weapon Modifiers can be placed in each Modifier Slot (In the HUD, They are right next to Weapon Slots and the texture shows them linked, with one Weapon Modifier Slot per Weapon Slot).
    -Primary Weapon Slots: They mostly come with machine gun-like weapons. They are fired with the Left Mouse Button:
    Dual Machine Gun: Has a low DPH (Damage per Hit), EPS (Energy Per Shot) and moderate DPS (Damage Per Shot). They perform badly against other vehicles, specially if they're heavily armored, such as Tanks; but they are very effective against normal Creatures and against fast targets, since their fire rate is really fast, often doubling normal Assault Rifles.
    Autocannon: Has a moderate DPH, EPS and high DPS, but their fire rate is similar to the average Assault Rifle (About 5-6 Shots per second), which means that they are effective against most vehicles unless they are very heavily-armored, and perform poorly against groups of creatures or NPCs because they don't shoot fast enough to hit all of them.
    Heavy Cannon: They deal a high DPH and have a high EPS, but their DPS is rather low and their fire rate is very slow. They cause strong explosions, and are basically the vehicle equivalent of a Sniper Rifle.
    -Secondary Weapon Slots: They are more specialized, and usually involve weapons which use up 600 Energy. They're fired with the RMB:
    Rocket Barrager: They shoot a cluster of small rockets similarily to the Rocket Barrage secondary attack.
    Siege Gun: Deals a ton of damage in a single shot, and heavily damages blocks. Can also pierce through blocks up to 4 blocks deep, which means that thin walls are useless against it.
    Energy Destroyer: It fires a harmless laser while travelling through it's whole firing angle. Upon hitting a block, said block begins to glow with the same color as the laser. After 0.5 seconds, the block will emit a "wave" of energy that deals a lot of damage, coupled with a loud sound.
    The wave reaches an height of up to 6 blocks, which, if several lasers hit the same block at the same time, will stack in duration. If 2 Secondary Weapon Slots with the same firing arc have this weapon, they'll shoot from each extreme of the angle, meeting at the middle and moving where the other slot started. If there's more than 2, each slot will begin the sweeping motion at a fraction of the original angle, dividing it in equal sectors, so the starting angle for each gun would be:
    Firing Arc/(Number of slots-2)
    Cluster Rocket Launcher: It fires a rocket that splits in 3 rockets, each separated by an angle of 15 degrees. (If you need a reference, think of the Micro-Rocket Launcher from Frackin' Universe)
    Minigun: Simply put, it fires a long burst of bullets in the mouse's general direction. Due to it's high fire rate and decent DPH, it can deal a lot of damage per second, but it will shoot until it runs out of energy.
    Artillery Plasma Launcher: It is an indirect-fire weapon. Upon clicking at the target, it will fire into the sky and directly drop down towards the target once it is directly on top of it.
    -Special Weapon Slots: They are normally fired with SHIFT, and only appear on a few vehicles. Unlike other weapon slots, their weapon choices depend on the specific vehicle.

    Modifiers: They are divided according to the weapon slot, and are randomly-generated. Unlike the weapons themselves, Modifiers must be found or bought.
    The most basic ones only change their stats, but higher-rarity ones can easily modify their behaviors by adding sub-projectiles, adding elemental effects, etc... Secondary Weapon Slot Modifiers can also modify the strength of their weapons' special effects, such as making Exponential Rockets split more times, make the Artillery Gun pierce through more blocks, or make the Laser Destroyer's beam wave rise more blocks.
    It is also possible to find "Conversion Modifiers", which completely DO affect specific weapons, such as turning Autocannons into shotgun-like weapons, making the Cluster Rocket Launcher's shots fire in a fractal fashion, cause the Artillery Plasma Launcher's plasma blasts to teleport directly into the target (With a crosshair warning, that is), etc...​
    Special abilities: Some vehicles, unless noted otherwise, have an special ability. It is activated by pressing SPACE.

    Paintjobs: Now it is possible to apply paintjobs to vehicles. The paintjobs are obtained by either buying them from NPCs or finding them in chests, but they can be applied an infinite amount of times after finding them.

    New NPC Functions: The small robot next to the Shipyard Captain in the Outpost is now also used to customize vehicles. Now it has 2 buttons in it's GUI, one of which is used to apply a paintjob to the vehicle, and the other button brings up a GUI which is used to switch the weapons used by the vehicles.

    Vehicle unlocking: Vehicles have to be unlocked now, rather than having all of them available from the start. They are unlocked by doing quests for Penguin Pete (Formerly known as the Shipyard Captain), which tend to be similar to the Penguin missions. The quests unlock specific vehicles, and after completing them, more quests will be unlocked (For example, completing the quest for the Combat Hoverbike will unlock the quests for the other two kinds of Hoverbike). Each individual quest involves using the vehicle unlocked by said quest, doubling as a tutorial for them (For example, the Fighter Jet's unlocking quest could involve participating in an air race).

    Turrets: turrets require additional crewmen to operate. They usually work by themselves but it is possible to override their controls. Both the Ship Crew NPCs and other players can serve as said additional gunners.​
    New vehicles:
    Apart from hoverbikes and boats, there are now several new vehicles:​
    Ground Vehicles.

    Hoverbikes:
    As there are now paintjobs, there are now 3 types of hoverbikes, which, by default, have the current colors:
    Attack Hoverbike: Replaces the Green Hoverbike. Is the slowest hoverbike (Slightly slower than the current hoverbikes, but faster than walking on foot), but has 3 Primary weapon slots: 1 in the middle of the vehicle, and 2 at each exterme of the vehicle. All of them have a 360-degree rotation range.
    Recon Hoverbike: Replaces the Red Hoverbike. Has only one Primary weapon slot (Placed in the middle of the vehicle), but is 50% faster than current hoverbikes.
    Combat Hoverbike: Replaces the Khaki Hoverbike. Is as fast as the current hoverbikes, and has 2 Primary weapon slots: One at each end of the vehicle.
    Tanks: Tanks tend to be comparable to the player on foot in terms of speed, and can't jump, but can move uphill at up to 3 blocks, meaning that they have struggle with very steep terrain, but normal terrain usually doesn't stop them, except or surface caves.
    Unlike hoverbikes, tanks mostly excel at providing protection and having the most weapon slots out of all the vehicles. In all cases, the weapon slots' firing angles vary according to their position: They always have a 30-degree blind spot upwards and downwards, except for the frontal chassis guns, which have a 60-degree firing angle.
    Special abilities:
    SPACE: Allows the player to get in and out of the tank's turret. While in the turret, rather than the chassis, the player can use hand-held items, but loses part of the tank's protection, as getting hit directly while in the turret exposes the player. The main purpose of this function is to be able to hit targets beyond the guns' firing range.
    Types of tanks:
    Light tank: Provides 2 Primary weapon slots and one Secondary weapon slot. Moves faster than the player on foot, but slower than an Attack Hoverbike. Provides average protection (Around 125% the health of a hoverbike). Is similar in size to a Penguin Tank (The ones that appear in the Dreadwing mission). The controller costs 10000 pixels.
    Medium tank: Provides 6 Primary weapon slots (2 in the turret, two in a mounting on top of the turret which requires an additional crewmember to operate, and two on the front chassis) and one Secondary weapon slot in the turret. Moves at the same speed as a player on foot. Has 175% the health of a hoverbike. Similar in size to 2 Outpost Cargo Crates placed side to side, with the turret being about the same size as an Outpost Short Cargo Crate. The controller costs 15000 pixels.
    Heavy tank: It is, simply put, a huge tank. It has a whopping 12 Primary weapon slots (4 are in the turret, and the other 8 are all over the chassis in 4 pairs. Each of those pairs requires a crew member to operate, and shoot independently from the player), and 2 Secondary Weapon Slots in the turret. and a lot of protection (Around 300% the health of a Hoverbike). The catch is that it has half the speed of a player on foot. It's size is 30*9 blocks (Twice as long as an Outpost Shipping Container, and 150% as long). The turret is 5*3 tiles (Larger than an Outpost Cargo Crate).
    Due to the size, it is difficult to use it in steep terrain, but it's sheer firepower can be used to level the terrain upon getting close enough. The controller costs 30000 pixels, so it is also very expensive.
    Mechs: Mechs are the jack of all stats. They are well-armed and often carry lots of secondary weapons, along with being faster than Tanks and being able to jump. However, they are more fragile and are usually taller, so they are biggest targets in relation to their health. They are also capable of responding to the controls in exactly the same way as the PC, so they can crouch and jump, making them able to traverse mountains and cliffs more easily.
    Light Mech: Two primary weapons. It is the mech from the previous versions, but this time it's a vehicle.
    Medium Mech: Has 2 primary weapons and a single secondary weapon. The primaries are in arm-like structures, while the secondary is in the "nose". Slower and tankier than the Light Mech, but jumps higher.
    Heavy Mech: Has 4 primary weapons (Two in each "Arm") and 3 Secondary weapons (1 in each shoulder, and another in the torso). Almost as slow as the Medium Tank, but can jump very high and soak up quite a bit of damage.​
    Aircraft:
    Aircraft can, depending on the aircraft, behave either as a Hoverbike with a higher flight ceiling (Hover mode), or can behave like planes, which uses UP (W) and DOWN (S) to tilt the plane's nose in it's general direction. Alternatively, there is an Options menu button to make them follow the mouse instead (Jet Mode).
    While in Jet Mode, speed can be controlled with either the UP and DOWN arrow keys.
    In order to land while using it, the player has to carefully touch a smooth line of blocks and decelerate.
    Alternatively, it's possible to use an Automatic Flight Controller, which is also bought at Penguin Pete, in order to automate takeoff and landing by the use of pop-up keys (Namely, it automatically makes planes take off, and being close enough allows the player to use the E key in order to land without further player input).
    Similarily to Hoverbikes, aircraft also have a flight ceiling, but it is a lot higher (Almost as high as would be needed to reach an Asteroid Mini-Biome's middle asteroids).
    The special abilities depend on the aircraft.
    (*denotes max Jet Mode speed while in a straight line. Speed can change according to the movement of the aircraft, so climbing planes slowly lose speed until they stall, and diving greatly increases speed).
    Fighter jet (14000 Pixels): Has 3 Primary weapon slots, which are in the nose (They have a 45-degree firing angle). Has 75% the health of a Hoverbike, and can switch between Hover and Jet modes by pressing SPACE, which can be used to avoid crashing while in Jet Mode. They have the same size as Hoverbikes. It has a size of 5 (Length)*3 (Width) blocks
    While in Jet Mode, it is the second fastest vehicle available, at 175%* the speed of a current hoverbike, making it even faster than Recon Hoverbikes. However, if the aircraft touches a solid block in this state, it will be destroyed, and deal heavy damage to the player (Along with requiring Auto Chips to repair).
    While in Hover Mode, it moves at 80% the speed of a Hoverbike, and moving vertically reduces it's speed to 60%, but it's flight ceiling is a lot higher. It's main use is attacking slow/stationary targets accurately, and to avoid crashing against the ground by switching to Hover Mode.
    Strafer (15000 Pixels): Has 5 Primary weapon slots: 4 in the nose and 1 in a turret in the rear of the aircraft, which needs a gunner to operate. It has a size of 10*5 blocks.
    The nose guns have a firing range of 35 gredees, while the turret itself has a 240-degree firing arc which only aims backwards. It's health is the same as that of a Hoverbike.
    Similarily to Fighter Aircraft, it can switch from Jet Mode and Fighter Mode.
    In Jet Mode, it has 150%* the speed of a current hoverbike. In hover mode, it moves at 50% the speed of a current hoverbike.
    Interceptor (25000 pixels): Has 2 Primary weapon slots in the nose, which have a 30-degree firing angle.
    Unlike the previous aircraft, this one only works in Jet Mode and needs a runway to take off (About 30 blocks). It has a size of 9*3 blocks.
    It's speed in a whopping 200%* that of the current hoverbike, but it's health is only 50% that of a current hoverbike. It has bad agility so Jet Fighters can outmaneuver it, but it can fight them by using Boom and Zoom tactics (Basically hit and running).
    SPACE causes it to fire a Special attack which consists of firing missiles (Missile slots can't reload their energy pools until they are completely spent). There's several variations:
    Seeker Missiles (150 Energy): They deal normal damage, but are able to chase targets. The missiles themselves are fast, agile, explode on proximity (Which causes them to "fire" several bullets in a shotgun-like pattern) and are generally difficult to dodge, but they can be shot down and only have a limited amount of fuel, which causes missiles to self-destruct after 6 seconds. Additionally, they take 1 second to pick up speed. Missiles are also more agile the faster they are, which means that they're nearly useless at short range. They're fired by pressing SHIFT in order to pinpoint all possible targets, including off-screen targets. After that, the player has to press SHIFT again in order to actually fire.
    Electroflak Missiles (100 Energy): Best used against large amounts of enemy flyers, large flyers, or large amounts of large flyers. Burst Missiles have a low fire rate and accuracy, but deal a lot of damage and explode once they're close enough to a hostile target. Their blast is the highest out of all missiles. After exploding, they leave a large (5 blocks-radius) zone which damages and electrifies enemies.
    Spread Missiles (75 Energy per burst): They are the most versatile. They are fired in a spread-burst pattern (A burst pattern that fires a spread of missiles each time), which fires 4 times, with 3 missiles each. While the missiles aren't individually very accurate because of this, they are difficult to dodge and can deal a lot of collective damage, making them useful at fighting several different kinds of enemies at once.​
    Bomber (27000 Pixels): Has 8 Primary weapon slots: 2 in a dorsal turret, 2 in a ventral turret, 2 in a tail turret, and 2 in a nose turret, along with 2 Secondary player-controlled downwards-firing weapon slots near the nose. All the turrets have a 180-degree firing angle, and the player-controlled weapons have a 40-degree firing angle.
    By far, it is THE largest available aircraft in the game, at a whopping 20*5 blocks.
    It can only fly in Jet Mode, but it's speed is remarkably low: 150%* that of a Hoverbike.
    It's health is 200% that of a current hoverbike, and it's speed is the same as a current hoverbike. This means that it is really effective at wrecking ground targets, but so much as a single fighter or interceptor can take it down relatively easily.
    SPACE is used to drop bombs.
    Bombs have several types:
    Earthquake Bombs: They don't explode upon hitting the ground. Instead, they pass through blocks (Up to 5 blocks) and explode once they stop being able to move.
    Seeker Bombs: They automatically detect any enemies in range and alter their fall path in order to (try to) reach their target. Best used against fast NPCs and vehicles.
    Cluster Bombs: They split into 5 sub-bombs while falling. They explode upon hitting an enemy or after 5 seconds of hitting terrain.​
    Ships:
    Ships only work on liquids, and they protect the player from the effects of fluids, so they are very useful when navigating Poison and Lava Ocean worlds.
    Ship: Same as the current Green Ship, except that it now merely costs 5000 pixels.
    Submarine: They cost 7500 pixels, and are similar to Ships, except that they have a single Special Weapon Slot, and that they behave similarily to Hoverbikes, but only in fluids. (Size: 6*2 blocks)
    Frigate: Is slightly similar to the Ship, but it comes with 6 weapon slots: 2 in a rear turret with a 180-degree firing arc, 2 in a frontal turret with the same firing arc, and 2 in a hull turret which is manned by the player and has a 270-degree firing angle, with the blind spot being downwards. (Size: 10*5 blocks)​

    World changes related to vehicles:
    Of course, there wouldn't be much of a point in most of the new vehicles if they were excessive, or impractical; so there are a few changes to various structures and world features to accomodate vehicles:
    Dungeons can now spawn with NPCs controlling vehicles, which are randomly chosen from a list for each dungeon (Their weaponry is also randomly chosen).
    New world type: Large.
    Large planets are sub-types (Which means that some planets can be large instead of normal. EX: Large Garden Planet). They tend to have large mobs which drop a lot of pixels and which tend to be very powerful. Bringing a vehicle is recommended, but it is perfectly possible to use the terrain to kill the mobs there without using them. The dungeons spawned in Large Planets are different from that of the other planets, as they tend to have more NPCs in vehicles and are the only place in which NPCs can spawn driving Heavy Tanks; and said dungeons also tend to have a lot more loot, with some weapons being only found there. Weapon Slot Modifiers also have a higher chance to spawn here.​
    At higher altitudes (Basically the altitudes which can only be feasibily reached with the Aircraft), there is another monster pool, which spawns flying mobs that are quite different from bird-like mobs. They can use either aircraft behavior.
    New dungeons and structures, such as flying cities, flying bases, etc... also spawn here.
    The flying mobs can vary from enemy aircraft to giant flying animals (This makes the Large Flier mob more relevant) Their drops have a 20-second delay before beginning to fall so they are more easily picked up.
    Aesthetic vehicle looks:
    This part is about my suggestions about how the vehicles could look like. It is written separately to make it stand out and because of it's lack of detail.
    Hoverbikes:
    Attack Hoverbike: It should look similar to the current Hoverbike, but with a closed cockpit and somewhat beefier to make it look though, as it is the most powerful and tanky hoverbike.
    Recon Hoverbike: It should have a more aerodinamic look than the default hoverbike, with sleeker sprites, as it's the fastest hoverbike.
    Combat Hoverbike: It should look like current hoverbikes.​
    Tanks:
    Light Tank: It should look like Penguin Tanks.
    Medium Tank: It should have a turret with sloped armor, as the rest of the tank should. There should be a smaller ring on top of the tank turret to attach the guns in the mounting on top of the turret.
    Heavy Tank: It should look like a large metal box, with a large turret on the front end, and 4 smaller turrets in sponsons, with each turret at a quarter of the length of the hull.​
    Mechs:
    Light Mech: It should look like the Human Mech of previous versions.
    Medium Mech: Apart from being larger, it should have upper extremities which end in weapon slots, and the head should be separate, making it look a bit more like your typical mech.
    Heavy Mech: It should be based on typical mechs. It would be even bigger, and it would be the most humanoid-looking.​
    Aircraft:
    Fighter Jet: It should be a 3-surface aircraft similar to the Su-33. It would be a twin-engined aircraft which can modify it's shape by moving the wings upwards and opening secondary jet outtakes while in Hover mode.
    Strafer: It should have inverted gull wings and a V-tail where the turret is placed. The fuselage would look sleek yet rugged, befitting an aircraft intended to strafe ground targets at a low altitude.
    Interceptor: As the Interceptor is supposed to be a high-speed aircraft which is capable of intercepting ballistic missiles (As seen in my Invasion suggestion), it logically would have a low-drag design, so it should be a flying wing with swept wings in a high angle (At least 45 degrees). It should have a jet engine at each wing root.
    Bomber: It should be a rugged aircraft with delta wings and a lot of jet engines in nacelles beneath and on top of the wings, and attached to the fuselage. The tail should be a twin tail (Think of a tail with a vertical surface at each end).​
    Miscellaneous Vehicle Quest Rewards:
    These are items (Unique or not, including vanity) which are obtained by completing the quests needed to unlock vehicles.
    Hoverbike Quests:
    Attack Hoverbike: It would give a biker jacket (Vanity costume) and a random shotgun.
    Recon Hoverbike: It would give Biker Pants (Vanity costume).
    Combat Hoverbike: It would give a Biker Helmet (Vanity) and blueprints for Garage Doors (A new kind of door).​
    Tank Quests:
    Light Tank: The cosmetic reward would be an Officer Longcoat (Black with a few medals in the chest).
    Medium Tank: It would reward an unique Machine Pistol that fires laser shots and deals slightly more damage if fired while riding a tank. It would also give the player Officer Pants as a cosmetic reward (They're black with red lining).
    Heavy Tank: The rewards are: Peaked Cap (Exactly what it sounds. It's black with golden lining) and an unique Tanker Saber (It's an unique shortsword with slightly below average stats. It deals a lot more damage if the wielder attacks while the player rides in a tank (It's description is exactly what you're thinking it is).​
    Aircraft Quest Rewards:
    Fighter Jet: Parachute EPP upgrade. Also rewards with Pilot Googles.
    Gunship: Rewards with Pilot's Jacket and a random Rare Assault Rifle.
    Interceptor: Rewards with Pilot's Trousers and an unique Shotgun which fires pellets which split into more pellets.
    Bomber: Rewards with Pilot's Backpack and an unique Rocket Launcher that can propel players upon firing at the floor, and which fires more quickly if the player is in the air.​
    Ship Quest Rewards:
    Ship: Rewards with a free Swimming Augment.
    Submarine: Rewards with a Harpoon Gun, which is an unique Sniper Rifle that shoots Harpoons which deal damage over time for 5 seconds.
    Frigate: Rewards with Captain's Cap.
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2016
  2. PabloElPuas

    PabloElPuas Pangalactic Porcupine

    Good idea
     
  3. STCW262

    STCW262 Heliosphere

    Update: Fixed some mistakes. Added 2 new aircraft and a new ship.
     
  4. STCW262

    STCW262 Heliosphere

    Overhauled how vehicle-based weapons work:
    Vehicles don't use player weapons any longer.
    Vehicle Weapons don't have to be found.
    Weapon Slots have been divided between Primary and Secondary weapon slots.
    In order to encourage exploration to find parts for vehicles, it is possible to find Weapon Modifier Slots, which modify the stats of vehicle weapons. Some can even modify their behavior to the point of turning them into separate weapons.
    --- Post updated ---
    Modified how are vehicles unlocked. Now they require quests to unlock them. The quests also come with additional rewards, such as a Rocket Launcher that allows for rocket-jumping and a sword used for tank-based swordsmanship (AKA now the "Drive me closer I want to hit them with my sword" meme can be re-enacted for a good reason) that comes with a matching cap.
     
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2016
    PocketNova and soarin24 like this.
  5. PocketNova

    PocketNova Master Chief

    The expanded range of vehicles would be welcomed! How would these work with coop? Could they be upgraded or expanded depending on the vehicle to allow the standard 4-man party all to ride into danger or explore the deep sea together? Frigate looks like a good candidate for a driver and dedicated players to control the weapons.
     
    STCW262 likes this.
  6. STCW262

    STCW262 Heliosphere

    Turrets can be also manned by players.
     
  7. kazunenazumu

    kazunenazumu Void-Bound Voyager

    This.... is awesome. I totally support this idea, mate. Since as for now the vehicle is, kinda..... not really applicable to use.
     
  8. voiditect

    voiditect Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    oh, my goodness. YES! I love this! I need a battle hoverbike or jetfighter! I'm currently imagining a group of cannon-armed hoverbikes sniping in a huge battle.
    100% support.
    Someone make this a mod!
     
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2016
  9. STCW262

    STCW262 Heliosphere

    Added vehicle-specific weapon slots, which are currently only used by 2 vehicles.
     

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