10-30-2017, 05:19 PM
(10-30-2017, 12:17 PM)sindroms Wrote: [ -> ]Have a separate ship that can be made by admins only - unique texture or whatever, but have npcs drop the ''blueperints'' to them that are traded to admins in the same way POB upgrades are.
Since this idea was posted in a Flood thread, I thought I would move it here for a proper discussion. I recall our residential Spazzing Dragon having suggested something similar to this before, so original credit for the idea goes to
Scenario: Imagine you're bored. Monumentally bored. So, for lack of a better, you decide to hop in your favored PvE ship and take on an npc mission. Since you're feeling trigger itchy, you take a "destroy all ships" mission, making sure you have a few npc wingmates to draw fire. After spending what feels like forever and finding yourself somewhat regretting your decision to undertake such a long mission, you complete the job and receive payment. After flying back to base to sell off pilots/credit cards, you notice something strange in your cargo hold: "Blueprint - Sunset Sabre." Surprised, you read the infocard on this blueprint and the instructions provided, then find your eyes widening in disbelief - You've just found the keys to a rare, Orange Sabre!
The concept is simple: Provide players with a farmable, extremely low drop chance set of blueprints that provides a ship with a special aesthetic. This blueprint would only have a chance to drop from mission-spawned npcs. The aesthetics would be a simple re-coloring of the base ship's texture to something more exotic, giving rise to a tangible end-goal prize that, while not game-breaking, will definitely turn some heads in your direction. "Where did you get that?!" "Oh WOW, how can I get one of those?"
This would give many players a reason to log into the game to farm for something other than credits, as these special blueprint ships are not something you can simply buy from a station. With that, the potential for increased activity comes - both in the form of like-minded farmers and opposing factions coming to find you while you're farming. As more players find these blueprints, so too does knowledge of their existence spread in-game, giving some further incentive to log into the game more often, both to obtain these rare ships, and to show them off once obtained.
In many cases, these aesthetically pleasing alternatives to the base ships would be nothing more than what the altered color implies. No stat differences - just pure stylistic alterations.
However, this also brings up the idea of a different kind of blueprint - "Spoils of War." This special type of blueprint would drop far less frequently than the standard blueprint type, but would offer something far more interesting: Captured vessels.
Ever thought about what a Gallic Lynx would look like in Bretonian reds and whites?
How about a Centurion painted to match the Hessian's line of ships?
Or, what say you to a Liberator painted in Rogue'ish rust or Xeno red and black?
These special ships would also be no different than their base models. However, their key difference is that they would be flyable by a faction not typically associated with such vessels. What better a way to show off your persistence against a frequent foe than to brandish a ship you've salvaged and re-purposed for your own mindset?
Again, these special, non-standard vessels would have an extremely low chance at dropping. While a simple aesthetic blueprint might have a 1% drop rate, you would be looking at a 0.1-0.2% drop chance at best for these usually un-flyable ships, to keep them incredibly rare.
In either case, these special ships would give many players a chance at having something that stands out without having to feel the pressure of maintaining an SRP ship. From a Developer's standpoint, these would also be incredibly easy to implement, as all you would need to do is copy+paste many of the base ship's files, save for the re-coloring of a texture. From an admin's standpoint, it would be fairly simple as well to create a character, buy the special ship from an admin-only base, then hand the /movechar code off to the blueprint holder; noteworthy would be that the drop chance is hopefully low enough to prevent it from being too frequent of a request to handle. In case of many requests being frequent, a new admin could be brought to the team, dedicated to handling these requests (Seriously, I would volunteer for this).
In conclusion, I feel that this would be a fun, easy way to get both newbies and veterans alike to spend more time in-game. The initial implementation could include only fighters/bombers that are widely available, although I could foresee gunboats having this feature as well. If the first wave of ships work out well, then a test period of captured ships could be launched as well, and either kept, or withdrawn from the server.
In case you are Too Lazy; Didn't Read:
1. Special alt-color snub blueprint drops from mission npcs. LOW drop chance (1%). Contact admin to receive reward.
2. Generation of in-game activity, both to farm ships and show them off, as well as those seeking to RP/PvP with ship farmers.
3. Potential Super-Special "Spoils of War" vessels, like a Bretonian-painted Lynx or Corsair-painted Moray. SUPER low drop chance (0.1-0.2%) to keep them utterly rare.
4. Newbies see that caps aren't the only end-goal thing to farm for.
5. A way to show off in-game without the pressure of going for/maintaining an SRP.
6. Do you want an Orange Sabre? Or a Blue Roc? Maybe a Teal Marauder? Or hell, even a Black Arrow? If so, advocate interest!
7. If the initial snub alt-colors go over well, begin to include alt-colored civilian-market gunboats/transports.