Balance them appropriate to normal fighters, more or less. Limit them to Civilian, Phantom, Generic, and maybe House Civilian guns as a counterweight to their several extra gun mounts (quantity over quality, basically). Give them 90% compatibility with Freelancer/Pirate ID, 100% with intelligence agencies and most pirates. Essentially, make them 'black market' fighters, as the implication was back in 4.84. Or even just generic civilian, though again, the gun limitation is probably needed for them to be balanced and still have some unique quirks.
Now, because "other servers might have Phantoms", there's a few workarounds needed (also, that's why I'm accounting for Phantom guns). First, make all the Phantom gear require neutral rep or better, and set the fighters to -1.00 like other ship purchases. Second, add a command - /temple, we'll call it for now. It functions like /conn, but sets you to the Temple of the Revenant, so you can buy the fighters.
With this setup, the Phantom fighters aren't wasting a ship slot here, and can still be exclusive elsewhere. It also makes a degree of sense in-RP; at least the Hackers and LSF (and probably others) have already attempted to replicate the fighters once, and I doubt any of them would be inclined to give up entirely.
Hell, I could even write up new infocards if it's possible to override them for this server.
Not that I expect any of this to happen; the title says "crazy idea" for a reason.
Hypothetically, if the Penumbra and/or Shadow fighters were to be re-used, they'd need new infocards anyway. However, server-overwritten infocards are possible.
Edit: This is not strictly speaking a thread encouraging or requesting the revival of the Phantoms faction. Any posts encouraging that will be deleted.
(10-06-2013, 05:06 AM)Echo 7-7 Wrote: Hypothetically, if the Penumbra and/or Shadow fighters were to be re-used, they'd need new infocards anyway. However, server-overwritten infocards are possible.
Already have an idea for one. I can see a case for corporations and police using them in-RP, quite effective despite the slight problems - plus, it's another toy for factions that traditionally have some issues to play with. I've written the infocard to work whether you go with a shadier set of tech permissions, or a civilian-grade set - though it does assume you're going with the "civilian guns only" bit; if that's not how it's implimented, I'll have to tweak that bit. Or rewrite it entirely, but y'know, details.
Having an infocard already may seem like getting ahead of myself, but I'd rather get it out while I'm thinking of it. No harm in being prepared, I figure.
Quote:LX-56b "Slipstream" Heavy Interceptor
Attempting to produce a fighter for the "more guns, fewer problems" crowd is rarely an easy task. It sounds easy, just bolt a few extra cannons to each wing and the job's done, but in practice you have to account for cooling, wiring, and of course power. And because fighters tend to use one power core for everything beyond auxiliary thrusters, it's not as easy as it seems. One solution is semi-self-contained turret systems, as demonstrated by the common Sabre.
The other solution is limiting the craft to more stable armament, sacrificing some firepower (though still leaving you with a net gain) so your generator doesn't become a scale model of the Tunguska event. The Slipstream takes that route, with hardpoints configured to only accept civilian-grade weaponry, leaving enough power to propel the ship at interceptor speeds. It has proven wildly popular among racers, smugglers, and VIP escorts, and the LSF is reportedly looking into acquiring a few.
It would be awesome to have use for the ships. They just sit there...looking amazing but not able to be used, so to put them to use would make people happy (I know someone that got the mod just for there ships, are were very sad to find they could not fly one)
But the command would make it WAY to easy to get the ship. Maybe make one or two bases that sell them.
REALLY wish we could buy the Phantom ships...maybe we will be able to someday
IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT I SAID, IT MATTERS WHAT I MEANT!!!!
Balance is aerelm's department, not mine, so I can't make any concrete statements. I would be concerning myself only with the lore behind the fighter, which would probably contain no references whatsoever to the Phantoms. Also, the LH are not ship builders extraordinaire: the reference to them needs to be cut as well.
(10-06-2013, 07:04 AM)Kazinsal Wrote: The Lane Hackers, last I checked, liked trying to replicate weird technology.
The LH already have a ship line attributable to them; I'm not convinced they need a second. Besides, these ships would no longer be mysterious and unfathomable adapted alien technology; they would be of human manufacture.
Edit: I've been reminded that said models are actually terrible quality, so that really means there's little purpose to recycling them.
(10-06-2013, 07:03 AM)Echo 7-7 Wrote: Also, the LH are not ship builders extraordinaire: the reference to them needs to be cut as well.
Current Penumbra infocard mentions the Hackers attempting to reproduce it previously, and in 4.84 it was sold on one of their bases. And I don't like retcons. Besides, this one's being made by an independent entity. Whether the Hackers are any good at making ships or not doesn't have anything to do with having made prior visible attempts, in 4.84..
That said, if we're trying to excise any and all references to everything that belonged to the Phantoms, then it certainly took you all entirely too long. Still don't like retcons, but for that I'll make an exception. Gimme a sec and I'll replace the previous one with a different one. EDIT: And done.
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