#Intel Gathering/Orbital Cameras

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

vast dust
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So here is my thought. Dram has discussed in the past reworking Human eco to havea ~300m freighter fly in from orbit and pick up Balterium as the new means of human eco working.

So, if we humans have a freighter in orbit, can we have cameras or radars attached to said freighter?

The gameplay mechanic/benefit of this is for intel purposes. Say you are RTS/COM role. You want intel on a piece of the map. Maybe you want to find resources, spot enemy units/defenses, etc. So you spend some currency and get to view that part of the map for like a minute. It does not increase build range at all, but you get to see what's going on far away from your own borders, courtesy of your orbital freighter/assets/cameras.

The same can apply to the players/FPS role. They can spend their personal resources to obtain intel/view over a map area that they cannot see. But the view that can be obtained for an FPS player is much smaller than a COM, maybe only 25% of what a COM can request.

So COM can spend more/less/same amount as an FPS but can see 4x what an FPS can view. Your viewing ability is limited to a certain amount of time to keep the game balanced. The cost of purchase should be expensive enough that its not something that should be used excessively. And you should only be able to request a special view of 1 part of the map at a time. Perhaps a "cool down" mechanic can be implemented to make players/teams go 2 minutes without any intel vs only being able to purchase 1 minute chunks of intel.

I would not extend this mechanic to aliens. They quickly obtain intel early game with lots of spread out, cheap units.

Offer your thoughts. Good, bad, meh, or suggest tweaks to the idea.

radiant geode
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So basically a "reveal map" ability for the Commander. Similar to Red Alert 2 Soviet's spy plane or Yuri's psychic reveal where a portion of the map gets revealed and stays revealed. However, for a very short time, you can also see if there are units or structures but then the "light fog of war" sets in again, however the black fog of war remains revealed.

And for infantry... I would use a drone... how about a scout drone as a purchaseable item?

🤔

vast dust
radiant geode
vast dust
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I do like the thought of a cheap suicide drone being used by some player/FPS infantry. If a Commando can buy a drone from the barracks with player eco, then run out to the field, and use it as a 1-use anti-tank weapon that would be pretty cool

But then there are issues of whether you let AI do the same thing and why you make that decision

Scouts can get scout drones, which would be cool

but if Drones are out of the picture then the orbiting freighter would be a logical place for telephotic lenses to be installed, thus allowing real-time intel for surface armies

radiant geode
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In that case I would simply give that ability to reveal and not wait for the freighter. After all, there must be a huge station up in orbit that could do that. Right? And also, due to the freighter's frequency, you would not be able to use that ability whenever you need it.

vast dust
radiant geode
vast dust
radiant geode
vast dust
vast dust
radiant geode
vast dust
languid bloom
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Call the Suicide drone an Artillery so Echo will hate it.

vast dust
languid bloom
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Like just make it Sol's artillery, Centauri is getting the rocket truck, no reason Sol can't launch suicide drones off its artillery platform

vast dust
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@real comet

real comet
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One sec I need to stay focused for just a bit longer before I can start nit picking will read in a second.

vast dust
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lol, take your time

real comet
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All I have to say is meh.

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I could nit pick sure but just meh.

languid bloom
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not as though orbital scan is revolutionary, its in plenty of games.

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my main nit pick is more with the idea that if 2 opposing warships are in Orbit over the same piece of real estate. why aren't they shooting at each other?

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this is kind of the issue with ground combat in Sci Fi settings in general.

real comet
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I can also pull the ‘why is the freighter responsible for ISR’ card. And also ‘We are hundreds of years in the future, why can’t it just reveal the entire fog of war?’

languid bloom
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think the RA2 spy satelite did that

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but its been a while

radiant geode
radiant geode
real comet
vast dust
# languid bloom my main nit pick is more with the idea that if 2 opposing warships are in Orbit ...

what is the exact nature of the war between Sol and Centauri?

Is it competing mining enterprises from Sol or Centauri that just compete on the ground? I dont think it is, but if that is the case that can be used to justify why the ships dont shoot at each other. The idea would be that the war is limited in scope, with some things being considered "red lines" by both sides that both agree to respect, sort of like MAD with the Cold War.

The idea here is that both sides sort of agree that targeting ships is step too far, but conflict between proxy mining enterprises on the ground is something that can be tolerated.

But I dont think that is the case so therefore probably not gonna work here

languid bloom
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Imagine it like Centauri blowing up the Sol Embassy, Sol will retaliate with a massive drone attack, and the escalation Ladder is climbed making war inevitable.

vast dust
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ok, so ships are probably valid targets during the events of Silica

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unless the war has cooled off back to rival mining operations attacking each other

there is what, a 50 year time period of escalating tensions between Sol and Centauri over Batlarus/Balterium?

it would be plausible to have a dramatic rise in tensions, a war, a tentative deescalation, but mitigated between proxy mining enterprises and no targeting of intergalactic freighters or government warships

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But if the events of Silica are set during the height of a Centauri-Sol War then this theory doesnt work