Some additional ideas for new features

[Lucky_Dragon]

Here are some ideas that I think would add more "depth" the game without (hopefully) increasing complexity too much.

Discipline Bonuses:[/u]
Currently, the only point of choosing a discipline other than Savain is to adjust initial stats. What if there were other factors to consider as well?

• Savian (None)

Extra stat points for each new level(Higher levels=more extra stat points), Powered HtH weapons do more damage

• Xynthian (STR/DEX)

Ranged weapons do more damage, Armor protects better

• Zilenian (STR/HP)

Superior constitution means: slower rad absportion, MedKits heal more HPs, doesn't get hungry as often, Vaccinations last longer, can carry more items

• Dygamorian (DEX/HP)

Non-powered HtH weapons do more damage, opponents get to-hit penalty vs. this race and better chance of fleeing a fight.
[/list]

If this was implemented, it would be helpful to expose actual weapon damage values so players can more easily pick the best weapon for their discipline. It might also help with "balance" to have limits for individual stats that vary for each discipline, rather than just a "total ability" cap. For example: Dygamorian would have a higher cap on DEX/HP and a lower cap on STR, Xynthians would have a higher cap on STR/DEX and lower possible HP, etc.

New items:

• Chameleon suit: 100% stealth, Aerial scan won't show player either camped OR online, but TriKorder can still detect them.
• Landmines: sold at complex
• Smart Landmines: can be set not to detonate for self and/or squad members.
• Infinex/Firenet rounds: sold at complex (mainly so the gate guard can reload any weapon a player donates)
• Powered armor: fills armor AND suit slot. Player wearing this doesn't take HP damage until suit is destroyed. Suit gives 2x damage for player's distance weapon (auto-targeting/rapid fire) and combines features of rad/AG/combat suit. Also adds +20STR and +10DEX. Suit powered like a weapon (Infinex?) and uses 1 rd/turn for movement and 1 rd/combat turn. Players wearing powered armor cannot enter Hydrite prison/Missile silos/AFB. TriKorder-style scanning (can see Aurora/Chameleon/etc. REALLY expensive, only available for sale at AFB: Once purchased and the player exits the Research Room, they are placed outside the AFB automatically and informed that they cannot re-enter wearing the suit.) Can be upgraded with shields like a base (but not as powerful)
• Plasma Cannon: Distance weapon designed specifically to take out powered armor. 1 hit=20-40 points of damage vs. shields or armor. Can be used against base shields/structure at 1/2 effectiveness (i.e. 1 hit vs. bas=10-20 points damage). Only available for purchase at AFB.
• Remote sensor: Activates like a thumper and is equipped with chameleon technology (only visible w/ TriKorder or to the player or team who owns it). Once activated, it will send information back to a base within a certain distance about activity in its sector or any adjacent sector. Won't detect chameleon-suited players, but will report on (non-squad members) player/oracle/aurora/cyclone sightings, base construction/upgrades, activity around bases or other structures (i.e. Prison, AFB, Etc). Players equipped with Commlink implants, inside a base, or carrying a transmitter would get real time messages when the sensor detects something. Otherwise, the information is available from the base log of any base. Multiple players can place sensors in the same sector, but they get picked up along with everything else in the Hydrite sweeps. Weather would interfere with the sensors and would have a chance of destroying them. Exploding duroplast or landmines in the same sector would also have a chance of destroying a sensor. These should be fairly cheap, as they will get destroyed frequently.

Base upgrades:

• Chameleon field: Aerial scan won't show base and if player is in the same sector, "xxxxx BASE NEARBY" message does not appear on-screen. TriKorder can still detect though, and "xxxxx BASE NEARBY" message displays if player has a TriKorder implant
• Suit Repair Bay: With this upgrade, players can enter the base with powered armor, and can purchase shields, power, and get repairs.
• Ability to teleport directly between any two bases that are "in range" (see seperate post on this topic here.)
  

New implants:

• Enhanced ocular implants: increases the infrared display on-screen from 3x3 to 5x5. Possibly gives 3x3 display inside prison.
• Commlink implant: players can send public or private messages from the wastelands w/o needing to carry a transmitter.

New monster setup:
Monsters would now be like the cyclone: x number of monsters on each map level (more on the lower levels?) moving randomly, and if they come within 1 sector of a player, they may sense and attack that player. If the player is equipped with a summoner, it would attract monsters from further away on the map (maybe set a 6-sector radius?) Sectors containing a monster would be highlighted in a different background color to indicate their presence, and sectors containing another player would be highlighted in another background color. (Maybe a  third background color for squad members?)
Maybe also change the distance weapon code to give players a chance to surprise a monster (i.e. if the player sees the monster first, he has a chance for a free shot from the next sector, but with a lower chance to hit due to the greater distance.) Do the same for the monsters if they react first. Also, a player/monster equipped with a chameleon suit ALWAYS gets a free shot vs. one without a chameleon suit or TriKorder implant and can flee a fight without the opponent getting a parting shot.

:arrow: These are just some ideas... Some would be much easier to implement than others. Comments? Feedback?

[Blazewarrior]

I have an idea...

What if OOII were made into a cell phone app, which could interact with net-based OOII games....?

We might find a whole new generation of wasteland noobs to pick on

The only major drawback I see to that is...well...I don't have a cell phone.  :S

[Blazewarrior]

Those are all good suggestions, but I have a problem with the monster ideas....

One of the interesting and somewhat unique aspects of OOII was the way monsters were encountered, much like in Final Fantasy games.

Having the monsters just randomly appear has several advantages:

1.  There's not as much overhead to bog down the game speed.
2.  Monsters are smaller than bases and cyclones, and would be weird if they showed up as though same size.
3.  More monsters can be encountered in a given time if they randomly appear, rather than wandering the map.
4.  Randomly appearing monsters add to the foreboding paranoia of wasteland exploration.  If you saw them coming, you could avoid them.
5.  The Oracle moves kinda like a cyclone, and he's a real bugger to find at times even with a trikorder.

Since I'm trying to come up with a game similar to OOII, but with aspects of TW2002, Nethack, and LOD, I've encountered a lot of issues
with graphics vs text monsters / npcs.  For one thing, that's a lot of graphics to add, and even with text-drawn monsters, there's issues
with their movement and AI which must be ironed out.  Ultimately, I think I'll stick to the traditional OOII-style ASCII / ANSI graphics, and
leave the monsters random as they are in OOII.  It's simply way way easier to code and debug, and the Silencer / Summoner type items will
generally be easier to deal with if they're not trying to search the map for "nearby" monsters.  If a player has a summoner, and there's no monsters around, well then....that's a useless item.

As for your other suggestions, I do like them.  However, trikorder and transmitter implants seem to me like they may take away some of the "fun factor" of the game.  I remember back in the day getting oracle coordinates, then having to hunt down something with a Trikorder so I could go find the Oracle.  There was always a sense of euphoria when I'd find a Trikorder early in the game, or better yet, a pile of Zimmers. 

Just today, I was playing OOII and found a transmitter, which allowed me to brag about the pit (outside complex on D'Shai map) which sucked me down to map 2.  I thought I was a gonner, then I found an Electric Sword, Raxhaven, Laser Vest, and 2 abandoned bases which I claimed, each having 10000 crystals in them, active telepods, and one had a Zaxtron Hyperaccelerator and full shields. 

The transmitter was fairly useless once I found the bases, but back in the day, I'd gladly use them to send a coded public message to let my team know I was stuck somewhere dying of radiation and in need of help.  In cases like that, it adds some urgency and fear-factor to the game... "Oh crap I'm gonna die!  Need a transmitter to call for help!  Must find one!"

Maybe I'm just a nostalgic fool, but damnit I played OOI and new features to old games often makes me want to cry.  So many good games have fallen victim to good intentions which ended in the game becoming "too easy".

OOII is easy enough as it is.     A good player can easily reach level 7 in a day, even on hard maps.  There's 2 tricks I use to ensure I power up quickly and easily:

1.  Print out the text version of the map from Wordpad (not notepad, it'll look FUBAR).
2.  Start playing around 10pm-11pm so you can log back in quicker, and if you die you can resurrect faster.
The drawback of course comes when you're done playing after midnight, and have all those hours to go to play again.  But at least then you've gotten 2 days of play done back-to-back and likely have reached level 7 or 8 by then.

I'm such a nerd, I'm about to go play OOII locally just to keep the game going!