Someone mentioned that to me a long time ago...but the reality of it was that this game idea came from the following sources. :)

Planetside - Its never ending war based on twitch reflexes.
Shadowbane - Its guild based system and concept of empire building.
RTS Games - From tthier resource trees and other such concepts.

I'd like to delve a bit into the resource system for the game since i think that it is rather unique.

Instead of having a multitude of different types of resources (i.e. wood, stone, water, food, glue, thumbtacks etc) I want to have primarily one or two categories of building materials that have multiple tiers. This is honestly a very different system IMO than the ones that are already out there.

You have Resource A with its different tiers (matter)
A
A+1
A+2
A+3
etc
And Resource B with its different tiers (energy)
B
B+1
B+2
B+3
etc.

As you use better tiers of Matter you make items stronger, though you still consume the same amount of resources. The amount and type of higher tier resources used upgrades the ship by varying degrees. This can be armor, weapons, manuverability (gforces) etc.

When you use higher tiers of Energy you have the choice of either increasing efficency (B+1 can be used for 2B energy units) or by increasing Power. If its used to increase power, then you may NOT mix components of energy.


The matter resource is built up by different mining operations the guild has around the game, while Energy is built up using varying methods from solar power, to matter consumation. Management of these two resources is critical to having an effective guild.


Also, I would like people to be able to design ships and weapons. What this translates into is not being able to design the look of the ship (though you can select different hulls), but to build a design schematic that lays out the type of power source, how its used, and how much of what tier of matter to put in the ship, and what it will affect.

I.E. B+2 Power system used as B+1 power (giving better fuel economy), Resource A 100% into armor (no change), Resources A/A+1 60%/40% into structural integrity (Better handling) and resources A/A+2/A+3 60%/30%/10% into the launch system (able to hold stronger missiles). When this is done, its saved into the guilds system for anyone to be able to pull up. This can be done for any type of structure, ship, or weapon that is being built. Everything from Missiles to Carriers.

Guilds of course can set up different rules for design and such. They can set (by rank) people who can have access to different designs, be able to utilize different resources, and so on and so forth.

This should add alot to the game in my opinion. I hope this type of simple(?) system adds enough complexity to the game without being to difficult to handle from the get go... I want it to be like chess, easy to learn, difficult to master.

I remember allegiance, with the "Investor" and the people taking orders from him, the game seemed to fail to give incentive to units to follow orders effectively (or maybe its just the nature of FPS's?).

In any event, a thought occured to me. It would be really cool if you had one large ship where people can interact, talk, and do all sorts of things, logging on and off onboard, and generally maintaining and living on the ship. Most games i've ever played revolve around players flying their own ships solo or having 4-5 people, tops, flying a 'Capitol' ship. I think it would be pretty fun to interact on an ARC, or Clan ship, with the clan leaders guiding where the whole group of people goes. You could also allow people to pilot short range fighters, but they would have to return to the ship to refuel and travel between sectors. Sort of like BattleStar Galactica, with 1 large capitol ship being controled by an entire clan, and repairs, fighters, and all other aspects being done by all the clan members onboard to keep it running.

It would kind of make things abit more interesting and fun. ;D

Not a bad idea, However, i'm not sure if it would work well in an MMO setting.

I'm not too worried about people going about doing thier own thing. This is perfectly acceptable, of course, it won't help the guild out any. Without sound management, and following of orders, an organized guild will easily wipe the floor with your guild. They target your supply lines, and all of a sudden your fighters that are killed can only respawn in basic snub fighters.

If you spend 20 min moving into the heart of enemy territory and die, then you go back to the nearest Deployment base, Which unless your guild is organized may not have the resources available to give you another good new ship. Especially if it is on the outer fringes of your empires supply lines.

i guess no one is interested...