Power distribution

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Spaceman
I was thinking, for the next game whether it be online or single player, I hope they make it easier to work with power distribution and things like that. In WC 4 I had to sit there and fiddle with all the bars till I got them just right. In Prophecy it was hard to get the right mixture using the system (although using a dot like they did was better). I would like it if you could just type in a percentage for each. I think it would be faster. Just some ideas.



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Peace cannot be kept by force, it must be achieved through understanding.
 
Actualy I find seting power is about as easy in Prophecy as it was in WC4. One thing that's better is that you can adjust power between front and rear shields.

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Uh excuse me Mr.Cat, sir, but would you mind like ceasing fire for a little while so we can barbecue your god-ugly asses? Todd "Maniac" Marshall Wing Commander Pilgrim Stars
 
What do you mean? It's very easy.

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Uh excuse me Mr.Cat, sir, but would you mind like ceasing fire for a little while so we can barbecue your god-ugly asses? Todd "Maniac" Marshall Wing Commander Pilgrim Stars
 
Personally, I liked WC4's distribution setup better, and not just because of the 'freebie' allocation (damage control... don't get hurt, and you've nothing to fix
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). I especially liked how you could adjust the sliders via the keyboard, and leave the joystick available for flying. Configuring WCP/SO's power distribution, especially in a scramble mission, was a pain, for me. Fortunately the default setup is usually good enough that adjustments are optional.

What I'd really like, though, is to find a set of 6 nearby, unused keys to adjust the 3 main power settings (engines, shields, weapons), like with FreeSpace/FS2, which used the cluster of keys above the arrow keys. I can reach over, hit the appropriate key once or twice to tweak, and am good to go (though being able to lock one particular setting would be nice... to move, say, gun power to the shields, for a bombing run, you can't lock engines and just boost shields, but have to boost both shields and engines, using the FS/FS2 setup).

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SubCrid Death
Official Net.Nazi, LOAF's Merry Guild
 
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I wish you could set some customized power setups, then assign each a hot key. Then you could use the hot keys to select different allocations as the situation warrants with a minimum of fuss.
 
You can in X-wing alliance but we won't go there. What do you mean you have trouble with the power setup in WCP? I thought it was pretty simple but it would be nice to have a number of presets before you get into battle.
 
Death: Yes, the Damage Repair system... Such a useful little power source... Er, system
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I don't think that presets are needed. In WC 3 and 4 I had this little routine I did at the start of every mission:
1. Engines to full pelt.
2. Transfer DR power into Shields, set Engines to unchangeable.
3. Switch to full guns and synchronise.

It took a bit of practice to get all this done within the time it took to get out the hangar doors. But because you had to hurry and press the right keys (especially in a scramble mission, where you couldn't afford to lose time), by the time you had it all set up, you were truly ready to fight.
In a way, I missed that launch sequence in WCP. You just sit there and watch as you're spat out of the Midway. And then, suddenly you're in charge, your ship changes course (I use a mouse, and following the briefing, the mouse is never centred), and you're stuck there, wondering what your mission was. At least that's the way it is for me
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Yeah, I liked WC4 setup, but if you didn't move the power around right you would increase one but decrease another that maybe you had at a good setting already so it was just a pain for me. I like the idea of 6 seperate keys.

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Peace cannot be kept by force, it must be achieved through understanding.
 
Solution: don't get damaged
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I never had a problem with the need for faster repair times if I need to fall back and repair, odds are the systems are already restored by the time I move off.
 
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Power distribution in WCP is easy (at least I think so)...all I do is throw power to guns (with a little for the shields) and I'm done. I ride the afterburners in most missions anyway...but I suppose it all depends on your flying style.

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'For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky'.

Wing Commander - Secret Ops Missions
http://saturn.spaceports.com/~wcsom/index.html
 
Primarch: What happens when you run out of AB fuel? I generally come pretty close to running out, and I only use it half the time.

Kalkrath: I didn't like WC 4 cockpits. They looked like something out of a cheap arcade game. At least with a standard cockpit, you can tell what ship you're flying. And it makes each ship _feel_ different.
 
Of course, they had no colour, since you didn't fly Killie ships, but if they did, than it would probably be a copper-red sort of colour, much like that of their ships.
 
Quarto...I die!!!

Seriously though, the only times I ever run out are when I'm flying the Shrike or Devastator in Prophecy (neither has enough fuel) or if any mission lasts over ten-fifteen minutes (last Prophecy mission was a bitch). Other than those I can ride the burners all the way through Prophecy without a worry.
The only time I ran out in Secret Ops was the mission following the Shy Meadows rescue (which I happened to loose...). That is the mission where you fly a Panther and have to escort the Cerberus to Lyton(?) Station. It's damn long and, in my opinion, damn hard (especially considering both my wingmen hardly ever get to the third NAV Point) with all those bloody Red Mantas gunning for the Cruiser...and me!

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'For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky'.

Wing Commander - Secret Ops Missions
http://saturn.spaceports.com/~wcsom/index.html
 
Primarch: "Bloody Red Mantas" Yes, that does seem to be quite appropriate wording.
That mission is a hell of a lot easier if you go through the trouble of saving the three transports, y'know.
 
Actualy the mission to save the transports it quite easy, as long as you know what you're doing. In Prophecy other than my AB fuel sometimes runs out in a bomber there is one mission where you fly the Panther, there are 4 navpoints full of capships and fighters, and when I replayed Prophecy few weeks ago I only had about 5 seconds of AB fuel left when I got back to the Midway. I never run out of fuel in the last mission though.

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Uh excuse me Mr.Cat, sir, but would you mind like ceasing fire for a little while so we can barbecue your god-ugly asses? Todd "Maniac" Marshall Wing Commander Pilgrim Stars
 
The one thing I found annoying about the last mission was that flying through the gate did not take you into another part of the universe. I reckon that that would have been neat - say, that before you can destroy the gate on this side, you'd have to take out something on the other side.
 
That would be cool. Fly inside, and there are even more toweres or something like that to destroy, and far back you can see a huge Nephilim fleet. A dreadnought, a shipkiller, 4 carriers, 10 cruisers, 20 destroyers, and 50 or so corvetes.

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Uh excuse me Mr.Cat, sir, but would you mind like ceasing fire for a little while so we can barbecue your god-ugly asses? Todd "Maniac" Marshall Wing Commander Pilgrim Stars
 
Yes, it would be cool. Of course, with that many ships, the game would grind to a halt. Ah well. Still, it was bloody annoying - if you can't enter it, than you should have bounced off it, rather than fly through it.
Say, are you the only person here right now? It sure seems like it
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But the last mission in a game should be hard. WC2 last mission=easy, WC2SO2 last mission=easy, WC3 last mission=easy, WC4 last mission=easy, WCP last mission=easy, WCSO last mission=very easy. That realy isn't good.

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Uh excuse me Mr.Cat, sir, but would you mind like ceasing fire for a little while so we can barbecue your god-ugly asses? Todd "Maniac" Marshall Wing Commander Pilgrim Stars
 
Earthworm: Methinks I shall have to disagree.
WC2 Last mission: Thrak put up quite a challenge. This mission deserves Average at least.
WC2 SM2 Last mission: This one was easy, but that's because it was after the climax. You were returning to the Concordia, and just had to get rid of Jazz. The real climax, however, was the Ayer's Rock mission, which was not easy.

WC3 Last mission: Yep. That one was easy. I was particularly annoyed when I accidentally killed Thrak by colliding into him. My ship was just about undamaged.

WC4 Last mission: Well, Seether was good. But apart from that, this mission was easy. Still, you can't really expect anything else, when the mission was really about speed rather than skill or strength. Perhaps if there had been a time limit...

WCP: Ah, now that wasn't that easy. It wasn't too hard, but not _that_ easy.

SO: Easy to finish, but not so easy to survive, since you're sitting in a Devastator.
 
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