Prophecy poll...

Saturnyne

Saturnyne

Vice Admiral
Since Prophecy was such an outstanding game graphically (And you KNOW it is!), and the story can't be panned out without being a dragging on farce, this question came to me:

Would Prophecy be better or worse with missions that take place on a planet's surface, a la WC3 and 4?

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It might of been better. I never thought the planet side missions were anything special. There wasn't much thought put into them physics-wise since your fighter flies exactly the same as in space. Prophecy could have done better with a wider variety of missions though and decent AI. The bugs simply were too weak without using WCPCrazy. Also they should have put in real collision in the game. I hate it when you can be flying fullout on afterburners and crash into an enemy (and this goes for any game) and bounce off with nary a scratch. If you want it to be an option thats cool but it should not be default. But yes, Surface missions if done right could have added some needed variety to the game.

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There is no God but myself. No destiny but what I deem for me. I walk my path and no others, for I am free.

http://www.ntr.net/~vondoom
 
Prophecy would have been better with:
An extended plot
More varied missions, this includes planetside, tractoring people in, laying mines perhaps etc
Old style method of taking out capships (ie no components)

Don't get me wrong, I really liked the game, these are just the things that bothered me.
 
The funny thing is, Vondoom, that if you bump into asteroids, you do take considerable damage, and they`re supposed to be immobile, while when you bump into another ship, it`s probably going just as fast as you are which means collisions occur at speeds twice as fast.
Maybe Confed perfect shields so they act more like force shields, while the inertial dampeners take care of the terminal deceleration.
 
Don't forget that he asteroids in prophecy had a much larger mass than a ship (your shields can hardly bounce away something that size) and the ones in WC1 + 2 were moving
 
Just remember that mass is only one factor in determining the force an object exerts on another object.
BTW, we were talking about Prophecy shields, so I didn`t mention WC1/2 asteroids.
 
Ok, prophecy has HUGE asteroids and therefore thats big enough to explain it. What would you rather hit going 70mph in your car, a tennis ball at 300mph or a ten tonne lorry going at 20mph? Assume the tennis ball is heading for your bumper as that is the first place a lorry would hit.
 
Yes but that still doesn't explain why you suffer virtually no damage if you slam into another fighter going full out or even into a massive capship. It's just part of the dumbing down that almost all recent space sims have undergone (poor AI included).

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There is no God but myself. No destiny but what I deem for me. I walk my path and no others, for I am free.

http://www.ntr.net/~vondoom
 
Fighters have a low mass and both the capships and the fighters have shields, double the rebound! Theres an idea for a game, WC pinball
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In the WC4 intro cutscene one of the Dragons attacking the transport collides with a Hellcat and sort of shucks it to the side without taking any damage. I'm pretty sure you can't do that in the game.
 
You sure can. The Dragon is strong enough to whithstand a collision with the Hellcat. (though I doubt the Dragon in the cutscene didn't suffer any damage)
 
WC Pinball - I think I already played that. But, instead of little metal balls, I had a Centurian. I love hyperbouncing (yes, I just made that up) off of the Paradigms. You can sail a good 150,000k in no time. I'm quessing it launches you at about a sixth the speed of light.
 
I usually try not to bump into other ships, and I usually flee when I see Paradigms, so I can`t say I`ve had the pleasure of bouncing off them.
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Actually, I stand by it as the best way to flee. If you have full shields, I don't believe it even does any damage, though I have blown a console or two that way, and the whiplash is pretty nasty.
 
Is it just me, or does the Hellcat get destroyed way too easily? Do other ships die after one missile, full shields? I miss the Excalibur...

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In WC4, most do, though it depends what difficulty you're on. IIRC, the WC4 Longbow can take 3 missile hits and survive, same with the Dragon.
 
to the original question, yes, it would of been better with some good planetside missions. But it should be worth while, they should have different physics when flying, the ground should be much more detailed, etc.

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"I'm putting you back in the cockpit Colonel, where you will be reunited with an old friend, the thrill of battle!"
-Tolwyn to Blair WC IV
 
I doubt that a realistic flight model should be there on the planet missions, or at least it should be an option. Though it would provide a somewhat... different... experience, when you play WC you're playing a space sim that never really cared about physics, so switching between a flight sim and a space sim during a mission could be anoying for some. But as long as it's an option than it's ok.
 
First of all, WC flies like a simplified flight sim, not a space sim (which would be I-war) but if there are planet missions there should be gravity to contend with. I mean a starfighter isn't going to stall but at least put gravity there. Othewise nothing else would need to be changed except for speeds maybe.

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There is no God but myself. No destiny but what I deem for me. I walk my path and no others, for I am free.

http://www.ntr.net/~vondoom
 
I did say it never cared about physics.
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Obviously it doesn't fly like a real space sim.

And like I said, a realistic flight model could be included for those who want it, but there should always be an option to disable it.
 
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