Fleet Battle Mod (for Freelancer) Thread

BASIC IDEA

This idea for a freelancer mod is all about fleet battles.

TEAMS

Teams would be all of the houses (Liberty, Bretonia, Kusari, Rheinland, The Nomads, and The Rebels) Each house would have their own unique ships and weapons. (The rebel team would have civilian class ships)

GAMEPLAY

By defeating enemies, the player can gain experience, then use that experience to gain upgrades. Examples would be: upgrade weapon class, upgrade ship class (Light, Heavy, Very Heavy, Frieghter), upgrade shields. I was also thinking of adding squads and squad commands. Adding squad members could be another possible upgrade. If one team gets a certain amount of points, they could recieve a gunboat, another amount of points, a battleship, so as the game progressess it will become an enormous fleet battle.

GAMETYPES

Each team recieves a certain amount of reinforcement points, everytime a player (or computer player) respawns, the team loses a reinforcement point. To win, a team has to drain the enemy's reinforcement points. Another gametype could pe pushing through the enemy's defences and destroying their base.

HEROES

I was also thought of having heroes (special people from single player storyline). For Liberty, King. For Britonia, Tobias. For Kusari, Jun'ko Zane (or Juni). For Rhienland, Von Claussen. The Rebels, Ashcroft.

THE NOMADS

The Nomads would be the most unique team because they are aliens. Their ships are organic, so they have no shields, but recharging hulls. Since their ships are so weak, they would have the ability to produce units faster. Another special ability would be to possess enemy units. I was thinking of making a special gun that fired an organic pod. Inside the pod would be a nomad creature. The pod would stick to an enemy ship and the creature would enter and possess the pilot. The new pilot will stay with the nomad team until he dies.

MAPS

Possible battle areas could bo over a planet, in an asteroid field, or a "spacehip graveyard" (area filled with destroyed ships floating around).

SHIP CREATOR

I also thought of enabling the player to create thier own ships with parts from different ships. (Like wings) The new ships could be used in a "freestyle" mode where there is no house teams, just special-made ships.

I NEED HELP

I want to know what people think of this idea and if anybody would be interested in making it a reality. I don't know crap about modding and I need people's help.

Unfortunately, the FreeLancer ini system doesn't allow for this sort of gameplay to be developed. I think you'd find yourself stuck before you've started. I've gone through your ideas as you've posted them with comments, and unfortunately it comes out a bit negative with most of it;

TEAMS

Teams would be all of the houses (Liberty, Bretonia, Kusari, Rheinland, The Nomads, and The Rebels) Each house would have their own unique ships and weapons. (The rebel team would have civilian class ships)

That's entirely doable as far, and as far as I'm aware, it would only really require two factions to be created for MP.

GAMEPLAY

By defeating enemies, the player can gain experience, then use that experience to gain upgrades. Examples would be: upgrade weapon class, upgrade ship class (Light, Heavy, Very Heavy, Frieghter), upgrade shields. I was also thinking of adding squads and squad commands. Adding squad members could be another possible upgrade. If one team gets a certain amount of points, they could recieve a gunboat, another amount of points, a battleship, so as the game progressess it will become an enormous fleet battle.

First of all, the system through which experience and ranks are gained is not really editable, which sucks the ground out from under your feet somewhat. It is not possible to have this upgrade system as you describe it, and especially not to recieve things in exchange for points, that's totally impossible.

GAMETYPES

Each team recieves a certain amount of reinforcement points, everytime a player (or computer player) respawns, the team loses a reinforcement point. To win, a team has to drain the enemy's reinforcement points. Another gametype could pe pushing through the enemy's defences and destroying their base.

This alteration of gametype is also not really doable, there's no means through which to introduce your reinforcement point system, nor to introduce the reinforcement effect you've described. The objective based gameplay is also not really doable.

HEROES

I was also thought of having heroes (special people from single player storyline). For Liberty, King. For Britonia, Tobias. For Kusari, Jun'ko Zane (or Juni). For Rhienland, Von Claussen. The Rebels, Ashcroft.

That would potentially be doable, but their effect would be very limited. You can't make scenarios and they would only really be able to be dealt with very basic techniques that wouldn't result in something particularily worthwhile for the effort.

THE NOMADS

The Nomads would be the most unique team because they are aliens. Their ships are organic, so they have no shields, but recharging hulls. Since their ships are so weak, they would have the ability to produce units faster. Another special ability would be to possess enemy units. I was thinking of making a special gun that fired an organic pod. Inside the pod would be a nomad creature. The pod would stick to an enemy ship and the creature would enter and possess the pilot. The new pilot will stay with the nomad team until he dies.

Nomad craft can be given no shield ability and they can be given regenerating hulls with a bit of hack work, but the rest is a bit unfeasible, considering that the previous stuff wasn't doable, then the ability to reinforce faster is still just as not doable. The possession idea is possibly the single most unfeasbile thus far, and I won't even begin to point out the ini logic flaws as there are unfortunately too many.

MAPS

Possible battle areas could bo over a planet, in an asteroid field, or a "spacehip graveyard" (area filled with destroyed ships floating around).

Now these are actually doable - although it's better to combine these into a single system.

SHIP CREATOR

I also thought of enabling the player to create thier own ships with parts from different ships. (Like wings) The new ships could be used in a "freestyle" mode where there is no house teams, just special-made ships.

I don't think it's possible, although there is a higher level of customisation available than regular FreeLancer. You could potentially add things to alter ship dynamics to a basic hull design. That's soemthing which I've been playing with with my own mod; David Hunter 4 (The Reactive Principle)

I NEED HELP

I want to know what people think of this idea and if anybody would be interested in making it a reality. I don't know crap about modding and I need people's help.

And you probably won't find any here. Lancer's Reactor is pretty much the ONLY true FreeLancer dev community and can be found at Lancersreactor.com

AmberZ

It's a really good idea, and I love Freelancer.
If it's not doable for Freelancer, maybe UT2k4 or HL2 would work, although it would result in alot more work.

I've always been waiting for a mod or game like this, so I wish you good luck if you try it.

I was at one point thinking of building Dh4 on an FPS engine, but building a flight sim on one just doesn't seem feasible.

use the BF 42 or Veitnam engine...take away ground vehicles and u have flight sim.