Gratuitous destruction

Gratuitous Forum Suggestions
1

Planetary bombardment

  1. The planet could simply be part of the background image. Bombardment is abstracted.

  2. Make a few kinds of planetary facilities. They are a new ship type so orders can be made to target them, etc. Also, like missiles vs PD weapons, they are a unique target type that current GSB weapons DO NOT ATTACK. The atmosphere might be treated as a shield, actually, so perhaps they all get a free shield. If so, space weapons might work if they have the penetration…

Types of facility:
—A. Planetary defense base. Has a silhouette for deployment but is invisible in game. This is in effect a ship with no engines allowed. They can have large armor bonuses. Shields don’t work on planets :wink: While designed like normal ships, they are invisible, and cover only a small area on the map (they are “below” the ships).
—B. Cities. Same deal, a silhouette for deployment. Unlike defense bases they might be visible as a web of lights, etc. (they can be partially transparent to blend with the background image below). They might be loaded with dummy modules so they can burn, etc over their area.
—C. Satellites. These are actually a new ship type as they are spacecraft with no engines, so not really planetary facilities. During the short timespan of a battle, they effectively don’t move. They take ship modules—frigate modules would be fine. A new unit type so that orders can be made to prioritize them.

  1. Planetary defense bases would have some special weapons. Most would be close to current weapons, but very short ranged due to having to fire through the atmosphere. Planetary fighter bases might exist with virtually endless supplies. Various weapons might be deemed unable to work from a planet to simplify things.

  2. Add a new class of weapons. “Orbital bombardment weapons.” These weapons ONLY attack planetary facilities. The ranges can be set in their files like other weapons, but the default values should be VERY short ranged. 1-200 or so. The idea is that the ships have to fly right over a facility to attack it, or very close, anyway. Orbital bombardment weapons include:
    —A. Deadfall ord (bombs). Range 100 or less, probably less vulnerable to any PD since they can be heavily armored.
    —B. Missiles. unlike space missiles, these need to be specifically designed to reenter an atmosphere. Can be very long ranged, actually.
    —C. Beam weapons. Specially designed to attack planetary facilities through an atmosphere.

  3. Some new scenario rules that allow one side to be the defender, and have more than total destruction as the victory condition. Alternately, by setting planetary bases as more valuable than they actually cost, it might be impossible to win under the current system without wrecking a large % of those bases.

2

tater, you rock! What a cool concept as well as detailed description! This would add an entirely new dimension to GSB; one that I would love to explore. The notion of defending a fixed location, added to the overall semi-medieval flavor of siege warfare in space (well, L.E.O., right?) just begs to be explored.

I find extra favor in the sub-concept of specialized weaponry useful only for attacking ground-based targets. Anti-surface weapons of the energy variety (beam/laser/other) should posess drastically limited range in exchange for the special engineering requirements needed to maintain at least some integrity in atmosphere. Depending on where you wish to draw the line between realism vs. gratuitousness, so much energy moving thru a planetary atmosphere would cause a localized tornado or even a hurricane, further damaging ground targets. How’s that for kewlness?

The planetary atmosphere should definitely function as a kind of deflector shield. Space-based weaponry built to attack targets thousands of miles away thru the relative vacuum of high orbit or interplanetary space should lose a good percentage of their coherence if the beam is shoved thru a dense gaseous medium, even if they are expressly designed for the job. Atmosphere should also be realized in gameplay terms as having a much higher “shield resistance” than actual ship shielding. Likewise it should greatly slow down untis attempting to move within it. Of course this gives point-defense systems more time to neutralize such units.

There should be some unique kind of extra-nasty weapon that ground-based defenders have access to. I can’t think of specifics right now. In gameplay terms, I would want it to be something sufficiently creative as well as damaging such that it makes ground attack a very serious proposition indeed for the enemy admiral and his fleet. The attackers can’t have ALL of the fun, after all. :wink:

3

Yeah, this would be a cool addition, would it not?

There could also be a new assumption added, that engines include FTL capability. Then, make a new set of engine modules that produce more thrust for less power and less weight that are “sublight only.”

Scenarios could then be developed where local craft (not starships) can be faster for a given hull since they don’t have to lug around heavy, power hungry FTL drives. Again, new problems to solve.

4

Yeah, I also feel that the explosions could use alot more… bang!

Like some explosion from Homeworld 2, or SINS.

5

With that explosion, how much damage occurs.?

6

Yes, can anyone answer this question?