Little project

[Hayoo]

Been working on these concepts for well over a year, just like a lot of players. Finally figured out a good interface and decided to throw a very rough sketch up. Details later...maybe.

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/assaultcarrier.jpg

[Pyrotechnic]

Wow, very nice work there Hayoo!

Is this like a floating base, you can get out the vehicles and walk round the ship? OR Is it like a normal vehicle, 1 person acquires it from a dock and sails round and others can gun for it and land and get reapirs and so on, kinda like a floating GAL or Brick?

Are they floating Vanguards?!?! :o.

(You might wanna change the thread title, doesn't look very professional ;).)

[piolet68654]

Thank god for the <bleep>in 5 decond delay
-chris rock :)
<bleep>in good work!
*drools*
*goes to Ebay and types in "Hayoo"*

[Hayoo]

Originally posted by Pyrotechnic@Feb 27 2005, 11:09 AM
Wow, very nice work there Hayoo!

Is this like a floating base, you can get out the vehicles and walk round the ship? OR Is it like a normal vehicle, 1 person acquires it from a dock and sails round and others can gun for it and land and get reapirs and so on, kinda like a floating GAL or Brick?

Are they floating Vanguards?!?! :o.

(You might wanna change the thread title, doesn't look very professional ;).)

Yes, it's very much a floating facility, but you can't walk around in it or on top of it (well I guess you can, but if the ship moves, you'll fall off just like with current vehicles). It's like a Gal or brick that people can board since the Devs haven't coded stickiness to moving surfaces yet. But passengers can switch locations internally through a menu interface. These same passengers can abandon ship like they would a ground vehicle, but a self-powered liferaft inflates under them automatically that they can use to cross the ocean much like a person can run across a continent. The raft runs a little faster than running speed. They can even motor up to a rescuing ship and board that one by floating to one of the boarding circles next to some ladders on the hull. Or a gal can hover close and let them board that way. In some cases the raft construction is not automatic and must be stored in inventory and activated (river assaults anyone?).

Players can also acquire a vehicle and choose 'launch' where they'll go in a launch que, or choose 'boarding' that puts their vehicle in a holding area. Other passengers can then use that same menu interface to board the waiting vehicles (if the driver has set the appropriate permissions). When the vehicle is full or the pilot is ready he can then hit 'launch'.

Reavers, Skeeters, Liberators, and a new type of aircraft I've got, are launched from the forward bays, beneath the top deck. Galaxies are brought up to the top deck via the creation pad, and then catapulted along the deck. Ground vehicles are launched from the back hatch like a loadstar or Tech Plant vehicle bay.

To re-board the Assault ship for repairs or to store the vehicle for later use, a Galaxy lands on the second pad on the deck. Smaller air craft land on the 4-6 landing pads on the ship sides. When they hover over the pad and hit "G", they are automatically brought below decks by the elevators for repairs and and the rearming menu appears. To leave, the player hits 'launch' again. Sorry, no hovering to repair and rearm cause the ship is moving and the air traffic could be deadly. Plus a player might have lost their gunners/passengers and want to get more. Best to bring everyone inside nice and safe then launch them again like a real carrier.

The ship, currently called Assault Ship (because it's function resembles a Wasp-class Amphibious Assault Ship), is a mobile Tech Plant/Dropship/Interlink/Bio Lab. Players can spawn at this ship or even bind to it. Outfits may designate this ship as an HQ, as can other outfits, to gain certain upgrades, but doing so puts a high XP reward and a mark on the ship that enemies will recognize. So don't go charging this thing into a battle. Once purchased, an outfit can 'commission' a ship, much like commissioning an outfit decal that never goes away. This means they can give the ship a name that will appear on the hull, and even if it is destroyed, they can get it again later like maybe 6-12 hours or something without paying outfit points (or maybe a much reduced cost). An un-commisioned Assault ship has a 12-24 hour timer. This same Outfit ability can apply to the other surface ships. Players will soon begin to recognize different outfit-owned vessels, friend and enemy, by their names. Once the sea-phase of a campaign is complete or rendered unnecessary, the ship can dock at a port for 'storage' or deconstruct. A deconstructed ship costs even less in outfit points to re-acquire than a destroyed or un-commissioned ship. So no worries there.

The ship allows players to get Advanced assault vehicles so long as it's got NTUs. This means you can get Vanguards without a shore Tech Plant or even a Tech Plant link. A player acquires a vehicle as usual from a menu and puts it in Holding and calls for a gunner. A gunner hops in through the Ship Menu, and the driver hits launch. As the tank pulls out of the rear access hatch, the ship's systems puts a thin hull under and around it so it can float. This landing-craft skirt allows the tank to safely reach shore at a speed of 30-40kph. Once it hits shore it will then deconstruct and the tank can drive around as normal. The tank cannot use it's weaponry while floating. Instead, a 12mm turret on the back of the skirt hull is operated remotely by the tank gunner for defense as it approaches the beach. Fire support will come from accompanying Delis (who can use their 20mm), Landing Ships (who have flak guns), or nearby Destroyers customized for anti-shore work (more on that down the list).

That same tank can only get back to the ship by use of a Landing Ship (another vessel) which can pick up the tank on shore, dock in the Assault ship like a Sunderer in a lodestar, but then the tank can transfer through the interface from the Landing Ship and place itself in 'storage' like my Garage feature, or put it Holding to wait for another gunner or something.

The Deliverer of course doesn't neead a landing-craft hull attached and can exit and return to the ship like it was driving from a lodestar and back on land.

And yes, this is Outfit purchased. It has to be since it's basically a mobile tech plant and spawn point. The Outfit can choose its permissions such as Gunnery, Command Chair, Driver. I'm thinking of limiting passengers to 40-60, enough for 2 gal loads, fighter cover, a landing force, and ship's crew (driver/gunner/engineering/admiral's chair).

The Assault ship can only be purchased at the Sanctuary shipyards. To keep it simple I only have that ship, a destroyer and a cruiser that you can customize like a BFR for Anti-ship, Anti-air, Anti-land, or Anti-sub defense cruiser. There's the sub, cloaker of the seas, and a small patrol boat that can go into rivers. These other types vessels may be acquired by the properly-certed individuals at the Sanctuary harbor or the 3-4 ports on each continent. The patrol boat can be acquired at these locations or several boat-towers along continental rivers.

The Assault Ship's defenses are typically anti-air only. It must rely on escorts to defend it. Because Planetside does not have a horizon (crucial to any fleet), every ship will have a wide mobile-cloaking radius, and I'm talking SOI size. It won't block radar, only visual spotting. This cloak only works if the thing is i motion, is not too close to shore, and has enough NTUs.

NTUs are drained by vehicle repairing, refueling, and ship self-repairing. Once drained, the ship is visible at a distance (give or take the fog), it's top speed is 40% reduced, and it's rearm, repair, and healing functions must run off of stored Ammo, Armor, and Health canisters in the massive trunk. But don't worry. Another type of ship is the supply ship, a cross between an ANT and a Lodestar that can replenish it.
I was going to wait till later so I could write up a more complete and organzied post, as well as do a title rename (I like being sneaky), but I guess some details now couldn't hurt. But now I gotta go mow the lawn before it rains. :)

[IncomingFire]

You always leave me wanting more pics, oh well very cool ideas as per usual Hayoo. If I may so the only problem I have is with the sub how do you take into account the rather shallow waters of Auraxis? Or will the rest of the details be released on a later date.

[Hayoo]

Originally posted by IncomingFire@Feb 27 2005, 09:19 PM
You always leave me wanting more pics, oh well very cool ideas as per usual Hayoo. If I may so the only problem I have is with the sub how do you take into account the rather shallow waters of Auraxis? Or will the rest of the details be released on a later date.
later date. :D


Suffice to say that sub-surface vessels can cloak like a wraith, unless they are surfaced. But they should beware mines and sensor buoy's dropped by ships and aircraft tooled out to take on subs (the sea-version of proximity mines and motion sensors). Speed and stealth will be their greatest defenses ...as well as the small trunk of torpedos and anti-ship missiles they will be able to carry. :P

more later. and hopefully more pictures and diagrams.

[Breed]

Naturally we'd need sea-ports and outposts (meaty oil-rigs) :)
I could honesatly say naval would be a good expansion, add another 2/3 80% water continents and see what happens :D

[IncomingFire]

Originally posted by Hayoo@Feb 28 2005, 03:38 AM
more later. and hopefully more pictures and diagrams.
Oh happy day.

[DviddLeff]

Instead of having the ship sea based, Id like to see the thing hover, so that it could go over land as well...

[Hayoo]

Originally posted by DviddLeff@Feb 28 2005, 05:44 PM
Instead of having the ship sea based, Id like to see the thing hover, so that it could go over land as well...
Uh...I don't think I'm ever going to go that route, sorry. :(

[DviddLeff]

Thats cool Hayoo, its just that it would fit in very nicely with the old outfit cruisers concepts.

Ive never been a big fan of a PS navy, although it would be very cool, it would be a huge amount of work for the devs, not only having to make new units, mechanisms and so on, but have to make entire new, interesting sea terrain to fight over.

[Hayoo]

Originally posted by DviddLeff@Mar 1 2005, 07:14 PM
Thats cool Hayoo, its just that it would fit in very nicely with the old outfit cruisers concepts.

Ive never been a big fan of a PS navy, although it would be very cool, it would be a huge amount of work for the devs, not only having to make new units, mechanisms and so on, but have to make entire new, interesting sea terrain to fight over.
I loved the old cruiser thread! :D According to the size of Slickcoder's artwork, I'd envisioned them being kind of a galaxy on steroids just for outfits to work towards buying.

As for new areas, I figured those could come later. To be honest, new sea areas aren't even necessary with the navy stuff I have in mind. Oh to be sure, by even doing such an expansion the Devs would be obligated to create a couple sea zones to justify the cost (I'm guessing a free expansion would be out of the question for such athing), but I figure these new maps don't have to be as large as the current maps, maybe sized between the BI's and the conts. These new map's main function would be to create backdoor lattice links to the continents through sea gates and the sea ports they connect to. This way an invasion doesn't have to occur from the obvious direction of a warpgate, but to the seaport. And an invasion force can bring a Tech Plant and Dropship Center with them via the Assault Ship. :)

http://planetside-idealab.com/images/navy.jpg

http://planetside-idealab.com/images/seagates.gif

http://planetside-idealab.com/images/seagate2.gif

[piolet68654]

http://img218.exs.cx/img218/3425/assaultcarrier2.th.jpg (http://img218.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img218&image=assaultcarrier2.jpg)
red circle: what is that?

[Pyrotechnic]

Yeah, I was attempting to model this, until I saw that bit...

[IncomingFire]

Since the aircraft of PS are VTOL I'm going to assume that the flight deck is shorter than the rest of the vessel. So that means what you are seeing there is the prow of the carrier. It also looks like the end of the flight deck is angled up kind of like the new British aircraft carrier in the works designed for STOL aircraft (Short TakeOff and Landing).

[Tiletron|Hyncharas]

Is this ship going to have access port along the hull... for the boarding/offload of ground vehicles?

[Hayoo]

The Prow

Yeah, that's the prow of the ship, kindof an angled stealth shape like some of the latest ship concepts are going for.

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/supercarrier.jpg

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/cvx3.jpg


The Flight Deck

Aircraft are launched from the front bays at the prow beneath the flight deck. Galaxies are raised to the flight deck and shot off along the short length of the deck. The reason I'm using catapult systems is that the ship would mostly be in motion and I want the aircraft to clear the area safely. Here's a diagram of the assault ship that explains some more things. The top-down image is a below-decks view.

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/shipdiagram.gif

From the diagram above you can see the boarding circles for those in liferafts. Although that's not the best way to board an Assault ship as it'd have to come to almost a full stop. Best to use another ship and enter the well deck, use an aircraft, or bind there before the ship leaves the shipyard at Sanctuary.

Rear Well Deck

For vehicles, there are two access ramps in the back. One is where vehicles egress and are given that automatic landing craft hull to reach shore (although slowly, much slower than the Landing Ship). The other is a return or boarding hatch for amphibious vehicles and Landing Ships. Kinda like these images below:

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/lsd3.jpg


http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/LPD17_11.jpg

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/Bataan.jpg

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/LHD12.jpg

Example Images

The prow and general feel of the ship is like these images here:

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/mcr374l.jpg

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/lha1.jpg

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/GD_PD_Ship.jpg

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/sendbinary69r7.jpg



Just wanted to also mention that those four landing pads are going to be moved to the back of the ship where there would be more room for the flight hanger. At their current placement, the Galaxy doors get in the way.

[Hayoo]

Here's another example image of someone boarding the ship, or any of the type of ships available, from the sea. Simply motor over to the boarding circle, click "G" when prompted, and an animation will play of your avatar climbing the ladder, kinda like getting into the rear gun spot of a galaxy. Once you're in, you occupy the same virtual space that other passengers do, much like the HART. To move about within the ship, you'll use a window interface. This is done because the game won't let you walk around inside or on top of a ship, so everything must 'become one with the ship' to use it as transport, just like a galaxy.

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/shipboarding.jpg

[Pyrotechnic]

That clears it up a bit, cheers.

[IncomingFire]

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/shipboarding.jpg
I started laughing(sp?) at this picture and when people asked me what it was about I tried explaining it and they didn't find it funny.....but thats ok I hate them anyways.


But now that that is out of my system, I don't think I'm getting a handle on how the Galaxy works out in this.

[Hayoo]

Originally posted by IncomingFire@Mar 4 2005, 12:07 PM
I started laughing at this picture and when people asked me what it was about I tried explaining it and they didn't find it funny.....but thats ok I hate them anyways.


But now that that is out of my system, I don't think I'm getting a handle on how the Galaxy works out in this.
lol. Yeah, I was chuckling when I made that picture. Only PS players would get it. :)

Ok, how a Galaxy works, or how one can be acquired, loaded, and launched, right? Players board an Assault Ship and it steams out of the Sanctuary harbor to the Sanctuary broadcast Seagate. The ship warps to a sea gate on a contested continent. Aboard are about 25-30 players who have bound to the ship as a spawn point. Our player's view is in third-person up and back from the ship like on a galaxy, or in first person looking out from the bridge area.
Our player, let’s call him Incomingfire, :) has the Air Support cert. He’s also part of a squad looking to hotdrop over a contested target.
Incomingfire accesses the Ship Menu and clicks on the vehicle terminal tab or image. From here he could also have picked one of the gunner spots (if open) or the commander’s chair.
At the vehicle terminal interface he selects the Galaxy. But instead of hitting Launch to immediately take off, he hits Loading. The Galaxy is now placed in the “Hanger”. From here, Incomingfire can select the permissions for the Galaxies guns, passenger seats, or cargo area.
Our player lets his squadmates know the Gal is ready.
His squad opens the Ship Menu, clicks the Hanger tab and sees several vehicles in the loading area: there's another Galaxy, Incomignfire’s Gal, a Vanguard looking for a gunner, two Deliverers, and a liberator. They click on Incomingfire’s Galaxy and hit board.
Incomingfire can now look at his Vehicle window and see who has boarded his aircraft and in what seats. From here he can also kick people from the aircraft. Passengers can leave the aircraft at any time too, which will put them back in the ship’s main menu/barracks.
Incoming’s gal has room for more passengers, so he opens up the shipwide chat: “Galaxy loading for Mulac hotdrop.”
Several more players board. Incoming finishes waiting and hits the Launch button. The other galaxy and a skeeter have hit Launch first, so Incoming’s aircraft is put in a que of 3/3. When it's place in the que comes up, the ship is lifted up through the elevator doors to the flight deck. It lifts a little off the platform and shoots down the flight deck up into the air at 50kph. Hit detection is turned off, like with all vehicle terminals, until the aircraft is safely away.
Incomingfire transports his squad to the objective. After they bail, he returns to the ship.
To land, he merely has to hover above that second pad behind the creation terminal, and hit the “G” key when prompted. The smaller aircraft can land here too or on one of the other smaller landing pads.
Because the ship is probably in motion, and aircraft are launching, coming at it from the front is not a good idea. You should generally approach from behind like a regular carrier, decelerating and decreasing altitude as you get close to the deck.
Hitting “G” will automatically land the plane and the elevator will pull it under the deck. This puts the ship back in the Loading hanger where it will be repaired if damaged and recharged if the shields are out.
From the Hanger menu, Incomingfire can choose to launch again, to deconstruct the vehicle, or ‘store’ the vehicle in his personal garage for retrieval at a dropship pad for later (if he’s customized it somehow or likes his current loadout).
If Incomingfire died, he could simply respawn at the Assault Ship wherever it is and reacquire a galaxy.
If he was shot down over the water and bailed, a liferaft would automatically inflate for him and he could putter back to the ship as best he could, putter to shore, wait for a rescue ship, get rescued by another galaxy (who can simply hover above him and the player can hit the "G" key to board, or the player can recall to sanctuary or the Assault Ship if it was designated as his outfit's HQ.
And that’s how it’s done.

[IncomingFire]

Originally posted by Hayoo+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Hayoo)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>And that’s how it’s done.[/b]
Never heard the birds and the bees discussed quite like that before.

Thanks for clearing that up though. After I had posted that I kind of thought it through and had something similar not as in depth though.

<!--QuoteBegin-Hayoo
From here he can also kick people from the aircraft.[/quote]
Like those trouble makers Early and Hynch.

[Hayoo]

Originally posted by IncomingFire+Mar 4 2005, 09:07 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (IncomingFire @ Mar 4 2005, 09:07 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Originally posted by Hayoo@
And that’s how it’s done.
Never heard the birds and the bees discussed quite like that before.

Thanks for clearing that up though. After I had posted that I kind of thought it through and had something similar not as in depth though.

<!--QuoteBegin-Hayoo
From here he can also kick people from the aircraft.
Like those trouble makers Early and Hynch. [/b][/quote]
lol :lol:

[Earlydawn]

:lol: :D

[tjmonk15]

Very nice Hayoo!
I'm happy cause i'm seein some of the ideas I posted a long time back:
http://s3.invisionfree.com/Planetside_Idealab/index.php?showtopic=19
All cool by me :)

[myrtar]

monk, we brought everything over for ya -> http://comms.planetsidesyndicate.com/showthread.php?t=946

[Hayoo]

Very nice Hayoo!
I'm happy cause i'm seein some of the ideas I posted a long time back:
http://s3.invisionfree.com/Planetside_Idealab/index.php?showtopic=19
All cool by me :)

Glad you're seeing some things you like, Tjmonk. :) I probably don't have most of what you're wanting in an hypothetical expansion such as this, but I do have the basics that can be built on later if need be.

There are more general notes posted in this thread (http://comms.planetsidesyndicate.com/showthread.php?t=1264) on speeds, loadouts, abilities, items of interest, etc.

[Binks]

While I absolutely love the idea, the ship is pretty ugly...looks too much like a modern carrier, and not enough like a space age carrier...honestly I think the pic you posted earlier looks a lot better, and could be the design on it's own...

Picture w/ labels of what teh places are (didn't include vehicle spawn/entry area as the back wasn't shown)

http://sote.nick231.net/forums/files/modified.jpg

Honestly that looks soo much better than the design at the beginning, that's more high tech...sry hayoo...the idea is great, the design ain't (hey! Slant Rhyme!)...that's jsut my opinion...

[Hayoo]

Finally figured out a good interface and decided to throw a very rough sketch up.

I just barely started with the design, don't forget. You're seeing the very first sketch. :-)

The picture you referenced is a design from the TV show Robotech (http://www.robotech.com) (reflecting many months of development), and it's not really a Carrier, it's a Submersible Landing Ship, but I've always liked the Robtech/Macross style of machines. Ironically, I posted that image to show what I hope the assault ship to resemble in the end. hehehe. :) I'm pleased you like the idea, but remember that the image is a first sketch. There's a long way to go. I can't make a fully developed design right off the bat. ;)


Here are some other designs from the same Robotech/Macross shows:

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/prometheus.jpg

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/Ikazuchi_ACGp91.gif

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/uraga.gif

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/uragafrontside.gif

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/uragarear.gif

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/mcr101l.jpg

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/images/x2mppsdf1.gif

edit: added robotech website link.