DescentBB

The mod is Team Fortress. This is a write-up of the various objects in the mod, starting with its ships. More will be added as I go along, but for now this is as much writing as I can handle. At any rate, feel free to leave comments, especially with names for the ships. I'm not the kinda guy that can come up with names easily--if you want to make a name or two for the ships, feel free! Also, I'm going to be needing help with this thing. I need help. Big time. If you can model, skin, make levels, or work with table files, and want to help with the project, PLEASE e-mail me. I'll be more than happy to accept any help offered. I can accept basically any model format, image format, or sound format entries. Again, if you want to contribute, DO IT!!!!

Did I mention that I want some help?


Object list for D3 Team Fortress

Ships:


Standard Fighter Class:
These ships are the pyro class of the mod. Theyâ??re all-purpose ships that donâ??t really shine in any one area, but you can rely on them to do some damage before going down.

Standard Fighter
This ship is the standard, do-it-all ship weâ??ve come to know and love. While you wonâ??t recognize its shape, youâ??ll definitely recognize its capabilities. This ship has a good speed, decent shielding, and a fair weapons payload. It wonâ??t stand out in any one area, but it should be good for all-purpose work.

Missile Fighter
Pretty much the same characteristics as the Standard Fighter, this fighter does everything pretty well, but nothing exceptionally. However, it has a definite advantage in an exchange of homing weapons and outright firepowerâ??it suffers from ammo shortage frequently, but it packs enough punch when loaded to make it a dangerous opponent. It is somewhat slower than the other two ships of its class.

Energy Fighter
Again, basically the same characteristics as the Standard Fighter, but with a definite advantage in energy weaponry. This fighter has the capability to fight a more sustained battle than the missile fighter, but it relies more on wearing out its opponent than outright blasting that opponent to smithereens. It is somewhat faster than its two brethren


Heavy Fighter Class:
These ships are the magnum class of this mod. Theyâ??re big, heavy, well-shielded, and they pack a serious punch. Lighter ships shouldnâ??t have too many problems taking them on in the open, but inside where their weaponry is harder to avoid, these ships represent a serious threat. Their increased firepower comes in handy against defense turrets.

Standard Heavy Fighter
Pretty much a Standard Fighter with reduced handling and speed, increased shield, and more payload. Donâ??t rely on it to win any races, but donâ??t try to fight it in a small room, either.

Missile Heavy Fighter
This dude is one ship you donâ??t want showing up in your face. With low reload times, high payload, strong shielding, and a bunch of rocket tubes, this thing packs enough firepower when loaded to take out a small city. Stay on your toes, or you wonâ??t get past this shipâ??s powerful weaponry. This ship has a definite advantage with homing weapons, due to the ammo-based system. However, it suffers from the low speed and handling typical to its class, which isnâ??t helped at all by the weight of the ammo it carries.

Energy Heavy Fighter
Again, not something you want to go toe-to-toe with. It has a very fast reload rate, enhanced shields, and the capability to last longer into a fight before becoming an empty shell of ammo-less metal. While slightly faster than the Heavy Fighter Class in general, due to the lack of heavy weaponry, itâ??s still slower than its corresponding Standard Fighter.


Light Fighter Class:
These ships are the equivalent of the phoenix. Theyâ??re light, fastâ??and horribly shielded. While capable of carrying a substantial payload, they just donâ??t have the firepower to take down large base defenses before getting decimated. On the other hand, they are at a definite advantage when in ship vs. ship combat.

Standard Light Fighter
Yet again, this ship does everything its class does relatively well, but nothing exceptionally. It has the speed to get in and out of places quickly; a definite plus when it comes to flicking that switch and getting out before the whole mine disintegrates.

Missile Light Fighter
While this ship does carry an energy cannon (it canâ??t hold as many missiles as larger ships, so it needs a method of defending itself in case of enemy attackers while reloading) most of its punch comes from the assortment of homing, explosive, and fire rockets it carries. It suffers slightly in maneuverability due to its payload, but it will still outrun ships of the other classes.

Energy Light Fighter
This ship carries an assortment of energy cannons and electromagnetic pulse generators to create homing energy blobs, though not of the same magnitude as the other ships. It is somewhat faster than the other ships of its class, giving it an extra edge over even these maneuverable fighters.


Miscellaneous Classed Fighters:
These ships are the freaky, oddball monsters that remind you of that nightmare you had last night. Their attributes are varied, but one thing they have in common: theyâ??ll scare the heck out of you if you donâ??t know whatâ??s coming!

Rocket Burst Fighter
This oddball ship doesnâ??t have the ability to fire a particular missileâ??rather, it fires a barrage of missiles at extreme reload rate of varying types. The missiles tend to share the same characteristics; for instance an impact burst will fire a large number of concussion-oriented missiles, often with fire attributes and/or large explosions. The reload rate for this particular ship, however, is INSANEâ??the ship needs a full 15 seconds of cool-down time before firing the next burst! This ship has a high rate of speed, but turns slowly. It is moderately shielded; about the same as a Standard Fighter.

Energy Burst Fighter
Basically a clone of the Rocket Burst Fighter, but using energy weapons instead. The reload time for the Energy Burst Fighter is slightly slower, but its barrage is generally less powerful. One barrage, however, will take up to 60 energy from its reserves. The Energy Burst Fighter shares the same flight and shielding attributes as its cousin.

Swarm Fighter
This buzzard is a very tiny, almost needle-like ship. Itâ??s very hard to hit and small, and it has a speed that is almost equivalent to the Light Fighter class. Its only defense, however, comes in the form of a light needle cannon which drains its small energy reserves heavily, and a very light, though fast, homing missile system.

Fire Fighter
This ship has job: burn the enemy to death. And it does its job well. It has a knack for sneaking up to its enemy and unleashingâ??its small frontal profile assures that it remains unseenâ??until it cuts loose a barrage of flames, however. Lightly shielded, this ship has a fair choice of weaponsâ??mini napalm homers, Greek fire rockets, a Greek fire cannon, and other incendiary weapons ensure that this ship remains a force to be feared on the battlefield.

Gattling Fighter
This ship was built around one thing: its giant gattling gun. Capable of firing both energy and mass projectiles, the Gattling Fighter likes nothing more than to spew a stream of damage into the path of an enemy. While horrendously slow, this ship maintains a high turning speed that enables it to bring its giant cannon to bear on anything it can see. Heavy shielding makes this ship into what could be aptly described as a mobile gattling turret.

Wait, didn't you post this on SectorGame as well?

I'm posting it on every BB that has a modeler, artist, or modder on it. I NEED HELP!!!

.. I'm wondering why so many ships ..? at four ships as in D3, isn't that enough ?

Maybe, maybe not. The variety of choice becomes just another factor in the game, and believe me this is far from the worst example out there.

It'd probably be an interesting enough mod too...

Anyway, I do start to wonder. Obviously this mod is for D3, not something else, and it -should- be able to handle the task fairly well.

Will there be any weapon changes?
What would the levels be like? (I never played the original Quake TF, so I don't have that to go off.)

I'm aiming at a Team Fortress style mod. Hopefully, this type of mod will garner enough interest to be played a fair amount; a 4v4 game of Team Fortress would have a need for more ship types than standard D3; though they aren't really necessary, they would provide a whole different dimension from the standard "shoot everything" type of mod.

Plus, you notice how much people complain about the 4 ships in D3. "Skippy, fusion *****, fast-fusion, hacked microwave" etc. This doesn't happen much in any other type of FPS I've seen, and my theory is that this is partially because of the lack of choices. 4 ships, while providing a bit more variety, means that a lot of people will end up using one ship type, and thus people will see its bad spots (read: how "unfair" it is). With ~14 ships, I'm hoping that a lot of this will be reduced: there'll be so many different ships, with different styles and strengths/weaknesses of fighting, that there will be less complaining about how "unfair" any particular ship is. I mean, sure, one of these ships can fire a missile barrage that will rub out an entire roomful of enemies if they aren't careful--but hey, any survivors have 15 seconds to obliterate the offending ship at their leisure.

Plus, the D3 ships really weren't done quite right. If you open those things up in an editor--they look awful. No one thinks about it because we're so used to seeing these ships--but think about it, wouldn't you like to see a cool fighter with rocket pods and energy guns, instead of a box with some fins that have cylinders sticking off of them?

I'm exaggerating a little here; D3's ships are fairly good-looking for their polycount; I'll give you that. But IMO, they're just too low-poly. Today's systems can handle more. There's been patches etc to raise the polycount on these ships; but they still don't give the overall impression of seeing a squadron of 5 different ships floating at you in preparation to release a volley of devastating ammo.


There won't be many weapons in the mod that you'll recognize from normal D3. One of the mistakes D3 made, IMO, was in making everything too "cartoon"ish. They just don't really seem like something that the military would consider using. I mean, sure, they do damage, but which would be more likely: a white-and-green striped missile with bad aerodynamics that defies gravity and clearly advertises its presence to everything within visible range, or a sleek, dark, camoflaged rocket with a slight drop to it; not enough to make a huge difference in aiming strategies, but enough to make it definitely move over long distances? Which would be more realistic, the sound of a tinny rattly machine gun firing a stream of tracers, or a deep, throaty roar from a heavy, well-oiled 10mm machine gun spewing a stream of red-hot bullets at another ship? Which is more realistic, a rocket that pulls everyone into itself then kills them all, or a rocket that explodes into a huge fireball, incinerating everything in range, and shaking the mine?

As for the level types, those will (hopefully) varied. I've never played quake either, but I'm thinking basically two giant bases, with above-ground and underground portions, with team robot spews and defensive turrets. Pick up a bomb (an object type, not a weapon) and detonate it in an enemy's room to destroy everything in that room short of its shell, and obliterate all players within. When all enemy rooms are destroyed, you win.

Alternately, a cool idea would be a ship vs ground base idea. A giant army freighter, starting an assault on a heavily entrenched ground base, might make a good TF scenario.

Does have some interesting features. Realistic weapons are nice and all, but it would be preferable at least in my eyes if you could go easy on the undodgable weapons; I'd rather the game not revolve around who gets the gun first but instead who can use it more effectively.

The other thing is the ship types you've suggested are mostly, should I say, a little formulaic. Instead of fitting ships into a weight/weapon type grid, so to speak, why not give them a bit of character?

Of course, since it's early days yet, that is probably just a proposition more than a plan...

But I do like it, provided there are a reasonable number of people willing to play the mod. With any luck...!

This thread seems more suited for Descent Development than Multiplayer.

Sorry Ferno, it just seems that no one actually reads these development forums, and this is meant to be a community project, so...

Also, there won't be very many instant-hit weapons. I don't like instant-hit weapons very much either, and thus, while many of the weapons will have very fast travel times, hopefully none of them will be instant hit.

The ships I've suggested are a bit formulaic because I wanted to preserve balance, while at the same time giving people options. The miscillaneous ships, however...

Sorry for the double post and bump, but I've got new and relevant information to present, so why make another topic?

I now have a website for the Team Fortress mod, and a section of a forum dedicated to it. Check out http://www.stryker2.com/stryker/index.html for more information, and don't forget to check out the forums!