I am working on my Star Trek game. I am putting this out there to the community because I'd like to hear specific requests... here are already some ideas I have.

Four Types of Phasers,
(0) Normal Phaser
(1) Shield Ripper, which deals extra damage to shields
(2) Anti-Matter Phaser, which deals extra damage to an exposed hull (if shields down)
(3) Corrosive Phaser, which deals less initial damage, but continues dealing damage for some time after.

Three Types of Photons,
(0) Normal Photon
(1) Metallic Core photon, which deals some damage to hull regardless of shield state
(2) Romulan torpedo...the one from the last Star Trek movie that can take a ship's shields out and practically destroy it, in 2 hits.

In addition, you can later unlock

- cloaking device
- virus phaser (a virus beacon, encoded into a phaser beam, that implants a virus in target ship's systems, and very slowly destroys it. The repair system can remove the virus, but does so slowly, and significant damage can be done before it is removed. However, virus will target repair systems first )

Anyone, any other ideas? Technology only, for now.

Well i must say. Romulon torpedo sounds over powered. Maybe a change, reduce the shield to 25% of full strength, and no damage to hull. Couple that with the Anti Matter phaser and its a decent combo. Otherwise those that just grind to beat games would use the romulon torpedo and it wouldnt really be a challenge. just my idea anyway

I guess this needs some clarification.

Which generation of Star Trek are we talking?

tifreak: Hmm.. I'd say all. Features from any movie or show are welcome.

Aes_sedia: I am gonna have it do hull damage AND shield damage, but I'm gonna have it not do that much. Plus, I'm going to give weapons accuracy stats, and the torpedo's is gonna be bad.

If any generation of trek can be used, I would recommend these armaments:

Phasers:

Standard Beam Phaser: fires a beam dealing normal damage to shields and hull

Stun Phaser: fires a beam that drains shields but will do next to nothing to the hull(good for if you need to capture a ship or take the command crew alive)

Pulse Phaser: more powerful, less accurate pulses of phaser energy fired in rapid succession

Gamma-encased Beam Phaser: Standard Phaser Beam wrapped in Gamma radiation, cooks crew on impact(only relevant if you're going to be tracking crew as a stat).

And if you want alien weapons:

Klingon Disruptor: identical to the pulse phaser, but does more damage

Romulan Disruptor: identical to the pulse phaser, but does additional damage to ship systems


For torpedoes, you have:

Photon Torpedo: your standard variant, slower, less accurate but much more powerful than the phasers, doesn't do squat to shields

Quantum Torpedo: more damage than the photon, minor shield penetration

Tricobalt Device: loads of damage and longer range, limited supply and can damage your own ship if you're not far enough away

And if you want alien variants:

Klingon Torpedo: more damage than a quantum(but not nearly as much as a tricobalt) but no shield penetration

Romulan Torpedo: same as the photon, but does radiation damage to crew


The weapons the Narada had in Star Trek (2009) were actually borg technology adapted by the Tal Shiar. If you want to include them I would just call them borg weapons(so as not to create confusion). The torpedoes can still have the enhanced shield penetration and the borg energy weapons would do additional damage to systems and crew. I would start the player with the basics and then allow them to upgrade after playing enough missions and earning enough credits or prestige or however you want to handle that. I think the "virus phaser" would make more sense as a borg torpedo or probe weapon. Other technology you could include would be multi-phasic shielding(allows you to fly into a star's corona) corbomite deflector(temporarily reflects incoming damage) and ablative armor(absorbs hull damage for a short time).
Oh and tractor beams. You have no idea how awesome those are until you use one. My father once took on three Klingon D7 cruisers in a game of Starfleet Battles with a crippled Constitution class. He had no weapons, so his opponent diverted all his energy away from shields and into weapons, thinking he'd finish him off next turn. My dad put all his remaining energy into the tractor beam, grabbed the ship furthest to starboard, and turned. All three ships were pushed into a nearby star. :')

There is also the transphasic torpedoes, that have devastating effects against the borg ships. 1 torpedo destroys a single cube.

I forgot about these. They're turn of the 25th century technology but would be neat as a cheat.

Yeah, along with the Ablative Hull Armor, which was pretty much boss.

If you're basing things on alien cultures, there is the Krenim Chroniton torpedoes, that shifted through space-time to pierce the shields. Hirogen Hunting sensors to get further range on sensors with higher precision on resolution.

Ok, a few updates, as progress slugs along.

1. A new technology system. Upgrades to the projectiles are now separate from upgrades to the weapons system. You can upgrade your phaser and photon technology, and you can upgrade your firing systems as well, as such:

// Upgrading your phasers themselves makes them stronger. They do more damage, or have other effects, such as the virus phaser or the corrosive phaser.

// Upgrading your phaser and photon firing systems decreases the recharge time between uses. Phasers start out with requiring 10 seconds between uses and photons, 15 seconds. At higher upgrades, this drops to 1 second for the phaser and 5 seconds for the photon. The last upgrades you can get for each are a rapid-fire system (see #2).

2. A rapid-fire upgrade to the firing system. The phaser system's rapid-fire constantly pulses ALL phaser modules until the weapon system's energy supply is depleted, then recharges. The photon system's rapid-fire causes ALL photon modules to shoot photons repeatedly until the "rapid-fire photon bay" runs out of ammo. Because I will be making quickly repeated hits on a ship more damaging to shields, this will be very useful.

3. 3 different ship classes... vanquisher, defender, and explorer. Each ship class will have a different boosted stat or set of stats.

4. Ships will have empty modules to install equipment on. These are: weapons modules, shield modules, and power modules. Weapons modules can have any type of firing system equipped into them. Shield modules provide shielding (1 module = one layer of shield, 2 modules = two layers, and so on). Power modules provide auxiliary power. The vanquisher has 4 weapon modules, the defender has 2, and the explorer has 1. The defender has 2 shield modules, and all other ships have 1. The explorer has 2 power modules, all other ships have 1.

5. Also, doing different things in the game will allow you to unlock different things...

- defeating an enemy in combat earns you battle points, allowing you to purchase weapons upgrades.

- defeating an enemy without a battle earns you stealth points. for instance, if you take out an enemy ship without taking a hit yourself, you will earn stealth points. if you take defeat an enemy without firing a weapon, you will earn stealth points. if you defeat an enemy in combat, but take very little damage, you will also earn stealth points, but not as much. Stealth points can be used to purchase stealth technology, like the cloaking device, tractor beam, and shield disabling stuff.

- doing peaceful things, like aiding a ship in distress, defeating its aggressor, and beaming the crew onto your ship; entering into an alliance that you do not break will earn you diplomacy points that you can use to purchase defensive upgrades.

I like the idea, but the proper nomenclature for your starship types (as stated on screen and in reference materials, games, etc.) would be Cruiser, Destroyer, and Scout, respectively. These in turn are derived from modern day naval classifications.

I know. That is what they will be called in game, but my designations are so i remember what the heck they do as im making the game.

Well, I have decided on a few specifications...

1. The space terrain map will be 65,536 x 65,536 x 65,536 (a 3D map). This means, according to my calculations, the map, in uncompressed format, will be 2.81475 x 10^14 bytes (or 281.4 Terabytes) big. Show of hands on people who think thats a bit big...

2. To solve the issue created by #1, map data will be stored on the hub that the game running on. When a NEW hub is created (i.e.: a player connects to hub number that previously never existed), a php script on the server generates the map, using terrain creation algorithms. for instance, as the algorithm creates the map, it may decide to place a nebula. Then, it will continue placing nebula blocks around that block, but as it moves away from that block, there is a greater and greater chance it will place a non-nebula terrain block there.

3. The space map will then be divided into smaller regions for transfer. While a calculator is within that region, it uses that terrain region, but when it moves off it, it must send a request for a new region of terrain, delete the old, and render the new terrain. This could really slow down the game.

So, here's what I already have established...

a) I WILL be hosting terrain server-side, not client side. Clients will have the ability to generate a blank map when not connected to a hub.

b) 281.4 terabytes is insane for a map for a calculator game. Can someone propose a sane map size, in 3D?

c) Is there any better way to handle only sending part of the map data to a calculator as needed?

You store the map as a sparse array, not a dense array. Problem solved. It seems to me that as far as sending the data to the calculator, you should send the nxnxn region around the player's ship to the player.

A sparse array is basically, if I'm reading google right, an array with empty indexes? Or is it an array that skips entries?

A dense array has every possible element filled. You store element (0,0,0), (0,0,1), .... (0,0,n-1), (0,1,0), .... and so on. In a dense array, you store a 1-dimensional value for each element. In a sparse array, you store a d+1-dimensional value for a d-dimensional array: the indices of the element and the element value. If you had 65536^3-1 zeroes in your map and a single filled element with value 12 at (50,1000,6), then your giant matrix would contain exactly 1 element:
(50,1000,6,12)

Oh. So it's basically excluding null values (or theoretically you can use whatever value occurs must frequently as your default).

Yes, but it's not only excluding them, it's not storing any data about their lack of presence (including their coordinates, even as empty spaces). Of course, since the example bridge is in Python, and Python's SciPy has sparse array support, you don't really need to worry about any of the implementation details.