Heavy Turrets

[karamazovapy]

So what about having heavy turrets that shoot bursts, have a slower firing rate, and can take more damage?

[watusimoto]

Sounds ferocious!

Actually, one idea is to make turrets scriptable, meaning they could do whatever you wanted them to. Different targeting algorithms, projectiles, fire rates, etc.

On the other hand, some uniformity is beneficial as well. What would a heavy turret look like?

[karamazovapy]

One rough idea, comparing regular to heavy:

[watusimoto]

Maybe a trapezoidal or squarish profile would be easier to distinguish.

[karamazovapy]

Maybe a trapezoidal or squarish profile would be easier to distinguish.

Sure. I don't really care how it looks, as long as it's in character with the game.

[ZoombeR]

how about a trapezoid base, and a bold, emphasized nozzle, like you showed on the picture, above the smaller base of the trapezoid. Rate of fire can be something around 60spm (shots per minute) to around 80 spm

I love the idea of a new turret, but I'm not sure how appropriate burst is as the weapon. Perhaps a new kind of projectile should be made? The new projectile could still deal large amounts of damage but would have different characteristics... maybe less knockback but a larger damage radius, for example.

I don't know, I think having a new projectile might create more variety and potentially require players to think about new strategies.

[karamazovapy]

Perhaps a new kind of projectile should be made?

I think heat seekers are somewhere in the pipeline, but I don't know any details about their intended damage, area of effect, or firing rate.

I was thinking a more artillery-like, heavy ordinance turret would be cool...a battleship equivalent to our little fighter planes.

[Skybax]

I like it!



(floating turrets tooooo…)

[ZoombeR]

maybe a old zap burst bullet that explodes only on impact, not rather on time?

maybe a old zap burst bullet that explodes only on impact, not rather on time?

Yesssssssssssssss. I loved the look of the old Zap! bursts.

[raptor]

need visuals!

[ZoombeR]

ok raptor: take the GLdrawing of a bouncer, and just increase that size to about 2x - 3x bigger, or something in between.

heres an image for you
click to zoom

before impact:


Impact explosion:

I can't say I'm very supportive of this. I feel turrets are already enough of an asset. Having turrets with varying applications is going to bog up the flow of gameplay.

[ZoombeR]

yet engineer already seems to do that 5 times as much?

[karamazovapy]

yet engineer already seems to do that 5 times as much?

the more I play with engineer, the more I feel like it ruins the game.

[ZoombeR]

I feel as long as we can get rid of the cheap placing your forcefield where an enemy cant destroy it, the gameplay could flow better again.

and if forcefields cant be fixed, turrets do work, and I found that turrets didn't disrupt the game as forcefields did

My point still stands. Add to many variables to a game, and it quickly becomes overly complicated and slow. As for engineer, yeah, it slows down gameplay, and is becoming the new Repair tool of BitFighter. Several people use it and nothing else, while the small majority are actually playing.

[bobdaduck]

I'm against having several different kinds of turrets. I think it would be nice to see other repairables, but my only idea for that is a thing that increases your energy regen. (doesn't stack)

[ZoombeR]

maybe the heavy turret is the turret you have to take out in the new game type watusimoto had an idea to make?

New.....gametype? Please, indulge us.

[karamazovapy]

maybe the heavy turret is the turret you have to take out in the new game type watusimoto had an idea to make?

Nah, I just thought it was a cool idea.

For those not in the development chat loop though, watusimoto has been kicking around an additional gametype for ages. The concept is more siege-based, where the goal is destroying a mothership or heavy base item instead of returning flags or capturing zones. It's not near implementation, as far as I know, but it's come up several times over the past year or two.

[ZoombeR]

heavy turrets would be great replacements for engineered force field projectiles.

Alternative to heavy turret: Knockback turret! These turrets do not fire projectiles (or if they do it has a slow rate of fire), but instead fire "blasts of air". These blasts literally knockback the enemies a few feet.

- Would be challenging to get into the enemy base.
- Would be challenging to get close enough to destroy the turret.
- Could provide good cover during close quarters battles.
- Would not affect team ships.

The Knockback turret would fire relatively slowly so enemies could eventually get by it, but fast enough that it slows down them down by a few seconds.

On an entirely different note, what if we had a turret (knockback or normal or something else) that could only be destroyed with a certain weapon? Phasers just wouldn't cut it, or take a really long time. This would encourage team communication (ex. "requesting a burster here!") and planning (going into an populated area with these bastards? better get my burster!).

This would encourage team communication (ex. "requesting a burster here!") and planning (going into an populated area with these bastards? better get my burster!).

Nothing good can come of this.

Speaking of things that can only be killed with bursts, you can stack a turret on a forcefield on level creation, or stack 2+ forcefields on top of each other, and you'll need an explosion to get by the forcefield.

And watusimoto's siege idea sounds completely awesome. Would be perfect for dungeons, too. Repair should probably have a limited effect on the mothership... or should it?

[ZoombeR]

possibly when fighting the main turret or whatever it is, your enemy's shield gets defective within a small range of the turret so you cant just charge at it a million times? But then the counter for this is the turret is unrepairable?

[Santiago ZAP]

Heavy turrets already exist...
(Check Dr Spacebar dungeons)
You just code the turret by adding something like W=Burst(or Triple)
Ex:
Turret 2 -4.498 8.7 1 0 0 W=Triple

Ask Dr, He is pro

[raptor]

I should reiterate again that the way this works in the level file will most likely not work in future versions - it was just a test feature (and therefore not official.)

We are planning on providing this feature in the future still, but the format will be different.

I just want to make sure you are aware when you find your levels break with the next release (which is still a ways away.)

[karamazovapy]

Heavy turrets already exist...
(Check Dr Spacebar dungeons)
You just code the turret by adding something like W=Burst(or Triple)
Ex:
Turret 2 -4.498 8.7 1 0 0 W=Triple

Ask Dr, He is pro

Heavy turrets didn't exist until I suggested them in this thread...

...but now that I've played with them, I don't think I'm a big fan. Still a fun idea.

[ZoombeR]

maybe just a turret with more health, so it takes more time than you can hold your shield and shoot for? so you cant destroy it, get zapped, and go right on with full energy?

[karamazovapy]

I might still like to see a "real" heavy turret, but I don't find normal turrets that shoot other projectiles particularly compelling.

I might still like to see a "real" heavy turret, but I don't find normal turrets that shoot other projectiles particularly compelling.

I completely agree.