[UI] Darkorbit: Reborn

Introduction:

It's long, but I want to take points that bother me, then I will list the changes I suggest. I am aware that what I suggest isn't realistic, it's just concepts and ideas that I want to share. It's about a fair and skill-based remake of the game. With competitive and fun content, it would be a completely different game, with the same basis. Please read before voting. I will take some time later to edit it with colours and better formatting.

With this color I will explain why I suggested something right after each idea.

This one will be used for cosmetic-related details.

Hello, I have known this game for a long time, and I like pretty much.
I used to watch my brother for hours playing this game, with the thrilling feeling of seeing him progressing, getting friends, and just having fun. After litterally thousand of hours playing this game, having bought every single elite item, he left the game, simply because the maps were empty.


Several years later, I tumbled across this game, suddenly remembering about it, since there was an interesting event, I gave it a try, for only 2 week ( the free premium's duration ) I went to the newest global server, and tried to progress the fastest possible.
Today, in a over a month ( now almost 2 ) and for free, I am close to be full havoc ( I am now ). Full elite, 12 lf4, diminisher design, venom, sentinel,aegis, citadel, spearhead, drill,moth and chevron formation.
It is really impressive, I never expected that. But honestly it's almost only because I know exactly what to do, and I put enough time into it ( 300 h now ). Also the quarantine event with 10000 seprom ( leonov and rockets ) and 5 fl4 basically for free really helped ( all the other events too ). A newbie or a casual player would never be even close to me ( in a year maybe ).

This is a problem. A game should not be like that. To progress properly, past level 12-15 ( everything is easy before thanks to new quests ) it's mostly grind, pain, stress ( no more premium also ). And that's when you know what to do. All you can do is undergo it. And because it is hard to go through, either you stop the game, or put 100$/€ at the right time, and when you know what to do with it, just to be able to start into the game properly.
And that's the pay to win logic, when you get into a point where you NEED to pay to not get stressed out and pressured. If you are tough skinned enough, you can try to progress by yourself, without paying, but it's not that fun and needs a lot of time.
I Did my first invade yesterday, after grinding 230 hours, and only because I had an event quest( it's a waste of time to pvp either way ). Before it was mostly grind, I did have a lot of fun, but it was tough and long. It's still the case since I'm far from reaching ufe ( aka being able to pvp ).

Here I am mainly giving my new player point of view, as how someone from the outside, as a gamer, would see the game. ->

The game is actually a whole lot easier than before, and that's really a big step forward, I want to thank the devs for that.

It was the case with the ECO-10, and now with the SLL-02 ( also double gg rewards, assembly, etc.) . It also goes into the playstyle logic which is the main thing that defines how enjoyable a mmorpg in general can be.

The 3 ( Citadel, Aegis, Spearhead ) new ships that we got also went in this way, where everyone can have its role, and where a ship has its meaning and use. That's how you make a diversified and enjoyable game. The pusat Vengeance also respected that, it was the glass-canon alternative, fast and hard hitting, but fragile.

It was the orginal concept of the three elite ships, Goliath for the all-rounder strong fighter, Vengeance the fast but weak StarFighter, and the Leonov, map defender! ( Goliath is still on top of course, but the idea was there )

Now with all the new ships introduced and the Tartarus, all that balanced game logic where everyone can have its role is shed in pieces. Apart from the mimesis, which is a complete separate ship, with other interesting ablities. They all are ships that merge strenghts into one. and are stronger. That kills the game's balance.

One is a stronger venom, and the other is a stronger aegis, it makes no sense. I understand that UFEs need something to aim for, but it's just irrelevant.

The Tartarus crushes the concept of having our Spearhead and Vengeance as the fastest ships. They are weak but fast, one is for scouting, the other for fighting. They have their place in the game's balance. The Tartarus is tankier, hits harder, AND is faster. It makes no sense.

First its existence blows away the two other ones's. And second, it goes into the pay2win logic, where there is one thing that is better, and that's what you have to aim for, but that will only be possible if you can afford it. The same thing goes for the Surgeon Goliath design, and the new drone design that will merge Havocs and Hercules into one.
That can only make a world where all the strongest ( i mean the wallet warriors ) can compete with each other in their privilegied world. Where everyone is the same and does the same thing, with only their luck or bank account to define who is stronger.

Unfortunately it's the same with the drone formations too. The concept is awesome, particular formations that you can play around with, based on your playstyle and how your opponents play. It's perfect, but the fact that they all are really expensive makes them only truly available ( their actual potential ) for people that can afford them all.

And it's the same with pilot bio, which is actually even worse in the Pay2Win aspect. Because the pilot bio isn't really what playstyle you want to go for, but rather how much points you can afford to make the best page. Exactly as explained above already in:
"That can only make a world where all the strong..."
Because to be strong enough, you need to have everyting in your pilot bio at the max, and if you don't, you won't be able to keep up. That's an issue.

First, because it makes passively stronger someone based only on how many logdiscs he has. Someone with the exact same gears will probably lose vs another who has a better pilot bio. With no regards to skill, mastery, or playstyles. ( no evasive maneuvers/shield mechanics/electro-optics vs one that has it is a no match ). Of course someone who is a lot better than his opponent might win, but there is just a big and unfair disadvantage for him.
It's like everyone is supposed to have it, and if you don't you don't, you are a lot weaker. And it's not like it's quick and easy to have a full pilot bio page, it takes a lot of time and money. So everyone has to invest all of that time and money, just to be able to be on a somewhat equal level with others.
To be honest it's now a lot easier with the double reward sunday and the zeta gate. But I am not bitching about things that I dislike, I just critisize the actual concept of the feature. So having it a little easier doesn't change what the thing is about.

Secondly, because it kills the concept of a "skill tree". A skill tree, in any game, is about what way you want to take with your playstyle and enhance your stongest points. Our skill tree actually has only a few viable ways of being used. And I don't find it varied enough at all. I will introduce a new skill tree that I thought about at the end of the post.

One more thing I want to say is that ( and that might not be really kind thing to say ) this doesn't seem like an actual game ( a free to play one at least ). As if BP is a seller and we are its clients, as if it was an online expensive hobby, and it's not about a game developper-players relationship. And that part really bothers me, I've been noticing this for a quite some time, and more and more.
It's like we are sold a product, and not at all having a game presented to us, with the possbility to pay some money to support the developpers. You know, like in any free to play game.

Anyway, I think that I pointed out enough things to critisize, I will start to suggest changes, I'll try to briefly explain why I do each time.

It's a lot of ideas that I think could make a really nice game, I'm not stealing things from anyone, that's not what I am trying to do, if you consider an idea I talk about yours, please consider it as so. My ideas can for exemple be inspired by the really nice thread ( http://www.bigpoint.com/darkorbit/board/threads/dark-orbit-remastered.118484/ ), I am taking elements of it, and going further.

Suggestions:

The game itself:

Honestly the game's support is outdated. The game itself is amazing, it has amazing concepts, art, logic, but the laggy-browser support can't be something working properly in 2017. The devs did nice with the 3d update, it looks beautiful, modern, but I think that the change should be a lot bigger.

This should be a downloable game, with a few gb of data. So we can have properly animated 3d animations and effects, high quality graphics, more and bigger maps. Animations adapting to each situation ( ability vs ability, laser vs shield, rockets vs hull, every single thing situation would have its own animation and it would adapt to what part they affect ). More and upgraded NPCs. No lags, smooth jumps between maps, lot of bug fixed, etc.
It would be a total remake of the game, with new codes ( fixed bugs, cheaters, new possibilites ) and everything remade from scratch. But with the same concepts and elements. Not a reload, rather, a rebirth of the game.

With a launcher, with patches, an actual dev team that proposes updates in a beta server, where they listen to critics and make the changes based on them, fix every bugs that come up, etc. Like any proper game in its genre.

The game's windows would be able to go full screen, 1920x1080, optimised game engine, high quality effects, animations, particules, sounds. you could play it in a low-consumption browser mode ( it wouldn't be on the browser, just a type of game window) .

Interface:

Updated user interface, entierely customizable. You can use a key for anything and change it however you want. Items and such will still have to be used with the action bars though.

Gameplay:

The gameplay would be completely overhauled. I want to take all of the rng and some stats ( so money-related, because better stuff you have, harder you hit ) out of the fighting. It would be about dynamic, skilled and fair fights. Where everything done or prepared matters.
The point of view would be a mix between what we have right now and a 3rd person low angle one. Where you face a direction a part of your back view is hidden. Sort of like when you zoom in a little with the actual 3d version.

Ships are a little rescaled to a bigger size, all maps have a doubled size ( battle and pirate maps on 50% bigger) . Lasers are a little smaller. The Citadel is twice bigger ( why is it so small anyway? ).

You can't see what's behind you ( you can see right behind the ship, but not further ), but the mini-map would be completely remade with hightly detailed infos from what's around you. You would hear aliens and ships around you too, so you won't just get attacked from behind and be powerless ( everything has its own sound and intensity differs with distance and things I will say below ) .

The mouse click will only affect movement ( and only, it won't click on anything, except for game windows), and you will turn the camera angle to right and left with the scroll wheel ( or extra mouse buttons if you have ).

The locking mechanic is erased, you now have to aim with your cursor and press the laser key, same with rockets, they will go for the target your are aiming at, but depending on how well and where you are aiming, they might fail ( just like the lasers, but these dont go straight, they follow the target they were aimed at ) . But when aiming at players, rockets tend to go for shields ( they rarely fail to hit in that case though ).

Your laser have a maximum range limit, and they hit what they have in front of them, if you point on an ennemy that is behind someone or an alien, it will get to him but some of the lasers can get blocked ( and will deal to the other one ).

While rockets are targeted, the lasers aren't, they are not extremely precise, and won't perfectly go straight. Can be resolved with drone formations and talents.

The locking mechanic is out of our era, now with high end PCs, and proper internet speed, there isn't really any difficulties to lock people. And the system I am talking about is a lot more dynamic, skill and timing based. Even farming becomes a challenge ( will be rewarded fairly ). But I understand that the locking mechanic works best in a browser game, that's why I want the game to have it's own program.

I also change the miss stats and evade stats with physical circumstances like dodge and parrying ( somewhat ), that will actually be about skill and playstyle, instead of stats and luck.

The faster and smaller the ship, the faster and smaller your lasers will be, the contrary applies for the bigger ships. ( you shoot at the same rate of course ). You are throwing one salva of each of your lasers ( each you have on your ship and drone will hit, one by one,at the same time more or less ). So you will have a lot of shots that can hit the wind!

You have to aim at the right place, at the right time, if you are shooting in a direction, your ship will face where it did for a few seconds ( the time to do 2 shoots ).
You can't miss your shoots if they hit. But with some abilities, speed, talents, your ennemies can have parts that deflect shoots or just evade them ( nosy parts of a ship, or sharp edges will reflet shots on hull ).
If you keep the laser key pressed, your ship's aim will follow the cursor. Might be usefull if you run away, clicking far behind on the mini-map, while keeping on shooting something. Or just to follow a target with your lasers without moving.
Shields aren't just a second health bar anymore. You now have to destroy the hull to kill an ennemy, and that's your only focus. And the shields in addition of the ship's armor will be what's protecting it from your attacks.

Shields keep the same shielding points. But it now matters where the shield are in your drones, because if you have a formation with 8 drones in front for exemple, and 2 in the back, if you get shot in the back only 20% of your shield power will be effective ( if you are full shielded on drones and don't use particular formations ).

Half of your hp is made into a ship armor, it's an armor that will be effective all around your ship and acts as a shell. It sustains itself at a rate of 5% per second. If it's emptied, it will be disabled for a short moment.
Now your shield bar have separate segments in it, for each extra shield on ship or shield on drones you have.
You have one drone shield bar, and one ship armor with a extra ship shield bar at the end of it . Each segment is large enough so you an see it has 100/75/50/25/0% of its points. The armor segment is a lot larger of course.

Where you hit the ship or the shield will actually damage it. When a shield is completely annhiled, you will hit the ship itself when shooting ( if there is no ship shield or armor to protect it ). You can partially pierce the shield with talents and such. Big lasers tend to attack in a larger areas, so they hit more shields, and they don't pierce them well, the opposite goes for the small ones.

When setting up your ship's configuration, you can chose to trade some speed for more shielding power, placeing extra shields instead of the speed generators.
The extra shields on ship will be in front of it usally and really close to it, so they protect the best. Some, like the vengeance, has its extra shields in the back ( if not running speed gen ) . The Tartarus has them in the front, Goliath, Aegis and Citadel have them everywhere, Spearhead and Leonov on sides.

Since the shields ( especially on the drones ) are further from the ship ( some formations like the ring has them even further ), you will hit them from further.

Of course you keep the same health bar system, but now you are the only one ( and people in your group ) that can see it on the ship details game window ( with cargo, speed, etc ), people can only figure out how much hp or "ship armor" left you have by looking at you!

I will tell for each drone formation later below how they act when attacked or attacking more in depth.

You have to press space to throw rockets and the binded key for rocket-launcher.

clocking takes one full second. When clocked, you don't make sound ( or partially muffled, have to move slowly to not make any sound ), and you are only partialy covered ( can figure out the ship, or might have some lightening reflects ). Only the Spearhead can be completely cloaked.
The faster you are the more your ship will make sounds moving ( same with shields when shielding, lasers when shooting. ( shield will simply be bigger so the sounds follows the size, more lasers = more sounds of lasers shot )

The speed of every ship becomes faster, because you can now accelerate. ( when you start clicking, it accelerates, when it starts reaching the point you clicked, it deccelerates. If you keep movig without slowing, your ship will end up going faster than right now. You can stop your ship with the brake key. When shooting backwards, you are 5% slower.

Your shields won't simply charge back the amount you lost. Now, shields will separately recharge themselves when out of combat, they will recharge themselves with 25% of their amout lost each seconds. Each Shield starts charging after 2 seconds when not triggered.

When your hull gets damaged, it actually shows itself on your screen, the ship loses some parts of its shell. When the repair-bot repairs you, it actually replace the parts. You have can only repair at a battle station, or else you need to wait twice the amout of time it takes to get out of combat and not move to have your ship starting to repair.

Repairing is now a lot faster though, its 15% hp per second.

Picking up raw materials and ores, need you to stay on top of it for a second ( or more for some, ie: 2 sec paladium, but you can collect more than one if you can have your ship over multiple ones ) and the ship will automaticaly collect them. If you move, it will cancel it.

To pick up a cargo, you need to stay one second on top of it to get the rewards, and another one to get the ores. If you pick up a cargo that has paladium in it, you have to wait an extra second. A cargo that has urdium and credits not taken will be purple, it will then turn to blue if there is paladium in it, and then orange like the actual one.

Now half of the rewards for killing an alien has to be collected in its cargo ( the credits and uridium ), the other half ( honor and xp ) and kill points will be gotten by the one who did the last hit.
50% of the reward ( not sure if uridium and credits too ) will be earned when reducing the target's health ( has to go through shield and armor ). Each % of the health that you damaged will give you a % of half of the reward.
Of course, when all of the possible % has been earned and the target somehow gets HP back, it doesn't give anymore rewards.

I will explain how rewards work for groups in the group section.

Premium doesn't give a better repair or rocket throwing rate, everyone fights on the same level. Rockets rate is 2 second ( 1 with cpu, 0, 75 with demon drones ).
When killed, you can now only spawn at the company base, or at the map's closest base. The laser is free for premium players, costs 150 for others. There is a 30 minute cooldown on it.

You can only ship warp every 12 hours ( 6 for premium users ). 3 minutes for ships that where already on the same map. 1 minute for premium users.

Pet:

The pet is now like an extra member of your body, just as an extra arm would be. And at the same time it's just like an actual ship on it's own.

The pet now uses the same extras, high tech, ammo, as you do, is affected by your drone formation's and talent mastery's effects and has the same armor and hull system as other ships. The PET now gets affected by mines and such items.

It has speed generators/extra shields, laser generators, P-CPU ( wich is now how gears are called ) and gains hp with each level. Everything gets unlocked with levels.

Pet isn't automated anymore, now, it's simply what an extention of your arm could be. If you click on something ( paladium, cargo, whatever ) it will run and collect it in your place.
If you are using an automated collector P-CPU, it will go to the place you sent it, and collect everything the P-CPU is for in it's perimeter.
Radar protocols will make the perimeter bigger. The radius is a lot smaller than the actual one of course, but you can now send you Pet in places using the mini-map ( in a radius 3 times bigger than the Pet's ).

There is no more Guard or Passive mode.
The basic mode is "Explorer mode". In this mode, it can do anything you tell it to do, and uses its lasers where you are aming at. If you press your laser key, it will shoot his. If you move it in front of someone shooting, it will get damaged like any other ship. It has no drones, only lasers on ship and shield extra shields.
But his sides and nose are sharp and it deviates hits easily.

When using any P-CPU, the PET becomes automated, and can only be moved, it will act on its own. If the P-CPU has a cooldown, and is used, the PET will won't do anything but move until you change its Mode or P-CPU.

Pet fuel consumption greatly reduced by removing the gear's fuel consumption cost, repair cost is also halved ( can use repair tickets ).

The Pet cannot sell ores anymore

You can now choose between 3 Pet:

One that has 16 lasers, 6 generators, 3 P-CPU, 1000 cargo.
Another one with 16 generators and 6 lasers but only 3 P-CPU 1000 cargo.
And the last one Has 10 lasers and generators, but can use 5 P-CPU at once! It also has a 25% cooldown reduction on its P-CPUs. It also has 1500 cargo.

You now can either set each of your cpus with keys, or select the one you want manually ( now you can select one when the PET isn't deployed ).
There is one On/Off key, and one Move key.

To appear, your PET will actually come out of your ship, from the place where you extract ores. Now ships are bigger, but the PET will always follow it's master's size scale anyway.
To desactivate the PET, and have it transfer its ores to you, it has to get back into your ship's cargo. The rex follows the same shield and hp regen stats as its owner, but when undeployed, these regen stats have a +15% boost. When pressing the "Off" key, the Pet will run back to you, no matter the situation.

To repair its HP, the PET needs to be undeployed, while your are repairing yours.

Extras/etc. :

Advanced CPU jump deleted

AIM cpu makes it a lot harder for your lasers to deviate! It basically makes some of your lasers hit the opponent's armor for 15% of their damage when they get deviated.

Mega-bomb cpu and mines instantaneously impact but are smaller. The shield ones directly takes the shields hit off. Direct health ones jump on the ship's shell. EMP mines disable the cloack on the ship hit, his cloak will be disabled for 30 seconds, etc.

Instantaneous shield forms a bubble around the ship, blocking the incoming lasers with it, for 3 seconds. It has to be destroyed, if not hit, it will stay for 10 seconds, but the cooldown doesn't refresh meanwhile.

The EMP will take off the cloak of people around you in half, it is partialy disabled, can reform itself 10 seconds later if the ship doesn't attack. The EMP will make the ship deviate lasers a lot easier for 3 seconds.

"Ice rockets" are deleted from the game.
DCR-250 rockets brake the ship hit with it, and make them accelerate 25% slower for 10 seconds.
PLD-8 rockets confuses the laser aming system hit by it, making the lasers go sideways ( ruins accuracy ).

high-tech:

Everyone can get use 3 high-techs and they are free.
You have a production time reduction of 5% per level.

Energy shots:

Your lasers shine, they have increased accuracy and don't richochet easily. Duratiob: 10 seconds, cooldown: 45 seconds.

Emergency hull armor:

Your ship gets an emergency armor applied on its shell. A momentaneous 30 000 + 20% total hp heal, that goes off if not shot in 4 seconds, it replaces destroyed hull parts, with a shiny translucent glow. 30 seconds cooldown.

Tactical precision targeter: Makes your rocket launcher pierce the shields a lot more effectively. Also+ 20% damage to hull and armor. Can be used once, will affect the next rocket launcher attack. 11 seconds cooldown.

Shield disabling charge:

Shots a shield weakening charge, affecting the first 4 shields it hits for 4 seconds, they all get 35% weaker to damage. same cooldown as the one above.

Shield replacer:

This high tech ability replaces 4 used shield with fully charged ones ( replaces the one the closer to where your mouse is relating to your ships position ).

Abilities:

You have 2 action bars, for free, one for everything, the other for drone formations, up to 10 item each. Premium users get one extra. Rocket launcher will have a separate key. Ship Abilities can be put on W,X,V,B,N ( azerty keybord, the bottom line ). Rex and Interface Keys can be binded to whatever you want.

Vanquisher, Peacemaker, Sovereign each get +12% laser damages on allied maps against faction-opposed players, and +7% otherwise.

Goliath Enforcer: +10% damage

Bastion: +25% shield

Surgeon: deleted

Saturne Design: Still + 20% hp but now has stronger front armor ( +20% front extra shields power ) while sides are weaker that other goliaths ( -20% ). Same for Centaur.

New Leonov Designs!

Justiciar: Look faction-based, same as how it works for Goliath ( Vanquisher, etc. )
+5 shield absorption, +10% HP and shield, +5% speed, +5% damage

Demon: Matches the Demon Drone Design look!
+ 15% shield
+10% rocket damage
-10% laser and rocket launcher damage
+10% speed
Has 2 abilities:
Demon Chase: for 2 minutes, rockets can't get deviated. 8 minutes cooldown.
Demon Dance: For 30 seconds, you and you opponents deviate laser shots a lot easier ! ( around 50% miss rate )



All other Goaliath-Looking ships are cosmetic designs of the already existing ( Veteran, Exalted, Enforcer, Bastion ).

Solace:
Keep pressing the ability key, over 5 seconds, Repairs 10% of your own ship's hp and 5% to your allies in a small radius. Gives +30% damage reduction on armor. The ability recharge itself for 1 stack ( max 5 ) every 10 seconds, you can hold it on/off any time. ( Counters venom )

Diminisher:
When the key is pressed, shoots a red aura of shield disabling energy on the target, Applies the same on the two front sides of the Diminisher ( where lasers are ). The shields hp hit by the charge are weakened ( shielding power cut in half ). You can stack 3 of these shots, recharching over 15 second each. ( Counters Spectrum's ability )

Sentinel:
The shield bubble/bubbles around the ship are twice as strong, they completely isolate the ship from outside attacks but the hull can get pierced if using talents and abilities for it. Counters Diminisher's ability, disabling it if used after, still giving half effectivity if used before.
weak to Venom. Used the same way as the Solace.

Spectrum:
The Spectrum confuses the space around itself, merging its shields all around his ship, replacing disharged shields with full ones, slowly recharging the used one at a rate of 6% per second. it cannot have its shield pierced. Laser power is divided by 2.
Counters Venom's ability, same as Sentinel above for the ability overlapping. The Diminisher will have its effect doubled on the spectrum, and hitting any shielded part will affect all the parts.
The Spectrum can only activate its ability for 5 full seconds 2 times. Charging 50 second each.

Venom:
Venom's ability works the same as the Diminisher's. Stacks up 3 times, 15 second each, stealing 6% HP and dealing 12% of HP max . Has to be well-aimed ( on naked hull ) and has half effectiveness against aliens and on ship's armor. ( Really big alliens have shields too good to get hit easily anyway ).
When used on shields, it pierces a hole where it was used ( not on armor ), disabling for 2 seconds the shields, leaving the the ship's armor naked if there is no extra shield on the ship where the hole was dug.

Vengeance Design have their bonuses matched with the Goliath's.
The Pusat design isn't touched. Though it has sharp rears and front shell, so it deflects shot really well.

Aegis:
Now both of his targeted ablities work the same way as the diminisher. It has 5 stacks, gets back every 10 seconds ( 15 for hp ability ) and you have to shoot it once to ally so you can heal them. You get healed too. It's half 7,500 and 5% of max hp for you. And 10 000 + 7% for allied ships. It's heals hp at 10% and the ship's armor gets 90% of the heal.

Spearhead is fine, it has a thin hull that is hard to hit, its nose deviates hits and its sides have the ship's extra shield.

Citadel:
The draw fire ability makes your shield expand to catch nearby shots fired. I haven't used the citadel's abilities much, so I'll keep the seconds and charging time open for suggestions.
other abilities are fine.

Tartarus:
Reduces the speed bonus to 35%. When his ability is toggled on, reduces the ship's lasers range by 25%. ( They will get less precise when far and reach a smaller max distance ) But the ship has fast lasers that are hard to dodge when shot properly.

Drone designs:

Havocs: +15% lasers, builds up a damage multiplicator of 1.1 to 1.5 when hitting the same place ( only affects lasers ).

Hercules: + 25% shield power, +15% HP. Bigger shield radius for each of them equipped with this drone. When fully equipped, gives a subtle, transparant flimsy bubble around ship, and protects against hits ( doesn't deal any damage to the ship or shield at all ) that are 2% or less below the actuall full shield power. If hit for 3% in 2 seconds, it will pop.

Demond drone: + 15% rocket damage. With a full set, reduces the rocket rate of 0,25 second. When a rocket directly hits the hull, it will shed and explode 5 times into the ship's engine. It will separate the damage in 5 parts, and each has a 33% chance of dealing twice its damage.

Spartan drone: +10% damage and shield. +15% hp bonus. ( thinking of adding a subtle disavantage or a good one. ) Is now a green drone.

Crimson, Jade, Sapphire, Amber Respectively get a colored aura based on their color. Same with Faction-based designs.

Lasers:

I'll state what color goes with each laser ( with x1 to x3), because it's simpler and it's a important part to make clear.

Darker colours have additional effects and particles.

LF1: Now 50 damage, light blue.
LF2: Now 110 damage. Actual lf3 colour.
LF3: Now 155 damage. Darker blue. Blue aura around the lasers, and blue particles when shooting around the canon's mouth ( blue lights and sparks ).

LF4 LF lasers give a damage boost of 0,03% each. LF4 laser's are golden with sparks and stardust. When using x4 ammo while fully equipped with lf4s, your white laser shots will get the same stardust and sparks effect, but in white. And when using the x6 ammo, its color will be a mix between the golden and the actual x6 color. ( with added particles )

( MP lasers get graphicaly updated, having a green crystal in them and looking between the MP & the LF4-HP )
MP1: Now 100 000 credits. 90 damage. Gives +3000 hp per laser. Light green colour
New! MP2: 2 000 000 000 credits. 135 damage. Gives +4500 hp. actual green colour.
New! MP3: Has to be assembled from plasmide ( and maybe other things, open to suggestions ). 185 damage. Gives +4000 hp per laser. Heals of 0,03% hit per laser for all of the MP lasers. ( ratio is 10% to hp, 90% of heal to armor )

Darker green colour. Gives a green aura around the lasers when fully equipped with it, same as the laser color, gets darker with each level.

SLL laser now have a pink color, getting darker with each level.

SL1 Now 1 million credits. Deals 130 damage. Peak at 45.
SL2 Now deals 135. Peak at 75.
SL3 Schisme crystals needed for to assmble reduced by 2. With SL lasers, when hitting not-charged shots, it fragilises the ennemy's defenses, each of them makes the next charged shot stronger by 0,2%. It can cumulate, but it can't be higher than 2,5%.
Does a purple lightening around the canon's mouth when shooting the charged shot.

Genrators:

G3N-1010, 2010, 3210 and 6900 are deleted.

New!
GEN-S 3310 20 000 credits. Provides a speed boost of 4.
GEN-S 7900 6 000 uridium. Provides a speed boost of 8. GEN-S generators, when fully equipped with ( just one is enough ) allows your ship to run their speed engine at full without making much sound, the sounds are muffled by half, but when near ships, they perdiodically make sounds.

New!
GEN-A 3310 30 000 credits. Provides a speed boost of 4.
GEN-A6900 4 000 uridium. Provides a speed boost of 8. When fully equipped with GEN-A generators, your ship accelerates 3 times faster!

SG3N-A0A, AO2 & SG3N-BO1 are deleted.
SG3N-AO3 is now called SG3N-AO. 50 000 credits 5 000 shield power. Absorbs 60% of the damage taken.

SG3N-BO1 1 500 000 credits. 8 000 shield power. Absorbs 70% of the damage taken.
SG3N-BO2 10 000 uridium. 10 000 shield power. Absorbs 90% of the damage taken.
SG3N-BO each of the shields have a bigger radius, but the shield bubble is bigger.

FS-01 200 000 credits. 4 000 shield power. Absorbs 75% of the damage taken.
FS-02 2 000 000 credits. 6 500 shield power. Absorbs 85% of the damage taken.
FS-02 8 000 shield power. Absorbs 95% of the damage taken.

The shield's radius is smaller, but its taint is a lot darker and is closer to the ship's hull, the bubble is more compact.

Of course all of these items are showed on the ship or drone using them and has the color ( the effects too ) its showed with on the info page.

Graphic suggestions:

it may seem a little superficial, but it follows the subject I was on before.

Drones, generators, lasers:

Anyone ever wondered why his drone didn't shoot laser? I think everyone did, and it's not a strange question at all.

All shields, generators, lasers, cpus would show themselves in-game on the ship: A drone with a shield and a laser would have the shield generator developping a little shield in front of the drone and it would join the shield bubble, you would be able to see it doing it.
The laser would shoot, joining the others and you would as well be able figure out the laser on the drone.
Same with the ships, they all would be remodeled to have each laser showing themselves on them, and shoot or shield respectively. Generators would go behind the ships and make a bigger burst of flame in its lower part when accelerating.
Each shield or speed generator would have its own colour, respectively to what it has on its information page. Same for lasers.

Havocs have a red/orange little fire propulsing them. Not like the Demon's at all, but just like a mini-ship would have. When full havoc, your lasers have some fire particles in them. When no cosmetic designs are applied, you will shoot red lasers with x1 to x3 ammo. It's darker and more intense than actual red lasers.

Hercules have a blue halo behind them. When full havoc, your shield bubble/bubbles will have some intense blue particule in them, and if you don't have any cosmetic design on them, you will have complete intense blue effects with your shield animations.

Spartans do have green scales on them, and green aura around them all. If you are full spartan, and have no cosmetic design on them, you will have green scales on your ship and shield bubble too. You will aslo have little green lights in your lasers.

Demon drones designs will be enhanced in the new graphic style of the game, with 3D, smooth, animated models and high details. Also, when you are fully equipped with demon drones designs, your rockets will have the same red light/smoke you can find on the drones. Also, if you don't put cosmetic drones on them, it gives a red/brown aura to your shield bubble and particles to your lasers.

Drone formations:

With the 3d update we discovered what could the drone formation look like when optimised to a new level. It's animated, it's stylish, goes with your playstyle. It's just really cool and fun. All formations become 3d and might change their drone order.

Now drone formation managing will be a lot more interesting, primarily based on who uses his formation first, and how does the opponent takes to change his. Because most defense formation can get disabled ( the bubble pops ) and it usually takes at least 4 seconds, just the time to change your drone formation again. It's a mind game and reactivity-based kind of fighting.

So let's exploit that logic with my ideal changes:

Turtle:
Gives a turtle-shaped ( a square with 2 drones stacked on each other on every side ) shield bubble with turtle scales particles and rock smashing sounds when attacked, that has two layer of shield on any side that you can get hit on.
Any shield used on the ship or drone will be reorganized to have shields wherever you might need them, really usefull if you want to cover a side that has no more shield to use and protect your hull from attacks. It protects the hull from lasers really well ( but not rockets ).

It gives a + 20% shield bonus, 10% shield absorption, but slows by 10% and reduces laser and rocket damage by 10%.
When firing lasers, the drones hit from each corner, the aim isn't really precise, lasers will shoot where they are aimed at, but not with the best accuracy.

Double Arrow:
Gives 20% shield penetration. Put all the shields on the front of the ship, on both sides but their points are reduced by 30%.
Point and click accuracy, chirugical and fast shots, but its range is 30% less of the usual. Fires half shots from the right and the others from the left arrow. + 10% more damage on hull and armor with lasers.

Diamond:
reduces hp pool by 15%, when a shield is hit and emptied, it gets back 1 second later. Can only recharge 3 shields per second. It's a diamond-shaped formation that keeps the drones close to the ship. It forms an unbreakable little diamond shield around the ship.
You need to destroy 4 of them on the sides to go through the shields and hit the hull.
If the hull is hit by 100 lasers in 4 seconds, the diamond shatters, leaving the hull exposed, and takes 10% more damage to the HP and armor + 5% less shield absorption for 10 seconds.

Chevron:
Gives a wide row of drones in front of the ship acting as a front armor, and a few in its back, below the ship. These 3 will be grouped together and give the impulse to the rockets used with the formation.
The rockets will be faster ( go faster to where aimed and won't get blocked much ), and make a new sound when launched.
Gives 50% more rocket damage, +15% shield power for the shields equipped on the front row. Reduces HP pool by 25% and leaves backsides exposed to lasers. Hitting there will directely attain the hull. Counters Diamond with other rocket abilities.

Moth:
Opens up the drone's order, they leave the ship and go around it, giving it wings-like angles of attack, that actually are closer to the ennemies, and so attack faster and with more precision. If you attack the ship on its corners, the drones might block the hits, but the hull is completely exposed. The hull's own shields work properly though.It now looks close to the "X" formation but the drones have their positions inversed.

You need to face your opponent properly to shoot straight, but you will if that's the case.
The "wings" slide in the space, giving some slight wind-like effects. The ship becomes 10% bigger. The lasers come from the 4 angles each, focusing on one point and click, precise points.
Not as accurate as double arrow in close fights , but has a better range.
Gives +2,5% speed bonus, 20% shield penetration, 15% more health, 5% damage on lasers
Perfect counter to Chevron.

Heart: Gives + 15% HP, 20% Health, + 5% shield absorption, - 5% laser damage and makes the ship and laser biggers by 20%. It puts 3 layers of shields in each of the two side in front of the ship. This is the perfect counter to Double Arrow and works well will ships that have a weak front armor.

Barrage:
Gives 10% damage against alien, +15% more XP , +10% honor. But puts all drones in front, giving a really nice accuracity when facing a ennemy closely and absorbs everything in the front at a 99% rate. It also deteriorates the aliens's shield parts 50% faster.
But the hull is completely exposed, on the sides and in the back.
Really good farming formation, but really risky, especially against hp-burning hunters.

Lance:
Reduces the mines cooldown by 25%, and the time for it to be dropped by half. Doubles the mine's effectiveness ( maybe just 50% ).
Protects from attack taken on sides, but no cover on the front or in the back.
Bad accuracy and -20% laser damage.

Bat:
+ 10% damage, + 3% life-stealing on laser hits ( stealing 3% of what it deals ), good mid-range accuracy, + 10% xp -5% speed, -10% shield absorption.Again heals for 90% the armor, and 10% the HP.

Same look as the moth but not as wide and fast. Drones are close to the ship, so shield absorption works properly, except a spot in the two front sides.

3D formations:

Since now every formation is 3D, the previously 3D ones are getting new effects! They all have an animated pattern of moving, affecting the laser's and shield's looks.

The lasers shot come from multiple sides at once, like with other formation, but since the formation is perpetually moving, the laser's shooting patterns do change all the time.
Formations affecting the shields, like non-3D formations will change the form of the shield. But with the enhanced 3D effects, the shield has more effects and particles, and its form evolves each seconds.

Dome: Name changed to: Fortress.
Now immobilizes the ship, changing the shield bubble's look to a fort-like one. With stones-shaped shield bubble parts.
This formation reduces the rocket's loading time for 0,25 seconds, and the rocket launcher's for 1 second. It also increases the rocket's hitting range by 50%. 25% for the rocket launcher, and 15% for the lasers.
Reduces shield penetration by 25%. Reduces laser's damage by 40%. Gives a 35% shield bonus. -10% aim accuracity on ennemies hull/armor. 3 layers of shield all around the ship. Puts an armored pellicle on the armor, with stone-shaped effect, increases the ship's armor by 25%, the pellicle looks like a transparent film applied on the ship.
The lasers and rockets are bigger, and tend to block on things in the path more easily. They also will tend to hit shields in priority. Rockets now shoot with a look a lot similar to the actual rocket launcher, doing a big arc in the air. The rocket launcher has new effects and particles.

Drill:
This is the formation that made me think about the possibilities of animated 3D drone formations.
Now drill gives + 30% bonus laser damage against shields, and a 10% laser damage bonus agianst hull, when hitting the same hull spots, it will pierce it, increasing the laser damage by 1% every 10 laser hits, up to 10% total bonus. -10% shield points, -10% shield penetration. Ship's rotation is twice slower, you can't change your aim angle really fast.
It puts the drones ( so, the shields ) to the front and on the sides, your back is exposed.

Drones rotate around the ship, giving cone-shaped rotating effect to the laser shots ( enhanced with abilities, cosmetics, etc. ). The shield bubbles is sort of an aura around the rotating drones. When attacking shields, it will apply jerky impacts on it with each laser hitting.

Ring:
Ring is the defensive verison of Drill to me ( drill would counter it though ). Ring doubles each shield generator's shielding points, and perpetually refreshes shields all around the ship by rotation the shield bubble. Now the rotating effect changes its pattern every second, shielding the ship from all sides, and adapting to where it is shot. Enhanced with cosmetics, abilities, talents, etc.
Each shield has a 100% rate of damage absorption, but there is only one drone shielding each parts, when a shield is consumed, it recharges itself in 2 seconds. To go through the formation, you need to shoot through the drone facing you( that can have one or two shield on it ) and shoot the second faster than it refreshes.
If you can do it, and keep shooting, you will exceed the refreshing rate of the shields and completely annihilate the refreshing effect because when refreshing themselves successively, they do it 15% slower each time. when every shields are used, the ring bubble pops, and you can shoot the hull directly and effectively. The ring bubble is really large, so you can hit from a lot further than the ship.
-20% laser damage, -10% speed.

Wheel: It descreases the speed acceleration by 20%, but gives a +15% bonus speed at max speed!
Drones or on each sides, not shielding the front and the back, attack range is reduced by 35%. Close range accuracity is precise. Rockets and rocket launcher have a 50% slower rate of fire. Reduces max HP by 15% and shield points by 5%.

X:
The X formation gives a 15% armor penetration and damage on shield bonus against aliens. And a 10% xp bonus. Also increased the shield absorption by 15% when taking damage from an alien and gives a 5% hp bonus. + 5% credits when killing aliens. -30% honor.+3% laser damage.
Looks close to the moth formation, giving a +5% size to the ship
Cannot damage ship's hull.


So that's it for my take on drone formation. Please keep in mind these should have enhanced, 3d animated graphics, and would adapt to drone design, cosmetic drone designs, cosmetic ship designs, cosmetic effect packs to buy, talents and even some ships that have special interactions with the formations ( why not a few slight boosts too ) !

There should be one more offensive formation and 2 utility ones. Star, Crab, and Pincer formations are deleted.

That's it for the gameplay, and gameplay-based features, I hope you understand how I see things, and that features suggested go well together, and are clear and precise.

Game economy:

That's one troubling subject. First, the game's price, and what has to be paid.
First of all, should it be F2P ? Or buy2play? Just 5$, it would be a good filter to bots, and stuff like that. Also it would make sure that there is a money income. Rentabilising the costs of making such a game.
But that won't do it, why? Because this game needs new people to join and try, have fun, and keep playing. Just like used to be.

But instead of reaching a point where they can't progress, and have to pay because it would be too hard or complicated to continue. They now will keep playing, enjoy the game, and then maybe pay some money for cosmetics add-ons. Or get a subscription.

Now premium gives that:
+1000 cargo space
one more action bar
10% discount in credits and uridium for the shop
+ 15% xp
+ 10% honor
- 25% pet fuel consumption
Pet's repair are free
And other things I mentionned above or will below

Now prices are honest:

5$ for a ship/drone formation/drone design set, will be effects, colours, particles, sounds.
10$ for a legendary one
10$ for a set of ship/drone/drom formation cosmetic change. ( orange/yellow/pink/black, other common effect or colours are already in the game with existing items )
20$ for a legendary set ( fire/thunder/alien/robotic advanced technology/ light blue energy )
30$ for an ultimate set ( I'm thinking dark/gold/and light themes can be nice )

Sets, or when having 3 matching, will give extra effects and particles, on lasers, hull, aura, speed generator's, smoke, etc.

Each could get crafted in the assembly. You would need to get composant for the matching aliens ( for blue light effects it would be kristallons for exemple ). you have to craft them one by one ( first ship, then drone formation, etc. ).
Can't craft it with hardwares or anything, only rare ores.

You can't buy they with urdium, only paying or assembling.
Difficulty to craft for each basic item would be like crafit 2 H-MT hardware. Legendary would be similar to craft an elite design, and legendary would be close to craft a Mimesis for a exemple.

For a full set, it would be as hard a the next tier, ie: a full set of basic cosmetic designs would be close to how hard it is to assemble an elite design right now in the assembly.
Premium is 5$ for 2 months. 10$ for 5. And 20$ for a year.

You would still be able to buy urdium, but no more rebate. Not sure if there should be anymore discounts.

Double reward gg -> removed. you now have a 50% chance of getting one of the item, 35% for the ones harder to get. You have a 15% and 7,5% chance of getting 2 items.

Special reward gg -> removed, you now have a 15% chance of getting a random basic cosmetic design of any kind. 5% for a random legendary one. 0, 01% for an ultimate set one.
Kronos gate has a 1% chance of getting an ultimate part and a 0,1 chance to get a full set.

The themes of the designs are random, but the ones matching the gate wil be found in priority.
New themes can get implemented, and there are some specials and slightly increased chance to drop them during events.

Shop:

Auction is removed
Now, every item in the shop has a cost in credits, it's the uridium cost x1000.
These 2 things are the best things to do to have a balanced and linear progression system.
Also you can have a full credit setup, that actually keep up pretty nicely with others in the same level as you or right after, the elite gear is the next step

The idea is to have basic credit items ( things to buy at first, so you can start to do your quests).

Then some "elite" credits items and ships. Nostromo as the Starfighter, Big Boy as a Heavy Cruiser, maybe we need of an credit Battlecruiser. That would cost around 1 to 5 millions. Some sort of smaller Goliath.

Then, actual elite items, with Vegeance, Goliath, Leonov, Aegis, etc.

Then, ultra elite: Cyborg, Venom, Spectrum, Elite Aegis, Pusat, etc.

With lasers, etc. following the ship and the progression curve.

Hardwares can't be bought in credits. Nor can green chests.
x2 ammo is now a credit ammunition, it costs 50 each.
x6 ammo deals x5 damage on shields, 6,5 on hull/armor.
ECO-10 price is reduced to 1 000 credits each, SAR-01 to 1,400.
You can now buy a 9th and 10th flax drone. Repair them in credits, and use 1 repair ticket to repair them all.
You can assemble only one iris drone in the assembly for not much, so either assemble it fast, or wait until you need a last iris ( that costs a lot ).

Skylab:

Skylab level can now be increased to level 25.
There now is a xenomit stock, it's 1/3 of the seprom's size.
Instant delivery can only be used on seprom, or xenomit.

You can now only buy full upgrades instantly ( the canon and firepower shop ), or you can go to the workshop ( will be on a map ) and upgrade it yourself with components, the more components, the better chance to succes it has.

Galaxy gate: credit jump are deleted from the game, their percentage goes to the galaxy gate part's.

You can't buy EE with credits.

There are no more backpage, no second window with a menu. You do everything on your game window.

Map:

As as said before, Map are now two times bigger, and battle/pirates maps 50% bigger.
Map portals are deleted. There now are space station, that you have to go through to switch between maps. The only portals now existing are galaxy gate portals.

There you can find a hangar, your portable skylab ( can't instant transfer materials, only order supplying, ), a basic shop where you can purchase ammo, fuel and hardwares , and an assembling workshop.
To jump between maps, you have to trigger the portal generator by pressing "J", and then run to the middle of the battlestation, where you can find a small portal, and run through it. After a while, if it's not used, it resets itself.

You can save up to 10 ship configuration in the hangar.

In x1, x8, and 5-2 maps there is a gigantic space station with every shops, a galaxy gate generator, clan station center, a skylab center, a bank ( where you buy things with real money ), and a company administration center ( where you manage ranking, user infos, etc. ). And a space military school where you can learn talents and buy drone formations. You will getone for free ( in the basic ones ) when reaching level 10.

Battle space station protect you from ennemies, giving you a protective shield when out of combat, it deviates any ennemy attack but diseapears when you are attacking yourself, the alien can't enter the station's energy field.

The battle station hit ennemies in their range for 15 000 per second, with 5 000 extra damage to the hull, tripled for battle space stations in x2, x8, and x5 maps. Five time stronger in the company main battle station. The bigger it is, the wider their shield aura is.

Killing people in Pirate and upper maps gives the same amount as in the pvp maps.
The middle of the 5-1 map is thrice bigger, it has a battlestation in the middle of it. there are paladium between rock rows.

The 5-2 has one enormous battle station in the top right corner, and a pirate battle station in the low left corner.

You can find all of the shops and places that other company battle station have, except that you can't build Galaxy Gates and there you can find the inter-space Auction house station.

There, people can auction their items each hour, in credits. They can't auction ammo, boosters, and general consummables.

When trading with players from other companies. They have to pay an extra 5% credits, and it will go to the Company Global Bank Center. That will buy various boosters for all the players of the faction when it reaches a certain amount.

To auction items, you need to be set your pirate status as "Trader", at the Pirate Inter-Space admninistration Station. Traders cannot collect and sell paladium ( they don't get paladium from npcs too ).

You need to set your status to "Explorer" to do that. You get a "Paladium extraction transformer" that slows you for 5% but increases your cargo with the same amount.
Only Explorers can group with faction-opposing players in pirate maps. They are submitted to a " Non-aggression treaty for research and development ". And get the same penalties for killing opposing-faction players that their allies.

When killed in 5x maps, you now Spawn in 5-2. You an now freely jump between 5x maps.

There are also "Deserters", They lose the possbility of going to the main base in 5-2, they have their own in the left low corner of the map, but without an Auction house, and without any protection from the base. They can kill other ships with no penalities, but they don't enter in the Non-agression treaty, everyone can kill them without any penality.

You now get 30% of the cargo's paladium content of a dead player. 50% of rex.

When you kill too much people in the pirate maps, you permanently become a desertor. Your "pirate honor" is below 0. You can get this honor back by not killing people in pirates maps. 1 honor per day, x2 each day.

But if you kill too much ships in pirate maps ( + 500 ), you become a Space Pirate ( red ), and can't get back from the desertor title. You can abandon half of your honor, and 10% of your xp to do that.

You can now collect paladium with the "Dark Matter Paladium Convertor" reducing your cargo space and hp by 5%, but only to open the Hecate gate ( 150 parts, giving 50 000 uridium, 100 000 x4, 25 000 rsb, 5 000 000 xp but no honor ), as there is a special galaxy gate generator near the battle station.

You can now sell paladium on the black market for half its price ( 30 paladium for one extra energy ).

After killing 2500 player, you become a Space Mercenary ( purple ). You need to abandon 30% of your xp and 70% of your honor to get back to normal. The "Dark Matter Paladium Convertor doesn't give you any negative malus anymore.

After 5 000 ships destroyed as a desertor, you become a Space Pirate Overlord ( brown ) you need to abandon 50% of your xp and all of your honor to get back to normal.
You can now sell paladium at 15 per free energy.
You can now Auction or Bid items in the Space Pirate Auction House, there are no taxes and you can bid with uridium.

When you have killed 10 000 players in pirate map as an Outlaw, you become a Space Pirate Supreme Emperor ( gold ) You are a permanent desertor to the pirate alliance. You can never get back in it.


5-3 is an enormous paladium-filled map. With 3 zone, separated with a "space coral" row for each of them. At the tip of the zones, they merge together, and next to the zone there are 2 portals. One to go to the 5-4 map, one to come back from it.
The map is full of interceptors, boss interceptors and uber interceptors.

The 5-4 map has the same battleray rotations as the actual 5-3. It also is filled with boss and uber pirates, but no interceptors.

And in the middle there is a Century Falcon, with a 15000 paladium cargo. It is very dangerous to have everyone picking it up and taking their time, because it takes 3 seconds to pick it up ( only one person can pick it up each time ) and aliens come from the surrounding ( the Century Falcon's dying cry alerts them ).

There are company-based battle stations in 4x maps ( not 4-4 and 4-5 ) that have half the size of the largests ( same size as the ones in x5, x8 and x2 ).
But they don't provide defensive shields. You get another +50% rewards in battle maps.

You now get twice the rewards from bonus boxes in battle maps, but there are now mine fields all around these maps, that are randomly generated, there are emp, anti-shield, direct hull damage, etc.
You have to dodge those to collect bonus boxes properly, if you send your rex to collect them in your place, it will get crushed by the mines, so be careful.
There are some "safe zones" that actually are radiation zones, that randomly spawn on battle maps, they are filled with bonus boxes, but careful, you are 10% slowed and take 50% more damage.

You get +50% more rewards from bonus boxes in ennemy maps, but after one hour in there ( it accumulates all day, reseting every 24 hours ), you are spotted by the map's security system, and you are spotted on the map, also you are 10% weaker to damage.

There is now as Cubikon's Graveyard map. That contains 15 boss cubikons, 3 uber cubikons. They spawn boss and uber protegits respectively. You can get in the map from the x6 map, you need to be lvl 18 to acces it. Cloaks are disabled.
Normal cubikons are stronger and give better rewards. Protegits attack all attackers, based on how much each deals.They can gives 30% more rewards when sharing the gains. ( 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30% ) And Deal 25% more when focusing on one ship. ( each protegit makes the target get 2% more damage.

There now are 6 cubikons in x6 maps, and they spawn 25% faster.

There now is a x2b map, with bkristallon, and bkristallins. You can only acces it 2 hours a day after level 14. and 4 hours a day after level 12. These b aliens are 3 times weaker than usual kirstallons and kristallins, but give only two time less the same rewards.
Only players from the faction and below lvl 17 can enter the map. There are no bonus boxes, but there are green chest with increased reward for lf3, bo2, hardware, ships and with a slight chance, designs.
Higher level players have their acces forbidden because they are too much of a threat to the young kristallin population. And the emperor Kristallons could attack the company, protecting their colony. It's too much of a big risk taken, when so close from the main base.

There would be en event where the x2b maps could only be available for level +17 players, the emperor Kristallon would be attacking the company, and its member would have to defend it.

Aliens:

Now all pirates aliens give some paladium ore:
Uber now have 7x the HP and 9x the damage of a standard pirate, boss have x3 HP and x5 damage. Now rewards are reworked to match the what they sould be

Interceptor: 2
Boss:10
Uber:25

Battleray: 100
Deadly: 300
Uber: 1000 Has x1,75 more hp, but deals half of what it should.

Annihilator: 50
Boss: 200 Deals x1,50 of what it should, but has twice the hp.
Uber: 750 Has x1,75 more hp, but deals half of what it should.

Saboteur:20
Boss:100
Uber: 400

Baracuda: 30
Boss:150
Uber: 500

Now aliens all have a chance to drop a green chest, it only shows itself to one player of those that killed it:

0, 001 % for standard aliens.
0,01 for bosses. Devos -> 0,02%, sibs -> 0,03%, etc. 0,05% for bk
0,1 for ubers. Same logic as the one above.
Boss pirates have a doubled rate.
Ubers have a triple rate. 0,2% interceptors, 1% annihilators.
Boss and uber cubis have the double of the pirates.

The dropped green chest will get 3 times the rewards. And you have a chance to get an ultimate cosmetic design in them of 0,1% .For the Boss and uber cubikons, the chances are increased to 0,5%/1% and you have a chance of 0,05%/0,1% chance of getting a full ultimate set!

When getting a dropped golden chest during zeus event, there is a 1% chance of getting an ultimate design part of the gold theme! 0,3% for a complete set!
If it was from a cubikon the chances are increased to 2% and 1%. And if it was from a standard alien ( 0, 001% ) it will have a 10% and a 5% chance.

Basic cosmetic designs can be found in usual green chests, at a rate of 0,3%. 0,1% for a full set, 0,05 for a legendary part, and 0,03 for a set.

Aliens have their look updated, new effects and particles ( boss and ubers have even betters effects! ), their attacks, shield and hull are upgraded to the new fighting system. Some aliens have faster attacks, some have thiner projectiles, some not, some deviate well, some have thicker shields, some not. Some have a short range, some a have a long one. Each one has its own weaknesses and strenghts.
The newly implemented pink kristallons, gygs, kristallins, get updated and are completely changed to actual x7 npc. With better rewards, quests, they still drop their dark gems and the portal stays.

Cargos are now shared, so they give more ores, gems are shared now too, and the gem drop is slightly increased. It's now 15%/20%/30%. ( normal, boss, uber, but gives 1/2/3 per gem dropped )

Aliens give 20% more xp, 10% more honor, 30% more credits for little aliens, 15% for biggers. The opposite for uridium. Bosses and ubers gives 10%/20% more credits and uridium.

Clans, company and outfit:

You can now have a outfit of 10 people. Reward are now better for each member of the outfit there is, 5% more gains for each people, up to 25%. up 50% for ores

Now the credits and urdium are earned from alien by extrating it from cargo, so when in an outfit, each alien killed will drop the matching number of cargos with how many people were in the outfit that killed them.

When helping someone killing an npc or ship, you get some Civilian honor. ( need to have dealt at least 30% of the damage ). But it doesn't count for your quests.

You can steal cargos, dropped green chests, gems, steal npcs, kills ( or just kill from same faction people ) etc. but it will increase your Space Pirate Bounty to the people of the company that got stollen by you. Or killed by your in your own company.

It's a prize reward that increases each time you do something bad, by 30% and reduce the penalities you should get by the same amount each time when killing this player.

After reaching the limit, you become an outlaw, and people will get a credit and uridium to kill you. ( 100 and 100 000 ) The outlaw gains 50% less honor and xp for killing ships or stealing NPCs.

After 500 more kills, without gaining company honor back ( by helping allies killing aliens while not in an outfit, or waiting days without illicit actions, just like desertors in pirate maps. ). You become a Gangster. the reward is 1 000 uridum and 1 000 000 credits. Gangsters get 30% less honor and XP when killing.

After 2500 mores kills, you become a Public Ennemy. Gaining 50% more xp and honor when killing allied ships, and 20% more rewards when stealing NPCs. You get only 20% of the reward when killing ennemy ships. Your company's battle station don't shield you anymore. You can only change company to reset this title.

When killing a Public Ennmey ( their names are in purple ) you get a 500 000 xp, 5 000 000 000 credits, 25 000 honor and 5 OOO uridium bounty reward.

When you become an outlaw, you have acces to special outlaw quests, with special rewards, after becoming a gangster, you can't accces the company's quests.

Multi-company clan are now abrogated, only Public Ennemies can enter a multi-company clan ( and only these ).

Clans can't put taxes anymore, and can't give credits to their members anymore.

As I said before, you get doubled rewards for killing ennemies in their Higher maps, Battle, and pirate maps. But you also get twice the reward when killing ennemies in allied low maps, x1,5 in Allied higher maps.

Before level 17, you get 3 times the reward when killing ships in ennemy low maps. After level 17, your ship engine is too dangerous for the company's security to let you in. So The battle station hijacks your ship during the teleportation when entering an ennemy low map, making you 10% more vulnerable ( 10% more damage taken ) and you are now getting spotted on the map 30 seconds after staying on a ennemy low map. You cannot hit ennemy ships in x2 or x1 if they don't hit you first.

You also get extra Civilian honor when killing ennmies while defending your maps. The same amout is doubled when killing Outalws, tripled when kiling Gangsters and 10 times the amount if they are Public Ennemies.

When you have high Civiliant Honor, you get the tittle Map Defender and then Super Hero and then Legendary Venus/Mars/Hearth Defender.

When getting a lot of bounties ( 100 ), you get the Bounty Hunter Title. Giving you three times the rewards when killing outlaws.

When someone gets his NPC/cargo stolen, or gets killed by a player with negative Civilian Honor, he can put a bounty ( there is an option on the death screen ) on him, for up to 50 000 uridium or 50 000 000 credits. You can't put more than a bounty a day.

When a Civilian does too much illicit action, the company will put a bounty on his head, and Bounty Hunters ( 1% of their population ) may get charged between 100 000 000 credits and 50 000 uridium to kill him. When not killed, people can stack bounty, giving all the rewards at once to the killer if killed ( 25% of the rewards are lost ).

Quests:

Low level quest are fine, they give good rewards when you start, but after the level ~14, it becomes hard to keep improving because the rewards quicly don't match the actual needs. It also leaves you to a whole lot of grind, and it is not fun.

So now quests would match the needs of everyone, with improved quest content ( not just farming one things thousand of times ). It would have varied instructions, and never twice the same, with only the amount changing.
Quest should be as hard as they are right now, if not harder for some. But it should not just be about time spent on it.
It should evolve with the level, giving things to people when they need it.

Ganing a level would give you an amount of uridium, starting at 1 urdium, x2 each level, up to level 17 ( enough to get yourself a ship design with the last reward, anymore would be too much ). Then it gives you extra energy, seprom(what about 50 000 ? ) cosmetic designs, rare ore ( any suggestions ? ), etc.

Chat:

There are now live chatrooms that don't disapear and get updated, there are no moderators, people can now vote to kick a player, if a player is kicked 5 times from a chat room, he is banned for a day, then a week, then a month, etc. If he gets kicked 10 times a day, his chat will be blocked for a day, then a week, etc. You can create your own private chat room, and when vocal is enabled, it has a vocal chat
Better friend system, and you can send private message that people can read in-game the next time they log-in.

For the talent tree, it's a whole different system, and is about different concepts, so I can't really tell numbers, it would be completely irrelevent.

Talents tree:

You get one point per level, max 30 points and 3 master talent.
I wonder if I should make it 5 master talents, or in the contrary, put a 20 max passive stats point limit. It's hard to balance the fairness between different levels, and the end game content.There are 5 path, Each has 10 points to put in it.

You can reset your pilot bio every week, for 5 000 urdium. Every 48 hours for premium users.

Every single talent should get its visual effect.

One utility path:

With a movement and gimmicks branch:
+5% speed ( slight wind-like effect from the ship's propulsor )
25% Cooldown reduction on CPU, P-CPU, high-tech, abilities
-25% ammo and fuel consumption
+20 cargo space for you and your PET.
With one master talent that might give a free emp with a slightly longer cooldown? Bigger mini-map radius? Something in this kind of logic.

And the second branch would be about stats:
15% more xp
+20% uridium in bonus boxes, +12% uridium earned from rewards.
+20% more credits when selling ores, +12% credits earned from rewards
+1,25% bonus boxes content. Have a chance to collect +5 extra energy, and some fuel. Bonus boxes have new cosmetic effetcs, they shine.
And the master talent could be a booty keys chance increased by two ? ( 0,03 -> 0,6, etc. ) Booty boxes now shine. Something usefull, good for everyone and doesn't give anything much for those that can use it in addition to other talents.

One laser enhancing path:

1st branch:
Lasers are 20% faster.
Lasers are 20% smaller.
+10% more damage on hull, 20% on armor.
Mastery talent: shield piercing enhancement, still have to think about the effects and look, has to combo well with the drone formations, ships, etc. armor, hull.
This talent weakens the ennemy's armor points and regen by 0,1% and hull by 0,05 per laser hit. half effectiveness against aliens.

2nd:
Lasers slow slightly on hit, 0,1% per laser hit, up to 12,5% max.
Bigger lasers ( when small and big are mixed it makes them medium, benefits from both, and less malus from both, but not as good in each category ).
+20% damage to drone shield, + 10 to ship's extra shields.
Mastery talent is a shield-disabling one. New particles and sounds when hitting shields. -> weaken shield regen with each shot and points for 0,2 per laser. 50% max for aliens.

One rockets and mines enhancing path:

1st:
Rockets go 25% faster.
+15% rocket damage on hull and armor.
-0,05 rocket loading time
+15% rocket range boost
Talent mastery is the actual heat-seeking missile. But updated into the game's fighting system. The rocket seek the heat from the ennemy ship's hull, and have less chance of missing, and doesn't get absorbed by the shields easily. The missile's tip has a red glow.

2nd:
+25% mine loading time reduction.
+40 % mine radius.
+ 60% effectiveness with mines.
+15% rocket damage on shield.
Mastery talent is fire splitting. When hitting the matching key ( space or the rocket launcher key ) while a rocket or rockets are flying, they split, getting into smallers bits of rockets and assaulting the ennemy's shield. reducing the ones hit by 20% for each rockets. It cannot pierce the shields at all.

One hull enhancing path:

1st:
Passively gets hp back when out of combat and in combat,1% in combat, 3% out of combat. Green, subtle aura on your ship when healing.
Repair your ship and your Pet twice as fast. Double the number of robot-repair.
+15% total hp bonus ( armor + hp bar )
10% bigger ship, you get 10% more HP from healings.
Talent mastery is a life-draning one, you get back 15% of laser damage dealt to your armor.

2nd:
You take 10% less damage to the hull and armor.
You evade better ( makes edges sharper ).
+ 20% armor bonus and + 10% for ship's extra shields. Extra armor effects and particles.
When armor is full, makes rockets ricochet on it ( if nano armor is still up, it counts as if the armor is full ). Armor now shines when full.
Mastery talent is Elite armor. Out of combat, you have a extra layer of ship armor, the amout is 30% of your actual one. ( is showed on game window as an extra nano armor) Also, you can charge into ennemies, dealing big damage to ennemy hull armor when impacting. Based on your speed and what parts hit ( yours and the ennemy's ). It affects the ship's armors for 70%, and 30% to the ennemy's hp. Deals only 30% of the damage to you, and to your armor only. Your ship's armor looks tougher.

One Shield enhancing path:

1st:
+12,5% overall shield regen bonus. The amount you regen is amplified by this amount.
More compact ship's shields ( deviates some lasers ) and closer to the ship.
Shield absorption +15%
Now the shield regen bonus is of 30%
Master talent: All of your shields and your armor sustain themselves at a rate of +5% seconds.

2nd:
+12,5% shield point bonus.
Shields are hotter, they attract flying nearby rockets easily.
Bigger shields.
Now the shield bonus is of 30%.
Mastery Talent: you get a second shield bubble around your drones, which go really close to your actual one, it has half of the shielding points, and half of the shield absorption the others have.

I think that's it, I went over everything I could think of, and it seems to go well together.
I post it right now to see how it shows up, I'll edit it later so it can be read more easily.
->I have fixed and updated quite a lot of things. There was some issue with the start of my post, though, I'll fix that later and add the final touches some time later.

I am aware that all I have written is completely useless, none will take ideas out of it, and probably none will care. But it doesn't matter, it was fun to develop each of my little ideas and concept. This game is dead anyway, it's pleasing to wonder how it would be if it was in an ideal state and with a completely different style of playing.

I hope that those who went through all of that wall of text got interested, and that we might discuss some points out of it.
Have a nice day.

 

I didn't read the whole thing, but I read about the first 30% and would based on thet say you should start working on a completly new game, since there (in the first part) is very little that's actually still DO.

+ i think you need to take a look at the target/move system, it looks like it's working against eachother.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

I understand what you mean, that's exactly what this is all about, it's how an ideal remake of the game could be, with the same concepts and context but completely different.

I put a lot of things that I would like to see in the game, and combine them together into a logic set for how the new game could be. The ideas still can be relevant in the actual game, I just project them into the big picture so it is better structured.

I didn't get what you meant with your last sentence.
The fighting system I talked about would be left click moving, and keys press to attack. It would be really fast-paced and dynamic. Needing a lot of clicking and accuracy, for pvp duels at least, needing to press rocket key and laser key once every second each for maximum dps.

You don't have to keep on shooting, you can take some time to aim and shoot. But if you would chase/run from someone, it would be pretty similar to how it is now. Except that the one attacked could try to evade by going to the left and right.

Your mouse has a pointor, but clicking will only affect movement, to do other things you need to press a key.

Maybe the old fighting system would work as well if not better than the new one I am suggesting, still using the locking mechanics, but actually changing to the new shield/hull system.

I definitly shouldn't have put the game's new fighting system first, because it is not well explained, not well written, and it is the one part that make it a totally different game ( then it is mostly tweaks to already existing things ).
I'll add a few things, correct some, and edit the text so it is smoother to read, sorry to those that tried to read this chunk of messy text.

 

When you need to mouse position to move and to shoot, it will make it almost imposible to do alot of movement in a fight, because you want as many hits on the target as you can, for more dps.

Therefore im thinking it will be more like the target lock system, since you can't move and aim at the same time, unles you're flying towards you enemi

this will go more over to a really stress full fps game, where you have to thing of 2 "target" all the time, 1 the enemi and 2 the location you wanna go to.

 

Yes, totally, it would be about a hit & run gameplay system, that come from the moba game category, mixed with a tank fighting game logic ( penetrating armor, angle of shot, etc. ).

Of course it would completely change the game, that's what it's supposed to be like. FIghting and even farming would be a lot more dynamic, fun and competitive.

Maybe the game would then have an interesting e-sport branch, where people would have in-depth duel and teamplay strategies.

I understand that it is hard to conceptualise it, but honestly I think that it would implemente the game really well. It's all fictionnal anyway, so it doesn't really matter

 

Well I personally don't think putting in this "stress factor" would make it more fun nor dynamic.

and i don't really think it will be e-sport material, since the there are alot of fps game there's better on this plan.

 

That's it, I fixed most of what bothered me, I think my post is finished.

There is still quite a bit of editing to do, because half of my post got rewritten by accident, I'll do that later when I have some time.

Also my last reply got deleted for some reasons, maybe because it had Youtube links ? Well, I am sorry if it is forbidden, I won't post any more of these.

I hope I can have some other feedbacks, have a nice day.

 

Okay so you want to remove the "MOUSE" and replace it with the "JOYSTICK". This version would be more of a CONSOLE game where you would battle NPC's instead of the PvP of this game and would no longer be an ONLINE gaming experience.

Personally, it is no longer Dark Orbit and should not carry any portion of the name. The "REBORN" should be the FULLY UPDATED version of D O where we no longer have all of the bugs and glitches seen, ALL of the problem CODE is removed, Botting Programs are not able to be added, BALANCE is once again restored and the FREE player is able to achieve the top strength without having to make a choice (be a collector/pally or player/killing NPC's), emphasis is focused on the "in-map" playing instead of GG play currently being emphasized. The A.S. is truly aimed at the FREE player instead of just changing things for the UFE player.

 

Honestly, the new fighting system that I tried to explain is just optional. Everything else could work well with a lock-based fighting style ( should have a few things updated though ). If I introduced it, it's to erase the rng and some stats out of the fighting. By introducing dodges ( instead of miss ) and removing the laser damage variation. All of the other changes would match this system better, though.

I'm just wondering how could a a target-based fighting system ( so without aiming involved ) could include dodges and parying ( when turning your ship and putting deflecting part in front to face the lasers ). It could still remove the automated part out of the fighting, though ( auto rockets, rocket launcher, and PET gears ).

Also, it wouldn't be a joystick style system at all. But either hit & run ( just like a moba, like League of Legends, Dota 2, etc. ) or key for movement, and mouse for aiming. The right click could now be used too, opens up quite a few possibilities.

I'll finish the editing and fixing a few parts later when I have some time.

 

Dark Orbit comes out on PS4 & Xbox...EPIC!!
...Just give us players royalties when doing the transfer...
(more maps and hundreds of thousands of players)

...Lags and glitches can be patched...And just think there would be an offline game STORY mode!!!


Cool Saul.......Dark Orbit, you can't touch this!!
LillyHammer.