Colonial Marines Design Document

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apophis775
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Colonial Marines Design Document

Post by apophis775 » 04 Jul 2015, 23:19

So, this topic, is going to outline the eventual goal I want for the CM Alpha. I'll add and adjust this document as we go, so that features are that in get marked as completed, and features that would be good get added. And remember, these are NOT the functions needed at "launch" but the end-game functions.


1. Jobs and Descriptions
  • Commanding Officer (CO): The Commander will be in charge of the Sulaco and Mission. His rank, is Captain. His primary focus, should be giving the briefing, then commanding from on the bridge. He is in charge of the Command Staff, and is the ultimate authority on the Sulaco, and as such, should be either whitelisted, or set as a "time-play", though, I think Whitelisted might be best. He will have full access to the ship, including the Wyland Yutani Rep's quarters, but no secret W-Y rooms or anything like that. Uniform should be similar to this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... wnCAPT.jpg
  • Executive Officer (XO): The Executive Officer, will be second in command. If the commander dies, goes SSD, or leaves the ship for any reason, the XO takes command. His job is to ensure that the CO's orders are executed and that the ship runs smoothly. His rank, is Commander, and maybe he will be whitelisted as well, or maybe just play-time. Like the commander, he will have full access to the ship, with the exception of the Weyland Yutani Rep's quarters. Uniform should be similar to this: http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.14 ... 256505.jpg
  • Ship Officer (SO): Replacing the "Bridge Officer" idea, will be Ship Officers They are *NOT* part of the command staff, but work FOR the command staff. They will ALL hold the rank of Lieutenant. Their job, will be to work around the ship, doing whatever jobs are assigned to them. They will have Bridge, Engineering, and Maintence Access for now. Later, when more stuff is added, they'll get additional access. One will spawn on the Bridge, one in Engineering. Uniforms should like this the one on the left: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... niform.jpg
  • Chief Engineer (CE): In charge of engineering, power, repairs, and similar Part of the "Command Staff". One SO will spawn in engineering to assist him. He will have Full ship access, except for the Co, Xo, and W-Y Rep Quarters. His uniform, should look like the one on the right: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... niform.jpg
  • Chief Medical Officer (CMO): In charge of all medical procedures on the Sulaco. Part of the "Command Staff". Also, should have a medical channel, that the Medic Marines can communicate with him over. Medbay Access and Bridge Access.
  • Weyland Yutani Representative (W-Y Rep): A civilian over-sight, he will have NO official rank, nor be able to order anyone around at start. What he WILL have, is a verb to allow him to talk directly to the admins (similar to Pray). The admins will give him assignments, spawn in supply crates (if necessary), and give him general orders to advance the RP. This is a DONOR/ADMIN job. He will sometimes HELP the marines, other times, he will be there to make sure they don't discover W-Y secrets, or to destroy the outpost.

2. Sulaco Functions
  • Hyperspace/FTL: Some sort of "Stardrive" to travel quickly. I'm thinking, maybe something like the battlestar galactic one, where it spins up, then teleports. However, the ship won't move. Everyone will get a flash of white, but the ship will remain where it is. Instead, the shuttle will redirect to a new location (if it wasn't launched) and depending on the situation, other shuttles may dock. Specifically, I want to have a Centcom supply shuttle, that can dock externally, if the Sulaco is in orbit around CC. Also, if the Sulaco isn't at LV-624, the marine shuttle should alert the Marines that the sulaco is not in orbit, and the shuttle can't be retreived until it returns.
  • Orbit: Basically, 3 "types" of orbits doing 3 different things, with 3 different requirements:
    • High Orbit: No energy cost, only orbit an FTL/Hyperspace jump can be done from, Shuttles and Drop-Pod can be deployed, but neither retreived. Can Monitor Marine vitals, but not locations or Helmet Cams (once we do them)
    • Standard Orbit: Low Energy Cost. to fly in standard Orbit, the SMES will drain a bit faster than if in High Orbit. Shuttles can be retreived, and the Helmet cams and Vitals can be monitored. Also, the Sulaco can fire it's weapon on the planet, but can't scan, so targeting will have to be guided by marines.
    • Low Orbit: HIGH Energy Cost. Shuttle can be retreived, maybe even Drop-Pod. Helmet Cams and Vitals can be monitored. Also, the Sulaco can scan the planet and get fairly exact coordinates on aliens. The HIGh energy cost, covers the engines, and atmospheric shields, since they need extra protection. It will be impossible, to maintain Low Orbit, for longer than a few minutes.
  • Ship Maintence: I've got a few ideas for "maintence" that will need to be done on the Sulaco, to give the SOs and crew some work to do. The plan, is to make it seem more like a ship, and force consequences.
    • EPS Conduits: Along with the APCs, there will be a few EPS (or a better name if we have one) conduits in maintence throughout the ship. Since we will have things that require energy (Warp Drive, Orbit, Weapons) I'd like something to go along with it. Specifically, these conduits, will work as "fuses". Basically, if there is not enough power to do something, or if power is lost while doing something, the EPS conduits will "blow" and protect the APCs from damage. Specifically, if the ship is in low orbit for too long, the EPS conduits will blow when it returns to standard orbit or High orbit (forcefully). Also, if the ship tries to jump without enough power same thing. Any APCs protected by EPS conduits will be fine, HOWEVER, if an APC is NOT protected, it will "explode" and knock itself to the damaged state. the EPS conduits, will be easy to replace (i'm thinking, screwdriver, crowbar to remove, click+screwdriver to replace). Additionally, the EPS conduits will start with a random amount of "wear" on them, and some will need to be replaced. If an EPS conduit has wear below 50%, it will have an inversely proportional chance to not protect the APCs from blowing.
    • Wear and Tear: When the round starts, some wires and pipes will "randomly" be damaged, mostly from Wear and Tear. It will be upto the engineers to wander through the maintence tunnels and replace these parts. Worn Pipes, will stop airflow, while Worn Wires, will stop power-flow. Also, maybe randomly (every 10 minutes) a few things might get worn and need replacement or repair. Maybe pipes can even be fixed with "patches" or something.
  • Drop-Pod: The plan, is a one-way drop-pod, to carry supplies or additional troops from the Sulaco.
  • Supply Dropper: Different from the Drop-Pod, the "Supply Dropper", will drop a reinforced cargo box, containing whatever random supplies are needed, from ammo to weapons.
  • Rail-Gun: Eventually, I want the sulaco to be able to provide "close air support". The rail-gun, would have to be charged off the SMES, and loaded manually (a Job for the SO). It would be fired from the bridge at a target that is locked using a targeting computer (Maybe, beacons the Marines can arm and throw), or fired randomly through an over-ride.
3. Game Modes:

In the end, I want us to have more than just "Aliens Vs Marines". I've got 3 modes in mind at the moment:
  • Rebels: A group of rebels (or criminals) have taken over a facility, and the Marines have been sent to re-take the facility. Might need it's own map to function properly. It would split the players into Marines and rebels, leaning more towards adding extra rebels.
  • Virus: A deadly virus has escaped. The Sulaco is to maintain order on the planet, and work out a cure. The virus will ONLY display symptoms in stage 2 and on, and will be FATAL in stage 4. However, there will be sufficient time between Stage 2 and stage 4. Noone will know they are infected, until they exhibit symptoms. The Marines have the goal of keeping as many people alive as they can, the scientists have the goal of trying to get off the planet and survive. This might be a bit more "RP" intensive mode.
  • NECROMORPH: No contact from CC and once the Sulaco Hyperdrives in, the hyperdrive and weapons shut-down. The Sulaco is sent to rescue survivors from an Archegology ship. The survivors, are now "zombies". The zombies have 400 health, BUT can NOT be killed. Instead, they can be dropped down to at most -1000, but can regenerate at a slow rate, or use the changling regeneration. Anyone who is killed, can be turned into a zombie, if a zombie reaches an intact body (as in, it still has a head). Goal of the marines, is to survive until power can be restored and they can jump out (a timer gives how long until the "solar storm" preventing hyperspace passes.

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Re: Colonial Marines Design Document

Post by SecretStamos (Joshuu) » 05 Jul 2015, 01:12

Wouldn't it be a little easier to refer to the CO as a Captain and the XO as the Lieutenant?

Sure, CO and XO are quicker to say, but I worry most new players are going to be confused by the names.

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Re: Colonial Marines Design Document

Post by Rahlzel » 05 Jul 2015, 02:40

3 things to add as a reminder:

1. Game modes: Predator.
2. Sulaco: As a replacement to the HIT squad, you mentioned wanting a reinforcement shuttle.
3. We'll need a shuttle that travels from CC to the Sulaco for events (W-Y officials arriving, etc)

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Re: Colonial Marines Design Document

Post by apophis775 » 05 Jul 2015, 04:23

Yea, PRedators need to get added. The reinforcement shuttle, will "eventually" be something from CC, but for now, yea, we need something. And I didn't evne think about an event shuttle, we'll need one of those as well.

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Re: Colonial Marines Design Document

Post by SecretStamos (Joshuu) » 05 Jul 2015, 14:28

One thing about Predators- I don't think they should be whitelisted. Make them individually weaker if absolutely need be, but they should be a random antagonist.



Likewise, I think PMCs should be added as a secondary "antagonist". I've mentioned it a few times before, but my idea is that they get a number of confidential objectives that could put them secretly at odds or in-line with the marines and their goals. This would really spice up the Alien vs Marine rounds, as it would add some shaky diplomacy between the Marines and the PMCs.



The "rebels" event can easily be taken over by another group. We could (fairly) easily make them rioting prisoners, give them orange jumpsuits, set the map as an asteroid prison, write some fluff about a violent prison uprising and done.
Maybe instead of giving them gear, we could possibly scatter it around the map in closets and on dead security guards to force the prisoners to scavenge.

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Re: Colonial Marines Design Document

Post by apophis775 » 06 Jul 2015, 19:10

Predators will be white-listed or time-locked. Becuase, they will be bad-asses, but also complicated. I don't want trolly mctrollerson blasting the marines to bits, or nooby mcnooberton ditching because it's too hard.

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Re: Colonial Marines Design Document

Post by Rahlzel » 06 Jul 2015, 19:43

apophis775 wrote:Predators will be white-listed or time-locked. Becuase, they will be bad-asses, but also complicated. I don't want trolly mctrollerson blasting the marines to bits, or nooby mcnooberton ditching because it's too hard.
Agreed. In no way should randoms ever be an overpowered class. We need people that roleplay it well - sneak around, growl, kill lone marines and leave a trail of blood, etc.

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Re: Colonial Marines Design Document

Post by SecretStamos (Joshuu) » 06 Jul 2015, 21:55

apophis775 wrote:Predators will be white-listed or time-locked. Becuase, they will be bad-asses, but also complicated. I don't want trolly mctrollerson blasting the marines to bits, or nooby mcnooberton ditching because it's too hard.
I'm opposed to whitelisting, but completely fine with time locks.

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