Research

[Red Baron]

So I was wondering how research is going to be accomplished?  Not sure how much you can say, but are we looking at mechs as a sensor platform, missions that need to be completed, etc.  With research being done on FTL and terraforming I was trying to get an idea of what would be going on.  I would think it's something that you actually have to be doing rather than starting some sort of research project and it runs in the background while you do other things.  Of course based off a skill level you could have a computer be running some sort of algorithm while you are out in your mech.

Anyway, enough speculating.  Just trying to get an idea of what to expect.

[Robgoblin]

I hadn't thought of the players doing the research to advance tech level. I figured it would be one of those things that completing missions and advancing to the next phase would bring about new tech levels. You brought up an interesting question and can't wait to see the answer.

[Red Baron]

I wasn't sure either, but it was something that I just got to thinking about.  I think in the end we are going to be stuck with a taste of things and the rest not being able to be disclosed at this time.  Hopefully I will be suprised.

[Hamilton]

Initially the progress of research is dependent on the mission/quest completions of the players.  Then it will be the providing of resources or investment of credits by players.  After that, the construction of facilities by players to advance research.  The last will be of allowing players to perform their own research projects. 
I think we may add in some impromptu assignments for players to take action of via GM sponsored events.

So overall, the ability of a player to play a scientist character will not be available for sometime.

[Robgoblin]

Fine with me. I like the idea of assisting in finding the new tech but don't really see it practical for the players themselves to be finding it as research takes a very long time and seems like would be boring to try and do in a game. Investing, doing missions for research material, or protecting research bases all make sense.

[Falcon]

Aww. The engineering and research aspect of the game is the part that really appeals to me Being able to sink in lots of time and effort into the research project is one of the things that I'm looking forward to, I do hope the questing/harvesting/building of facilities will only be a minor part of the effort. Some people should be out there harvesting raw materials for the engineers to construct with and for the scientists to research, but by all that's holy please please PLEASE don't do a WoW and make the harvesting/adventurer-type questing 95% of the crafting/research effort.

It's going to be interesting to see just how hard-core the engineering/research part of this will be. While I certainly do understand that the mech/adventuring aspect of the game has priority, by the time the engineering and research is fully implemented I hope it will be on a scale where it can support (and even require) the efforts of fulltime engineers and scientists.

EQ2 did it brilliantly at launch. Spend a few hours out in the field getting raw materials, and then you had enough to happily keep crafting for several days. Or just buy the raw materials to avoid harvesting completely. And the items made by crafters could easily compare with mob drops/quest rewards. (EQ2 betrayed the crafting community when they completely rewerote the crafting system, that's what made me quit that game.)

[Hamilton]

Although I would like a fully functional engineering system in place, it is just not going to happen right away.  But we will get to it.  So it is going to be simplified at first, and over time expanded and given greater detail.

But what cannot be done in the game, can be done out of game.
For example, if someone created a new defense system for Mechs, along with the values of weight, space, cost, etc on paper or a spreadsheet.  We can then take that system (after some reviewing) and code it in.  So although there is not automated engineering system in place, there is a manual way of doing things.

[Falcon]

Now that kind of engineering would be awesome.

[Rage]

I could easily see players complete quests for thier factions. Depending on what quests the complete the more of, maybe the faction starts to react to that interaction and begins to research certian things, or spend resouces in certian areas.

An example may be players from faction A complete 250 "missions" that are flagged as "Enviormental Research", but only 15 that are flagged as "Defense Research", the system then looks at this and decides spend more resources on Terraforming technology.

This is a simplified example but each quest that is completed could be tagged with what Division with in a faction it benefits. Then depending on what players complete gives the Faction an Idea of what to do with it's resources.

Maybe one Faction works hard on Terraforming, while another works on FTL Drive Mystery, and yet another focuses on Expansion of Domed cities, and all of this a direct result of what the players in the faction are doing.

The quests could be things like Deliver materials from point A to point B, completion is flagged as helping the "Defense Division", or Escort convoy to City B, completion is flagged as helping "Enviromental Sciences Division" and so on. This allows the missions to be diverse, but benefit different divisions within a faction.

[HATEBRINGER]

It could be sort of character tech lvl progression. Like you want to unlock new tech lvl in crafting do some research related stuff. This don't mean that you have to do missions there could be various research related things. Rare ores, crysatals, (artifacts?) that could be sold to certain NPCs. This could also lead to some sort of faction tech lvl. For example once in a week game will make tech check score based on players research during that week. This would set faction tech lvl for next week. (Factions would have difrent quotes to reflect faction character) If score is high enough certain additional techs would became avaible for next week. Some would be faction specific some would be common. I imagine that existence on planet is a constant race aginst time to research new replacements techs before we all descent to neo-barbarians level. Soo if not enough research is done in certain area points would slowly drop. Players could be able to see estimated research progress for current week soo they would know what areas are underdonated. While core types of techs are obtainable all time certain things might be unaviable temporaly. Ofcourse you can always salvage that device form other faction that got it.

[Phelan Kerensky]

I agree that allowing a research system into the game would make the discovering of new technologies to provide improvements to mechs a possibility. However I guess we have to be realistic about what is and what is not going to be possible to have incorportated at launch.

I would be just as happy in my mech regardless of tech level as long as my opponents are in similar tech level mechs. What I would ask the developers to keep in mind is their statement that this will be a phased rollout. And that at the very least, the design documents should be well considered prior to rollout, if not implemented at launch.

Nobody wants to see another NGE of the Star Wars variety. With greater planning and forethought, FOA should head in the right direction from the start, and once rolling, should not be diverted into different areas that were not part of the original design document.

Thats not to say that good ideas should not be implemented after the fact, just that its easier to get things right by having them as part of the whole design, rather than by changing things to allow good ideas after implementation.

[Hamilton]

The NGE...

Well, if we ever had to come to such a point of making a very major change, because such a thing could happen in the future.  For example a new technology has been released which makes real-time combat possible for a massive scale.  Then we would follow Change Management practices with the users.  Say six months before we would consider a change, we would discuss the proposed major change with the user base and gain feedback.  Make alterations to the major change proposal and go through additional rounds of discussions.  Until the major change is found acceptable or such.

I think the NGE did have some potential for combat purposes only; but not of the whole package and not within the short time frame that users were informed of it.

[Phelan Kerensky]

I think you are probably correct that with a proper change management system you could probably please most of the people, most of the time. But, don't ever forget that people spend so much time in these MMOG's that just the slightest change can feel like a very real invasion of hallowed ground.

A good friend of mine hit the nail on the head when leaving the NGE when he stated, "this is just not the game I started playing, and certainly not the game I paid for". What he was saying was that while there was nothing drastically wrong with the NGE, it was just such an alien environment to him, that it no longer felt like home, no longer seemed the same game, and therefore he no longer felt any loyalty to continue to play.

What I would like to see, should such a change become possible, is a dual implementation of systems. Keep the original format, and introduce the real time combat in certain zones, such as in the mech arenas. This allows everyone to play with it, bugs to be zapped, and comparisons of its strengths and weaknesses to the old system to be made. Then, only once you have everything running smoothly, after consultation with all the players, expand it onto battlefield zones, then still later, roll out to all areas.

Give people time to see the new system in operation, and trust that they will make the right choices. Resistance can only be made if you allow players something to push against. If you give ground when they push and adapt new systems in line with their requests, then you involve players and integrate them into the new systems.

The key is to listen, (or at least to give the impression of such).

I can see that this NGE business is going to be a very real possibility for FOA in view of the turn based combat system which seems very very similar to the combat of pre NGE SWG. So, you really could be in an identical situation, in moving from turn based to live combat, which I presume (and hope) you will do as and when technology allows.

Just one thing, please don't ever call such an upgrade, "NGE", too many bad memories.

[Hamilton]

I think for a dual implementation that an instance server would be needed, not saying that it is impossible, but would require some planning.  But that does go along the lines of system migration in the IT world.

Perhaps let the story-arc be played out first (which is to be in two year cycles) and so during the end of a story arc, would be the proper change of a system if needed.

And to be sure to not take away or nerf things either...