[Anvil]

I was thinking of the storms in current Jumpgate Classic and then I was watching an episode of Star Trek Voyager where they fly into this cloudy like Anomaly in order to evade their pursuer.

I thought it would be cool if certain sectors had persistent or periodic Anomalies that we could use for various purposes. These would differ from storms because they wouldn't envelope the entire Sector but be visible and have definite size and shape.

Some Anomaly ideas I had.

1) Gaseous Cloud where your radar becomes scrambled and you cannot target things, and you have limited visibility. This gives neat options for traders to perhaps evade Pirates while help is en route. (This can be combined with any of the below actually).
2) Energy Clouds where if you have the proper ModX equipped you can fly through the cloud and that ModX will recharge your shields quickly in a short period of time or something.
3) Persistent Mineral Clouds so that the Scoop actually can get some usage. These mineral clouds can also be rewarding or dangerous at the same time. They can have reduced visibility and perhaps have an asteroid or two inside rich for mining and risky to run into. Or they can be corrosive to your armor so you can only Scoop mine the cloud for so long before having to get the heck out.
4) Large Inert Clouds where they have no Scooping value but limited Radar and Visibility. The Largeness of them allows cool game elements to be placed in there at later times such as Pirate Bases or hiding places for large Flux invasion forces to gather. This also gives Scouts and Rangers roleplaying options since they can be equipped with special scanners that only work in the clouds and they can alert their squad or faction of an impending invasion.
5) Dust Clouds can be mineral RICH, periodically appearing clouds that can be mined from the outside. Since they are already dust they can be Mined extremely fast but because of their gaseous nature pose risks such as random gas pocket explosions etc. Also flying through them could ignite the gas pockets and destroy your vessel so approaching them would require skill since it can be more difficult to perceive distance on a cloud than on a solid roid.

I tried searching the forums for any suggestions on in-game elements such as these and couldn't find anything. If you have a link to an existing post such as this let me know. Otherwise please comment and add more suggestions to in-game Anomaly ideas and such.

Anvil

[Wild_Bill]

Interesting concepts. A cloud-like formation that would limit range on a radar would be good. Limited visibility also interesting (frustrating really, especially if coupled to limited radar range). Things hidden inside these clouds even more interesting (a reason to go to the clouds besides concealment/ evasion), whether bases, special resources (wreckage, pures, 'roids, etc). All could be good ideas, or at least worth a try.

[netburnr]

Originally Posted by Anvil

Some Anomaly ideas I had.

1) Gaseous Cloud where your radar becomes scrambled and you cannot target things, and you have limited visibility. This gives neat options for traders to perhaps evade Pirates while help is en route. (This can be combined with any of the below actually).

4) Large Inert Clouds where they have no Scooping value but limited Radar and Visibility. The Largeness of them allows cool game elements to be placed in there at later times such as Pirate Bases or hiding places for large Flux invasion forces to gather. This also gives Scouts and Rangers roleplaying options since they can be equipped with special scanners that only work in the clouds and they can alert their squad or faction of an impending invasion.

I like the ideas above.

Especially for some unreg sectors. Of coarse the old "roaming" storms will be nice, but it would also be cool if certain sectors could be known for certain stellar activities.

[GrimGriz]

I really like the whole concept, and it would help explain why Jumpgate Evolution is so bright. At this point though, my sincerest hope is that if they put storms in you can see them coming. I've always wanted to see a blue storm cloud rolling towards me, and not just *poof* suddenly it's in the whole sector.

[Hornet]

Yeah the whole poof thing is kinda weird. I like the idea of smaller storms and anomolies with different effects and hidden stuff inside. Could be kinda like a slow comet that has precious minerals inside, if u can survive the gas cloud it trails for long enough.

[Anvil]

Yeah the poof Storms were kinda weird. But I still like the idea of the roaming sector-wide storms. Even if they didn't "roll" in but they gradually became visible as if the opaque slider were slowly sliding up... I could see that.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear the Anomaly idea sounds okay. Anyone else got some other Cloud or Anomaly versions to suggest?

Anvil

[netburnr]

How about a storm that makes you blow up if you use your gun, like a super explosive gas cloud.

And then the other side, a cloud that makes your weapons useless

[Scorch]

Sub system storms is something that certianly a number of people here think would be very cool and could be used in a number of different ways.

[Anvil]

Originally Posted by Scorch

Sub system storms is something that certianly a number of people here think would be very cool and could be used in a number of different ways.

I will now require 100 million starting credits when the game officially opens. hehe j/k (sort of)

Good to know the dev staff is up on their "neat things that should be in sci-fi games".


Anvil

[Wild_Bill]

... especially if it were tied into the "background story" thread for special missions.

[vorlon31]

When I think of storms I cant help but think that the scene in the Serenity movie got it so right. When the Serenity's faithful crew fly out of the radiation cloud on their way back from the planet Miranda(?), the fleet of ships waiting for them had no idea that the Serenity was being chased by the Reevers until they too left the cloud.

That would rock in Jumpgate Evolution, with clouds that could potentialy obscure an entire fleet of ships or indeed be used as cover in times of need to escape pursuit.

My inclination is for fixed storms over roaming variant, you know that sector x contains a nebulous storm of properties x.

Being the annoying sort, I would want them to be radar blind spots from outside, make radar range drop to 5k within them, halt the use of rotacols inside and place untargetable Jumpgates right in their midsts, Jumpgates that defy radar locking, so that to find them you need to enter the cloud from the right trajectory or be lucky, knowledge that can then be passed along as player lore.

[Tritian]

that sounds great, there should be nebula all over the place that screw with radar/targetting. That way you can maybe fly into a nebula if you are being persued and screw up their targetting/get the drop on them like Wrath of Motherf*ckin' Kahn.

There should be different types of nebula that do different things, however I think all should screw with your radar and targetting. Maybe some have lightning strikes that might cause random damage, or explosive pockets of gas that you can ignite (!!!) for huge explosions to knock out your enemy. Others might have little whirlpool gravitational eddies that might snag ships if you get too close and slingshot you 100k away in some random direction.