1 hour ago, rje said:
Back to RETROTrek.
These retro space games need a purpose. As I recall, the Trek games I played way back when involved hunting down and (ahem) neutralizing enemy ships -- cleaning out a region of space. Starbases would be available for repairs, reloading, perhaps for refitting, or whatnot.
Is that RETROTrek's mission?
Yup! I spent more of today doing the README, so here's some snippits.
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There are three planned game modes for RETROTrek:
1. Explore - The objective is to explore all the bodies in the game.
2. Secure - Destroy all hostiles in the game.
3. Contact - Make contact with each other species.
Explore will be the primary supported game mode and will be worked on first, followed by the other two.
These will be tracked by an objective variable. PHASE I will simple have it advance each time you successfully finish a single sector. After the maps are ready, then it'll get much better.
Here's what I got for the Attack sequence:
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THE ATTACK AND DEFENSE SEQUENCE:
For this example, we will use the example of The Endeavor versus a Klorg Heavy Cruiser - which have equal stats.
1. The Endeavor issues a command to Fire (FIR) its
2. Phase Cannons
3. At the Klorg Heavy Cruiser.
4. The game determines if it is hit. For this, it needs a few numbers.
Firstly, we need two numbers representing ToHit and Evade. For every point of the the user's WEAP, that is 16 percentage points. For every point of the Target's ENGI, that is 5 points.
If the target's Engines (ENGI) are operating, it consumes Power (PWER) to attempt to evade automatically. If it doesn't have this power, it gain the defensive points.
5. Upon Hit, damage is applied to a target's shields (SHLD). If no shielding is available, a random System is damaged.
6. Also upon hit, an amount of CREW are injured. Crew are Injured depending on weapon type.
THE BOARDING ATTACK SEQUENCE:
Boarding attacks can only be done if a target's shields are down.
Using the Away Team (AWY) command, the attacker spends energy to send crew to board and attack the target. The game does some random number stuff, and defenders and attackers take casualties. If the enemy crew are 0 at the end, then the target ship is captured.
This could open the way for capturing as objective, but - as always - baby steps and base cases first.
Here's how ships will generally work:
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Before you get yourself into the Captain's Chair, it's important to understand how every ship works:
CRITICAL STATS OF A SHIP:
Firstly, every ship a base number called a Scale (SCAL), which is a general measurement of size and capability. Scale determines several other things about a ship, including its:
- Shield (SHLD) Strength (SCAL*1)
- Total Crew of a ship (SCAL*30)
- Compliment of Torpedos (TORP) (SCAL*6)
- Power (PWER) Storage (SCALE*1000)
Shields (SHLD) protect a ship systems and Structure (STRC) from harm. If a ship's STRC reaches zero, it is considered destroyed.
The CREW (CREW) of a ship are critical to its operation. A crewless ship is dead in space, and an angry crew can mutiny, resulting in a Game Over on successful Mutiny.
The available Power (PWER) of a ship is the available power for hard activity. The CREW use PWER to carry out several actions both passively and actively.
SHIP SYSTEMS:
All of the subsystems of the ship can survive up to 6 points of damage. At 5 points of damage, they are rendered inoperative. At 6 points, they are destroyed.
The Engine (ENGI) system provides the ship with power and flight ability. Disabled and Destroyed Engines are very bad for the ship.
The Sensor (SENS) system allows a ship to see and detect what is happening. If Sensors are disabled or destroyed, the ship cannot see or scan.
The Weapons System (WEAP) allows ships to defend themselves.
The Communications System (COMMS) allows a ship to Hail Objects (HLO) in space. This can be used to:
- Demand surrender (DMD)
- Ask permission to dock (DCK)
- Parley (PLY).
Make sure you take turns to engage with Repairs (REP) in order to fix damaged or disabled systems!
Systems that are destroyed are only repairable at a starbase. Make sure to protect your engines!
ALERT CONDITIONS AND OPERATIONS:
As well, you need to know about how the alert condition of your ship influences its operation. The alert condition of the ship will (eventually) influence how the ship's systems and crews will operate
CONDITION: NORMAL - The ship operates normally, focused on normal operation. CREW and PWER will attempt to fix the ship and keep systems running nominally.
CONDITION: YELLOW - The ship is operating under risk. CREW and PWER will only passively be used to protect critical systems and prevent loss of life.
CONDITION: RED - The Ship is operating as if it is under danger. CREW and PWER will at risk every time the ship is at risk.
So, every turn there's stuff happening actively and passively. That's the goal, at least. As of now, I'm implementing subroutines to act as accessors and mutators for some of the basic parts. I have a LOT to test, so I might have really messed up today by making such good progress.
I like this, so far, as it's a great mixture of all the trek games I've played in my youth. There's Crew, there's power, there's sim aspects, and it makes you think before you act.
