Player-based Wide Open Research

[bastanold]

I was remembering the old paper and pencil RPG games and how some of them had mechanics for researching technology and inventions. There was a difficulty level that had to be determined from the rulebook's outline and what followed was a series of rolls over a set amount of time. The tech or device would be completed after all the rolls had been successful through all the steps.

 

How could that work in DU? Well, Novaquark would have a team/person who would evaluate player proposals for research or invention. Interesting(and possible) submissions would be reviewed by the Novaquark team in terms of code and game impact. If the item could be added with an existing class/object and the idea added to gameplay in an interesting way, the proposal would be approved and the player would be given the requirements to successfully research the tech/device. That player would own the recipe as well which could end up being quite lucrative in-game.

 

Granted, this means of open ended research in the game might be a rare occurrence, but knowing that there were things out there that could be player-designed would add to the whole voxel-building theme.

[Anaximander]

Simple. 

You have a blueprint for a gun. 

The gun has parts, barrel, receiver, stock / grip, rail.

Change the materials in it. You can make a golden gun, that kicks like a mule and handles like a squid covered in vaseline, but hey, iut's as new invention "the Impractically Expensive and Stupid gun".

Players mix and match materials, till they find the thing they like. Some may be excelent, some may be terrible, but i nthe end, some may be actually good, depedning on the enviroment and occasion.

You don't need RNG-zeus nor to bog down NQ with the equivalent of "hey, I had this amazing idea about a submachinegun thay shoots shotgun pellets".

Make the game's crafting about modular parts on an item. Tech -2 gun? Simple, all of its components are Tech-2 components, which provide better stat modifiers to the materials.

Also, VRAM is not forever and so must the range of meshes be contained accordingly. Having NQ introducing more 3D meshes, only makes the game more and more impossible to process. There's a reason all the guns in games like Planetside 2 look almost similar across a class of weapons, cause different meshes means your VRAM has to load a new isntance of a model it has to paste across different players' model for rendering them.

So, for the sake of Cthulu's holy VRAM, let R&D be something in the nature of "theorycrafting" by mixing and matching materials on a weapon's recipe. The meshes stay the same, the weapons feel vastly different and everyone fesl like they did something.

Is my rhenium diborides receiver rifle too op? Well, It should be, its bullets fly harder due to that receiver, it's also very VERY expensive, cause rhenium is rare and it's borderline radioactive. It also kicks terribly, so it comes with other needs  to make it work, as I lose the equivalnet of "tracking" speed in the game's combat algorithm.

Let's just do away with dice rolls when it comes to research though. Combat, I get it, the game is built a certain way, but inventions are not combat, they don't have to be dice rolls, nor resource hogs for NQ.

[bastanold]

NQ would yea or nay the proposals like you point out. No sense making a variation on a given theme. But if EVE has taught me anything it's that you never know what sort of things players can come up with that is revolutionary or original. Hence, WOR. I don't expect it to be implemented much but when it is the reason is one NQ agrees with. So, the final decision would be with them. No harm done. And I'm not going to assume I know how they feel about the idea presented. That's for NQ to decide, right? Right.

[Kurock]

This reminds me a bit of how in a Tale in the Desert players can petition the devs to create a new feature (or law).  Though there is a large backlog of features NQ would like to add so I don't see something like this becoming a thing especially when there are idea forums like this one.

The title of this thread did make me think more of massive collaborations for researching/investigating a relic/artifact found on a distant planet to unlock its secrets.  

[0something0]

The title also made me think more community-wide research, like the way today's scientific community works together to do science.

 

So, this is my proposed science system. There are "fields of science" and "technology". Discoveries of new scientific fields are random, though having access to certain already discovered scientific fields increase your chances of discovering a new field. i.e. It is possible to discover the field "Specialized Gravitic Physics" without anything else, but knowing"Advanced Black Hole Sciences" will increase your chances of discovering it. Being near randomly generated phenomena such as a wormhole or a "mysterious alien gravity drive" will increase your chances too. 

 

When you discover a new field, you will have the option to research all the techs in it, though you need science points to do so. There are specialized science points(I was thinking Physics, Biology, Chemistry) that you need most techs. 

 

There also is a Internet-type network that players can set up, which

• Gives you access to all the released known fields
• Gives you access to all the released known techs
• Allows large scale collaboration on research

There can be multiple networks with different access levels. This is just a general idea.

[Lethys]

The title also made me think more community-wide research, like the way today's scientific community works together to do science.

 

So, this is my proposed science system. There are "fields of science" and "technology". Discoveries of new scientific fields are random, though having access to certain already discovered scientific fields increase your chances of discovering a new field. i.e. It is possible to discover the field "Specialized Gravitic Physics" without anything else, but knowing"Advanced Black Hole Sciences" will increase your chances of discovering it. Being near randomly generated phenomena such as a wormhole or a "mysterious alien gravity drive" will increase your chances too. 

 

When you discover a new field, you will have the option to research all the techs in it, though you need science points to do so. There are specialized science points(I was thinking Physics, Biology, Chemistry) that you need most techs. 

 

There also is a Internet-type network that players can set up, which

• Gives you access to all the released known fields
• Gives you access to all the released known techs
• Allows large scale collaboration on research

There can be multiple networks with different access levels. This is just a general idea.

 

What to do then with those unlocked science fields? research technologies involving that field? so basically investing time to skill that technology?

That said....it's a very BAD (shame on you! ) idea to take RNG into account there.

You badly need those space thrusters MK I to finally get off the planet -> RNGesus sez NO! -> fml....

 

I'm all up for a GOOD, balanced science system (haven't thought about such a thing for myself) but I think you people just misunderstand the way it'll most likely be (educated guesses here):

- just invest time to skill whatever you want (space thrusters I for example)

- that's it

 

"research" will most likely be done on game mechanics, testing stuff/constructs/scripts.

How do we get faster from A to B? How do we build a more resilient ship? How can we kill a heavily defended base more effectively? How can we use the game mechanics to slingshot a bomb into an enemy base? Such things.

 

I doubt there will be some sort of science stuff other that that (at least for release and the next 2 years)

[0something0]

What to do then with those unlocked science fields? research technologies involving that field? so basically investing time to skill that technology?

That said....it's a very BAD (shame on you! ) idea to take RNG into account there.

You badly need those space thrusters MK I to finally get off the planet -> RNGesus sez NO! -> fml....

 

I'm all up for a GOOD, balanced science system (haven't thought about such a thing for myself) but I think you people just misunderstand the way it'll most likely be (educated guesses here):

- just invest time to skill whatever you want (space thrusters I for example)

- that's it

 

"research" will most likely be done on game mechanics, testing stuff/constructs/scripts.

How do we get faster from A to B? How do we build a more resilient ship? How can we kill a heavily defended base more effectively? How can we use the game mechanics to slingshot a bomb into an enemy base? Such things.

 

I doubt there will be some sort of science stuff other that that (at least for release and the next 2 years)

 

Well, with the techs, once a person, or a community has invested into a tech, they can upload/market it to their local WAN where people can download/buy it. Did I misread the forums because I read some stuff about having to unlock higher-tiered engines for longer-distance travel.

[Lethys]

No those would be elements which people would unlock (engines to stay there for example) and then produce. Those produced engines can be sold ofc

[0something0]

No those would be elements which people would unlock (engines to stay there for example) and then produce. Those produced engines can be sold ofc

But like the community would unlock as a WHOLE right? or are we talking about learning the skills to assemble and maintain them? For the assembly part, I think you should be able to grab a schematic off a database.

[Anaximander]

But like the community would unlock as a WHOLE right? or are we talking about learning the skills to assemble and maintain them? For the assembly part, I think you should be able to grab a schematic off a database.

A person can unlock and build a device, but only they can build said device and sell it on the in-game market.

 

You want to learn how I built my Warp Drive? Train for 60+ days real time to unlock it, if you don't, you can only buy it on the market.

 

And that's something the devs have finalised as a game feature.

[bastanold]

Yeah, the idea is for those briliant unknowns that invariably spring up from players from time to time. My own thinking on it is if NQ find the player proposal a good one and it doesn't stray too much from the list of class/objects coded into the game, then NQ would provide a formula for researching it. This formula would comprise of time periods, success rolls if necessary, materials required and prototype stages, as well as whatever else NQ deemed necessary. It would not be easy and simple. I assumed all this, of course, but it makes more sense to spell it out here.

 

The reason I leave out examples is because this sort of thing always comes from 'left field' and conventional ideas would be handled the usual way (conventional research of known devices as part of the game). These would not be conventional ideas. They would be excellent or brilliant ones. Hence, rare.