MOD:WCU:PR0 - Revision history

Nikai: sp

2010-08-09T08:11:52Z

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chuck_starchaser: /* Game style */

2007-05-25T14:33:44Z

‎Game style

chuck_starchaser at 03:43, 4 April 2007

2007-04-04T03:43:14Z

chuck_starchaser at 18:50, 3 April 2007

2007-04-03T18:50:36Z

chuck_starchaser at 17:20, 3 April 2007

2007-04-03T17:20:05Z

chuck_starchaser at 16:56, 3 April 2007

2007-04-03T16:56:59Z

chuck_starchaser at 16:56, 3 April 2007

2007-04-03T16:56:25Z

chuck_starchaser at 16:52, 3 April 2007

2007-04-03T16:52:36Z

chuck_starchaser at 16:50, 3 April 2007

2007-04-03T16:50:03Z

chuck_starchaser at 14:04, 3 April 2007

2007-04-03T14:04:58Z

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 ** Administration: Where the base or planet's governor works. Most of the time, this door is locked.
 * No jump drives: Back in the 2630's and 40's, jump drives were big and bulky, and could not fit in small ships. Note that in the 2660's a big change takes place: First the Broadsword appears in 2665, featuring a jump drive. The Broadsword is officially a "heavy bomber", though. By 2667, two more medium-small ships appear with jump drives: The Crossbow bomber and the Morningstar heavy fighter. This miniaturization revolution is completed by 2669 with the Confed's Excalibur, and the availability of installable jump drives for private ships, at least in Gemini. But, to get back to the pre-war era of Privateer Zero, the large size of jump drives makes them unsuitable for small ships, such that only medium size cargo ships like the Drayman, and frigates like Caernavens, can sport one. And what this means for gameplay is that, until the player owns a larger ship, he or she must rely on a larger ship to go across systems. This is not a problem, because most jobs for small ships are escort jobs, and the escorted ship must have docking space for its escorts, precisely to get its escorts across jumps. And the player can hire a cargo ship, as well... See next point.
 * Cargo ships can be hired, like in Privateer 2.
 * Escort docking expansion can be installed in cargo and other larger ships.
@@ Line 45: / Line 46: @@
 * Date-keeping: The game will track current date by measuring per-cent of main plot achieved and fuzzily interploating across a model timeline; as well as counting jumps and judging by the player's net worth, prior to starting the main story. The object of tracking date is to synchronize news items that appear in electronic news and magazines, and to trigger the release of dated bar rumors. Dated bar rumors are those bar rumors that have the objective of providing hints to the player about what's going on. When a dated bar rumor is triggered, it is put into a priority queue of pending rumors the player should get to read at least once. As soon as the player goes to a bar and talks to the bartender, rumors from this queue are first served. Each rumor has a counter for number of times read, and queue priority is based on this number. Thus, rumors that have been triggered and haven't been read even once, have the highest priority. Rumors can also be triggered by an event, such as if the player does something specific that doesn't have a strongly attached date to it. And rumors can also be marked obsolete after they've been read for a third time, for example, or because of event-triggered or date-triggered obsolenscence. However, and for the sake of "social realism", a vast majority of bar rumors will be marked as "chit-chat", be upbeat and timeless, usually funny stories; and more importantly, whenever you speak to a bartender, the first rumor will be of this upbeat type; and only the second rumor will come out of the priority queue. The third type of rumor is the "back-to-business" type: Something the bartender says to disengage from conversation. Normally, the first rumor is chit-chat, and the last rumor is back-to-business. In-between, there may be zero, one or two "hint-rumors", the number depending on the size of the pending rumor queue.
 * In-flight emails and distress calls, a la Privateer 2.
 ====Privateer Zero Universe and Background====

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 That's just an example; but the point is, if, as he gets the chance to go into service, his privateering career is economically shattered and he faces starting again from zero, the choice is a no-brainer. But if the player decides to go back to privateering regardless, we could have him meet with so much bad luck as to make it impossible to get back in business. Additionally, we could have his family sending him mail, encouraging him to go for the career with the Confed, saying how proud they are and stuff; plus bartenders no longer tell rumors, but instead congratulate him and say that with his skills, the war with the kats will be a short one, and so on.
 ====Game style====
@@ Line 46: / Line 50: @@
 The map includes the entire WC universe map (LOAF's map), from Avalon to Landreich to Hari; however, most of the story takes place in or near Gemini.
 Many of the systems in Gemini won't have been settled, or even explored yet. Thus, there will be a need to be able to add systems, jump points and stations as the story progresses. Also, at the beginning of Privateer Zero, pirate bases --Tuck, Drake, KM-252 and Pentonville-- are, perhaps not entirely inaccessible, but at least off the official maps. The jump points are there, but they don't show; --neither on the map, nor in the HUD, unless someone gives you the coordinates. (NOTE: The fancy display of jump points as blue balls in space is an HUD projection by civilian ships' nav computers. Jump points are NOT visible to the naked eye. In fact, military ships traditionally don't make use of such fancy displays, as the Confed military prefers to rely on buoys to mark jump point locations.)
 A lot of stuff is happening that the player may never come to realise or understand without analytical effort. Here I will explain what's going on in detail, '''''and therefore you should NOT read it; as it may be a terrible spoiler''''' (an even worse spoiler than reading the plot, in fact; this is like a god's perspective of all that is really going on; no secrets whatsoever). Having said that, if you are contributing to this project you may have no choice but to read it ;-( ...

@@ Line 187: / Line 187: @@
 * '''Warrant Officer Terrel's story'''
-** ... (to be done) ...
+Note: Terrel missions could be the first to appear; some of which being gunner jobs aboard cargo ships
-** ... (to be done) ...
+bound to/from Perry.
-** ... (to be done) ...
+** Missions protecting the construction of Perry from being discovered by the cats (distraction missions).

@@ Line 124: / Line 124: @@
 ====Story lines, in more detail====
 (Keep in mind that each item could comprise 1, 2, 3 or more missions. Or more items could be added... Just a rough plan here.)
 * '''Leanne Mullings' story'''
 ** Rising pop star of the Confed Militias
@@ Line 136: / Line 137: @@
 ** Last mission: Someone plants a box of brillance in her Talon and all Confeds and Militias everywhere you go attack her. She decides she's had enough and asks the player to help her exact revenge before her becoming a fugitive. Along a path meeting dozens of attacking militias, she goes straight to Confed Militia headquarters and destroys all the ships docked to the station that personally belong to high officials in the Confed Militia, then heads into exile at Tuck.
 ** (2) If you meet her at the bar, she pays your fee, and then Deiter Lang joins the table and hires her as his private pilot in exchange for a new identity: Lynn Murphy.
 * '''The Steltekers' Club story'''
 ** Player meets Monkhouse and Masterson at Oxford, who recount for him the Steltek Hipothesis. They want to get exploration equipment to go looking for Steltec evidence in unexplored systems. Player meets Madamme Silverspring who vows to pay the privateering fees on behalf of "those bright kids".
 ** At the Exploratory Service in Basra, player meets Craig Bodeno, who says he cannot rent out equipment, but that one of his employees, Ben Galliot, has expressed an interest in the Steltek Hypothesis, and he's willing to allow this employee to take paid leave to work with Monkhouse and Masterson. He asks he player to take Ben to Oxford.
 ** A number of missions follow, involving making contact with various Steltek Hypothesis investigators, getting a sample of a book that was taken out of circulation by the Secret Service, rescuing an archeologist and writer who was framed and is being kept prisoner without trial in an unmarked prison ship; and finally to recover a Steltek artifact hidden somewhere in the Grovsner Colonies. Each time the player gets back to Oxford, Masterson and Monte are having different kinds of problems with Ben. First he was insisting that there was nowhere "firm evidence" of the Steltek; then he insists that limiting destructive technology is unnecessary, as long as access to it is controlled; third time he is insisting that all technologies can be used for destructive purposes, and therefore all technology must be erradicated; and the fourth time he's gone with about half the Stelteker's Club members, and has founded a religion called The Church of Man. Some of the club members who decided to stay said that he had changed his name to Father Benegeli.
 * '''Deiter Lang's story'''
 ** Acquires Rondell
@@ Line 150: / Line 153: @@
 ** (4)Menesch deposed
 ** Lang jumps on the arms/ships trade with corrupt Confeds
 * '''Romulo Lynch's story'''
 ** Acquires Liverpool
@@ Line 166: / Line 170: @@
 ** (4) Menesch deposed
 ** Roman Lynch (junior) jumps on the ships/arms trade and makes deal with Pentonville pirates.
 * '''Steltek artifact story'''
 ** ... (to be done) ...
 ** ... (to be done) ...
 ** ... (to be done) ...
 * '''Menesch story'''
 ** ... (to be done) ...
 ** ... (to be done) ...
 ** ... (to be done) ...
 * '''Hunter Toth's story'''
 ** ... (to be done) ...
 ** ... (to be done) ...
 ** ... (to be done) ...
 * '''Warrant Officer Terrel's story'''
 ** ... (to be done) ...
 ** ... (to be done) ...
 ** ... (to be done) ...

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:56, 3 April 2007
Line 120:		Line 120:

	Time-wise, the above stories span from a little before Menesch's getting elected to Governor of a planet in Avalon, to a little after his disgraceful ousting amidst charges of fraud and corruption. But keep in mind that the stories overlap in time. Events within those stories that link to each other or must coincide in time are marked below by numbers in parenthesis.		Time-wise, the above stories span from a little before Menesch's getting elected to Governor of a planet in Avalon, to a little after his disgraceful ousting amidst charges of fraud and corruption. But keep in mind that the stories overlap in time. Events within those stories that link to each other or must coincide in time are marked below by numbers in parenthesis.
		+

	====Story lines, in more detail====		====Story lines, in more detail====

@@ Line 117: / Line 117: @@
 * Menesch story
 * Hunter Toth's story
 Time-wise, the above stories span from a little before Menesch's getting elected to Governor of a planet in Avalon, to a little after his disgraceful ousting amidst charges of fraud and corruption. But keep in mind that the stories overlap in time. Events within those stories that link to each other or must coincide in time are marked below by numbers in parenthesis.
@@ Line 150: / Line 151: @@
 ** Acquires Liverpool
 ** (1) Menesch becomes governor
-** Gem prices go up as they are the only form of payment Menesch take for Talons, initially
+** Gem prices go up as they are the only form of payment Menesch takes for Talons, initially
 ** Pirates singling out cargos of gems, which is Lynch's cash cow
 ** Merchants Guild demand that Lynch provide protection
@@ Line 166: / Line 167: @@
 * '''Menesch story'''
 * '''Hunter Toth's story'''