PF Research suggestions/requests + "super tools/weapons"

[Darkmega]

So something I loved in Creeper world 3 was making maps with lots of totems and a few artifacts of odin, and often times it'd be a rush of satisfaction to co-ordinate really awesome wombo combos with stuff like:

- a 4-8 round powered bertha area strike, onto a 20 second blackhole with a well timed time-stop and then 4+guppy rush into cluster nullification
or
- 40 second blackhole into a well timed 5+ or more guppy rush+convert drop and then bertha rapid fire strike around the edges to gain a foot hold in a remote area.

But in particle fleet there doesn't seem to be much "BOOM, WOW!" sorta super weapony/utility stuff. Sure theres satisfying stuff like crashing the hammer through a doppel and watching it come out the other side, an impenetrable wall of omnis with cannons and reactors, or just ships like the Varro and of course the making of awesome ships but it's really just large amounts of similar stuff in larger quantities and different variations that quantify particle fleet's level of a "super weapon".
So I figured, why not ask for (post release) something akin to super weapon deployables and maybe a few neato weaponry/module research upgrades like special abilities, super weapons and helpful things.

Starshock Cannon: Eventually in maps you'll usually hit the point where you have energy stored up and it's not going anywhere so why not charge it into a single point and fire it off as a large targetable projectile? something similar to a ticon gun, only instead of rapid firing it's just a big fat projectile that based on the amount of energy thrown into it explodes bigger and hurts more.
But that kind of energy would be deadly to your own ships so you'd have to clear the way or risk destroying your own stuff. Simply (for example) research the tech with a gem, wait for it to max, then on the energy UI pull a slider for charges from 100-500, then click [ARM], and click on an energy mine. The energy mine will go offline and not supply but instead gather energy gaining a large sparkly stunner like orb over it, then once fully loaded the mine changes into a Starshock Node which you then point the exact location and hit the fire button.
The mine will detonate destroying itself and a massive crackling ball of death will come flying out. Each point of energy and distance moved is one damage and it'll consume enemy mire, enemy ships/doppels, particles/emergent/weapons fire or allies ships, and will get stronger if it consumes allied particles or allied mire/emergent. Once it reaches the exactly point of target it'll detonate spectacularly in an area based on how much energy is left in it and the blast starting from nearest to furtherest will annihilate all except structures in it's radius using said left over damage.
The Mine zone will be covered in a stunning field that decays inwards over 30 seconds or so that stuns your stuff but once the field is gone it can be rebuilt afterwards but the research amount on the cannon will reset to 0 and you'll have to wait before firing again.

Rift Jump: If the HQ can do it, with enough energy why can't an allied ship? sometimes you just can't get a ship to the right place quick enough and badness occurs, and of course sometimes you can't get a ship out quick enough either and badness occurs.
So once again, with a use of a research this one enables ships to use their internal buffers or an energy mine's help to rapidly redeploy itself and in the right direction immediately. Energy consumation equal to distance travelled and activated via a button now in all ships simply move the ship as if you'd normally do, but instead toggle "warp move" to on. This'll cause the ship to consume energy and warp to the location instantly.
if theres not enough energy though it won't work and the ship will move first before warping the distance it can, or warp first then travel which can be toggled in a rift drive "on/off box" (warp first or warp second, since it won't warp automatically since it's button activated). A ship has to cooldown for 30 secs before it can warp again. Warping can become more efficient based on research percentage.

Grabber "Absolute/Accel mode": The grabber module doesn't seem to consume much energy, if at all, and simply just puts out a field and throws particles. But perhaps a special mode called "absolute" could be created as another research point. This mode consumes power gradually but particles become more snappy and stay right up close to the grabber clumped up in a ball around it (or perhaps make a ring around the grabber modules location?). Then, you can literally use your otherwise fragile little grabber as a mobile particle blob-shield to block incoming attacks with. Then of course you can then just move right up to that ship giving you a hard time and deploy all the particles right in his face using "accel" mode that obviously is the powered version of "ON" that throws particles but with more speed or drive them into that really troublesome blob of land that keeps miring. of course yes I realized there is that "in" mode that collects the particles, but the particles still remain floaty and get loose so this is a much more powerful but energy consuming alternative.

Lathe Repair/Deconstruction Assist: Yes, lathes repair struc, break buildings and construct mines etc, but howabout allied ships? :D
with a research a lathe could possibly be used as a busy-busy worker bee of the fleet and a lathe/omni could be used to team build the initial bridge of a ship cutting the time of construction (one point of energy to build the bridge, one second of lathing), or lathe an allied ship so that it builds it's hull faster (but not itself). The speed of the lathing of course based on research level. And then the same things that make your base, can be put to work harrassing enemy ships and deconstructing their hulls if they come too close. (wall of omnis, ftw!)

Over-AMP: I remember seeing a video about an NPC wolf that was cranked to godly levels via map editor shenanigans and same with an emitter and the thing was practically unkillable. Now, I don't want unkillable, cause thats fun for a bit but could eventually gets dull, but howabout core over charge?
After an amp gem is mounted to a ship and the research is made (yep, two gems a minimum for a single ship) hit a special red button with a warning on it and the outline of the ship will glow blue and the ships bridge begins to crackle and energy will flow faster to just that single ship and it's weapons will fire massively faster and the hull will also build massively faster for 15 or so seconds.
After the overcharge is done however power will flicker and the ship will falter for a bit as the energy cuts out and comes back on gradually to avoid a meltdown. The ship at this point will be greatly slowed and won't fire (it's like it was stunned but still mobile for a moment) then it'll charge like normal... BUT... if the ship somehow manages to get killed while it's overcharged, watch out; cause it'll melt down and cause damage in an area killing stuff based on the original build time of bridge and the energy stored in it at the time of it popping, which could set you back pretty hard... but if the ship is designed for ramming and no-one is nearby? could be a mighty fine crowd cleaner. Just make sure you grab your amp gem again. :V (or if it feels op, an AMP meltdown death could destroy the gem... D: )

Energy Shell: A last one, similar to over-AMP and requiring a shield module capable ship nearby with an AMP gem on it. Once researched tell the shield ship to use energy shell and target itself or a ship nearby and the ship will be surrounded in a strong blue outline and the shield ships shields will go off and instead be projected as a blue transparent beam to the ship it shielded (or in the case of itself the blue shield is now it's shield). This mode lasts for 15 seconds and while in it damage is converted 100% to energy damage to the ship doing the shielding and the energy consumption will go up on the shield module. If energy goes completely out the shield shatters and ends early, but if you can keep it up; awesome, now your lathe has that moment of time to repair itself and soldier on to take out that last emitter thats really doing you in... or perhaps your hammer will really become Mjolnir for a bit? of course, if the amp ship doing the shielding moves too far away has it's shield taken off, or gets done in a bad way and gets destroyed the shield will also go down early.

Theres probably a whole plethora more things I could wish for, but heads might start exploding if they haven't already if this wall of text gets any longer. So better hold it here and prepare to get judged... *energy shell's self*

[Michionlion]

A lot of these sound like really good PRPL ideas - although i think some tighter integration would be required, like allowing prpl to change the tech available in a mission, or creating new tech options. That would certainly make these ideas more easily used, although as they are now a custom unit or similar can be made to accomplish some of them.

[GoodMorning]

Analysis of PRPL difficulty:

Energy cannon is PRPL-able, but it would be better as a stationary turret weapon, which can tap global energy when you have plenty of power. All else is straightforward, but would work better as a particle blob for efficiency and functionality. Click to fire, and the only issue is targeting UI.
Difficulty: Soon it will be done.

Rift jump is harder because the UI needs to pick up ships. If you make portal zones for in and out, which fire once, it is easier. This would need a high energy cost. Issues with ships only partially in-zone.
Difficulty: Marginally harder.

Power-grabber is had to do UI for, but easy to make happen. One of the exchange maps by planetfall has a particle booster already, and there is a particle shield too. I'm waiting on a ship energy API for the LaserSword ship, but that code is easily adaptable.
Difficulty: Functionality is trivial, player interaction is harder. If we get a module command button API (unlikely) then it becomes easy.

Lathes building/unbuilding is a their stated function, and what you say seems logical. But the module interactions effectively require a fake lathe module to be PRPLed. Also, this might give added functionality to depleted amp gem factories. Good concept, but...
Difficulty: Not worthwhile with current commands.

Overcharge is interesting, but mechanical constraints make it irritating. The weapon rate cannot be easily improved, and the glow is too hard. Build rate can be accelerated, module reconstruction is harder. Explosion is easier, if ships don't need to be affected.
Difficulty: Various.

Shielding will be annoying, but possible or close thereto. The UI will be annoying. Power drain will have to be immense, and will work better with a custom module.
Difficulty: Reasonable.

New techs are harder, but a PRPLed menu can work.

Essentially, we can relatively easily add content, but graphical interactions with a ship are hard for us, and Virgil has done the work. It is also difficult to manipulate existing code, for example for lathe modules, in PRPL. Adding menus and controls is much more difficult, although hopefully that will be arranged.

It's entirely possible that I have missed something, but that's the first look.

[Darkmega]

So I'm guessing that getting virgil to add these functionalities post release or perhaps his own takes on these functionalities as side things possibly not story canon simply explained as DLC "ability testing/demonstration" missions if they become standard is off the table then? Since both of you immediately went for PRPLing them, and I'm guessing cause the game is already solid as it is all these super fancy suggestions become "everyone else's problem"? :V

[GoodMorning]

I believe that much is planned post-release, but that the core game is largely settled.

Looking at CW3, CRPL has done essentially everything asked of it, save those things which weren't worth the effort (such as Ore requesting, or fake packets). The largest challenge which was completed was UI, and even PaC has a very simple interface. This is why we immediately jump to PRPL soluions, because anyone can do it, and Virgil has enough on his plate.