Sometimes, while playing Cortex Command, I get really stupid ideas as to what I'd like to see implemented in-game. Usually these things are impossible to do or just really pointless but I think out a lot of details and it usually disappoints me just to let it go to waste without forcing it down someone's throat. So here's a list of them. I'll add more whenever I think of them, cuz I'm so cool.
Historical Figures
Seems like a weird thing, but that's because it is. See, I understand that a big part of Cortex Command's "story" is cloning. It made me wonder why there weren't more historical figures like George Washington, Patton or Stalin. It would make a lot of sense in game so long as the flavor text would mention something about the clone being created from some saliva left on a chicken bone or something.
Evac
This one is an idea I'm somewhat proud of. In the Skirmish scenarios (though this can probably be implemented into a lot more than that) you should be allowed to evacuate your base after 25% of an area's resources have been mined. The winning conditions would be mining 25% or more of the area's gold and the losing conditions would be dying before reaching that goal. Of course this will be a slow f*cking process assuming the AI remained as horrible as it currently is. I really only want this to be implemented because I like my games to have a goal other than "SURVIVE!" Especially when you can wedge your character into an AI blindspot and just watch them crash their ships into each other.
Wildlife
Why is there no life on this planet that obviously has the resources necessary to sustaining life? We've seen that at least crabs can survive on this planet, so why not expand on this aspect? Add like, alien dogs, giant bears or gnarly beasts that lurk in caves! Make the expeditions harder and open up the possibility of a fleeing enemy brain getting pounced on by a tiny dinosaur!
Loot
Something that I really like in the Unitec mod is that some enemies drop some useless junk that would, in any other game, be little more than vendor trash. In addition to making me feel somewhat bad that the soldier I just killed had a photo of his wife on him, this junk made me wonder what would happen if everything did this, and you could sell the junk using an option in the circle menu? What if the aforementioned wildlife had like a .64% chance of dropping like, a super rare weapon that wouldn't be available in the buy menu until you pawned it off. This would create the conflict of using it until you completed the mission (and risk the weapon getting destroyed) or pawning it off and not being able to afford it after the Trade Star jacks up the price. Greedy bastards!
Resources
Hey, how's TradeStar making all these bunker bits and bobs anyway? Now, this is an idea I'm not even sure if I like, but it certainly is interesting. After noticing that I haven't seen a single tree in this entire game (and considered the addition of them), I was disgusted at the idea of having to gather the materials needed to make a bunker. The LAST thing we need is another Minecraft clone right now. No, all I mean by "resources" is, like, some materials that could be buried under the dirt and sold to TradeStar the same way loot would be.
Research and Development
Another experimental sort of idea, I think it would be sort of cool if you could collect data samples from the wildlife and send it in to TradeStar, this will begin the research and development phase. What I imagine this will be like is just a little box on the corner of the screen that shows what's happening to the sample that's being researched in an attempt to turn it into an effective soldier-clone-thing. The bar would go up over time and when it's filled you'll be able to buy it as a sort of bipedal mutation of it's former self. Maybe there could be little events that could occur like, "specimen broke free and destroyed lab, 4% research lost" and the bar would go down a bit. My main concern with this is that it would change too much of the gameplay and that, in the end, it probably wouldn't be that useful of a feature.
Bosses
Remember that crab monster that jumped up out of nowhere during the Exploration scenario? No? Well a giant crab monster jumps out of nowhere during the Exploration scenario. It soaked up bullets like a sponge and you had to rely on quick reflexes and sharp shooting to take it down. It made for a fun and intense battle and the closest thing that even comes close to it is trying to take down a dropship with a pistol! More bosses would be great, especially if implemented into skirmishes! Survive a few waves, take down a Dummy Behemoth! Good luck!
Events and Mutinies
Ever feel like campaigns are too easy? Ever feel like your troops aren't stupid enough? Well what if there was a mechanic in play during the campaign that would tell you if a neutral ground was under attack from a third party, and defeating them would grant you control over that area? Or that some troops ended up setting fire to one of your bases and you had to evacuate as much material as you could or loose everything you'd invested in that base? This would bring a lot of change to the gameplay and make the campaigns a little less repetitive!
New: Real Time Strategy
You know, for a game called Cortex Command, this game doesn't have a lot of the strategic gameplay the name implies. There's a lot of "control" sure, but little to no "command". I think it'd be interesting if there were more RTS elements in the game. Not, like a revamped top-down perspective but more the ability to select a group and have them carry out a certain task like mine gold, hunt a brain, or guard the base. Or you could assume direct control of the group and move them as you would a single actor. Move them as one, shoot as one. Have you ever played North and South? Yeah. Like that.
New: Assault (or Ground) Vehicles
Getting around in Cortex Command is a b*tch. Usually, I just jetpack around which isn't ideal when you consider that Ronins have self-destruct button on every part of their body. Sure, there are dropships in game but that doesn't help a whole lot when you consider that they're huge, have no defenses and have weak points the size of garbage cans. Tanks and APC's, while slow, will help, greatly. Gunships would be awesome (but probably make things too easy) if they take a page out of the Mammoth's book and retain the ability to carry troops and bombs.
New: Adventursploration
I absolutely love the Exploration scenario, likely because it can't be even partially recreated like Maginot or Dummy Assault can. No, here, tons of factors are in play that aren't anywhere else! Bosses, wildlife and objectives that almost coincide with the story! If nothing else, this is what needs to happen to this game. If we can't implement the features I've written about up to here, we neeeeeed more "Exploration" scenarios. I want a story, but not if we have to sacrifice the current campaign (which rocks socks). What if, with each new build, a new Exploration would be release, providing background on CC's story and showing off a little something special (as the original did with the mother crab). When the game is finished, release them monthly as rte's we can install ourselves. You know how TV shows air weekly? This'll be like that. Yeah, like a TV show that you could play. Mark your calendars!
New: Blargh
I had a really good idea, but I was distracted by something shiny. I will fill this in when I figure out what it was.
Again, a lot of these ideas are really stupid and probably have a 0% chance of making it into the game, but I think they're intresting and at least worth considering.
Also, first post... sup?
Last edited by Tandez on Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:44 am, edited 2 times in total.
Mon Jun 11, 2012 3:42 am
Jomn
Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2010 12:40 am Posts: 327 Location: US of A
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:07 pm Posts: 2992 Location: --------------->
Re: Stuf I'd like to see. (that I probably won't)
> made art for this > wrote a lot > good grammar/spelling > nice formatting > first post? I like you, you can stay. Some of these are pretty cool, gotta say. Unwieldy for the game that CC currently is, but pretty cool.
Mon Jun 11, 2012 6:37 pm
AgentBaron
Joined: Mon May 18, 2009 11:48 pm Posts: 205 Location: The swamps of Stuporia!
Re: Stuf I'd like to see. (that I probably won't)
I have always wanted to see bosses in the game. I got really hyped up when the mega crab was introduced, but then the campaign took a turn and I was disheartened.
Personally, while I really like the campaign as of B27, I don't think it would hurt to offer a legitimate story as per Data's original intention with mission-based gameplay and bosses.
Mon Jun 11, 2012 6:40 pm
Asklar
Data Realms Elite
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 8:01 am Posts: 6211 Location: In your office, earning your salary.
Re: Stuf I'd like to see. (that I probably won't)
I think that when you are about to take the last enemy site there should be an epic boss battle, or something like it.
I know it's been said before in other threads, but on Dawn of War: Dark Crusade (an RTS game which's campaign is very similar to CC's MetaGame) to take the last site (or fortress) of an enemy you had to do some sort of heroic deed.
Like, if you attempt to defeat the Dummies you have to kill a Dummy Behemoth or to defeat the Coalition you have to kill the Punisher.
At least that could be modded into the game. I think.
I think that when you are about to take the last enemy site there should be an epic boss battle, or something like it.
This I so agree with, it'd give a sense of accomplishment when you finish instead of the current just another battle feeling. On the note of ideas, I think having a stronghold for each team that can only be attacked when they're out of territories would also be a great idea. Obviously it would have to not be attackable on the first turn though it should be well populated and perhaps have little gold so to attack it you'd have to rely more on what you bring in rather than what's in the ground. It'd be cool, and give you a feeling of accomplishment, increasing challenge and of a bit of progression. Also it'd allow whoever's scripting the missions to have a bit more freedom since they could write a completely different mission for it instead of having to make sure everything's workable on any of the scenes.
Mon Jun 11, 2012 9:47 pm
Asklar
Data Realms Elite
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 8:01 am Posts: 6211 Location: In your office, earning your salary.
Re: Stuf I'd like to see. (that I probably won't)
I was thinking the same, but after thinking about it a bit, having a stronghold on the planets defeats the idea of "colonizing/harvesting a new planet".
It's hard to get good ideas without changing too much the original idea of Cortex Command.
Who says it has to be on planet, because you're right, that wouldn't fit with the story. Though let's be honest, the game's story as is is barebones at the moment and that probably won't change much. If all the awesome concept stuff was put in then yes, I'd support sacrificing something like this for story but since data's rapidly thrown story out the window (this isn't actually meant as criticism of that though I'm sure it sounds like it), gameplay should be top priority. But I digress, the base could be on an orbiting moon, asteroid or some part of the tradestar (or another space station if that's too farfetched) or, if it is on the planet, it could be on the opposite side/continent of the planet which is already mined out or something. Basically there are quite a few ways to get over the limitation of the backstory because the backstory is, as I said above, sadly nonexistent. Obviously for this to work there'd have to be a special button for attacking the place since it wouldn't show up on the planet at all; maybe by clicking on the player's name and attacking from there or whatever.
Mon Jun 11, 2012 11:39 pm
Kettenkrad
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 5:51 am Posts: 1198 Location: Sydney
Re: Stuf I'd like to see. (that I probably won't)
Rocket-powered faction-specific deployable bunkers. Like a drop crate, on a larger scale.
Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:53 am
Tandez
Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2012 11:38 am Posts: 2
Re: Stuf I'd like to see. (that I probably won't)
Oh, crap. When did people start responding?
TorrentHKU wrote:
> made art for this > wrote a lot > good grammar/spelling > nice formatting > first post? I like you, you can stay. Some of these are pretty cool, gotta say. Unwieldy for the game that CC currently is, but pretty cool.
Yay! People like me!
Asklar wrote:
I think that when you are about to take the last enemy site there should be an epic boss battle, or something like it.
I know it's been said before in other threads, but on Dawn of War: Dark Crusade (an RTS game which's campaign is very similar to CC's MetaGame) to take the last site (or fortress) of an enemy you had to do some sort of heroic deed.
Like, if you attempt to defeat the Dummies you have to kill a Dummy Behemoth or to defeat the Coalition you have to kill the Punisher.
At least that could be modded into the game. I think.
Pretty much. I think bosses would serve better in the mission-based campaign that was originally promised but that is a VERY smart way of implementing it, for sure. Combined with Bad Boy's idea, it'd make for an heated final battle.
Bad Boy wrote:
This I so agree with, it'd give a sense of accomplishment when you finish instead of the current just another battle feeling. On the note of ideas, I think having a stronghold for each team that can only be attacked when they're out of territories would also be a great idea. Obviously it would have to not be attackable on the first turn though it should be well populated and perhaps have little gold so to attack it you'd have to rely more on what you bring in rather than what's in the ground. It'd be cool, and give you a feeling of accomplishment, increasing challenge and of a bit of progression. Also it'd allow whoever's scripting the missions to have a bit more freedom since they could write a completely different mission for it instead of having to make sure everything's workable on any of the scenes.
For some reason, the first thing that came to my mind when I read that was the family compounds in the video game adaptation of The Godfather. Did anyone play that? It was good. I think.
Asklar wrote:
I was thinking the same, but after thinking about it a bit, having a stronghold on the planets defeats the idea of "colonizing/harvesting a new planet".
It's hard to get good ideas without changing too much the original idea of Cortex Command.
Bad Boy wrote:
Who says it has to be on planet, because you're right, that wouldn't fit with the story. Though let's be honest, the game's story as is is barebones at the moment and that probably won't change much. If all the awesome concept stuff was put in then yes, I'd support sacrificing something like this for story but since data's rapidly thrown story out the window (this isn't actually meant as criticism of that though I'm sure it sounds like it), gameplay should be top priority. But I digress, the base could be on an orbiting moon, asteroid or some part of the tradestar (or another space station if that's too farfetched) or, if it is on the planet, it could be on the opposite side/continent of the planet which is already mined out or something. Basically there are quite a few ways to get over the limitation of the backstory because the backstory is, as I said above, sadly nonexistent. Obviously for this to work there'd have to be a special button for attacking the place since it wouldn't show up on the planet at all; maybe by clicking on the player's name and attacking from there or whatever.
I don't really have any ideas on how to improve on that concept aside from suggesting that we keep it on the single planet. Introducing new ones may lead to work being focused on exploring new mechanics rather than polishing off and fleshing out the existing ones (which I think we agree, is on the top of the to-do list). If new planets are to be introduced, I don't think it should be from Data Realms. Let some modders toy with the idea and see if it works there. Maybe just have the strongholds be on orbiting space stations that land when the team runs out of territories (or funds).
Wed Jun 13, 2012 1:03 pm
Fail Flail
Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2010 5:40 am Posts: 1059 Location: I chose my fate, do not pity me.
Re: Stuf I'd like to see. (that I probably won't)
TorrentHKU wrote:
I like you, you can stay.
You need an avatar though, not having one is like not having a face or a voice, just words... Choose wisely.
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