BYO - Build your own (Mecha) in game, Possible?

[Anticheese]

I noticed that in GHII there is a "Build your own BuruBuru Kit", The catch is though that as far as I know Gearhead does not supporrt building a Mecha from scratch, Rather the best (and only) way to do it is to strip a mecha down to the torso and go from there.

Would it be possible to modify Gearhead into being able to build Mecha from scratch using base components like engines, gyroscopes and stuff like that?

[Epsilon]

i think that's a feature we all really want...

At the very least, I'd like at least one store in GH1 that focuses on mecha components ONLY. No mecha themselves, only guns and equipment. Maybe spare arms/wings?

[Joseph Hewitt]

Here's an idea for GH2: The ability to build mecha from a combination of blueprints at certain locations (factories), and the ability to create your own blueprints with skills (enter your desired stats, skill rolls determine the mass adjustement and perks).

I am thinking of limiting Mecha Engineering so that you have to be in a certain location, presumably a friendly garage, in order to use it.

[Epsilon]

Joseph, that would be really cool. Excellent idea. Any chance of seeing it happen in GH1? For some reason I've never been too keen on GH2... I guess I'm just getting feature-envy.

[Anticheese]

Quoting: Joseph Hewitt

Here's an idea for GH2: The ability to build mecha from a combination of blueprints at certain locations (factories), and the ability to create your own blueprints with skills (enter your desired stats, skill rolls determine the mass adjustement and perks).

I am thinking of limiting Mecha Engineering so that you have to be in a certain location, presumably a friendly garage, in order to use it.

I like it! Could we also have weaponary blueprints on the side? One of the best part of editing mecha in notepad is the ability to create new weapons.

The blueprint idea would make a great story branch:

Quoting: Ryancorp

You're the best pilot and employee we have had in ages, The corperation needs you to retrive a blueprint for a PreZero Mecha, I promise you it will be worth your time

Mmm..Build your own Mecha designed to withstand nuculear war...

Quoting: Epsilon

Any chance of seeing it happen in GH1?

Two words: Open Source

If enough people want it, Code can be transposed from GHII to GHI

[Joseph Hewitt]

Quoting: Epsilon

Joseph, that would be really cool. Excellent idea. Any chance of seeing it happen in GH1? For some reason I've never been too keen on GH2... I guess I'm just getting feature-envy.

Well, you're not supposed to be keen on GH2 yet, at least not until it's more playable. Give it a chance to reach v0.500 first!

I don't know about adding it to GH1- it's going to depend a lot on the implementation details. If the same code can be copied into GH1 and only slightly modified then I'll probably do it. Otherwise, unless Peter Cordes makes it his next project, it probably won't get added.

Anyhow, don't worry, I promise that sometime in the hopefully not too distant future GH2 will be as fun and playable as GH1, if not more so. Really.

[macksting]

Personally, I'd rather like to see that "blueprints" idea used at least once. Blueprints appeared once in a dungeon in GH1, for an old arachnoid mecha that was a predecessor to the Esher or something; they were of historic value but nothing more, as far as I could discern.
Maybe I should try using other skills on that next time I pick it up. No matter.

Still, a quick and dirty interval method would be to create a series of Design .txt's which are nothing more than a torso apiece, with various, well-balanced engines, gyroscopes, and intrinsic armor in Arachnoid, Battroid, Groundhugger, Gerwalk and Aerofighter styles. Of course, you'd have to build them with and without cockpit, just for further customizability so that a person can choose to benefit from having the cockpit in the head. Include no movement types; it would defeat the purpose. Needless to say, this would be a Tech Vulture's best friend.
The single largest problem with this idea, as far as I can see, is that adding so many new mecha would dilute the pool of other mecha in shops, and frankly, most shops shouldn't carry Torsos. Torsos and Blueprints would be for the true collector or designer, the sort of person who loves to micromanage; car dealerships don't sell engine blocks and consoles, they sell cars and offer add-ons.

[Joseph Hewitt]

Quoting: macksting

The single largest problem with this idea, as far as I can see, is that adding so many new mecha would dilute the pool of other mecha in shops, and frankly, most shops shouldn't carry Torsos.

There are a number of other problems with implementing this, at least in GH1:

- ghparser.pp won't load an incomplete mecha- the error checker will reject the design.

- Assuming things were changed so these designs could be loaded, wmonster.pp would attempt to use these mecha in combat.

Neither of these problems are insurmountable, of course, but the big problem is the way stores work in GH1.

[macksting]

So, no immobile modules for those reasons?
(Dear lord, it's good to finally hear some kind of "that's why it won't work.")

I suppose there could be a shop that creates, at some expense, the parts delineated in a blueprint. Bring the blueprint, he'll build the part. Could make for some fascinating overstuffed modules in GH2!

[peter]

One of the checks is "does this mecha have exactly one cockpit".  I've been meaning to try putting a head w/ cockpit onto a torso w/cockpit, saving my game, and seeing if my whole mecha is gone when I load.  That would really suck if you weren't expecting it.  I guess just removing the head from a head-cockpit mecha would make it invalid (so it would be deleted on load)

[Joseph Hewitt]

Quoting: peter

One of the checks is "does this mecha have exactly one cockpit". I've been meaning to try putting a head w/ cockpit onto a torso w/cockpit, saving my game, and seeing if my whole mecha is gone when I load. That would really suck if you weren't expecting it. I guess just removing the head from a head-cockpit mecha would make it invalid (so it would be deleted on load)

Actually, the full check only takes place when loading from a design file. Doing that to a save file may cause unpredictable behavior (or it may not), but the mecha should load.

[macksting]

I'm gonna stand by my suggestion of blueprints. It could make the whole process far more amusing, having to get a blueprint specially filled out at greater-than-average cost. Maybe there should be a place on the planet where things can be made to order, including blueprinted overstuffed modules (which lack customization) and blueprinted torsos with differing engine and gyro packages, but the cost is higher because it's not a standard model made on an assembly line...
...but if you get in good with Kettel, their mechanic might do it at cost. *grins*

Yes, I want my custom mecha so badly I'll justify it any way I can. However, I feel this is a pretty good justification, striking a balance between Joseph's system and my wishes by emphasizing Argoseyer-style uniqueness of parts. Obviously I'm also fond of making uncustomized overstuffed modules available in GH2; although I'll seldom use them, preferring to take the relevent talent, it is nevertheless precisely the sort of thing I'd like to have around. The blueprints might be a practical way, again, to toss those around.
Thoughts?

[draconuszero]

I am not sure if the blueprint idea is good or not...  The aroseyer was meant to be a reward for the sheer length of time one would take to get the item and the fact you need the prerequisite skills thus making it a one-of-a-kind mecha.  If You can do something like create parts from the argoseyer, wouldn't that just destroy the  value of it and other hard-to-get mecha?

[Joseph Hewitt]

But if we take a historic mecha, cut it into parts, then make each of those parts about as hard to find as the items needed in the Argoseyer quest... then, when they're all found, the PC has to pay to get them made and then has to assemble them himself with Mecha Engineering... that's looking considerably more difficult than just plain finding the Argoseyer. I think that might make a good quest for GH2.

I will not be making overstuffed modules widely available in GH2, neither as purchasable parts nor as blueprints to be constructed. I think the module space limitation is a good mechanic for focing the player to make choices when using Mecha Engineering; it will no longer simply be a case of stuffing everything in at once.

[macksting]

*pouts*
But at least the "you found an ancient blueprint; good frickin' luck" idea went across well, even if it doesn't result in what I wanted entirely. Still sounds like my kinda mission!
Maybe the blueprints are on a corrupted data crystal, like the crystal disk or the broken shards found in Mystic quests. Frankly, this sounds very much like a Temple quest anyway, and this could make for some darling random content.

Yes, yes, I'm still trying to justify a single blueprint for an overstuffed module, but at least I'm supplying useful ideas for how to control even understuffeds. After all, a shard with corrupted files might need to be handed over for significant analysis, and might even need to be taken entirely apart to figure it all out.

No, wait, that doesn't work, 'cause they still have the data. Nevertheless, randomly generating whether the data is on paper or crystal blueprints sounds delightfully GearHeadish, and fits in nicely with the randomly generated bookshelves and randomly generated crystal shards GH1 set a precedent for.