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Up Topic Development / Scenario & Object Development / Airplane - Its use in game
- - By Ringwaul [ca] Date 2010-11-16 10:15
When I first created the airplane, it was my intention that it would fit alongside the blimp as a 'fighter plane' while the blimp is the 'bomber'.

There are a few aspects that were changed with the airplane that do not fit into the scheme of a 'full game'. The machine-gun-like in the plane will make airplanes utterly dominate blimps in every conceivable situation. While planes are definitely meant to be an anti-blimp vehicle, having them always win against blimps with absolutely no chance of defending is too much.

While the different weapon system is interesting in theory, this is over-exerting the plane's function. Shooting rockets from a plane will allow the plane to become a bomber, thereby removing the intended function of a blimp as a bomber. Though the rockets can be used for air-vs-air defense, this is also redundant with the musket in the plane.

Usage of bullets instead of lead-shot; I also find this unnecessary. Lead shot will be cheap enough to get, so we don't really need something cheaper than that. Lead-shots should be also taken from the clonk's inventory, not the plane's contents so as to stay consistent with the cannon.

Bearing this in mind, I hope no one minds that I change the airplane back to the previous version. While some of these features are interesting, I find they will undoubtedly cause the plane to be overpowered.
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Parent - - By Sven2 [de] Date 2010-11-16 11:48
Maybe I'm missing something, but do we have a blimp already?
Parent - By Ringwaul [ca] Date 2010-11-16 17:50 Edited 2010-11-16 18:00
No, but it's planned (though we do have WIP graphics for it).
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Parent - - By Newton [de] Date 2010-11-16 13:49
I thought the plane was some just-for-fun pet project of yours. I find it very problematic up to unplayable to have a big and fast object that is difficult to steer in the game because it has been repeatedly shown that these types of objects do have big problems with the clonk landscape, get stuck, crash into a mountain and fit through through nowhere. The CR dragon and the Hazard shuttle required huge efforts to make them halfway playable (but only in wide landscapes). The blimp gets stuck very often dispite its very low speed.
Parent - - By Ringwaul [ca] Date 2010-11-16 17:59
True, it did start out as just a 'fiddling around' project. However, I feel that the plane actually has become very nimble (see the landscape of AirRace; even ridiculous tightly packed sky-islands can be navigated by the plane with ease) and would fit well alongside the blimp as I described above. While of course we'd have to come to a decision as a team if we want this in-game, I see no reason developing the plane into a direction that degenerates the way it could fit into the game.

I apologize if my first post sounded like I assumed it was already definitive canon content; I was coming from a perspective of "How could this fit in the finished product, and what will need to be changed to allow it to fit?"
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Parent - - By Newton [de] Date 2010-11-16 21:52
Hmm, I tested it on AirRace and I find it unplayable. I crash and get stuck in the islands all the time.
Parent - By Ringwaul [ca] Date 2010-11-16 23:19
Truly, a shovel would help when you get stuck in AirRace. However, I wouldn't say it's unplayable; reversing the propeller can dislodge the plane most of the time. Also, I find it can be even more nimble than a blimp because it's actually about half the height (in comparison to CR).

See the record I've made; you'll need to use revision 49ec7c48cb14 ("Default all unowned ColorByOwner objects to blue (#486)") to view it without desynch.
Attachment: 005-AirRace.c4s (91k)
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Parent - - By Zapper [de] Date 2010-11-16 17:05
I don't like planes in Clonk landscapes.
I would like some sort of gyrocopter instead of a airplane. Because it is smaller and because you can navigate more or less freely (PS: compare EKE airbike). That said: First we should decide which vehicles would be reasonable of course :)
pic related
Parent - - By Ringwaul [ca] Date 2010-11-16 23:24
Well, vehicles should have limitations. Something that controls like the EKE airbike would have no challenge at all of going anywhere on the map (since it's roughly the same size as the clonk).
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Parent - By Zapper [de] Date 2010-11-17 06:59

>Well, vehicles should have limitations. Something that controls like the EKE airbike would have no challenge at all of going anywhere on the map (since it's roughly the same size as the clonk).


Of course, you would have to give every vehicles pros and cons.
A game designer should most likely only in very rare occasions (aka never) make something more annoying to control to balance it ("fake difficulty", I am sure there are a lot of decent articles about it (google))
Parent - - By Piippo [fi] Date 2010-11-17 21:13
First off I wanna say hi, I'm new to the OC forums.

Then to the point: You talked about a gyrocopter. Why not bring back the oh-so-underrated Flyvat? It looks cool and kinda fits the world.
Parent - - By Zapper [de] Date 2010-11-17 21:27

>Why not bring back the oh-so-underrated Flyvat?


Imo it's kinda big :)
Parent - By Piippo [fi] Date 2010-11-18 10:51
It's a bit big, yes, but not that much bigger than the blimp. Also, it looks bad-ass, and since Clonks can now use muskets (which are in M&M in CR) the Flyvat seems appropriate.
Parent - By B_E [de] Date 2010-11-18 16:30

>First off I wanna say hi, I'm new to the OC forums.


Welcome here :)
Parent - - By TheLinuxist [de] Date 2010-12-18 18:58
Nice idea about airplanes. But how about creating some "civil" ones like a small sports plane for just flying around 4 fun or a jumbo for transporting clonks and material? Just an idea, I think it would add something to settling scenarios...
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Parent - - By Ringwaul [ca] Date 2010-12-18 23:04
Well, I think there is really no reason to create another airplane that has no firing mechanism. As for a plane for transporting Clonks and material, that's what the blimp will be for! ;D
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Parent - - By Asmageddon [pl] Date 2010-12-19 10:52
Well, plane is much more agile than a blimp. And it's smaller and usually faster.
Putting stuff in it could be a pain, though....
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Parent - - By TheLinuxist [de] Date 2010-12-19 11:56
You're right. But I have another Question: I tried to play the airplane scenario in the planet folder, but I seem to be too stupid to fly this thing? How can I fly it?
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Parent - - By Asmageddon [pl] Date 2010-12-19 12:46
No idea, I didn't try it in a long time, but last time I too couldn't really fly it well :>
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Parent - - By TheLinuxist [de] Date 2010-12-19 14:38
Found out: W/S: Throttle. A/D: Altitude/Elevators. Would be nice if it had rudder, too.
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Parent - By Ringwaul [ca] Date 2010-12-19 19:23
Hum? What would a rudder do? Since the plane flies on a 2D landscape, it neither needs to bank nor stabilize.
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- By EroSennin Date 2011-02-13 00:03
1. Maybe you could make a One-Usage-Plane out of it. As soon as you crash into something, it explodes or just gets destroyed.
2. Change direction of the plane at scenario startup, please. One always has to rotate it for flying.
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Up Topic Development / Scenario & Object Development / Airplane - Its use in game

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