Planet Descent
From the Front Page => Soupe Du Jour => Topic started by: TechPro on December 07, 2011, 09:16:01 PM
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While washing some dishes, it occurred to me that the hardware scientists seem a bit confused in the Descent universe. There are hardware combinations and abilities that just do not make sense. Either that, or their mechanics have little to no practical sense of what ought to go together.
Take for example, in an environment where fast moving and agile fighter crafts are not just desired and obtainable but are also the norm, the craftsmen build the 'juggernaut' which turns out to be an oversized dog like machine (vehicle?) armed with multiple gun points shooting weak (less than blue laser?) laser shots and a single cyclone launcher. Granted it seems to have an unlimited supply of these, but let's get real. That combination really isn't much of a weapon threat, especially since the cyclone is not a long range weapon by any means and the juggernaut doggie is so slow moving you can circle it twice before it's finished turning it's head in the direction it first spotted you. If you got killed by the juggernaut, you were probably AFK.
Not convinced? Ok, quiz time. How many missiles can your ship carry at a time? Yes, you've got a limited armory load and a limited amount of energy. Every see a Stinger run out of homers to fire at you? Ever see a bot run out of energy? Do the Stormtroopers run out of bullets? How about those Mass Driver toting bots? How come all these bots (your enemies, naturally) have an unlimited supply but not you? Were you not provided with a top of the line ship? Later to be upgraded with ships using the latest technology?
Now let's really talk logic. While getting a tan in the sun at the ship factory at Mercury, the cargo ship you're escorting is essentially invulnerable. Oh sure, they tell you they're “still in danger” but the really are not. You can simply escort them long enough to let down the shield barriers that block their way and then hide somewhere until they get done. Do it fast enough and the speedy juggernaut stationed inside won't have a chance to inflict enough damage to the cargo ship to get it to stop. Try it. If you're not fast enough, just watch. The juggernaut will pound away at the cargo ship, destroying other bots in the process and all that really happens is the cargo ship will periodically “shut down for repairs” … repeatedly. Since the cargo ship is invulnerable, your only job is to let it through the shielded passages.
Ok, so the Descent 3 programmers wanted to give you a challenge by pitting you against enemies with unlimited supplies while keeping you limited. Alright, I'll give them that, but they wouldn't have needed to do that if they'd permitted are few logical things to take place. For example, your escort and cargo ships should have been destructible instead of invulnerable. Again using the Mercury mission as an example, if the cargo ship could have been destroyed by enemy fire, it would have been a LOT more of a challenge (instead of actually being kind of boring) because you would have needed to be quick to protect the cargo ship instead of taking your time eliminating hazards for the sole purpose of protecting yourself.
Let us not forget near the end of the missions when you have a chance to use a charge (a round ball of explosive) to clear a blocked cave. Here you are, you've got a ship loaded with lots (probably) of concussions, homers, super lasers, mass driver rounds, frags, impact mortars, napalm rockets, smarts, cyclones, megas, and probably more than one black shark. You're telling me you've got to nose with your ship a small round explosive pushing of a ledge in order to blow away the rocks blocking a cave entrance? Seriously?
Ok, ok, in playing the game I admit I enjoyed the challenges. Doesn't mean they made any sense. ;D
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Specialized nanite ammunition. You are carrying a butt-ton of it and the robots only have to carry it for one or two weapon types.
Your ship's reactor is overclocked as it is while it provides power to sustain your shields, keep the anti-grav on, power main engines, and supply afterburner fuel. Bots have weaker engines and a specific shooting pattern so that they can recharge. They are not always blasting away like you are.
Cargo craft is unarmed and slow as hell. Reactor is dumping all energy to the shields. They can take the heat and survive a few hits. When primary shields are offline, reactor goes into "ZOMG!" mode and supplies the ship with enough power to generate its own personal Invulnerability.
Juggernaut is a joke.
The rocks blocking the cave are also dumb.
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I found it a bit amusing in the first game that one of the prelevel briefings refers to the invulnerability shield charger. I wonder what would happen if you hooked up one of these "invulnerability shields" to your main power source? Apparently, the cargo ship's perfectly capable of doing this, heh.
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Your ship's reactor is overclocked as it is while it provides power to sustain your shields, keep the anti-grav on, power main engines, and supply afterburner fuel.
Not to mention life support, the onboard computer, the air conditioning (or heater, depending on where you are), the MP3 player (that background music has to come from somewhere) the HUD (although that probably would be included in the onboard computer, wouldn't it?), whatever tech is required to house GB when he's not free to fly around, whatever fourth-dimension tech there is that enables to pick up so many hostages without ever running out space, the auto-map, and there are probably more. :P
You know, the Juggernaut is a big enough and armored enough robot that when I first saw it, I figured it'd be some kind of boss. But I guess it really isn't much of a boss if it just sits there and lets you beat it up, huh?
Maybe it needs a processor upgrade...the one it has now is clearly not fast enough. :P
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But... when you run into a mega missile that's just sitting there rotating like it just saw the TRM... shouldn't it blow you up, instead of adding itself to your inventory?
Are the missiles and guns sentient or something, so that they know when they've been picked up and can install themselves?
And that still doesn't explain how they get in your ship in the first place.
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Missiles are disarmed. Your ship touches it and overrides the nanites' security systems so that it dematerializes and slinks away into your ship.
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Missiles are disarmed. Your ship touches it and overrides the nanites' security systems so that it dematerializes and slinks away into your ship.
See, that's what ought to be able to happen when a bot is shooting at you. 8). I suppose that would have to be a temporary 'upgrade' ...
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Well I think this tech-related carnage is also carried into future things... You see, the Red Faction's (Which was what came up when Descent got torn and ripped) latest release had this (SPOILER WARNING!!!) :
[spoiler]You start up trying to defend and then repair a huge machine called the "terraformer" from terrorist attack. However, they manage to blow the machine. Yet you got the "nanotech" that enables you to repair things EVEN though they have been completely DESTROYED!
Then, why the hell we waited something like 3 years, and ran all the stupid game to REPAIR IT BACK?![/spoiler]
Speaking of what, it had a pyro-like sequence, but IMO it lacked a LOT!
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...Your ship touches it and overrides the nanites' security systems so that it dematerializes and slinks away into your ship...
Explain how that works with the current laws of physics.
Or did someone from PTMC appeal the universe's legal department to get the law of conservation of mass, and also the law of gravity, repealed for PTMC employees and contractors, before the story began?
Or are the gravity police after you for the entire game, and you're just staying one step ahead of them?
But if you think the universe's legal department would do all of this for free, you're sadly mistaken. As payment for PTMC, the universe also repealed the laws of sanity and common sense.
Hey... my theory explains everything!
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Are the missiles and guns sentient or something, so that they know when they've been picked up and can install themselves?
And that still doesn't explain how they get in your ship in the first place.
I seem to recall from the opening D1 briefing that it was explained your ship had adaptive technology that permitted it to pick up and consequently use any weaponry you found lying around in the mines, so done with the idea that obtaining such weaponry would eventually give you a better edge against the infected robots. So...apparently that's how it supposed to work.
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But that's not a "how". That's just a "why".
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Your ship touches it and overrides the nanites' security systems so that it dematerializes and slinks away into your ship.
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You violate the law of conservation of mass :o.
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If you take a quick look at this trailer...
http://youtu.be/IHFazkfmBE4 (http://youtu.be/IHFazkfmBE4)
You'll notice the much larger Juggernaut about 36 seconds in. Was this how it was originally intended to be? I remember seeing this trailer before getting the game and thinking, "Oh man, that boss is huge." Of course, Juggernauts aren't really bosses unless you're playing Descent for the first time or something.
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You violate the law of conservation of mass :o.
Obviously wizardry is involved, then. The Pyro-GX/GL/Whatever you like for a ship is powered by magic, those yellow energy things are gems that refuel your ship's magical component, and while the weapon are made with normal weapon making technologies, they are stored and fired by way of interdimensional pockets, much like a bag of holding.
I think I've been working too much in fantasy settings lately.
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No, the nanites go in through exterior ports in the ship and then fills in all of the nooks and crannies.
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"Optimized for modem internet play" rofl
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Actually I thought D3 met that expectation, because it seems to be best known for it's multiplayer. In fact, I've heard people say that of the three games, D3's multiplayer was the best.
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Yes, it was, plus 'modem Internet play' was THE way to do multiplayer in 1999.
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Actually I thought D3 met that expectation, because it seems to be best known for it's multiplayer. In fact, I've heard people say that of the three games, D3's multiplayer was the best.
Well, I'd be one of those who says that.
Though D1 and D2's multiplayer was no slouch either. But I like the chaos of D3.
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I'm not saying it's not true... It's just one of those indicators of the times that we chuckle at today.
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D2's installation options (approximate):
Low- 10MB
medium- 20MB
CRAZY!- 64MB
Games today: 10GB~ no options
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You violate the law of conservation of mass :o.
Obviously wizardry is involved, then. The Pyro-GX/GL/Whatever you like for a ship is powered by magic, those yellow energy things are gems that refuel your ship's magical component, and while the weapon are made with normal weapon making technologies, they are stored and fired by way of interdimensional pockets, much like a bag of holding.
I think I've been working too much in fantasy settings lately.
Magic is technology before it's time.
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I still stand by my theory, that PTMC appealed the universe's legal department so they wouldn't have to obey these "laws" of reality.
My other theory is that rules (and thus laws) were made to be broken.
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STOP! YOU VIOLATED THE LAW.
Or
Quantum Physics
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This makes me think of a totally non-Descent related flash animation I saw once that touched briefly on the consequences of breaking the laws of physics... :P
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Link?
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All right, you asked for it...
Link. (http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/253/9/b/sonic_4_in_4_minutes_by_ultra_the_hedgehog-d49f1qe.swf)
The physics part is towards the end, so just bear with it if you really wanna see it.
And again, I told you this is totally non-Descent related. ;)
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D2's installation options (approximate):
Low- 10MB
medium- 20MB
CRAZY!- 64MB
Quote from X-Com:Ufo Defense's manual, system requirements:
"The computer must have a Hard Disk."