Traditional Thumping vs MEK-A

PlzBanMe

The furry mod
Staff member
Ember Moderator
Jul 27, 2016
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#21
Well, to be fair it can. Remember, Atari had a copyright on having mini games in loading screens.
Very true. But I don't think it could be enforced. Just having mini interactive experiences to tell story between levels. Claim that these are needed for the game as a whole. Loads level in back of mini experience. Too easy to dance around. Also I think this is the only example that exist.
 

TankHunter678

Well-Known Member
Jul 26, 2016
369
311
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#22
Hah I like that....

"Yeah, we used to do these, but they kept crashing and ending up needing repairs in the field picking up all these tiny scattered parts!"
Maybe you should put in a little museum that players can visit and one of the exhibits happens to be "the evolution of the Thumper, the modern mining tool of reapers" or perhaps have during the tutorial one of the NPCs in the background is recieving THMPR Training and calls down the wrong thumper by mistake. Que thumper crashing and falling over, while the Ember!"Oilspill" calmly asks you to ignore that and proceed on to your own THMPR training course.
 
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RaZoR

Death Reaper
Jul 26, 2016
65
85
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#23
I would like to see these MeK's upgradable, to accommodate single/group playing.

T.H.M.P.R. MEK.T Series. (Terminator) Polymidium armor, Nacro Diamond Drill Core, Enhanced multi linear shielding.
or
T.H.M.P.R. MEK.C Series (Cute) Pink, Pony Banners^, Dances the Macarena on the way back.

Possibilities are endless...:rolleyes:
 
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NitroMidgets

Tsi-Hu Hunter
Jul 27, 2016
590
474
63
Dupont, WA
#25
I might be the guy that aggros a bunch of critters and "escorts" them to your Mek. I like a big party. At least I'll hang around to help.

I miss doing that to people in Copa.
 

Grammaton

Firstclaimer
Jul 29, 2016
19
19
3
Kyle, TX, USA
#26
I would like to see these MeK's upgradable, to accommodate single/group playing.

T.H.M.P.R. MEK.T Series. (Terminator) Polymidium armor, Nacro Diamond Drill Core, Enhanced multi linear shielding.
or
T.H.M.P.R. MEK.C Series (Cute) Pink, Pony Banners^, Dances the Macarena on the way back.

Possibilities are endless...:rolleyes:
Hm. Better yet, as I see it now, T.H.M.P.R. is a class of MEK-A. Those others you mentioned would also be MEK-A but with different equipment sets and AI task priorities.
 

TankHunter678

Well-Known Member
Jul 26, 2016
369
311
63
#27
So I was talking to a friend and we came up with an idea for how the iconic Firefall Tower Thumper could be implemented:

Pretty much before technology was at a level where terraforming planets could be done in a relatively decent time mining companies would use these tower thumpers to carpet thump planets for resources.

The thumpers would land, commence digging, and when full they would launch either back into orbit, or fly off to the nearest automated refinery plant that was dropped onto the planets surface. Miner ships would come back to pickup the resources from the refineries and any orbiting thumpers awaiting retrieval.

Provided the thumpers survived of course.

The idea was that as we explore the planets we could come across past mining attempts. Thumpers that did not land right, thumpers that got broken before takeoff, refineries that had creatures tunnel into them breaking the environment seals.

We as a player could walk up to a downed thumper and scan it for resources, and if resources are found we would have the option of trying to get the maintenance panel open so we can force the thumper to open its cargo bay. Though there is always the chance that opening the maintenance panel reveals critters munching on the electronics forcing us to have to blast our way into the cargo bay. Which may or may not cause nearby critters to investigate the hostile in its territory. Once clear we could open the bay and get a small portion of resources from it.

We could also find the refineries and break into them, clearing them of creature infestation and find the tower thumpers lined up and ready for the relaunch that never came. With perhaps a bay with some resources left uncollected (cause of the creatures).
 
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Mahdi

Firstclaimer
Jul 26, 2016
1,079
2,330
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South Carolina, US
#30
Just tossing this out there to see what opinions might be.

How about a similarly designed thumper that is more hand held. Ember is looking to be a terraforming game. If you could find small pockets or caves, why not find small pockets of resource. Pull a miniature version of the thumper to pick it up. Or have one designed like the original but make it another type of sensor for resources. Even if it doesn't find a genuinely used purpose, it would deliver some for of nostalgia to FF vets.
 
Jul 27, 2016
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#31

The THMPR does exactly the same thing as what a Thumper did in FF, only difference is that now you have to escort the THMPR back to base. I'm guessing that people would be complaining less if the THMPR MEK-A looked more like the Thumper in FF. Maybe if the THMPR looked like a necronus from FF with a drill instead of a deathray.

Maybe something like picture below?
Consept art THMPR.jpg

If you guys want a hand held THMPR then just use a shovel.

Although, escort missions are the most tedious in existence, especially if you combine big machinery with complex open world surroundings. Path finding for such things must be atrocious to program.

I'd rather see solo players not do escorts while group players do escort missions so how about the following.

Solo THMPRs should just shoot up to the sky and be done with it, groupthumpers on the other hand can keep their THMPER escort.

Transform solo thumpers upon completion into orbital canons that shoot their payload to the nearest refinary. While the canon charges up you defend it further. the farther away you are from a refinery the longer you have to wait for the canon to charge up. After the payload has been shot the solo THMPR flys off.

I think that would be the best of both worlds, we have THMPRs that have an escort like the devs want and a non escort one that old FF players want.
 
Jul 28, 2016
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#32
I would like to see these MeK's upgradable, to accommodate single/group playing.

T.H.M.P.R. MEK.T Series. (Terminator) Polymidium armor, Nacro Diamond Drill Core, Enhanced multi linear shielding.
or
T.H.M.P.R. MEK.C Series (Cute) Pink, Pony Banners^, Dances the Mekarena on the way back.

Possibilities are endless...:rolleyes:
FIFY
 
Jul 26, 2016
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#33
I'm guessing that people would be complaining less if the THMPR MEK-A looked more like the Thumper in FF.
i think it's because we don't really know how it's going to work visually, so can only make basically random guesses for now.