[Vengence]

This is an idea that just randomly plopped into my head after listening to some music from Medieval 2: Total War. Granted it is probably ridiculous and silly but I just can't help but to at least vent it and hear some reaction  .

So I was working in 3D Studio Max on my laptop (on my lap) and this song came up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o34VmX7N2VU. In a split second I was blessed with a vision of hundreds of slow short range fighters in large square formation slowly approaching another horde of similarly square formation fighters all the while large corvette ships behind them were firing cluster bombs into the enemy formation. Along with the horde of fighters was a 'ram' ship approaching a heavily shielded base to make a breech in the shield network. All the while squads of ultra fast 'calvary' fighters were on the flanks, ready to pincer one side into submission.

Yes yes I know its rather bizarre but that's what made this dreaming make my heart race a tad bit  . Maybe it was just the music and imagery though thinking on it some made me wonder the possible interesting gameplay mechanics. Playing as a short range 'infantry' in the swarm would require a good deal of good dogfighting skill as you dive and swerve, avoiding enemy fire while sneaking your own in and avoid ramming into allies. Both sides flying slow but well armored crafts. As calvary you're goal is to charge and back off, repeating as you harass slow enemies but avoid those who can strike back hard. Then there's the whole deal with sieges, once a breech is made you'll be flying in tight confined spaces occupied by a space station and its various structures.

With those gameplay quirks in mind, also imagine said crafts modeled after knight armor and shields, decked out with awesome paint patterns and crosses. 

But yeah this all just came to me in an instant in silliness. I don't expect this to be made or anything or even it being a good idea, but I just felt that I needed to at least talk and share a laugh with ya  .

[SypheDMar]

Infantry: Space Superiority
Cavalry: Interceptor
Seige: Bomber

Seems that the concept has already been done. Range is already pretty short in FS anyway.

[-Sara-]

You could model 5-6 fighters as one 'unit' to quickly make visibly large groups I guess, to get huge spacebattles done for cinematic purposes. It'd look silly in gameplay though.

[Vengence]

Infantry: Space Superiority
Cavalry: Interceptor
Seige: Bomber

Seems that the concept has already been done. Range is already pretty short in FS anyway.

I'm talking even closer range and possibly even slower speed in the thick of things. But yeah in hind sight it isn't such a crazy idea so much as interpreted differently  .

[Unknown Target]

You're kind of talking a bit like a first person Homeworld-strategy game. And I mean with the way the game actually plays out - when you make a Homeworld mission from the first person, it would have a lot of very changing orders - target this, target that, move here, go there, do nothing for awhile, go here, mass here, attack there. Etc.

But before each of these battles you put your spacecraft into formations; capital ships are best used in wall formations. Minelayers in sphere formations. Strike craft look really cool in delta or claw formation flying alongside a destroyer.

I imagine the relative travel distances between engagement zones is similar to that of medieval armies, thus causing a similarity between pre-battle formation requirements.

[PsychoLandlord]

It's a novel idea, but it sounds kinda like something you would see in an Anime, especially if the ships were designed in the fashion you described. Which means, chances are its been done somewhere. In fact I seem to recall seeing a Homeworld 2 mod very similar to this on one of these Chinese HW2 forums. I'll see if I can find it.

[Vengence]

Haha I wouldn't be surprised if it was, though believe me anime wasn't even on my mind with the idea. I believe what I tried to explain is that things play out differently at least in 'feel'. Example you're not part of a handful of wings but a lot. Ships are slow moving with the occational afterburner for charging and very close range weapons for that furball feel while faster craft hit and run in the mess of the fight and capital ships acting as artillery launch cluster bombs into formations. So instead of it feeling like FS2 dogfighting, you feel like you're going to fight with your hands to the other's neck while some jerks are shelling you from a distance.

Maybe I'll use some more 'feasible' aspects of this idea for future use. Like using shield objects to form a bubble of sorts to create 'levels'. Break the shield, fly in, do crap.