F3 ideas by a former Orderite

[ezk]

as the title indicates I was once an Orderite. back then I went by the name Bane but I doubt many of the current Orderites still know me or have even heard of me.

anyway, lately I've been replaying the Fallout games tweaked with some Mods an’ stuff. this sparked my curiousity about Fallout 3 anew. sadly there wasn't much to read about it except those design docs of the now canned Van Buren.
those got me thinkin' about what I personally would want F3 to look and more importantly play like. now I should propably note that I'm a really big fan of the series but I don't count myself as a hardcore fanatic so some of my suggestions may not be that reasonable to some.

anyway, here goes:

GENERAL GAMEPLAY

- this is a no-brainer but still should be mentioned: Fer god's sake, no Morrowind/Fallout mod kinda thing!
- keep the classic Fallout isometric view... but perhaps with a possibility to zoom in some?
- keep it TBC (Turn-Based-Combat, but you knew that, right?)

SETTING/STORY/THEME

Setting

- approx. 30-40 years after F2
- Mid-West (like Van Buren was gonna be); no particular reason really, just personal preference since I spent a year in Colorado some years ago

Story

there's not much I wanna say about a possible story as I don't think I'm all that creative there, however there's a couple of things involving the story element I wanna mention -- which is why I included this category.

- politics: there's a thread here at NMA that had a lively discussion about politics in Fallout. while it seemed that many were against it completly I must say I don't quite agree. then again, I don't want it to be a major factor of the game but I think that the wasteland has regained a certain measure of stability (if only in certain regions/cities) and hence politics would come naturally. in my opinion the struggle for controle opens many missions/conflicts for the player therefore it should be used in game.
- starting point: I believe it was the very same politics thread where someone also mentioned somethin' about the possibility of multiple starting points for our hero. I think that's a great idea but I'd like to build on it a wee bit. first I think there should be three to four "hometown choices" for the player before starting the game -- not that I wouldn't like more but I'm tryin' to be kinda realistic with the whole thing here. each possible starting point would present the character with some skill bonuses or exclusive perks. for example someone from a region like San Fran would have some unarmed and scientific boni. there should possibly be a choice of an "agressive town" -- which offers combat boni, a "balanced town" -- which offers multiple but smaller boni, and a "friendly town" -- which offers diplomatic boni.

Themes

- Anarchy vs Government / Freedom
- Faith (a touchy subject I know)
- Wrong vs Right -- however I do think that here there's a lot of room for (as they called it on Van Buren) "Emotional Porn". make the choices hard. show that there's hardly ever a absolute right or wrong. as you may recall the Fallout series always had "reasonable" bad guys since they were simply following their belief.

CHARACTER/SKILLS/PERKS/KARMA

General

- to keep in the realm of reality I'd say stick to Human characters; I think adding other races would create a huge amount of extra work... of course if they could pull it off that'd be awesome.

Character Creation/Appereance

I always felt that in a good RPG needs to have a lot of options when creating the main character to increase you connection to the ingame person. hence:

- possibilty to chose height/weight of your character
- male or female
- skin color
- beards, haircuts (+ color), tattooes, scars; this possibly linked to changing/adding stuff as the game progresses
- more stuff under ARMOR

Skills

- Teachers: add people who can boost your skill percentage for the major skills by 5-10% -- once! possibility for quests to get them to teach you
- more stuff under NPCs

Perks

- Teachers: kinda the same as skills but they should propably have some requirements (as in skill percentage outdoorsman must be min. 75%; or a quest) to obtain a certain, possibly exclusive perk
- example (exclusive) Perk: Modder; Allows the player to modify certain firearms depending on the level of the Perk.
- more stuff under NPCs

Karma

- not much here, Karma should be "intesified". postive or negative karma should affect most (major) characters you meet during the game

Combat

General/Misc. Stuff

okay, now I'm quite sure that not all will agree on what my main suggestions for combat in F3 is... let's see.

- I feel that combat in F3 should be more like combat in the "Jagged Alliance" games. more AP (Action Points, but you knew that one too, didn't ya?) to allow more tactical depth. I never like how in the end combat usually turned out that the two forces were simply standin' still an' shot until everybody of the other team was dead. I want to be able to fire once, run for cover, crouch, force them to come closer or takin' risky shots. of course the AI would need to be good enough to make use of the enviroment as well.
- no bullet-dodge animation. hit or miss
- more events where you have to fight unarmed or with meele weapons. perhaps a fight tourney as seen in the movie "Unleashed - Danny The Dog"? this does seem like an approriate kind of "entertainment" in the Wasteland
- more stuff under NPCs

WEAPONS/ARMOR/ITEMS

Weapons

- weapon progression needs to be reasonable. example: I never liked how I was able (or so to speak tempted) to obtain a Super Sledge for Sulik by takin' a caravan out of Redding because afterwards he was a freakin' ass-kickin'-machine.
- please no Ultimate Weapon, give the player a choice between two to three similar weapons that he/she can chose from. this is basically yet another thing to increase the player/character bond as I always liked to use shotguns for example.
- make laser pistols more powerful. this in a sense that they should have a big bonus against leather armor (or weaker armor). by the time you get your hands on one in F2 your basic weapons were far more useful.
- make laser weapons rare
- ammo should be rather rare too

Armor

- reasonable progression
- make the choice of armor difficult by adding boni and anti-boni (I dunno the correct english term here; but you know, skill reductions an' such) that make the player think twice if he really wants/needs Metal Armor over a Leather Armor Mk II because of the (example) Sneak reduction with the Metal Armor.
- I'd like to see seperate pieces for: Torso, Legs, Hands (Gloves) and Head, as this adds to the factor that you can personlize your character
- a small range of color choices perhaps?

Items

- certain items should be especially wanted in certain cities/areas and therefore get you a better deal by selling them there. for example: there's a small city that had all it's crops stolen by raiders so they're willing to pay you more than usual for fresh fruit (like the apples from F1+2) or are prepared to give you a discount in their shops in exchange for some fruit.

NPCs

General/Misc. Stuff

- NPCs should change appereance with the Armor they're wearing, kinda like with the "B-Team Mod" but of course without suddenly adding a full head of hair to Cassidy when he puts on Metal Armor. now you may ask why do I add such a cosmetic little detail to this since most of my other suggestion directly relate to gameplay... simple... for coolness. I mean, c'mon, how cool is it when you walk into a city with yourself in Combat Armor and your NPCs all in Leather Armor Mk II for example.
- this next point relates directly to Combat. this actually makes them only partial NPCs since my suggestion is to give the player full control over his allies during combat. in my opinion the main character would speak to his comrades after each battle to tell them how they could improve their team tactics. for example: I was kinda forced to give Marcus single shot weapons since I had Sulik with me and with a minigun he'd just rape Sulik standin' in the middle of the foes. givin' your allies burst-capable weapons was always somethin' I avoided in F1+2
- your comrades should also gain Perks (perhaps not that often tho'. like every 4 levels even if they're not "Gifted") and Skill points
- there should be at least as many NPCs as there were in F2 if not more (depending on the scale of the game of course... which I obviously hope is gonna be freakin' epic)
- when a NPC joins you late in the game you should be, to some extent, able to level him/her up so he/she isn't just rejected because of the NPCs who've been travellin' with you this far.
- D.o.g.m.e.a.t. - 'nuff said

THE WORLD

Locations

- a lot... a simple as that
- connections between cities. for example people with origins in different cities/regions. this would open quest possibilities and also a breeding ground for "emotional porn"
- dynamic locations. have them change over the course of the game. when the player does good show that his/her surroundings respond to that. for example by additional law enforcement, new shops, etc. if a character is generally evil and just kills his/her way through towns then add some wolves, radscorpion and perhaps scavengers when he/she returns to the city who’re looting or in case of the animals feeding on the fallen.

World Map

- simple. don't change it.

MISC.

- if you don't loot your fallen foes after combat they should be looted once you leave the area by others
- if I kill someone with a aimed shot to the eyes I don't want to see half of his/her torso explode -- that was still my favorite death animation tho’... but you see what I'm tryin' to say
- Gun shops should only accept Weapons and money as payment, Doctors/Pharmacists only medical supplies and money, etc. this adds a bit more realism to the game. this of course would require that every major city has a Gun Shop, Pharmacy/Doctors Office, General Store and a Bar
- while I favor adding realism to the gameplay I think bein’ required to eat/drink/sleep, etc would be too much

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

well, that's all I can think of right now. if anythin' pops up I'll add it.

feel free to comment on any of my suggestions -- but please try to be articulate about it and not get into a "OMG, your liek ztupid! your liek not make zense!" kinda thing. thank you for your time...

P.S. Please remember to cover your anus when Orderites are around.

 

[Mephiston]

I didn't have time to read it all since i should be doing something else, but with respect to the perspective, Id expect the game to be full 3d so it would nice to have a completely configurable camera system, which would start out isometic but could be adjusted in any way you want. Makes everyone happy.

And as for the location, i understand your preference for the mid west united states, but i think that in order for the fallout story to be further developed, its time we move on and to see what happened to the rest of the world because chances are that the untied states wasnt the only country who had the idea and resources to build underground vaults. I'll post something else when i have time 8)

Alright i read most of it.

With respect to teachers, i belive there were teachers already in fallout 2 that boosted your skill up somewhat. Example: Mr sullivan in Klamath boosts your unarmeed by 10% i think it is. Also since these are the people who made morrowind its pretty certain that there will be skill boosting npcs out there in FO3. The npcs giving perks idea is awesome too, and it has been done in FO2 example: smiley in klamath teaches you how to skin geckos.

With respect to combat, we both agree that it should be kept Turn based. Real time combat might work in medieval settings where there are few weapons which rely on ammunition and the ones that do are slow firing and easy to keep track of, but in a world where a character can empty a gun in a matter of seconds its really hard to keep track of who is shooting at what and who is running out of ammuntion and so on.

I disagree with it being more like jagged alliance. I've played a few tactical combat games: jagged alliance, x-com series, silent storm, to name a few. The problem it would force the player ( who isn't neccesarily a fan of tactical combat games) to critically analize every move and every decision he makes in a turn because what could very well happen next turn, and commonly does in a tactical combat game, is that a previously unrevealed enemy would appear and totally anihilate him and his party. Fallout isnt that kind of game, and neither is fallout tactics for that matter. By limiting the number of actions you can take per turn, it allows the player to make a few mistakes and still get away with it, by reassesing who to shoot next turn, opening up the inventory to pop a few stimpaks etc.... you see what mean? Fallout is an rpg and is designed for people who play rpgs. Not to mention that despite the low number of action points, combat would still get pretty intense in certain areas. Heh i dont know if explained myself properly but im pretty sure you can get what im saying.

As far as weapons go, I agree. One of the best things about the fallout series was that you could kick ass no matter what you decided to specialise in, whether you were packing a pulse rifle, a gauss gun, a bozar or a power fist.

I really don't know about ammo. Generally speaking ammuition is easy to manufacture, be it a 9 mm or an 88 shell. And in world like fallout where danger lurks in every corner of the wasteland ammunition would be cheap, abundant, and on demand.
Obviously some type of specail caseless fragmenting ammuition for an experimental submachine gun would be harder to find and more expensive and perhaps 30 -40 years after fallout 2 the area has gotten a bit more civilised and the need for weapons and ammunition has decreased, but still. I don't think the ammount of ammunition you can find in the game is the issue. More likely it's how much of it you can carry around. A solution would be to make ammunition much heavier i suppose.....but i havent really thought about it.

 

[requiem_for_a_starfury]

No! I've just finished playing Silent Storm and spent more time adjusting the camera than I did actually playing the game. Same with DungeonSiege and Freedom Force.

It's one thing to have zoom, but it should always snap back to the default view anything else is just so bloody annoying.

 

[Mephiston]

Oh i totally agree. That's definetly annoying. Esspecially in silent storm where it would have a close up shot of someone shooting and then the camera wouldnt reset. What im saying is, it should have an initially locked camera, with a perspective similar to that of the first 2 fallouts, and the options that allow you to adjust it to what you want, like zoom, whether it follows the character or not, or whether it orbits if you move the moouse to the corner or not. That kind of stuff

 

[Ashmo]

I agree, that combat should allow for a little more interaction with the environment (which neccessarily means more APs -- and higher AP costs for some things), but the reason I want that is that NPCs should act more intelligently.

It's one thing if a NPC doesn't CARE to check his field of fire when using a burst weapon, but he should at least be ABLE to consider it.
It's kind of ridiculous if the NPCs are so stupid that you spend more time preventing their or your own death than actually attacking someone.

I don't think full-scale tactical combat ala JA makes sense in respect to the setting and genre, though. You should NOT be able to directly control your NPCs, but, in return, your NPCs should be able to act more intelligently on their own -- this doesn't mean Sulik should stop charging into battle or that Ian should start thinking about what he is shooting at; that behaviour should just not be the only one possible for an NPC (other than running away, duh) so it would actually be a recognizable character trait, not a universal behavioural pattern.

I also agree with the armour point, although this, too, has been discussed before. You should be able to combine items from different "sets" of armour, but it should not be so detailed you can decide what kind of nipple-ring your character should wear -- making a decent armour system is a difficult task, but many games make it too absurd (which may be simply because every item that can't realistically provide some kind of armour bonus will simply be "magically enchanted" or somehow have an unjustified Charisma bonus).

The one thing I don't agree with is the depth of character appearance you propose. I liked how the Vault Dweller (even though you could select from a few very detailed prefabs) was always rather faceless. He wasn't so much a hero as that he was an ordinary guy who just stumbled into situations that caused other people to admire him -- he could have been anybody else.
I guess this may be a personal thing, but I think this also has to do with the Vault Dweller never being voice acted -- it just feels wrong.

 

[Briosafreak]

An interesting and well thought topic for a change, nice.

 

[requiem_for_a_starfury]

What im saying is, it should have an initially locked camera, with a perspective similar to that of the first 2 fallouts, and the options that allow you to adjust it to what you want, like zoom, whether it follows the character or not, or whether it orbits if you move the moouse to the corner or not. That kind of stuff

The only way that would work for me is if the camera was fixed, but with zoom and swivel options which would automatically reset as soon as you let go of the controls. That would allow people to look around but wouldn't affect the overall Fallout feeling. Though I'd prefer prerendered 2d backgrounds with a fixed camera.

The one thing I don't agree with is the depth of character appearance you propose. I liked how the Vault Dweller (even though you could select from a few very detailed prefabs) was always rather faceless. He wasn't so much a hero as that he was an ordinary guy who just stumbled into situations that caused other people to admire him -- he could have been anybody else.
I guess this may be a personal thing, but I think this also has to do with the Vault Dweller never being voice acted -- it just feels wrong.

I kind of like the idea of if you choose a strong character they'll have a more muscular appearance than a weaker character but in defence of the original suggestion if they did do this then all they'd need to do is make the default character appearance bland and featureless so if you didn't want to customise you don't have to.

Agreed that combat doesn't need to get too complex. I'd like to see crouching etc though, not for more tactical options in combat but it would allow more variety to the maps and the level designers and artists wouldn't have to design every area of the maps to be accessed by an upright character.

 

[ezk]

first of all I'd like to thank all those who took the time to read my rather long first post.
now I'd once again like to emphasise that these things are only suggestions... ways that would make the game better to me. it's not like I'm sayin' that if Combat (since there's the most drastic changes I suggested) stays a lot like it was in the previous games I won't buy the finished product because of that.

[...]Id expect the game to be full 3d[...]

I expect this too... but I'd rather not see it.

And as for the location, i understand your preference for the mid west united states, but i think that in order for the fallout story to be further developed, its time we move on and to see what happened to the rest of the world because chances are that the untied states wasnt the only country who had the idea and resources to build underground vaults.

well, I'm Swiss myself. the reason why I don't think we'll see a setting outside of North America is for one thing simply the language. it'd just feel so wrong playing (for example) a russian character that speaks fluent english, thus making the game less... realistic -- kinda ironic seein' as how it's set in a fictional scenario, but I hope you understand what I mean.
however I do think Europe would make a great setting because of the cultural diversity over here. there's a lot of potential here.

With respect to teachers, i belive there were teachers already in fallout 2 that boosted your skill up somewhat. [...] The npcs giving perks idea is awesome too, and it has been done in FO2 [...]

I never claimed this wasn't done before. I simply wanted to say that I'd like to see more of this. the general idea here can easiest be explained with a possible in-game scenario. you're not a repair talented person... no one in your group is... you can't find anyone who's good a fixin' stuff to join you and the next level is far away. then you remember this character who offered to boost your repair skill for some money or somethin' but you didn't have enough cash on you when he/she first offered.

[...] Real time combat might work in medieval settings where there are few weapons which rely on ammunition [...]

exactly!

I disagree with it being more like jagged alliance. I've played a few tactical combat games: jagged alliance, x-com series, silent storm, to name a few. The problem it would force the player ( who isn't neccesarily a fan of tactical combat games) to critically analize every move and every decision he makes in a turn [...]

well, not much I can say here. personally I just think increased tactical possibilities in combat would make the game better. this is also why as a Post-Apoc game I like Fallout Tactics... while I didn't think it was Fallouty enough.

I really don't know about ammo. Generally speaking ammuition is easy to manufacture, be it a 9 mm or an 88 shell. [...] I don't think the ammount of ammunition you can find in the game is the issue. More likely it's how much of it you can carry around.

I don't know much about the ammo manufacturin' process so I can't say what's possible and what is not. I simply assumed that it required some machinery to produce it in quantities that we've seen in the past games.

What im saying is, it should have an initially locked camera, with a perspective similar to that of the first 2 fallouts, and the options that allow you to adjust it to what you want, like zoom[...]

sounds good to me.

I don't think full-scale tactical combat ala JA makes sense in respect to the setting and genre, though. You should NOT be able to directly control your NPCs, but, in return, your NPCs should be able to act more intelligently on their own [...]

unfortunately I doubt your allies will act all that smart by themselves. of course it'd be great to see the boys-n-girls at Bethesda prove me wrong.

[...]making a decent armour system is a difficult task, but many games make it too absurd (which may be simply because every item that can't realistically provide some kind of armour bonus will simply be "magically enchanted" or somehow have an unjustified Charisma bonus).

heaven forbid "Chest Plate of the Holy Vault13; Char +3; HP +10"

I liked how the Vault Dweller (even though you could select from a few very detailed prefabs) was always rather faceless. [...] but I think this also has to do with the Vault Dweller never being voice acted -- it just feels wrong.

well, if he's "faceless" then you would simply "give" him/her a mental picture, wouldn't you? I most certainly would... which is why I prefer to actually "give" my character an appereance that's reflected in the game.

 

[Mephiston]

ok, with respect to the character's face, the game will almost definetly be made in 3d so it will be very possible to model the faces of characters, and whether anyone likes or not we should expect to see the faces of characters, expecially when you engage them in conversation.

I know its not necesarily what will happen, but assuming so, what i'm getting at is if you had Silent Storms Character portrait creation system, ( for all who dont know it would allow you to modify the facial features of your character, such the nose, chin, cheeks, eyebrows, age effect, hair and eye color, and nationality. It allowed for quite a large number of combinations) that should work out fine. And for those who liked the whole faceless hero fallout 1 and 2 had going, well im sure this facial customisation system would have the option to hide the character's behind a hood, mask, bandana, etc

I think i need to explain what i mean by moving on from North America. I still think the character should be american, a descendant of the hero from fallout 2 and related to vault 13/ arroyo. I think the game should start out in north america, probably in the very settlement that the chosen one helped to create with the GECK. However what will happen is a series of events will unfold ( use your imagination for the possible plot lines) that will drive our new hero onto another continent for say, the 2nd half of the game.

 

[LoneGunman]

What about a tattoo parlor located various places in the wastes?

Depending on the tattoo you get NPC's would react diffrently to you! If you has the leather jacket on with one sleeve missing and on the same arm had a skull and crossbone tattoo sticking out NPC's would respond to you as if you were a "bad ass"

Other wise if a teddy bear was painted on there and you walked down the street with a minigun and rocket launchers strapped to your back people would think "psyko"

Or perhaps a Ying/Yang symbol on the back of your hand would make dimplomacy slightly easier?

On to a diffrent issue: The combat system!

How about a trait that would make you ambidextrous? This would allow you charater to use two simelar pistols at the same time without spending additional AP's and cause more critical hits, but with a reduction in accuracy and unable to make a aimed short with anything else than a gun that requires two hands (rifle, laser rifle etc)

Think of it as a modified version of the fast shot trait, wich ive always thought of kinda pointless because you were never able to get that extra shot anyway unless you had atleast 8 or 10 action points!

 

[Roshambo]

Usually, it's some noob and their "ultra-kewl Fallout 3 design doc ideas" that we have to educate. I must have to say it's refreshing that a topic starts off with something a bit more towards Fallout, but someone decides to add in something really stupid, just because there's a thread going already.

What about a tattoo parlor located various places in the wastes?

Depending on the tattoo you get NPC's would react diffrently to you! If you has the leather jacket on with one sleeve missing and on the same arm had a skull and crossbone tattoo sticking out NPC's would respond to you as if you were a "bad ass"

Other wise if a teddy bear was painted on there and you walked down the street with a minigun and rocket launchers strapped to your back people would think "psyko"

Or perhaps a Ying/Yang symbol on the back of your hand would make dimplomacy slightly easier?

And aside from rather unimaginatively using something that had a better application in PS:T, but would certainly complicate any speech system for (pardon the pun) superficial reasons, what differentiates this from becoming the aforementioned arbitrary stat additions in armor that were previously mentioned and debunked?

On to a diffrent issue: The combat system!

How about a trait that would make you ambidextrous? This would allow you charater to use two simelar pistols at the same time without spending additional AP's and cause more critical hits, but with a reduction in accuracy and unable to make a aimed short with anything else than a gun that requires two hands (rifle, laser rifle etc)

Wow...I just love debunking this retarded John Woo shit ad nauseum...

Wait, no, I don't.

Think of it as a modified version of the fast shot trait, wich ive always thought of kinda pointless because you were never able to get that extra shot anyway unless you had atleast 8 or 10 action points!

You're right, there was absolutely no use for having the ability to quickly snap off a shot and then have enough time to duck back behind cover.

 

[LoneGunman]

Wow...

Sorry for posting... If im not mistaking i just got flamed there...!

 

[Ratty Sr.]

OMG, it's Bane! Hi, Bane, and welcome back. Be sure to stop by at the Order, because there are more oldies there than you think.

The one thing I don't agree with is the depth of character appearance you propose. I liked how the Vault Dweller (even though you could select from a few very detailed prefabs) was always rather faceless.

Um, the reason why The Vault Dweller was "faceless" is because Fallout engine was pretty limited in capabilities (which is also the reason why there were so few different creature sprites in the game). I think it's safe to assume that Fallout 3 engine will allow a lot more visual detail, so it would be kind of weird if the PC was completely featureless. With that in mind, some appearance customization at character screen should indeed be possible.

He wasn't so much a hero as that he was an ordinary guy who just stumbled into situations that caused other people to admire him -- he could have been anybody else.

That depends on how you want to roleplay. Someone else might choose to play a handsome, blue-eyed crusader of justice, a natural-born hero who extinguishes evil wherever he finds it, or a disfigured villain bent on conquest and subjugation. You get the point - no aspect of the PC is defined by any particular template, he or she is what the player envisions him or her to be, and appearance customization serves to expand that roleplaying depth.

I guess this may be a personal thing, but I think this also has to do with the Vault Dweller never being voice acted -- it just feels wrong.

I agree on that.

 

[Mephiston]

Ambidexterity is an interesting concept that works wonders in dungeons and dragons and in many other rpgs which have you commonly using meele weapons. I cant really see it fitting in fallout tho. Sure it would bring more style to the game but it wouldnt be a great addition otherwise. And if it were implemented, it wouldnt be a trait as much as a perk since a trait involves a downside. And if it was a trait it would be something like: John Woo Fan: you watched many of them oldie john woo holodisks when you were young and as such you grew up with the wrong idea about tactical engagements or the proper operation of firearms, but you can jump, do silly cart wheels, and pump both of your trigger fingers at the speed of light with the best of them. You are able to utilise 2 one hand weapons at once but your base accuracy is reduced by 50%.

I dont know about you but i wouldnt be picking that trait any time soon.


As for the tatoos. It's an interesting idea but if you think about it here is what would most likely happen.....You get a tatoo, reaction from older more educated "intelectual" characters would be unfavourable while the reaction you would get from lowlife criminals and people who dabble in the "artistic" aspect of the body would be increased........thats about it.

 

[LoneGunman]

I guess youre right!

Upon closer inspection of that idea, it wouldnt work as a perk either, since it would involve complex coding to make it work!

Both hands (slot where you put the weapons in from the inventory) Should somehow be connected to each other, specific animations and lets say you were packing the .233 pistol and a sawed-off diffrent range modifiers would have to calculated + spread angels and damage wich equals very complicated calculating procedures for the computer, and loads of CPU power required!

That is if the imaginary FO:3 ever comes out with any simelarity to FO:1 and 2

A better way to do it would be if you could make your character "dodge" your oponents attack and the outcome of it would be determined by your agility and weapons skill.

Your turn:
Slot one: .233 pistol, Slot two: Sawed off
Select slot one: shootdodge roll 2 hexes left,
Select slot two: Shot both barrels. End turn

The computer would have a "snap-return-fire" mode that would require 4 AP's or so. This will allow it to return fire at the moment your character makes the first attack wich is the moment your character is the most exposed... Your character then rolls two hexes to the left (behind a rock or something) wich the computer hits, followed by the attack you characters provides with the sawed off in the end of the sequence...

Nothing would happen before you press end turn! A feature i sometimes could use the FO: 1 and 2 because my mouse acts up, and with it comes the message *you hit sulik for 425 hitpoints* *Sulik was killed*

 

[Mephiston]

Perhaps a rewind button or a undo last action would be more like it because nothing happening until you hit end turn is a complex thing to do....lets say you assgin the action s, move, shoot target, shoot other target. then you hit end turn...thats great...except half way through your move you step on a mine, get knocked down damaged badly and you dont have enough APs to complete your move and therefore shoot at the 2 guys. I suppose it could be made so that the computer would stop carrying out your actions and await further imput if your list of desided actions cannot be accomplished. Also consdier the above example where you dont get knocked down and the computer can carry out your commands, and then you end up missing both targets. You're pretty fucked next turn man. Whereas how it is now is youd step on the mine...go oh shit.....open up your inventory and pop a few stims mabye take a pot shot at one of the guys maybe back away... full control and on the fly improvisation as the situation requires. something you couldnt do if your idea was in use

So i dont think assigning a set of commands to be carried out only when you hit end turn is the greatest idea man.

 

[Roshambo]

Nothing would happen before you press end turn! A feature i sometimes could use the FO: 1 and 2 because my mouse acts up, and with it comes the message *you hit sulik for 425 hitpoints* *Sulik was killed*

So you validate a crappy idea that doesnt fit in Fallout's setting with some insane phase-based shit that would inherently take control from you akin to the Inbred Engine's control scheme, as you give a command and hit the End Turn button, to mindlessly stare as the result plays out for you? Why not make the game completely play for you and just make it RT+P and go for Completely Moronic?

I still have yet to see how your tangents have any relevance to previous discussions in this topic, instead they look more like "oh, hey, I'll just tack on my two irrelevant cents". The fact is, ambidextrous or guns akimbo has been debunked a number of times already on this forum.

Just shut the fuck up or die already. Or at least bother to see if your brain farts have already been shit by someone else before you.

 

[Ashmo]

Hint: Santa is Rosh and when Rosh flames you, that's a Bad Thing (tm).

--

The problem with ambidexterity is that it doesn't work the way it's portrayed in stupid RPG systems like D&D (or the gazillions of systems based on it).

Even in medieval melee you DON'T ever attack with two weapons. You attack with one side and block with the other -- that's why you would have been more likely to carry a dagger in your second hand than a longsword (imagining someone wield two longswords has always made my head hurt anyway -- that's possible with arming swords if you train A LOT, but ambidextrous or not, you CAN'T control two longswords unless you have Wrists Of Steel and lightning-fast reflexes).

The benefit of being ambidextrous is that you can CHOOSE which hand you attack with, i.e. you can SWITCH between offensive/defensive use of a hand more easily.
This is possible without ambidexterity, but more easy to do with than without.

The whole akimbo bullshit can be debunked with a simple fact, tho: you have only ONE conciousness. You cannot EVER focus on two things at the same time. Even Jef Raskin knows this.
Unless you have a sietnamese twin inside your head, it's pretty fucking unlikely that you can aim more than one weapon simultaneously -- not to mention that with melee arms you'd be thrown off balance so badly you could just as well jump at your opponent instead.

--

I think North America should remain the setting for Fallout -- just as Mad Max never left Australia.
I'm pretty much convinced that only a tiny minority of non-American players actually knew/realized the world map of Fallout was based on that of California -- before finding Frisco, L.A. (and even L.A. shared little more than its location and a name with the real world equivalent) or the NCR, that is.

It's not important for Fallout to be accurately based on any part of the real world as-is. Fallout is a different universe.
Nevertheless I don't think Fallout would work outside of its continent. Moving away would mean starting over from scratch -- and I think the fans want a sequel, not a fresh start.

 

[Mephiston]

My problem with north america is this: The master's been defeated, super mutants are sterile and are dying off, ghouls dont pose much of a threat, the man killing cyborg menace (if you count the story which was developedi n FO tactics) has been defeated, Raiders may or may not pose a problem but they have seriously lessened in numbers, the enclave, the last remnant of the old governments has been anihilated......What's left to do in north america?

Yea yea, i know any of you could give me a shit load of ideas concerning fallout 3's plot. I'm just saying that as soon as we start moving into unexplored territory there's a greater potential for ideas that dont suck. At least i think there is....heh

 

[Ashmo]

Ey, Fallout is about decay and failure -- Fallout 1 and 2 have created enough that can collapse or go haywire later on.

Just look at Van Buren if you need some inspiration.