Turn-based/RealTime toggle for F3 (and retro)

[Modo]

Hey all.

In a conversation in another thread, I stumbled upon a thought.

I prefer playing X-Com apocalypse, another wonderful old game, in real-time mode, partially just for the sake of speed, partially for challenge, and partially for the immersion element. I would have loved to have a similar toggle available for Fallout & Fallout 2.

In terms of modding ability for F03, would this sort of switch be something desireable? It would be a lot of work, but it'd certainly be a possibility.

However, I do not think that making the camera isometric or anything other than over-the shoulder is a possible mod; I mean, it'd be possible, but it would look like ass and perform badly, since you'd constantly be being sniped by people outside your field of view.

So would turn-based combat, on its own as a mod, be valuable, or does it seem pointless to the more hardcore fans without isometric view, as well?

 

[Ravager69]

Well, I've been recently replaying both Fallout 1 and 2 and I have to say that turn base can sometimes get you the ulcer. I mean it's great, fun and all this, but fighting with multiple opponets can be tiresome after 50 battles, especially if you fight creatures like dogs or mantis and don't want to waste ammo on bursting all the time. In the iso view, turn base is great fun, but I just can't imagine using it in first\third person. I mean, these views aren't meant for such combat mode, it'd suck. I dunno, maybe Beth will amaze me and prove me wrong, but I doubt it.

 

[Rupert]

I agree, turn based combat can get tedious. I still think it would be awesome to have the option to toggle between the two game modes, though, if you didn't like it you could just switch back. I'm not sure how it would be possible to do that without ruining the difficulty level in some way, but that's a problem for Bethesda or some enterprising modder.

 

[Modo]

I agree, turn based combat can get tedious. I still think it would be awesome to have the option to toggle between the two game modes, though, if you didn't like it you could just switch back. I'm not sure how it would be possible to do that without ruining the difficulty level in some way, but that's a problem for Bethesda or some enterprising modder.

Well, it was done in X-Com, and done very well. Of course it's a system that'll allow exploits, but it's nearly impossible-- and undesirable-- to make a game without exploits.

One of the ways they did it was to choose you to switch before the battle whether to use turn-based or real-time. Perhaps not enable the switch if you're in combat-- or have been noticed-- by another creature.

I'm kind of liking the idea more now.

 

[Moving Target]

In the iso view, turn base is great fun, but I just can't imagine using it in first\third person.

The Wizardry series. Nuff said.

As to the topic: putting TB back into Beth's Fallout will depend on just what the hell action points will be used for. I'm assuming they'll be in there, since that dumb-ass fan Perk that won the contest about a month and a half ago involved action points, but that APs will be radically different from FO 1/2, since putting that fan Perk into those games would have broken the hell out of the TB combat system.

No matter what, modding from RT to TB would take a MASSIVE effort, mainly due to the radical changes in AI resource allocation (stuff gets smarter when you don't have to use system resources to split collective NPC intelligence between several characters at once). At that point, you just might as well start coding a totally different game. Or play something else; same diff.

 

[Modo]

In the iso view, turn base is great fun, but I just can't imagine using it in first\third person.

The Wizardry series. Nuff said.

As to the topic: putting TB back into Beth's Fallout will depend on just what the hell action points will be used for. I'm assuming they'll be in there, since that dumb-ass fan Perk that won the contest about a month and a half ago involved action points, but that APs will be radically different from FO 1/2, since putting that fan Perk into those games would have broken the hell out of the TB combat system.

No matter what, modding from RT to TB would take a MASSIVE effort, mainly due to the radical changes in AI resource allocation (stuff gets smarter when you don't have to use system resources to split collective NPC intelligence between several characters at once). At that point, you just might as well start coding a totally different game. Or play something else; same diff.

I disagree. Take a look at Darth's work on the M:TW2. It's not that it won't be a lot of work, but doing AI work lends itself a lot more to modding than doing, say, physics engine work. Turn-based, especially, for exactly the reasons you state, is more open to a modded solution. Given that there will be some sort of "pause and do something turn-based" stuff in place already, that should be keyable to a much larger system.

 

[PaladinHeart]

I think they should do a hybrid system, like Betrayal at Krondor. First person exploration and interaction with isometric turn based combat. The only conflicts I can see are indoor fighting. The simple fix though would be to just make ceilings invisible whenever your character is underneath them.

 

[Haldgar]

I love how they did it in KOTOR games, replaying FO2 is rather painful, it's not like it's of utter importance most of the time, it's just (very) good to have sometimes.