A Babylon 5 zone for Subspace: Continuum

(Check out all the files here!!)

As soon as preparations are complete, we intend to launch a Babylon 5 (B5) zone! 

1.0  Audio-Visual upgrades:

The zone will feature a B5 ship-set which will totally change the whole experience, and fans of Babylon 5 can fly in the ships they were meant to.

Along with the new ship-sets will come sound effects, straight from the show.

2.0  The Map:

A beta version of the map is already complete. Inspired from SSCU Death Star Battle, the map contains:

- The Babylon 5 space station in space, with a complex internal structure

- A home-base for each of the 4 teams

- A jump-gate (as the safety zone, also where you re-spawn in the zone)

- An asteroid field

3.0  Teams:

There will be 4 teams (frequencies), which will represent 4 races from B5. Accordingly there are 4 fighters and 4 capital ships set up in the zone. Members of a team would have to use a ship of that race, and the 4 teams would battle it out. 

4.0  Game-play:

Currently, a capture-the-flag system is envisioned, so there will be flags inside the Station, and fighters will have to go in, fight for the flags, and get them back to the base. Capital ships will be too big to enter the station, but they will greatly influence all the battles, specially outside the station.
 

5.0  Capital Ships:

Basically capital ships are the bomber concept taken to the extreme.

Although (due to the game's restrictions) the capital ships will only appear to be about five times larger than fighters, they will feel a hundred times bigger! They will have insane firepower and lots of energy while at the same time being slow and less maneuverable. One shot from a destroyer or cruiser will vaporize a fighter, but if a fighter manages to get in the blind-spot of the capital ship's weapons, the massive ship  alone would be helpless.

Note about weapons: Since weapons will be fixed (no upgrades), different level bullets and bombs will be assigned to ships based purely on the colors, to match the weapons colors from the show. So L1 = L2 = L3 guns and the same for bombs.

6.0  Defense Grid and Carriers:

Along the same concept, only capital ships will be able to have turrets and only fighters will have the ability to attach to other ships. Currently we envisage up to a maximum of 6 turrets per capital ship. That way it can be a carrier. It could launch (un-attach) fighters to engage enemy fighters, or the attached fighters could be used as a defense grid to protect the capital ships from all sides.

7.0  Beam Weapons:

We have not figured out a way to add beam weapons to the game, but, we do have an alternate solution. Using very fast bullets, fired with little space in between, we can simulate the effect of a laser-type beam weapon. The bullets will be so fast compared to the ships that even if a ship fires its beam weapons while rotating, it'll be in a straight line.

8.0  Energy:

Another new idea that will be implemented in this zone will be 'no recharge'. In subspace, ship energy recharges (some slow, some fast), and I wonder, how realistic is that? If a ship gets shot at, the ship should retain the damage, not heal itself in a matter of seconds (unless its an organic ship o_O ). So I will set the energy recharge rate to zero. This way, when a ship gets hit, its energy stays down, sort of like a permanent EMP. When you hit someone and they run away, they wont regenerate and come back full strength, the damage has been done!

This feature is inspired by the Babylon 5 idea of no such things as 'shields' :)

When a person dies and re-spawns, he will again have full energy, of course. Weapons will not take energy to fire, so you don't have to worry about hurting yourself by firing. Your energy is essentially turned into your hit-points or health-points like in other games.