(I have a point, honestly) I would love to see a MMO based on either the Armored Core series or Dropship: United Peace Force. A game using technology from both would be good too, though I don''t know which story is better. Hell, I just want see either of them online. I do more than espouse the greatness of these titles. I think this would be cool for another reason. It might not require as powerful a server farm and more importantly for amateurs, it may meet the needs of a less-than-professional engine. Instead of having to keep track of hundreds of players in a zone, it could be like keeping track of many different 64-player games going on continuously. Sure, it may be fun to have your character run continously for several days until you go from one ocean to another, but do you really need to?

Anyone else never heard of those titles before?

Sigh. It''s like nobody on gdnet has a console.

Armored Core is a mech series where you play as a member of a mercenary group called the Ravens. In very general terms, the plot is that the current political, social, and economic power is being fought over by various entities who hire you. It''s really fun when you receive an offer from one side to go blow something up and at the same time receive an e-mail from the other side to defend the exact same place.

You use the money from missions to buy ammo and parts for your Armored Core and to repair it, and this is the fun part. Hundreds of parts lead to millions of combinations. You also fight other ravens in the arena for prizes and just watch the fight unfold as you gain more powerful parts. You select your parts to accomplish your next mission and to fit your style. They always begin a title with a video of a really intense fight scene between Cores, then it''s off to the main menu.

The mechs are humanoid. One arm usually holds a rifle of some type, the other holds a blade for close quarter stuff and for when you run out of ammo. There are two weapons on your back, usually missile pods, or a radar if the head doesn''t have one built-in. You must pay attention to the weight of the AC in two places. You cannot overload the torso or the legs, with the legs supporting everything on the torso. The core is important as it adds armor points, stability, and slots. Slots are used to fit in various components which do awesome things. Inside the core is the generator, fcs, radiator, and booster. You dodge and fly a lot via the boosters. The fcs is the fire control system. You need to pick the right one to track wide or track high or make sure you can fire a bunch of missiles all at once or lock on really fast or track far or track near. It''s fun.

Dropship:UPF is in the future. You are part of a NATO-like army who kicks the ass of terrorists. Depending on mission you drive around in an assault vehicle, tank, or one of three dropships of varying cargo capacities. When in a dropship you merrily go about dropping off and picking up your buddies and blasting any ground or air threats that happen to be nearby.

I think something like Planetside deriving from the Armored Core series might be fun. The games'' plots weren''t exactly heavy literary masterpieces. The action in the game was brilliant.

Something that I''d like to see is a similar setup, but using the Robotech series for inspiration. After playing the Xbox game, I am twice as sure that this is an excellent direction, although it admittedly violates the precept of keeping required resources low. Alternatively, Palladium Books'' Rifts universe would be a hell of a place to work from, although at that point RPG starts coming into the equation.

I''d also be interested to see if an officer system could work in this type of game, with higher ranks playing the higher strategies and lower ranks fighting the actual battles. I think that this system may be in use somewhere, but I don''t know where.

Just some thoughts, there.

ld

quote: Original post by RolandofGilead
Sigh. It''s like nobody on gdnet has a console.

Maybe it''s just that we don''t have sucky consoles.