Add design feature for planetary defense building

[Xyquas]

This idea came to me while answering eidolad's thread Horizon needs planet defense layers and "partial function".

Horizon support user definied ship and starbase designs. These are fine features I really love and see as a must have in every 4X game (at least the ship part - the starbase part is unfortunetely quite rare). As Horizon tries to make things different than implemented elsewhere, why not doing so with having user defined planetary defense building?

Let me explain this in detail. By now, there is only one planetary defense building: The good old missile base. While I think it's okay not having multiple layers (which is eidolad's suggestion - adding more defense layers) I wondered why I always have atomic missiles in my missile base. Wouldn't it be more natural to upgrade the missilies once I researched better ones (like antimatter or proton torpedoes). In MOO2, which clearly influenced the Horizon programmers (as it did with me ), missile bases were automatically upgraded to new technologies, giving them state of the art effectiveness.

I think it would be really cool to change the name of the missile base to just planetary defense or something similiar general and therefore give the player the possibility to choose on which weapon system he wants to rely for his planet's safety. Is it the atomic missile? Or heavy crystal beam? Maybe a sophisticated laser or a death bringing anti matter torpedo? Or you are brave and reduce your shots to 10, giving them double punching power? Yeah, I'd love to see that feature. And I can't remember having it seen in any of the many 4X games I already played.

[eidolad]

the possibilities are, endless with this idea:

stealthed launchers (you can only see what *type* of missiles when the suckers are launched)

remote launchers (place them on a nearly asteroid or asteroids, or in "stealth pods scattered in near-planet space) I'm borrowing from the "mirror box" idea from David Weber science fiction. The enemy closes with the planet but doesn't realize that they are sailing into a middle of a enveloping launch. The 360 degree arc for light weapons kind of defeats this but still...it would suck to realize that I'm clustered my transport fleet not at the "edge" of the planet missile range...but smack in the middle of the "effective" range of that moon's missiles...

loitering missiles: as you close, you see the planet launch many groups of missiles...that seem to hang around in space a looong time.

mine-launcher:

tech level 1: the mines look like missiles when launched but then plop down in place as mines. In fact the planet is now seeding nearly by with hundreds of mines. (they will age out and disappear). But the longer the attacker wastes time...the bigger the minefield gets...

mine-launcher tech-level 2:
normally, that group missiles fades from radar...ah, so they're gone. Nope, these were mines that went "active and stealthy" and can move a short distance away. In fact the "missile launch" is just a stealth mine delivery system. Just the ticket to surprise the daylights out of a lazy human player who didn't check the tech-level of that mine-launcher base.

mine-launcher tech-level 3: the planet is always now surrounded by long duration seeking mines (say, 50) that will go active when the planet is attacked. They move very rapidly around the planet so an enemy fleet will have to brave many hits to reach bombing range. The planet can only control a limited number, but can instantly launch new mines in groups when the orbiting ones are destroyed.


Stopping there...I could go on and on...but am waiting to see some info from the devs on what idea-path they are going on an expansion

[Xyquas]

mine-launcher

Wow, I love that idea! And this is something I can't remember to having seen implemented in any 4X game yet. Laying a mine field could be a really cheap way of installing defenses against these raging troop transports.
It would be great to have them installed on a ship. They could work like the colony ships: One load is, I pick up your number, 50 mines and I can give a ship the order to surrond a planet with mines. After deploying them, the ship has to return to a starbase to get new ammo.

I think the stealth effect should only apply with high level tech (5+). And I think research is needed for friend / foe recognition (maybe level 3) so I have to be careful where I lay a minefield because it could be my own ships sailing in. Oh and it should have diplomatic effects if I'm laying mines outside of my sectors, for example in an uninhabited sector to protect an attractive planet for my colony ship.

[eidolad]

My dream job is "Military SciFi Games Technologist"...I could go on and on about guns and gadgets that go pew-pew.... It is the vamping/synergy off other people's ideas that really works well.

I just like the idea of introducing doubt in the attacker's mind about what exactly is being launched, or waiting, in near orbit of that planet. After all, I'm on someone else's turf. A planetary defense officer has had *years* to think about the moment there are incoming attacker ships.

So early design feature for missile base:

single-shot canisters:

Couldn't I just pre-place some "missile pods" in orbit among my other orbiting junk...set for launch when bad guys are very close? (Attacker could send a fighter squadron to look and sweep them up). My planet is going to fall to a real fleet. But some small scale attackers will *die* as a penalty if my cheap launchers avoid being detected and can launch on a scout/destroyer.

flak canisters:

That poor fighter squadron has come in to attack the canister at close range. Whoops, the canister explodes and sends a metal storm (as in and shreds the fighter faster than it can even react.

decoy canisters:

The "missile pods" look real, but contain dummy rounds. They will make an attacker launch a fighter sweep or shoot at them, or even, break off the attack. The missiles will launch, track, and soak up defensive fire.

...or mix-match all of the above into one orbit group.

We can drown the devs in ideas...but to what point if we don't know where they are going, if they are, and in what direction.