Regarding blaster/armor upgrades.

Just an idea that crossed my mind...

One of the things that I always thought was really slick about the KOTOR game series (Sorry to even bring that up in comparison to a MU, I know it is lame!) was the weapon upgrade system in which a given weapon would have one, two, or three slots of a varying class of upgrades (Damage, speed, resistance, whatever) and then a huge amount of upgrades that perform various boosts in any of those areas.

Would it be possible/cool/balanced to add a system like this to DH2? perhaps a skilled tech can perform any one upgrade on his blastech DL-42 - +3 percent all damage given, +3 percent to hitrate, or +3 percent to holding on to your weapon. Or anything else, really.

These upgrades could be purchased (standard ones) and better ones could be constructed by engineers or technicians. They could also need to be installed by techs, giving them another avenue for work and RP.

Perhaps your armor can gain a boost to energy weapon resistance at a cost to your melee/edged resistance. Perhaps.. Well, you get the idea by now. Just an idea, what do you all think?

Wow this is an awsome idea. Kudos to wanting to get techies involved in something. On DH1 you only needed them around to upgrade your ship once and forever. But that aside there's something more important about installing a "stuff upgrade" system; its all about having something to show for your time spent on the game. A lot of games online are completely free to play but if you want "stuff" it comes at a cost. DH2 fortunately will be free (thanks to the donations of others). The cost then is our time which is valuable in itself because it can never be replaced.

Having the ability to tweak stuff gives that customer satisfaction that only the freedom of customization can bring. Also it gives just another cookie the staff can have in their jar to hand out as rewards for completing plots. You save the politician's daughter, well he says here's this new gun scope I ordered the other day. I know you are a big game hunter so I figure you'd like it. Slap that scope on and now your gun is like none other on the game. Maybe you make the simple upgrade stuff widely available, but certain upgrades should be hard to come by so they are really worthwhile when you get them. Upgrades for armor, upgrades for ships, upgrades for weapons... quite a list could be compiled that will drive the stuff horses to gallop around trying to build their ultimate bounty hunter weapon armor ship combo.

DH1 always made me scratch my head in that there was weapon after weapon with really no good reason for it. Supposedly one was more accurate than another or something but no one ever explained it so it all seemed like noise. Why build a masterwork weapon? I myself stuggled with shooting skills so I asked around for a weapon that was accurate at the cost of hitting power. No one really knew.

If someone wants the satisfaction of hitting let them mod their weapon to be spot on with that laser sight that grants +X to hit. Still they can't hit the broadside of a barn because they can't handle the recoil. So let them alter the weapon -X to damage and +X to hit. Now they are super accurate but the weapon doesn't have much kick. At least now you don't go through 10 rounds of combat posing your finger up your nose because you can't accomplish anything in the room full of lvl 60 war mongers.

Meanwhile someone enjoys the satisfaction of incapicating with one hit (on a suprise round!). They make their blaster cannon into a blaster godzilla that is as clumsy as a cow on ice skates -X to hit for +X to damage. Now they can shoot someone so they can't RP the rest of the whole evening. Problem is the weapon is so inaccurate maybe that other player will get a chance to pose.

I really like the idea... but I don't know how hard it is to code.

It kinda seems easy... but who knows... Gulp?

It's complicated.

The way items are handled in our virtual inventory system, an item has no 'personal reality' -- it's just an instantiation of an abstract form. Hence, all DL-44s are alike.

Creating custom upgrade variants would probably require us to create a variant for each conceivable upgrade for each class of weapon, and then "parts" would allow you to "transform" weapons ...

Another way to do it would be to define several "packages" of modifications for certain select weapons. e.g. "This is a Heavy Pistol with an Accuracy Modification".

Another way to do it would be to give each weapon a series of potential bonuses that could be present, and then change the way our inventory system works. Let's say DL-44s are 'Type 216'. Then a specific DL-44 with an accuracy upgrade and a damage upgrade might be flagged as 216ad. Your inventory contains one DL-44 216ad and two vanilla DL-44 216s, for example.

All of these options do require a fair bit of implementation and thus won't be part of the vanilla, opening game. But the creation of "patches" is something I'm more than willing to try. Every 4-6 months we could release a (fully documented) "patch" that fixes all extant problems and adds whatever features we want.

I think this is a great idea to get the technical class of character some steady work/income and rp. Perhaps those upgrades could have levels associated with them. So if the DL 216a is what the skill check resulted in, the person gets a +1 bonus or whatever. If a more skilled techie gets at it, perhaps its a DL 216A2 which is +2 bonus, etc etc, with the a predetermined maximum for the weapon. Lets say the highest Mod possible is +5. A weapon could be restricted to only 5 slots of upgrade. So that could be +5 to damage and its done, or it could be +3 damage +2 accuracy. Just some food for thought.

Or maybe +2 Accuracy, +2 Damage, and a stunner if the weapon does not come with one .

Stunner upgrades would be nice. I have been noticing that we are short on weapon types equipped with that feature.

A melee weapon with a stun setting would be nice.

I want to be able to stick people with a sedative.

I second the sedative idea as well.

How about some sort of stungun or tazer that requires contact? Trandoshan Shock Baton?

That, too!

But a doctory implement of imminent incapacitation would be nice.