Power Concept for Ultima Online

Praxiiz

Praxiiz

I am trying to come up with a concept for a power system for Ultima Online. I welcome your feedback and ideas. This idea strays from mainstream Ultima Online, so if you're not comfortable with that, then this idea is not for you.

Goals
  • Deepen the simulation aspect of Ultima Online
  • Give more meaning to guild housing and structures, including where they are placed
  • Consume in game items / resources
  • Give players flexibility to use the system in creative ways
Functionality
  • Player placed power lines
  • Player created generators
  • Player created crafting machines
  • Player placed items that are powered
This idea is inspired by games like Minecraft and Terraria. I like the idea of giving players the flexibility to create their own systems by composing many pieces together. I think it could give a little more purpose and strategy when placing houses and guild structures.

For example, a guild may want to have a member place their house near a river and build a water wheel to generate power, then route the power to the main guild hall.

It could also be cool in a Colonization map where players start with nothing and are expected to build up the map including cities.

Here is a concept I came up with using stock graphics for a power generator and power lines:
ai22.photobucket.com_albums_b347_Praxiiz_PowerGenerator.png
 
A really awesome idea!
I've always though that Ultima needed an aspect of creation and and building. Implementing a basic version of the redstone system in UO and have it interact with the world would just be... well truly awesome.

I can think of multiple ways in which a system like this could link up with existing systems.
Some basic ideas would be;
A moongate to a certain place needs a specific amount of power for it to operate.
Custom dungeons need to be supplied with power in order for them to produce monsters etc?
Energy fields don't rely of mana but rely on how much power the 'caster' was able to store in their energy field. - Or even once an energy field is made it's duration is determined by how long you can fuel it with power for.
 
The idea is unique but too industrial for UO theme, I think. I mean, uo is based on medieval age theme, swords, horses etc.
 
Maybe too industrial, and not magic enough? I mean if you look at exodus dungeon it has the same type of stuff, just not using power lines. They have channels with pure and raw energy flowing through them.

Maybe I'll theme it more along the lines of exodus dungeon.
 
Marcis said:
The idea is unique but too industrial for UO theme, I think. I mean, uo is based on medieval age theme, swords, horses etc.
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I agree that is how UO ~should've~ been, but then again...explain Lord Blackthorn and his tech body, and the Meers are from outer space..so I'd say go ahead and put in the powerlines. It could be used as a great quest for a re-take over by the Meers and Lord Blackthorn.
 
Redmoon said:
I agree that is how UO ~should've~ been, but then again...explain Lord Blackthorn and his tech body, and the Meers are from outer space..so I'd say go ahead and put in the powerlines. It could be used as a great quest for a re-take over by the Meers and Lord Blackthorn.
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I think it was simply cause UO designers couldn't come up with anything new within the Ultima theme.
 
Marcis said:
I think it was simply cause UO designers couldn't come up with anything new within the Ultima theme.
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I agree it should have stayed more D&D magical based, but it didn't so... Praxiiz should add it in for those who enjoy the techy stuff. Ya know, all it would take it graphical changes to make it more "magical". ;)
 
At this stage I'm just gathering ideas. It could be done as a magic only system. If someone wants to mock up something, I'd love to see it.
 
I remember when I built the stargate system for my shard I was going to make it powered by those small power crystals you can get, kind of a way to recharge the system (or the crystal you dial'd from).
The general idea was to allow crafters to make the power crystal with various amounts of charge on them to power the dial crystals with again... an amount of charge on them, if it was a popular gate then people needed to recharge the gate in order to use them.

I kind of agree with a couple of others tho, UO's all about magic & dungeons so the theme would have been along those lines.

Saying that tho, if the idea works and your happy with power lines and things like that then go for it, that's what owning a custom shard is all about.

Not everyone will share your idea's (good or bad), what counts is its your idea, the rewards for making something like this and seeing it working is also a good feeling.
 
For those that haven't seen my previous machine concepts, I scripted a mummy maker a few years back that uses conveyer belts:
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Definitely not my cup of tea regardless of whether its magic, industrial, or otherwise. I prefer a more realistic politically fueled non-magic low fantasy style medieval feel, which is what my server is being developed as. That being said...

I'm just glad you keep on developing for UO emulation, Praxiiz - no matter what the content is.
 
Sorry about that rating, I've been posting on my phone today. I'm still a little numbed up from the dentist.
 
I plan on developing for UO for a long time to come. It's great to have a community that is still active. I am really glad I found ServUO because it seems like RunUO is all but completely dead, and this place still has a really active user base.
 
I would tend to agree with that statement. and I think I can speak for just about everyone in saying we're all glad you found ServUO too.
 
Ha love the mummy maker so unique Praxiiz and I for one are also happy you are sharing so many great idea's here :)
 
Honestly, I like the idea of SteamPunk type things, or more specifically Final Fantasy and it's steampunk/magic based machines.

You could have a certain mineral that's mined, found as loot, found in water, etc.
Create some process to convert the raw mineral to a power source. Maybe have the idea of generators placed in certain places that generate a certain amount of resources over time based on where it's located, what it's power source is, and maybe give the option to upgrade it (gold dump!)

All of this used to create a power source for...well any number of different things.

If you're familiar with Final Fantasy games, I'm guessing you know what I'm getting at, specifically FF3 (US release, 6 otherwise) and FF7.
 
I think its a good idea Prax.. and with little imagination.. and use of exsisting of other systems.. I think Developer combining Fantasy / Some Futuristic type planes of exsistance with in there realm Could bring more interest to their player base.. everything has a use..just takes some imagination to use it i guess more or less what i am saying =)
 
Praxiiz said:
For those that haven't seen my previous machine concepts, I scripted a mummy maker a few years back that uses conveyer belts:
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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
Click to expand...


Damn Praxiiz, Why haven't I seen this before, you have my mind racing with ideas now!
 
Praxiiz said:
Maybe too industrial, and not magic enough? I mean if you look at exodus dungeon it has the same type of stuff, just not using power lines. They have channels with pure and raw energy flowing through them.

Maybe I'll theme it more along the lines of exodus dungeon.
Click to expand...

I just want to point out that Tech has been apart of Ultima since Ultima has been around. Before UO existed there was a full series of Ultima titles (that should not be news) and even in the first title there was space travel.
 
I lean more toward the medieval type of world....D&D basically. However, I don't see how this couldn't be given a feel/lore that makes it fit into whatever the theme is. For instance, a mage has found a way to harvest magic from the ether and transport it though a particular medium.
 
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