Vapor Trails

from GalCiv2 Forums
Hi everyone,

This is a re-post, because it's the best idea I've had in a long time and I want to share it with THE WORLD!!!!!!

So, please reply and make a poor married man with 2.4 children very happy!

I am looking forward to playing GC2 and have been looking at many of the
screenshots of the game.
Would it add to the game if a faint "vapor trail" say 3 inches long at full
zoom was attached to the rear of the ships.
It would only show if the ships were actually moving, turning. ie. a ship
that had moved on the last turn. If the ship had not moved on a turn it
would not show a vapor trail. We could then get an idea of maybe where they
were/are going. Would it add to the strategy, sort of like having a radar,
what do you think??
24,225 views 20 replies
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
I agree it would be nice to see where any (including other ships) was in the last few weeks, possibly allowing for technologies that mask these trails and the opposite that reveals those trails
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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
I alrdy liked the "hovering" that can be seen on the first video. Little trail behind ships could add some feeling of moving. Good Idea
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
It would be a nice touch for sure!
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
I like the idea as well. If you have a vapor trail follow the previous week worth of movement for each ship it would also tell you how fast that ship is at a glance. (Longer vapor trail = faster ship) Also, I agree with sam0t that it would give a nice feeling of motion to a static ship. But my favorite bit is that you could tell at a glance whether a ship is sitting around in some sort of defensive capacity, or moving on to attack. It would just make processing the battlefield quicker and easier. (Take out a lot of the tedium.)
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Good idea but maybe call it a warp signature and have it show up when you click on the ship
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Come and join the empire of Overmind and we will teach you how to make those ships to "vapor trail" out of your way!!!!
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
nice idea shipmate
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
nice idea shipmate can it be modded in I wonder?
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
Fantastic idea! Could easily help too when you have too many ships automated and see if any of them have sat there for a turn.
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
I would like to see trails on the ships and missiles.....Although I am a Homeworld addict =P
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
Great idea. Vapor trails could add to functionalityfor sure, and it looks so cool
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
There you go Stardock! Isn't this a nice addition for an update or what?
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
Hmm...sounds like an interesting idea. I never played Homeworld so I don't know how the trails look or worked. How could there be vapor trails though because I thought that space is a vacuum and that ships weren't euipped with combustion engines but hyperdrives.
Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top
offtopic but how do u get 2.4 children?
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I think thats the number of children in an average American household. Or maybe maccca is a kid at heart and hes including part of himself in the number
Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top
Sounds like his wife is 3.6 months pregnant. If I'm right, Maccca's family upgrades to version 3.0 sometime around the end of July.
Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top
WOW!!!

What a response!!! Thanks very much. Well all of these replies has convinced me it is a good idea. As Citizen Martimus said the idea could be enlarged to encompass longer trails faster ships, shorter trails slower/slowing ship, and yes call it a "warp signature" or something. While I realise you would not get vapor trails in a vacuum as theboogeyman pointed out it was purely an idea to enhance game play and graphics.
How do u get 2.4 children? Easy!!! have 3 and chop one nearly in half and throw the largest bit away!!! No really, in the UK it is or used to be the average number of children married couples with children had! I have 2 BTW. 7 and 2

Thank for listening, can't wait to play the game, hope the idea can be incorporated in some way?
This is a good forum BTW, very articulate people.

Cheers!
Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top
Hey I'll toss my name into the ring.. I think it would be pretty cool as well!
Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top
I been thinking a bit more about this and thought that as well as the length of the trails they could also be colour coded in some way. Not sure how though? The trails would only be visible to the player if they had researched the radar array or something similar and had put these on a planet or starbase or indeed a ship that he/she owned.
So if the radar array technology had not been researched then the visibiliy would be very limited to say 1/2 to 1 sector.
Then the higher the radar array tech level is that has been researched the farther you can see!
Are radar arrays or something similar in the game already and if not how easy would it be to add? And if it was added would it enhance the gameplay? Personally I think it would.


Am I making sense?!?!?!