Hi there,

I just dug up a unfinished compiled version of a strategy game I was working on a while ago (in METAL, imagine how long "a while" is ). It's very rough, but it will give you and idea. Here it is:

http://achenar.spymac.com/files/spaceships.sit

Move with:

S and R along X axis
W and F along Y axis
E and D along Z axis
P to switch ship (cycles through green, then blue and back)
Q to quit

Anyway, I think I lost the source file for it when I moved to my current comp, but I've been thinking of restarting it from scratch in BlitzMax or TNTBasic (If I could get this far once, I can do it again), but I need some ideas on the game rules.

I was thinking of something along the lines of a turn based capture the flag game, where the flag is in each team's base, you'd have to get a ship there and return to your base to win. If the ship is destroyed the flag would be left floating in the space where the ship was destroyed, and to get it back to the base you'd need a ship to carry it back.

Each ship could fire once per turn, and could take a certain amount of hits (3) before it's destroyed. If a ship gets hit and returns to the base, it's "health" would be replenished. Ships won't be able to turn in a movement to the opposite direction that the one they are facing. Gunfire could travel a limited amount of spaces in the direction the ship is facing (3 or 4) I'm considering having the ships carry a small amount of mines, which can be left in the field and are invisible. If a ship (friend of foe) steps in that space, it's automatically destroyed. Mines could be destroyed with gunfire.

That's what I've thought of so far, what do you think??

Just dl'd the build, nice

I'm not sure how easy this would be to implement, but I'll throw out an idea inspired by Battlefleet Gothic (bear in mind I've only read about that game, never played it...): why not have two types of weapon (aside from mines)?

One weapon type would be an instant hit weapon, and would inflict only light damage; the other could inflict much heavier damage, but would take several turns to reach it's destination (where if the target had moved on, it would detonate harmlessly in space), and so could be used to deter enemy ships from occupying nearby space or coming too close (at which range the weapon would effectively be instant hit.)

A ship which was close enough could try to board an enemy ship, converting it to the allegiance of the player who initiated the boarding action.

Dust clouds (which would occupy space like the current asteroids) could hide enemy ships until your ships were almost on top of them.

Asteroids and planets could be used as shields from weapons fire.

Well, that's just a few ideas I had whilst playing the build