Before I get started. I apologize if this is not the place to talk about this. If there is a better place. Please tell me in the comments and I will move this there.
There was a game similar to CoX called Champions Online (good to start, but kinda started to go under through various means) that had a dig travel power. It was neat and besides it allows you to play as a street shark. And who wouldn't want to play as a street shark. So I was wondering how cool it would be to have a digging/land swimming travel power!
Obvious issues would be the fact that it is very similar to super speed mechanically but probably worse. The only thing I can think of that would make it different would be able to dig under buildings. But the camera would make it a nightmare. I mean, what would the player see while going under a building? Besides, that would make it mechanically boring as its pretty much just running in a straight line to your targeted locations by going under everything. Maybe treat it like swimming like a dolphin but on land? going deep into the earth then popping out very fast? I don't know
It could also be good for some travel power combat abilities. Maybe some sort of teleporting attack that knocks everyone up? Just a thought. Also, sorry if this has already been discussed to death before.
Some hero ideas that would work with this: Shark people (as I have stated already), Earth manipulator, Moleman, Ghost person (seeing as how the animation of digging will probably create a hole, this is stretching it a bit) super strength imbued man that punches his way through the earth, Concussive blast digging through the ground. Plus quite a few others that I don't feel like listing.
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I like the idea. I hope they can make it work.
If they can, then they can probably make a ghost walk power to walk through walls.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
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That would make for some interesting toons. This would be an awesome addition to a rock tank, or an earth controller. Dig travel and attack powers
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Hmmm....those suggestions could probably be done via being different animations for super speed. That would not be in at launch though.
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The "need" for this one would mainly depends on how they implement super speed and thus the mechanical differences between them. One of the things I hated about dig in CO was that I still needed to jump over simple objects, which mechanically speaking doesn't make it any different from super speed when moving around. The big difference so far is actual speed and the inability to interact with the world while it is active.
From a visual point they have more than just digging, they also have oozes, which gives a completely different feel to them.
Personally I wouldn't mind having a digging/oozing travel power.
I know it's a comic staple, but seriously ... WHY would we need what amounts to an "Underground Flight" power with extremely high friction (allowing you to "stop on a dime" instead of sliding around like Fly did in the sky)? What USEFUL purpose would such a (travel?) power serve? What advantages and drawbacks would it have relative to the other travel powers?
Worst of all, in order to do it RIGHT, so it isn't just "Superspeed done Wrong" as implemented in Champions Online, MWM would need to create the entire environment UNDER THE CITY for people with this power to navigate.
Swimming, is essentially "Underwater Flight" ... and Tunneling, is essentially "Underground Flight" ... because both are essentially 3D movement powers much like Aerial Flight is, just with tweaked settings (acceleration bounding both up and down, max speed, etc.) and "limited" to different environments (liquid, solid, gaseous).
Also, if you've got a Digging travel power, it starts getting harder and harder to justify the [i]Immortal Object[/i] nature of terrain, including buildings. After all, if you can "Dig Doug" underground at 50 mph, why can't you crash through a wall or a window to enter a building from anywhere you want?
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For these, and other reasons, I question the necessity of a Digging travel power ... especially given that we'd be expecting some Instance Maps to include underground areas (caves, tunnels, 5th Column bases, Oranbega, etc.) where you'd have to "disallow" any Digging power which could legitimately circumvent the map pathing. It's just a big can of worms that doesn't merit opening, methinks.
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I really think comparing it to super speed doesn't work, after all the main distinguishing features are the fact that others can't interact with you while it's on and you can move through barriers which is why I said above that if this would work you can do a Ghost Form power.
As such, I realize this is a very difficult power to make and I don't really expect to see it.
Worse yet, since the Whole Environment has to be made a certain way for this to work, if it isn't there at launch it's not likely to ever be added post launch.
A pity really, I would have liked it.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
I have a tunneling / digging travel power on my personal white board of post launch powers I hope to see designed.
Functionally it is a cross of a couple of travel powers and would utilize our phase status effect.
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Nifty!
Since it's going to be there, we can ask questions about how it works.
Will we be able to go though walls?
Will we leave a tunnel behind us so our friends can follow if they stay close?
I think leaving a tunnel behind is the biggest difference between this and a ghostly walk through walls. but it could be a problem.
Will we need a permit from the city to dig in certain areas?
What if we hit pipes, gas lines or cables?
Can we use this to enter buildings starting from the basement?
I'm not trying to make demands. I'm just curious about how it will work and what we can do.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse/pub/3185/Crusader-Game-Books
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48O9dPcNVdeyNM4efAvX6w/videos?view_as=subscriber
First, there is no guarantee it will be in the game. I have it on my list of stuff I [i]would like to[/i] implement.
The digging part of the movement is merely an animation effect. The travel power itself would utilize our phase status which would work for passing through certain walls / doors / etc...designed as obstacles.
No it would not require permits / deal with electrical / plumbing lines. Nor would it actually be used to literally dig through the streets / under buildings etc.., it is as I said more of an animation. The travel would combine aspects of increased movement, wall clinging, and the phase status.
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In other words, you wouldn't ACTUALLY be moving around underground. Instead, the game engine would just be (convincingly?) "faking it" to make you think it was working like that.
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my 2 cents, I'd think a teleport animation could be to dive underground and appear elsewhere could be easy-ish.
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Interesting idea. This tunneling power is sounding to me like it could be like the Phased Travel powers I proposed elsewhere, in that they are modifications of existing travel powers. So you keep most or all of the [i]mechanics[/i] of an already-existing travel power, but make it look different.
Like with Phased Travel, Digging would leave you invulnerable during transit. For a Sprint Digging power, modeled on desviper's suggestion, you would have a "dig into the ground" activation animation, a cracked ground effect along the travel path, and an "emerge from ground" animation at the destination. The execution time of the power would need to increase compared to Teleport, and probably should be dependent on range, to let the cracked ground play out at less than instantaneously. Not sure that's doable.
For an Extended Digging power, you'd modify Running or maybe Parkour. Again, dive in/cracked ground/come out animations would be needed, but control would be like a ground running power and you could go for as long as you want. Your POV stays above ground for practical purposes; if you want to prevent the player from seeing things above ground while they're digging, simply hide them all.
Also, there need to be limits. I can see Digging bypassing low obstacles and minor stuff like bus stops and vehicles, but tunneling under buildings might be too much to ask. You'd either crash into the foundation or bring the thing down. (And more practically, you wouldn't need to deal with a player getting lost because the camera interferes with the building.) Also would need to decide what to do about cliffs; maybe steal a page from wall climbing?
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I'm thinking a sign (posted above ground, naturally) would do the trick.
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Thanks for informing me of this. I made this post because my brother made a character in Champions Online called Gashunk (which is a old joke about a single panel of a comic book which had a shark busting through a wall with the onomatopoeia of GASHUNK) who was this shark man who would swim through the ground. So was wondering if Gashunk would come back to life.
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I could see the "earth phasing" travel power like Tannim222 described as a decent thing to have, not as an efficient means of outdoor travel in and of itself, but rather as a thing to use in missions in lieu of or in addition to stealth. Like you get to the front room, drop into the ground, so you're "flying" around underground until you choose to pop up into the air again, whereupon you phase back in. Like "Meld into Stone" in some paper and pencil games. You could give it various different range limits too. Like maybe it only let's you go a few meters from your starting point, then you have to come up and re-establish a new starting point, whereupon you can go back down again. Then with enhancement it get's longer and longer range in that sense.
One question this raises is "Why not just have full-blown phasing then?" to which I would respond "That's probably TOO powerful." and by too powerful, I mean the mission maps have to be able to present a challenge to people somehow. If you can just ghost around everywhere, I think that makes it too easy to shortcut a lot of stuff.
On the other other hand, you could make a phasing power like Astral Projection, where you can phase and travel around looking at stuff, but when you materialize, you're right back where you started. Thus you could use that for recon but not re-positioning or travel.
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EverQuest Landmark allows full digging and tunneling of all land (until some ultimate barrier to stop too far down, which is really quite far.) They also give you a grappling hook, so you can tunnel and Spiderman around to your heart's content. (The grappling distance is not very far, but that's obviously their setting choice. Quake in mid 1990s had a grappling hook mod that worked anywhere line of site, including very far away. Same principle as shooting an arrow or nailgun.)
So...just speed up and automate the tunneling. No reason people can't follow for that matter, until the land auto-heals. And just make mission tunnel walls and buildings made of magic no-tunnel stuff. Or let people craft a jet pack as a travel power backup like CoH had in later years.
These are not difficult problems to solve. No conceptual issues or balancing need be done. Build the cool, and they will come.
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