Scout Ships and Missiles
Enemy Scout Ships are in the game to increase the sense of urgency for the player. Periodically one launches and will show up on the player’s mini-map. The scout ship will patrol the map looking for the player. The scout ship emits a radar “ping” that is visible to the player if it enters the player’s view. If the ping hits the player, the enemy knows where the player is.
So, what happens then? Well, there are a couple of ideas around this.
The time between missile launches could decrease. This could easily swamp the player with lots of targets if not capped with a maximum number.
This could trigger the gameplay element of “seeking” vs. “non-seeking” missiles. If the enemy scout ship “sees” the player, missiles then track the player.
The seeking vs. non-seeking gameplay element can also be triggered by the player coming into range of one of the enemy bases.
Maybe this gameplay element is over-designed. When the maps are properly designed, there should be very little “dead space” for the player to navigate through. Although as enemy bases are destroyed, more dead space is automatically created on the map.
Would love to hear feedback on this gameplay element. Enter your comments below!