Forums » Suggestions
Swappable Capital ship engines.
I heard that in the early days of VO engines could be swapped out. I suggest that this be brought back for capital ships. There was a thread asking for the dent to be nerfed, or the goli to be buffed in speed. Which I strongly opposed.
Instead I suggest that engines with different balances be introduced to the game. I believe the engine system is still used in the game. The other day when I sold moth, I got this message.
If this is the case, then implementing might not be too difficult.
So to start, here the first three engines I suggest:
Standard Capital Ship Dent Engine:
--------------------------------------
Thrust: 10,000N
Max Speed: 40 m/s
Turbo Speed: 140 m/s
Turbo Energy: 45/s
Turbo Thrust: 20,000N
Mass: something heavy
Standard Capital Ship Goli Engine:
--------------------------------------
Thrust: 15,000N
Max Speed: 40 m/s
Turbo Speed: 140 m/s
Turbo Energy: 45/s
Turbo Thrust: 18,000N
Mass: something heavy
Assault Class Capital Ship Engine:
--------------------------------------
Thrust: 15,000N
Max Speed: 65 m/s
Turbo Speed: 185 m/s
Turbo Energy: 200/s
Turbo Thrust: 22,000N
Grid usage: 20
Mass: something less than heavy.
This engine would allow a capital ship pilot to go much faster with the caveat that they would lose infini turbo. There would also be a grid penalty meaning the pilot would need to reduce weapon loadout to take advantage of the additional speed.
Instead I suggest that engines with different balances be introduced to the game. I believe the engine system is still used in the game. The other day when I sold moth, I got this message.
If this is the case, then implementing might not be too difficult.
So to start, here the first three engines I suggest:
Standard Capital Ship Dent Engine:
--------------------------------------
Thrust: 10,000N
Max Speed: 40 m/s
Turbo Speed: 140 m/s
Turbo Energy: 45/s
Turbo Thrust: 20,000N
Mass: something heavy
Standard Capital Ship Goli Engine:
--------------------------------------
Thrust: 15,000N
Max Speed: 40 m/s
Turbo Speed: 140 m/s
Turbo Energy: 45/s
Turbo Thrust: 18,000N
Mass: something heavy
Assault Class Capital Ship Engine:
--------------------------------------
Thrust: 15,000N
Max Speed: 65 m/s
Turbo Speed: 185 m/s
Turbo Energy: 200/s
Turbo Thrust: 22,000N
Grid usage: 20
Mass: something less than heavy.
This engine would allow a capital ship pilot to go much faster with the caveat that they would lose infini turbo. There would also be a grid penalty meaning the pilot would need to reduce weapon loadout to take advantage of the additional speed.
+1. this is an amazing suggestion.
The reason why Engines were removed as configurable items, was because there was too great of a variety of ship types to have engine properties that would be reasonable functional across all of them.
It created serious balance issues, because VO is accurately physically modeled (assuming fixed absolute distribution of mass, it does accurately utilize the ship's collision hull to model the inertial moments required to change orientation, etc). So, a ship of the same mass, but different shape, would have wildly different capabilities, given a certain amount of spin torque.
Creating a number of engine variations, plus hull variations, created this escalating headache-matrix of possibilities to test, that would only increase as we added more types.
Beyond this, we also had problems with the control systems seriously destabilizing on some configurations, which handles things like mouse-look and so on.
So, we removed engines as generically re-configurable constructs.
There was always the possibility of engine upgrades being added back in as per-ship options. Like, say, 3 different engine tunings for a Prometheus hull, or a Behemoth, or whatever specific ship. But the engines would not be interchangeable between ships, because that was where the trouble came up.
So, if we were to go down this road (hypothetically), it would be a per-capship upgrade system, with specific upgrade options for the Goliath, which would be different from the options for the Trident, etc. And then, if there were shape differences between "Type" variants of Tridents, for example, there might be different engine tunings for each.
This should not be interpreted as tacit approval. I'm not sure that I'm onboard with capships needing some kind of speed increase. This is just a response in general to the whole notion of engine configureability, for capships or elsewhere.
It created serious balance issues, because VO is accurately physically modeled (assuming fixed absolute distribution of mass, it does accurately utilize the ship's collision hull to model the inertial moments required to change orientation, etc). So, a ship of the same mass, but different shape, would have wildly different capabilities, given a certain amount of spin torque.
Creating a number of engine variations, plus hull variations, created this escalating headache-matrix of possibilities to test, that would only increase as we added more types.
Beyond this, we also had problems with the control systems seriously destabilizing on some configurations, which handles things like mouse-look and so on.
So, we removed engines as generically re-configurable constructs.
There was always the possibility of engine upgrades being added back in as per-ship options. Like, say, 3 different engine tunings for a Prometheus hull, or a Behemoth, or whatever specific ship. But the engines would not be interchangeable between ships, because that was where the trouble came up.
So, if we were to go down this road (hypothetically), it would be a per-capship upgrade system, with specific upgrade options for the Goliath, which would be different from the options for the Trident, etc. And then, if there were shape differences between "Type" variants of Tridents, for example, there might be different engine tunings for each.
This should not be interpreted as tacit approval. I'm not sure that I'm onboard with capships needing some kind of speed increase. This is just a response in general to the whole notion of engine configureability, for capships or elsewhere.
+1
I love this suggestion!
These easiest way to build on the player capship dynamic has to be manufactured or earned improvements to the features that are already coded into the game. That can be "engine" or "battery"(increase grid)... or any number of things that developers have already in place that we players don't know or realize is there. I actually DON'T KNOW why I haven't seen such a suggestion before.
I love this suggestion!
These easiest way to build on the player capship dynamic has to be manufactured or earned improvements to the features that are already coded into the game. That can be "engine" or "battery"(increase grid)... or any number of things that developers have already in place that we players don't know or realize is there. I actually DON'T KNOW why I haven't seen such a suggestion before.
Just seen Incarnate response after I hit submit..
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE consider this.. it is a very exciting idea, as it suits your time in its application.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE consider this.. it is a very exciting idea, as it suits your time in its application.
Additional possibility for this to make it even more dynamic...
Make some upgrades cost you storage space.. so you take this upgrade, it costs 50cu of space or more.. this would make it possible to create capships that are specialized for the purpose the player uses it for without changing much. Maybe you gain 50cu by downgrading a component etc... you could have a practically defenceless ship but it will carry 1000 cu or something.. or one that is loaded with offensive weapons but can't carry much of anything..
Make some upgrades cost you storage space.. so you take this upgrade, it costs 50cu of space or more.. this would make it possible to create capships that are specialized for the purpose the player uses it for without changing much. Maybe you gain 50cu by downgrading a component etc... you could have a practically defenceless ship but it will carry 1000 cu or something.. or one that is loaded with offensive weapons but can't carry much of anything..