Forums » Suggestions
Powerplants
This is my brainchild after hearing some complaints about the misnaming of batteries in Vendetta. This is pretty out there and will probably inspire feelings of indignation in certain people, but let's hear what you think.
My suggestion is this: Eliminate engines as they now exist. Each ship will have its own, specific powerplant. This will provide both the thrust and energy to the craft. Some will have better thrusts, others will generate more energy per second. My thought is that this would make more sense, as most of the craft in the Vendetta universe are designed aroud their engines. (take a look at the maud) Therefore, it should not be reasonably possible to merely 'swap' it out. An added benefit might be that new engines would not have to be developed for capital class ships. Instead, the variables would simply be added directly to the ships as they are implimented.
Batteries would still remain onboard ships, but they still wouldn't truly be batteries. They would actually be capacitors. Any energy not used from the powerplant's output would be stroed in the capacitor. This capacitor would have a set charge rate and a set maximum capacity. The end result would be similar to what we have now, minus engines, which would be only a small loss, as most people use the medium. The major difference would be a simplification in the implimentation of ships requiring torque far beyond what is now available.
My hope is that this will make it possible to balance the ships we have better. The common response to this is that we don't need to give the devs more variables to balance. However, the more variables there are to balance, the more ships can be balanced at the same time. If there are only three variables rated high, meduim, and low, you only have a total of 27 options, of which, most are pretty poor options. Whereas if you have ten variables with ten options each, you have a grand total of 10,000,000,000 different combinations.
The other complaint would be that this would limit a player's options for creativity. Yet, how creative is it to grab a tri-flare valk with a medium/fast combo?
So, what do you think?
My suggestion is this: Eliminate engines as they now exist. Each ship will have its own, specific powerplant. This will provide both the thrust and energy to the craft. Some will have better thrusts, others will generate more energy per second. My thought is that this would make more sense, as most of the craft in the Vendetta universe are designed aroud their engines. (take a look at the maud) Therefore, it should not be reasonably possible to merely 'swap' it out. An added benefit might be that new engines would not have to be developed for capital class ships. Instead, the variables would simply be added directly to the ships as they are implimented.
Batteries would still remain onboard ships, but they still wouldn't truly be batteries. They would actually be capacitors. Any energy not used from the powerplant's output would be stroed in the capacitor. This capacitor would have a set charge rate and a set maximum capacity. The end result would be similar to what we have now, minus engines, which would be only a small loss, as most people use the medium. The major difference would be a simplification in the implimentation of ships requiring torque far beyond what is now available.
My hope is that this will make it possible to balance the ships we have better. The common response to this is that we don't need to give the devs more variables to balance. However, the more variables there are to balance, the more ships can be balanced at the same time. If there are only three variables rated high, meduim, and low, you only have a total of 27 options, of which, most are pretty poor options. Whereas if you have ten variables with ten options each, you have a grand total of 10,000,000,000 different combinations.
The other complaint would be that this would limit a player's options for creativity. Yet, how creative is it to grab a tri-flare valk with a medium/fast combo?
So, what do you think?
hmm, on the whole I think it would be just as simple to add a powerplant slot and a battery(or capacitor) slot, and have multiple options for each.
The argument about the way the ships look being an indication of the location of their engines has come up before, and the general consensus is that the engine is located in one central location and the glowy things on the back of the ship are just exhausts and ducted thrusters. otherwise the maurauder would need 6 engines to operate.
the idea of having a built in powerplant/engine for each ship hull isn't a totally bad one, however it does detract from the ability to specially talor a ship to the pilot. As far as valks with med/fast combos.. never use em, Cant fly a valk to save my life, give me a prom or a wraith any day of the week. how about the fast charge effecient engine combo for traders. Also in the future not all equipment will be availible everywhere, and the amount of money it takes to buy something will (hopefully) be significantly more in balance. (right now you can make a single trade run and pay for a fully loaded centaur 4 times over)
The argument about the way the ships look being an indication of the location of their engines has come up before, and the general consensus is that the engine is located in one central location and the glowy things on the back of the ship are just exhausts and ducted thrusters. otherwise the maurauder would need 6 engines to operate.
the idea of having a built in powerplant/engine for each ship hull isn't a totally bad one, however it does detract from the ability to specially talor a ship to the pilot. As far as valks with med/fast combos.. never use em, Cant fly a valk to save my life, give me a prom or a wraith any day of the week. how about the fast charge effecient engine combo for traders. Also in the future not all equipment will be availible everywhere, and the amount of money it takes to buy something will (hopefully) be significantly more in balance. (right now you can make a single trade run and pay for a fully loaded centaur 4 times over)
The idea is to breathe life into some of the 'deader' ship castes. An added benefit is that we won't have to add a whole new class of engines for the capital ships. I mean, in all reasonability, the firgate's powerlant ought to be so complex that it would take at least two weeks to swap it out, and another two to tune the new one to operational capacity.
As far as customizability, I'd still like to see engine 'upgrades' a part of the game. These could be either the product of a 'repair/modify' skill (a skilled tune-up), or they could be add-on parts (a new exhaust system). These would enable you to make your ship either effecient, good at accelerating, or faster. However, unlike EV (in all its iterations), these mods would be mutually exclusive. The effeciency upgrade would kill acceleration and the speed upgrade would kill efficiency.
An added twist could be that when not thrusting, the powerplant could supply more power, ennabling a greater rate of weapons fire. You're a sitting duck, but a deadly one.
As far as customizability, I'd still like to see engine 'upgrades' a part of the game. These could be either the product of a 'repair/modify' skill (a skilled tune-up), or they could be add-on parts (a new exhaust system). These would enable you to make your ship either effecient, good at accelerating, or faster. However, unlike EV (in all its iterations), these mods would be mutually exclusive. The effeciency upgrade would kill acceleration and the speed upgrade would kill efficiency.
An added twist could be that when not thrusting, the powerplant could supply more power, ennabling a greater rate of weapons fire. You're a sitting duck, but a deadly one.