Crazy idea I had while tube racing. This ship would work basically like any other in VO, with one twist; the thrust would be determined by distance to any large object like asteroids, stations, or any object that prevents you from sector jumping. The farther away, the lower your thrust. It would suck if you got caught drifting, but since you can jump at 3000m anyways, it would be hard to get stuck.

These things could have all sorts of different uses. A light version would be perfect for tube races or mineral prospecting, a mining variant of course, or maybe a support craft with plenty of small ports for rail gun sniping. They'd be a sort of 'Space Tank', or something.

Why would the thrust work like that?

And, would it be full of eels?

I like. It's unique

It could stand to logic that since the ships in VO supposedly generate their power from gravity drives, the closer it is to an object with gravity, the better the engine functions. I just always figured that the drives were big enough to draw gravity or some such from huge distances away.

If that were the case, then why couldn't one type of ship simply have a much less powerful engine, and in place have a huge cargo hold, or lots of weapons, or maybe designed as a racing/scouting variant. They'd still be good at some tasks, but obviously just less mobile than true space ships. Plus it'd be fun to drive one.

Just thinking of different types of vehicles that would fit in with VO mechanics.

And yes, Lamprey.

I don't want to detract from your suggestion, just the "VO science" behind it. The gravitic drive engines work by creating local gravity wells into which your ship "falls". As the ship moves through space the drives rapidly close the old wells and create new ones in the desired direction of travel. Large nearby objects interfere with the artificial gravity wells.

Maybe the ship you are suggesting has a very weak gravitic drive that deliberately exploits interference from nearby objects? Or maybe it uses some sort of tractor-beam to pull itself along?

Wow... I just checked upper case's link, and almost fell off my chair.

As far as the idea goes, it's not too bad. It seems like there would be pretty limited use for a ship like that, though (i.e. tube races, which rarely happen). Perhaps in the future, as VO is developed and polished more, there would be more of a place for niche ships/items/weapons, but right now there's just not.

To expand on the idea, it'd would do something really unique with space games. Essentially there's two kinds of terrains in VO, asteroids, and clear space. But since normal ships can traverse either more or less uninhibated, 'roids usually go unnoticed. These craft on the other hand would be sitting ducks without a 'roid to latch onto, so asteroid fields then would have a tactical purpose.

The mechanism for movement could be any sort of manners. It wouldn't matter so long as it used proximity to 'roids to determine acceleration. Perhaps you'd have to select one, and then fire the tractor beam, at which point your craft could use the strafing keys to move in a tangent around the 'roid, while the accelerate and deccelerate keys would move your distance up and down. Or it could use the normal movements, and simply modify your thrust in relation to nearest object, which already is checked for by the client.

The important thing is that it'd distinguish between asteroid movement type ships, and any movement type ships. There could even be a type that was slowed down by proximity to 'roids. Like air land, and sea, it would necessitate specialized tactics depending on the terrain, and you'd always want "air" support which could traverse both types with ease.

On second thought, it struck me that there already is a type of ship that cannot traverse asteroid fields, and these are the majestic Cap-ships. To bank on this weakness, many can launch fighters to clear out whatever dubious sparkle dragons await in the treacherous depths of rocky debris.

Granted they would need a much cooler name, such as Space Tanks, or perhaps Deep Space Tactical Telescaphoids, something needs to lay awaiting in these asteroid fields to make them more than simply low polygon eye candy. The beauty of the concept is double fold. For one thing, it doesn't require any changes to the hud, or control scheme; simply modifying the thrust as a function of distance to the nearest asteroid would do the trick. Secondly, it expands the current combat model without changing a thing about the current one.

This means it'd be okay to hand out otherwise game breaking equipment to the players with the crippling disadvantage that they can't engage in normal dogfights. On the other hand, inside an asteroid field normal fighters would be hard pressed to deal with these 'scaphoids as they slip around the edges of asteroids, occasionally darting from one to other with Ender's Game style tactics.

Scenario: Cap-ships launch fighters to deal with 'roid emplaced Telescaphoids loaded up with more anti-Cappy weaponry than a Rag could carry, before moving in to launch salvos at the protected station within. The Telescaphoids are so heavy that they can barely maneuver while even 20ms next to a 'roid, but they're each equipped with 4, yes that's right, 4 avalon torpedos. Essentially, they're asteroid based, mobile turrets.

Awesomeness.

/me definatly votes for this

I've always wanted a ship like this

Or they could be loaded with only unremovable repair guns. A downright, mobile repair base.

Some modifications of Quake had a hook. You aimed it like a weapon, and it fired a hook with a chain attached, and when it struck a wall it would stick, and then pull you to it. The aiming in quake was so fast that you could fire, pull, release this hook so fast that you could swing Tarzan style. It was one of the ways used to add a very nice 3D element to a game that was very gravitationally oriented.

A tractor beam could be made to work in the same way, having a limited range would require you to stay within a certain distance of a suitable anchor point (roid). Making it manually operated would make it an element of skill and coordination.

The beam could be designed so that it's strength would be based on it's distance from the anchor, being stronger close in. With a range of perhaps 2000m, it could be used to jump from roid to roid, being used in place of, or even in addition to normal propulsion.

It could also be combined with other tractor beam ideas.
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/13674#172222
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/1421#15451

lol uppercase. I thin this would be purdy neat, but probably a lot of programming! I have often thought to myself in the void of space that there is not much sneakiness in this game. A ship that walked or drove on asteroids and could hop from one to the next would definitely increase the sneaky factor, especially if radar could only detect them on the front of an asteroid or something. Imagine sneaking up on an unsuspecting miner, or even better, imagine the bomber man style death matches you could have with this thing and a bunch of buddies in a roid field. THINK OF SPARKLE DRAGON CAPTURE THE FLAG! But, alas, it will never happen. We can dream, though.

PS. I vote for the name sparkle dragon as per megamynt