It struck me that one of the limits to the customizing in this game is the quantity of add on ports for each ship. Example; if your flying a Cent Mk III, you don't have a whole lot of options for weaponry. You either have all Neuts, or all Gauss, because you only have the one weapon port. This can also be annoying when it forces your ship configuration to be asymmetrical. Vult pilots who like to keep one tube of rockets onboard should know what I'm talking about.

So, my idea is to double the number of ports on every ship, but then make each weapon half as effective at what it does. Half weight, ammo, energy usage, damage, and size. (mineral scanners would take up two ports) This wouldn't precisely preserve the balance of VO as it is this very point in time, since there'd still be certain changes in the mechanism of weapon fire. Ships would have a wider spread, and one could chainfire much more effectively. Nonetheless, the former issue could be rendered negligible by just keeping the split-in-two ports very close to the original firing point, and the second isn't really an advantage any more than it's a disadvantage.

Alternately, let each ship have upwards of 6 different spots where its ports can be assigned, so that a Valkerye might put all three on its left wing, or maybe two on the right and one in the middle. This way a Vult can still have rockets and blasters, while maintaining symmetry too. =)

Hmm, this sounds interesting. This would also solve part of the gadget port problem.

An octo-rail doesn't sound as catchy, but [insert euphemism] it'd be a sight to see.

I like it. Always thought VO's port and addon system needed work, especially to allow for non-weapon equipment goodness. Though custom placement of weapons might screw with the physics of VO a bit. Weapon mass is included in the distributed physics model of the ships (and thus affects ship handling), right, devs?

Come to think of it, it might also help resolve such issues. Putting your heaviest weapon in the middle of your vult should help balance it, as opposed to having one wing of the vulture weight considerably more than the other thanks to the weapon integrated into it.

Inc had something like this in mind a while ago. This has been suggested in one form or another for quite some time.
http://vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/15490#195114

That thread is vaguely related.

The rain from a true chain fire OctoFlare Hornet would be godly. A little spin of the mouse (or joystick) and you've got an all encompassing net of explosive death.

But I must pass. I think the weapon dmg per shot/armor ratio is good as it is, and cutting it in half (even though we have double weapons) would make it seem like we have wimpy weapon designers and armor geniuses. However, being able to change port locations might be okay.

I like changing the port locations. That would lend functionality to the 3-D ship image on the left.

Make a tab for 3-D and 2-D images of your ship.

Overlay the 2-D image of the ship with a square grid. Then just drag the addon over the grid box(es) where you want it. Small addons would use a 1x1 area, and large addons would use a 2x2 area.

When you're done, you can view your ship in 3-D mode.

Instead of port limitations, I'd make a weight restriction (or since it's space, a mass restriction).

I like symmetry. Symmetry is almost as important as asymmetry. *Almost*...

So with the implementation of the power hardline, I'd like to remind of this thread.

To reiterate, I'm not suggesting we give every ship twice as much firepower. Rather, the idea is to split that firepower into more ports, so that additional combinations are open, especially to those ships with a notoriously low amount of ports to begin with.

The same concept could be applied to Power Cells as well. The gap between the Heavy and Fast Charge cells is pretty wide, so if it was possible to mix and match, the Heavy might see more action in the form of a hybrid. Half Heavy, and Half Fast Charge would make something like 400 capacity and 47.5/sec charge, not a bad combination for combat.

Ah yes, and as for the octo-rockets problem, twice as many rockets with 4/5 the explosion radius of normal rockets cover about the same volume, if that's any balance. (2*(4/5)^3)=1.024

I had almost the same idea and was about to suggest it in another thread. I was thinking of adding just one other port, so we have small, medium and large. That would be enough I think to give more varity. The absolutly lightest weapons would be small, for example ion blasters. neutrons and similar would be medium size.

I was also thinking about adding a size value to each port and having each ship assigned a maximum port size, then you could choose yourself if you wanted small, medium or large ports and how many, as long as it fits in the ship. For example:

A vulture have a port space of 4cu, a centaur have a port space of 12cu. This is independent of cargo space. A small port occupy 1cu, medium 2cu and large ports take up 4cu. Now in a vulture you could have 2 small ports and a medium, or 2 medium ports, or a single large port. A centaur could be configured with 3 large ports or maybe 2 large and 2 medium, or 12 small ports... Well, these specific numbers may not be optimal but you should get the idea.

That idea's actually how I eventually came to the OP, but I realized that it would start to throw game balance. For example, the MegaPositron Blaster has pretty much all better stats than any two small port blasters, while one Plasma Devastator is rarely worth two Gauss Cannnons, not to mention the fury of a Gatling+Flare Valk. But then you can out DPS a MegaPosi with two Axia Posis, the Plas Dev is lighter than two Gauss, and a Valkerye with a Gatling Turret would be significantly slowed down, so... it would definitely be interesting, and quite possibly balanced.

Bam!

"But I must pass. I think the weapon dmg per shot/armor ratio is good as it is, and cutting it in half (even though we have double weapons) would make it seem like we have wimpy weapon designers and armor geniuses."

Except you'd have a truly awesome stream of firepower emanating from your ship. That means more dazzling spectacles of bright, energy goodness. It's not about the numbers or the ratios; it's about 6 popcorns all at once! Also, it makes it seem like our weapon designers are good at making compact and cute devices, like japanese people. And who's more technologically advanced than those wacky nipponese, hmm? Yes, that's right... Today I have just won the forums.

Thread necromancer and a troll. Double whammy!

It's hard to justify putting on certain auxillary add ons, such as mineral scanners, because they do take up an entire slot.

Additionally, one could fly a rainbow Valk. Ion, Charge, Phase, Neutron, Positron, and finally Gauss. It'd be so beautiful!