I think some pilots will have more fun if 3 engines were made. One engine will be the standard engine we currently have now, which will be the starting engine. The second engine will devoted to strafe so the pilot acts more of a highly manueverable "Helocopter" that has no Turbo and no fight assist. Then the third would act like a "Modern Fighter" as there is no strafe but allowed to go up and down left and right during Turbo but "flight assist on" greatly decreases manueverablility. And for all the people that say well how do you explain this? Then the description would be like this. "Helocopter" - Uses advance self-gravity propulsion acting outside space in a way that it is its own planet but revolves around nothing allowing it to move freely but has no type of inertia. "Modern Fighter" - Uses advance rocket science allowing control during turbo but loses manueverablility when working on its own inertia because the propulsion was made to turn in speed not its momentum.

Plz dont be mean if you dont like the idea.

I like it, i think it would add a better level of customization to ships which I support 100%.

Nice idea, I approve.

Reminds me of Tachyon where you had to buy the strafing components to allow your ship to actually slide.

Each type of engine really lends itself to different tactics... Helocopter would make for some crazy dogfights, Modern Fighter would be excellent for rocket/bombing runs against cap ships, or possibly for some really high speed trading. And of course the original mixed-mode for all-purpose flight.

The only thing I can see a concern with is the extra effort required to balance these things... like, how fast can a Modern Fighter turbo? 300m/s? 400m/s? Or maybe because it's not using gravitic propulsion, it's subject to an entirely different set of limitations.

Personally, I'd like to see a modern fighter have a high top speed, but be hard to slow down (kinda like the behemoth). It should be tricky to dock, making it vulnerable at stations (where it'd be otherwise impossible to catch when in flight).

On the other hand, there was a thread a while back about having interior spaces (like derelict stations, hive outposts, etc) in the future.... the Helocopter ships would be perfect for manoevering in tighter spaces... giving it an almost Descent or Forsaken-style gameplay.

Great suggestion, hope to see it in-game someday :)

I disagree, sorry. For several reasons. It sounds like it would overcomplicate the game to the point where we'll run into balance issues again. On top of that it would reduce the uniqueness of each ship, which is something that is only slowly beginning to unfold right now. It would undo a lot of the changes which have occured to the ships over the past few months.

I disagree, like Arolte says, there will be no unique-ness with the different varients of the same ships, so might as well not have a mk. 2 or mk. 3 etc. And all the hard work of balancing and changes and updates are for no reason.

I have mixed feelings about the idea, I like some parts.

We kinda have different engines, FA/not FA. I know that that isn't the same.
perhaps we could have different engine modes? or multiple engines? maybe certain ships could only support certain engines.

Ships DO need to be more unique, they are all pretty similar.

Balance issues will always be there in any thing, why should we have to suffer cus some people can not exscept this fact?

And the unique-ness of ships is moot at this pont any way, the only unique thing about ships now is the pilot in side of them. I think this idea would at least add a bit more to ships. Also would add for some nice guess work about combat.

Agreed with Borb II

Aside from the pilot, the *ONLY* thing that makes ships unique are a few numbers, mainly top speed and turn torque, and the number of mount points. This would not cease to exist with new engine types, in fact they'd be even more widely varied with each ship/engine combination (which is where I see you coming from in the balance issues).

I'd say that each type of engine would NOT have static torque/thrust values applied to them... that would still be a function of the ship... however each type of engine would provide different amounts of power to each function, lending itself to particular types of flight.

I really don't see how different engine types is much different from having different battery types. In fact, the combination of those is very intruiging to me.

I'm with Borb and tkjode on this one. I'm not too worried about balance, since it's clear that lots has to change with our ships in terms of customizability (Yes, we STILL need a widget/equipment slot), which will change gameplay a lot.

Borb II, the problem is someone will find a combo of engines that will turn a bomber into a fighter or throw off the ship's role completely. Keeping track of all the different possible combinations for balancing purposes will be very difficult. And the players who have tons of free time on their hands will have a huge advantage over those who don't. Having the time to experiment all those different combinations will make players with more time on their hands more artificially skilled. It's not something I'd like to see, and it's not something I'd personally like to spend time learning. I want to hop into a ship and fight. Not sit there wondering which combination of engines will get me to win or not.

Regarding the uniqueness of ships, like I said it's only BEGINNING to happen. It's not done. Nobody ever said it was. But you can clearly see what's going on between ships like the Warthog and the Behemoth. They're two ships that perform dramatically different. It gives us a better idea of the scale or roles that we're dealing with here. You can't simply blowoff the current incomplete model as being a failure just yet. Ship balance is still in the works, from what I understand. There's plenty more the devs can do to make the ships more unique. They simply haven't invested the time to do it completely.

/me sneaks in to mention that certain engines shouldn't be possible in certain ships, or have less of an impact on certain ships. For instance, a racing drive would be powerful, but only equipable on a light ship that has specific mount points for it.

Iunno. One thing I'd love to see is little "Modern Fighter" fighter buzzing around at high speeds around an opposing cappy, with "Helicopter" ships defending. However, I think I would actually rather there be specific ships with these engines fixed in them. Except they wouldn't be engines, but be the ships stats as we have them now.

On a side note, I wonder what having a high turbo, low cruise, high torque ship would be like. Maybe you cant turn in turbo, but you can stop for a quarter of a second and change direction _enough_. (iunno how to underline)

[ u ]Text to underline[ /u ]. But take out the spaces in the square brackets.

I think this would be interesting enough to be worthwhile.

I'm all for customization. To heck with balancing. Some ships are just BETTER than others and perhaps we should just accept that fact. Remember that this is all testing, we're helping out the devs with determining how the game should work. When you introduce a couple of new ships, there's a bit of chaos thrown into the system, and eventually the system will then find a new "stable" point.

anything that will add more custumization to the game in general is a good thing. Balance issues are a never ending battle and a poor reason to not make the game better. I'm not sure I like the descriptions of the reasoning behind the different engine types but I like their overall idea.

Personally, I think it would be left up to the pilot to outfit his/her ship to their specifications, the whole MkI MkII stuff should only be used for things like chassy upgrades or new port configurations. The actual stuff that fits on it should be up to us.

Well Arolte that's all part of balancing. You can't balance any thing if you don't try it first. I still don't see any reason we should deprive our self's some thing that has the potential to add alot more to the game cus it would make things hard at first.

We lived with the prom jocks for so long we can live with any thing.

I want to hop into a ship and fight. Not sit there wondering which combination of engines will get me to win or not. - Arolte

Man, where's your sense of strategy?! We already strategically choose batteries, ships and weapons. Might as well throw in engines.

I guess, personally, I find complexity interesting, where you might not. But I seriously don't see how a couple different engines could blow someones mind or make things go from "Strategic" to "Ridiculously Complex"

And the devs could always default-equip every ship with our old-school engine type, or possibly the most suitable one for each ship without your need to modify it, so you can still "Jump in and fight" the same as you do now.

Additionally, this idea, I think, enhances the uniqueness of the ships, and should be considered as an addition to the "incomplete model", rather than something that blows it away. It's not as if applying a fighter engine to a Behemoth is gonna make it just as fast and manoeverable as a Centurion... there's still a lot of uniqueness to be had.

I still don't think a sleek looking ship should somehow strafe very well. The ships engine stats should match the design. Your idea of interchangeable engines is like taking a 100cc go kart and putting in an 18 wheelers engine or just the opposite, putting on 2 jet engines. go karts should drive like go karts, 18 wheelers like 18 wheelers, and jets like jets.

Im just saying what if the Prom lost its turbo and devoted it self to strafing. BUT the if a Valk devoted it self to strafing it will out strafe the prom. The original ships as they are, are really good. But my favorite looking ship the Hornet, it's just that as heavy as it can get it would be nice to see a different fighting style so it can stand a chance. Its not a fighter and its not a bomber. It's in between, so what if it can move a little diferent at the right lvls. Im just saying WHAT IF?

Hornet is generally considered a defender. Too heavy to move around fast, no large ports, but it can scoot around a bit and unload quite a bit.