Forums » Suggestions
Automatically Activated WH
Why do wormhole's have to be activated? There's a neat little explanation in the backstory as to why wormholes need to be triggered to travel through them, but would it make more sense to just run into them? This begs a second question; should wormhole's require activation? Here are some changes to note:
1. It would take 5 seconds less to travel each sector with a Fast charge PC, and 11 less with a Heavy, as they'd no longer require full capacity to jump systems.
2. Chasing after people exiting a WH would be made more difficult, as you'd have to travel around that 1000m radius sphere to get to them.
3. All ships could boost through WH's at maximum speed, instead of simply infiniboost ships. Valks would become the ultimate ship for slipping behind the borders, and non-infinis would stand a chance. (Valks're pretty good, but the Hog II or Hornet CG are not to be overlooked either...)
So, it'd definitely make all ships a little harder to catch, which is lame, but maybe the mechanics for warping sectors is in want of being reworked anyways, at which point the ideal spot for ambush would be sector jumps within a system. Alternately, if WH size was dramatically decreased, this might counterbalance how easy it would be to jump systems. Again, manueverable ships would have the advantage over efficient ones, for getting through blockades. And, the smaller WH's are, the easier they are to defend. Decreasing the size, but making them automatically trigger would make it both harder, and easier to travel between them. What would change is techniques used.
Discuss.
1. It would take 5 seconds less to travel each sector with a Fast charge PC, and 11 less with a Heavy, as they'd no longer require full capacity to jump systems.
2. Chasing after people exiting a WH would be made more difficult, as you'd have to travel around that 1000m radius sphere to get to them.
3. All ships could boost through WH's at maximum speed, instead of simply infiniboost ships. Valks would become the ultimate ship for slipping behind the borders, and non-infinis would stand a chance. (Valks're pretty good, but the Hog II or Hornet CG are not to be overlooked either...)
So, it'd definitely make all ships a little harder to catch, which is lame, but maybe the mechanics for warping sectors is in want of being reworked anyways, at which point the ideal spot for ambush would be sector jumps within a system. Alternately, if WH size was dramatically decreased, this might counterbalance how easy it would be to jump systems. Again, manueverable ships would have the advantage over efficient ones, for getting through blockades. And, the smaller WH's are, the easier they are to defend. Decreasing the size, but making them automatically trigger would make it both harder, and easier to travel between them. What would change is techniques used.
Discuss.
/me dont like
I have to agree with Shadoen. This idea might look good, but I am quite against not being able to control when and if I jump.
Besides, I find the current jump system to be quite alright: It provides locations for PvP interaction.
Actually, you provide a point against your own idea yourself: Ships would be too hard to catch. Piracy is one of the most important elements of this game (has been and will be, too), and as such it is not that easy to make a living off piracy (getting away is ridiculously easy, which it should be, I agree, but let's not make it still easier).
My EUR 0.02.
Besides, I find the current jump system to be quite alright: It provides locations for PvP interaction.
Actually, you provide a point against your own idea yourself: Ships would be too hard to catch. Piracy is one of the most important elements of this game (has been and will be, too), and as such it is not that easy to make a living off piracy (getting away is ridiculously easy, which it should be, I agree, but let's not make it still easier).
My EUR 0.02.
Piracy would be harder. This would definitely require some changes in how running away works, to be effective. Just food for thought really.
You control when and if you jump by running into the thing. Additionally, I'd say wormhole areas could benefit from some sort of a graphic.
You control when and if you jump by running into the thing. Additionally, I'd say wormhole areas could benefit from some sort of a graphic.
Yes, it would require changes. But why are you so bent on changing the current (working) system? In my opinion, the recharge wait is not reason enough to warrant this big a gameplay change.
Toshiro, please. This is the "suggestions" forum, not the "Tell devs what to do" forum. I have no more power over what happens in the game than you do. To say I'm bent on changing the current system is kind of rude. No doubt I would like to see improvements in the current balance, but who wouldn't? In fact this suggestion is someone else's, but I just took it, stated how I think it'd change the game, and asked for other insights, of which I've yet to actually see any. Never the less, here are my reasonings why I think this could be a positive change.
Ships with economic engines have a startling tactical advantage over those which don't. These ships are almost always trading vessels, barring the Hog Mk II and Hornet, although both those ships hardly qualify as strong fighter types. Even so, it's ridiculously easy to escape in this game, even more so than in Eve, where you can hyperspace away regardless of proximity to planets or stations. Ion storms are only dangerous to newbs, because once you know to, you can simply turbo straight through avoiding any conflict. This holds true for most of space as well. Automatically activating WH's, thus eliminating the need to use energy to activate them would help ships with different types of powercells to have a chance at escaping the strike force.
Travelling is extremely boring. If you're not equipped with a Fast Charge powercell, it is also painful. There is an obvious advantage over having this cell, compared to the heavy which goes against the usual philosophy in VO that there is no one true "best" combination of ships and modules, but that each have their advantage in certain conditions. I feel that the system is unbalanced, and thus could benefit from some reworking. A balanced functional game is more fun than simply a functional game, in my humble opinion.
The current solution for implementing WH's is pretty low-tech. It's just an indicator on your HUD, which gives them very little substance. Of course in the backstory this is all explained, because they are not in fact WH's in and of themself, but areas where a WH can be triggered with a certain device. Never the less, I'm certain that new players and veterans alike could relate to a graphical representation of these spheres. This would be almost necessary if colliding with them triggered activation, as it'd be frustrating if you could not visually pinpoint the bounds and accidently jumped because of it.
If nothing else, with the work having been done on the cloudy ion storms, perhaps some sort of similar effect could rendered within the area of a WH, just for the sake of it's cool. No, it obviously would not have to dramatically decrease your vision, or mess with your radar. It could just be something to let you know that something extremely sci-fi is happening. For those who've been inside a sector as a storm suddenly begins, it can be a stunning effect, and a great impression to make on first time players.
Ships with economic engines have a startling tactical advantage over those which don't. These ships are almost always trading vessels, barring the Hog Mk II and Hornet, although both those ships hardly qualify as strong fighter types. Even so, it's ridiculously easy to escape in this game, even more so than in Eve, where you can hyperspace away regardless of proximity to planets or stations. Ion storms are only dangerous to newbs, because once you know to, you can simply turbo straight through avoiding any conflict. This holds true for most of space as well. Automatically activating WH's, thus eliminating the need to use energy to activate them would help ships with different types of powercells to have a chance at escaping the strike force.
Travelling is extremely boring. If you're not equipped with a Fast Charge powercell, it is also painful. There is an obvious advantage over having this cell, compared to the heavy which goes against the usual philosophy in VO that there is no one true "best" combination of ships and modules, but that each have their advantage in certain conditions. I feel that the system is unbalanced, and thus could benefit from some reworking. A balanced functional game is more fun than simply a functional game, in my humble opinion.
The current solution for implementing WH's is pretty low-tech. It's just an indicator on your HUD, which gives them very little substance. Of course in the backstory this is all explained, because they are not in fact WH's in and of themself, but areas where a WH can be triggered with a certain device. Never the less, I'm certain that new players and veterans alike could relate to a graphical representation of these spheres. This would be almost necessary if colliding with them triggered activation, as it'd be frustrating if you could not visually pinpoint the bounds and accidently jumped because of it.
If nothing else, with the work having been done on the cloudy ion storms, perhaps some sort of similar effect could rendered within the area of a WH, just for the sake of it's cool. No, it obviously would not have to dramatically decrease your vision, or mess with your radar. It could just be something to let you know that something extremely sci-fi is happening. For those who've been inside a sector as a storm suddenly begins, it can be a stunning effect, and a great impression to make on first time players.
Yes, this is the suggestions forum. You suggested this and I wrote what I thought about it. this is how the suggestions forum works. I apologize for saying you are 'bent on changing the system', however, you do want to change it, don't you? And I am against that specific change. That has nothing to do with who has power over this game, it's a difference in opinions. My choice of words was poor, though.
Thus:
In my opinion, the fact that trade is boring does not ultimately stem from the time spent doing it, but the circumstance that there is nothing to do while zooming through space. It is not that these time intervals have to be shortened, but instead, they would ideally be filled with actions, like, for instance, fighting off pirates, or dealing with environmental hazards.
We have environmental hazards, the storms, which are regarded as 'annoyances' by some, but I have no idea as to how widespread this opinion is.
We have pirates, but they cannot hope to keep up with the ships and fly actual attacks, because as you said, escaping in a straight line is the best tactic. Thus, waiting at a wormhole is the best tactic for pirates.
I think there lie some of the problems that cause trade to be boring most of the time. The jump waits are only symptoms of those problems.
Thus:
In my opinion, the fact that trade is boring does not ultimately stem from the time spent doing it, but the circumstance that there is nothing to do while zooming through space. It is not that these time intervals have to be shortened, but instead, they would ideally be filled with actions, like, for instance, fighting off pirates, or dealing with environmental hazards.
We have environmental hazards, the storms, which are regarded as 'annoyances' by some, but I have no idea as to how widespread this opinion is.
We have pirates, but they cannot hope to keep up with the ships and fly actual attacks, because as you said, escaping in a straight line is the best tactic. Thus, waiting at a wormhole is the best tactic for pirates.
I think there lie some of the problems that cause trade to be boring most of the time. The jump waits are only symptoms of those problems.
One of the reasons the worm hole timer, and the jump energy requirement/damage was implemented was to stop people being able to warp in, launch a barrage of swarms, and then warp out as the swarms impact the target, meaning you cannot take out the swarmer.
Trade is not the only activity in VO, and this could SEVERELY hurt the current balance between running as a trader, and running as a way to avoid dying after firing shit loads of missiles at folks...
...a good way to avoid the warp wait is to charge your battery as you enter a system, as most trade ships are infiniboost, this means you will be ready to warp, as you reach the worm hole.
[edit]
Even in none infiniboost ships, pre-charging lessens the delay, and a valk/corv maud with a light load-out can use *turbo tapping* to keep speeds <> 200ms, and charge a fast charge battery.
Trade is not the only activity in VO, and this could SEVERELY hurt the current balance between running as a trader, and running as a way to avoid dying after firing shit loads of missiles at folks...
...a good way to avoid the warp wait is to charge your battery as you enter a system, as most trade ships are infiniboost, this means you will be ready to warp, as you reach the worm hole.
[edit]
Even in none infiniboost ships, pre-charging lessens the delay, and a valk/corv maud with a light load-out can use *turbo tapping* to keep speeds <> 200ms, and charge a fast charge battery.
Having extensively swarmed Proms in C-10, (with great pleasure I might add) I'm not entirely convinved that the energy requirements do the job of stopping spam'n'reloaders. Yes, I do need to be in system while I fire my missiles, but boosting away in my infniboost Rag makes it very hard to be caught. If I really wanted to, I could have loaded on mines and been like the Black Pearl, nigh uncatchable... but I didn't bother because the Vult III's on my tail hardly had enough energy to both turbo with me, and shoot long enough to do significant damage. Believe it or not, running is actually a part of chasing as well. So anything that would shorten the distance runners have to run, would also shorten the distance chasers have to run.
Now picture this; if WH's were just 100m wide at the radius, it might do the job of counterbalancing the ease at which runners could flee. Firstly, it would take a bit more manuevering, and secondly people would be far more vulnerable upon *exiting* the WH.
If people were more vulnerable exiting the WH, they wouldn't have to be stunned for that moment while entering, which supposedly was implemented to give attackers a chance to catch up, since the exit area for WH's is so large.
However, if WH's were significantly smaller, it'd be hard to time pressing the activation key. In such a case, perhaps it should be automatic.
Now picture this; if WH's were just 100m wide at the radius, it might do the job of counterbalancing the ease at which runners could flee. Firstly, it would take a bit more manuevering, and secondly people would be far more vulnerable upon *exiting* the WH.
If people were more vulnerable exiting the WH, they wouldn't have to be stunned for that moment while entering, which supposedly was implemented to give attackers a chance to catch up, since the exit area for WH's is so large.
However, if WH's were significantly smaller, it'd be hard to time pressing the activation key. In such a case, perhaps it should be automatic.
I don't see automatic wormholes helping out pirates much. The best thing that pops in my mind would be to add some sort of electronic warfare to the game. Decreasing engine output, draining battery energy, etc.
Also: I think that in-system warps should look different than wormholes.
Also: I think that in-system warps should look different than wormholes.
reDust: See the thread I just bumped.
Well, it could help out pirates because they wouldn't need energy to follow someone through a wormhole. They could shoot at someone escaping, then immediately follow through without having to wait, and recharge.
Didn't they supposedly find the first wormhole near Saturn? So why wasn't Saturn pulled in? Maybe this is what a wormhole is:
_______ <- space
--- <- event horizon
| |
| |
| |
--- <- event horizon
_________ <- space
So, basically, you have to break both ends using a complex technology in which we have no clue about now. Sorry for the bad drawing.
I do like the idea of being able to go through someone else's jump point, though.
_______ <- space
--- <- event horizon
| |
| |
| |
--- <- event horizon
_________ <- space
So, basically, you have to break both ends using a complex technology in which we have no clue about now. Sorry for the bad drawing.
I do like the idea of being able to go through someone else's jump point, though.
While I agree that this might seem cool. A wormhole should be a triggered event because I know that I personally will fly in jump-proximity to wormholes on cargo and combat missions, and to get sucked through one would be extremely bad.
One idea I would like to propose, is that if Wormholes are at a fixed location in the game (which they are), perhaps some sort of jump platform should be there. A sort of cylindrical activator ring (read: Jumpgates from EV Nova) that a ship would have to activate and then pass through (perhaps allowing automatic activation, but the jump only inside the ring itself.)
The ship would then appear at either a random vector on the other side (as it does now) or appear at a sort of companion "exit", either the other side of the jumpgate back, or at a completely different exit gate.
Of course, to protect a ship during the animation, and to prevent a pileup and collisions, the exit would need to be shielded like station exits are now, and some sort of damage eliminator script would need to be written in the event of a convoy pileup during the jump animation.
I do like the idea of following someone through their jump point though. Although that does lead to the inevitable question of whether a ship without it's (for lack of a better term) Hyperdrive, activated, can successfully navigate a WH, without being torn apart by tidal forces, or simply have a random exit location, such as the event horizon of a black hole, the core of a star, or the edge of a supernova.
One idea I would like to propose, is that if Wormholes are at a fixed location in the game (which they are), perhaps some sort of jump platform should be there. A sort of cylindrical activator ring (read: Jumpgates from EV Nova) that a ship would have to activate and then pass through (perhaps allowing automatic activation, but the jump only inside the ring itself.)
The ship would then appear at either a random vector on the other side (as it does now) or appear at a sort of companion "exit", either the other side of the jumpgate back, or at a completely different exit gate.
Of course, to protect a ship during the animation, and to prevent a pileup and collisions, the exit would need to be shielded like station exits are now, and some sort of damage eliminator script would need to be written in the event of a convoy pileup during the jump animation.
I do like the idea of following someone through their jump point though. Although that does lead to the inevitable question of whether a ship without it's (for lack of a better term) Hyperdrive, activated, can successfully navigate a WH, without being torn apart by tidal forces, or simply have a random exit location, such as the event horizon of a black hole, the core of a star, or the edge of a supernova.