Forums » Suggestions
A Grapple Sorta Thing
Straight fire, 1000m range and if it comes within 50m of the target it grabs it.
The effect is that it slows the running ship down by 20% of it's current speed per second.
Maybe add that speed to the chasing ship? Could be a bypass to the Max Turbo Speed.
Discuss and all that other stuff :)
The effect is that it slows the running ship down by 20% of it's current speed per second.
Maybe add that speed to the chasing ship? Could be a bypass to the Max Turbo Speed.
Discuss and all that other stuff :)
+1 to general idea.
But then I think we need to implement anti-grapple small port addons ;)
But then I think we need to implement anti-grapple small port addons ;)
It would have to be heavy, because a 1km long tether with enough tensile strength to yank on a several ton ship moving 200 m/s (let alone a loaded moth going 180 m/s!) is nothing to sneeze at. Unless we're talking about some kind of tractor-beam technology.
Rather than any kind of % slowage/speedage, it should distribute momentum (velocity*mass). If you grapple a loaded moth going 180 m/s from a centurion, the moth should be slowed slightly, but your cent should be jolted forward to well over 180 m/s.
That raises the question of what happens after the grappling. Does the grapple detatch, or does the line go slack, or does it start reeling in while maintaining a constant tension? If an actual cable is used, I vote for the latter. If some kind of beam technique is used, I vote for having it break as soon as the momentum transfer is complete.
If the tether is maintained, you also have to deal with obstructions - what if another ship flies into the tether? Or if it's a beam, will it be smart enough to disengage when obstructed? Will the new ship that obstructs it be grappled instead?
Might be cool if the yanking were treated as a collision, so that grappling something that has too much momentum compared to your own would cause you damage.
Can we grapple asteroids and stations? Obviously, we wouldn't be able to pull them. But we could pull ourselves in, or perhaps use it to sling ourselves around the asteroid. This gets ugly if a cable is used (it would attatch to a point on the roid's surface, and as you swing around, the cable would have to wrap around the surface). With a beam, the asteroid itself would simply obstruct the beam, probably breaking the original linkage and causing it to either shut off or re-bind to the part of the roid that obstructed it.
Rather than any kind of % slowage/speedage, it should distribute momentum (velocity*mass). If you grapple a loaded moth going 180 m/s from a centurion, the moth should be slowed slightly, but your cent should be jolted forward to well over 180 m/s.
That raises the question of what happens after the grappling. Does the grapple detatch, or does the line go slack, or does it start reeling in while maintaining a constant tension? If an actual cable is used, I vote for the latter. If some kind of beam technique is used, I vote for having it break as soon as the momentum transfer is complete.
If the tether is maintained, you also have to deal with obstructions - what if another ship flies into the tether? Or if it's a beam, will it be smart enough to disengage when obstructed? Will the new ship that obstructs it be grappled instead?
Might be cool if the yanking were treated as a collision, so that grappling something that has too much momentum compared to your own would cause you damage.
Can we grapple asteroids and stations? Obviously, we wouldn't be able to pull them. But we could pull ourselves in, or perhaps use it to sling ourselves around the asteroid. This gets ugly if a cable is used (it would attatch to a point on the roid's surface, and as you swing around, the cable would have to wrap around the surface). With a beam, the asteroid itself would simply obstruct the beam, probably breaking the original linkage and causing it to either shut off or re-bind to the part of the roid that obstructed it.
As I said, discuss :) I'm not quite sure about the physics of it.
-1 to grapple, hooks, cables, etc.
I prefer a ttractor beam instead... something with shorter range also... so it becomes Engine Vs Engine, just like a rigid rod between ships.
Or, even better, a sort of EMP missile or weapon that disables the ships engines for X seconds, or simply drain out Power Cells, like a quick poweroff... Maybe a sort of Leech missile...
I prefer a ttractor beam instead... something with shorter range also... so it becomes Engine Vs Engine, just like a rigid rod between ships.
Or, even better, a sort of EMP missile or weapon that disables the ships engines for X seconds, or simply drain out Power Cells, like a quick poweroff... Maybe a sort of Leech missile...
more like a cable alloh with static and dynamic breaking points allowing the tractor to be broken away from