Forums » Suggestions
New Boosting System
I just started thinking about alternatives to improve boosting in general. Don't you hate having to tap the boost key over and over as you run out of energy and recharge across a sector? Don't you wish you can just have that boost key held down? Well, hear me out here.
All engines could have a "power down" mode that essentially switches your engine to economical mode when you've run out of energy. Essentially your engine will cease to recharge your energy after all the energy is depleted... until you let go of the boost key that is. BUT, during this "power down" mode you'll be moving at a speed between maximum boost speed and maximum cruising speed--sort of like how the efficient engine works now.
So you'll be given two choices when you travel across a long sector. You can either wait for your batteries to recharge to boost again, which will allow you to boost at very high speeds, but only periodically. Or you can choose to use "power down" mode, which has several cons to balance it out: 1) you can't turn or strafe, since you're still boosting. 2) you can't fire energy weapons since all your energy is depleted during this mode. 3) although you're boosting at a lower speed nonstop, you can still get jumped by a person who had the patience of recharging his/her battery.
So as you can see your engine switches to efficient engine mode when you run out of energy. It's sort of like a smart engine system that compensates for the lack of energy and goes to the next best setting, which takes every available resource of energy to keep that ship boosting at a reduced percentage of speed (as long as you HOLD DOWN that boost key). This would prevent the aggravation of having to boost, stop, boost, stop, etc. across a sector.
What will this mean for the CURRENT efficient engine? I say ditch it. Stick with the simplified light, medium, and heavy tier system. The efficient engine won't be gone altogether... it'll just be built into all the engines as a "power down" mode instead. Nothing more really has to be tweaked in terms of speed. You just need to find a right balance for the "power down" semi-boost speed.
All engines could have a "power down" mode that essentially switches your engine to economical mode when you've run out of energy. Essentially your engine will cease to recharge your energy after all the energy is depleted... until you let go of the boost key that is. BUT, during this "power down" mode you'll be moving at a speed between maximum boost speed and maximum cruising speed--sort of like how the efficient engine works now.
So you'll be given two choices when you travel across a long sector. You can either wait for your batteries to recharge to boost again, which will allow you to boost at very high speeds, but only periodically. Or you can choose to use "power down" mode, which has several cons to balance it out: 1) you can't turn or strafe, since you're still boosting. 2) you can't fire energy weapons since all your energy is depleted during this mode. 3) although you're boosting at a lower speed nonstop, you can still get jumped by a person who had the patience of recharging his/her battery.
So as you can see your engine switches to efficient engine mode when you run out of energy. It's sort of like a smart engine system that compensates for the lack of energy and goes to the next best setting, which takes every available resource of energy to keep that ship boosting at a reduced percentage of speed (as long as you HOLD DOWN that boost key). This would prevent the aggravation of having to boost, stop, boost, stop, etc. across a sector.
What will this mean for the CURRENT efficient engine? I say ditch it. Stick with the simplified light, medium, and heavy tier system. The efficient engine won't be gone altogether... it'll just be built into all the engines as a "power down" mode instead. Nothing more really has to be tweaked in terms of speed. You just need to find a right balance for the "power down" semi-boost speed.
Accually, if the ship mod system becomes more sophisticated, maybe this could be a "computer upgrade" or something. Even now, people tweak their car's computers to get the most out of their engines. It just seems too good to be standard, but it's an awsome idea.
yes. akin to escape velocity (forgive me for bringing it up yet again), where you can buy speed enhancements, multi-jump gadgets and other things, most of them being designated as computer upgrades ot the like.
i'd rather see the customizability happen than have it the same for everyone (i believe in the fact that being a good XO should count as skill, too).
i'd rather see the customizability happen than have it the same for everyone (i believe in the fact that being a good XO should count as skill, too).
*bump*
Ow!!!
Ow!!!