Forums » Suggestions
Ok, at the present it is far too easy to run away from combat. This isnt neccesarily a bad thing, but the problem is that it has drastically reduced the variations of ships/batteries that get used. Right now anyone with access to the Fast Charge battery can turbo indefinitely. You just pick a ship capable of 200m/s and go. You cant be caught and it means that many of the ship designs just arent getting used.
The engines were made to be a part of the ship to reduce the number of players using the best combos. That worked well until we entered the new uinverse and the devs re-tweaked the engine energy uses in order to make travel across space less tedius. Being able to turbo forever at 200m/s is nice, but somewhat bland as far as gameplay is concerned.
I've long advocated leaving the engines attached to the ships but "tweaking" all of them 5 power/second in the direction of consuming energy, making constant turbo no longer a direct option. Add the "engine" slots back in as "engine modification slots" and allow 1 of the following 3 items to be put in them.
1. Speed Boost; Increases your top speed at the cost of a small amount of engine efficiency. you drain energy 5/second faster during turbo, but have a top speed increase of about 5m/s (regular) 20m/s (turbo). Allows for a player to "sprint" for a short time. useful for catching running targets.
2. Accel Boost; Your energy consumption remains the same, you loose some top speed off of regular flight (maybe 5m/s) but you gain more power for acceleration, making course changes easier Turbo speeds remain the same. enables better dodging/dogfighting
3. Energy Efficiency; Your engine has better energy consumption at the cost of a reduction in top speed by 5 m/s (regular) 20 m/s (turbo). Allows longer boost times (takes 5 energy/second less to turbo allowing infiniturbo with both this mod and the fast charge battery) but leaves some chance for other players to catch up due to their higher potential speeds.
If you leave the slot empty you get the basic attributes of the engine itself.
Possibly there could be multiple options for each of these, with progressivly higher levels getting small increases in the numbers above, as long as all 3 options become availible at the same time to maintain balance.
The engines were made to be a part of the ship to reduce the number of players using the best combos. That worked well until we entered the new uinverse and the devs re-tweaked the engine energy uses in order to make travel across space less tedius. Being able to turbo forever at 200m/s is nice, but somewhat bland as far as gameplay is concerned.
I've long advocated leaving the engines attached to the ships but "tweaking" all of them 5 power/second in the direction of consuming energy, making constant turbo no longer a direct option. Add the "engine" slots back in as "engine modification slots" and allow 1 of the following 3 items to be put in them.
1. Speed Boost; Increases your top speed at the cost of a small amount of engine efficiency. you drain energy 5/second faster during turbo, but have a top speed increase of about 5m/s (regular) 20m/s (turbo). Allows for a player to "sprint" for a short time. useful for catching running targets.
2. Accel Boost; Your energy consumption remains the same, you loose some top speed off of regular flight (maybe 5m/s) but you gain more power for acceleration, making course changes easier Turbo speeds remain the same. enables better dodging/dogfighting
3. Energy Efficiency; Your engine has better energy consumption at the cost of a reduction in top speed by 5 m/s (regular) 20 m/s (turbo). Allows longer boost times (takes 5 energy/second less to turbo allowing infiniturbo with both this mod and the fast charge battery) but leaves some chance for other players to catch up due to their higher potential speeds.
If you leave the slot empty you get the basic attributes of the engine itself.
Possibly there could be multiple options for each of these, with progressivly higher levels getting small increases in the numbers above, as long as all 3 options become availible at the same time to maintain balance.
yes.
yes times 2
yx2
yx2
well, but I wish a method to assign extra power for the shield (and for select sector of the shield like front or rear side) until now I just succesfull fight to Orun and Dentek, all other biggers ships blow up my ship the mayority of times, because the computer do nothing for me.
And what about evasive maneuvers?
And what about evasive maneuvers?
gcs, Your post isnt really on the topic here. there is no shield, the game was designed without one, and the computer doesnt dodge for you, you have to learn how to do that yourself.
the a/d and r/f keys will strafe you left/right and up/down, allowing you to avoid some of the incoming fire.
the a/d and r/f keys will strafe you left/right and up/down, allowing you to avoid some of the incoming fire.
I would be happy with just a key that lets you infini-boost but at only 80% of your top speed. That way, you can fly leisurely if you want, but when there is a chase on you need to pay attention and give yourself some extra oompf.
yes x3
a modification: why not extend that on weapons? if you buy, say, the new transmogrifier from tpg and slam it on your rag', you get a 10% acceleration increase, but your weapon power consumption is upped 15%?
a modification: why not extend that on weapons? if you buy, say, the new transmogrifier from tpg and slam it on your rag', you get a 10% acceleration increase, but your weapon power consumption is upped 15%?
yes^4
the reason i confined the suggestion in my original post only to the engines was for simplicity. If a mod started to affect every system on the ship it becomes more and more difficult to code into the game. I was going for something fairly streamlined and time efficient, that would still add diversity to the gameplay.
i see. i fully agree with you, then.
new possibility for engine mod:
Mass hauling: engine is optimized for acceleration in the forward direction at the expense of some top speed (-5 regular - 20 turbo) and a decent hit in strafe/dodge ability. Turbo energy drain as normal. engine accelerates in a forward direction at twice the base speed, and looses 15% on dodges/turns. This modification allows traders to conteract the mass of heavy cargo loads during transport trips, but drastically limits their options to do anything but try to run.
Mass hauling: engine is optimized for acceleration in the forward direction at the expense of some top speed (-5 regular - 20 turbo) and a decent hit in strafe/dodge ability. Turbo energy drain as normal. engine accelerates in a forward direction at twice the base speed, and looses 15% on dodges/turns. This modification allows traders to conteract the mass of heavy cargo loads during transport trips, but drastically limits their options to do anything but try to run.
Too easy to run away from combat? When was the last time you flew a bus? Obviously too long ago to remember. I just clawed my way up to a Wraith III and some decent lasers and medium battery; It's just starting to get easier!!! If you want to limit performance do it to the better spec'd ships. I don't know the luxury of infinite battery life but it does sound too good, especially with the size of each local space being so relatively small.
fixit, i flew a bus at the beginning of the beta just like everyone else. so umm less than 2 weeks.
Trust me. once you have flown for a bit, escaping combat is entirely too easy.
Trust me. once you have flown for a bit, escaping combat is entirely too easy.
I used to play around with the acceleration/deceleration and pretty much turbo-tap... you can get around pretty fast with that, considering you don't need full battery to jump between sectors, so you can ration out your battery until you get to 3000m.
on a lighter note:
most people probably realize that it is possible to hold a constant energy level at above normal speed... velocity levels off at something like (random guess) 150(1 - e^(-t/n)) with t being time and n having to do with the agility of your ship, and 150 the max speed bus travels, while deceleration is just fast (so I fudge the estimate there and say it's some constant -v/n)...
which allows you to set
[(energy_needed)/[(batt_charge_persecond)(-v/n)]
=[((energy_needed)/(engine_drain_persecond))^2)(.5a)]
which somehow er helps you figure out how to turbo tap!!
*btw I'm just joking... ah... bad sense of humor...
on a lighter note:
most people probably realize that it is possible to hold a constant energy level at above normal speed... velocity levels off at something like (random guess) 150(1 - e^(-t/n)) with t being time and n having to do with the agility of your ship, and 150 the max speed bus travels, while deceleration is just fast (so I fudge the estimate there and say it's some constant -v/n)...
which allows you to set
[(energy_needed)/[(batt_charge_persecond)(-v/n)]
=[((energy_needed)/(engine_drain_persecond))^2)(.5a)]
which somehow er helps you figure out how to turbo tap!!
*btw I'm just joking... ah... bad sense of humor...
This is a great idea! It would give players a choice between one of several benefits without unbalancing the engines.
fixit9660: the problem is things are set up now drastically against the newb. A newbie with a light battery would have no chance against a veteran with a fast charge battery who can boost infinitely at 200 m/s.
fixit9660: the problem is things are set up now drastically against the newb. A newbie with a light battery would have no chance against a veteran with a fast charge battery who can boost infinitely at 200 m/s.
I like the idea a lot. If the modifiers are tied into missions strings I would like it even more.
Beging able to tweak your engines individual atributes would iden the game so much. The 'stock' ships would then become more like shells, ready to accept any number of modifications or improvements.
I can see massive advantages in allowing higher acceleration for a lower top speed. Especialy in bulk cargo ships. Anyone tired loading a Centaru with heavy cargo? I am seldom able to make more than 160ms (in a ship able to make 200ms) before the jump. But if I could accelerate to 160ms in half the time, I wouldn't mind as much.
Even for combat ships, this would be uber cool, tweaking ships to become high speed, short range interceptors, or highly manuverable close in gun-fighters!
As a side not, I'm still really keen to see the in-system jumps require a full battery...
Beging able to tweak your engines individual atributes would iden the game so much. The 'stock' ships would then become more like shells, ready to accept any number of modifications or improvements.
I can see massive advantages in allowing higher acceleration for a lower top speed. Especialy in bulk cargo ships. Anyone tired loading a Centaru with heavy cargo? I am seldom able to make more than 160ms (in a ship able to make 200ms) before the jump. But if I could accelerate to 160ms in half the time, I wouldn't mind as much.
Even for combat ships, this would be uber cool, tweaking ships to become high speed, short range interceptors, or highly manuverable close in gun-fighters!
As a side not, I'm still really keen to see the in-system jumps require a full battery...
But the mass that is slowing your top speed is also reducing your ability to accelerate. The game is being consistant with it's physics model.
you are correct sarah.
The game physics is working the way it is supposed to, but it isnt very entertaining at the moment. Every chase results in the person who is running away escaping once both players are past 4th level trade, unless the attacker gets a serious surprise on the defender.
The idea is to allow a trade off, on a long run you can get a centaur up to 200 m/s, (on a really long run you will make better time that way) but if you could get that mass up to 160 m/s faster you will make better time on a short distance run.
If each player can choose the optimization they want, then every ship MK4 wont have a top speed of 200m/s anymore. Some will have a top speed of 220m/s but will have a short battery life at speed. Some will still have a top speed of 200m/s but more maneuverability, and some will only have a top speed of 180m/s but will be able to either turbo forever or get up to that speed much faster.
As long as all the modifiers are availible at the same time and you can only have 1 modifier at a time on a ship, the game should remain in balance. If one modifier is found to be overly powerful, then it can be toned down until it balances, or if neccesary removed alltogether.
The game physics is working the way it is supposed to, but it isnt very entertaining at the moment. Every chase results in the person who is running away escaping once both players are past 4th level trade, unless the attacker gets a serious surprise on the defender.
The idea is to allow a trade off, on a long run you can get a centaur up to 200 m/s, (on a really long run you will make better time that way) but if you could get that mass up to 160 m/s faster you will make better time on a short distance run.
If each player can choose the optimization they want, then every ship MK4 wont have a top speed of 200m/s anymore. Some will have a top speed of 220m/s but will have a short battery life at speed. Some will still have a top speed of 200m/s but more maneuverability, and some will only have a top speed of 180m/s but will be able to either turbo forever or get up to that speed much faster.
As long as all the modifiers are availible at the same time and you can only have 1 modifier at a time on a ship, the game should remain in balance. If one modifier is found to be overly powerful, then it can be toned down until it balances, or if neccesary removed alltogether.
A very interesting idea. I don't know how hard it would be to implement, but it sounds good. Giving an extra bit of customization while still IMO keeping the game balanced. There is something about the idea that I do not like, but I cannot figure out what it is. I will think on it some more.
"No f'ing way" to all of your suggestions, Spell.
The only reason I still play is because I can actually run away at full tilt without recharging if I want to. I'm not buying an outfit in addition to my battery just to make my ship do what it used to do. The batteries are already more expensive than the ships themselves. This is also the ONLY reason I have survived so many server lag-outs.
Why not just revert the ships back to the original engine energy-use rates? The highest level ship you can buy in that ship-series has an engine that works with the F/C batt.
The only reason I still play is because I can actually run away at full tilt without recharging if I want to. I'm not buying an outfit in addition to my battery just to make my ship do what it used to do. The batteries are already more expensive than the ships themselves. This is also the ONLY reason I have survived so many server lag-outs.
Why not just revert the ships back to the original engine energy-use rates? The highest level ship you can buy in that ship-series has an engine that works with the F/C batt.