Variable speed limit

[Ixalite]

What if there were an option to tie the server speed limit to the mass of the ship being used? Fighters SHOULD be faster than cruisers after all.

 

[Crimson-Artist]

What if there were an option to tie the server speed limit to the mass of the ship being used? Fighters SHOULD be faster than cruisers after all.

according to the devs, the Thruster update will make thrusters directional output customizable. you could say put 70% out in the forward direction while putting 10% thrust for all other directions.

considering this its very possible that things ships will have varying speeds

 

[Zedrackis]

Fighters SHOULD be faster than cruisers after all.

So many things wrong with that statement...

In a Newtonian universe a space ship with the biggest thrust mass ratio will accelerate towards the speed of light the fastest. Gradually needing increased thrust to gain more speed as it nears but never reaches the speed of light. The result is a ship with large thrusters compared to the rest of its mass will always speed up faster than a ship with less of a thrust to mass ratio. Size is meaning less in the presence of near frictionless environment like space. This would only change if you changed the nature of the environment by say being near a gravity well, of going into a cloud of dense material.

I agree there should be a thrust to mass limit on ships speed however. But this too creates a problem as our game universe is horrible small compared to a real one, and our top speed horribly low even on the best servers compared to speeds you would normally reach in space even with conventional rockets.

 

[testkil]

its already like that if you put config 500 km/h speed limit and you have a massive ship with not mutch thrusters for his mass you will not reach 500

 

[Ixalite]

Sounds like you might want to try Tectum Clementia. As of this current update, we are changing our game settings to have very low thrust, low friction, and high speed limit. Ships are expected to have a realistic (notional) crew and some Roll-Play purpose.
The server is currently in reconstruction mode until the crafting update comes out, assuming it is soon. Come join us, experiment with the system we have, and join the story in a year or so.

 

[aceface]

I think that when ftl comes out big ships should be very slow and fighters very fast, but it should be very hard for fighters to warp etc, while it being very easy for big ships.

 

[Crimson-Artist]

I think that when ftl comes out big ships should be very slow and fighters very fast, but it should be very hard for fighters to warp etc, while it being very easy for big ships.

thats why when FTL gets added im making something like the jedi starfighter lightspeed ring for all my fighters

 

[lupoCani]

Fighters SHOULD be faster than cruisers after all.

I can't agree with that. All of the game's quasi-physics aside, fighters should be more agile, but when simply going from point A to point B, provided they're far enough apart, capitals I think should be faster.

 

[timethatswasted]

On the server Ixalite Is talking about we tried to balance ship speed to size by greatly reducing thrust and then reducing over all power regeneration.

So in short over thrusting your ship would cause you to run out of power. This doesn't create a speed cap, but rather an acceleration curve. Because of the low friction even a small amount of thrust can get you to the server speed cap.

I personally like it, but it is wildly unpopular and we will probably go back to vanilla settings. Everyone wants their giant ship to accelerate to the speed cap instantly, have infinite power regeneration and have massive weapon systems that cost nothing to use.

I do like the idea of having certain amount of thrust being related to a speed cap of that object. So 500 thrust only gets you to a max of 50b/s but say 1000 thrust caps you off at 200b/s ( example not actual.)

 

[mrsinister]

well, I think what happens is or seems even is.., in the movies we see fighters passing the large ships while in flight... What actually is going on is that the larger ships aren't moving at their max and the fighters are zipping along, which in turn seems like the fighters are faster than the larger ships. I believe it's related to mass ,and fighters should be able to get going faster than a larger ship, which doesn't this game do that already? and if not... lol why not? or have I missed something?

 

[BeefBacon]

Fighters SHOULD be faster than cruisers after all.

I disagree. Fighters should have much faster acceleration, but larger ships should have a higher top speed.

The number of engine blocks should dictate max speed - not the engine: mass ratio. The acceleration curve also needs to be changed to make large ships accelerate very slowly, and small ships accelerate very quickly.

 

[rece ktore leczo]

Firstly - the topic of speed in Starmade shouldn't be mostly discussed with "how the real world works" arguments. As much as i agree that games should take inspiration from real life and imitate it to some level, some features should be discussed more with the gameplay part in mind and this is example of such topic.


Now back to the topic.
Without much explaining i'll just post my vision of small-big ships speed balance.

Small:

• while flying around - most agile, biggest acceleration, biggest max speed.
• FTL - probably not even able to do FTL, but if able then either on small distances or via beacons

Big:

• while flying around - very slow, little acceleration, low max speed
• FTL - capable of FTL on their own on the big distances or via beacons, can transport other ships with them

FTL is needed here as slow moving big ships would be useless unless they are provided with another way to fast travel.

 

[LordChicken]

What if there were an option to tie the server speed limit to the mass of the ship being used? Fighters SHOULD be faster than cruisers after all.

Not to gang up on you, but from a purely balance standpoint having 1 always faster then another doesn't seam very wise. Anyone who has played a game were one person can run twice as fast as you knows how it feels to be a immobile object in a world filled with race cars.

When your the slowest thing between the stars you might as well be a space station or a blimp, if everyone else can run laps around you and your so slow you can't hit them.

What a larger, bulkier vessel should have less of is Agility, not speed. A giant ship should have a harder time turning on a dime(Read as: Needs more thrust) and you should 'out run them' not by running in a strait line, but running in a serpentine path so they have to constantly keep turning to try and catch you, letting you get away.

Note I am not a physicist, nor a master of mathematics.

just my opinion, take it with a grain of salt.

 

[rece ktore leczo]

LordChicken If big ship doesn't have turrets or allied fighters defending it, then it should be pretty easy prey for mobile ships, but if it can sustain battle long enough, then it should be able to use FTL to jump away and rescue itself.

So far the same speed limit leads to boring chasing, which can last forever. With different max speed levels players would need to choose - either higher speed or higher sustain/strength in battle, because having everything is boring and promote gigantism.