Realism pique anyone's interest?

[DJ-Col7]

Okay so i was thinking (And playing Fractured Space) and had a thought. Now there may well be a server or servers out there with this in mind (i don't know i haven't been around a lot of different servers) but here's the deal.

So this is just the discussion of an idea, it may well be stupid to some but sounded good in my head to me.

A Realism server would include:

No shields: You would have to rely on good ship design and armoring.
Ships must have fully designed interiors. This not only makes the ships look nice but also cut down on
people simply just packing the ship full of weapons and power.
Ships also aren't allowed to be massive cubes...well this may not have any effect as to realism it is just another trick to cut down on ship power.

Now why these requirements to cut down on a ship's power? Otherwise i feel that the lack of shields would give rise to its own issues with ships killing each other too fast. What im wanting to see out of this idea is slug-fests between ships as they tear each other apart piece by piece. Also a lack of shields in a realism server i feel would actually balance out ship sizes a little more. No longer are ships immune to smaller ones simply cause they can recharge shields faster than damage can be flung at them. Now even small ships may be able to punch a hole in a target that could give him pause or have force him back off. It wont be perfectly balanced but at least smaller ships will be able to do something other than being cannon fodder.

Feel free to throw ideas or correct some. Maybe something will come out of this un-caffinated morning thought.

 

[jorgekorke]

Removing shields would break one of the challenges of ship building, specially on smaller crafts, which is to find the ideal balance between the three types of damage. I don't really like that idea.

I think you might be looking for a Roleplay (RP) server, they don't allow doom bricks or PvP-Enforced vessels. Try checking out Ragnarock Galaxy, not sure if it still exists though.

 

[Comr4de]

BDLS has a lot to say about this

 

[EricBlank]

Not so sure to what degree this counts as "realism." There's technically nothing saying a sufficiently advanced technology cannot act like the shields or other block structures in starmade, but nonetheless a server where shields are disabled sounds interesting. Requiring life support systems and on-board work/living space sounds great, can't think of an objective way to define that. Finite power and thrust based on reaction mass, and ammunition for weaponry would also be interesting to see for such a server. You'd probably end up having to turn it into its own gamemode in a sense.

Could disable homebase protection and remove resource gathering based on system ownership to boot.

I'd be interested in trying it, at least. See how well we'd fare.

 

[Lecic]

There used to be a no-shields server called LCB. It was popular for the first few weeks but the population rapidly declined until it was completely empty half the time.

 

[Dire Venom]

There used to be a no-shields server called LCB. It was popular for the first few weeks but the population rapidly declined until it was completely empty half the time.

As have a lot of severs :/ Starmade lacks really any goal other than building awesome ships, I dont think disabling shields would really do much anyway as high alpha weapons can take them down very quickly

 

[jayman38]

Realism as in?
- No FTL drives (We have theories on how to make it work, but no technology that can teleport more than a couple of atoms at a time.)
- No FTL gates (same deal)
- Low power softcap
- Requiring 1 square meter of surface for every 10 blocks for realistic thermal radiation effect?

It would sure help if we had ammo and fuel mechanics. I just don't think we have enough customizability in game mechanics to "scratch" the realism "itch" in Starmade.

 

[DJ-Col7]

As have a lot of severs :/ Starmade lacks really any goal other than building awesome ships, I dont think disabling shields would really do much anyway as high alpha weapons can take them down very quickly

Thats the thing though, by requiring no shields and rooms that access all the ships systems its total weapon power would be greatly reduced. This would allow say a corvette or frigate to maybe not destroy a battlecruiser but at least cause some degree of damage. And also in this case a ship with a high damage alpha may just hurt itself in other ways cause of limited space available. Someone who wants to pack a big gun may find other things such as power or other weapons lacking. At least that's my theory.
[doublepost=1474276906,1474276749][/doublepost]

Realism as in?
- No FTL drives (We have theories on how to make it work, but no technology that can teleport more than a couple of atoms at a time.)
- No FTL gates (same deal)
- Low power softcap
- Requiring 1 square meter of surface for every 10 blocks for realistic thermal radiation effect?

It would sure help if we had ammo and fuel mechanics. I just don't think we have enough customizability in game mechanics to "scratch" the realism "itch" in Starmade.

Lets not go as far as thermal radiation that would wind up being more of a headache than its worth id say. lol

Ive always wanted to see fuel and ammo in Starmade. More potent reactors and thrusters than default that require an explosive fuel and more powerful projectile weapons but that generate recoil, fire slower the larger the caliber and must be fed ammo. (I think they'd be great for smaller ships)

Edit: Actually now that i think about it some kind of cooling system block (or blocks. Radiators, Cooling tanks etc...) would be a great idea for extra balancing of more advanced and more potent systems such as those reactors and thrusters! And without shields a bomber targeting cooling system points on a ship could potentially stop a ship in its tracks or at least limit its potential!

 

[Gasboy]

A Realism server would include:

No shields: You would have to rely on good ship design and armoring.
Ships must have fully designed interiors. This not only makes the ships look nice but also cut down on
people simply just packing the ship full of weapons and power.
Ships also aren't allowed to be massive cubes...well this may not have any effect as to realism it is just another trick to cut down on ship power.

I don't think your idea is stupid. However, I question the "realism" or lack thereof regarding shields, cubeships and packing ships full of one thing or another.

Shields, as they are in StarMade, aren't realized currently. They require large amounts of power, probably more than we could currently generate in an efficient amount of space. But shields will eventually become reality, I believe. They can be effective in protecting a ship from fast moving debris. There's a huge amount of junk orbiting the earth, much of it microscopic in nature.

That's a crack in the space shuttle Endeavour's windshield, caused by a micrometeorite. And the Endeavour is only going a fraction of the speed the ships we have in StarMade can go. The International Space Station had a crack in one of their windows, possibly caused by a paint flake thousandths of a millimetre across. Yeah, that's right, paint nearly broke a window on the ISS. There will come a point where we may not be able to launch vehicles into space due to the amount of debris floating up there. Armour is much too heavy to launch into space.

I would say that shields are an eventuality, and thus, realistic.

As for cube ships and stuffing ships with one system or another. Unless one needs to enter and exit atmosphere, shape has no impact on ship construction. A cube ship is simply the most efficient thing to build. Incredibly boring, but it is the most efficient. Almost every single system in StarMade benefits from being grouped in some way, and a cube shape is the most efficient grouping. And as far as graphics display goes, a cube has the least impact. A 2x2x2 has 24 faces showing for 8 blocks. A 8x1x1 line has 26 faces for 8 blocks. And the discrepancy gets bigger as the number of blocks go up.

And the systems themselves only encourage gigantism. Want more damage on your cannon? Add more cannon blocks! Want faster firing cannons? Add a secondary computer with the same number of cannon blocks attached! Oh, you want to hit harder? You've got overdrive, punchthrough, piercing and explosive effects to choose from.

If I was going to implement a system that does what I think you want it to do, I wouldn't bother with "realism".

I'm assuming you want it to be a PvP server, if not it would require quite a bit of work to outfit the Trading faction and the pirates. You really want the players to do the heavy lifting, so, PvP server.

You would assume a political situation similar to that after the First World War. A number of empires and rising nations facing potential enemies on several fronts. Countries trying to protect farflung colonies, and boasting of building a two-power navy.

And so a treaty is agreed upon, limiting the naval power of nations to a certain limit. Empires facing bankruptcy breath a sigh of relief, while smaller powers are able to defend themselves without having to build massive navies.

The treaty would define what a ship class is, and what weapons can be used. The Washington Naval Treaty did such a thing in the early part of the 20th century, in an attempt to arrest the size and number of battleships in the navies of the world's top powers.

Such a PvP server is the only way a ship classification system could really work, since everyone would be beholden to it.

Ship weapons would all be turreted, with strict numbers for each weapon type. A destroyer class would have relatively small weapons, while battleships would have the largest weapons possible. Each faction would be allowed only a certain number of each ship class, and each ship class would be allowed a specific, maximum mass. The only way to enlarge one's navy would be to take and hold territory. Meaning that a faction would have to increase the number of members it has. If it is desired, additional rules for "RP" can be enforced, with the requirement for bridges, crew quarters, engineering, med bays, etc, etc.

Further, one can require that all factions build their own ships, no downloading blueprints. And shipyards can be a required thing as well, as well as colonized planets, as things to be captured, to deprive a faction of living space and shipbuilding capabilities.

It would take quite a bit of refereeing, to ensure factions are following the rules. And you've have to decide ahead of time on an "end game" where a winner or winners can be determined. You'd have to have strict hours of operation, so that everyone has a chance to log in and participate.

Despite the massive amount of work, I think it could be quite fun, as an exercise in strategic and tactical thinking.

 

[DJ-Col7]

Not dismissing anything you said Gasboy but realism was the only thing i could think to call it at 5 am with no caffine. XD

I have no doubt shields may be a future development.

All im trying to get at here is the passing on of an idea although its given me some other ideas ill lay out in a future suggestion thread.

 

[Edymnion]

The pirates would need a MASSIVE rework for a server like this, I think.

Without shields, pirates will chew through anything no matter how big due simply to the fact that they can spawn in unlimited numbers.