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This post is the result of all the brainstorming and discussions that I've had since the power proposal dropped. I've slowly mulled over ideas and feelings on the possible new system. I put this together to prompt discussion and provide my own personal version of a new power system. I'll start by going over the Schema's proposal first and sharing my thoughts on each point. Then I'll lay out ideas that I think would be helpful to the proposal. If you don't feel like reading throught the power proposal again, just skip to the second section. Let's get started.
For this section I will go through Schema's proposed solution and provide commentary. I think it is important that we established what has been said and not said. Let's look at what's on the table.
My overall feelings on the proposal are mixed. I like that Schine is feeling the need to revamp system mechanics. I have felt the physical placement of systems was a subpar experience. I always have a lot more fun armor up my ship than placing down systems. At the same time there are a few implementations that could potential really limit ship design.
New Proposed System
This proposal will give slightly more specific mechanics that I think will solve the same stated problems, even the ones I don't agree with. It uses pretty much the same concepts of heat and building reactors, but I have tried to provide a system of trade offs that will provide interesting decisions. Based on the role of your ship, you will need to design an optimal power system. This changes with size as well, so every ship will have unique power supplies while following distinct patterns.
Reactors will be built pretty much like in the proposal. You will have a core and then chambers that are grouped to the core. There will be internal heat boundaries between chambers that will result in efficiency loss if touching. Conduits would function as a necessary link between chambers in the core. They function as transfer mechanic and need to be designed efficiently. I like this way of forming systems, as it is true to the word itself. You construct it from pieces instead of each block being a self contained system that repeats as more output/functionality are needed.
We keep regen and capacity as part of the power system. Regen will come from a chamber of fuel rod blocks or whatever else makes sense. Capacity will come from a capacitor or battery block that will form another chamber. There could be different kinds of block that add to regen and capacity but they are not necessary to the design of the mechanics. Bonuses to these blocks will apply in a similar fashion as they do now. Internal reactor heat boxes will function like the ones proposed, however not nearly as big unless you are not managing your heat properly. This will keep people from stacking two huge max efficiency groups in a single reactor and repeating infinitely. The idea is that the combinations of chambers will change as you design reactors for different sizes and roles.
Heat is a new mechanic that operates along side power consumption. It will rise when the power used is past what the cooling system can handle. This will based on ratio of total power output versus power being used currently. Basically if you use a lot of your power system at once, heat will spike much faster than if you used the same amount of power over a longer period of time. As heat gets past certain thresholds, systems will become more power inefficient. When the heat is maxed out all active systems stop functioning until heat returns to a stable level.
I like the heat box around reactors but I think the way it has been presented seems like too much. Nobody will want a reactor that essentially restricts building on a large area of the ship. I think the heat box should work to provide a trade off to high-performance power systems. With cooling methods it should be possible to control and reorient this heat box. The player should chose between high-efficiency systems that put out a lot of heat, or more stable low heat systems.
There will be three main blocks used to manage heat. Heatsinks will work as mix between a hull block and heat management. Cooling modules would function purely as a system that mitigates heat. Cooling modules would have to be built as part of the reactor, while heatsinks could be placed anywhere. Vents would be a block that you can link to a reactor and it would channel the heatbox to a different area of the ship.
Cooling modules would work similar to capacitors to eliminate heat. They get a small group bonus to their heat regen but capacity would be flat increases per module. They would use power to function and this power usage would go up on slightly steeper curve than heat regen. Cooling modules are always passively working but could engage in an active mode will intense power consumption. This could be called venting or something similar. A player can trade off the use of active systems to cool down his ship.
The heatsink is a block that will mitigate heat and function a bit like filler. It will provide a flat increase per block to heat capacity and regen. It would also have the roughly the same protection as basic hull minus any additional armor hp. With only local protection it would be silly to use this block as armor. It is a straightforward block that can function as many things at once in your ship. It would also be a nice bonus if all heat sink blocks got a little heat glow as heat builds up.
Vents have purely a single function that has diminishing returns as it is used. It would take the small chunk heat box that is around the core that it is linked to and generate it's own heat box instead. With the first few vents linked, it would provide a near 1:1 heat box transfer. After more are added the heat box would remain the same on the vent, but the amount subtracted from the reactor heat box would be less and less.
I also have a few small suggestions concerning systems in general. I think 2 things could be done to increase the value of capacity. One is to make many systems not drain capacity all at once. Have most of them drain the way beam does. The second is to have more systems in general use large burst of energy, instead of a constant drain. Scanners could use a set sum of power when they are used instead of recharging. Only one example but I feel this would help make capacity more universal and less specialized.
Another suggestion is that systems are made to function more as a group. Instead of just grouping bonuses, more could be done to make adjacent system blocks function together. If a large chunk of blocks take damage, perhaps they could fail as group. It would similar to the entity wide outage that occur now, except they apply to a group instead of the whole entity. I'm sure there could be many possibilities but I simply wanted to bring up the main idea. With more nuanced grouping mechanics, you could create real reasons for us to space out our systems.
Well that's it from me. Any of you that took the trouble to read through this whole post, I truly appreciate it. Let me know what you think of my opinions and ideas. I hope we can figure this and get some kickass power mechanics.
If this is considered the real problem then that is a problem in and of itself. This is a common misconception that a lot of players seem to have. Doom cubes and other simple designs more often than not are inferior to well designed ships. Turrets, weapons, armor, and more all need to be designed a certain way to perform in a certain way. There still are lot of ships filled to the brim with systems to make them better, but by no means does more systems = better.
I totally agree with this point. I think that the current system of adding and removing blocks to tune stats is tedious. It basically just amounts to moving a slider. This doesn't apply to all systems but most.
I am definitely tired of stuffing blocks into my ship like a coldcuts on a sub. I actually build little areas to see what blocks I have on most ships. I like to tune the stats of my ship, but digging through blocks and menus to see what I have is tiresome. Anything to make building systems more enjoyable is incredibly welcome.
I agree that this is a problem but I disagree with the cause. I would not say the power system is the main problem here. I would point to the way most systems use power. Most systems have a constant drain. This means to effectively use them you need to have a constant supply of power. The power system does aggravate the problem with the small power pool compared to regen. Both these factors combined make it so there is no point in having capacity unless you want a boatload of alpha-strike missiles or other weapons. I think what would help the problem in heaps is to have more systems drain power all at once instead most being regen based.
For this section I will go through Schema's proposed solution and provide commentary. I think it is important that we established what has been said and not said. Let's look at what's on the table.
It is important to note that in this proposal there is more then just power being discussed. It is a whole revamp of almost all blocks that effect system stats. Obviously the power system is at the heart of everything so this is a natural starting place. I think it is a good idea to create a new system from the ground up that has all the benefits of the old system, but with no new major problems.
This part seems very open ended to me. There will be multiple parts but those have yet to be fully defined. I'm sure once the mechanics are set then we'll know exactly what blocks are needed.
I don't see a point in changing heat into power. If they are functionally the same there seems no reason to change it. We already see a percentage for power so this would simplify nothing. This seems like it would hide more of the mechanics from the player.
So it seems that cooling would replace energy regen. If you can cool as fast as you are heating then your reactor is “stable”. It also is implied here that multiple reactors would not work together, but rather work as a system redundancy. Multiple reactors would generate more heat and not be desirable. I would imagine that most PvP ships would only have a single reactor and be the perfect size for that ship. This seems pretty limiting to me and I think would hamper the mechanics.
This negative space seems highly limiting to me. If most of the inside of your ship is forced to be essentially functionless, that would be highly discouraging to the build process. Unless crew will require a lot of space, then most of the design decisions in this empty space will be pointless. I don't mind a heat area around reactors but I don't think they should take up a majority of the ship.
I think building systems in parts is the right move for Starmade right now. Even if the systems take a bit to iron out, I think it will be a highly rewarding experience for all types of builders. To have actual components to systems would make for a very engaging build process. It would make one of the most tedious parts about building possibly one of the most enjoyable.
This part of the proposal is pretty vague. I like the overall idea as long as building a reactor doesn't become a set of memorized steps. I would like to be able to customize my reactor not build it like a model kit. Based on how you interpret this explanation it could be either one. I think this alone has contributed to a lot of the controversy in discussions. People have interpreted the fine mechanics different and are arguing the case as they see it. We should keep in mind how vague this proposal has been. It is obviously written this way because the idea itself is open ended. I think we should treat it as such regardless of how finite it sounds.
My overall feelings on the proposal are mixed. I like that Schine is feeling the need to revamp system mechanics. I have felt the physical placement of systems was a subpar experience. I always have a lot more fun armor up my ship than placing down systems. At the same time there are a few implementations that could potential really limit ship design.
New Proposed System
This proposal will give slightly more specific mechanics that I think will solve the same stated problems, even the ones I don't agree with. It uses pretty much the same concepts of heat and building reactors, but I have tried to provide a system of trade offs that will provide interesting decisions. Based on the role of your ship, you will need to design an optimal power system. This changes with size as well, so every ship will have unique power supplies while following distinct patterns.
Reactors will be built pretty much like in the proposal. You will have a core and then chambers that are grouped to the core. There will be internal heat boundaries between chambers that will result in efficiency loss if touching. Conduits would function as a necessary link between chambers in the core. They function as transfer mechanic and need to be designed efficiently. I like this way of forming systems, as it is true to the word itself. You construct it from pieces instead of each block being a self contained system that repeats as more output/functionality are needed.
We keep regen and capacity as part of the power system. Regen will come from a chamber of fuel rod blocks or whatever else makes sense. Capacity will come from a capacitor or battery block that will form another chamber. There could be different kinds of block that add to regen and capacity but they are not necessary to the design of the mechanics. Bonuses to these blocks will apply in a similar fashion as they do now. Internal reactor heat boxes will function like the ones proposed, however not nearly as big unless you are not managing your heat properly. This will keep people from stacking two huge max efficiency groups in a single reactor and repeating infinitely. The idea is that the combinations of chambers will change as you design reactors for different sizes and roles.
Heat is a new mechanic that operates along side power consumption. It will rise when the power used is past what the cooling system can handle. This will based on ratio of total power output versus power being used currently. Basically if you use a lot of your power system at once, heat will spike much faster than if you used the same amount of power over a longer period of time. As heat gets past certain thresholds, systems will become more power inefficient. When the heat is maxed out all active systems stop functioning until heat returns to a stable level.
I like the heat box around reactors but I think the way it has been presented seems like too much. Nobody will want a reactor that essentially restricts building on a large area of the ship. I think the heat box should work to provide a trade off to high-performance power systems. With cooling methods it should be possible to control and reorient this heat box. The player should chose between high-efficiency systems that put out a lot of heat, or more stable low heat systems.
There will be three main blocks used to manage heat. Heatsinks will work as mix between a hull block and heat management. Cooling modules would function purely as a system that mitigates heat. Cooling modules would have to be built as part of the reactor, while heatsinks could be placed anywhere. Vents would be a block that you can link to a reactor and it would channel the heatbox to a different area of the ship.
Cooling modules would work similar to capacitors to eliminate heat. They get a small group bonus to their heat regen but capacity would be flat increases per module. They would use power to function and this power usage would go up on slightly steeper curve than heat regen. Cooling modules are always passively working but could engage in an active mode will intense power consumption. This could be called venting or something similar. A player can trade off the use of active systems to cool down his ship.
The heatsink is a block that will mitigate heat and function a bit like filler. It will provide a flat increase per block to heat capacity and regen. It would also have the roughly the same protection as basic hull minus any additional armor hp. With only local protection it would be silly to use this block as armor. It is a straightforward block that can function as many things at once in your ship. It would also be a nice bonus if all heat sink blocks got a little heat glow as heat builds up.
Vents have purely a single function that has diminishing returns as it is used. It would take the small chunk heat box that is around the core that it is linked to and generate it's own heat box instead. With the first few vents linked, it would provide a near 1:1 heat box transfer. After more are added the heat box would remain the same on the vent, but the amount subtracted from the reactor heat box would be less and less.
I also have a few small suggestions concerning systems in general. I think 2 things could be done to increase the value of capacity. One is to make many systems not drain capacity all at once. Have most of them drain the way beam does. The second is to have more systems in general use large burst of energy, instead of a constant drain. Scanners could use a set sum of power when they are used instead of recharging. Only one example but I feel this would help make capacity more universal and less specialized.
Another suggestion is that systems are made to function more as a group. Instead of just grouping bonuses, more could be done to make adjacent system blocks function together. If a large chunk of blocks take damage, perhaps they could fail as group. It would similar to the entity wide outage that occur now, except they apply to a group instead of the whole entity. I'm sure there could be many possibilities but I simply wanted to bring up the main idea. With more nuanced grouping mechanics, you could create real reasons for us to space out our systems.
Well that's it from me. Any of you that took the trouble to read through this whole post, I truly appreciate it. Let me know what you think of my opinions and ideas. I hope we can figure this and get some kickass power mechanics.
