a suggestion about boarding, core drilling, scanner, the meaning of life,the universe and everything

[El_Poulpy]

hi everyone, it's been a while since i last came on the forum.

Like the title said my suggestion is mostly about boarding mechanics, there is already topic on the subject but i thought it would be relevent to create a new one to expose my idea. The other things derivate from this boarding mechanics and are necessary to make it work.

Boarding
First, this suggestion supposes that in the future it would be impossible to switch to build mode except in shipyards

It would need that the system computer (weapon/effects/jammer/cloack) gain the ability to be turned on/off If it's turned off the pilot can't use it.

It would need 3 new systems computers:

1. an energy computer at which energy capacitors and energy generators would be linked. When this computer is turned off, no more energy. In addition this computer could have a fonction, to select energy supply priorities of the differents ship systems.
2. a thrust computer at which thruster would be linked. When this computer is turned off, no more thrust. this computer could have the fonction to distribute thrust in the six directions like the idea was suggested in the new thruster mechanics.
3. ashield computer at which shield capacitors and shield generators would be linked. When this computer is turned off, no more shield or just no more shield regen. this computer could have the fonction to distribute shield between the ship and its docked entity (i'm solving the shield problem with the new turret system as a side note )

It would need 2 items:

1. a type of cutter laser that will destroy blocks even shielded ones. the time to destroy a block would depend on the type of block like the and be proportionnal to the shield value. for instance: if the block we want to destroy is protected by a 1 M shield this item will destroy it in 100 seconds + the time to destroy this type of blocks
2. a type of personnal computer/hacking device/tablet/smatWatch that can turn on/off system computers, activate logic systems and eject someone from the ship core. the item could take something like 30 seconds, for instance, to turned on/off a computer except in your/your faction ship where it would just take 5 seconds.

With this system a commando could use the cutter laser to make an entrance into the ennemy ship, infiltrate it use the hacking device to turn off weapons and systems in order to sabotage the ship or make it way to the ship core and capture the ship captain.


Core drilling
You may wonder why do i talk about core drilling in a suggestion about boarding ?
It's simple, while core drilling is a thing, boarding won't be a viable option; what the point of entering in a ship, find and desactivate its systems and capture its pilot when core drilling is easier faster and safer.

The SOON™ to be HP system will respond to this issue but mostly nothing is known about how it works so i propose my solution to prevent core drilling.

My solution consist in adding armor to the ship core linked to systems computer active and proportionnal to the number of blocks of the ship. the formula could looks like that:
core armor = basic armor + (hasComputerShield + hasComputerEnergy + hasComputerThrust)* nb of blocks

each hasComputerXxx is a boolean, its value is 1 if there is one or more Xxx computer active , 0 else

Scanner
Board a ship is fun, but it's even better if you find system computers to desactivate. So you need to be able to locate these computers.

What i propose is that maybe a new type of scanner or the current scanner linked to an effect, the overdrive effect for instance, could be used to scan unjammed ships and display in the hud the locations (just the location not the type) of the systems computers like the ship core is displayed

An other solution may be a portative scanner that would find the nearest system computer but it would be more complex to implement.

The meaning of life,the universe and everything

Spoiler

SOON™ © Schine

The only defaults i see with the boarding mechanic i'm proposing is that it adds a little complexity and it supposes that there's builders who will make interior a little RP (systems computers not buried under 10 layer of advanced armored hull).

Do you see any flaw in my suggestion ? do you have any idea to improve it ?

 

[Megacrafter127]

hi everyone, it's been a while since i last came on the forum.

Welcome back.

1. a type of cutter laser that will destroy blocks even shielded ones. the time to destroy a block would depend on the type of block like the and be proportionnal to the shield value. for instance: if the block we want to destroy is protected by a 1 M shield this item will destroy it in 100 seconds + the time to destroy this type of blocks
2. a type of personnal computer/hacking device/tablet/smatWatch that can turn on/off system computers, activate logic systems and eject someone from the ship core. the item could take something like 30 seconds, for instance, to turned on/off a computer except in your/your faction ship where it would just take 5 seconds.

While 2 poses no problems, 1 does.
1 allows someone, who is only an astronaut, to completely destroy(remove all blocks) any ship, if he has enough time and patience. Both are more or less given in the case of griefers.
Restricting the tool to specific blocks(doors, glass, meshes) would limit that problem though.

 

[Criss]

I'm pretty much completely against the three new system computers. By the time I have boarded a ship, things like power, shielding and engines should already be disabled. Otherwise how would I have landed on the ship. It has also been mentioned that the future health system will cover this. Destroying certain percentages of a ship will yield detrimental effects such as power failures or shield outages.

 

[jstenholt]

I am getting very sick of people trying to fit the square peg that is boarding into the round hole that is Starmade ship combat.

Look, if you want boarding so badly, join a populated server with good mods and faction play. Mods can set up boarding action scenarios so easily that I find it laughable when people introduce complicated methods of making boarding a game mechanic.

Basically, if you want boarding, to be fun it has to be a populated server. If it's a populated server, you'll have no trouble finding a decent mod and group of players who want to play a boarding scenario.

If you want to do this on an unpopulated server with people who don't want to be boarded, that's just griefing. Plain and simple.

 

[NeonSturm]

To me SM is not just "combat all the time".

Having 1/3 of RAM diverted to block hp, thus to combat is overkill.
Do we have more 1/3 of IDs diverted to RP purposes (other than planet stuff and exterior-hull colours + hangar-colors)? NO


If you want a game with boarding, you should not be forced to rely on other peoples building RP into their ships.

You need tools to help players thinking about X and Y when building their ship and alert admins if they don't follow such basic RP rules.

 

[Snk]

To me SM is not just "combat all the time".

Having 1/3 of RAM diverted to block hp, thus to combat is overkill.
Do we have more 1/3 of IDs diverted to RP purposes (other than planet stuff and exterior-hull colours + hangar-colors)? NO


If you want a game with boarding, you should not be forced to rely on other peoples building RP into their ships.

You need tools to help players thinking about X and Y when building their ship and alert admins if they don't follow such basic RP rules.

No one said it was "combat all the time." To me combat is a large part of Star Made, and it should embrace all types of combat scenarios.

No should should have to rely on others building RP into their ships, and I don't see where this is represented in this suggestion. This would work out if there was a 1x2 corridor to the core, it would just be easier to board.

This is a good suggestion, but most of it has been thought out before. Most of the people against this seem to be of the "Shipbuilding" crowd, who play on build servers and stuff.

If you want to do this on an unpopulated server with people who don't want to be boarded, that's just griefing. Plain and simple.

That gave me a tumor so big there will be a closed casket at my funeral.

1 allows someone, who is only an astronaut, to completely destroy(remove all blocks) any ship, if he has enough time and patience. Both are more or less given in the case of griefers.
Restricting the tool to specific blocks(doors, glass, meshes) would limit that problem though.

This is a good idea. Making small arms passed through shields has been suggested before, and that was a concern. Maybe with the new HP, this could be implemented a little better - when the ship's HP reaches a certain point, you could blast open the plex doors?

This suggestion is a good idea, but could be improved.

 

[Sunkin351]

1 allows someone, who is only an astronaut, to completely destroy(remove all blocks) any ship, if he has enough time and patience. Both are more or less given in the case of griefers.
Restricting the tool to specific blocks(doors, glass, meshes) would limit that problem though.

Agreed...

I am getting very sick of people trying to fit the square peg that is boarding into the round hole that is Starmade ship combat

I am sorry sir... i would have to disagree... I would find it really fun if this was made an option... i may not use it very often, but it would be a nice feature.

 

[Ithirahad]

Welcome back.


While 2 poses no problems, 1 does.
1 allows someone, who is only an astronaut, to completely destroy(remove all blocks) any ship, if he has enough time and patience. Both are more or less given in the case of griefers.
Restricting the tool to specific blocks(doors, glass, meshes) would limit that problem though.

Eh. The Laser Cutter has been proposed a lot, and I still don't really think it's the right approach... People will just stop using whatever blocks can be cut through. (Unless it's restricted to doors, but then what's the point? Hacking a door effectively does the same thing, but in a less annoying way.) All that's needed for boarding is the ability to hack doors and logic blocks, and the ability to take control of an enemy ship. This cannot involve the faction block, or any specific block really, otherwise people will just find a way to bury it and make it inaccessible... unless something (NPCs?) need to be able to go to and use it routinely it for it to function, which would definitely fix our problem, and give us enemies to fight when we board ships as well...

Another feature that might be good is some kind of forced-docking mechanism that can clamp on to enemy ships somehow, but I don't know how to make this work in a balanced way so I won't go too much into that.

 

[Asvarduil]

I think for boarding - and, a FPS-like experience like you're describing - to happen, there needs to be a few things:

Physics: Inertia - Ideally you'd board a ship in motion, and the security team on your ship would have their laser pistols out. This can't happen if ships clip through astronauts. This would also have the cool effect of not needing to sit down on a ship to travel on it.

Blocks/Systems: Consolidate/Reduce Requirements - A halfway decent ship requires certain things: power in optimal configurations, shield in optimal configurations, weapons in optimal configurations...reducing the number of blocks, and emphasizing that players build interesting ship interiors is absolutely necessary for boarding to be a real thing. As it stands, the game is simply not skewed this direction - this is a game about ships blowing up ships with heavy ordinance*.

Astronauts: Equipment - You wouldn't want astronauts to be equal in combat, now would you? Nah, having different armors and weapons suited to different tasks would play to the theme of specialization that is in StarMade. It would be interesting too; being able to equip a "repair" gun and a energy/shield supply gun would make you an engineer; equipping a laser rifle and laser pistol and requisite armor would make you fill the role of ship security. Of course, as a game about blowing up ships with heavy ordinance*, I still don't see this being a thing...but, it would be interesting. Maybe I'll make a topic of it.

*: Unrelated note: WHAT THE HELL, GAME!? Why are lasers so bad in this game? I read they were nerfed due to being OP in a previous patch, but I think they were nerfed to the point of uselessness. Buff the damage a little, and buff the accuracy of the weapon.

 

[Megacrafter127]

Ideally you'd board a ship in motion, and the security team on your ship would have their laser pistols out. This can't happen if ships clip through astronauts. This would also have the cool effect of not needing to sit down on a ship to travel on it.

You can already do this, press 'space' while within a ship. NPCs won't do it though.

 

[Asvarduil]

You can already do this, press 'space' while within a ship. NPCs won't do it though.

I didn't know that. I knew you could hit Space to align to a ship in zero-G, but I didn't realize that it connected you to the ship's physics. I'll have to try that when I get home and see if this is right, I don't remember the physics working this way.

 

[Megacrafter127]

I didn't know that. I knew you could hit Space to align to a ship in zero-G, but I didn't realize that it connected you to the ship's physics. I'll have to try that when I get home and see if this is right, I don't remember the physics working this way.

It does work, but may be a bit wonkey when chaning sectors or warping.