First of all is that engines should all act seperatly so all engines regardless of location will behave like one big cluster of engines. Once this has been done the engine power vs mass will decide turning rates AND the ammount of engine power for every engines will have diminishing returns by adding a ^0.66 or something like that to the engine power vs ammout of engines forumula. The results of this will be
a. Spamming shields will make movement very difficult due to all the extra weight from the power systems and the shields allowing lighter ships to completly outclass you in a firefight making larger ships assualt vechiles for taking out a spacestation or as carriers rather than grim reapers able to one shot smaller ships yet at the same time being able to take a large ammount of punishment before going down.
b. This will add a cap to the size of ships as eventually the extra thrust from more engines would in fact not offset the engines own mass meaning that a planet sized death ship will be so slow it might as well be a space station.
c. Having a dock full of smaller ships will be vital and will mean that people wil have to strategise in combat. If a smaller ship goes up to you and opens fire it will be necesary to scramble the fighters making a carrier class ship much more inviting of an option. People will have to think more about it rather than going "block of shields" "block of engines" "block of power" "massive guns array" followed by flying around like a humming bird one shotting everything.
d. The creation of a flimsy ship class system which will only really be able to fight eachother. Medium sized cruisers will have massive difficulty with taking out a dreadnought due the the crazy shield regen whilst the massive dreadnought won't be nimble enough to engage and small ships will have the same thing going on with cruisers. Only ships of similar size classes or large swarms of the smaller class vs a larger one will be the way to go and add a lot more strategy to the game.
So far the only problem I can think of with this idea is that it will make turrets overpowered due to being able to go on the broadside of the ship and be incredibly quick (which is also a blessing as this will allow said large ship to compete with a massive swarm of small whips). to balance this the size of turrets turrets should negatively impact the turning rate far more than if it was not attatched and functioned as a ship meaning that turrets will run on the same guidelines. Large turrets with huge weapon batteries and a massive shields array will be for taking out large ships, they will turn very slowly. Medium size turrets will be for taking out cruisers whilst tiny flak turrets will take out fighters which in turn fighters could focus there efforts on and be an even match against.
My suggestions would make a game where size is not a linear scale but instead a large ship will be far slower. Thus creating the need for strikecraft on board, turrets as well as allowing small ships to be very useful in combat rather than awful starting ships that exist by the kindness of passing strangers not turning the cannons on you in their dreadnought, instead making it so the fighter can advoid the dreadnought altogether with it's speed or harrass it if it manages to take out the smaller turrets. Even the richest players will have great use for smaller ships so they can scout.
Feedback, further suggestions and telling me what ideas you liked/ pointing out problems with balancing will always be appreciated
a. Spamming shields will make movement very difficult due to all the extra weight from the power systems and the shields allowing lighter ships to completly outclass you in a firefight making larger ships assualt vechiles for taking out a spacestation or as carriers rather than grim reapers able to one shot smaller ships yet at the same time being able to take a large ammount of punishment before going down.
b. This will add a cap to the size of ships as eventually the extra thrust from more engines would in fact not offset the engines own mass meaning that a planet sized death ship will be so slow it might as well be a space station.
c. Having a dock full of smaller ships will be vital and will mean that people wil have to strategise in combat. If a smaller ship goes up to you and opens fire it will be necesary to scramble the fighters making a carrier class ship much more inviting of an option. People will have to think more about it rather than going "block of shields" "block of engines" "block of power" "massive guns array" followed by flying around like a humming bird one shotting everything.
d. The creation of a flimsy ship class system which will only really be able to fight eachother. Medium sized cruisers will have massive difficulty with taking out a dreadnought due the the crazy shield regen whilst the massive dreadnought won't be nimble enough to engage and small ships will have the same thing going on with cruisers. Only ships of similar size classes or large swarms of the smaller class vs a larger one will be the way to go and add a lot more strategy to the game.
So far the only problem I can think of with this idea is that it will make turrets overpowered due to being able to go on the broadside of the ship and be incredibly quick (which is also a blessing as this will allow said large ship to compete with a massive swarm of small whips). to balance this the size of turrets turrets should negatively impact the turning rate far more than if it was not attatched and functioned as a ship meaning that turrets will run on the same guidelines. Large turrets with huge weapon batteries and a massive shields array will be for taking out large ships, they will turn very slowly. Medium size turrets will be for taking out cruisers whilst tiny flak turrets will take out fighters which in turn fighters could focus there efforts on and be an even match against.
My suggestions would make a game where size is not a linear scale but instead a large ship will be far slower. Thus creating the need for strikecraft on board, turrets as well as allowing small ships to be very useful in combat rather than awful starting ships that exist by the kindness of passing strangers not turning the cannons on you in their dreadnought, instead making it so the fighter can advoid the dreadnought altogether with it's speed or harrass it if it manages to take out the smaller turrets. Even the richest players will have great use for smaller ships so they can scout.
Feedback, further suggestions and telling me what ideas you liked/ pointing out problems with balancing will always be appreciated
