- Joined
- Jun 19, 2013
- Messages
- 387
- Reaction score
- 62
I have been playing this game for a while, and looked around on the forums, and many people have been complaining about how useless smaller ships are (fighters and such). I have also noticed this, and have been thinking about different ways to make them better, without being super OP. And before you rage, I know the game is in alpha, and lots of balancing has yet to occur. These are just some ways I think it could happen.
1. Weapon Pods:
This would add an item called an Empty Pod, that you could buy in small numbers at shops, but because of how they work, its far easier to manufacture them. Basically, this block acts as a '1-time-use' device, one that you could put any different weapon block in, and have it shoot that type of weapon. The more you have in a group, the more power they store. Lets say I have a group of 3 of these Empty Pods in a row on my fighter. In each pod, I placed a basic AMC block. Now, using a Charging Station back at my faction base, I filled up the power in the group. Now, I can set the stats of the AMC. All of them. I can add as much as I want to the stats, but if I add so many that it takes more power to shoot once than that group stores, nothing happens/a warning message pops up. Now, I go into combat. Lets say the group of AMC pods hold a total of 10000 energy (all numbers in this post are arbitrary, they are just examples.) I have set the stats so each shot uses 1000 power. Thus, I get 10 shots before that group of pods is expended. To refill it, I have to go back to the faction base to recharge them before they can be fired again. The Charging Station block is the block that charges pods (and groups of pods). It acts a bit like the Powersupply Beam weapon, but it can only be placed on stations or planets. Also, to use it, you must get out of your ship and enter as you would enter a weapon computer, then aim at the pods and shoot them with it. It requires a power supply, and the more Charging Station blocks there are connected, the faster it will charge. Note that there are still normal weapon systems, and that they will still be more effective in a long fight than weapon pods. Weapon pods are designed for fighters or for capital ships that want lots of missiles. (Also, any unclaimed station has a low-quality Charging Station somewhere in it, for those who are factionless)
2. Better missiles:
Right now, missiles kinda suck. They are crap against shields, and any ship can outrun them, unless they are 1000's of blocks big. (That really doesn't sound right, if someone thinks of a better way to say it tell me) The weapon pod idea solves part of the problem, but they are still not as useful as they should be. I like the idea that instead of missiles, we get torpedoes. How they would work is there is a Torpedo computer block, then Torpedo Tube blocks. How these would work is you would build a tube of Torpedo Tube blocks, with a Torpedo Controller block at the end (different from a computer). The Torpedo controller counts all Torpedo Tubes that are touching it or another touching Tube block as connected to that controller, which would then be connected to the Computer. To fire your torpedoes, you need to either manufacture them or buy some low-quality ones in the shop. Once you have your torpedoes, (I imagine there could be many different kinds, such as EMP and armor-piercing, but that would come later) you need to open the inventory of each Torpedo Controller, and add one (or a stack) in. Now you are ready to shoot massive torpedoes! I imagine these would be used mostly by capital ships or dedicated torpedo bombers.
3. Ship classes:
Now I know that there are unofficial ship class listings everywhere, but these would be set per server. There would be an extra cfg file, where you can add ship classes based on mass. For each ship class, you can set a speed limit. This would allow you to give fighters and smaller ships a little more of an advantage in the speed department than they already have, and slow down capital ship movement, especially in combat (this is so you don't have to change sectors every 3 seconds if you don't want to). It would display the class of the ship you are in next to the mass, i.e 37 mass=Fighter. (Again, arbitrary numbers)
Thank you for bearing through my suggestions, and if you didn't:
tl;dr
missile pods, torpedoes, and ship classes/speed limits
1. Weapon Pods:
This would add an item called an Empty Pod, that you could buy in small numbers at shops, but because of how they work, its far easier to manufacture them. Basically, this block acts as a '1-time-use' device, one that you could put any different weapon block in, and have it shoot that type of weapon. The more you have in a group, the more power they store. Lets say I have a group of 3 of these Empty Pods in a row on my fighter. In each pod, I placed a basic AMC block. Now, using a Charging Station back at my faction base, I filled up the power in the group. Now, I can set the stats of the AMC. All of them. I can add as much as I want to the stats, but if I add so many that it takes more power to shoot once than that group stores, nothing happens/a warning message pops up. Now, I go into combat. Lets say the group of AMC pods hold a total of 10000 energy (all numbers in this post are arbitrary, they are just examples.) I have set the stats so each shot uses 1000 power. Thus, I get 10 shots before that group of pods is expended. To refill it, I have to go back to the faction base to recharge them before they can be fired again. The Charging Station block is the block that charges pods (and groups of pods). It acts a bit like the Powersupply Beam weapon, but it can only be placed on stations or planets. Also, to use it, you must get out of your ship and enter as you would enter a weapon computer, then aim at the pods and shoot them with it. It requires a power supply, and the more Charging Station blocks there are connected, the faster it will charge. Note that there are still normal weapon systems, and that they will still be more effective in a long fight than weapon pods. Weapon pods are designed for fighters or for capital ships that want lots of missiles. (Also, any unclaimed station has a low-quality Charging Station somewhere in it, for those who are factionless)
2. Better missiles:
Right now, missiles kinda suck. They are crap against shields, and any ship can outrun them, unless they are 1000's of blocks big. (That really doesn't sound right, if someone thinks of a better way to say it tell me) The weapon pod idea solves part of the problem, but they are still not as useful as they should be. I like the idea that instead of missiles, we get torpedoes. How they would work is there is a Torpedo computer block, then Torpedo Tube blocks. How these would work is you would build a tube of Torpedo Tube blocks, with a Torpedo Controller block at the end (different from a computer). The Torpedo controller counts all Torpedo Tubes that are touching it or another touching Tube block as connected to that controller, which would then be connected to the Computer. To fire your torpedoes, you need to either manufacture them or buy some low-quality ones in the shop. Once you have your torpedoes, (I imagine there could be many different kinds, such as EMP and armor-piercing, but that would come later) you need to open the inventory of each Torpedo Controller, and add one (or a stack) in. Now you are ready to shoot massive torpedoes! I imagine these would be used mostly by capital ships or dedicated torpedo bombers.
3. Ship classes:
Now I know that there are unofficial ship class listings everywhere, but these would be set per server. There would be an extra cfg file, where you can add ship classes based on mass. For each ship class, you can set a speed limit. This would allow you to give fighters and smaller ships a little more of an advantage in the speed department than they already have, and slow down capital ship movement, especially in combat (this is so you don't have to change sectors every 3 seconds if you don't want to). It would display the class of the ship you are in next to the mass, i.e 37 mass=Fighter. (Again, arbitrary numbers)
Thank you for bearing through my suggestions, and if you didn't:
tl;dr
missile pods, torpedoes, and ship classes/speed limits
