Exterior Modules

[BeefBacon]

So I started playing Star Wars: Battlefront II again recently. The space battles are my favourite feature of that game by far. Anyway, one of the objectives in space battles is to destroy various ship systems on the opposing capital ship such as the shield emitter, life support, sensor arrays, etc etc.

Perhaps a similar system could be implemented in Starmade. Ship systems work normally, however they recieve a significant boost when part of a module (or a completely separate system block or array of blocks) is sticking out into space without protection from the hull.

Having a sensor array on the outside of a ship boosts radar range, a shield array perhaps buffs shield regen or load and so on. When these exterior modules are destroyed, the ship's ability to shield itself or detect far-away objects is stunted somewhat.

This system should be coupled with a new ship detection system which places a square around an entire ship (in the UI) rather than specifically on the core. This results in battles being less about tunnelling straight into the core and more about targetting and protecting specific ship modules.

Of course players are free to keep their systems safely inside the hull, but doing so potentially puts them at a disadvantage when fighting ships that have potency-boosting exterior modules.



Thoughts?

 

[The Galaxinator]

why would you want to have life support sticking out the side of the ship? I can see reason for weapons, shields and sensors, but not life support. also, wouldn\'t it be a bit of an eyesore having shield modules (especially shields) sticking out of the side? It\'s a good idea, it just needs a bit more tuning up in my opinion.

about the ship detection, heck yes. that has been on my mind for a long time. tunneling to the core is a thing that needs to stop, but maybe have a formula that finds the center or the center of gravity for the ship instead of just the whole thing.

 

[BeefBacon]

I only used life support as an example for BattleFront. Hadn\'t really considered it for StarMade. Could be interesting, though.

Either actual modules like shield blocks would be on the outside of ships or special \'shield emitter\' or \'sensor array\' or whatever blocks would be on ships - perhaps designed to be aesthetically pleasing. I also imagine that these blocks should be placed in specific shapes in much the same way that power blocks work. Perhaps sensor arrays are more efficient when they\'re longer, or shield emitters are better when shaped as a sphere, or something along those lines. Having specific exterior module blocks would also mean that they could be armoured slightly (as opposed to regular module blocks which are unarmoured), perhaps to the extent that regular hull blocks are so they aren\'t instantly destroyed when shields go down (I imagine that hulls will be stronger once some balancing takes place).

 

[The Galaxinator]

I really like the emitters. that would work well.

So yea. Nice.

p.s. your avatar is fantastic

 

[Jeff The Pilot]

This would be a great idea, considering that if I just put two of my ships into battle with eachother they can just easily just blast straight through and overheat the core with little to no thought. I\'d like to have battles where fighters are crucial to taking out systems where then the larger batlleships can then start wrecking eachother.

It would really help with the multiplayer and make that shield balancing really useful if the ships were in full skirmishes.

 

[planeofsuck]

what if you had to place your shield emmiter 1 layer below your outer hull, but it would add a glowing effect to the layer above it? this way your hull doesnt have ugly shield pertusions but you still see where your shield generator is

 

[me2005]

Adding control computers for cerain systems might take care of this somewhat - instead of having shield blocks just work, they need a computer controller, for example. The system could target the computer that makes everything work.

Then, to keep from having all players put the computers right next to the core, you\'d need to have the control computers touching the system they operate. There\'d be limits to how many blocks each computer can handle, so you need more than one, which would also allow overlapping shields and seperate (highly explosive!) reactors. Then make it so only hull is shieldable to give hull more purpose and make inherant weakpoints in parts that must be exposed to work (weapons, thrusters, maybe sensor suites).