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- Aug 2, 2013
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Now I do love Starmade, I like nothing more than spending many hours just building bigger and better ships. But one thing that my ships have in common with eachother is that they are intended to be aesthetically pleasing rather than for actual combat. No matter what I do after I've completed a nice hull, it seems that my ships are no match for enormous cylinders consisting of cannons/missiles surrounded with hull, which are easy to make and boring as hell.
I'm sure many of these suggestions have been heard of before, and I'm sure I won't explain what I'm looking for anywhere near as well as the next man but I'll have a go.
If there were some sort of method that would encourage people to actually build an indoor area rather than the "battle cylinders" that plague the starmade universe. I'm not going to suggest including some sort of air pressure mechanic but if your character had an O2 meter, which would replenish only when they are in any enclosed area I feel that could help. So if your ship were hulled, you would have to either fill the gap or close off the area using. the plexidoors, like an airlock.
Another thing that may discourage "battle cylinders" (I apologise, but I will continue to refer to them as that) would be a complete overhaul on the weapon systems. If the weapons' rof was inversely proportional to its size ( but the damage increase would be enough for larger weapons so as to discourage having nothing but small guns too) then a ship would need to have backup small guns if the primary gun were to miss. However this doesn't solve the battle cylinder problem as well as my next suggestion.
If ships could only provide thrust in the direction the thrusters are facing, it would not be possible to strafe around a ship always facing it. This would force ships to make passes if either ship in combat has any velocity. Now it isn't necessary to make it so the thrust is ONLY forwards, only a small amount of thrust along the other axes (Y,Z,F whichever), that way the a, s and d keys would still have there use. Ofcourse you may have the thrusters facing other directions, like port and starboard but they would most likely not be as large or powerful as the main aft engines. Then the only real way to strafe an enemy facing them would be to have large lateral thrusters, which would make the ship so large and unwieldy, I feel it would discourage those large ships with all guns facing forward ( such as the battle cylinders) and encourage the use of port and starboard turrets as you make a pass. Of all my suggestions, I have thought of this thruster overhaul the most and I feel it is the main point in this by now long ass suggestion. Wake up, I'm not done yet.
One final idea, which would encourage small point defense turrets. Destructable missiles. This way small point defense turrets would be necessary for an effective defense. Maybe even just making it so a Bobby Ai ship with the impact bomb blocks on the front try go kamikaze. You can have them docked on your ship and when you undock them they shoot off towards the enemy. Like a finite IED missile. Now this is my final last terminal suggestion, handheld small arms, making boarding a possibility. That way point defense would be absolutely necessary. I can just imagine sticking onto the side of a ship, blowing a hole and making your way inside.
So if there's anything which this post reveals about me, I want it so broadside engagements (as naval ship to ship battles have) and being able to board enemy ships and have corridor engagements are possible AND viable options. And to finish, I'd like to remind you that these are suggestions, not demands, so if its not in anyone else's interest that's ok but FML in that case.
Edit: I've changed the title to a more accurate representation of what I'm looking for, as I guess what I really want is for a real distinction between a Fighter and Capital Ship. Starmade suffers from the same problem as many other games set in space, the Capital Ships behave more like big fighters than how they should, like Capital Ships. To do this it seems that it would be wise to dial down ship movement in other directions but forward to eliminate strafing. It'll force different ship builders to make capital ships more like capital ships (mostly using large lateral turrets, because have you ever seen a big ship in any sci fi movie strafe around an enemy ship all guns fixed facing forward? No, they "fly" past eachother broadside guns blazing) and also make fighters more like fighters (in sci fi movies you don't see fighters flying sideways either, in battlestar galactica the fighters use their own momentum to move sideways, they don't actually thrust sideways). Another thing to do would be to GREATLY reduce turning speed with a ship's mass allowing fighters to continue doing their sideways strafe but ONLY using their momentum and NOT through lateral thrust, and Capital Ships would be forced to focus on use of broadside guns rather than forward facing guns like the "battle cylinders" which may only be useful for a few seconds before a ship moves out of their field of fire, and passes them. Hold on I'm still not done.
My other suggestions are Secondary to this point and just ways of , in my opinion, improving combat. So if there's anything to take from this, FORWARD thrust, make it so lateral / retro thrust ( I have a lot less of a problem with retro thrust, I mean you have to brake somehow and it wouldn't really make battle cylinders much easier to use) are reduced enormously regardless of a ship's mass and would only be capable of accelerating a ship to less than 5m/s ( arbitrary small number ), and finally a MASSIVE reduction in attitude changes ( turning speed ) relative to the ships dimensions ( a longer ship would take longer to rotate up/down or left/right due to the distribution of it's mass with relation to it's distance to it's fulcrum, that's the turning point, I'm sorry if my words are getting too scientific and I'm sorry if you understand them and are insulted by my dismissal of your intelligence ) as well as the mass of the ship. Alright, now I'm done.
I'm sure many of these suggestions have been heard of before, and I'm sure I won't explain what I'm looking for anywhere near as well as the next man but I'll have a go.
If there were some sort of method that would encourage people to actually build an indoor area rather than the "battle cylinders" that plague the starmade universe. I'm not going to suggest including some sort of air pressure mechanic but if your character had an O2 meter, which would replenish only when they are in any enclosed area I feel that could help. So if your ship were hulled, you would have to either fill the gap or close off the area using. the plexidoors, like an airlock.
Another thing that may discourage "battle cylinders" (I apologise, but I will continue to refer to them as that) would be a complete overhaul on the weapon systems. If the weapons' rof was inversely proportional to its size ( but the damage increase would be enough for larger weapons so as to discourage having nothing but small guns too) then a ship would need to have backup small guns if the primary gun were to miss. However this doesn't solve the battle cylinder problem as well as my next suggestion.
If ships could only provide thrust in the direction the thrusters are facing, it would not be possible to strafe around a ship always facing it. This would force ships to make passes if either ship in combat has any velocity. Now it isn't necessary to make it so the thrust is ONLY forwards, only a small amount of thrust along the other axes (Y,Z,F whichever), that way the a, s and d keys would still have there use. Ofcourse you may have the thrusters facing other directions, like port and starboard but they would most likely not be as large or powerful as the main aft engines. Then the only real way to strafe an enemy facing them would be to have large lateral thrusters, which would make the ship so large and unwieldy, I feel it would discourage those large ships with all guns facing forward ( such as the battle cylinders) and encourage the use of port and starboard turrets as you make a pass. Of all my suggestions, I have thought of this thruster overhaul the most and I feel it is the main point in this by now long ass suggestion. Wake up, I'm not done yet.
One final idea, which would encourage small point defense turrets. Destructable missiles. This way small point defense turrets would be necessary for an effective defense. Maybe even just making it so a Bobby Ai ship with the impact bomb blocks on the front try go kamikaze. You can have them docked on your ship and when you undock them they shoot off towards the enemy. Like a finite IED missile. Now this is my final last terminal suggestion, handheld small arms, making boarding a possibility. That way point defense would be absolutely necessary. I can just imagine sticking onto the side of a ship, blowing a hole and making your way inside.
So if there's anything which this post reveals about me, I want it so broadside engagements (as naval ship to ship battles have) and being able to board enemy ships and have corridor engagements are possible AND viable options. And to finish, I'd like to remind you that these are suggestions, not demands, so if its not in anyone else's interest that's ok but FML in that case.
Edit: I've changed the title to a more accurate representation of what I'm looking for, as I guess what I really want is for a real distinction between a Fighter and Capital Ship. Starmade suffers from the same problem as many other games set in space, the Capital Ships behave more like big fighters than how they should, like Capital Ships. To do this it seems that it would be wise to dial down ship movement in other directions but forward to eliminate strafing. It'll force different ship builders to make capital ships more like capital ships (mostly using large lateral turrets, because have you ever seen a big ship in any sci fi movie strafe around an enemy ship all guns fixed facing forward? No, they "fly" past eachother broadside guns blazing) and also make fighters more like fighters (in sci fi movies you don't see fighters flying sideways either, in battlestar galactica the fighters use their own momentum to move sideways, they don't actually thrust sideways). Another thing to do would be to GREATLY reduce turning speed with a ship's mass allowing fighters to continue doing their sideways strafe but ONLY using their momentum and NOT through lateral thrust, and Capital Ships would be forced to focus on use of broadside guns rather than forward facing guns like the "battle cylinders" which may only be useful for a few seconds before a ship moves out of their field of fire, and passes them. Hold on I'm still not done.
My other suggestions are Secondary to this point and just ways of , in my opinion, improving combat. So if there's anything to take from this, FORWARD thrust, make it so lateral / retro thrust ( I have a lot less of a problem with retro thrust, I mean you have to brake somehow and it wouldn't really make battle cylinders much easier to use) are reduced enormously regardless of a ship's mass and would only be capable of accelerating a ship to less than 5m/s ( arbitrary small number ), and finally a MASSIVE reduction in attitude changes ( turning speed ) relative to the ships dimensions ( a longer ship would take longer to rotate up/down or left/right due to the distribution of it's mass with relation to it's distance to it's fulcrum, that's the turning point, I'm sorry if my words are getting too scientific and I'm sorry if you understand them and are insulted by my dismissal of your intelligence ) as well as the mass of the ship. Alright, now I'm done.
