Galactic Travel Calculations!

[Qweesdy]

I feel a suggestion coming. And it is...
No distance cost while not in a starsystem! No seriously, while reading this I immediately realised that this is a necessity.

I agree Systems that contain nothing should cost a lot less faction points.

I also think the "distance from galaxy centre" part should probably be nerfed in general (like about 15% of whatever it is now).[DOUBLEPOST=1415141235,1415140502][/DOUBLEPOST]

Hyperdrives ARE needed. They add a simple way of transporting fleets across galaxies. They won't really be used for travel inside a galaxy because of the huge speed the ship will be flying at.

They also will give some nerfs to the ship with it. You'll basically need a titan to have hyperdrive.

Will they be hard to build (rather than just expensive) and hard to defend; and will it lead to "1 galaxy per faction" with no reason for any strategy or conflict/wars/fun because all systems/galaxies are as good as any other?

 

[ResonKinetic]

It does, as warp gates work per sector and not per distance.

it was a joke... wait is the new universe going to be moving like irl?

 

[FunnyBunny14]

Will they be hard to build (rather than just expensive) and hard to defend; and will it lead to "1 galaxy per faction" with no reason for any strategy or conflict/wars/fun because all systems/galaxies are as good as any other?

I'm hoping that we get a FP bonus for having systems in more than one galaxy.

So: extra bonus (amount of galaxies with at least 5 claimed systems) < (galaxies with at least 5 claimed systems) - 1 , with the extra bonus being a standard x1 extra to the multiplier.
I also wanted an increasing bonus. So by the first and second galaxy you'd only get x1 added to your bonus, but afterwards you'd get an increasing bonus up to a 2x additional multiplier max. So:
(1 + 0.1 x n) , with n being the number (in order) of the galaxy with at least 5 claimed systems.
The total bonus would be the sum of all the bonuses per galaxy.

This idea basically says that you need at least 5 claimed systems to move on to the next and have a bonus. All values would of course be configurable (these values are based on singleplayer). This might be a bit OP, there should of course be some negative effects of having more systems, but the general idea is here.[DOUBLEPOST=1415143929,1415143893][/DOUBLEPOST]

it was a joke... wait is the new universe going to be moving like irl?

No, I'm fairly certain that only planets will be turning.

 

[Reilly Reese]

Some poor joke that was then.

 

[ResonKinetic]

Some poor joke that was then.

it was an okay joke, considering I assumed schema had no plans for universal expansion and the joke played on that. I figured it would be easy enough to comprehend, but hey, starmade forums. My bad

 

[Loadout]

...Then at each point in the bridge leave a horde of drones that are factioned and leave the stations them self's neutral. If you go and read the Drone R&D Thread..... You will find this would be VERY effective at the connection points in the void. Each time your enemy's jump (assuming they don't want to spend forever traveling to you) They would be greeted by say... 50 drones.
....

Someone said Drones. :p

This is a fascinating calculation as it mirrors reality just about right. The distance between galaxies is massive, mind blowingly so. Owning the entire distance would be unreasonable as it is beyond comprehension in it's span let alone the resource requirements to actively do so.

I think the drone idea is good, however it's just one part of an effective defense. To be truly effective I believe the following would work...

• Drones at Least 50+ to defend against groups of ships and/or titans.
• Hercules Missile turrets, more alpha damage the better, fire and forget!
• Highway patrol more on this below.

Drones should be contained in sleeper racks to keep entity counts down until required. This way they're not clogging up the entire server. Meanwhile the turrets should be seriously heavy duty, forget point defense you have drones for that, go for stuff that could nuke a titan. Titan turret? Or just leave an AI titan there...

Highway patrol, to be fair humans are vastly superior to AI in both the ability to respond as well as report. Having a few faction members patrol their destroyers up and down the highway could easily thin out pirates without the need for drones. Not to mention keep tabs on systems along the way, keep enemy factions at bay, transmit distress calls, make repairs, and so on. A galaxy bridge sounds like loads of fun but it's also loads of upkeep.:D

 

[Sgtwisky]

Someone said Drones. :p....

Its thanks to you and others in the Drone R&D thread that my carrier is coming together now LOL.

As for defense of the gates. I guess I wasn't thinking about a defense to fend off a titan of main faction assault. THAT is what your faction members are for. Turrets and drones IMO are there to catch the idiots that go "oh look a station.... DIE!". When it comes to fending off a titan or a well equipped group that's when you should be focusing on more active measures as opposed to reactive measures. Be Dynamic with your fleet not static with turret/drone based defenses. They help but they will NEVER be able to hold back determined players.

Also it would take a while for a titan to reach you, unless your making your warp gates big enough for them. I have in my head the idea that your only building a gate capable of moving small - medium sized ships. These arn't too bad to stop with standard base defenses. but if your planning on a gate by which battleships and dreadnoughts and/or titans can come through.... You have just opened up a very big can of worms.

I think if I tried this plan I would keep the ship size in the small - medium. Sure I can't fly my titan from one galaxy to the other through the gates, but nether can my enemy's. If I went to war with someone in a galaxy that my gate connected to I have the option of traveling with a small ship and purchasing a battleship or titan once I'm on the other side too. Its not the most efficient way but it would save the logistics and defense headaches I would incur otherwise.

 

[Loadout]

Its thanks to you and others in the Drone R&D thread that my carrier is coming together now LOL.

As for defense of the gates. I guess I wasn't thinking about a defense to fend off a titan of main faction assault. THAT is what your faction members are for. Turrets and drones IMO are there to catch the idiots that go "oh look a station.... DIE!". When it comes to fending off a titan or a well equipped group that's when you should be focusing on more active measures as opposed to reactive measures. Be Dynamic with your fleet not static with turret/drone based defenses. They help but they will NEVER be able to hold back determined players.

Also it would take a while for a titan to reach you, unless your making your warp gates big enough for them. I have in my head the idea that your only building a gate capable of moving small - medium sized ships. These arn't too bad to stop with standard base defenses. but if your planning on a gate by which battleships and dreadnoughts and/or titans can come through.... You have just opened up a very big can of worms.

I think if I tried this plan I would keep the ship size in the small - medium. Sure I can't fly my titan from one galaxy to the other through the gates, but nether can my enemy's. If I went to war with someone in a galaxy that my gate connected to I have the option of traveling with a small ship and purchasing a battleship or titan once I'm on the other side too. Its not the most efficient way but it would save the logistics and defense headaches I would incur otherwise.

Nice to be recognized, thank you.

I admittedly had thought maybe the effort of creating gates was more intended for the larger slower ships, however if we are talking gates only meant for things like freighters or cruisers/frigates/destroyers as opposed to battleships, megaliths, and titans. I suppose it would take a very long time to actually prepare that sort of gate. Regardless of defenses if a fleet of titans arrives at one end of your gate, intent on conquering it, no number of defense will protect against that offense.

Actually it only takes 1 scout to do it, jump in, take a quick but hectic looksy and then you know everything you need to assault it. The problem with open build design is the ability to respond to a static defense with a dynamic offense...

Now the new questions I have are what about the ends... those are much easier to assail than something in the middle of the bridge. I have yet to travel that far but I'm curious, is there anything out there in-between galaxies? If the answer is a resounding no, why claim or defend them at all? Should a careless jerk come along and break one you have patrols to fix the damage real quick. I doubt the gate would target a new location just because the end broke... or does it... argh... so many mechanical questions..

Anyways, I think smaller gates are actually a very good idea, less resource intensive and more purpose built for civil or support oriented craft. Now I just need to figure out a good size for a gate.. I'm excited about static drone defenses on gates but first I need to actually build a few gates... heehee...

Edit: Had a realization just now... gate size is generally a fixed width... what if someone makes a titan that is absurdly Long but narrow enough to gate through? @_@ #Panic

 

[Sgtwisky]

Had a realization just now... gate size is generally a fixed width... what if someone makes a titan that is absurdly Long but narrow enough to gate through? @_@ #Panic

The idea of a titan that is say 700m long but only like 30x30 is both as funny as it is scary LOL.

 

[Loadout]

The idea of a titan that is say 700m long but only like 30x30 is both as funny as it is scary LOL.

While testing gates they only seem to check for cores, so what happens with a ship that has a long narrow beam holding the core in front and then docking mechanism for said Titans on the far back? It stands to reason such a mechanism would be both unbalancing and incredibly dangerous...

 

[Sgtwisky]

oh dear... so your telling us that you can use a small ship with titans attached to "Break Quantum Physics". This is an astounding development..... SO.... One could make very small warp gates, which could still transport fleets.

I think this might need to be pointed out as a bug. It could prove VERY OP in the wrong hands.... And somewhat game breaking when you think about the lower power cost and overall defense costs of a much smaller gate.

OH on another thought. Can you push entities through a gate? for example a drone or damaged ship? If so this could be used to "invade" bases. Throw up a quick, tiny one way gate and start pushing your physics breaking AI titans through.

 

[Loadout]

oh dear... so your telling us that you can use a small ship with titans attached to "Break Quantum Physics". This is an astounding development..... SO.... One could make very small warp gates, which could still transport fleets.

I think this might need to be pointed out as a bug. It could prove VERY OP in the wrong hands.... And somewhat game breaking when you think about the lower power cost and overall defense costs of a much smaller gate.

OH on another thought. Can you push entities through a gate? for example a drone or damaged ship? If so this could be used to "invade" bases. Throw up a quick, tiny one way gate and start pushing your physics breaking AI titans through.

First part definitely seems like a bug...

Second part i'm testing right now with drop gates on my new planet... =P

Testing is done and Yes! Entities can be pushed through gates, you can even activate trigger blocks on the other side too. This could make bridges less time consuming for players as their ships get pushed from one exit to the next entrance.

 

[Sgtwisky]

First part definitely seems like a bug...

Second part i'm testing right now with drop gates on my new planet... =P

Testing is done and Yes! Entities can be pushed through gates, you can even activate trigger blocks on the other side too. This could make bridges less time consuming for players as their ships get pushed from one exit to the next entrance.

sweet find. Hum... maybe I should start testing some "weaponized gate" ideas I have now.... Such as a station where I can dock my carrier.... and release drones through said gate from my carrier..... and have them "pop" out near an enemy base.

Another thought is using drones as a patrol in a portal highway. imagine you have a network of 10 or more gates. gate one connects to gate two. gate two connects to 3 all the way to ten. Ten then connects to one. Could you then shove a drone in, have it then activate a pusher and then fly through your gates forever until an enemy alerts it and it fights against the pusher to get to them? I think a "ring" of gates might be useful for paroling multiple faction systems too.

so much testing to do and so little time..... why ! why do I have a job !

 

[Loadout]

sweet find. Hum... maybe I should start testing some "weaponized gate" ideas I have now.... Such as a station where I can dock my carrier.... and release drones through said gate from my carrier..... and have them "pop" out near an enemy base.

Another thought is using drones as a patrol in a portal highway. imagine you have a network of 10 or more gates. gate one connects to gate two. gate two connects to 3 all the way to ten. Ten then connects to one. Could you then shove a drone in, have it then activate a pusher and then fly through your gates forever until an enemy alerts it and it fights against the pusher to get to them? I think a "ring" of gates might be useful for paroling multiple faction systems too.

so much testing to do and so little time..... why ! why do I have a job !

@ The first part unfortunately you'll need to launch a rack of fighters/drones through first. There appears to be a 10 second window in which nothing else can go through a gate. I tried and ended up with drones at the bottom of a ditch waiting to jump. Limit of 1 entity per 10 seconds even when I have more then enough to power to do all at once.

Whole heartedly agree on the second part! I'm in the slow but arduous midst of attempting to do just that, i'll probably post the results of which in my shipyard thread so as not to clutter this one. I will probably only use my own galaxy though, I don't think I'm frisky enough to attempt a full on inter-galactic bridge by myself.

 

[Sgtwisky]

Humm.... I just thought of an interesting use for gates. I still haven't had time to test them, but if you can connect a gate to another in the same sector, Could you use them as fast travel in a large station? or like an elevator?

I think I will test this one right now. Will let you guys know if it works and how well it works.

EDIT: It is not possible due to the fact that you have to have separate stations(or planets) for marking. Darn... was really hoping for some interesting base setups with warp gates.

 

[Loadout]

Humm.... I just thought of an interesting use for gates. I still haven't had time to test them, but if you can connect a gate to another in the same sector, Could you use them as fast travel in a large station? or like an elevator?

I think I will test this one right now. Will let you guys know if it works and how well it works.

From my experiences thus far all gates connect to the same relative entry position in a sector. How this is determined is beyond me, but it makes a GREAT way to launch craft off a planet's surface into orbit. :D