I was playing on the server earlier and I got killed by a pirate. Unfortunately this meant I was sent back to spawn with nothing but a bit of cash, and with the server's current sector sizes, conventional travel to even nearby sectors can take quite a while. So I opted to buy a jump drive from the starter shop only to discover that the shop is entirely out of power reactors. This left me with nothing but a core to fly around in at max server speed. Now, 250 km/h max speed is quite high, but with the 15 km sector size the nearest shop to spawn is over 100 km away. The sector I died in is over 300 km from spawn, or about 1.3 hours of travel time without warp drive.
I recognize that this server isn't supposed to be easy. My death was my own fault, and I acknowledge that, but this scenario is indicative of a larger problem: Eventually the starter shop will be out of jump drives and anything else that can allow new players (or the recently deceased) to build a ship. This wouldn't be a problem if players were able to explore in a timely manner, but the sector size doesn't allow for that. This means that new players will have to fly around for hours on end doing nothing (or dabble in the crafting system) to actually make a start in this server. Obviously this won't allow for a stable playerbase to form, so I think something should be done to fix this. At this point I have two potential solutions:
- Reduce sector size. This is the easiest and most obvious solution, but it also comes with a number of drawbacks. Large sectors allow for smooth combat and probably tax the server less than small sectors, which have to be loaded and unloaded constantly.
- Give players access to jump drives regardless of whether shops stock them or not. I imagine this could work similar to the !CORE command that the server currently has. Basically, the player would type in a command and, if enough credits were stored in his bank account, would receive a jump computer, a few modules, and some power reactors at the cost of credits. This command could be offered at an overinflated price to discourage frequent use. Unfortunately, this solution also comes with the drawbacks of being unintuitive to new players while also requiring players with nothing to mine with their bare hands while pirates rain death upon them.
Neither of these solutions are prefect, and perhaps you or someone else can think of another method to fix it. However, I think you ought to be aware that this problem exists and that it will drive your potential playerbase away if you allow it to persist.
