Real life star systems are light years apart from each other, a distance so astronomically huge it's hard to even comprehend. But in Starmade it's as if they're literally touching each other, and can be traveled between even without the use of a jump drive. The game could benefit very much from a few changes to make the universe more immersive and believable. Here are my thoughts on the matter.
1) Make interstellar travel (between systems) require a jump drive.
2) Rather than a whole new jump drive for interstellar travel, expand on the functionality of the current one. In addition to charging til full to jump 7 sectors or so, have a second "layer" of charge (like how a boss might have multiple layers of it's health bar). The first charge works exactly as it does now for in-system travel, but continuing to charge further into the second layer will allow for a jump to the next system. The second layer would require more power than the first, because of the much bigger distance being jumped. There could even be travel time or a new warp speed effect to differentiate between an interstellar jump and an in-system one. Combined with the first point, this would make the universe seem MUCH bigger and more immersive without touching world generation.
3) Interstellar jumps can only be made a certain distance away from a star, and the destination also has to be outside that same distance.
4) Just a quick last thought, perhaps have a whole new hyper drive system for galactic travel (between galaxies) that can only be used at the edge of a galaxy.
Basically, I feel like the current universe doesn't feel near big enough, and like I said, these are just my thoughts on how to make it feel more like it should. There are probably many other ways to achieve the same goal, so share your thoughts.
1) Make interstellar travel (between systems) require a jump drive.
2) Rather than a whole new jump drive for interstellar travel, expand on the functionality of the current one. In addition to charging til full to jump 7 sectors or so, have a second "layer" of charge (like how a boss might have multiple layers of it's health bar). The first charge works exactly as it does now for in-system travel, but continuing to charge further into the second layer will allow for a jump to the next system. The second layer would require more power than the first, because of the much bigger distance being jumped. There could even be travel time or a new warp speed effect to differentiate between an interstellar jump and an in-system one. Combined with the first point, this would make the universe seem MUCH bigger and more immersive without touching world generation.
3) Interstellar jumps can only be made a certain distance away from a star, and the destination also has to be outside that same distance.
4) Just a quick last thought, perhaps have a whole new hyper drive system for galactic travel (between galaxies) that can only be used at the edge of a galaxy.
Basically, I feel like the current universe doesn't feel near big enough, and like I said, these are just my thoughts on how to make it feel more like it should. There are probably many other ways to achieve the same goal, so share your thoughts.
