Limit System Group Bonus

[jayman38]

Thinking about how ships should be built in a game, I decided that system groups should get a tight grouping bonus, but only up to a specific size, to simulate bigger, better components. However, beyond some arbitrary size, improved efficiency encourages weird design decisions or gigantism.

Therefore, I suggest that system groups gain a dimension-based bonus, where maximum density of a group for a given cube or sphere of system blocks builds up a bonus. However, the bonus should reach a maximum bonus level at an arbitrary, config-adjustable max-bonus size, such as 50x50x50. If you build a system group bigger than this optimum size, the bonus remains steady, or maybe even starts to drop.

Furthermore, this max-bonus size should be applied in a more direct way to weapon systems, making them not only a maximum weapon bonus, but a maximum overall output, limiting individual weapons to maximum outputs, eliminating the problem of geometrically-increasing alpha strike damage, but introducing a problem of increasing weapon count, which I think is a cool problem to have. (More beams, more bullets flying, as much missile spam as ever, etc.)

The result is an optimized ship made of large components, each with limited dimensions, similar to real-world components, hopefully resulting in more conventional craft with more reasonable abilities, without severely limiting creativity.

tl;dr: Systems groups should get increasing efficiency bonus as a dense 3-D shape, up to a limited size, at which point the bonus remains level, or possibly starts dropping.

 

[NeonSturm]

Thinking about how ships should be built in a game, I decided that system groups should get a tight grouping bonus, but only up to a specific size, to simulate bigger, better components. However, beyond some arbitrary size, improved efficiency encourages weird design decisions or gigantism.

IRL you have a minimum size, an optimum size and a maximum size before you start a second reactor.
But we can't have 2 activated at the same time.

Therefore, I suggest that system groups gain a dimension-based bonus, where maximum density of a group for a given cube or sphere of system blocks builds up a bonus. However, the bonus should reach a maximum bonus level at an arbitrary, config-adjustable max-bonus size, such as 50x50x50. If you build a system group bigger than this optimum size, the bonus remains steady, or maybe even starts to drop.

Ships would be incompatible to multiple server configs.
However I agree that dense shapes should be encouraged.

Furthermore, this max-bonus size should be applied in a more direct way to weapon systems, making them not only a maximum weapon bonus, but a maximum overall output, limiting individual weapons to maximum outputs, eliminating the problem of geometrically-increasing alpha strike damage, but introducing a problem of increasing weapon count, which I think is a cool problem to have. (More beams, more bullets flying, as much missile spam as ever, etc.)

Simple solution:

Hulls are Heat-Sinks.
Reactors need Heat-Sinks to function at full efficiency.
But they only support reactors (1/ (1/amount)³ )².
1 hull gives 1 heat radiation
8 hull gives 4 heat radiation
27 hull gives 9 heat radiation
125 hull gives 25 heat radiation
1'000 hull gives 100 heat radiation.
1'000'000 hull gives 10'000 heat radiation.
1'000'000'000 hull gives 1'000'000 heat radiation.
Result: Bigger ships are slower and still more powerfull but only to area not volume.

The result is an optimized ship made of large components, each with limited dimensions, similar to real-world components, hopefully resulting in more conventional craft with more reasonable abilities, without severely limiting creativity.

My simple solution above allows systems to become more efficient if bigger because heat-sinks become less efficient.
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tl;dr: Systems groups should get increasing efficiency bonus as a dense 3-D shape, up to a limited size, at which point the bonus remains level, or possibly starts dropping.

I agree.