Make jump drives use fuel

[Deleted Account]

I know this has been suggested before, but I wanted to get my own 2 cents in on it.

My suggestion is that, to balance jump drives, they require some type of fuel. This fuel could be crafted somehow or bought from shops at a higher price, and it would be stored on board a ship in fuel tanks, which would replace jump drive modules.

Instead of the current charge-click-jump system, you would have a relatively short charge period, after which you would enter a sort of warp drive mode where you can't change your direction but will keep going at warp speed until you either choose to drop out of warp drive, get too close to a sun, or run out of fuel. You would use fuel pretty fast. In this high-speed mode, sectors wouldn't be loaded as you passed through them, but you would still be able to see stars and planets and stuff. Then, once you have finished jumping, there would be a long cooldown period for your jump drive.

Because of the absence of jump drive modules, the effectiveness (speed? fuel efficiency?) of your jump drive would be determined by your thrust capabilities (number of thrusters? thrust to mass ratio?).

The price of fuel at normal shops should be a bit high in order to encourage the creation of player-made refueling stations.

Of course, the fuel should have a name that fits the high-tech theme of jump drives. Also, in this system, it might be more fitting to rename jump drive to warp drive.

Overall, this would make jump drives have a cost associated with them, which would make the universe feel a bit bigger while still leaving the far reaches of space accessible. Also, this would encourage the use of warp gates since they have no cost associated with them. Finally, there shouldn't be any kind of exploit similar to chain drives.

Thoughts?

 

[Gasboy]

It's likely that a fuel mechanic will be introduced at some point. Even if it's some nuclear material that you need for your fission/fusion power reactors.

 

[Valiant70]

I would find jump drives more enjoyable to use with these mechanics.

 

[jayman38]

I've read repeatedly in the forums that the devs are interested in this kind of extended high-speed travel without resorting to a "secondary universe". I suspect they are working on other things, hoping that ongoing changes will lead to a natural, obvious solution. Time will tell. I think this warp mechanic, fuel or not, will eventually become a part of the core game.

Note: Un-visited sectors that are not loaded will not have planets yet. I figure you will need to drop out of warp to see planets. That's probably another thing that needs to be considered for this mechanic: 1. Simply unspawn any object that is in your sector when you drop out of warp, 2. Move the object to an adjacent sector, or 3. move you out of the occupied sector when you drop out of warp.

Dropping out of warp in a planet's core or exploding by occupying the same space as an asteroid would be unfun. On the other hand, dropping out of warp right next to a planetary body or asteroid would be a fun and immediate opportunity for exploration. Edit: Or mining needed supplies.

 

[Lecic]

My suggestion is that, to balance jump drives,

What is unbalanced about the current jump drives?

Because of the absence of jump drive modules, the effectiveness (speed? fuel efficiency?) of your jump drive would be determined by your thrust capabilities (number of thrusters? thrust to mass ratio?).

So how do jump inhibitors work in this suggested system? The idea of using thrusters for it ruins the balance of JDs vs JDIs, and would make smaller ships the best jump ships, which doesn't make any sense. A better balance would be larger ships can travel further and faster, to make carriers and large ships in general useful.

Finally, there shouldn't be any kind of exploit similar to chain drives.

sighs

Dropping out of warp in a planet's core or exploding by occupying the same space as an asteroid would be unfun. On the other hand, dropping out of warp right next to a planetary body or asteroid would be a fun and immediate opportunity for exploration. Edit: Or mining needed supplies.

Just use the current system of displacing a ship that tries to jump inside the bounding box of an entity in the way.

 

[-Moose-]

You know, I remember playing before jump drives were in the game.

It was awful.

What you are proposing would leave people without jump drives if they don't have any fuel. Forced to travel insane distances for no good reason.

Fuel is literally the most unfun part about owning a car.

Why would you want such a terrible thing to happen?

Overall, this would make jump drives have a cost associated with them,

The price is that for every jump module you have on the ship, you are not placing shields, thrusters, shield rechargers, power, weapons, armor, or just making the ship lighter. When you have a larger ship and need 2000+ just to be sub-reasonable, this is a considerable cost.

 

[Nickizzy]

Note: Un-visited sectors that are not loaded will not have planets yet. I figure you will need to drop out of warp to see planets. That's probably another thing that needs to be considered for this mechanic: 1. Simply unspawn any object that is in your sector when you drop out of warp, 2. Move the object to an adjacent sector, or 3. move you out of the occupied sector when you drop out of warp.

If you scroll out partially it's actually a pretty cool view. I was building once and I noticed if I scrolled out I could see all the system's planets, as well as some neighboring system's planets as well. It was really cool.

Dropping out of warp in a planet's core or exploding by occupying the same space as an asteroid would be unfun. On the other hand, dropping out of warp right next to a planetary body or asteroid would be a fun and immediate opportunity for exploration. Edit: Or mining needed supplies.

How bout if you drop out of warp inside something the game blames your jump computer, you learn to follow Han Solo's advice, and your ship gets teleported forward, both entities taking tons of sun-style damage.

As for the disuse of JDMs, make them the deciding factor in engine efficiency. More modules increases efficiency and decreases charge time. Mass increases charge time, and fuel cost. So larger ships need more JDMs to keep efficency and charge speed. Maybe JDMs are CPUs that program the route to find the most efficient path.

 

[taisong]

I do not think fuel is a bad idea, solely because it will make your factory more sophisticated.

If we are supposed to synthesize fuel out of an asteroid, then I think it will be fun enough.
If we are supposed to collect fuel from a black hole, it will be stupid.

 

[Nikicon]

I find NOTHING wrong with the Current jump drives, HOWEVER I like the idea of a faster non jump type faster than normal thrusters yet not instant jumping like the jump drives.

Thruster: work up to server speed limit
NEW engine type: AKA warp will be 2 or 3 times faster than server speed limit, can not turn side to side, up or down, aka straight line travel.
Jump drive: Charge up power and poof jump to the limit of server config.

Thrusters and current jump drive use power, The new engine type let's just call it warp drive would use a new fuel or a new power type.

I AM AGAINST making the jump drive into a fuel based system. It is fine as it is now as it need power and time to charge up. Already there is talk about making the power reactors need fuel that is fine by me.

If you want to have a fuel based movement type, then make a new one of convert over the thrusters to use fuel. AKA a strong fuel based thruster and a slower power based thruster so that you'll never just be stuck somewhere without a way to stop or get home/somewhere to refuel

 

[Deserea]

I find NOTHING wrong with the Current jump drives, HOWEVER I like the idea of a faster non jump type faster than normal thrusters yet not instant jumping like the jump drives.

Thruster: work up to server speed limit
NEW engine type: AKA warp will be 2 or 3 times faster than server speed limit, can not turn side to side, up or down, aka straight line travel.
Jump drive: Charge up power and poof jump to the limit of server config.

Thrusters and current jump drive use power, The new engine type let's just call it warp drive would use a new fuel or a new power type.

I AM AGAINST making the jump drive into a fuel based system. It is fine as it is now as it need power and time to charge up. Already there is talk about making the power reactors need fuel that is fine by me.

If you want to have a fuel based movement type, then make a new one of convert over the thrusters to use fuel. AKA a strong fuel based thruster and a slower power based thruster so that you'll never just be stuck somewhere without a way to stop or get home/somewhere to refuel

im pretty sure theyve said no to making normal thrusters use fuel anyways?

 

[Nikicon]

im pretty sure theyve said no to making normal thrusters use fuel anyways?

Yea i think you are right with that

 

[Deserea]

Yea i think you are right with that

Its been awhile since ive seen it.

I wouldnt mind if overdrive modules used fuel or something...maybe rocks...give them some use xD

 

[jayman38]

I think the dev team was OK with fuel as long as the item using fuel to "turbo-charge" would return to normal output when the fuel runs out. That way, fuel has a use, but is not absolutely essential.

We already have a system for going double-speed: passive overdrive.