Mapping,FTL and Hyperspace dimension/portals

Fiestaguy · Jun 28, 2013

What about adding a way of Maps to the game?
Like put a block on your spaceship and it will keep track of all Sectors, Shops, planets and Spacestations you've been to.
Have normal mapping blocks wich will only map all parts of the sector and space stations youve been ON, and you can buy an expansion
(in the game called an enhancer) for that map that will let it record all Sectors, Shops, planets and Spacestations in the sector you're in,
Now the warpspeed traveling. like another enhancer for the map (Wich is extremely expensive) and needs a special sort of Thruster aswell.
Then you can use it when flying to travel instantly to places you've been to. But ofcourse not *Click* WOOSH. but you choose where to go then it takes
around 15 Seconds to charge. When being hit in the charge (or when you move) the charge wil stop. (replaced by scrambler beam, see updated section). And you will travel at lightspeed to the designated area.
This doesnt only take 15 BASE seconds (More seconds for more mass of the ship, see update section)(and is very expensive) it also sucks up a LOT of power. Thus this might be an endgame feature.

EDIT: Added ideas:

Scrambler beams now interrupt the charging progress and Pirates have a scrambler beam at all times.

Portals going from 2 points for people who don't have a warpspeed module

Mapping may have an enhancer for holographic 3D-display "To walk trough"

There is NO map when pressing P

Combined idea: Using a "Hyperspace" equivalent of the nether in minecraft: A small distance in this higways dimension = A long distance in normal universe, This dimension also is unhabitable.

Traders guild ships have FTL scramblers and FTL modules themselves.

Denied idea: Having to place blocks to travel between as "Hyperspace routes"

So i put the ideas here and changed the title. hooray!

yurivw · Jun 28, 2013

I support this. I like how you made the warp idea hard to get. Mapping would indeed be great.

Jim-Dandy · Jun 28, 2013

There is a map in the game..

Sietseh · Jun 28, 2013

The warp drive is certainly something im a fan off, not just another thruster with a higher max speed, really a jumping device, the charging time is good that you can\'t just jump away. maybe the charging time can be made to fit the size, large ships take longer and more power to lauch a jump, while small ships can jump out in a matter of seconds.

in combination with the map is very nice, it makes you only be able to jump to sectors you have been to, so you still need to explore the sectors on normal drive.

Fiestaguy · Jun 28, 2013

hmm
There is a map in the game..

Map? i think you might misconfuse it with the Navigation

The warp drive is certainly something im a fan off, not just another thruster with a higher max speed, really a jumping device, the charging time is good that you can\'t just jump away. maybe the charging time can be made to fit the size, large ships take longer and more power to lauch a jump, while small ships can jump out in a matter of seconds.

in combination with the map is very nice, it makes you only be able to jump to sectors you have been to, so you still need to explore the sectors on normal drive.

Of course. the fact there are pirates is to make the game a challenge. not an oppretunity to say \"Sayonara losers\" amd jump away leaving them in the dust. tough you want to have the charging time depending on the size of the ship. this lets players make a ship out of 10 blocks and only has 2 seconds charging time still easily escaping pirates. so i think the BASE time must be 15 seconds. also it might be a good thing to have an extra (even bigger and expensive expansion) that decreases some of the charging time.

Krayt · Jun 28, 2013

I would suggest implementing Hyperspace Thrusters to quickly travel from one sector to the other on hyperspace routes.

Fiestaguy · Jun 28, 2013

I would suggest implementing Hyperspace Thrusters to quickly travel from one sector to the other on hyperspace routes.

im sorry but doesnt that lead to going everywhere on lightspeed? i still think you should have to go everywhere on normal drivers first. instead of going somewhere new on hyperspace thrusters trough a route. also dont forget the universe generation infinite. so you suggest the game renders infinite hyperspace routes.

Krayt · Jun 28, 2013

Maybe two places in the universe which are already known could be connected via a hyperspace route manually at a high cost. And then space ships could travel these routes as far as no enemies are blocking them.

Fiestaguy · Jun 28, 2013

Maybe two places in the universe which are already known could be connected via a hyperspace route manually at a high cost. And then space ships could travel these routes as far as no enemies are blocking them.

This would eventually discourage players. i already rendered the warp module as expensive but i they\'re gonnaneed to buy routes aswell then it will barely be used. also this will result in a LOT of routes turning the chart into a mess when buying a lot of routes.

Lets start with an example: Shop A in Sector A. Shop B and Spacesation B in sector B and Planet c and Planet c-1 in Sector c this would result in a lot of buyable routes cnfusing the player.

Shop A to planet C-1, Spacestation B to planet C, Sector A to Shop B etc.etc.

Krayt · Jun 28, 2013

What I was meaning is that you should have to place a Hyperspace coordinate block or something like that and only these are valid destination for a hyperspace flight.
So first you have to be near one Hyperspace block and you have to target another one. And then you can trigger the Hyperspace thrusters to fly there very fast.

Belone · Jun 28, 2013

I\'ve been reading a lot of these hyperdrive ideas, and thought I would post my suggestion here.

I really feel that instantly jumping anywhere is a little unrealistic, even FTL isn\'t instanteous (At the speed of light it would still take us 4 years to reach the nearest sun from our own - though of course in this game the distances are much smaller and we\'re talking FTL here). I think an interesting idea would be having a second dimension, a sort of intragalatic highway dimension, that works in very much the same way as the nether does in Minecraft, a short distance in the highway dimension represents a very large distance in the normal dimension, there could be all sorts of restrictions that discourage making a home in this dimension, and you would need something akin to the warp gates people are discussing to travel between the two dimensions. This is only a quick thought I\'ve had and needs a lot of thinking about, I\'ll maybe create my own thread if I can properly flesh it out.

Fiestaguy · Jun 28, 2013

Well just like the nether in minecraft it would end up in building 50 (maybe a bit less) portals to actually get to where you wanted to all along also Im a guy who is all about Gameplay>Realism. i dont think realism is too important. if it were we\'d all hate this game because its unrealistic itself (im talking about that these kinds of spaceships arent built yet IRL) but we could combine these ideas!

Using the highway-dimension to go to places where you havent been before. then you could use Warpspeed to go between the places youve reached using the highway. what do you think about That?

Fiestaguy · Jun 28, 2013

What I was meaning is that you should have to place a Hyperspace coordinate block or something like that and only these are valid destination for a hyperspace flight.
So first you have to be near one Hyperspace block and you have to target another one. And then you can trigger the Hyperspace thrusters to fly there very fast.

Well warpspeed is thought of to go to locations very very fast to reach places easily whereyou\'ve been, now we\'re gonna need to stock up on blocks, step out of our ships and place a block down everywhere. Also going to a block to fly to another one. how the heck does that even work out?

xBLACKxRAGEx · Jun 28, 2013

sonly I\'m not really liking the hyperspace-highway idea. I think it defeats the purpose of having an infinite world to explore. The infiite world would also make it EXTREMELY easy to get lost in space. However, the really expensive jump drives and upgrades are a great idea. With the long spool up time and only being able to warp to places youve already been, exploration would still be valid in the game. The only thing I have to say is that no one is going to go fight pirates in a ship made from 10 blocks. If you are in a ship that small, its probably made for get-aways/exploration, not combat. So I think that there should be a 2-3 second BASE jump-spool up time and get progressively bigger as ship size increases. Also, just real quick, if we are talking WARP drives, then near instantaneous travel is fine. Warp drives work by moving space around you, not you through space, which is much quicker. Anyways, hope the dev\'s implement these in the final game (Im sure they\'re working on much more important things at the moment)!

Belone · Jun 28, 2013

How about both? You could have my idea for ridonculous distances, maybe the portal gates are only situated every 5 sectors and can\'t be made by players, and maybe taking into account Fiestaguys idea of then being able to instantly travel between two portals you\'ve discovered some high cost. Then for travelling around \"normal\" space you could have some sort of jump drives, following the high cost ideas etc.

Mr_Burkes · Jun 28, 2013

How about instead of stopping the warp when you get hit, make it so that the warp has to charge for 15 seconds, but people can use warp-scrambler beams? I feel that would make the game more logistic and people would need add to electronic warfare instead of just the power drainer.

Also, how about setting a jump limit (1 sector per 10000 energy)?

Edit: Adding to what xBLACKxRAGEx said, I think warping wherever you want to go would defeat the purpose of exploration, so how about a navagation computer to bookmark locations, and make it so you can warp to those instead?

Fiestaguy · Jun 28, 2013

How about instead of stopping the warp when you get hit, make it so that the warp has to charge for 15 seconds, but people can use warp-scrambler beams? I feel that would make the game more logistic and people would need add to electronic warfare instead of just the power drainer.

Also, how about setting a jump limit (1 sector per 10000 energy)?

Nice idea. but then i suggest EVERY pirate ship has a scrambler that they will use inmediatly when trying to get away from them. Also some sort of penalty when hit by a scrambler. like your warp-drive not working anymore for atleast 60 seconds.

Another idea popped up. a Cooldown would be handy. when using warpspeed there will be a cooldown depending on how fa you wen. example 1,5 minute per sector.

Fiestaguy · Jun 28, 2013

Edit: Adding to what xBLACKxRAGEx said, I think warping wherever you want to go would defeat the purpose of exploration, so how about a navagation computer to bookmark locations, and make it so you can warp to those instead?

People have been absorbed into the Warpspeed i included. that they forgot that in the thread i didnt only suggest the warpspeed. but the warpspeed to be an EXPANSION. what for? the Map Block. its also in the thread name MAPPING and warpspeed (Don\'t worry im not offending you, don\'t take it too harsh)

But it basically comes back to what the original map idea was

Leviticus777 · Jun 28, 2013

No, there is a literal map in game. Press P I believe.

Alviss · Jun 28, 2013

I totally agree with the mapping. A player shouldnt see the entire universe that someone else has explored unless that explorer shares the data.

But for FTL, im supporting a warpgate convention. Around the universe are generated jumpgates that, when used, will throw you, lets say, 50-100 sectors in whatever direction they are facing. They have a twin jumpgate at the end, pointing in the other direction. This allows for expansionism and creating objectives for factions to fight over, and bottlenecks for pirates. Once manufacturing has a point, these warpgates would be become very valueable. If you simply have a warpdrive you have to worrying about collisions inflight with planets/other orbital bodies.

I have a scenario: Someone joins the server, and immediatly just builds a ship with a core and a warpdrive, he then punches it into the middle of nowhere. If he sees a baddy, he punches it. What this causes is the ability to escape, it dissallows conflict and gimps player interaction. It lessens gameplay.

@Leviticus777 it\'s K