More types of engines and energy generators

[Byamarro]

I had an idea to suggest more engines and energy generators.
Some of them would be easier to aquire but weaker, another would be harder to aquire but more powerfull...


Exaple ideas of engines:


=======Primitive engines=======
Ion thrusters
Uses small amount of energy and is cheap but don't gives enough power to fly on planets planets.
Plasma thrusters
Cheap in production, gives enough thrust to break gravitational force of planets but consumes huge amounts of energy and consumes some fuel (?). Perfect to start from planets but useless in space because of power consumption.
Hover
Cheap in production. Gives enough power to fly in planet atmosphere but can't leave them. Don't works in space.
=======Medium-advanced engines=======
Dark mattery thrusters
Medium value of production, gives enough thrust to break gravitational power of planets but You needs a lot of them for that. Medium power consumption.
Kinetic thruster
Medium value of production, allows You to break gravitational force of planets if You have enough of them but consumes absurd amounts of energy.
=======High-advanced engines=======
Antigravitational engine
High value of production, ignores planet's gravitational force. Consumes big amounts of energy
Hyperspeed engine
Don't needs any explaination I think :P


Exaple ideas of power generators:
=======Primitive generators=======
Solar panels
Produces medium amount of energy. Is cheap in production. Produces energy only if "sunlight" hits solar generator.
Noax generator
Produces medium amount of energy. Is cheap in production. Produces energy only if You have noax capsules in pleaxStorage linked to Noax generator computer.
Molecule generator
Provides small amount of energy. Is cheap in production. Produces energy all the time.
=======Medium-advanced generators=======
Gas generator
Medium price of crafting. Provides medium amount of energy. Consumes nebula's dust.
Microenergy generator
Provides medium-small amount of energy. Medium price of crafting. Produces energy all the time.
=======High-advanced generators=======
Fusion generator
High price of crafting. Provides big amount of energy. Consumes some expensive fuel.
X-8000 generator
Provides medium amount of energy. High price of crafting. Produces energy all the time.

 

[starhaiden]

what will the blocks we have now be would the generators be microenergy generators? and the thrusters be dark matter thrusters.
have different power produces has been suggested before but it is a good still. having different levels of generators that use different resources would be good. some people could use ores or crystals for their power while other people would use water and turn it into hydrogen

 

[Byamarro]

Yea right now, minerals are just minerals. When we think ,,Noax" we mostly don't assign it with any associations. If some minerals would have purposes as fuels or sth else it would also give meaning to some minerals which is also cool I think.

 

[starhaiden]

maybe you could make fuel out of plants bio fuel to make plants useful

 

[Ozwart]

Indeed different propulsion would ask for fuel to be introduced to the game. It would give a good reason for regular station/trading post across the galaxy(map) , it also gives an important role to auxiliary fleet(supply and repair).
But i fear not everyone gonna like the idea of fuel and your ship gonna need some kind of fuel tank too...

 

[jayman38]

I had a thought about server systems last night. I thought it would be cool to have "research" blocks in-game. Maybe have them on random stations throughout the universe. Depending on how many research blocks are still active at the end of the real-day (or however long you want to poll the research block count), they would add to a server-wide counter. Once the counter hits a certain level, a random block type is increased in efficacy.

For example, a research plateau count is reached, and suddenly all thruster blocks are providing 50% more thrust. Another plateau count is reached and suddenly, damage beam weapons are reaching 20% further distance. A third plateau is reached, and suddenly power storage blocks are holding 10% more energy. (My thought that is the more offensive the block, the less it is increased. The more defensive/utility the block, the more it can increase and the more likely it will increase over offensive-style block types.)

Griefers, warlords, and other dominator-style players would be free to freeze the server's tech level by destroying every research block they can find in a universe. A hero/builder-style player would be able to restore research by building new research blocks. The recipe would probably need to be complex, so that restoring and increasing research blocks would be a very expensive and very rewarding proposition. Research blocks should be relatively easy to destroy, especially by accident (no warning, if being salvaged, and if salvaged, it is salvaged as junk, like an "old computer" block. ("As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create.")

 

[NeonSturm]

I like the idea of using regenerative plants and infinite gas from nebulae as fuel (but you need a tank) - just some extra power when you need it.
I also like solar generators to make stars themselves be valuable travel spots (especially if they are not lined up perfectly).

I somehow dislike not regenerative fuel, except it can be used to turn a dangerous situation to your favour like an additional layer of armour or some well-used Dis-Integrators can.

Expensive fuel is useless ballast except you get into situations where you can save many other blocks (which are more expensive) by using it.
But you should have ask yourself if it is worth to supply it with fuel rather than buying 10 or 20 other blocks (power tanks, shield capacitors).

One of the reasons I dislike expensive+rare fuel is, that I would not like it getting an absolute requirement for all-day tasks which don't pay off.​

I generally tend to like the op, because it can give ships a better defined role and supports different play-styles / player-preferences.


I can think of some applications:

Explorer = 100% from infinite and predictable sources

optimized for regeneration=consumption​

Military = low % infinite, high % fuel energy.

optimized for continuous patrol (regeneration=consumption)
but also for engergy-spikes​

Shuttle = low regeneration, high capacity to escape gravity.

Plant fuel if the carrier can produce it.
optimized for low mass, high efficiency
Very valuable as it occpuies only a very low part of the overall value of your carrier.​

 

[Byamarro]

I would add some automatisation process to gathering resources. Maybe some drones that salvages asteroids or planets? If Your faction evolves, then You need more blocks to feed your needs. You need more automatisation as it's key of civilisation.
Someone said in the past that civilisation is how many thing we can do without thinking about them.

 

[jayman38]

Spoiler: The real definition of civilization

Someone said in the past that civilisation is how many thing we can do without thinking about them.

The true definition of civilization: Having to wait in lines/queues. Anything else is just optimism.

 

[_TheRealAmeRicA]

No one suggested liquid fuel rockets T_T you'd think since it's our primary way of getting in space today that it'd still have some use a few thousand years in the future.

 

[jayman38]

As a species, we have already developed actual ion drives. We're just waiting for Fusion generators or some other high-energy, relatively-low-mass power generation to be invented to power them. Since we are basing most of our suggestions on a future where such a compact, high-energy power source has in fact been developed, we would not need rocket fuel for main-ship propulsion. It might still be viable for shuttle gravity-escape boosters and missile systems. Meanwhile, back in reality, highly explosive compounds are the most economical way to get from earth to orbit.

 

[NeonSturm]

Maybe we will invent magnetic lenses which can push a shuttle into orbit using energy from a ground station (gravity-rays, ...)

According to http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Andrea_A._Rossi_Cold_Fusion_Generator we already have micro-fusion generators fusing hydrogen+nickel. A 1-2 litre generator can produce 1 MW/h through thermal energy.

The main problems are:

• it is protected by a patent
• very new, not tested
• energy tycoons don't want safe fusion energy available for everybody
  
• energy is thermal, needs cooling (big problem for space ships)
• ... maybe a few others

 

[AsherMaximum]

While it seems like a good idea to have multiple thruster and power generator blocks, I don't see them ever being used.

The reason being, pretty much every ship contains multiple power blocks and thrusters. If you can get the same amount of thrust from 1 expensive block instead of 10 cheaper ones, why wouldn't you? Less weight, less volume taken up.
Also, balancing that would be really hard I think. Too much of a benefit to larger engines, Titans become OP, zinging from 0 to server max in no time. Too little, and you would need way to many small engines to make a small ship move.

 

[NeonSturm]

You don't see that you will only get the cheapest L1 crap from pirates, maybe a few L2.

The expensive party you have to craft yourself. L2 should be standard, L3 should be very expensive that you only equip only your flagship or very small things (escape pods, warp-scouts) with it (because it's so expensive)

 

[jayman38]

• energy is thermal, needs cooling (big problem for space ships)

If there were a heat-dissipation gameplay element in power supplies that required adequate surface area, for instance one surface square for every two power cores, it might be a good game-integrated way of eliminating boring ship designs, like deathcubes. You might still encounter deathcubes, but at least they would have interesting heat-dissipation fins sticking out the sides. Maybe to keep from getting excessive lag, only have the heat/surface-area comparison in build mode. You'll have enough to worry about in battle without worrying about your power cores overheating when someone blows a hole in your dorsal fin or one of your lateral wings. Some might find it tedious, so it would need to be server-side configurable. Most good ships will probably already have enough surface area for adequate heat-dissipation.

 

[jzimmerman4]

With the addition of the push and overdrive effects I do not believe we need a new type of thruster, besides hover blocks and FTL that is. I would however like to see solar panels.

 

[Byamarro]

There is no point in thinking what will be after 1 000 years. 1 000 years ago people would fire You like witch if You would say that in future people will use self-propelled vehicles, planes, lasers and microwave weapons etc.

 

[NeonSturm]

I like the heat idea.
That makes big vs small ships balanced without any hard-coded limit. Volume grows faster than surface area.

 

[Keynesian]

Take a 20x20x20 area out of the middle of your death cube and fill it with hull. Or add 2 or 3 extra layers of hull around the side of your death cube. I instantly ruined your idea in less than 3 seconds unless you have a workaround.

 

[Unnamed25]

Take a 20x20x20 area out of the middle of your death cube and fill it with hull. Or add 2 or 3 extra layers of hull around the side of your death cube. I instantly ruined your idea in less than 3 seconds unless you have a workaround.

And where does it say that this is an idea to stop death cubes?