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- Aug 4, 2013
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As in the Q&A, some concepts about FTL drives/jump gates already popped up. I also came up with some ideas how to do it with a little balance.
1. Ship FTL drive:
Make a block similar to thrusters, connected to an FTL Computer that can be quickslotted. The block would add a value displayed under Thrust in build mode called "FTL capacity". You'd require at least an FTL capacity equal to your ship's mass to jump. Note that docked objects add mass at the latest prebuild, so in case you want to be able to take other ships with you, you'd need to build a suitable jump drive. Also, it would add more challenge building FTL capable ships as you would have to sacrifice precious space to place those blocks. And if they scale with dimensions like power blocks, or just by number in a chunk like power tanks, that makes things even more interesting.
Activation: Upon setting up a nav point and activating the FTL computer in your quickbar, your ship would lose all power and a second bar above your power bar (similar to the shield bar above HP) would appear and start filling up, signalling the countdown until jump - for example, 10 seconds for a 1:1 FTL/mass ratio, and could scale up with the distance covered (1 second every kilometer after 10), and down with a ratio higher than 1. So, a 20000 mass ship with a 40000 FTL capacity (halved windup time) travelling to a sector 100 kilometers (100 seconds charge time) away would take 50 seconds to charge the FTL drive and jump.
During that windup, moving the ship in any direction, firing a weapon, and recharging shields, would be impossible. Once it fills up, you get teleported to the sector you specified in the waypoint and your power would regenerate normally. This would prevent it from being used as an escape tool, since for that 10 seconds, you'd be a sitting duck.
It could have a visual effect similar to salvaging. Maybe a different color.
The windup could be interrupted by clicking the FTL computer again.
2. Jump relays (Not mass relays, that's be copyright infringement)
Jump gates could be pregenerated structures like shops and/or stations, operated by the TG, each with a fixed size so you wouldn't have to worry about the exit being smaller than the entry point. Alternatively, they could be built by players too, connecting to the existing network or forming a separate one. Factioned gates could be set up, just like player shops to have restricted access (Allies only, No enemies, Faction only, All) Of course using player built relays has the chance of ending up in a hostile homebase's turret fest, or losing most of your ship trying to squeeze a battlecruiser through an exit point built for corvettes.
Activation: Each relay would have a docking area, built using a third kind of docking module and enhancers determining the maximum size of the ship it can jump. Upon docking to it, a button similar to "Shop in range" would appear, clicking on that would bring up the list of accessible relays with coordinates and owner. Clicking on one would bring up the confirmation dialog, also if there is one, the notification of how much jump fee you need to pay. Jump fee would be calculated using the total mass of your ship. (for example, 100-1000 credits per mass.) Upon confirmation and paying the fee, your ship would be teleported and be docked to the destination. If the destination's docking space is smaller than your ship, any parts sticking out will be deleted. This adds a risk to jumping to random player-made relays, as you cannot know how big it is until you arrive. Also, pregenerated relays would of course have a limited area too, therefore with big ships you'd have to build your own supersized relays, or you'd have to take the long way there. And of course, there's the problem of the jump fee, which could make it really taxing for big ships to use relays repeatedly. All this to balance the mechanic effectively.
Opinions?
1. Ship FTL drive:
Make a block similar to thrusters, connected to an FTL Computer that can be quickslotted. The block would add a value displayed under Thrust in build mode called "FTL capacity". You'd require at least an FTL capacity equal to your ship's mass to jump. Note that docked objects add mass at the latest prebuild, so in case you want to be able to take other ships with you, you'd need to build a suitable jump drive. Also, it would add more challenge building FTL capable ships as you would have to sacrifice precious space to place those blocks. And if they scale with dimensions like power blocks, or just by number in a chunk like power tanks, that makes things even more interesting.
Activation: Upon setting up a nav point and activating the FTL computer in your quickbar, your ship would lose all power and a second bar above your power bar (similar to the shield bar above HP) would appear and start filling up, signalling the countdown until jump - for example, 10 seconds for a 1:1 FTL/mass ratio, and could scale up with the distance covered (1 second every kilometer after 10), and down with a ratio higher than 1. So, a 20000 mass ship with a 40000 FTL capacity (halved windup time) travelling to a sector 100 kilometers (100 seconds charge time) away would take 50 seconds to charge the FTL drive and jump.
During that windup, moving the ship in any direction, firing a weapon, and recharging shields, would be impossible. Once it fills up, you get teleported to the sector you specified in the waypoint and your power would regenerate normally. This would prevent it from being used as an escape tool, since for that 10 seconds, you'd be a sitting duck.
It could have a visual effect similar to salvaging. Maybe a different color.
The windup could be interrupted by clicking the FTL computer again.
2. Jump relays (Not mass relays, that's be copyright infringement)
Jump gates could be pregenerated structures like shops and/or stations, operated by the TG, each with a fixed size so you wouldn't have to worry about the exit being smaller than the entry point. Alternatively, they could be built by players too, connecting to the existing network or forming a separate one. Factioned gates could be set up, just like player shops to have restricted access (Allies only, No enemies, Faction only, All) Of course using player built relays has the chance of ending up in a hostile homebase's turret fest, or losing most of your ship trying to squeeze a battlecruiser through an exit point built for corvettes.
Activation: Each relay would have a docking area, built using a third kind of docking module and enhancers determining the maximum size of the ship it can jump. Upon docking to it, a button similar to "Shop in range" would appear, clicking on that would bring up the list of accessible relays with coordinates and owner. Clicking on one would bring up the confirmation dialog, also if there is one, the notification of how much jump fee you need to pay. Jump fee would be calculated using the total mass of your ship. (for example, 100-1000 credits per mass.) Upon confirmation and paying the fee, your ship would be teleported and be docked to the destination. If the destination's docking space is smaller than your ship, any parts sticking out will be deleted. This adds a risk to jumping to random player-made relays, as you cannot know how big it is until you arrive. Also, pregenerated relays would of course have a limited area too, therefore with big ships you'd have to build your own supersized relays, or you'd have to take the long way there. And of course, there's the problem of the jump fee, which could make it really taxing for big ships to use relays repeatedly. All this to balance the mechanic effectively.
Opinions?
