As things stand, reactors are kind of boring. Don't get me wrong, I love the way the energy production scales based on the bounding box, it is orders of magnitude better than just a bunch of blocks. But right now with the proliferation of docked reactors, I think there need to be some change.
First off, I would remove the power cap entirely. It is currently bypassed by docked reactors anyway, and while the idea of actively functioning devices appeals to me on some level, the actual implementation feels hacky and, at least allegedly, causes some problems with servers. So we're better off with an alternative. Secondly, I would reduce the scaling of power reactors somewhat to incentivize the use of the new system I'm proposing.
Next, I would allow the player to slave reactors to a reactor computer. Just like other computers, they could be switched on and off, moved to the hotbar, all that good stuff. Old, non-computerized reactors would work just fine, this is only necessary for the final step: Adding effects to the reactor system. Much like the weapon effect system, slaved effect systems would change the way reactors work, and improve their attributes.
Here are some examples:
- Reactor + Beam. Beam system modules produce beams that, upon closing the circuit with another beam module, increase the yield of the reactor based on the length of the beams and/or other factors, such as intersecting beams, or the classic bounding boxes.
- Reactor + Pulse. Reactor produces energy in massive pulses instead of constant ticks, more energy in total.
- Reactor + Overdrive. Reactor produces massively more energy, but causes damage directly to the reactor blocks.
- Reactor + Stop. Reactor produces more energy while the reactor system doesn't move.
- Reactor + Push. Reactor produces more energy while the reactor system is moving.
- Reactor + Pull. Reactor produces more energy while in a gravity well.
- Reactor + EMP. Reactor produces more energy while the ship has less/no shields.
- Reactor + Pierce. Reactor produces more energy while the ship has less/no armor.
How would these actually work? Beam reactors, together with some glass, would produce sweet power conduits that not only look cool, but also perform a function on your ship. Old reactors could easily be upgraded with this effect, given a checkerboard-design already left holes you might fill with capacitors, now you'd just cap off the empty space with beam modules and get that sweet, sweet efficiency. An Overdrive-Generator could power a backup generator that has a limited lifespan so you can try and make your escape even if your primary power generator is critically damaged or disabled. Stop-Reactors would be ideal for slow, hulking ships, while Push-Reactors would power fighters and more esoteric designs, such as a reactor with rotating parts.
And as you might've figured out, all of these would have both up and down sides. Your nimble fighter wouldn't need such a large reactor to have significant power generation, but a simple stop effect could both make you a sitting duck and completely gimp your power production. An enemy might board your capital ship and block your power conduits, or take out the turret axis that attaches the glowing, rotating rings of push-modules to your reactor, again disabling your power production. And with overdrive, you'd need a small army of engineers scurrying along rows of power reactors with their repair beams, dodging sparks, trying to make sure none of the blocks break -- that is, if you wanted to run it permanently. You could also have them as disposable docked batteries, that you eject when you're done with them.
The results would appear to enable the kind of tropes you want to have in a space sci-fi setting, and even if you take all of my suggestions and put them in game as is, there is still room for things like reactor fuel, solar panels, or more esoteric designs like heatsinks that need to be extended outside of the ship via the rail system to vent off heat at regular intervals. Something for everyone, essentially.
TL;DR: Reactors are fine as they are. Just nerf missiles some more.
First off, I would remove the power cap entirely. It is currently bypassed by docked reactors anyway, and while the idea of actively functioning devices appeals to me on some level, the actual implementation feels hacky and, at least allegedly, causes some problems with servers. So we're better off with an alternative. Secondly, I would reduce the scaling of power reactors somewhat to incentivize the use of the new system I'm proposing.
Next, I would allow the player to slave reactors to a reactor computer. Just like other computers, they could be switched on and off, moved to the hotbar, all that good stuff. Old, non-computerized reactors would work just fine, this is only necessary for the final step: Adding effects to the reactor system. Much like the weapon effect system, slaved effect systems would change the way reactors work, and improve their attributes.
Here are some examples:
- Reactor + Beam. Beam system modules produce beams that, upon closing the circuit with another beam module, increase the yield of the reactor based on the length of the beams and/or other factors, such as intersecting beams, or the classic bounding boxes.
- Reactor + Pulse. Reactor produces energy in massive pulses instead of constant ticks, more energy in total.
- Reactor + Overdrive. Reactor produces massively more energy, but causes damage directly to the reactor blocks.
- Reactor + Stop. Reactor produces more energy while the reactor system doesn't move.
- Reactor + Push. Reactor produces more energy while the reactor system is moving.
- Reactor + Pull. Reactor produces more energy while in a gravity well.
- Reactor + EMP. Reactor produces more energy while the ship has less/no shields.
- Reactor + Pierce. Reactor produces more energy while the ship has less/no armor.
How would these actually work? Beam reactors, together with some glass, would produce sweet power conduits that not only look cool, but also perform a function on your ship. Old reactors could easily be upgraded with this effect, given a checkerboard-design already left holes you might fill with capacitors, now you'd just cap off the empty space with beam modules and get that sweet, sweet efficiency. An Overdrive-Generator could power a backup generator that has a limited lifespan so you can try and make your escape even if your primary power generator is critically damaged or disabled. Stop-Reactors would be ideal for slow, hulking ships, while Push-Reactors would power fighters and more esoteric designs, such as a reactor with rotating parts.
And as you might've figured out, all of these would have both up and down sides. Your nimble fighter wouldn't need such a large reactor to have significant power generation, but a simple stop effect could both make you a sitting duck and completely gimp your power production. An enemy might board your capital ship and block your power conduits, or take out the turret axis that attaches the glowing, rotating rings of push-modules to your reactor, again disabling your power production. And with overdrive, you'd need a small army of engineers scurrying along rows of power reactors with their repair beams, dodging sparks, trying to make sure none of the blocks break -- that is, if you wanted to run it permanently. You could also have them as disposable docked batteries, that you eject when you're done with them.
The results would appear to enable the kind of tropes you want to have in a space sci-fi setting, and even if you take all of my suggestions and put them in game as is, there is still room for things like reactor fuel, solar panels, or more esoteric designs like heatsinks that need to be extended outside of the ship via the rail system to vent off heat at regular intervals. Something for everyone, essentially.
TL;DR: Reactors are fine as they are. Just nerf missiles some more.
