Piloting ships is not as much fun as it could be, and dog fights and chases aren't exciting. In my experience, ships usually just face each other and slowly strafe while shooting. Unless they have turrets, then they mostly just sit there because they are big enough to have turrets. I'm not just talking about AI, but players too.
What if ships had modules that allowed short, quick changes to speed? Bursts of movement? I'm thinking something like:
Fighter A is following Fighter B and shooting up a storm. The ships are matched in speed and maneuvering, so Fighter B can't shake pursuit. Instead, he flies in a straight line with A behind him. Then suddenly Fighter B shoots upward and cuts speed, and Fighter A zooms by underneath and suddenly he is the one being pursued..
So, Movement Modules. Unlike thrusters, they have no passive effect. When activated they cause the ship's thrust in one direction to temporarily shoot up and slowly return to previous levels. This allows bursts to go over server speed for a few seconds. These can be used to dodge or roll, or to quickly accelerate, or to quickly decelerate.
Of course, this would be tied to ship size. The length of the dodge is always the same (lets say 10 meters), but the modules needed to perform the dodge depend on ship size. Module recharge also depends on ship size. Larger ships have less effective dodges, and need more modules to even attempt the execution. If the dodge length is always the same, then larger ships have much less benefit from it. This is really more for dog-fights among medium and small ships.
I also see the modules being activated from the quickbar, like a defensive weapon. This would be really neat because then they could be linked to logic, and activating a sequence of Movement Modules causes the ship to perform a complex maneuver, or shakily autopilot a patterned movement while the player mans turrets or gives orders.
I think that something like this would make pvp more exciting, make player skill a larger factor than ship-size in determining the battle, and would also make racing and race tracks more interesting.
TL;DR;
Movement Modules allow quick bursts of speed in a direction, such as dodges or rolls. Activation through quickbar allows logic integration - complex maneuvers or simple autopilots. Tied to ship size, so small ships have more use of this than large ones.
What if ships had modules that allowed short, quick changes to speed? Bursts of movement? I'm thinking something like:
Fighter A is following Fighter B and shooting up a storm. The ships are matched in speed and maneuvering, so Fighter B can't shake pursuit. Instead, he flies in a straight line with A behind him. Then suddenly Fighter B shoots upward and cuts speed, and Fighter A zooms by underneath and suddenly he is the one being pursued..
So, Movement Modules. Unlike thrusters, they have no passive effect. When activated they cause the ship's thrust in one direction to temporarily shoot up and slowly return to previous levels. This allows bursts to go over server speed for a few seconds. These can be used to dodge or roll, or to quickly accelerate, or to quickly decelerate.
Of course, this would be tied to ship size. The length of the dodge is always the same (lets say 10 meters), but the modules needed to perform the dodge depend on ship size. Module recharge also depends on ship size. Larger ships have less effective dodges, and need more modules to even attempt the execution. If the dodge length is always the same, then larger ships have much less benefit from it. This is really more for dog-fights among medium and small ships.
I also see the modules being activated from the quickbar, like a defensive weapon. This would be really neat because then they could be linked to logic, and activating a sequence of Movement Modules causes the ship to perform a complex maneuver, or shakily autopilot a patterned movement while the player mans turrets or gives orders.
I think that something like this would make pvp more exciting, make player skill a larger factor than ship-size in determining the battle, and would also make racing and race tracks more interesting.
TL;DR;
Movement Modules allow quick bursts of speed in a direction, such as dodges or rolls. Activation through quickbar allows logic integration - complex maneuvers or simple autopilots. Tied to ship size, so small ships have more use of this than large ones.
