Stealth Revamp (Phase)

    TheOmega

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    New stealth mechanics: the Cloaker is a controller called a Phase Computer, and has systems. The system:

    Phase Coil Block: all blocks in the group must be adjacent to exactly 2 other Phase Coil blocks. This creates a 2 or 3 dimensional loop (henceforth called a coil).

    Stealth (now called phase) is still dropped when you fire a weapon, and still has a cooldown, but is not dropped when you get hit.

    The equation (I helped you out here devs):

    Power required per second (E)
    Mass (m)
    Total energy generated by the ship (s)
    Total number of phase coils needed (g)
    Total number of phase blocks in complete loops (p)

    E=(s)(m/p)((g - (m/15))^2 + 1)

    Breakdown:

    E ---- as stated, energy per second when active
    s ---- this means no matter what, any ship can support phase systems
    (m/p) ---- this is a ratio of mass to phase blocks. The more phase blocks total, the more efficient it is. This also makes it bulky and not suitable for unspecialized ships, ususally replacing either shields or weapons.
    ((g - (m/15))^2 + 1) ---- this determines the number of phase coils (not blocks) needed. For instance, a 1500 mass ship would need 100 phase coil groups, give or take. The exponent makes it inefficient to have too many or too little, with a little leniency. The plus 1 keeps it from being zero and making the system free to use.

    If needed, I can provide an example, or more explanation.

    Devs, if you read this, please give at least a little feedback, I would appreciate it.
     
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    In your equation, you might've mixed up the g and p. Also, with that equation, a 1500 mass ship would need 100 coil groups, not 15 (1500/15=100)

    This seems like a good idea to me (some sort of stealthing ability for ships which aren't 90% power generators would be great, and having the power requirements be partially based on the amount of generators is one way to do that). It would need some way to inform the player about this math though, so players know how to set up their ship without looking up and calculating equations.

    I'm not sure that a linear increase based on power generation is the best way though. Maybe a square root of s would be better?
     

    TheOmega

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    The you need 1 phase coil block per mass, and 1 phase coil group per 15 mass, might make that bigger though. And thanks on the mixup I had, changed. If new players want to make a stealth ship, they cant do it using the current system anyway. (Aka stealth is an advanced system already, just now you dont need a power gen ship.)
     

    Lecic

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    So, you now need to put rings of "Phase Coils" on your ship to properly cloak, then? I like the idea, but it'll need to be balanced in a way that still prevents cloaking from being super-powerful.
     

    TheOmega

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    You still need a ratio of 1 - 1 blocks to be phase coils, it's not like it's cheap.

    I had an idea where when you were cloaked the coils would glow very faintly, so you could see the ship, and target thier stealth systems.
     

    TheOmega

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    Yeah, I've been doing this all on my phone, 1 - 1 block to mass.
     
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    I support this... Stealthers have been largely ineffective because after about 30K blocks it's almost impossible to cloak.
     

    TheOmega

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    Something needs to be done about either stealth, or power gen, whether that or stealth needs to be removed because it isn't practical enough.
     
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    I support this... Stealthers have been largely ineffective because after about 30K blocks it's almost impossible to cloak.
    Why not consider that's how it's supposed to be? Think submarines versus battleships; you wouldn't expect to have an aircraft carrier vanish from your screen, however a submarine... a small(-ish), specialized craft with limited, yet focused purpose...
    I'd be totally down with this.
     

    TheOmega

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    Except this is space, and a videogame, and the videogame mechanics are broken, and need to be fixed. This is my fix.
     
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    Why not consider that's how it's supposed to be? Think submarines versus battleships; you wouldn't expect to have an aircraft carrier vanish from your screen, however a submarine... a small(-ish), specialized craft with limited, yet focused purpose...
    I'd be totally down with this.
    It's a videogame

    Good idea scanners will be used a lot more often if people used cloaks more!
     
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    I like this idea!
    But I will throw in my own option: firing a weapon while phased gives a surprise bonus to to the weapon being fired. The ship still de-phases, but the explanation for this is: the sudden change of power is redirected to the weapon systems 'overcharging' it for a onetime shoot, but causes a longer cool down to both the Weapon and the Phase Computers (meant to keep people from abusing it).
     

    TheOmega

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    I think in light or recent updates, and people complaining about broken stealth and power generation, this needs a bump.