TG gate-network - A setup by NeonSturm

[NeonSturm]

no hub system:

Non-hub systems are chains which connect two hubs.
They are designed for a minimum of required shops and gates.​

1. shop gates to 2.shop, to 1.exit-hub and 2.exit-hub
   
2. shop gates to 3.shop, 1.outpost and 2.outpost
   • outposts connect back to the shops from which you came
   • or alternatively to a previous shop for a 2-way circle of shops through outposts
   • alternative use might skip one shop to keep going back to n-2 still requiring only 2 jumps.
3. …
   
4. shop gate to 1.shop and 3.outpost (completing the circle)

–––––– Lore and some additional info ––––––
2 shops and 4 gates are necessary.
The hub-exits might be in a neighbouring sector and look like awesome bigger gates to invite larger traders by offering them a trade route.
Their size is 67m or 131m on the inside so that ships with 50/100m can easily fit through without having to worry too much about colliding and also ships especially designed for 2*n sized gates.

Large traders might have 100x the blocks in storage, local shops are willing to take per block-type, thus shops have gates with only an inner diameter of 35m or 67m.
Traders are also recommended to have smaller trade-pods with diameter of 11-15m available for delivering food supplies to "early-warning outposts" which are connected by very cheap 17m gates.

"No-hub systems" are comparable to poor countries on Earth and allow nothing but civilian unarmed trade-ships without FTL or fancy cloaking-equipment to go beyond the main-shop or it's gates because of a lack of military coverage.
System-wide Jump-Inhibitors are in use! Large ships are discouraged by very small gates on all but the main shop.
Because of drug-money, income from slavery and lack of trade offers, some customers are willing to pay good money for uncommon items in low quantities! But don't go too far away from shops or you run into pirates and be made a slave of someone a light more powerful than you are.

​

hub system:

Hub systems offer highways through 3D space.
You only need a jump from highway to highway every now and then.​

1. shop gates to 2.shop, orbitAngle+ and orbitAngle- around the galactic core (target 1.shop)
2. shop gates to 3.shop, orbitDistance+ and orbitDistance- to the galactic core (target 2.shop)
3. shop gates to 4.shop, 1.shop and 2/4 "no hub system"
   
4. shop gates to 5.shop, 2.shop and 2/4 "no hub system"
5. shop gates to 1.shop, 4.shop and 4 "deep space gates"

Notes about backward-connections:

• Looping backward is 2x as fast as looping forward.
• This is to avoid a back-link in 2.shop and make 1.shop accessible through 3.shop.
• It also cuts the ring in half at 2/3 rather than 1/2 reducing number of jumps by up to 50% and keeping consistency with 1.shop-3.shop behaviour.

Notes about "deep space gates":

• Systems with a lot of gates will use jump-inhibitors to prevent big military ships jumping right into their treasury safes, looting it and jumping out before the military can do it's job.
• To allow visitors and a quick access to non-inhibited FTL, some smaller gates connect to outer space.

Notes about military:

• If a station is under attack, all gates should disable outward travelling by reducing capacitor energy with overdrive-pulse-weapons with energy-draining effect while still powering the gate for arriving police-forces.
• Small satellites orbiting points above/below, infront/behind and right/left of stations and gates in a wiggling pattern using the rail system could be used to fire stop-pulse-beams at aggressors while diving in and out of weapon range to allow the military to handle the treat before it excapes.

–––––– Lore and some additional info ––––––
Hub systems often belong to civilisation which survived the atomic age and learned to live in peace and prosperity and have a military and police force totalling in quite a few % of their total wealth.
Every such civilisation has learned to look out for possible danger such as a Darth-Vader with his Death-Star or just common pirates which eliminate valuable intelligent life for a small personal gain.
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Hubs have just enough war equipment to destroy more than someone can gain for looting to discourage those who are only interested in personal gain and to carry out a cooperative action against imminent danger with other hub-systems.

These systems use jump-inhibitors to prevent FTL-Blitzkrieg strategies and encourage the use of their own gate-network, which might be taxed (input blocks to activate the power-supply) because someone has to make profit from maintaining them to pay workers and give corrupt managers huge amounts of free money. But the tax is only paid once for a dozen jumps (uses wireless communication devices), else possible traders will be scared away into outer space which does not inhibit jump drives.


To make it more interesting, hubs have illegal goods and break some direct links to offenders – the player have to evade broken links by going around them.

1. Per default, each orbit around the galactic core is a 2-way gate network.
2. But there is one such orbital ring for a diameter of 8x8 systems at least.
3. On this ring, Hubs are placed, but not necessarily on every max_gate_distance. Some can have gate-relays between 2 Hubs (this becomes more common further away from the galactic core)
   
4. Hubs are highways around and away/to the galactic core. They have a vertical link too, although this one is shorter and more sparse.
5. Every system on the XZ-plane (x orbit | z distance | y height) is connected to at least one orbital-ring.
6. The orbital ring can be broken every 3-7 Hubs for 1-3 *hub_distance if one of the inner/outer or upper/lower orbital rings connects the broken partners with a straight line 3-7 hubs long itself.
7. The "spiral links" outward can be shifted every 3-7 Hubs.
8. 1/3 Hubs must contain an up/down link
   
9. 1/3 Hubs must contain an inner/outer link
10. Outer orbits with double the distance have half the hub-positions on an orbit occupied.
11. The other hub-positions might become "non-hub systems" which connect 2 hubs which are not in a straight line with the "non-hub system they are connected to".
12. Broken links may be evaded by "using non-hub systems".

To understand above, imagine 6x6x6 system in the middle of a 8x8x8 chunk to contain one randomly placed Hub-station.
Sometimes about 3-4 of these systems contain a gate because the hubs are at –extreme example–:

2.2.2 in [7.7.7 - 0.0.0] = 2.2.2
6.6.6 in [7.7.15 - 0.0.8] = 6.6.6+0.0.7 = 6.6.13
This is 6.6.13 - 2.2.2 = 4.4.11 Systems away - A diagonal distance of 13> sqrt(153) >12.
This would be too far if gates can only span 8*8=(xx+yy+zz) – the Pythagorean theorem.​

 

[jayman38]

I'm not entirely sure I understand the suggestion, but if Schine expects players to use a Warp Gate network for extreme long-distance travel without automatically giving all Warp Gate entities invulnerability, then the Trade Guild (or some other benevolent NPC faction) needs to have a free, public Warp Gate network for us to use.

 

[NeonSturm]

jayman38> "without automatically giving all Warp Gates invulnerability … then the Trade Guild (or some other benevolent NPC faction) needs to have free, public Warp Gate networks for us to use"
The thread title "TG Gate-Network …" answers this question.

The TG will have gates for you. They encourage trading, not easy travel for over-sized warships which can kill whole stations.
If they would give the opportunity to create a network to players, players will make gates as big as possible, allowing over-sized warships to travel through.

The TG only creates Gates small enough to not allow that.
Through a TG Gate can only fit through what can be stopped by the system's military force.

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

Spoiler: Jump restricted systems - gates control which size can enter

I assume that the Jump-Inhibitors are set to a range to make the use of jump-drives near TG-gates impossible which would allow the TG to collect a larger patrol from nearby systems to intercept intruders.
If the number of weapon blocks owned by non-allied players and factions reaches a certain threshold, you get a warning when entering proximity.
If another threshold is reached (including those in proximity), any further invasion of foreign combat power will lead to a reinforcement-event and increased patrols, warnings and what else you would expect when bringing machine-guns to Germany as random civilian.
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General Rule:
Just don't fly a large ship with a lot of guns and blocks for warfare into space that is jump-inhibited if you don't get permission for that.
If you still do, you get a warning before being blown up by a reinforced army before you can arrive.


It should take long to reach the centre of a jump-inhibited sphere, but small ships can get quickly to the centre with a small gate in every other corner (4/8 corners).
If you bring a lot of small ships with a lot of guns, don't be surprised if this gate powers down after the threshold is met.
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For a large fleet, your heavily armed escorts have to stay outside and bigger traders which prefer jump drives should buy or build armed FTL carriers for STL trade ships.

Spoiler: Hubs somewhat help protect big player-build gates

These FTL-carriers might even use huge jump-gates built by players which are placed near popular trade-hubs.
The players can then hire a local government to protect their gates and in turn gives these governments the right to loot every enemy trying to shoot the gate and to use the gate for themselves.
Your NPCs could be good diplomats, or not?
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But don't expect the government to suicide on stronger foes, they will only take action if they can win (and the attacker's weapon blocks stay below a certain threshold).
Perhaps these governments can put a bounty on someone's head if they really underestimated an aggressive foe and can't kill him safely.
The bounty would be worth the killed ships and the player can participate.

Spoiler: Scanning block-count/type would be useful

As you can see it's very useful to be able to scan a system for block-counts and do math with that number.

Player-made gates could shut down their energy reserves if non-allied warships enter the sector, but still allow trade ships without weapons onboard.
TG-Gates are not big enough to allow these warships at all.

And local governments (which are not the TG) really like to be able to deploy own warships on sectors connected by player-made gates if you hire them to protect your gate.

 

[jayman38]

This sounds great to me. Some players might try to get around the warship limitation by building long battle sticks, but I think that will troublesome, so few players will try that. For small size, I think octogons with an inner diameter of 137 meters will be adequate for smaller ships up to popular frigates in the Community Content.

D137 Octagons: Each flat side is approximately 57 meters long, with diagonals being 40x40 m triangles to create angled sides that are approximately also 57 meters long. The distance between flat sides is 137 meters. So effectively, allowing 1 m clearance on all sides to allow passage, this enables passage for ships ranging from a cross section of 135x55 m to about 95 m x 95 m.

I calculated this size based on a nearly-perfect octogon geometry that will accommodate most popular non-titan, non-battleship submissions to the Community Content:
Frigate-Inferno: 61x26 m
TC-Frigate-Leviathan: 123x38 m
Long Haul Frieghter Miner: 61x30 m
Aurora Cruiser: 85x110 m
StarCrown Missile Cruiser: 75x64 m
Neptune Frigate: 31x34 m

I looked at smaller nearly-perfect octagon sizes, such as D89, but they would not accommodate some of the more popular civilian vessels that I felt should be able to get through a civilian gate.

 

[NeonSturm]

This sounds great to me. Some players might try to get around the warship limitation by building long battle sticks, but I think that will troublesome, so few players will try that.

Gates need power capacity equal to the ship's size - not enough power and these players will not be able to use the gate :p
Additionally ships can't use gates if they power down (you can use area-triggers to detect length if nothing else is made possible by shine.

But I wish, there was a way to exclude ships which contain weapon blocks (which would be possible if you could handle scanned-data like "imaginary blocks" in a cargo-system).
I'd like if shine adds support to do that - 10'000 scanned blocks in an inventory stack with weight 0kg and "just data, not an actual block"-flag.

But you additionally need to check that only the blueprint-scanned ship can pass through the gate, for example by using mechanical doors and an ejection system (a plate which pushes you out).
– But it's better to implement this directly into the gate-control-logic capabilities (to avoid collision lag and enable prettier gates without such a dongle on them).​

I calculated this size based on a nearly-perfect octogon geometry that will accommodate most popular non-titan, non-battleship submissions to the Community Content:
Frigate-Inferno: 61x26 m
TC-Frigate-Leviathan: 123x38 m
Long Haul Frieghter Miner: 61x30 m
Aurora Cruiser: 85x110 m
StarCrown Missile Cruiser: 75x64 m
Neptune Frigate: 31x34 m

My core values are 16x16, 32x32, 64x64 and 128x128, but the gates will be a little bit bigger so that someone building ships exactly 128 will still have them fit through.

• 128+7 are standard, but 64+3 might be used to connect system-wide stations and 32+3 or 16+1 is for outposts and systems more profitable at low quantities.
• Ships with a size of 11-15, 30, 50 and 100 will of-course fit through too and have a little bit freedom to go over this intended size after the design phase (for example with turret tips).

According to your information and assuming it's representative, The Neptune Fighter will barely fit through because I didn't use the smallest possible 2^2n and StarCrown will miss one gate class by just a few meters, but only because it's turrets.

• But there will always be ships which are just 7 meters too big and blame the size decisions.
• It is better if StarCrown gets an update to be able to retract the turrets in some way rather than designing the universe for a single ship.
  • Unless you have data which tells that most ships near that size are just barely above the size limits I propose.

 

[jayman38]

Good, so you can limit "length" by simply limiting power capacity. That sounds good enough to me.

I wouldn't want to reject ships with any weapon blocks at all. Even civilian craft generally need something to fend off pirates, if only an AMS turret. I figured limiting size would limit the damage potential enough. (Yeah, the gate sizes to make it practical can still allow pretty massive damage potential on "compact" warships.) Maybe a server-configurable maximum weapon block count. (E.g. 200)

Another good civilian craft that was recently added was the Dora, with a measurements of 49x41.

I don't see a need for a gate smaller than 32x32. Anything smaller will probably be either a fightercraft or drone. Sure, there are shuttles that might fit through 16x16, but for the most part, ships that small will be combat vessels.

As for size, yes, you are right. If this is integrated into the game, then a limit needs to be picked, and everyone who wants to use the gates will simply need to adapt to the size.

I can see this actually inspiring players to build more gate networks on their own, if only to accommodate larger ships.

 

[NeonSturm]

Danger potential limit does not protect other ships (which are forced to be small too) - they can gang up on the offender and get help by the police.
For ship protection, the police force consists for example of:

1. Drones
   • Stop/Emp turrets, Shield-Supply turrets.
     
   • Fast and heavily shielded individually (sturdy targets).
     
2. Small-Medium Covert Ops, Police-version – duties:
   1. Confiscate weapon blocks built into ships,
      • Boarding with 2/3 crew members - 1/3 crew slots is the pilot.
        
      • Trade cargo space and shield recharge against 4 isolated prisoner cells.
        
      • Rely on disabling drones and greater numbers for survival
        
      • Use shield-damage weapons for transporters.
   2. search for illegal cargo
      • Stealth/Cloak to catch-in-action and scanning equipment.
   3. scout
      • Speed, scanning equipment, escape effects Stop/Emp/…
3. Small-Heavy Fighter, Sector-Patrol, Police-version – duties:
   1. Hunt and damage treats which are not innocent anymore (have killed) or a common treat (alien space bacteria).
      • Speed, heavy weapons, heavy shielding
   2. Help in light military options – especially in poor systems with few dedicated military ships.
   3. Raid pirate hideouts.
   4. Escorts and guards in dangerous sectors if gates are too small for station-builders or bigger traders.

Note:

Police =/= Military. The police avoids to kill or destruct if possible and their ships are designed for capture/support.

They don't even react if drones can handle the job and no ship's shields drop below 90%, just send a police ship to show presence, ask if the 2 civilian parties require official help and are curious about whether laws are still respected or one has to be flagged as offender.​

On one server I saw, civilian are allowed to have 3 barrels in up to 4 arrays …
… perhaps I should make an example list of illegal goods or amounts too

1. Weapons:
   • You are not allowed to carry more than 2/3 of what the police has (heavy fighter, 8 drones) on a single ship.
     • This applies to claimed / jump-inhibited space only.
       
   • Police ships are small-medium/heavy (<32x32x64) small and drones are tiny-heavy (<16x16x32).
     • This limits the number of weapons, the police can use on a single ship
       • (while being RP-ready and still look good)
     • Use 2 tiny-heavy as turrets (or something equivalent) and you comply the rules.
   • Heavy ships might be a bit boxy and min-maxed, Light ships very stylish and flat and Medium ships inbetween.
2. Systems:
   • Stealth ships must have 1/2 allowed weapon power or require a military or police license.
     
   • Cloaked ships which can cross 2 sectors invisibly may only wield anti-missile turrets or require a military license.
     
   • Warheads in civilian vessels are only allowed when covered with blocks from the same entity (as self-destruction mechanism).
     
   • Warhead Torpedoes/Missiles which use rails to uncover the warhead before just before impact require a military license.
   • …
3. Inventory:
   • Pistols with more than 20% hp as damage/s or more than 60% hp/shot require a military license
     • the police is allowed to use pistols which do 95% damage per shot (and cripple targets before medical treatment).
       
     • only 2 police officers or military guns should be able to cause lethal damage on the first shot.
       
   • Drugs which cause harm in usually consumed doses and are addictive are illegal.
     
   • Slaves are subject to human law and not items (in this Hub, a pirate hub might have a different law).

 

[Gonzalo]

me likey :D