The great topic of FTL.

[elijahpederson]

So, since higher speeds break the game and warp is just plain overpowered what do we do for FTL?



Solution 1: Hyperspace gates:



By making a certain block into a circle, having a hyperspace computer, and supplying energy you can create portals to other hyperspace gates, Although exploring to places to actually create these would be as slow as normal.



Solution 2: The rare warp block:



Allowing warp drives, but making the block extremely rare and may even require a specialised ship to generate enough power to work it. The block could be so rare that it could be at least twice as valueble as the flagship it is in (It cannot be sold or bought) (I personally do not approve of this)



Solution 3: Wormhole opener



Using a block Ships can create wormholes to any other sector, but it takes about a minute, and if they do anything else which requires power (Shooting,Moving,Taking damage(even if its shields are up),etc) will make the wormhole will instantly collapse.

This wormhole creator block is personally my favorate way.



Solution 4: Wormhole controller



Taking and then modifying a page out of Farscape, wormholes randomly appear and disappear thoughout the universe, and using a block ships can controll them and make them so they go to any sector they wish. The randomness and unpredictability of them will rule them out of any sane escape plan.

 

[Nootau]

You might want to look at my topic for many ideas that are similar to this but more flushed out: http://star-made.org/content/warp-gates-worm-holes

 

[elijahpederson]

Cool, but i still really wish that there was some form of FTL

 

[Gameguru]

Well, I like solution 3, your ship would be teleported to the sector, this idea is not original, (although i have no doubt you came up with this on your own, its just not the only one out there) so you need some way to set it apart from other ones.

 

[elijahpederson]

The idea of this topic was to put a lot of ideas out there, just in case one of them would come to Schema\'s liking XD.

 

[Alexander Prime]

The way most games like to balance instant travel is by requiring you to have visited the location at least once, then making you pay for the convenience of teleporting back to it again. Here\'s my proposition:



Add a new block, a warp beacon, whose location when placed is added to a list of beacon coordinates in the server\'s database. These can only be placed on planets or stations.

Add a new item, a navigation disc. Each disc stores a reference to a warp beacon. Clicking with the disc on a warp beacon formats it with that beacon\'s coordinates.

Add a new block, the warp computer, which has a single inventory slot that can hold a warp disc. This computer can be bound to a hotkey while piloting, just like weapons and other support systems.

While piloting, selecting the warp computer changes to a lock-on reticle and adds a pulsing green arrow / diamond to your navigation info. This doubles as an orientation finder, allowing you to simply fly back to the coordinates stored in the computer. If you want to warp instead, you must lock-on, similarly to with a missile computer. The wait time is proportional to your distance from the target and the mass of the ship. The server can use a bit of this time if needed to calculate a destination point near the beacon.

The lock-on requirement solves several balance issues with warping in one go: it adds a warmup time to overcome, forces the ship to stop doing other things (like attacking) while warming up, and, importantly, gives potential foes a hint at your destination.

Executing a warp instantly teleports the ship to the beacon, but brings energy down to zero and deals an amout of damage randomly around the ship equal to its maximum shield capacity. This is to deter warping into or out of combat, as having your shields below full before warping will damage ship blocks, and having an enemy at the destination will invite destruction upon a defenseless vessel.

If the beacon is destroyed, the warp computer cannot lock on to it. This makes it an important target in combat, adding variety of tactics for the attacking party and incentive to optimize defenses for the repelling party.

Multiple warp computers can be installed in a single ship. Merchants would obviously have several discs loaded for their trading route, and military ships might have one for a base and a second to install a disc formatted by an infiltrator with an enemy\'s coordinates. (Of course, the attack would have to wait until a cloaked scout gives the all-clear, making specialized stealth ships more useful as well.)



Some of this I\'ve made up while typing, but I think it fits fairly well. It doesn\'t require much change to the core of the game (even recycling the existing lock-on mechanism) and adds more depth without much more complexity.

 

[sagethe13th]

http://star-made.org/content/hyper-realm-non-instantaneous-ftl-travel-method

It\'s kind of crazy in a good way.

 

[Jcewazhere]

Since it requires knowledge of the target area and resources to get there it seems fair. You could also add another engine type, where each block decreases the charge time of the jump. No jumping while at less than 100% shields, so in combat jumping would be difficult. Each jump has a cool down period, so no bouncing across the universe destroying servers.

An unfocussed jump could be performed under certain conditions, near a black hole maybe? Or with a more advanced and costly engine? This would jump you to a sector you\'ve never visited before.

This seems most similar to #3, with a different name and flavor.