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The devs, nearly a month ago, put out a proposal of their vision for a new thrust system. Here is my modification and expansion of it.
1: "Thrust" should be able to be split between max speed and acceleration. Why? Depending on how you want to fly your ship, you may not worry about max speed in any one direction, but you may want to be able change direction carefully. Or you may want to be able to go faster in any one direction during combat but not worry reversing. Point is, different flight styles, different thrust configurations.
2: Speed limits should not be absolute caps. Instead, they should be the result of acceleration decreasing in a direction the faster you go. This removes the immersion-breaking of running into a brick wall of speed.
3: Damping only applies when objects at rest are bumped until they stop or thrust. This means if you put a ship down it takes plenty of effort to put it elsewhere, but allows people to fly at top speed without using thrust.
4:Docking mode: If you have a spaceship with excess maneuverability on a server with collision damage, attempting to dock is nerve-wracking. I propose that all engines be equipped with a docking mode. Once engaged, turning rate increases, acceleration is limited, and top speed is limited below the collision damage threshold. Useful for docking any sort of ship (but not needed). I would imagine the HUD would change enough to make this obvious.
Wall of text: TL;DR higher-speed realspace travel and reference frames.
5:Cruising mode and relative velocity: Now, if you don't have a hyperdrive, going long distances takes forever and then some. This is what cruising mode if for. Slower than either a jump drive or a hyperdrive, but avalible to every ship without special blocks. It can also be activated while under fire. Also, unlike hyper of jump drive, if collision damage is active, you got to be careful, too.
First, there would now be two speed limits: THRUST_SPEED_LIMIT and PHYSICS_SPEED_LIMIT. THRUST_SPEED_LIMIT is the limit to which a ship can accelerate to while in normal thrust mode. PHYSICS_SPEED_LIMIT is the top speed anything can go to, regardless of how it's getting there. Between THRUST_SPEED_LIMIT and PHYSICS_SPEED_LIMIT forces get less effective until at PHYSICS_SPEED_LIMIT they aren't at all.
Second, there are now velocity frames of reference. Cruise mode and getting push/pulled/stopped or bumped are the only way to change them. If you get pushed up past THRUST_SPEED_LIMIT, when the push ends that is your new reference frame, and if you try to stop in normal mode, nothing will happen. However, if you accelerate in cruise mode to the velocity of another ship, and then switch to normal mode, that ship is now standing still. Also, stop is relative to these frames. If you're cruised up, and you fire a stop beam at something you could speed it up. If launched from a carrier that is cruised up, your reference frame will be the same.
However, while in cruise mode you cannot use weapons. Once cruised up and in normal mode, you can use weapons again. Cruise mode also reduces lateral thrust to 5% of normal, reverse to 10%, and forward to 20%. Overdrive doubles your acceleration in cruise mode instead of max speed. Turning speed is reduced while in cruise mode. In addition, switching between modes takes time, so you can't just pop out of cruise mode, shoot something, and then pop back in.
EDIT: Okay, some things I forgot.
Flagship (captial ship) points: The devs brought this up as a way to make differences in ship roles. Putting a flagship system on your vessel (shipyard, factory, or hyperdrive) consumes a small amount of flagship points. Activating those systems greatly increases the points from them (for hyperdrive, there is also a cool-down where it is still "flagship-active") Flagship points increase the power consumption of engines and decrease maximum speed.
UI: Select F1 to open up a menu, then hit 1,2, or 3 to select normal, cruise, or docking mode. You can also adjust your distributions of force/speed here (though outside of a shipyard it will take time to adjust.)
1: "Thrust" should be able to be split between max speed and acceleration. Why? Depending on how you want to fly your ship, you may not worry about max speed in any one direction, but you may want to be able change direction carefully. Or you may want to be able to go faster in any one direction during combat but not worry reversing. Point is, different flight styles, different thrust configurations.
2: Speed limits should not be absolute caps. Instead, they should be the result of acceleration decreasing in a direction the faster you go. This removes the immersion-breaking of running into a brick wall of speed.
3: Damping only applies when objects at rest are bumped until they stop or thrust. This means if you put a ship down it takes plenty of effort to put it elsewhere, but allows people to fly at top speed without using thrust.
4:Docking mode: If you have a spaceship with excess maneuverability on a server with collision damage, attempting to dock is nerve-wracking. I propose that all engines be equipped with a docking mode. Once engaged, turning rate increases, acceleration is limited, and top speed is limited below the collision damage threshold. Useful for docking any sort of ship (but not needed). I would imagine the HUD would change enough to make this obvious.
Wall of text: TL;DR higher-speed realspace travel and reference frames.
5:Cruising mode and relative velocity: Now, if you don't have a hyperdrive, going long distances takes forever and then some. This is what cruising mode if for. Slower than either a jump drive or a hyperdrive, but avalible to every ship without special blocks. It can also be activated while under fire. Also, unlike hyper of jump drive, if collision damage is active, you got to be careful, too.
First, there would now be two speed limits: THRUST_SPEED_LIMIT and PHYSICS_SPEED_LIMIT. THRUST_SPEED_LIMIT is the limit to which a ship can accelerate to while in normal thrust mode. PHYSICS_SPEED_LIMIT is the top speed anything can go to, regardless of how it's getting there. Between THRUST_SPEED_LIMIT and PHYSICS_SPEED_LIMIT forces get less effective until at PHYSICS_SPEED_LIMIT they aren't at all.
Second, there are now velocity frames of reference. Cruise mode and getting push/pulled/stopped or bumped are the only way to change them. If you get pushed up past THRUST_SPEED_LIMIT, when the push ends that is your new reference frame, and if you try to stop in normal mode, nothing will happen. However, if you accelerate in cruise mode to the velocity of another ship, and then switch to normal mode, that ship is now standing still. Also, stop is relative to these frames. If you're cruised up, and you fire a stop beam at something you could speed it up. If launched from a carrier that is cruised up, your reference frame will be the same.
However, while in cruise mode you cannot use weapons. Once cruised up and in normal mode, you can use weapons again. Cruise mode also reduces lateral thrust to 5% of normal, reverse to 10%, and forward to 20%. Overdrive doubles your acceleration in cruise mode instead of max speed. Turning speed is reduced while in cruise mode. In addition, switching between modes takes time, so you can't just pop out of cruise mode, shoot something, and then pop back in.
EDIT: Okay, some things I forgot.
Flagship (captial ship) points: The devs brought this up as a way to make differences in ship roles. Putting a flagship system on your vessel (shipyard, factory, or hyperdrive) consumes a small amount of flagship points. Activating those systems greatly increases the points from them (for hyperdrive, there is also a cool-down where it is still "flagship-active") Flagship points increase the power consumption of engines and decrease maximum speed.
UI: Select F1 to open up a menu, then hit 1,2, or 3 to select normal, cruise, or docking mode. You can also adjust your distributions of force/speed here (though outside of a shipyard it will take time to adjust.)
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