Volatility

[Jimbob7595]

Not sure how this will go down. What about if when power blocks or tanks were damaged, they became volatile and prone to causing a small explosion? This might allow smaller ships to cause significant damage once they've penetrated the shields of a large ship. If some of the ship's power blocks are hit a few times, there would be an increased chance that one or more of the blocks will explode, causing damage to surrounding blocks. This might help in a battle by reducing the power available to the ship, limiting its firepower, speed and shield recharge rate. This might also encourage builders to separate power blocks into smaller groups, to stop a chain reaction from wiping out the entire power supply.

Obviously some people will hate this, but I think it would be a good idea. I don't know if core drilling is going to be prohibited somehow in future, if so, targeting power systems would be a sensible choice with this mechanic added. Perhaps the chances of it happening could be relatively low, 1-5% chance?

What do you think?

 

[therimmer96]

This has been suggested for a new type of power block already

 

[Ixalite]

I am entirely in favor of this as an option in the block config. Volatility on a scale of 1-10, 10 being a disintigrator block. A hit to a power system should stand a good chance of detonating the entire power array. Missiles should be something you would really want to avoid getting hit.

 

[therimmer96]

If this was implemented, it would be neat if there was a chance of it causing nearby blocks to detonate aswell, possibly causing a chain reaction across the ship. Make you want to make bigger ships have separated generation blocks to stop a chain reaction.

 

[Krazykat]

damn it's a good idea but more than a few ships of mine contain hundreds of thousands of connecting power blocks. Maybe this volatility should only apply to a new kind of power block? Otherwise you make a lot of old designs obsolete

 

[Jonj57]

I like this system a lot, at first I was thinking it'd be to harsh, but really it just means you'd need redundancy systems. Don't have all your power in one room, build multiple smaller engines, etc.

 

[therimmer96]

I like this system a lot, at first I was thinking it'd be to harsh, but really it just means you'd need redundancy systems. Don't have all your power in one room, build multiple smaller engines, etc.

Thats what I meant, you can't have redundancy power systems in starmade (yet *crosses fingers*)

 

[Planr]

I like this idea, but in my opinion it would be more fun if instead of exploding, the blocks simply shot out weak projectiles in all directions kind of like sparks when they get hit, and those sparks would be able to lightly damage other blocks around them. So in summary in this system im proposing, it would be like a shotgun amc spread but with the graphical effects of lightning bolts

 

[therimmer96]

I like this idea, but in my opinion it would be more fun if instead of exploding, the blocks simply shot out weak projectiles in all directions kind of like sparks when they get hit, and those sparks would be able to lightly damage other blocks around them. So in summary in this system im proposing, it would be like a shotgun amc spread but with the graphical effects of lightning bolts

or a very weak explosion with a different particle effect

 

[Jimbob7595]

Planr Interesting idea. I suppose the idea of an explosion seems good to me because it could mean that concentrated firepower in one area could really cripple a ship. I kind of like it as a motivator for espionage during construction, so players could find out where power blocks are on an enemy ship and target the area during combat.

P.S I was completely behind you in the shield curve debate!

 

[Star Commander Shepard]

I don't know about this. It would make fighters hella vulnerable and a lot less resilient.

 

[Jimbob7595]

I don't know about this. It would make fighters hella vulnerable and a lot less resilient.

This was one of the thoughts that almost discouraged me from posting the idea. Unfortunately I can't see a way of excluding smaller ships from the effects. I have no coding experience or any idea how difficult certain implementations would be, but maybe the blocks would only be at risk if the power output/potential of the ship was above a certain value?

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Maybe as a mod, or a separate block that has higher output with the danger of exploding/chain reacting. With the current power system you more or less need the entire ship to be a flying generator, a poorly implemented chain reaction feature means most ships will be destroyed after the first couple of hits.

 

[Jimbob7595]

I can see where you're coming from Sven_The_Slayer, but simply using bulkheads / empty gaps may be enough to ensure no complete or significant destruction of the ship's power supply. The problem with a separate block is that I don't think many people would take the risk of using them, and the blocks may end up being more common in small, compact ships, which are not really what I imagined would be disadvantaged by a chain reaction feature.

 

[GROOV3ST3R]

I think that instead of actual volatility, they should cause a short circuit, melting the hit systems and immediately surrounding block while disconnecting all the generators connected through that block. You might end up having your gens cut in half unless you have a bypass. This should also have a small chance of causing a power surge depending on the damage done to the block/blocks, releasing ALL stored energy into the system at once, frying ALL generators and melting through all surrounding blocks (causing damage to but not actually breaking them - you will end up with damage stripes following your power lines across the ship).

The power surge chance would increase with extreme levels of damage done to a single generator block or multiple gen blocks at once, with ion or other energy type weaponry further increasing the chances. But it would still be a rare event.

Hits to power tanks themselves should cause the blocks to start melting (energy is released as heat/damage). The more energy you store and the more blocks are damaged, the more sever the effect. Damage to Tanks should have a chance of a meltdown, causing a thermal runaway process. If this is not stopped, it will fry all connected generators and burn through surrounding blocks.

That's what I think anyways. It's electricity or otherwise ''energy'' we're dealing with here. My guess is it's not space fuel. If it was, then simple explosions would be enough ^^

 

[therimmer96]

I can see where you're coming from Sven_The_Slayer, but simply using bulkheads / empty gaps may be enough to ensure no complete or significant destruction of the ship's power supply. The problem with a separate block is that I don't think many people would take the risk of using them, and the blocks may end up being more common in small, compact ships, which are not really what I imagined would be disadvantaged by a chain reaction feature.

Well if it generates lots more power, it may be attractive so we can cloak bigger ships and stuff

 

[Jimbob7595]

Hmm, thing is the devs have already mentioned the problem of item ids and I'd imagine it would be a pain to implement and balance a new power block. I thought if this was applied to the regular power system it might work as a nerf for people building death cubes and poorly planned, blocky ships. Unfortunately we will all probably have to make sacrifices sooner or later for balance's sake, most of my ships would suffer as a result, but I'd be willing to accept that. Only solution is to make easily refittable ships.

 

[Star Commander Shepard]

I think this is a pretty cool idea. And maybe the volatility of a system is based on the power output or storage, making fighter-based power systems less volatile while larger ships are a bit more vulnerable.

 

[Ixalite]

I'd just like to restate, it needs to be an option for server owners to implement through the block.cfg file. The Degree of explosiveness also needs to be an option.

 

[Ithirahad]

Hmm, thing is the devs have already mentioned the problem of item ids and I'd imagine it would be a pain to implement and balance a new power block. I thought if this was applied to the regular power system it might work as a nerf for people building death cubes and poorly planned, blocky ships. Unfortunately we will all probably have to make sacrifices sooner or later for balance's sake, most of my ships would suffer as a result, but I'd be willing to accept that. Only solution is to make easily refittable ships.

A new power block is a single block. No issues there; there are actually still tons of ID's left; the devs just want to use them wisely.