What kind of Chambers to you want?

[alterintel]

So now with the announcement of Chambers, we're all wondering what kind of chambers/effects we will be able to get. For example in the announcement the following effects were mentioned:

Mobility:
Jump Drives
--- Charge Rate
--- Jump Distance
--- Auto Charge
--- Backup Jump
Jump Inhibitors
--- Inhibitor Range
--- More power

Shields:
--- Higher DPS
--- Ion Effect

So what kind of Chambers do you guys want to have in the update?

 

[apelsinsaft]

I made the following spreadsheet of effect combos not that long ago. The idea was to introduce more abilities by making defensive effects require you to slave another effect to it, but it contains a good amount of passive and active abilities that could translate nicely into the proposed chamber system i think. I made especially sure that every ability would alter the way you play in some way, even if it's minor and only related to how you've set up your systems. I was even bored enough to name them all.

Starmade Effect-Effect combos

"Group Size" could easily be translated to "chamber size" or whatever is applicable. Having 100% effect ratio could be translated to having a maxed out tech level set of chambers for that "ability".

"How to cure own autism" is in my google search history

 

[EMC007]

Higher max speed (more than overdrives)

Doubling or tripling the amount of storage space one cargo or plex storage block has (all cargo blocks can hold twice or 3 times as much cargo as normal)

More accurate turrets (if possible)

Missiles taking 2 or possibly even 3 shots before they are destroyed (as opposed to just one shot)




Just naming a few (I'll edit this post as more ideas come to mind)

 

[jayman38]

I want multiple generic chambers that can be mixed and matched on any system. This simplicity will lead to emergent behavior. Additional types can be added to handle effects that are not obvious with the generic core effect chambers.
1. Reach increase (weapon range, jump range, scanner range, whatever)
2. Reach decrease (for flexibility; why? Think short-range beam prison bars, or an asteroid mining chamber)
3. Impact increase (weapon damage, mining bonus, resistance to enemy anti-effects, etc.)
4. Impact decrease (zero-damage training weapons? Whatever.)
5. Charge increase (faster weapon cooldown, faster jump charge, faster chamber-ready, frequent scans, etc.)
6. Charge decrease
7. Health increase (tougher missiles, stronger ship armor)
8. Health decrease
9. Decay increase (increase damage done by over-time weapons like inhibitors or acid weapons, which we don't have yet.)
10. Decay decrease (faster chamber switch-outs, stronger hull against sun damage, etc.)
etc...

 

[Nickizzy]

I made the following spreadsheet of effect combos not that long ago. The idea was to introduce more abilities by making defensive effects require you to slave another effect to it, but it contains a good amount of passive and active abilities that could translate nicely into the proposed chamber system i think. I made especially sure that every ability would alter the way you play in some way, even if it's minor and only related to how you've set up your systems. I was even bored enough to name them all.

Starmade Effect-Effect combos

"Group Size" could easily be translated to "chamber size" or whatever is applicable. Having 100% effect ratio could be translated to having a maxed out tech level set of chambers for that "ability".

"How to cure own autism" is in my google search history

First thought, overdrive/pierce could be exploited by quick-toggling a micro system to reset shield regen.
[doublepost=1495149955,1495149731][/doublepost]Push/Over is a direct upgrade from Pull/Over, as far as I can tell.
[doublepost=1495150238][/doublepost]Stop/Puch or pull could be exploited by placing lots of rechargers/docking and getting a massive capacitor storage, then activating them with only .1 power draw.
[doublepost=1495150374][/doublepost]You could make them have a simple charge like a JD, it just counts up a timer to a max amount based on mass fraction. When activated timer starts. Charge ratio multiplied by mass fraction.

 

[apelsinsaft]

First thought, overdrive/pierce could be exploited by quick-toggling a micro system to reset shield regen.
[doublepost=1495149955,1495149731][/doublepost]Push/Over is a direct upgrade from Pull/Over, as far as I can tell.
[doublepost=1495150238][/doublepost]Stop/Puch or pull could be exploited by placing lots of rechargers/docking and getting a massive capacitor storage, then activating them with only .1 power draw.
[doublepost=1495150374][/doublepost]You could make them have a simple charge like a JD, it just counts up a timer to a max amount based on mass fraction. When activated timer starts. Charge ratio multiplied by mass fraction.

You wouldn't be able to quick-toggle the Cascade Absorbers since it would reset the "under fire" timer and give you the small bonus again.
Warp Field Generator doesn't allow you to escape from enemies within 1000m like the Aux warp core does. The Aux warp core is instant, while the Warp Field has a long spool-up.
I suppose the subspace ability could be activated for long periods like you said, good point

The truly broken combos are the ones i wrote down at the bottom of the spreadsheet

 

[Haalon]

I made the following spreadsheet of effect combos not that long ago. The idea was to introduce more abilities by making defensive effects require you to slave another effect to it, but it contains a good amount of passive and active abilities that could translate nicely into the proposed chamber system i think. I made especially sure that every ability would alter the way you play in some way, even if it's minor and only related to how you've set up your systems. I was even bored enough to name them all.

Starmade Effect-Effect combos

"Group Size" could easily be translated to "chamber size" or whatever is applicable. Having 100% effect ratio could be translated to having a maxed out tech level set of chambers for that "ability".

"How to cure own autism" is in my google search history

Interesting ideas, but some of them are overpowered, while some are kinda tricky to implement - for example pusing beams away from your ship, thus making your hitbox smaller

 

[alterintel]

Faster turn rate

 

[Ithirahad]

ENGINES

• MOBILITY CHAMBER - Seemingly planned; no idea what it is, but I guess it's a root chamber for thrust effects? Can provide a % buff to total thrust. Moderate TP cost.
  • Reaction Control Grid (passive) - Increase turn rate. Moderate TP cost.
  • Propulsion Energizer (passive) - Increases top speed. Moderate TP cost.
  • Engine Overdrive Injector (active) - Provide a large temporary thruster power, turn rate, and top speed boost when triggered. Moderate TP cost.
  • Engine Boost Capacitor (active) - Provide a forward burst of thrust (6x your ship's mass). Moderate TP cost.
    • Retrograde Boost Deflector (passive) - Reverses the polarity! Your engine boost capacitor provides aftward thrust rather than forward. Very low TP cost.

STARDRIVE

• JUMP DRIVE CHAMBER (active, manual charge? passive?) - Yey, it's a chamber now. Or maybe not? Maybe they're going to just have this as a root upgrade chamber and keep the horrible %-of-mass mechanic? IDK. If it is just a root chamber, have it give a 50% buff to charge time.
  • AUTOCHARGER (toggle) - Automatically charges your jump drive. I'd recommend a low TP cost here, if any at all. IMHO automatic charging should be how jump drives work by default, but if this is what you want to do...
  • Jump Navigation Module (passive) - No longer an integrated part of a jump drive, a Jump Navigation Module would provide the waypoint-targeting jump functionality. Low TP cost.
  • Hyperspace Conduit Extender (passive) - Increases jump range, but jump inhibitors discharge your jump drive faster. Moderate TP cost.
    • Conduit Stabilization Energizer (passive) - Further increases jump range. Moderate TP cost.
  • Hyper-Plasma Accumulator (passive) - Increases charge rate. Moderate TP cost.
    • Solar Plasma Condenser (passive) - Further increases charge rate based on proximity to a star. No effect in void systems. Moderate TP cost.
  • Jump Stabilization Unit (active) - Nullifies the effect of jump inhibitors in the sector for a short period of time. Also nullifies the jump inhibitors' increased effectiveness against your jump drive if you have mounted a conduit extender. Very high power consumption, likely to disable any systems further down the priority chain. Very high TP cost.

SHIELDS

• SHIELD CHAMBER (passive) - I have no idea how this is intended to work, but I'd guess that it would act as your shield regen unit or just as a root chamber for shield chambers. If it's just a root chamber, it can provide the equivalent of 30% Ion effect. Moderate TP cost.
  • Shield Reinforcement Module (active) - Basically the current 60% Ion effect, with a limited duration. Absorbs a certain percentage of incoming damage to shields for some period of time, then has to recharge. Low TP cost.
    • Shield Reinforcement Solidifier (passive) - Increases the effect of the Reinforcement Module to 80%, but decreases the Reinforcement Module's effect duration by 70%. This effectively turns the Reinforcement Module into a temporary invincibility/alpha-strike absorption module. Low TP cost.
    • Shockwave Absorption Module (passive) - While the Shield Reinforcement Module is active, non-Ion missiles and pulses deal 50% damage against your shields. Moderate TP cost.
    • Energy Absorption Module (passive) - When the Shield Reinforcement Module is active, non-Ion beams deal 50% damage against your shields. Moderate TP cost.
    • Kinetic Absorption Module (passive) - When the Shield Reinforcement Module is active, non-Ion cannons and melee fauna attacks deal 50% damage against your shields. Moderate TP cost.
  • Secondary Shield Capacitor (active) - Stores a certain amount of shield HP, and has its own internal shield regeneration. When it is full, you can activate it and inject that shielding into your shield capacity. Cannot be activated until it has filled up completely. Moderately low TP cost.
  • Shield Polarity Stabilizer (passive) - Ion weapons deal 50% damage to your shields, nullifying their advantage. Moderately high TP cost.
  • Shield Resonance Amplifier (passive) - Your shields now have 50% more damage absorption (total equivalent is 80% Ion effect if I understand the mechanics, which is currently unobtainable) vs. anything but Ion weapons, making them effectively twice as powerful. However, Ion weapons deal twice the normal amount of damage to your shields and ignore all chamber bonuses. Moderate TP cost.

ARMOR

• Armor Reinforcer (toggle) - Provides the current 25% pierce/25% punchthrough passive effects. Moderately high TP cost.
  • Shockwave Ablation Enhancer (passive) - AHP absorbs 25% more damage from missiles and pulse weapons. Moderate TP cost.
  • Energy Ablation Enhancer (passive) - AHP absorbs 25% more damage from beams. Moderate TP cost.
  • Kinetic Ablation Enhancer (passive) - AHP absorbs 25% more damage from cannons and fauna melee attacks. Moderate TP cost.
  • Armor Structural Polarizer (passive) - Increases your max AHP by 50%. Moderately low TP cost.

INTELLIGENCE & COUNTERMEASURES

• SCANNER CHAMBER (active? passive?) - I assume that scanners will be moved to a chamber, or maybe this is just a root chamber and the horrible %-of-mass mechanic is being kept... Either way, I propose that, without any additional chambers, Scanners only provide the scanner logs that come up in your nav menu. If this is a root chamber, I suppose that it can provide faster scanner recharge rate for no extra power cost. Low TP cost.
  • Long-Range Scanner (passive) - Allows you to locate asteroids, planets, and stations on the map when you scan in an unexplored system. Moderately low TP cost.
    • Intelligence Relay (passive) - Any system scanning data is synchronized with your faction. Low TP cost.
    • Fleet Scanner (passive) - If you are in an explored system, this chamber indicates the location of player ships and active fleets in the system, or within a certain range of your ship, on your map. Moderate TP cost.
  • Ship Scanner (passive) - Adds basic ship scanning functionality, highlighting areas of ships which contain any type of system block in green. Will attempt to break through basic signature jamming, but does not have enough capability to break through any type of enhanced ECM. Moderate TP cost.
    • Engine Emissions Scanner (toggle) - When active, ship scans will indicate the location of thruster blocks on enemy ships in blue. Moderate TP cost.
    • Weapon Signature Scanner (toggle) - When active, ship scans will indicate the location of weapon blocks on enemy ships in red. Moderate TP cost.
    • Tech Signal Scanner (toggle) - When active, ship scans will indicate the location of chambers and conduits in orange. High TP cost.
    • Reactor Radiation Scanner (toggle) - When active, ship scans will show a sort of 'aura' around active reactors, but not reveal their exact location. High TP cost.
    • Boarding Target Scanner (passive) - Locates a random room on the targeted enemy ship using the Quarters system. This room becomes an available transporter target for your ship. (If you have a scan broadcasting chamber, it becomes available to all allied ships in the sector.)
    • Ship Scan Broadcaster (passive) - Locations of scanned ship systems will be visible to allied ships in the sector, and cloaked/jammed ships will have their signatures revealed to all ships in the sector as opposed to just the scanning ship. Moderately high TP cost.
      
    • (ANTISTEALTH SENSOR UPGRADE CHAMBERS) - Presumably a series of tiered chambers that counter things like cloaking. Schine already seems to have a system figured out for this, but I dunno.
• Radar Frequency Jamming Chamber (toggle) - It ain't cheap any more, folks. This would now be a full-on chamber, costing space, a meaningful amount of power, tech points, and a bunch of blocks. Can be disabled by basic ship scanning.
  (Or maybe they're leaving it as a single block? Not making systems like this into chambers, to me, would be a waste of a good mechanic, but I don't know.)
  • Multispectral Jamming/Cloaking (passive) - Your radar jamming now jams all electromagnetic frequencies to appear as nothing but background noise... including visible light. Very high TP cost.
  • Infrared Frequency Jamming (passive) - Heat-seeking missiles can't track you while your radar jammer is active, and lock-ons locked onto you will have a wider turning arc and be easier to dodge. Also prevents basic scanners from de-jamming you. Medium-high TP cost.
  • Tech Emissions Jamming (passive) - Your radar jammer now prevents system scanning data from becoming visible for your ship. Medium TP cost.
  • Encrypted Pattern Broadcasting (passive) - Allied ships are now capable of seeing your radar marker through your jamming/cloaking. Low TP cost.

UTILITY - LOGISTICS

• Material Processing Controller (passive) - Allows capsule refineries and micro assemblers to function on your ship or station. Can be produced using the astronaut's suit mini-factory. Moderately high TP cost on ships, low TP cost on stations.
  • Fabrication Controller (passive) - Allows basic and standard factories to function on your ship or station. Medium TP cost.
    • Advanced Fabrication Controller (passive) - Allows advanced factories to function on your ship or station. Low TP cost.
  • Material Processing Optimizer (passive) - Decreases the power draw of factory enhancer blocks. Low TP cost.
• Prospecting Data System (passive) - Increases mining yields in its own and adjacent sectors by 50%. Effect stacks with system-wide bonuses from faction claim, but not other chamber bonuses to mining. Moderate TP cost.
  • Long-Range Mineral Surveyor (passive) - Increases Prospecting Data Acquisition chamber range to the entire system. Moderate TP cost.
• Salvaging Operations Enhancer (passive) - Increases mining ore yields by 4 extra units of ore per block. Medium TP cost.
  • Salvaging Frequency Tuner (passive) - Increases mining ore yields by 6 units (for a total of 10 extra units of ore) per block. Medium TP cost.

UTILITY - MEDICAL

• Medical Systems Chamber (passive) - Allows Undeathinators to function on your ship or station, with a range of one system. Moderately high TP cost on ships, low TP cost on stations.
  • Medical Enhancement Systems (passive) - Increases Undeathinator range to infinite; provides a 200% buff to all medical blocks' healing amount. Moderate TP cost.

UTILITY - TRANSPORTATION

• Warp Gate Systems (passive) - Allows Warp Gates to function on your ship or station, with a max range of 1.5 systems. Moderately high TP cost on ships, moderate TP cost on stations.
  • Warp Gate Amplifier (passive) - Increases Warp Gate range to 3 systems. Moderate TP cost.
    • Warp Gate Hyperamplifier (passive) - Increases Warp Gate range to 10 systems. Moderate TP cost.
• Jump Drive Boost Field Emitter (toggle) - While active, any ship jumping from the sector this chamber is in (or adjacent sectors) jumps 50% further. Does not apply to the ship with the chamber on board. Moderate TP cost.
  • Jump Drive Boost Field Accelerator (passive) - While the Boost Field Emitter is active, ships jumping from it get an additional 50% jump distance, for a total of 100. Moderately low TP cost.
• Jump Drive Charge Field Emitter (toggle) - While active, any ship in the same sector (or adjacent sectors) can charge its jump drive twice as fast. Does not apply to the ship with the chamber on board. Moderate TP cost.
  • Jump Drive Charge Field Enhancer (passive) - the Charge Field emitter allows ships to charge their jump drives three times as fast. Moderate TP cost.

UTILITY - COMBAT

• Shield Broadcast Device (toggle) - When active, allied ships/stations in the same sector have 50% extra combat shield regeneration. Does not apply to the structure this chamber is on. Also creates a visible yellow 'aura' effect around the ship when active. High TP cost on ships, moderate TP cost on stations.
  • Shield Broadcast Booster (passive) - Increases regen buff to 100% (doubling in-combat shield regeneration of allied ships). Does not apply to the structure this chamber is on. Moderate TP cost.
• Remote Armor Polarizer (toggle) - When active, allied ships/stations in the same sector have 25% extra damage absorbed by AHP, and the ships' AHP is given its own 50% 'armor' value, effectively doubling ship AHP pools. Also creates a visible whitish 'aura' effect around the ship when active. Effect does not stack. High TP cost on ships, moderate TP cost on stations.
  • Remote Polarization Booster (passive) - Increases damage absorption buff to 40%. Moderate TP cost.
• Remote Power Transmitter (toggle) - When active, allied ships' reactor power output is boosted by 35%. Might be particularly good for carriers, as you can technically create more powerful and compact fighters than would be possible at a given size with only their own onboard power. Moderately high TP cost on ships, moderate TP cost on stations.
  • Power Transmission Booster (toggle) - Increases power output boost to 50%. Moderate TP cost.

 

[Az14el]

-holding cells
-torture beams

thx

 

[Nickizzy]

-torture beams

Just put them in the middle of one of your brick fleet miners and tell it to mine a system.

 

[Spoolooni]

....... gas chambers

 

[kurosawa]

multiple active reactor chambers....

 

[Matt_Bradock]

snip

Those are some really nice ideas, but some of them give a fixed bonus that is either active or not, or specific effect that can be abused on minimal size stations (e.g. the navigation beacon or the nav point on jump drives). Better to use scaling bonuses based on chamber efficiency.

I for one would welcome if single-block things like the cloaker or jammer would be converted to chambers, and consume the alternate resource (I REFUSE TO CALL THEM TECH POINTS ARGH) instead of just draining a crapton of power.

What I would love to see myself, organized by system group affected and placed into tiers (you'd need tier 1 for tier 2 and both tier 1 and 2 for tier 3):

• Engines:
  I. Overdrive (active): thrust % boost, NOT JUST TOP SPEED, at the cost of increased power consumption
  II. Efficiency boost (passive): power consumption reduction %, up to like 25%
  II. Improved maneuvering thrusters (passive): up to 25% increase to turn speed
  III. Booster (active): high cost equivalent of the push effect, a huge forward boost that can't be sustained for more than a couple seconds.
  
  
• Jump drives:
  I. Charge rate boost (already planned)
  II. Range boost (already planned)
  III. Autocharge (already planned)
  
  
• Shields:
  I. Shield damage mitigation (active): same as current defensive ion effect, up to 60% shield damage reduction
  II. Shield charge booster (passive): passive recharge rate boost
  III. Combat shield charger (active): retain up to 100% of your shield charge rate in combat regardless of your current shield percentage.
  
  
• Armor and systems:
  I. Structural integrity field (passive): up to 25% damage reduction to system block damage
  II. Polarized hull plating (active): up to 50% resistance to multi-block damage types on hull and armor blocks
  III. Reactive armor (passive): up to 50% damage reduction to hull and armor blocks from missile, warhead and pulse damage
  III. Reflective armor(passive): up to 50% damage reduction from beam and cannon damage on armored blocks.
  WARNING either reactive OR reflective chamber, one automatically excludes the other.
  
  
• E-warfare and intel
  
  Scanners: instead of charge rates, they would have a moderate or short fix cooldown and consume a fixed (increasing with higher tier) amount of techpoints (sigh)
  I. Basic scanner (active): Long (60 second) cooldown. Reveals static objects (asteroids belts, stations, planets) and radiation zones around stars in the system. Passive: Reveals basic stats of a targeted entity ( e.g. shield, armor, reactor hp %)
  II. Discovery scanner (active): moderate (30 second) cooldown, reveals player controlled ships and active AI fleets in a range dependant on chamber efficiency. Passive: Reveals scanning attempts from others within the same range.
  III. Combat scanner (active): 15 second cooldown, disables cloaking and stealth mode in the actual and adjacent sectors for 15 seconds.
  III. Tactical scanner (active): requires a target lock (same as the missile/beam or missile/pulse setup), upon activation outlines the reactor system's general location and active chamber effects.
  III. Electronic Warfare Suite (active): requires target lock, disables ONE random system on the locked target. Possible disabled systems: active chambers (each counts as one), thrusters, weapons (each weapon system counts as one), jump drive, scanners, cloakers/jammers/ECM chambers, rail systems (all docked entities are powered down), shields. During the use of the EWS, no weapons can be fired. The hacking breaks immediately upon losing target lock or switching to a different quickbar item. High TP cost while active.
  
  Stealth and countermeasures:
  I. silent run (passive): hides presence from up to tier II scanners. Minimal TP cost.
  II. stealth mode (active): hides HUD icon, disables missile lock. Moderate TP cost.
  III. Cloaking system (active): hides HUD indicator, disables missile lock, disables visual contact. Always consumes ALL tech points the reactor generates, no other chambers can be active while the cloak is on. Automatically goes offline upon taking a hit or firing a weapon.
  III. Electronic countermeasures(active): scrambles HUD indicator, providing false signatures around the vessel making missile lock almost impossible, gives false or unintelligible data on the ship to tier III scanners. Is not broken by combat scanner or weapons fire. Moderate to high TP cost (only some other chambers might stay online)
  
  
• Utility:
  Salvagers:
  I. Salvager beam efficiency (passive): up to 50% boost to salvage beam efficiency
  II. Precision mining lasers (passive): up to 50% chance to double the resources from a mined ore/shard block.
  
  Transporter:
  I. Range boost (passive): increase transporter range by 1 sector (only on 100% chamber efficiency)
  II. Cargo transporter (passive): enables cargo storage to be connected to transporter computer and cargo to be transferred to another entity within the same sector that also has a cargo transporter. This operation drops shields on both entities unless they are part of the same docking chain. 500 volume of cargo per connected transporter module can be transferred every activation.
  II. Advanced translocator (passive): activate personal transporter beacons connected to the ship's transporter computers up to 50% faster
  III. Boarding transporter (active): requires target lock, upon activation, transports all players or NPCs on the activated transporter onto a randomly chosen, at least 3x3x3 empty space on the targeted entity, auto-aligned to the target. Only works if target entity's shields are down, and as all external teleporter usage, drops own shields.
  
  Stations:
  I. Optimized manufacturing (passive): up to 50% reduced power consumption on active factories and factory enhancers

 

[Seijuro]

I for one would welcome if single-block things like the cloaker or jammer would be converted to chambers, and consume the alternate resource (I REFUSE TO CALL THEM TECH POINTS ARGH) instead of just draining a crapton of power.

I'm having trouble understanding your intention; how would you intend them to work? Just use up "CPU" and not drain any power?

 

[Matt_Bradock]

I'm having trouble understanding your intention; how would you intend them to work? Just use up "CPU" and not drain any power?

Either that or use both power and CPU.

 

[Ithirahad]

Those are some really nice ideas, but some of them give a fixed bonus that is either active or not, or specific effect that can be abused on minimal size stations (e.g. the navigation beacon or the nav point on jump drives).

Hm, good point. I don't see the issue with non-scaling bonuses, but for some of the utility ones I can foresee abuse. I guess it doesn't matter too much, though, as the tiny stations would be easily detected and destroyed. I don't want to force people to use large stations if they don't want to, and it balances itself out IMO.

 

[Seijuro]

Either that or use both power and CPU.

I'm sure that they would be converted to chambers, but I expect that the "insane" power drain is an intended downside to using them. Since CPU doesn't "drain", you could just perma run cloakers otherwise for no downside.

 

[Matt_Bradock]

I'm sure that they would be converted to chambers, but I expect that the "insane" power drain is an intended downside to using them. Since CPU doesn't "drain", you could just perma run cloakers otherwise for no downside.

The main downside would be that it should scale to consume ALL CPU points. No other chamber could function while the cloak is on. Alternatively, it could also drop your shields, which would be a VERY strong downside. (I think it worked similarly in Star Trek where you had to wait to raise shields until you have uncloaked)

 

[Ithirahad]

The main downside would be that it should scale to consume ALL CPU points. No other chamber could function while the cloak is on. Alternatively, it could also drop your shields, which would be a VERY strong downside. (I think it worked similarly in Star Trek where you had to wait to raise shields until you have uncloaked)

Having your shields drop is good enough. Tech point costs should be constant; you shouldn't have to open your engineering/structure panel to boot your one or two chambers when you drop your cloak :P.