Yep, Yep.
I actually really like Puv's idea of having to get hyperspace coords from the beacons on a regular basis in addition to supplying it with materials.
Cool ideas. Wish I could do Hook magic and make it happen.
pretty much that suggestion and also other alternatives have been on the dev forum for a long time already and been reviewed. although its not possible to say if the current state is a quickfix, a final stage or a coincidence of circumstances - more complex ways would require a lot more work, including a revision of the economy as such.
the current systems problems are not so much the speed at which convoys travel from A to B; cause relative to a "simple" 5k trade run ... it is not really that much unbalanced ( if we also take coordination and teamwork and the beneficial nature of such into account )
the problem is more the fact that A to B on a long distance can skip certain areas completely. - and while an artificial "jump-lane" may deal with this problem; balancing the efford to errect such a lane compared to the efford to deconstruct it is a problematic one ( see player stations vs. players who shoot them "just cause they can, but not necessarily cause it makes any sense" ) - oh - and we also thought about such lanes being constructed hidden - or way off the ecliptic, which would defeat the nature of being interruptable - or the limitation of bieng able to only build them in a certain distance around - lets say... the nadir or zenith point of a system, which again - leads to the problem of being too easily destroyable.
Here's how I would do it.
Jump distance is reduced to the equivalent of 2 systems on the universe map (you can encode this in the jump coords, and a drive refuse to jump more than X distance). Something like Magellan to Ontario would be a reasonable distance, but the same distance would preclude jumping from Frankfurt to Honshu even though its just 2 systems). So its a good way to take a shortcut, or to invade, or retreat, or do small trades, or avoid pirate choke-points, but is not an alternative to long-distance travel. The whole game is balanced around time in flight to do anything (battleships and transports and miners alike), and unlimited jump distance is what makes the current situation OP. Instead, make the focus on fast, accurate travel between two systems.
Jump drive creates a bubble (like the shield bubble around a base), with drive type determining bubble size. The smallest drive produces a bubble about twice the volume of a fighter, while the largest drive produces a bubble about twice the volume of a zoner juggy, with 3-4 increments in between.
Sistering modules allow other ships to ride along with the jumping ship. The sistering module on the other ship(s) must be within the bubble to function. Sistering modules use an external slot, preferably CM but those are not available everywhere yet so something else like thruster or shield generator maybe (not a gun/turret hardpoint though).
The drive requires fuel to produce a bubble similar to how it works now, but less energy than currently required. You need enough fuel to sustain 30-180 seconds depending on drive size. In addition, "energy taps" can be used in place of guns to redirect engine energy to the drive, each tap cuts the time required by 5%, up to a maximum of 50% for 10 guns (energy taps are something I also proposed for cloaking). By reducing the time, you reduce the fuel that is needed to sustain the drive for the jump. Ideally, a drive should require a full cargo hold of fuel with no taps, and half the cargo with 10 taps. Also, if the engine output drops below 50% the jump is aborted. This means if you are taking significant damage from pulse weapons then you cant jump.
Alright, a couple of scenarios:
Light recon ship with no guns can use the lvl 2 drive to make a recon jump into a system, run around, and then jump out again. Probably a freighter. Bombers can jump themselves with lvl 1 drives, one way, since they need to keep weapons. Battleships could jump small fleets, whatever ships could get their sistering modules into the sphere. The battleship would not use largest drives since it would want to keep its guns, so as a practical matter only small ships could ride along since ~cruisers and whatnot could not fit within a smaller bubble.
Carrier with a bunch of snubs, wants to jump into a system and let the snubs go. It can use a drive that is big enough for itself only, and docked snubs ride along in the docking bay np. All of the cargo would be used for the docking bays so it would need fuel supplier on the originating side, and another supplier on the destination to make a round-trip jump.
Stork with energy taps, can produce large bubble, and can carry a few more ships with it, and can make a couple of consecutive jumps back-to-back since fuel reduction in effect. This would be as close to what you have now, except it would be hopscotch 2 systems at a time, instead of one jump across all of siriius. You'd also have a ship dedicated to jumping and carrying fuel, so there is the extra cost for the extra benefit of faster trading. Still very useful for trading, faster than normal, but not OP.
tldr: jumping is now inaccurate to nerf jumpbarges.
solution: limit the maximum cargo/tonnage so that a jumping ship cannot drag a barge along
solution 2: shrink the jumpbubble so the barge cant fit and gets left behind
solution 3: increase the RISK of inaccurate jumping as a proportion of the mass of the jumping ships - jump with a few ships, npnp, jump with a barge, risk landing miles away
It seems people are missing the point, jump trading is a good thing. It gives the effect which was not previously possible but always desired: An exponential, not linear, increase in profit/time following an increase in players involved.
Once again (Second, maybe third time this thread? Probably double digits by now on the topic.) back up your views that jampturding is harmful before going argumentum ad populum about it.
well my last say about this:
just put it back as it was. barge jumping was dead allready because for making cash it takes TOO much time. and with the trains around it is even easier to unload barge. but it is a hell to jump along with it. So just refit it like it was. and if peeps want to trade let em trade. at least people enjoy doing so. even if it consumes much time. im not a real jumper. only sometimes if i dont like flying that far. if those restrictions get away then most jumpdrives have no sence anymore. as mostly some use it for going into combat and jump to hostile space with some big ships to rp and have fun. as the JZ did for cash. was also RP and fun amongst them. isn't that what its all about? to have people have some fun in a game?