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+--- Thread: Other engine/thruster chat (/showthread.php?tid=188726)
Other engine/thruster chat - Stewgar - 07-01-2021
Has there ever been an RP aspect to engine/thruster performance?
For example, if Deep Space Engineering had an engine R&D division that, after proper role play and commodities were gathered, made it so that Navy and Police could obtain engines that had a -20% time to charge cruise or a +10% impulse speed, something to that effect.
Has that ever been in effect by the mod? And if not, what would some of the pros and cons of this be?
RE: Other engine/thruster chat - Corile - 07-01-2021
There has been one improved engine in the mod, that being the Geisha engine that had 6 (six) more units of cruise speed. It led to people mounting It on transports for an edge during piracy encounters.
I doubt it's feasible to expect engines with improved stats tho
RE: Other engine/thruster chat - Stewgar - 07-02-2021
I thought about this some more and came up with even more dynamics for this.
Start with the 3 basic stats of the ship: speed, maneuverability, and defense. Each faction ship starts with level 0 for each of those stats. To gain a level, they must perform role play and resource gathering to conduct the research required to reach the next level. Each level if harder to get to. Each level can be a % improvement of the previous level (5% as an example).
I'll use Liberty for example, since I'm 'Murican. Liberty Navy wants their fighters to be more agile. They will contact Ageira to perform the research. Ageira will begin the role play to conduct the research while also contracting USI to retrieve the required resources to perform the research. When the role play and resource gathering is complete, they gain a level.
Each level gained must be maintained. So, role play and resource gathering (to a lesser degree) is required to maintain a level. Each level is, of course, harder to maintain.
Thoughts? Pros, cons?
RE: Other engine/thruster chat - ronillon - 07-02-2021
(07-02-2021, 01:41 AM)Racerdude Wrote: I thought about this some more and came up with even more dynamics for this.
Start with the 3 basic stats of the ship: speed, maneuverability, and defense. Each faction ship starts with level 0 for each of those stats. To gain a level, they must perform role play and resource gathering to conduct the research required to reach the next level. Each level if harder to get to. Each level can be a % improvement of the previous level (5% as an example).
I'll use Liberty for example, since I'm 'Murican. Liberty Navy wants their fighters to be more agile. They will contact Ageira to perform the research. Ageira will begin the role play to conduct the research while also contracting USI to retrieve the required resources to perform the research. When the role play and resource gathering is complete, they gain a level.
Each level gained must be maintained. So, role play and resource gathering (to a lesser degree) is required to maintain a level. Each level is, of course, harder to maintain.
Thoughts? Pros, cons?
I kind of like the idea, it could promote some roleplay and serve as a reason for trade/exploration/research events and such.
But I'm afraid it would do more harm than good. It would wreak havoc on the balance, which is enough pain as is now.
- Could the same or similar enough scenario be applied to all factions? How could Liberty Rogues achieve the same thing as Navy?
- Even if all factions had the same opportunities, ones without commited playerbase would fall behind, making them even less desirable to play.
- It would force a grind on some factions to stay competitive. Right now there do not seem enough players for a competition like this.
- Would the "upgrades" apply only to official factions or to indies as well? Possibly resulting in even greater imbalance.
RE: Other engine/thruster chat - Stewgar - 07-02-2021
(07-02-2021, 02:03 PM)ronillon Wrote: - Could the same or similar enough scenario be applied to all factions? How could Liberty Rogues achieve the same thing as Navy?
- Even if all factions had the same opportunities, ones without commited playerbase would fall behind, making them even less desirable to play.
- It would force a grind on some factions to stay competitive. Right now there do not seem enough players for a competition like this.
- Would the "upgrades" apply only to official factions or to indies as well? Possibly resulting in even greater imbalance.
There hope would be that this new dynamic would draw some people back. Without balancing issues, this idea is goal oriented and promotes communication between different groups. That is the hope.
But yes, I wanted somebody to confirm the balance issue. There would be and, as you state, not every faction is active at this time. I know the admins don't like to interfere too much with gameplay, but there could be incentives to play lesser factions. Factions such as Rogues may use the same system but rely on less requirements to upgrade due to the lack of infrastructure. That could be role played as the Rogues have less infrastructure to work with meaning they need results now vs Liberty is wasteful and has a lot of 'red tape' and policies for worker safety etc, making for greater requirements, as an idea.
But agreed. Balancing would be a big issue until this idea is matured.
Thanks for the reply, ronillon. Good feedback!
RE: Other engine/thruster chat - LuckyOne - 07-02-2021
It would have to be balanced with an appropriate drawback, such as -20 % charge time but +10 thruster drain, or - 30% hitpoints (alternatively if it's a very small "upgrade" it might only be required to make it cost a lot) but I don't see why this would not be possible.
Alternatively make it only sold at a destructible POB belonging to the faction so opposing factions can try to "remove" the engine advantage/perk of the faction instead of relying on special RP for "maintenance".
I was also under the impression that OFs can already request similar "perks" (or at least that it used to happen in the past)?
RE: Other engine/thruster chat - Stewgar - 07-02-2021
(07-02-2021, 06:12 PM)LuckyOne Wrote: It would have to be balanced with an appropriate drawback, such as -20 % charge time but +10 thruster drain, or - 30% hitpoints (alternatively if it's a very small "upgrade" it might only be required to make it cost a lot) but I don't see why this would not be possible.
Alternatively make it only sold at a destructible POB belonging to the faction so opposing factions can try to "remove" the engine advantage/perk of the faction instead of relying on special RP for "maintenance".
I was also under the impression that OFs can already request similar "perks" (or at least that it used to happen in the past)?
Maybe a minor drawback but not a total drawback. We'd want it to be worth the R&D. But that also introduces another variable to tech and equipment. Have one engine for pvp combat despite it's slower cruise speed and another engine (with increased cruise speed and decreased time to charge) to be interceptors. That's an idea.
Introducing POB's being the central point of these R&Ds would introduce new missions and RP ideas for rival factions. That's a brilliant idea! Destroy the base, destroy the perks. Very nice!
RE: Other engine/thruster chat - Haste - 07-02-2021
"Straight line speed" is one of the easiest things to break balance with. Add 10% to a Battlecruiser's impulse speed and it will eat Cruisers for dinner (at least in the current system). Add 10% impulse/thrust to a fighter and it can outrun every other ship without that perk, rendering it effectively invulnerable.
Perks that don't directly affect PvP balance in such a drastic, gamebreaking way would be more feasible, like increased Cruise speed or slightly faster Cruise charge time.
However, if we were to add this sort of improved tech I would be more inclined to make it a "personal achievement" of players, and not tied to factions. Event rewards, manufactured (expensively) on PoBs, dropped from "world boss" NPCs, that sort of deal.
It sounds a bit corny but I'd say that "RP is its own reward" and should not need actual, tangible rewards. People will naturally do it if they enjoy doing it and there are enough players playing the game for it to happen naturally.
Unfortunately we don't have many options for exciting things like improved turn rates and what not, there's not really a way to interact with that - especially not without upsetting the anticheat. Even if we could do that though I would not aim for straight upgrades, but would instead go for a "sidegrade" system where you give up one attribute in favour of another.