Now don't go straight for my balls about how this has been brought up in the past and however that ended but in my opinion it's a relevant topic. Simply put, Newcastle is too big. It's one of the most unpopulated core systems in the mod because it's just too huge. And it's a pity really since it has enourmous roleplay and gameplay potential. I'm sure the Outcasts would like to get as involved as they can with Cape Wrath. But when it's about 50k from the closest base or tradelane, plus the fact there are hardly any people in the system who can be bothered to go to Newcastle just makes it too much of an effort. Iverness has alot of potential also as a smuggling/slaving route but the Jump Hole is so far from the Tau jump hole it's simply quicker to go through two more systems for a different route. Theres just so much in Newcastle but it's too sparse for anyone to even bother flying around. IMG, Outcasts, Gaians, Bretonians all packed into one system is quite a tasty salad. The layout of the system is fine, just bring it down a notch!
I have actually been thinking about making a thread to this effect lately.
It's much too large, and while there may be roleplay potential in the setting, no one is going to use that system for anything past buying nukes because it's so large.
So,
/signed
The system should be at least half its size right now, perhaps even less.
I agree. The system is just way to big. I tried to cruise from the Molly to the Outcast base once. I had the time to go to McDonalds and back...
50% may be a litle too much though. I think that 33% would be better, since in places that have bases close to each other ( the trade center and the other base) it would look a lil out of scale.
EDIT: Gah , got ninja'ed. Anyways , I dont think that we should sacrifice functionality for realism. The whole game is already awfully scaled
' Wrote:No, i like Newcastles size like it is. 50k? 2,5 minutes, not more.
Space is much bigger than we could imagine. Space cannot be large and wide enough in a space game.
When you can fit multiple house systems inside of one system, it's too big. In reality, it takes a LONG time to cross a solar system at an acceleration that doesn't kill the passengers, but we're not here to sit in "cruise." Play ze game, ja?
It takes forever to get to Skye (Gaian base) from anywhere, not using the lanes. I once cruised there from the Tau-31 jumphole... now THAT was a trip.
It's large and boring. Honestly, I try to avoid it as much as possible.
Of course space is wide and all that, but this is Freelancer, and Newcastle and Munich seem to be way off compared to the rest of the systems. And yes, I know it involves several changes, such as trading balance issues and stuff like that, but at least in time it needs be be changed.
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Mephistoles
newcastle is too large - and that is part of its attraction ( but usually its people who don t need to RP in newcastle on a daily base for whom it is an attraction to be so large )
i think going from the lower left to the upper right corner is well outside the measurable distance ( it displays "far" ) - and probably is something like 200k
cutting it down by 50% altogether however should not be done. - what CAN be done is to scale down the "civilized" part by 50% - and leave the ancient minefield and the nomad city waaaay off the civilized part.
by a feeling - a "long" distance to cruise should not exceed 100k by much ( thats around the distance from omega-41 jh in 74 to the omega-49 jumphole... and takes around 10 minutes or a little less. ) - much more and it gets from a long distance to an annoying distance, which isn t good cause on very long cruise routes - nothing much happens. - a pirate cannot just sit in the middle of nowhere waiting for a target - and a trader can only twiddle his thumbs while he s cruising there.
I'd like to see Newcastle get some scaling done too, tbh. I hate to compromise Angel's work like that, but she had a penchant for making systems just too damn big (ex. Omega-15, Omega-47, Omega-49 not as much but still...). I think 33% sounds about right. I think just downsizing it might turn Newcastle into an active core system overnight. Maybe add a new Jumphole, too, so it's more relevant to the Kusari/Bretonia war.
Quote:Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen
If you poke around, there is actually a lot of potential in this system for dynamic progress or whatever. I think Cape Wrath is silly and shouldn't be there, but I guess the nomad city can stay if you take Jinx's idea of pushing all the tradelane parts of the system together and moving the nomad stuff way out to one side.
If Carlisle is getting a docking ring as the infocard would indicate, that would be a good time to clean up shop?
There were people in Newcastle last night! The fact that I actually noticed that goes to show how unpopulated the system is...260k from the Leeds jumpgate to the planet by the IMG base...yes, trade lanes, but, even so, it still takes forever to get there (mainly the final lane from Scarborough to South Shields). Downscaling it might make it a lot more frequented...one has to wonder if the crew of the Grimsby even realises they are at war...