I was thinking about the new function to change a ship's lighting and any implications that this may have upon official factions. As an example, we wouldn't want Liberty being invaded by a dozen official Order fighters that are all glowing green (I know that one has been disabled, but my point stands). Alright, maybe some of you would love to see it, but the serious side of us would know that it's just plain wrong. Similarly, I dread to imagine what a battleship would look like with every point using a strobe light.
So, will official factions be implementing any restrictions regarding this? On the other hand, maybe certain factions will actually want new lights. For example, police especially might want to employ "emergency beacon lighting" (as I have done with an LPI fighter that has an alternating blue and red lighting effect), be it optional or mandatory for their members. Utility vessels might also use amber lights, such as the Repair Ship. I know there's the cost, but anybody who joins an official faction really should have a million credits spare and it wouldn't cost that much at all in-RP, not even for a Xeno (they'd just rip them from transports they blow up).
If any factions do indeed decide to use this feature officially, they may need to know how their ships work. It's not obvious and will need testing in some cases to ensure that a certain load-out will look right. Ioncross is a good tool to use for this purpose.
I'm not so much worried about lights as I think that you know, for non military/government factions, being able to have your own lighting system on your ship should be fine.
What I -am- worried about however was that I believe I saw one of the admins mention the -possibility- of being able to pimp our engines in the future, again, for civilian or non military vessels that would be okay too, especially amongst Freelancers and the likes, but I wouldn't want to see the Liberty Navy buzzing around with Rheinland engines (Because yes, even though they're hella cool, it wouldn't be right and I do believe would be mildly OORP given the explanation for Rheinland's engines looking the way they do)
That's my only concern is the possibility of engine pimping.
Lighting is fine, though military/law enforcement/government factions should all have their leaders come up with what acceptable lighting for ships entails for faction ships.
I'm rather against all this lighting pimping, actually.
Ships have the lights they do for a reason.
And Engines should never be changed, like they do.
Notice how Liberty and Bretonia's ships all have hydrogen scoops on them, and all the civilian ship - but Kusari and Rheinland don't. Kusair and Rheinland have the large, circular reactors on their ships, and their thrust is a different sort, it's less focused and more nebulous.
Each house's shipset is actually tailored to its engine.
There's detail put into Freelancer that's very hard to notice.
But, really, take a look.
Liberty, Bretonia, Civilian - they all have intakes.
Kusari, Rheinland - they don't have intakes, they have the reactorthingies.
I'm not sure if the "wings" on Kusari ships actually serve a purpose or not, as the reactors aren't really prominent in them.
(As a note, the Zoner ships use Kusari thrust but have intakes. Badbadbadbadbadbadbad.)
I am stalwartly against being able to switch engines.
It simply makes no sense and is way too far out of roleplay for my tastes.
These flashy lights are pushing it, but...
Engines. Never.
Pfft, party pooper. What about Junkers? They live everywhere, their ships engines would be different from place to place. How should we implement that then, hrm?:P
Besides, I want Bretonian engines on my Salvager.:P
Engines certainly should be restricted to zones. I heard this Navy guy go past the other day in some civilian ship I think, but it had a Rheinland-type noise. It had me kinda worried for a moment. Being able to change an engine again allows for that individuality or patriotism, but may lead to problems of course.
The problem with lights is that if it doesn't look right on a police or military vessel (be it official or independent), questions might be asked of the pilot (in-RP that is). Real emergency vehicles will be strictly maintained and may not be altered by their drivers or passengers, that should of course apply in-RP. Basically, I don't want to be seeing a Liberty Cruiser looking like it's a mobile disco. A Luxury Liner could pull it off, and I honestly don't care what a pirate does because they're probably as mad a hatter anyway.
' Wrote:I'm rather against all this lighting pimping, actually.
Ships have the lights they do for a reason.
Oh come on, I've just changed lights on my werewolf from that ugly pink to a more Molly-ish gold (it's orange actually, but it basically looks like gold) with some bits of green. :P
I agree those huge strobes are really pushing it though, I just saw a Rogue gunboat in Alpha, all hardpoints filled by huge white strobes. Gross.
I also agree that engines shouldn't be changed. Or make it that way that you can't purchase Rheinland engines in Liberty, Bretonian in Kusari, etc. And maybe make more colour versions of the engines we already have, so there is something to choose from?
That brings me back to the lights, more colours please? :P
People need to learn to use this reasonably. Orange strobe lights on a DSE repair ship? Yes. Flashing red and blue lights on a LPI SWAT bomber? You bet. Liberty Navy battlecruiser with every type of light? No.
![[Image: CHI4y9i.png]](https://i.imgur.com/CHI4y9i.png)
