I believe that a mp Elite 4 would have to utilize a similar system of travelling in an instant, because if two people travelled to the same system, and one took 3 days game time and another took 7 days game time, how do you sort out the time difference? (Hope that made sense)
...and it's unavoidable.
PO:C&T: Foreword (Rich Backer) said:
The Combat & Tactics book is a compromise that adds some detail to combat - not to make it more realistic, but to make combat more believable.
What i really like in FFE - despite few rather obvious shortcomings, it has refreshing believability in many aspects. Once i even estimated combat range of ~1MW laser - and really, it should not be more than few kilometers.
Let's sum up dependences...
1) Particular kind of interstellar transportation stands behind the
Elite setting as such and especially First Encounters setting: uninterrupted FTL movement or much more predicable hyperjump would allow fleets to travel together, instead of arriving alone (to meet swarms based in target system). Which would lead to regular fleet vs. fleet battles, combat ship class diversification, and would change tactics, strategy, politics, economics and general appearance of in-game universe to the degree where it barely compatible with Elite spirit.
"Series of short intrasystem jumps" would allow to avoid contacts with agressive opponents easier than continual travel.
2) In
single player only there's no need of real-time (or synchronization). Hence "game time acceleration" is possible or it can just report "passed 3 days, jump finished". Which is done in FFE.
As
Moriarity already wrote, if multiplayer is assumed at least as an option, unified real-time or easy synchronization is required, hence both hyperjump and intrasystem travel must be relatively quick. Which is original Elite style (by lucky coincidence, or ..?).
► Therefore, if it's Elite and not strict single-player, we'll have more or less old Elite warp-physics: relatively quick Hyperjump with precision of +-6 AU in best cases and intrasystem travel with "spatial lens", j-drive (
SPEC-drive by VegaStrike terminology). I preferred "SPEC", since it points to the same, but says something... and there's possibilities of other "lens-like"
warpware (e.g. what about temporary expanding effective laser aperture diameter to 100 m with proportional maximum range of fire exchange? Or even "merely" having such [radio-]telescope?).
Piece of "believability": SPEC can even be made up fully compatible with law of conservation of momentum!
Just consider it multiplying effective (from external PoV) acceleration after activation via proportional temporary decrease of mass (
from external PoV) in working volume (if needed, rotation can be theologized off
).
This limitation can be sometimes violated, if alternative method is awkward and/or unreliable enough to remain exotic.
► However, such kinds of drives leaves very broad limits, and here can be even more specific features than with FFE long-time mechanics (like Hyperspace Cloud Analyzer).
For example, SPECs are susceptible to "mass-lock" by inert objects and "warp-lock" by other such devices' fields (otherwise combat would be either impossible or very strange). But then here could be
more susceptible and
less susceptible types of drives. And with different "compression ratio".
Of course, even small difference in such parameters can severely affect chase and intercept situations (and thus define tactics). Ship with greater
effective acceleration (K
SPEC x F
drive / M
ship) can run away from one with inferior acceleration, but not if SPEC is already locked...
3) TONS of fuel for fusion / fission reactor gives IMMENSE energy, and not only it has to be somehow used for jump, but if it will be used with efficiency noticeably less than 1.0 (though still utterly non-believable) it makes lots of heat, etc.
When hyperjump takes days (FFE) problem is not so great, but we can assume that even for "instant" hyperjump...
► ...drive have great, but
limited power - it can spend fuel
with some limited rate (preparation time for jump is proportional to fuel requirement for jump). Again, certain values can vary for different types of drive...
Preparation time means some vulnerability (ship cannot jump from combat at will), which can be augmented - e.g. with requirement to move inertially (shut off thrusters) while drive "digs" its hyperspace cloud.
BTW, if there's power source like FFE Military Drives, it would be funny to have electronuclear "afterburner" (turning Radioactives to Alloys) as "slow" power source (for intrasystem travel, weapons, etc).
You buy a fighter ship fitted with interplanetary drive and full of weapons, then pay for a ticket to an anarchist system
Well, there's two ways.
Limitation to discontinual and inaccurate jump as such does not requires warpdrive to travel with ship. Therefore, "hyperjump catapult" is healthy option. Even 1-use hyper-catapult for ejecting escape capsule
really far could be allowed (with appropriate size, mass and cost, of course).
On the other hand, large bulk carrier can carry small ships. E.g. pack of interceptors - again, without hyperdrives.
What do you think about gameplay if ships (the cheaper ones) are sold with interplanetary drive and the hyperdrives are much more expensive than the ones in Frontier/FFE?
I think it's sensible option, if there will be some in-system source of revenue (i mean,
resolvable without electron microscope).
