Are indestructable Space Stations realistic?

Ulysses_W · May 28, 2014

With the number of players we've had writing off their Lakons while either entering and exiting a space station, wouldn't it be logical that the station itself would incur a certain of damage that would render it inaccessible while repairs take place? I'd at least expect the toast rack to suffer some damage because it does look so flimsy.

Thoughts anyone?

Aleksej · May 28, 2014

Not realistic but this is one way to deal with griefers who would like to destroy the station.

Ulysses_W · May 28, 2014

Aleksej said:
Not realistic but this is one way to deal with griefers who would like to destroy the station.

<sighs> Yeah, I suppose there is that.

usernametaken · May 28, 2014

It is one of the reasons why I think a ship only slightly smaller than the docking port is a little unlikely. I understand the panama canal paralells people make, that people make boats just wide enough to go through for commercial reasons, but cocking up driving a boat down a canal does not (so far) result in the planet exploding.

Making a mess of trying to dock with a space station could result in massive loss of life (as well as a massive commercial loss). I think regulations would be in place to disallow ships over a certain size, and certainly not manually docked over a certain size.

But hey, where's the fun in that!

popuptoaster · May 28, 2014

A station is big, does not have to worry about it's mass to much (around it's central axis anyway) and does not have to be manoeuvrable, that front plate around the door could be 20 meter thick solid titanium as well as having shields for all we know.

You'd have trouble denting that with a nuke let alone a flying box full of air, meat and electronics

Cmdr Eagleboy · May 28, 2014

It's realistic. It's huge, newest materials known to human, certainly have force fields in certain areas.

usernametaken · May 28, 2014

popuptoaster said:
You'd have trouble denting that with a nuke let alone a flying box full of air, meat and electronics

Flotsam could be a big issue. If not for the station then for other commercial traffic. Sure, it could be cleaned up, but it would sure pose a hazzard for a period.

Colonel Kenney · May 28, 2014

I think there is no purpose to taking out stations at all really. Nothing to plunder really.

Unless this is a faction war type thing. Plus you'd think a station defenses would be the best there could be and would take some seriously large ships to take it out.

Aleksej · May 28, 2014

Pecisk said:
It's realistic. It's huge, newest materials known to human, certainly have force fields in certain areas.

While the station might be well secured from outside it might not be secured from inside at all. And still I think that with enough firepower realistically the station could have been destroyed.

technome · May 28, 2014

Well, it may not be totally realistic but I'd expect the main structural members of the stations (including the frameworks supporting docking apertures) to be massively over-engineered specifically because they will have been designed to shrug off the not-so-gentle caresses of overly amorous, barely competent space-cow jockeys.

That said, it would be cool to see repair crews working with cutting and welding torches for a limited time after such incidents.

Yaffle · May 28, 2014

usernametaken said:
Flotsam could be a big issue. If not for the station then for other commercial traffic. Sure, it could be cleaned up, but it would sure pose a hazzard for a period.

Indeed. The temporary fix on this at the moment is that ship remains don't do damage to other ships, (and seem to vanish, at least I've never seen any actually despawn but we'd be knee deep in the stuff by now) and cargo canisters degrade over a time period. Also no ship can drop more than 20 cans.

Ulysses_W · May 28, 2014

Colonel Kenney said:
I think there is no purpose to taking out stations at all really. Nothing to plunder really.

Unless this is a faction war type thing. Plus you'd think a station defenses would be the best there could be and would take some seriously large ships to take it out.

I'm not suggesting that the station be taken out completely, but rather have it closed for a while, while repairs take place.

Maxeren · May 28, 2014

Toggit said:
I'm not suggesting that the station be taken out completely, but rather have it closed for a while, while repairs take place.

People will just continue to blow it up, so no one can land there... if its possible in the game, they will do it!

Andrew Sayers · May 28, 2014

Toggit said:
wouldn't it be logical that the station itself would incur a certain of damage that would render it inaccessible while repairs take place?

Colliding with the superstructure doesn't bother me, but one time I rammed a lamp post and it didn't even blink. Admittedly I was only doing it to see what would happen, but I still sat there thinking "can I have a ship made out of lamp posts?"

On a larger scale, I like the idea a station could accrue damage used by the Factions and Causes system. Too many busted Lakons and they start generating missions to fetch spare parts.

warbaby2 · May 28, 2014

Maxeren said:
People will just continue to blow it up, so no one can land there... if its possible in the game, they will do it!

Yup... besides, people will find enough stuff to break/abuse in the game already, no need to make it easier for them.

From a lore standpoint: I doubt there will be any sub cap-ship weapons in the game that can really threaten the shielding/armor of a station, they are built of layers upon layers of metal and concreet... a structure like that can take a great deal of punishment... I like the idea of repair missions to keep highly contested stations running, though.

Ramireza · May 28, 2014

Solution :

Of course they are destructable, but not by the weapons players can own/use

Yaffle · May 28, 2014

warbaby2 said:
From a lore standpoint: I doubt there will be any sub cap-ship weapons in the game that can really threaten the shielding/armor of a station, they are built of layers upon layers of metal and concreet... a structure like that can take a great deal of punishment... I like the idea of repair missions to keep highly contested stations running, though.

Also they can have a hundred gajillion units of shield generators powered by a highly protected massive powerplant.

I've no "immersion" issues in making them indestructible to players.

Ajiro · May 28, 2014

Yaffle said:
Also they can have a hundred gajillion units of shield generators powered by a highly protected massive powerplant.

I've no "immersion" issues in making them indestructible to players.

I agree, you could have big groups of people going around and blowin stations up while ruining it for the new players.

Mephane · May 28, 2014

In my opinion major changes like the construction or destruction of a space station should only ever happened through stuff like injected events, no player or group of players should be able to destroy one under normal circumstances; the temptation would simply be too large for not just griefers, but all kinds of players who'd like to see world burn now and then just for "the lulz".

Ulysses_W · May 28, 2014

Mephane said:
In my opinion major changes like the construction or destruction of a space station should only ever happened through stuff like injected events, no player or group of players should be able to destroy one under normal circumstances; the temptation would simply be too large for not just griefers, but all kinds of players who'd like to see world burn now and then just for "the lulz".

I have absolutely no problem with this at all!! But I do think it'd be great if a commander was to turn up with a cargo full of PG Tips ready to make the sale of a lifetime, only to find that the station was down for repair for a day or two.