Black hole Content: Part 2, Interactivity (Hypercharging)

Following my other suggestion, this one goes hand in hand with one of the features discussed. Accretion Disks. This will add a whole new level to Black hole interactivity and purpose.

This is where I suggest another form of FSD Supercharging, or for this case. we will call it "FSD Hypercharge".


However, this process is different compared to normal means, it will require a little more skill and risk. here is how the process will perform;


-New FSD State added "Hypercharged"

-Where a Supercharged FSD will only last for one jump, a Hypercharge will last for 3 more jumps, at a lower jump boost (+200%)

-Can stack with Supercharging stars, however the FSD will take a damage penalty bonus from "overstress". Will NOT however stack with other Hypercharges.

-Black holes are rare, this just makes the a more valuable asset for traveling across the Galaxy, gives people an incentive to find them.

-New Hud indicators added for this specific system to guide players.

-To Hypercharge, one must have a fuel scoop equipped.

-Those wishing to Hypercharge must carefully enter the Accretion disk's field, too sharp will cause FSD Dropout in what is possibly a VERY dangerous environment (can be escaped, but expect a lot of hull and heat damage)

- The Player must then follow the Accretion disk around the Black hole until charged (only for about 30 seconds or so).

-The player must maintain a set angle from the Black hole, too much lean inwards will pull you in, causing hull damage, too much lean outwards will forfeit the boost.

-Player will be buffered during this process in a simular way to Jet Cones, however the player has more control and can counter easily.

-During this process, unlike Supercharging where only the FSD is damaged. ALL modules will take gradual damage with this process. at a lesser degree as you are operating longer in the field.

- once process is complete, the player can exit through a certain exit angle. this will also slingshot the player into high supercruise speed, just as a fun bonus.

-For the one supermassive black hole we know, Sagittarius A, This process is amplified. both positively and negatively

-For Sagittarius, jump range is increased by +500-600% for 5 jumps. (this is somewhat balanced as it IS the only one of it's kind in the Galaxy)

-However, Module damage is significantly increased. and;

-pull forces are more drastic.



So there you have it, an entirely new, dedicated system to make Black holes MUCH more engaging and dangerous. I didn't want this to be a safe little boost that you can do by simply flying through a stream...oh no, with risk comes reward. if you are willing to take this risk, and put in the skill...you shall have it. It's a Black Hole for crying out loud... it should NOT be a cake walk.


This will ultimately create a new found use for black holes, either for people seeking a little excitement (how long can you stay in the field for?), a little boost from A-B, or a reason to see these visual wonders and be rewarded. THIS is your system!


Who else thinks this is an awesome idea?
 
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I like this idea. Not entirely sure if it's really needed, but the mechanic you suggest seem quite amusing. Using the accretion disk as the boost material is clever, as black holes do not radiate almost anything (beside some weird virtual particle from quantum fluctuation - Hawking radiation).

The only problem I found, from a scientifical point of view, is that stellar mass black holes are lot more dangerous than supermassive black holes, so the boost in SagA* do not fit well. The tidal forces near a stellar mass black hole are expected to be tremendous, turn in what we call spaghettification. On the contrary, which is quite counterintuitive, around supermassive black holes things goes smoother, due to more gradual gravitational increments.

So, I suggest that boost should be given by the kind of material in the accretion disk (if exist one! Not every BH has one...). This way, the balance will be given by the fact that stellar mass BH are extremely more numerous than bigger BH: they give worst condition and probably more damage if something goes wrong, but they are not hard to find. Bigger BH are extremely rare, so the fact that they give a smooth, pleasant scoop is a good bonus, to me.
 
Accretion disk;

An accretion disk is a structure (often a circumstellar disk) formed by diffused material in orbital motion around a massive central body. The central body is typically a star. Friction causes orbiting material in the disk to spiral inward towards the central body.

Fuel scoops are magnetic fields designed to funnel the charged solar plasma into the fuel intake.

1) An accretion disk is composed of normal matter, you can't funnel it into the fuel intake with a magnetic field.

2) Even if you could funnel a mass of probably mixed elements into the fuel intake it would only fill the fuel tank with various elements from hydrogen to all the way up to heavy metals, that's hardly going to power your ship.

If you can come up with a reasonable proposal as to why a black hole accretion disk should power up your FSD that's fine, but all that is going to happen if you charge into an accretion disk at any sort of decent speed with a fuel scoop deployed is that your ship is going to burn up and explode.

Some sort of game play around accretion disks is quite imaginable, maybe using a matter scoop to gather and separate the materials as an alternative to mining possibly, but using real world physics this idea is a no starter.
 
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Accretion disk;



Fuel scoops are magnetic fields designed to funnel the charged solar plasma into the fuel intake.

1) An accretion disk is composed of normal matter, you can't funnel it into the fuel intake with a magnetic field.

2) Even if you could funnel a mass of probably mixed elements into the fuel intake it would only fill the fuel tank with various elements from hydrogen to all the way up to heavy metals, that's hardly going to power your ship.

If you can come up with a reasonable proposal as to why a black hole accretion disk should power up your FSD that's fine, but all that is going to happen if you charge into an accretion disk at any sort of decent speed with a fuel scoop deployed is that your ship is going to burn up and explode.

Some sort of game play around accretion disks is quite imaginable, maybe using a matter scoop to gather and separate the materials as an alternative to mining possibly, but using real world physics this idea is a no starter.


I did kinda know that, but yeah you are right. I was just trying to come up with an interactive aspect that would be cool... but yeah, science prevails doesn't it.

It is a Si-fi game afterall, can we just say "the gravity interacts with {insert Made up science name} to make the ship jump faster"? :D

Actually, FSDs operate off mass do they not (the reason why the slow down in proximity of objects, could this not play a factor if we can think of a reason as to how?
 
I did kinda know that, but yeah you are right. I was just trying to come up with an interactive aspect that would be cool... but yeah, science prevails doesn't it.

It is a Si-fi game afterall, can we just say "the gravity interacts with {insert Made up science name} to make the ship jump faster"? :D

Actually, FSDs operate off mass do they not (the reason why the slow down in proximity of objects, could this not play a factor if we can think of a reason as to how?

The greater the gravitational field the slower you can go in SC. Hyperdrive is essentially unaffected by gravity in theory because of the greater energy you are applying to the jump.

I am up for a reason, but it would need to fit with current ED technology and physics, if you can do that then sure I will support it, I prefer a universe as consistent as possible, this means trying to keep the handwavium to only essential purposes. I can't see a way to increase jump range using accretion disks, any method should work just as well without them since they are essentially just a ring of matter around a black hole, it's the black hole that has all the energy, albeit locked away from us behind the event horizon.
 
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