Let's look at a feature that hasn't changed much since the game launched: Jumping between systems. Currently, it works as nothing more than a tedious loading screen and you know, that's fine for some people, but I would like to propose some changes.
Say I want to go somewhere 5 jumps away, and assume I have enough fuel. The way it works now, I would have to aim my ship at the next star, press the jump button, wait for it to load, wait for the countdown, wait for the loading screen, then wait for 10 seconds before I can start charging my FSD again, rinse and repeat. It gets old really fast.
Now, what would happen if we could make chained jumps? What I mean by this is, instead of dropping at the next star, our ship would stay in witchspace, making all the jumps automatically until it runs our of fuel. This way, instead of having to go through 4 (from the example above) loading screens for no reason, we'd just have to go through one. Additionally, with this system, it would give you a reason to put more fuel tanks in your ships (cos let's be honest, right now it's way better to just put an adequately sized fuel scoop in your ship).
Want to make it a bit more challenging? Ok, then make it into an interdiction-like minigame. It could also be a great way to implement those rogue planets FDev talked about back in the Kickstarter; a second vector could pop up from time to time, and if you follow it instead of the next star's you'll find a rogue planet... or perhaps something else! My suggestion is simply giving us the option to make this kind of jumps. They way I see it, you'd have 2 ways of travelling:
- Traditional jumps: Safer, takes more time.
- Chained jumps: Riskier (failure would damage your ship or make you lose fuel), takes less time, chance to find hidden stuff in interstellar space, easier to screw up (if your destination is not scoopable you may be in trouble, you gotta pay more attention).
Say I want to go somewhere 5 jumps away, and assume I have enough fuel. The way it works now, I would have to aim my ship at the next star, press the jump button, wait for it to load, wait for the countdown, wait for the loading screen, then wait for 10 seconds before I can start charging my FSD again, rinse and repeat. It gets old really fast.
Now, what would happen if we could make chained jumps? What I mean by this is, instead of dropping at the next star, our ship would stay in witchspace, making all the jumps automatically until it runs our of fuel. This way, instead of having to go through 4 (from the example above) loading screens for no reason, we'd just have to go through one. Additionally, with this system, it would give you a reason to put more fuel tanks in your ships (cos let's be honest, right now it's way better to just put an adequately sized fuel scoop in your ship).
Want to make it a bit more challenging? Ok, then make it into an interdiction-like minigame. It could also be a great way to implement those rogue planets FDev talked about back in the Kickstarter; a second vector could pop up from time to time, and if you follow it instead of the next star's you'll find a rogue planet... or perhaps something else! My suggestion is simply giving us the option to make this kind of jumps. They way I see it, you'd have 2 ways of travelling:
- Traditional jumps: Safer, takes more time.
- Chained jumps: Riskier (failure would damage your ship or make you lose fuel), takes less time, chance to find hidden stuff in interstellar space, easier to screw up (if your destination is not scoopable you may be in trouble, you gotta pay more attention).
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