Does Life Support Mass Imply Cabin/Crew Space?

[Ralph Vargr]

In light of the recent "leak", the disproportionate mass needed for life support, of limited duration, might have a reason.

What if the entire life support was not dedicated to the Remlok suit, and the bridge? What if it included all areas of the ship, that needed "shirtsleeve" access?

"A" class life support might mean quite comfy quarters, for example. "E" might be steerage quality.

A look at the passenger modules might be of use, for comparison.

 

[Watcher]

I think we'd have to assume it means a larger volume of ship than just the bridge supported.

Then again I think they'll need to rework what the life support system means and how it affects gameplay if they go with spacelegs.
At the very least having such a short duration on the remlock suit is going to be super restrictive and a bit odd in many cases - I suspect detaching how long you can survive in the remlock suit versus how long you have life support in ship seems like a first move. Probably want to not blow up the ship if you run out of air in the ship as well, have other consequences - like passanger death perhaps, risk to crew? Anyway, time for a rework

 

[Vasious]

I never assumed any connection to a game mechanic but always imaged A rated life support had better amenities

 

[RamirezKurita]

An interesting idea, however it doesn't line up with game mechanics at all. The only thing that life support grade currently affects is the emergency air supply to our suits, all other general life support is integral to the ship design.

Although this does get rather confusing in some cases, such as where the Beluga requires life support that is 123x the mass to achieve the same paltry 25 minutes of air that a Sidewinder can.

Ultimately, just like sensors, it is a tax on larger ships rather than a realistic game mechanic.

 

[CMDR Carbo]

I think we'd have to assume it means a larger volume of ship than just the bridge supported.

Then again I think they'll need to rework what the life support system means and how it affects gameplay if they go with spacelegs.
At the very least having such a short duration on the remlock suit is going to be super restrictive and a bit odd in many cases - I suspect detaching how long you can survive in the remlock suit versus how long you have life support in ship seems like a first move. Probably want to not blow up the ship if you run out of air in the ship as well, have other consequences - like passanger death perhaps, risk to crew? Anyway, time for a rework

Hah. Imagine players land on a rocky planet and go for a walk with space legs, but misscalculate the oxygen reserves and BAM, their ship explodes and they are facing a rebuy screen.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

For the time being it's just an arbitrary stat that governs Equipment cost and balances weight and Ship size.

Similar to a T9 gaining 256tons Cargo capacity out of thin air, they could easily assign a Class 8 Life Support to a Sidewinder. It just wouldn't make any sense in that case.

 

[zimms]

I don't think it implies anything. We also have ridiculously heavy sensors.

 

[Watcher]

Hah. Imagine players land on a rocky planet and go for a walk with space legs, but misscalculate the oxygen reserves and BAM, their ship explodes and they are facing a rebuy screen.

Or the ships goes bam and you don't face a rebuy screen - have to stay on the planet till rescued
I suspect that wouldn't be very fun though... Probably... Then again it might explain the base building?...

 

[Watcher]

I don't think it implies anything. We also have ridiculously heavy sensors.

Yes the sensors are interesting... I did a post somewhere about the number of sidewinders (with A rated sensors) you ought to be able to fit in your sensor bay on some of the bigger ships - it got a bit silly. Up shot is you'd generally be better of welding several sidewinders to your hull if you can.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Or the ships goes bam and you don't face a rebuy screen - have to stay on the planet till rescued
I suspect that wouldn't be very fun though... Probably... Then again it might explain the base building?...

Rescue Dogs?

 

[Ralph Vargr]

An interesting idea, however it doesn't line up with game mechanics at all. The only thing that life support grade currently affects is the emergency air supply to our suits, all other general life support is integral to the ship design.

Although this does get rather confusing in some cases, such as where the Beluga requires life support that is 123x the mass to achieve the same paltry 25 minutes of air that a Sidewinder can.

Ultimately, just like sensors, it is a tax on larger ships rather than a realistic game mechanic.

Correct, it's a built in penalty, but now there is a reason for LS to have significance.

 

[RamirezKurita]

Correct, it's a built in penalty, but now there is a reason for LS to have significance.

True, but it still doesn't make sense for luxury to be related to life support itself, if conditions are amicable to life, then that's all that's required. Comfy seats and automated kitchens aren't really related to life support (however, the extra size penalty for first-class and luxury cabins would account for the extras required for luxuries beyond basic requirements).

If anything, I'd rather if they simply made life support actually provide direct mechanical bonuses and failsafes beyond simply slightly increased oxygen supply. For example, making the oxygen capacity scale with LS class, but make the duration depend on the amount of crew and passengers (maybe proportional to the square root of the number of passengers, possibly with further weighting for air quality as there's a difference between survivable and comfortable).

For example, a class 4C LS could provide backup oxygen for 10 minutes when flying solo, 7-odd minutes with a crew member in a Krait MkII or a little under a minute for a fully-laden Python of economy cabins. This wouldn't cause problems for the dedicated passenger ships, as even the lowly Dolphin has a class 4 LS slot, while the Beluga has a colossal class 8 LS(assuming normal scaling, this means 16x the supply than the class 4).

Further differentiation between models could also be relating to the number of escape pods, with escape pods past the first generally only being available in higher grades or class 6+. This would encourage the usage of class B for combat ships to ensure enough escape pods for the crew, while passenger ships would typically want to invest in an A-grade LS for their passengers.

This concept could be taken further with certain passengers demanding certain safety margins, such as a minimum of 5 minutes of emergency air or even to have sufficient escape pods for luxury passengers.

Actually making them scale, rather than simply a tax on bit ships, would also make it more balanced for players to be able to install undersized life supports on their ships. Sure, you could install that class 1D life support on your passenger Anaconda, but don't complain when the smallest of incidents results in the majority of your passengers dying...

 

[Morbad]

Waste processing.