General FSD w/ Overcharger - Engineering is needed

[Dragsham]

I've experimented with the sco as a smugglers tool. Now those short range hops from mission source to neighbouring system yes l can see a use. Especially if the destination is far from the parent star.
But for more distant missions no. The fuel use negates it completely.
As for multidrop, again no. I'm talking sheer practicality here. And for others it might well be a boon.
But future engineered A rated scos with temp controlled and not so wobbly, yeah l can defo see a slot for smuggling and the sco drive.

 

[midnight void]

But future engineered A rated scos with temp controlled and not so wobbly, yeah l can defo see a slot for smuggling and the sco drive.

what the use for old FSDs then, if may i ask?

 

[DemiserofD]

I do think it's fantastic for what it offers, but I wouldn't be averse to it getting engineering. The range on it basically prohibits travel entirely in many cases. Even with a high-grade FSD booster, you're still looking at very slow travel across multiple systems. No problem if you've got a FC, of course, but still a bit frustrating.

Engineering of C grade OR A-grade without engineering, either would be nice.

 

[varonica]

what the use for old FSDs then, if may i ask?

Yeah, an FSD that's the same in every way to existing drives, but with SCO, can't see how that can be criticised, we just throw out every other FSD and only use one so FDEV now have a pile of old legacy modules in their game that nobody ever touches, I can see that must be the plan. You do indeed make a good point.

 

[SergMx]

I think the heavy downsides are on purpose:

1. It is a prototype, and engineers will only follow after the final product.
2. Fdev wants to see how people use it before refining it, and there are plans already.
3. I can imagine we get another Titan CG where we collect more/other material for an improved version.
4. This is meant as a short boost only, and then it's actually fine.
5. The chaotic movement will probably stay so gankers cannot close the interdiction gap too easily.
6. It can also be used to get away from interdictions if you watch your six in the radar and do short boosts in some random directions like a rabbit.
7. Maybe this drive will be needed to interdict Thargoids in the future?
8. Will the future Python Mk2 secret have anything to do with it?

I think we should let it settle for a while before demanding any quality of life improvements.

I'm enjoying the Zefram Cochrane moment at least.

That's a bit of a misnomer. I'm surprised no one is paying attention to the fact that this engine is easy to get, even costing it cheap.

That's right, it's a protip, it was made for testing, after a while this modification will just be added to ALL engines in the game and that's it.

I don't know if it will be a brutal grind or just a gift.

 

[DjVortex]

Hasn't the game suffered from power creep enough already?

Back in the good old days the absolute maximum jump range you could get with any ship was about 45 LY. Nowadays you can get past the 80 LY mark. (And that's not even taking into account FSD injection and neutron star supercharging.)

I think astonishing supercruise speed being balanced by heavy drawbacks is fine. You just have to learn how to use the new SCO properly. You don't keep it constantly on, you use it in bursts. You "ration" your fuel and heat. It still helps enormously getting out of gravity wells extremely fast, and will help you traverse moderate distances (1-100 kls) significantly faster than normally, and with relatively moderate fuel consumption.

Would I want something better than a C-rated version. Maybe an A-rated one? Sure. I wouldn't be complaining about it. But it sure would start feeling like power creep again...

 

[SergMx]

Hasn't the game suffered from power creep enough already?

Back in the good old days the absolute maximum jump range you could get with any ship was about 45 LY. Nowadays you can get past the 80 LY mark. (And that's not even taking into account FSD injection and neutron star supercharging.)

I think astonishing supercruise speed being balanced by heavy drawbacks is fine. You just have to learn how to use the new SCO properly. You don't keep it constantly on, you use it in bursts. You "ration" your fuel and heat. It still helps enormously getting out of gravity wells extremely fast, and will help you traverse moderate distances (1-100 kls) significantly faster than normally, and with relatively moderate fuel consumption.

Would I want something better than a C-rated version. Maybe the an A-rated one? Sure. I wouldn't be complaining about it. But it sure would start feeling like power creep again...

I don't know about the rest of you, but I personally won't use it as a substitute for a real FSD. Since it does not carry real game functions for me, so a bonus. I can and fly wait 1-2 minutes than fly 10 seconds.

If there will be any SG where it will be necessary to fly 10000 I will take it, but only for one of these tasks.

 

[CMDR Daiyus]

I definitely agree we'll need engineering on these at some point, and I hope it's introduced narratively. The jump range on a stock C class is just a little too limiting for my tastes, but I wouldn't want to see an A or B rated version, there has to be trade-offs, such as engineering bonuses being lower too (a G5 long-range Sirius should jump further than a G5 long-range Achilles). The Sirius FSD should be absolute king of jump range, these Achilles modules are focused on Supercruise, and it should stay that way, engineering or not.

To be honest, even without engineering, adding a Guardian FSD booster gets most builds I've looked at into perfectly usable territory, not great, but not broken or outright bad. An AX build that cannot use the guardian tech due the the anti-guardian fields is left with an uncomfortably short jump range as it stands though.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

From what it see its designed to get you through in-system travel quicker, not travel between systems quicker. So its a trade off. If there is to be engineering, i think it will be more about engineering the overcharge aspect rather than the jump range. Less fuel use, more stability, less heat generation, etc.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

From what it see its designed to get you through in-system travel quicker, not travel between systems quicker. So its a trade off. If there is to be engineering, i think it will be more about engineering the overcharge aspect rather than the jump range. Less fuel use, more stability, less heat generation, etc.

Must say I'm ok with it. I don't see an issue with the overdrive aspect of it making it incompatible with engineering but an A rated one would be nice. Considering that this seems to be focused on in system travel it'll probably be used for mission runners and as an option for short range trade runs.

Although even having tested this on one of my FdLs with no additional fuel tanks, it's still a good option for burning through the inner part of the system where you're slowed by a stars gravity to about 1000ls away.

 

[Winterwalker]

I definitely agree we'll need engineering on these at some point, and I hope it's introduced narratively. The jump range on a stock C class is just a little too limiting for my tastes, but I wouldn't want to see an A or B rated version, there has to be trade-offs, such as engineering bonuses being lower too (a G5 long-range Sirius should jump further than a G5 long-range Achilles). The Sirius FSD should be absolute king of jump range, these Achilles modules are focused on Supercruise, and it should stay that way, engineering or not.

To be honest, even without engineering, adding a Guardian FSD booster gets most builds I've looked at into perfectly usable territory, not great, but not broken or outright bad. An AX build that cannot use the guardian tech due the the anti-guardian fields is left with an uncomfortably short jump range as it stands though.

+1 above. Keeping it as a C class but allowing engineering makes a lot of sense to me. I like how the jumponium boost synthesis has been added in to the module screen too, that doubles your jump range.

 

[Cosmo]

That's right, it's a protip, it was made for testing, after a while this modification will just be added to ALL engines in the game and that's it.

I don't know if it will be a brutal grind or just a gift.

That would be a great improvement for all pilots.

 

[aRJay]

That's a bit of a misnomer. I'm surprised no one is paying attention to the fact that this engine is easy to get, even costing it cheap.

That's right, it's a protip, it was made for testing, after a while this modification will just be added to ALL engines in the game and that's it.

I don't know if it will be a brutal grind or just a gift.

That would be a great improvement for all pilots.

But as the different types of FSD are produced by rival companies that is unlikely to happen. I like that this is introducing more diversity into the games ship build choices.

I can see that after it is out of prototyping other grades and/or engineering could become available but I hope that they are focussed more on what is special about this module rather than homogenising it.

 

[hurikhan77]

Maybe we can get a version of it jumping directly to smaller objects in a system instead of just the heaviest? At the cost of a much reduced jump range of course: The focus of the drive has to come with a trade-off, and the focus is clearly supercruise travel. Jumping directly to smaller objects in a different system could, e.g., get you out of the jump at increasingly higher heat levels the smaller the object: That's the cost of such a jump.

 

[aRJay]

Maybe we can get a version of it jumping directly to smaller objects in a system instead of just the heaviest? At the cost of a much reduced jump range of course: The focus of the drive has to come with a trade-off, and the focus is clearly supercruise travel. Jumping directly to smaller objects in a different system could, e.g., get you out of the jump at increasingly higher heat levels the smaller the object: That's the cost of such a jump.

The penalty is too trivial for that level of shortcutting.

So I suggest that if this was added the further you are jumping the larger the destination object needs to be.

 

[Cosmo]

Maybe we can get a version of it jumping directly to smaller objects in a system instead of just the heaviest? At the cost of a much reduced jump range of course: The focus of the drive has to come with a trade-off, and the focus is clearly supercruise travel. Jumping directly to smaller objects in a different system could, e.g., get you out of the jump at increasingly higher heat levels the smaller the object: That's the cost of such a jump.

Jumping directly to specific planets would drastically speed-up space travel and exploration. I think it's a good idea, but it should be significantly more costly (fuel) than regular jump to star.

 

[hurikhan77]

The penalty is too trivial for that level of shortcutting.

So I suggest that if this was added the further you are jumping the larger the destination object needs to be.

I don't mean jumping inside a system but only jumping to another system but directly to a celestial body. The smaller such a body is, the higher should be the penalty. Gas giants are already vastly smaller than the usual star, so the penalty would be high for gas giants already. But yes, maybe we should not be able to jump directly to moons of a gas giant? Because the gas giant dominates the gravity field of its satellites?

This would also mean you'd probably need to refuel if fuel costs are very high, so after 1 or 2 such jumps, you would be out of fuel.

 

[Aris Tarkus]

I am a bit more inclined to think the new ships coming out are going to be better equipped to handle the SCO drive. Built in better heat control, increased fuel capacity and so on. Probably with a limited number of internal slots to compensate for the added heat/fuel issues.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

I think the heavy downsides are on purpose:

1. 
   
2. I can imagine we get another Titan CG where we collect more/other material for an improved version.

I seriously hope not. That would - for me - suck because I've stayed pretty much completely clear of the whole Thargoid thing and it would mean some serious grind to any of my ships up to snuff.

 

[aRJay]

I seriously hope not. That would - for me - suck because I've stayed pretty much completely clear of the whole Thargoid thing and it would mean some serious grind to any of my ships up to snuff.

Yes if it was an individual unlock or worse buy from a trader, but if it was a CG like the last one which lead to a global unlock/introduction of the new module that should be fine.