Problem 1: Players are not very motivated to wing up
Problem 2: When Players do wing up then they will typically only use 2 or 3 different ships for any given task (combat, exploration, or trade). There should be greater ship variety in what players fly.
Problem 3: Players complaining about poor FSD jump ranges of their favorite ships
Problem 4: FD obviously cant buff FSD the jump ranges of these ships without ing off half the community and breaking their vision for the game
I think I have an innovative solution that will give players incentives to play different ships, wing up and encourage teamwork, and stop complaining about ships that do not have large jump range. Allow wings to combine the power of their FSD drives and average it out. Let me give you guys a few examples of how this could work and if there is support for this I am more than willing to put in the time to work out all the finer mathematical details as well.
Example 1: You have a 700 Tons Conda (basically an unloaded trade conda) and a 1700 Ton T-9 (loaded full of cargo). With a 6A FSD the Conda is able to jump about 30 LY and the T9 is able to jump 13 LY. If they were to wing up, then they could jump together and effectively combine their FSD drives. Thus it would be the combine power of two 6A FSD powering a jump mass of 2400 Tons. Average this out and it comes out to be 1200 Tons for each FSD drive. That lowers the Conda's jump range to about 18 LY and increase the T-9 jump range to the same 18 LY. Effectively the Conda lost 12 LY from its jump range and the T-9 gained 5 LY for its jump range. These 2 ships are now able to travel together thanks to this.
This would not be limited to just 2 ships of course
Example 2: Let us say you had the same 700T Conda and 1700 T T-9 from Example 1 and they were suddenly joined by a Combat Corvette that weighed 1463 Tons. That Combat Corvette would have a jump range of exactly 15 LY by itself. The mass that is now jumping is equal to 700+1700+1463 = 3863 Tons and there are three 6A FSD drives at work. So that would mean each drive is only jumping 1288 Tons. Thus, the jump range of each ship would be somewhere around 17 LY. You can see that the Corvette would gainly only slightly, while the T9 would be the biggest benefactor, and the Conda would be the biggest loser.
Example 3: Now suppose that we have ships with different size FSD drives. Maybe it is a Battle Conda escorting an exploration ASP for example.
Battle Conda - 1225 Tons - 17.91 LY - 6A FSD
ASP Explorer - 382 Tons - 32.25 LY - 5A FSD
This changes things. Just because the ASP has a higher jump range does not mean it will be able to give the heavy Conda much of a Boost. After all, it is only a 5A FSD.
The optimal mass of a 5A FSD is 1050 Tons. The optimal mass of a 6A FSD is 1800 Tons. So it is then fair to say that the ASP's FSD has only 58% (1050/1800) of the power of the Conda's FSD.
So the calculation would be like this
1225 + 382 = 1607
1607 / 1.58 = 1017 Tons
Unfortunately 1017 Tons is too much for the ASP, so instead what would happen is the following.
1225 - 1017 = 208 Tons
382 + 208 Tons = 590 Tons
Basically, what is happening above, the ASP's FSD reduces the mass of the Conda
End result is the following:
590 Tons at 5A FSD range would be the new jump range of the ASP. This equals a jump range of 20.88 LY. Keep in mind the original jump range was 32.25 LY, so this is a loss of 11.3 LY for the ASP
1017 Tons at 6A FSD range would be the new jump range of the Conda. This equals a jump range of about 21.5 LY. The original jump range was 17.91 LY so this is a gain of only 3.6 LY
I can do the math for more scenarios if you would like me to
Being able to combine the power of FSD drives like this would enable us to have small fighters escorting large long range ships. It would mean that the next expedition 65,000 LY away can bring a fighter escort to defend them from hostile aliens. It would give players flying short range ships a reason to seek out and team up with players flying less nimble long range ships. It would bring more Variety to the game.
Problem 2: When Players do wing up then they will typically only use 2 or 3 different ships for any given task (combat, exploration, or trade). There should be greater ship variety in what players fly.
Problem 3: Players complaining about poor FSD jump ranges of their favorite ships
Problem 4: FD obviously cant buff FSD the jump ranges of these ships without ing off half the community and breaking their vision for the game
I think I have an innovative solution that will give players incentives to play different ships, wing up and encourage teamwork, and stop complaining about ships that do not have large jump range. Allow wings to combine the power of their FSD drives and average it out. Let me give you guys a few examples of how this could work and if there is support for this I am more than willing to put in the time to work out all the finer mathematical details as well.
Example 1: You have a 700 Tons Conda (basically an unloaded trade conda) and a 1700 Ton T-9 (loaded full of cargo). With a 6A FSD the Conda is able to jump about 30 LY and the T9 is able to jump 13 LY. If they were to wing up, then they could jump together and effectively combine their FSD drives. Thus it would be the combine power of two 6A FSD powering a jump mass of 2400 Tons. Average this out and it comes out to be 1200 Tons for each FSD drive. That lowers the Conda's jump range to about 18 LY and increase the T-9 jump range to the same 18 LY. Effectively the Conda lost 12 LY from its jump range and the T-9 gained 5 LY for its jump range. These 2 ships are now able to travel together thanks to this.
This would not be limited to just 2 ships of course
Example 2: Let us say you had the same 700T Conda and 1700 T T-9 from Example 1 and they were suddenly joined by a Combat Corvette that weighed 1463 Tons. That Combat Corvette would have a jump range of exactly 15 LY by itself. The mass that is now jumping is equal to 700+1700+1463 = 3863 Tons and there are three 6A FSD drives at work. So that would mean each drive is only jumping 1288 Tons. Thus, the jump range of each ship would be somewhere around 17 LY. You can see that the Corvette would gainly only slightly, while the T9 would be the biggest benefactor, and the Conda would be the biggest loser.
Example 3: Now suppose that we have ships with different size FSD drives. Maybe it is a Battle Conda escorting an exploration ASP for example.
Battle Conda - 1225 Tons - 17.91 LY - 6A FSD
ASP Explorer - 382 Tons - 32.25 LY - 5A FSD
This changes things. Just because the ASP has a higher jump range does not mean it will be able to give the heavy Conda much of a Boost. After all, it is only a 5A FSD.
The optimal mass of a 5A FSD is 1050 Tons. The optimal mass of a 6A FSD is 1800 Tons. So it is then fair to say that the ASP's FSD has only 58% (1050/1800) of the power of the Conda's FSD.
So the calculation would be like this
1225 + 382 = 1607
1607 / 1.58 = 1017 Tons
Unfortunately 1017 Tons is too much for the ASP, so instead what would happen is the following.
1225 - 1017 = 208 Tons
382 + 208 Tons = 590 Tons
Basically, what is happening above, the ASP's FSD reduces the mass of the Conda
End result is the following:
590 Tons at 5A FSD range would be the new jump range of the ASP. This equals a jump range of 20.88 LY. Keep in mind the original jump range was 32.25 LY, so this is a loss of 11.3 LY for the ASP
1017 Tons at 6A FSD range would be the new jump range of the Conda. This equals a jump range of about 21.5 LY. The original jump range was 17.91 LY so this is a gain of only 3.6 LY
I can do the math for more scenarios if you would like me to
Being able to combine the power of FSD drives like this would enable us to have small fighters escorting large long range ships. It would mean that the next expedition 65,000 LY away can bring a fighter escort to defend them from hostile aliens. It would give players flying short range ships a reason to seek out and team up with players flying less nimble long range ships. It would bring more Variety to the game.
