Currently, there's quite, quite a lot of systems with far-off planetary bodies one would like to visit but, 30000 ls and more range discourages all but the faint of heart. (At the same time, explorers kinda like having those far-off places be challenging to visit, gives some cred to those discoverers who -went there-). With space stations appearing 'way out there', there's a definite need for a better way to get there, when even Supercruising takes too long. It's why one of the frequently requested things is an in-system hyperjump, or some form of improved supercruising (Megacruising?)
This post is a proposal with the following goals:
-Have something to accelerate those long trips, yes.
-Don't make things quite as easy as in-system jumps. (So it's still a challenge to hit those far-off places)
-Let's make it more fun than in-system jumps or megacruising: We reference the 'Gravity Slingshot' to please the space geek in all of us.
In the current state of FSDs, a gravity slingshot isn't feasible since we lose acceleration and deceleration in the vincinity of gravity wells (Which is a superb design decision to make maneuvering more agile near bodies, less further away, and gives us more speed only when we really need it, it is beautiful). This proposal is NOT to make gravity slingshots an accidental thing that happens during regular supercruise! That would be too much trouble to implement, interfere with the current elegant supercruise system, and generally be a bad idea.
Rather, it makes sense to let a computer calculate your speeds and trajectories during a high-speed slingshot, and for it to only be possible by 'altering' the supercruise frame shift for a short while so gravity affects it differently. So let's imagine a device that we will for now call the Frame Altering Slingshot Tunnel drive. (Feel free to come up with better acronyms than a FAST drive)
The device -would- require a specific module weighing a few tons (Since it adds a new feature and calculator to frame shift drives, see?) so it's something to consider when equipping the ship, it's game purpose is to give you a solid starting boost of 100 to 5000 Cs to hit those far-off places in a more reasonable amount of time. (plus slingshot fun, of course)
The 'game working' I picture for this would be for the device to only function when 5-10 Ls away from a star or gas giant or suitably massive gravity well. (A bit of autodetecting nearby heavy bodies could come in handy to simplify use)
Step 1: Assuming autodetect confirms there's a nearby valid body to use, point the device like a gun to a far-off planetary body (at MINIMUM 5000 Ls away would be a guesstimate of a safe minimum, could be higher) and hold the appropriate fire button, this would increase a meter for the 'goal' speed, maybe 200 to 5000 Cs (higher if you purchased a better FAST drive?) That's the targeted 'launch' speed after the slingshot. Let go of the fire button and the unit is ready for step 2...
Step 2: The unit will now indicate a target heading towards the edge of the chosen gravity well, (much like when you're frame-shifting away from a star or roid belt) point the ship to it and speed up. This'll trigger the unit to control the ship and launch into the slingshot. Now, there's not many devices that take away control from the player, plus there's some tricky parts about collision detection with nearby moons and planets close to the gas giant/star... So this 'target the trajectory' approach simplifies things a lot. Hopefully the slingshot approach vector isn't too hard to calculate: aim past the edge of the gravity well at a smart distance, away from the target planetary body.
Step 3: Since the unit is controlling the ship, give a short sequence of the ship flying at hair-raising speeds near and past the gravity well, (we space geeks want to see our slingshot flybys, don't we?) and the ship then boom away at the speed that was chosen in step 1, crazy fast but regular supercruise and control come back into play. Nearby bodies -would- slow you down, but when close to gravity wells, we don't lose speed quickly. So the regular frame shift and control schemes should be safe to reuse now, only with a desirable initial high speed to help visit those far-off places insystem.
Granted, if you set your speed too high and the device aims well enough, it might well crash you into that sun you wanted to visit. Who said all exploration devices should be -safe- to use?
And now for fun, a touch of technobabble: Regular frame shifting doesn't accelerate or decelerate well near gravity wells, so slingshotting makes no sense! Right? Right, it makes no sense in regular supercruising frame shifting, keyword: regular... A FAST unit doesn't use regular supercruising. Some eggheads figured a way to play with the -interface- when switching from regular speed to supercruising, which is normally kept in the millisecond range to avoid undesirable effects on the ship. Some of those undesirable effects are harnessed by the FAST unit, which pulses the ship in and out of the interface along a tunnel bent by gravity, and the normally counterproductive gravity is countered by the opposite centrifugal force, 'fooling' the frame shift drive into supercruising at much, much higher initial speeds than normally feasible.
Their current test drones hit as high as 20k Cs, but resulted in the drones falling apart due to gravity stresses. It's still new technology. Use a FAST unit at your own risk.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is my wee dream of something more fun than insystem drives, thank you for reading.
This post is a proposal with the following goals:
-Have something to accelerate those long trips, yes.
-Don't make things quite as easy as in-system jumps. (So it's still a challenge to hit those far-off places)
-Let's make it more fun than in-system jumps or megacruising: We reference the 'Gravity Slingshot' to please the space geek in all of us.
In the current state of FSDs, a gravity slingshot isn't feasible since we lose acceleration and deceleration in the vincinity of gravity wells (Which is a superb design decision to make maneuvering more agile near bodies, less further away, and gives us more speed only when we really need it, it is beautiful). This proposal is NOT to make gravity slingshots an accidental thing that happens during regular supercruise! That would be too much trouble to implement, interfere with the current elegant supercruise system, and generally be a bad idea.
Rather, it makes sense to let a computer calculate your speeds and trajectories during a high-speed slingshot, and for it to only be possible by 'altering' the supercruise frame shift for a short while so gravity affects it differently. So let's imagine a device that we will for now call the Frame Altering Slingshot Tunnel drive. (Feel free to come up with better acronyms than a FAST drive)
The device -would- require a specific module weighing a few tons (Since it adds a new feature and calculator to frame shift drives, see?) so it's something to consider when equipping the ship, it's game purpose is to give you a solid starting boost of 100 to 5000 Cs to hit those far-off places in a more reasonable amount of time. (plus slingshot fun, of course)
The 'game working' I picture for this would be for the device to only function when 5-10 Ls away from a star or gas giant or suitably massive gravity well. (A bit of autodetecting nearby heavy bodies could come in handy to simplify use)
Step 1: Assuming autodetect confirms there's a nearby valid body to use, point the device like a gun to a far-off planetary body (at MINIMUM 5000 Ls away would be a guesstimate of a safe minimum, could be higher) and hold the appropriate fire button, this would increase a meter for the 'goal' speed, maybe 200 to 5000 Cs (higher if you purchased a better FAST drive?) That's the targeted 'launch' speed after the slingshot. Let go of the fire button and the unit is ready for step 2...
Step 2: The unit will now indicate a target heading towards the edge of the chosen gravity well, (much like when you're frame-shifting away from a star or roid belt) point the ship to it and speed up. This'll trigger the unit to control the ship and launch into the slingshot. Now, there's not many devices that take away control from the player, plus there's some tricky parts about collision detection with nearby moons and planets close to the gas giant/star... So this 'target the trajectory' approach simplifies things a lot. Hopefully the slingshot approach vector isn't too hard to calculate: aim past the edge of the gravity well at a smart distance, away from the target planetary body.
Step 3: Since the unit is controlling the ship, give a short sequence of the ship flying at hair-raising speeds near and past the gravity well, (we space geeks want to see our slingshot flybys, don't we?) and the ship then boom away at the speed that was chosen in step 1, crazy fast but regular supercruise and control come back into play. Nearby bodies -would- slow you down, but when close to gravity wells, we don't lose speed quickly. So the regular frame shift and control schemes should be safe to reuse now, only with a desirable initial high speed to help visit those far-off places insystem.
Granted, if you set your speed too high and the device aims well enough, it might well crash you into that sun you wanted to visit. Who said all exploration devices should be -safe- to use?
And now for fun, a touch of technobabble: Regular frame shifting doesn't accelerate or decelerate well near gravity wells, so slingshotting makes no sense! Right? Right, it makes no sense in regular supercruising frame shifting, keyword: regular... A FAST unit doesn't use regular supercruising. Some eggheads figured a way to play with the -interface- when switching from regular speed to supercruising, which is normally kept in the millisecond range to avoid undesirable effects on the ship. Some of those undesirable effects are harnessed by the FAST unit, which pulses the ship in and out of the interface along a tunnel bent by gravity, and the normally counterproductive gravity is countered by the opposite centrifugal force, 'fooling' the frame shift drive into supercruising at much, much higher initial speeds than normally feasible.
Their current test drones hit as high as 20k Cs, but resulted in the drones falling apart due to gravity stresses. It's still new technology. Use a FAST unit at your own risk.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is my wee dream of something more fun than insystem drives, thank you for reading.
Last edited:
