So, for the longest time, I always thought Lagrange Points were something made up for I-War (1&2) capsule space travel technology. Then I realised they were actually a real thing, except for the capsule space thing. Lol
So why not add some gameplay around them in game?
For those who may be unfamiliar with Lagrange Points, check this space.com article.
My understanding is that they are points in space where gravity from two or more bodies cancel each other out. Or something. lol
Anyhoo, what can Lagrange Points do for ED?
Let's break it down a bit, in to forms of travel when you pass through, or stop at one.
Lagrange Points could be a targetable navigation icon, and discovered when honking or scanning a Nav beacon, and earn you money for fully scanning them with the discovery scanner.
They could also be shown in the HUD like Shipping Lanes, but simply labelled as Lagrange Points instead.
Populated systems could have beacons at the main L-Points, but not all of them.
Supercruise
The first thing that came to mind for Lagrange Points, was unique USS's for that particular area, ideally odd gravitational anomalies (which could include extremely rare RNG wormholes to other unknown systems, and other crazy things!), which explorers can scan for as unique discoveries. Other more down to earth things could also be at these points, such as large structures, and supply depots, rare or interesting material spawns and whatnot.
The second thing that came to mind is how supercruise works, due to gravity, or lack of.
Lagrange Points could act as a sort of Slingshot mechanic when you pass through them. Your acceleration would simply increase many times over, and last for some time before wearing off to normal levels. The down side to this, is your deceleration is drastically reduced, as is your agility. Meaning they're great for getting a good supercruise boost, but can be a hazard when trying to brake for your destination.
This would help make supercruise more interactive, much like the neutron highway makes Hyperspace more interesting. IMHO anyway.
Normal space
In normal space, not much changes, but I had the idea that charging your FSD for a hyperspace jump from a Lagrange Point, while in normal space, could not only charge quicker, but also use less fuel to do so.
The downside being that other ships, including pirates, could treat these sort of like nav beacons, which makes them much riskier to use, but a life safer if you run too low on fuel to perform a normal jump.
Lagrange Drive and L-Jumps
My other idea, which isn't that good, but I felt like adding it, was using a special internal module, the Lagrange Drive, to allow you to jump from one Lagrange Point to another (aka L-Jump), with limits, larger modules are required for heavier ships, and will give you a maximum range your Lagrange Driver can jump, in system, similar to how FSD work out their range in Ly.
It's not compatible with the FSD, so only works in normal space, and only at an L-Point. It's also heavily effected by the mass lock factor of other ships, all ships in the area have their mass lock factors combined against yours. So even just 4 Eagle's(MLF 6) can mass lock an Anaconda (MLF 23).
But, once charged, it can jump you to another L-Point in the same system, providing it's discovered using the nav beacon, or discovery scanner, and isn't obscured by something. Some L-Points are too small to jump to, but can be jumped from.
It's not particularly fuel efficient either, and even the most fuel efficient ship and L-Drive combination wouldn't get you to Hutton Orbital (although I believe Alpha Centauri lacks any Lagrange Points near the primary star anyway).
But, if you're willing to risk your ship and cargo at an L-Point to save yourself some time in supercruise, that feels like a pretty good risk/reward without breaking the scale of the game, not to mention sacrifice anl large internal slot for the L-Drive.
Like i said, it's not a great idea, and feels like fast travel, but i tried to balance it, and add some science to it so it makes sense. It's also a bit different to the usual ideas for getting around large systems quicker.
It's not going to make short trips any faster, due to the fact you need to carefully slow to drop in to the L-Point from supercruise (remember deceleration is harder at L-Points), then charge the L-Drive for the jump, which could take ages if it's busy, or you need to fly away from the ships causing the mass lock. It only saves you time on very long supercruise trips, but can potentially put you in a lot of danger.
NPCs at the L-Points spawn based on local security level. So you'll get more pirates the lower the security level is, and more security the higher the security level. So it's risky for both traders and pirates alike, depending on where you go, and also works as a deep space alternative to a Nav beacon or CNB.
Anyhoo, that is all!
Thoughts?
CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
So why not add some gameplay around them in game?
For those who may be unfamiliar with Lagrange Points, check this space.com article.
My understanding is that they are points in space where gravity from two or more bodies cancel each other out. Or something. lol
Anyhoo, what can Lagrange Points do for ED?
Let's break it down a bit, in to forms of travel when you pass through, or stop at one.
Lagrange Points could be a targetable navigation icon, and discovered when honking or scanning a Nav beacon, and earn you money for fully scanning them with the discovery scanner.
They could also be shown in the HUD like Shipping Lanes, but simply labelled as Lagrange Points instead.
Populated systems could have beacons at the main L-Points, but not all of them.
Supercruise
The first thing that came to mind for Lagrange Points, was unique USS's for that particular area, ideally odd gravitational anomalies (which could include extremely rare RNG wormholes to other unknown systems, and other crazy things!), which explorers can scan for as unique discoveries. Other more down to earth things could also be at these points, such as large structures, and supply depots, rare or interesting material spawns and whatnot.
The second thing that came to mind is how supercruise works, due to gravity, or lack of.
Lagrange Points could act as a sort of Slingshot mechanic when you pass through them. Your acceleration would simply increase many times over, and last for some time before wearing off to normal levels. The down side to this, is your deceleration is drastically reduced, as is your agility. Meaning they're great for getting a good supercruise boost, but can be a hazard when trying to brake for your destination.
This would help make supercruise more interactive, much like the neutron highway makes Hyperspace more interesting. IMHO anyway.
Normal space
In normal space, not much changes, but I had the idea that charging your FSD for a hyperspace jump from a Lagrange Point, while in normal space, could not only charge quicker, but also use less fuel to do so.
The downside being that other ships, including pirates, could treat these sort of like nav beacons, which makes them much riskier to use, but a life safer if you run too low on fuel to perform a normal jump.
Lagrange Drive and L-Jumps
My other idea, which isn't that good, but I felt like adding it, was using a special internal module, the Lagrange Drive, to allow you to jump from one Lagrange Point to another (aka L-Jump), with limits, larger modules are required for heavier ships, and will give you a maximum range your Lagrange Driver can jump, in system, similar to how FSD work out their range in Ly.
It's not compatible with the FSD, so only works in normal space, and only at an L-Point. It's also heavily effected by the mass lock factor of other ships, all ships in the area have their mass lock factors combined against yours. So even just 4 Eagle's(MLF 6) can mass lock an Anaconda (MLF 23).
But, once charged, it can jump you to another L-Point in the same system, providing it's discovered using the nav beacon, or discovery scanner, and isn't obscured by something. Some L-Points are too small to jump to, but can be jumped from.
It's not particularly fuel efficient either, and even the most fuel efficient ship and L-Drive combination wouldn't get you to Hutton Orbital (although I believe Alpha Centauri lacks any Lagrange Points near the primary star anyway).
But, if you're willing to risk your ship and cargo at an L-Point to save yourself some time in supercruise, that feels like a pretty good risk/reward without breaking the scale of the game, not to mention sacrifice anl large internal slot for the L-Drive.
Like i said, it's not a great idea, and feels like fast travel, but i tried to balance it, and add some science to it so it makes sense. It's also a bit different to the usual ideas for getting around large systems quicker.
It's not going to make short trips any faster, due to the fact you need to carefully slow to drop in to the L-Point from supercruise (remember deceleration is harder at L-Points), then charge the L-Drive for the jump, which could take ages if it's busy, or you need to fly away from the ships causing the mass lock. It only saves you time on very long supercruise trips, but can potentially put you in a lot of danger.
NPCs at the L-Points spawn based on local security level. So you'll get more pirates the lower the security level is, and more security the higher the security level. So it's risky for both traders and pirates alike, depending on where you go, and also works as a deep space alternative to a Nav beacon or CNB.
Anyhoo, that is all!
Thoughts?
CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
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