Limpets and limpet controllers, turn the table.

[mecha_mike]

As now there is only one type of limpet.. you get in the hardware store in most stations and its pretty cheap.
They can repair, probe, transfer fuel and so on and on ..

To control this litte buggers you need a computer that takes up a huge part of your ship, depending on what tasks the limpet should do you need another computer for each task..

A computer can contol a bunch of things , software dont take up any room, its what the computer contols that takes up space and differs.

My suggestion is, get rid of the diffrenet types of contollers, Have one contoller cabable of multitasking all the roles.
But let limpets be a few different types.

1. Cargo limpets:fuel/collector)
2. Info limpets: Recon/prospector/Research
3. Maintenence limpets Repair:/Decontamination

You choose what number of the 3 types you bring, if you fire a fuel, it draws one of the Cargo limpets.

Also
type 1 is 0.5 ton each not 1
type 2 is not a ton each but 0.25 T
type 3 is 1.5 ton but does more repair..

Pro, it would feel more realistic..
Cons? Im sure you will tell me

 

[Lestat]

Next time use the search feature. It can do wonder.

 

[Leadfoot]

Problems with mining - my python is a dedicated mining ship, 160 tons of free space which are used for a pile of limpets. If I bring 20% prospector limpets and 80% collectors and end up using those 20% of prospectors I won't have any more left to find crackable asteroids. Sometimes I use only a few, sometimes more. Nope, I'd rather decide HOW I want that limpet to be used.

Now, on that issue of controllers, there's still that debate going on about having 8 of them and either having 8 individual controllers or just having one controller with a switch to change what it tells the limpets.

I believe a 50% solution to one of those dozen discussion threads went along the lines you suggested (one controller for mining with a switch between prospector and collector functions).

 

[Shnyrik]

More limpets for the god of limpets!

 

[zipline]

How about making it even simpler with just one universal limpet controller that can be mode-switched in-flight controlling a bunch of the generic limpets we have today?

 

[Leadfoot]

How about making it even simpler with just one universal limpet controller that can be mode-switched in-flight controlling a bunch of the generic limpets we have today?

I, as well as several others, have suggested this already. The "no" votes believe that those who wish for this type of controller want an "I win" button. Your mileage may vary, of course.

 

[Shnyrik]

The "no" votes believe that those who wish for this type of controller want an "I win" button

It can be balanced to not be a "win" button.

For instance, that universal controller or controller rack (depending on how it would be implemented) can be limited to have functionality of current grade 1 controllers. So if you want your limpets to fly further and longer and in quantities of more than one -- you still have to buy specialized controller, but if you can get along with only the most basic functions you may buy universal one and have a pair of different controllers in one slot.

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

Problems with mining - my python is a dedicated mining ship, 160 tons of free space which are used for a pile of limpets. If I bring 20% prospector limpets and 80% collectors and end up using those 20% of prospectors I won't have any more left to find crackable asteroids. Sometimes I use only a few, sometimes more. Nope, I'd rather decide HOW I want that limpet to be used.

Personally I'd much rather make that tradeoff. I've usually got a pretty good idea of what type of mining I want to do, either prospector heavy or collector heavy. It's easy to swap from one style to the other if you find that you are running out of one type of limpets. Plus they are easy enough to synthesize a few more. Though I would suggest lowering the cost of limpet synthesis a little. I also think different limpet types should have different synthesis ingredients.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Universal limpet controllers are a bit complicated because of what happens if you have a full limpet spread and try to fire another one.
- prospectors expire the oldest and fire
- collectors don't fire
So it's not straightforward to say what a universal controller should do when you press 'fire' and have a mix of collectors and prospectors already out. Or if you press 'fire prospector' but have a full set of collectors already. Even more complex if you have multiple universal controllers.

But I do think the types idea is a good one - they could easily be merged.

1) Collector+hatchbreaker (automatically switches use depending on target)
2) Prospector+research+recon (automatically switches use depending on target)
3) Decon+repair+fuel (automatically prioritises based on target state - decon, then fuel if on fumes, then repair, then the rest of the fuel)

You might still have certain very specific builds needing all three types - mining balance wouldn't change as you'd still need two types, as would a full installation raider ship - but you'd be able to fit for opportunistically investigating a range of scenarios without needing to give most of an Anaconda's internals over to limpet controllers.

 

[Shnyrik]

Universal limpet controllers are a bit complicated because of what happens if you have a full limpet spread and try to fire another one

There are complex solutions to that problem like making special controllers with mixed functions. Like decontamination, that both removes thargoid goo and repairs.

1) Collector+hatchbreaker
2) Prospector+research+recon
3) Decon+repair+fuel

Something like that.

Or there is a more "straightforward" way: controller rack, where you can place already existing controllers and use them as usual. I.e. 3-d size racks where you can put two size 1 controllers.

 

[Leadfoot]

Universal limpet controllers are a bit complicated because of what happens if you have a full limpet spread and try to fire another one.
1) Collector+hatchbreaker (automatically switches use depending on target)

Actually, Collector+hatchbreaker+prospector since you'd be using limpets for both prospecting and collection, but yeah, adding hatch breakers in there would be appropriate for that grouping.