Whilst browsing Pintrest I saw this amazing image and thought I would love to see stars rendered this way (ie. blacks and yellows and alot more going on)...
But this also got me thinking that the real drive should not be more beautiful things to look at, but more challenge and danger whilst exploring.
So with Stars being rendered like the above, these coronal ejections should be things to really avoid. Gameplay would be whilst in fuel scoop mode HUD updates with an overlay showing "heat map" (pardon the pun) showing areas where these explosions might occur, CMDRs have to avoid these or get roasted, or can dive through these if suitably protected (heat sinks whilst scooping a must).
So we added more danger, but this danger should not be just a time sink, this new fuel scooping challenge will have CMDRs potentially taking minutes to navigate a stars corona to refuel their ship, when before it was literally seconds before they parped and went on their merry way. There should also be a reward. If you can skirt a coronal ejection then your fuel scoop will operate at maximum efficiency, additionally the fuel gathered infers a minor buff to fuel used for next jump, not jumponium where jump is increased by 25%, but efficiency where the fuel used for next jump is reduced by 25%.
So CMDRs get a thrilling challenge at every star they scoop, keeps them awake and entertained whilst they play their game, plus confers a buff for completing the challenge.
Seasoned explorers become skilled at riding a star and watching for the HUD tell tale signs of a upcoming eruption that could seriously damage their ship. Getting to a destination is still a journey but now becomes a continuous challenge and a saga of daring do.
Coupled with this, area couple of methods that the CMDR can improve their survivability.
1. Sensor package - the most maligned and underused system on a ship, A grade provides excellent details and accuracy, E grade provides scant data and is more subject to spurious false positives. So explorers have a conundrum of jump range vs survivability of fuel scooping, which is also mitigated by a recovery in efficiency on fuel used in the jumps.
2. Heat sinks - a PvP/SCB must have and sometimes a useful item for the more well prepared deep space explorer. My proposal is possibly an alternative Heat sink option geared towards star scooping with a synthesis option. This would be a scoop gun, its fills a weapon slot on a ship and fires heat sink ammo, which is a bit like a Multi cannon, as in when in use it spits out little mini heat sinks that keep a ship at a lower temperature if it is caught in a coronal ejection. Better the grade the longer it fires between reloads, as a reload in such a coronal explosion would fry your ship. This ammo shoots out at 90 degrees to ship and is not a target-able weapon It also doesn't mask your heat signature as you have a long line of molten heat sink ammo spewing in a line away from your ship (so not useful in combat or smuggling where the existing combat heat sinks can be used). This ammo is synthesisable, but it is made from common materials, as this is probably going to be used frequently until the CMDR gets skilled at scooping.
Now to vary things up, maybe the type of star you scoop from also correlates with its unpredictability in such challenges - that is in the realm of science or science fiction, so maybe least to most violent is OBAFGKM which reinforces learning that phrase, but also gives reason to filter star map and journey on OBA stars only for the quiet life or GKM for ongoing improvements in range between refuels.
Finally, i think this may need to be brought in when they finally release Gas giant scooping, so players have an additional choice in where they can refuel out in the black.
Thanks for your time!
But this also got me thinking that the real drive should not be more beautiful things to look at, but more challenge and danger whilst exploring.
So with Stars being rendered like the above, these coronal ejections should be things to really avoid. Gameplay would be whilst in fuel scoop mode HUD updates with an overlay showing "heat map" (pardon the pun) showing areas where these explosions might occur, CMDRs have to avoid these or get roasted, or can dive through these if suitably protected (heat sinks whilst scooping a must).
So we added more danger, but this danger should not be just a time sink, this new fuel scooping challenge will have CMDRs potentially taking minutes to navigate a stars corona to refuel their ship, when before it was literally seconds before they parped and went on their merry way. There should also be a reward. If you can skirt a coronal ejection then your fuel scoop will operate at maximum efficiency, additionally the fuel gathered infers a minor buff to fuel used for next jump, not jumponium where jump is increased by 25%, but efficiency where the fuel used for next jump is reduced by 25%.
So CMDRs get a thrilling challenge at every star they scoop, keeps them awake and entertained whilst they play their game, plus confers a buff for completing the challenge.
Seasoned explorers become skilled at riding a star and watching for the HUD tell tale signs of a upcoming eruption that could seriously damage their ship. Getting to a destination is still a journey but now becomes a continuous challenge and a saga of daring do.
Coupled with this, area couple of methods that the CMDR can improve their survivability.
1. Sensor package - the most maligned and underused system on a ship, A grade provides excellent details and accuracy, E grade provides scant data and is more subject to spurious false positives. So explorers have a conundrum of jump range vs survivability of fuel scooping, which is also mitigated by a recovery in efficiency on fuel used in the jumps.
2. Heat sinks - a PvP/SCB must have and sometimes a useful item for the more well prepared deep space explorer. My proposal is possibly an alternative Heat sink option geared towards star scooping with a synthesis option. This would be a scoop gun, its fills a weapon slot on a ship and fires heat sink ammo, which is a bit like a Multi cannon, as in when in use it spits out little mini heat sinks that keep a ship at a lower temperature if it is caught in a coronal ejection. Better the grade the longer it fires between reloads, as a reload in such a coronal explosion would fry your ship. This ammo shoots out at 90 degrees to ship and is not a target-able weapon It also doesn't mask your heat signature as you have a long line of molten heat sink ammo spewing in a line away from your ship (so not useful in combat or smuggling where the existing combat heat sinks can be used). This ammo is synthesisable, but it is made from common materials, as this is probably going to be used frequently until the CMDR gets skilled at scooping.
Now to vary things up, maybe the type of star you scoop from also correlates with its unpredictability in such challenges - that is in the realm of science or science fiction, so maybe least to most violent is OBAFGKM which reinforces learning that phrase, but also gives reason to filter star map and journey on OBA stars only for the quiet life or GKM for ongoing improvements in range between refuels.
Finally, i think this may need to be brought in when they finally release Gas giant scooping, so players have an additional choice in where they can refuel out in the black.
Thanks for your time!
