Moar limpets!

[Doctor Axel]

So we saw that FD is looking at some kind of fuel transfer limpet that would let you gas up another ship (hopefully in exchange for gas money.) Not my first choice on a new limpet type, but it's pretty cool that they're open to more types.

With that said, I would love to see something like

-A field maintenance limpet. Target a ship and repair a portion of his hull damage, or target a subsystem to restore it to working order.
-An ion limpet. Target a ship subsystem and "stun" it for a while (or for critical systems like engines/sensors, just reduce their effectiveness for a bit.)
-A freight collector limpet. Target a canister or an ore fragment, and it will fly over, grab it, and bring it to your cargo bay (it would also itself return to your bay.)

What do we think? Any other ideas?

 

[Chewbacca]

I quite like the idea of a freight limpet. It would certainly make mining less of a drag (assuming it would work on ore fragments too!).

 

[Tarman]

I like the idea of more types of drones and limpets. Infinite room to expand their usage and variety for most pilot needs, and makes really good ones some important choices for module space. The field maintenance ones combined with the fuel drones makes the salvage/rescue ship a reality. There can be meaningful emergency repair and refuel ships built for wing support or deep-space missions with that. The freight grabbers are also one step closer to a deeper mining game as well.

I like the ion ones, more the weakening type than a full stun, only because stunlocks are usually more annoying than challenging for most players. They're probably not any easier or harder but they seem to bug everyone a lot more. I think people would take a the reduced effectiveness at various levels, a power drain that increases the system's draw, or even a DoT effect over a full timed shutoff; we could always have a selection of types. Power drains could challenge peoples' pipping and subsystem management, while DoT would try to cause direct subsystem damage.

A full paralyzer would be better I think if you could avoid it somewhat, like a large but slow mine dropped by larger ships, perhaps. Something that if you know you mess up around you could fritz out a number of systems at once. A cloud of very small weak ones would also be fun.

 

[Doctor Axel]

I quite like the idea of a freight limpet. It would certainly make mining less of a drag (assuming it would work on ore fragments too!).

Ideally they would - it makes very little sense from an energy expense standpoint to have to maneuver your exceedingly bovine Type 9 into position to get a tiny little rock to go into the tiny little cargo hatch. Sending out a tiny, fuel-efficient drone that does it for you would be a lot more sensible. ^^

I like the idea of more types of drones and limpets. Infinite room to expand their usage and variety for most pilot needs, and makes really good ones some important choices for module space. The field maintenance ones combined with the fuel drones makes the salvage/rescue ship a reality. There can be meaningful emergency repair and refuel ships built for wing support or deep-space missions with that. The freight grabbers are also one step closer to a deeper mining game as well.

I like the ion ones, more the weakening type than a full stun, only because stunlocks are usually more annoying than challenging for most players. They're probably not any easier or harder but they seem to bug everyone a lot more. I think people would take a the reduced effectiveness at various levels, a power drain that increases the system's draw, or even a DoT effect over a full timed shutoff; we could always have a selection of types. Power drains could challenge peoples' pipping and subsystem management, while DoT would try to cause direct subsystem damage.

A full paralyzer would be better I think if you could avoid it somewhat, like a large but slow mine dropped by larger ships, perhaps. Something that if you know you mess up around you could fritz out a number of systems at once. A cloud of very small weak ones would also be fun.

An ion drone WOULD be annoying - but getting shot with your shields down is also annoying, and more expensive, and can't be countered with a point defense cannon. =P

I think anything that does direct ACTUAL damage should be applied to limpets - it's DoT, yes, but it's also inevitable and unavoidable once you're stuck with it, and that seems unfair. A GREAT possibility would be one that acts as a heat source - it would stifle your use of heat-generating systems and would make you easier to track. And it COULD result in damage - but only if the target doesn't watch its heat management.

All of these would of course only work on unshielded targets, just like the hatch breaker - that's the key to keeping them fair, I think. That way you can't be immediately handicapped when you drop into a fight when someone stunlocks your turrets - you need to have already made a few other mistakes before it gets to that point.

I am VERY down with the idea of similarly diverse mines. Ion mines, thermal mines, masslock mines, anything like that. ^^

 

[Tarman]

Ideally they would - it makes very little sense from an energy expense standpoint to have to maneuver your exceedingly bovine Type 9 into position to get a tiny little rock to go into the tiny little cargo hatch. Sending out a tiny, fuel-efficient drone that does it for you would be a lot more sensible. ^^



An ion drone WOULD be annoying - but getting shot with your shields down is also annoying, and more expensive, and can't be countered with a point defense cannon. =P

I think anything that does direct ACTUAL damage should be applied to limpets - it's DoT, yes, but it's also inevitable and unavoidable once you're stuck with it, and that seems unfair. A GREAT possibility would be one that acts as a heat source - it would stifle your use of heat-generating systems and would make you easier to track. And it COULD result in damage - but only if the target doesn't watch its heat management.

All of these would of course only work on unshielded targets, just like the hatch breaker - that's the key to keeping them fair, I think. That way you can't be immediately handicapped when you drop into a fight when someone stunlocks your turrets - you need to have already made a few other mistakes before it gets to that point.

I am VERY down with the idea of similarly diverse mines. Ion mines, thermal mines, masslock mines, anything like that. ^^

There can't be too broad a palette for these sections of the game. A wide variety of interesting kit is a lot more fun to play in than a small tiered selection. I'd like to see players inventing strategies and tactics around the use and defense of various mines.

I'm also down for anti-mine measures as well as Fun With Mines, since it can't be just the boomers having all the fun. It could be a defense-system upgrade or sidegrade, a new module, drones, and/or hopefully in future some ship "modifications". A piece of kit that fries off attached power suckers, for example, or one that can feed some of the energy from an overload into a ship distributor with a high overall energy cap. A bit more risky if you rig your ship for these I'd say, instead of actually getting outfitted, but people flying on the cheap shouldn't be kept out of having these things available, because they would be fun. Of course there's always cannons, they should be fun against mines too. Anti-mine cannons, for dedicated sweepers.

Because at some point in the game we need to have that ridiculous space minefield thing going on, and that's gonna be boring without mines or anti-mine gear.

 

[Aussiedroid]

Yes would be cool to have others, but I think 1 per tonne is a bit on the big side. Prevents me from using the existing ones atm.

 

[Valethar]

I'd hope they come up with something better than a 'limpet' for this, given that the actual definition of the term. 'Drones' would likely be a better fit.