A vicious attack on Stellar Cartographics wipes all hyperspace routes from their database.
The Galmap now only displays stars inside human occupied space.
SC rewards for systems scanned outside of the bubble now double, as the need to reconstruct the map of the galaxy commands a premium.
A new button is added to the Navigation Tab - stellar navigation. This changes targeting to only allow stars inside your jump range and planetary bodies to be targeted. It also shows a marker indicating the heading of whatever star you may have selected on the galmap.
All exo-system stars no longer appear under the Navigation Tab until you have enabled this mode.
A new utility module is added that allows you to zoom in on Stellar navigation targets, showing you a close up of distant stars and planets, and enabling scanning in system targets from a vast distance. Stars outside the system are not scannable, but you still get to zoom in on them, which helps identify which bodies might be scoopable.
Also added are two new items. One is a subspace transponder. This is an object that can be deployed in normal space and allows remote upload and sale of stellar cartography data. Takes cargo space, costs ~10k credits.
The other is a warp beacon. Costs two million credits. Warp beacons enable travel to other warp beacons within 1000 ly in one "special" jump.
When jumping between warp beacons, the client plots a fake route of stars that you're jumping between. The player enters a procedurally generated mini-game similar to the current interdiction game. The game exists as a series of nodes, each node representing a star on your faux plot. Failing the game mis jumps you to a random system within 20 ly of the star you were attempting to jump through at the time you failed the minigame. The client re-establishes connection to the server at the time the game is exited. Leaving warp space from one of these jumps puts you considerably further from the star then a standard jump, regardless of success or failure. Fuel is burnt accordingly for the number of jumps you made successfully during the minigame. If your ship doesn't have enough fuel to go the full distance, you can't enter the mega jump mini game.
Warp beacons begin with a supply of hydrogen fuel when they are placed. They periodically drain fuel, and will expire in three days if untended. Stellar cartographics offers a standing reward for bringing hydrogen fuel to a warp beacon. If the surplus of hydrogen fuel contained within the beacon passes a certain threshold, the beacon becomes a permanent object and any commanders who contributed fuel to it, and the original placer of the beacon, receive a bonus based on their contribution - This should work similarly to CGs in scoring and rewarding contribution, as well as the scale of effort needed to achieve the goal. Warp beacons cannot be destroyed by weapons fire.
Warp beacons must be placed at least 1000 ly from Sol or Sag A. They may also be placed only near scoopable stars, and any given warp beacon may only have 6 other beacons within 1000 ly. Attempting to place a beacon in an invalid location should result in an error message explaining which conditions have been violated.
Lore:
Conventional limitations of warpspace travel are the result of computational limitations of the FSD navigation system.
It is not possible to have live readings of massive bodies from inside of witchspace, and so jumps are limited by accompanying cooldown periods while the FSD system gathers telemetry data for the surrounding stars.
The warp beacons acquire continuous telemetry data while in operation, and are able to interface with the warpdrives systems via subspace communication, providing realtime adjustments to the warp field, but because the data is not calculated locally, it needs a human operator to enter the instructions regarding vector and intensity to the local FSD system.
Warp beacons require a supply of hydrogen fuel to continuously operate, which powers a fusion reactor, but cannot achieve indefinite operation without a significant surplus.
They also have limitations in how much telemetry data they can process, hence the limited number of potential links for each beacon. They are vulnerable to subspace interference, explaining the limitations in placement near human space (Galnet makes a lot of noise) and near SAG A (lots of supermassive objects in close proximity).
Because of these limitations, Stellar cartographics places strict limitations on where they can be deployed - the limitation regarding scoopable stars is a safety protocol to prevent pilots from embarking on a one way trip.
Galactic powers and minor factions now calculate expansion opportunities around warp beacon nodes, providing a framework for human expansion throughout the galaxy.
High speed transit lanes provide intrepid fuel rats with a chance to rescue distant ships deep in unexplored territory - everyone needs a bit more help getting around the galaxy now that it's mostly unexplored.
There is now a clear and meaningful delineation between systems that have been explored and systems that haven't, and encouragement to get way outside the bubble and help out.
Getting true and solidly lost is now a very real possibility - to prevent undue grief from players losing several months of effort due to being utterly lost, subspace transponders provide a second chance for pilots far outside any chance of help.
Thanks for reading my giant wall of text! Hope you enjoyed it.
The Galmap now only displays stars inside human occupied space.
SC rewards for systems scanned outside of the bubble now double, as the need to reconstruct the map of the galaxy commands a premium.
A new button is added to the Navigation Tab - stellar navigation. This changes targeting to only allow stars inside your jump range and planetary bodies to be targeted. It also shows a marker indicating the heading of whatever star you may have selected on the galmap.
All exo-system stars no longer appear under the Navigation Tab until you have enabled this mode.
A new utility module is added that allows you to zoom in on Stellar navigation targets, showing you a close up of distant stars and planets, and enabling scanning in system targets from a vast distance. Stars outside the system are not scannable, but you still get to zoom in on them, which helps identify which bodies might be scoopable.
Also added are two new items. One is a subspace transponder. This is an object that can be deployed in normal space and allows remote upload and sale of stellar cartography data. Takes cargo space, costs ~10k credits.
The other is a warp beacon. Costs two million credits. Warp beacons enable travel to other warp beacons within 1000 ly in one "special" jump.
When jumping between warp beacons, the client plots a fake route of stars that you're jumping between. The player enters a procedurally generated mini-game similar to the current interdiction game. The game exists as a series of nodes, each node representing a star on your faux plot. Failing the game mis jumps you to a random system within 20 ly of the star you were attempting to jump through at the time you failed the minigame. The client re-establishes connection to the server at the time the game is exited. Leaving warp space from one of these jumps puts you considerably further from the star then a standard jump, regardless of success or failure. Fuel is burnt accordingly for the number of jumps you made successfully during the minigame. If your ship doesn't have enough fuel to go the full distance, you can't enter the mega jump mini game.
Warp beacons begin with a supply of hydrogen fuel when they are placed. They periodically drain fuel, and will expire in three days if untended. Stellar cartographics offers a standing reward for bringing hydrogen fuel to a warp beacon. If the surplus of hydrogen fuel contained within the beacon passes a certain threshold, the beacon becomes a permanent object and any commanders who contributed fuel to it, and the original placer of the beacon, receive a bonus based on their contribution - This should work similarly to CGs in scoring and rewarding contribution, as well as the scale of effort needed to achieve the goal. Warp beacons cannot be destroyed by weapons fire.
Warp beacons must be placed at least 1000 ly from Sol or Sag A. They may also be placed only near scoopable stars, and any given warp beacon may only have 6 other beacons within 1000 ly. Attempting to place a beacon in an invalid location should result in an error message explaining which conditions have been violated.
Lore:
Conventional limitations of warpspace travel are the result of computational limitations of the FSD navigation system.
It is not possible to have live readings of massive bodies from inside of witchspace, and so jumps are limited by accompanying cooldown periods while the FSD system gathers telemetry data for the surrounding stars.
The warp beacons acquire continuous telemetry data while in operation, and are able to interface with the warpdrives systems via subspace communication, providing realtime adjustments to the warp field, but because the data is not calculated locally, it needs a human operator to enter the instructions regarding vector and intensity to the local FSD system.
Warp beacons require a supply of hydrogen fuel to continuously operate, which powers a fusion reactor, but cannot achieve indefinite operation without a significant surplus.
They also have limitations in how much telemetry data they can process, hence the limited number of potential links for each beacon. They are vulnerable to subspace interference, explaining the limitations in placement near human space (Galnet makes a lot of noise) and near SAG A (lots of supermassive objects in close proximity).
Because of these limitations, Stellar cartographics places strict limitations on where they can be deployed - the limitation regarding scoopable stars is a safety protocol to prevent pilots from embarking on a one way trip.
Galactic powers and minor factions now calculate expansion opportunities around warp beacon nodes, providing a framework for human expansion throughout the galaxy.
High speed transit lanes provide intrepid fuel rats with a chance to rescue distant ships deep in unexplored territory - everyone needs a bit more help getting around the galaxy now that it's mostly unexplored.
There is now a clear and meaningful delineation between systems that have been explored and systems that haven't, and encouragement to get way outside the bubble and help out.
Getting true and solidly lost is now a very real possibility - to prevent undue grief from players losing several months of effort due to being utterly lost, subspace transponders provide a second chance for pilots far outside any chance of help.
Thanks for reading my giant wall of text! Hope you enjoyed it.
