CRITICAL EDIT: The general trend of discussion seems to be that nav beacons should be fleshed out and become consequential in the game, but should be implemented as a choice, rather than a forced drop. I do in fact agree with this notion, and would like to focus on the implications of nav beacon utilization, rather than whether it's a choice or not. The following post has my original idea, followed by a few key quotes regarding the discussion, which stipulate on a few changes that could be made to improve the original idea, so read the whole thing. If you assert that this is a terrible idea on the merit that forcing a player to drop at a beacon is stupid, I will ridicule you and you won't like it.
I'll better organize this starting thread with a concept that suggests change based on the concerns that other posters have had so far, but the big picture is that the nav beacon should have a purpose, and whether you utilize it is a choice with its own set of consequences, good or bad. Now that that's out of the way...
Right now beacons have absolutely no function - you could drop in and hunt NPC's that hang around there "because", but you could do that in a RES, and you'll rarely if ever see a PC there. But turning the beacon into a check-in station would give them a purpose and some life, and has many implications.
-blockades can become more relevant. Players can hang out at a beacon, persuading incoming players to leave or use supercruise to get where they're going....or to switch modes, unfortunately. The beauty is that in the case of CG's, a conflicting NPC's faction could also attempt to blockade the system, forcing players into supercruise or turning the beacon into a warzone.
-system security suddenly becomes relevant, with high security systems filling beacons with powerful authorities, and low-nil security beacons being empty or full of pirates. Traders now have an additional factor to consider when choosing their trade routes, and may have to tailor a route to be longer just to avoid dangerous systems, or those dangerous systems may have an economy that desperately needs supplies it can't get, making trading more about risk-reward than number crunching.
-beacons can be tailored to the system or the environment, allowing for a more customized experience. beacons in a binary star system become an overheating hazard, as do certain star types perhaps. beacons can reflect the allegiance or merely the aesthetic of the system. There's a lot that can be worked with here, even if it's just an excuse to put a large station to fly around in.
-police, which have been quite trivial up until this point, will have a relevant presence as soon as you enter a system. They'll still have a meh response time out in supercruise, but in most systems they'll actually be sitting right at the beacon, where most honest players will show up for safety reasons.
Some fantastic ideas that were based around a forced beacon situation, but do have some merit to them if applied otherwise.
Let's keep this discussion going!
I'll better organize this starting thread with a concept that suggests change based on the concerns that other posters have had so far, but the big picture is that the nav beacon should have a purpose, and whether you utilize it is a choice with its own set of consequences, good or bad. Now that that's out of the way...
Right now beacons have absolutely no function - you could drop in and hunt NPC's that hang around there "because", but you could do that in a RES, and you'll rarely if ever see a PC there. But turning the beacon into a check-in station would give them a purpose and some life, and has many implications.
-blockades can become more relevant. Players can hang out at a beacon, persuading incoming players to leave or use supercruise to get where they're going....or to switch modes, unfortunately. The beauty is that in the case of CG's, a conflicting NPC's faction could also attempt to blockade the system, forcing players into supercruise or turning the beacon into a warzone.
-system security suddenly becomes relevant, with high security systems filling beacons with powerful authorities, and low-nil security beacons being empty or full of pirates. Traders now have an additional factor to consider when choosing their trade routes, and may have to tailor a route to be longer just to avoid dangerous systems, or those dangerous systems may have an economy that desperately needs supplies it can't get, making trading more about risk-reward than number crunching.
-beacons can be tailored to the system or the environment, allowing for a more customized experience. beacons in a binary star system become an overheating hazard, as do certain star types perhaps. beacons can reflect the allegiance or merely the aesthetic of the system. There's a lot that can be worked with here, even if it's just an excuse to put a large station to fly around in.
-police, which have been quite trivial up until this point, will have a relevant presence as soon as you enter a system. They'll still have a meh response time out in supercruise, but in most systems they'll actually be sitting right at the beacon, where most honest players will show up for safety reasons.
Some fantastic ideas that were based around a forced beacon situation, but do have some merit to them if applied otherwise.
I like the OP's idea.
I would alter it slightly though: maintain the current sequence of events, where you arrive from Hyperspace into Supercruise at the star, allowing for fuel scooping and rapid transit to onwards systems as we have now; but add a perimeter around the arrival star - only when you cross over this perimeter into the system proper are you then pulled down into the Nav Beacon instance (via a static interdiction device used only by authorities perhaps), in order to facilitate the things in the OP, whilst maintaining the benefits of the current system.
Good idea. No Interdiction Bubbles in uninhabited systems, however. Does not make sense they would appear there.
Now, here is how we implement it so that travel through the bubble is less tedious:
-The star +20ls radius is immune to the Interdiction bubble
-Crossing into the forced interdiction zone drops all ships safely from Supercruise
-From within the Interdiction bubble, ships can align to their next destination and perform a "mini jump" to within 10Mm of that destination. Mini-jumps can only be initiated from within Interdiction Zones, as these mini-jumps directly to a destination MUST be observed by system authorities for security reasons.
-Mini-jumps can be initiated from any gravity well in the system (including the mass locked zone around stations) to the Interdiction zone.
-FSD Cool Down and Charge time are doubled within the Interdiction zone.
-ALL ships receive a 25 - 30% increase in their base Jump range. Likewise, having a full tank of fuel offers a "charged jump" that adds an additional 10% range. This further compensates players for forced time in normal space, by allowing them to travel from place to place faster (with fewer jumps).
There we go. NOW we not only have a reason to be in normal space more. We have a reason to WANT to USE these monitored transit zones for quick travel throughout a system.
Also, and I want to stress this: Normal Supercruise would remain available throughout a system, since security forces have time to spot and stop ships in that mode of travel. This would not replace Supercruise, merely add another method of travel to compensate players for the forced time in normal space.
Let's keep this discussion going!
Last edited: