Hello, everyone.
I got this idea recently from both playing Fractured Space, and watching the Discovery Scanner episode about the Thargon Swarm. In some combat scenarios, it might be useful to limit the mobility of an enemy, slowing their speed in all 6 degrees of motion, and in others, to fully stop them. In Fractured Space, the Superlifter support ship has the ability to fire Tugboat Drones, which slow an enemies' movement by 20%, while also boosting allied movement, if the user so desires.
My suggestion is to implement a similar idea - by using a specific limpet controller, a quick volley for 5 or 6 limpets will be launched from your ship, and head in a big ol' clump towards your target. Upon arriving, they will latch onto different points on the ship, and limit it's mobility in a similar fashion. A major difference is that if the ship's drives are destroyed, the drones will pull the ship to a complete stop, allowing for piracy of larger vessels. The drone swarm should be destructible via PD, perhaps by ECM, and maybe even by remote flak launchers (if already possible, I don't know).
This ties into the Discovery Scanner Episode, because from my experience, having many limpets active causes... issues. When mining, they tend to slam into asteroids and die. If this figurative drone swarm is treated similarly to the thargon swarm, as in it is a singular entity rather than 5-6 (or 64+) individual entities, that issue might be addressed? I'm not sure
Besides, anything to see more of that organic thargon flight model magic. It's completely mesmerizing.
I got this idea recently from both playing Fractured Space, and watching the Discovery Scanner episode about the Thargon Swarm. In some combat scenarios, it might be useful to limit the mobility of an enemy, slowing their speed in all 6 degrees of motion, and in others, to fully stop them. In Fractured Space, the Superlifter support ship has the ability to fire Tugboat Drones, which slow an enemies' movement by 20%, while also boosting allied movement, if the user so desires.
My suggestion is to implement a similar idea - by using a specific limpet controller, a quick volley for 5 or 6 limpets will be launched from your ship, and head in a big ol' clump towards your target. Upon arriving, they will latch onto different points on the ship, and limit it's mobility in a similar fashion. A major difference is that if the ship's drives are destroyed, the drones will pull the ship to a complete stop, allowing for piracy of larger vessels. The drone swarm should be destructible via PD, perhaps by ECM, and maybe even by remote flak launchers (if already possible, I don't know).
This ties into the Discovery Scanner Episode, because from my experience, having many limpets active causes... issues. When mining, they tend to slam into asteroids and die. If this figurative drone swarm is treated similarly to the thargon swarm, as in it is a singular entity rather than 5-6 (or 64+) individual entities, that issue might be addressed? I'm not sure
Besides, anything to see more of that organic thargon flight model magic. It's completely mesmerizing.