I've mentioned this in a couple of threads now, so I thought I'd formalise it here.
Problem:A number of people don't like the time it takes to get to distant stations in supercruise. Hutton being the prime example, but even some 'normal' stations can be tens or even hundreds of thousands of light seconds away. While I'm personally fine with things as they are (space is big) I have a proposed solution.
In much the same way that we have synthesis for FSD Witchspace jumps to increase range for a single jump, I propose we have something similar for supercruise. Each grade of synthesis would increase your rate of acceleration. I'd go with 25%, 50% and 100%. Each injection would only last a certain amount of time (details of which can be determined later). In addition, each would induce turbulance, in much the same way that fueling in a neutron cone does (only not as extreme). The higher the grade, the greater the turbulance. This prevents pilots from just injecting the synthesis and walking away - you would need very "hands on" piloting to keep your target in view, with grade 3 ideally being a bit of a white-knuckle ride. I'd also suggest FSD degradation as an additional downside.
To me, the benefits of this are many. It doesn't use jump gates or inter-system jumping (both of which feel very un-Elite to me), it grants an advantage but comes with a cost. Distant targets become an either/or situation: do I slog it in normal supercruise or do I speed things up a bit? It also doesn't dimish exploration - far away targets (like a star 500,000Ls away) still require challenge to reach, but now you have a choice of challenge (essentially 'boredom' or 'do I risk damaging my FSD right now?')
It would also add an interesting wrinkle to piracy - pirates can now catch up to you faster if you're in 'normal' supercruise, rather than having to wait for the mid-point deceleration. On the flip side, you can now evade pirates by using a supercruise boost. Using an FSD interdictor when you've got turbulance to contend with would be an additional challenge.
The best thing is that it uses already existing game mechanics and therefore shouldn't be as difficult to implement.
Thoughts?
Problem:A number of people don't like the time it takes to get to distant stations in supercruise. Hutton being the prime example, but even some 'normal' stations can be tens or even hundreds of thousands of light seconds away. While I'm personally fine with things as they are (space is big) I have a proposed solution.
In much the same way that we have synthesis for FSD Witchspace jumps to increase range for a single jump, I propose we have something similar for supercruise. Each grade of synthesis would increase your rate of acceleration. I'd go with 25%, 50% and 100%. Each injection would only last a certain amount of time (details of which can be determined later). In addition, each would induce turbulance, in much the same way that fueling in a neutron cone does (only not as extreme). The higher the grade, the greater the turbulance. This prevents pilots from just injecting the synthesis and walking away - you would need very "hands on" piloting to keep your target in view, with grade 3 ideally being a bit of a white-knuckle ride. I'd also suggest FSD degradation as an additional downside.
To me, the benefits of this are many. It doesn't use jump gates or inter-system jumping (both of which feel very un-Elite to me), it grants an advantage but comes with a cost. Distant targets become an either/or situation: do I slog it in normal supercruise or do I speed things up a bit? It also doesn't dimish exploration - far away targets (like a star 500,000Ls away) still require challenge to reach, but now you have a choice of challenge (essentially 'boredom' or 'do I risk damaging my FSD right now?')
It would also add an interesting wrinkle to piracy - pirates can now catch up to you faster if you're in 'normal' supercruise, rather than having to wait for the mid-point deceleration. On the flip side, you can now evade pirates by using a supercruise boost. Using an FSD interdictor when you've got turbulance to contend with would be an additional challenge.
The best thing is that it uses already existing game mechanics and therefore shouldn't be as difficult to implement.
Thoughts?
Last edited:
