Greetings suggestions & feedback thread,
(Hopefully this doesn't double post, browser acting up)
Since the introduction of engineers we have now had significantly more capability to change how our ships behave and function. This has allowed many of us to build highly specialized builds for given tasks (mining, trading, combat, racing, and so on). This was a significant game changer from the days of "just A rate this and D rate that" to the long journey to make one's ship unique and something special. Given that engineers allow many modifications to the modules which are on the ship I would think we are still missing an element of customization, that is, the ship itself.
What I propose is not designed to make modified ship definitively better than un-modified rather further specialization that makes fair and reasonable trades to do such. These block upgrades to ships are designed to make large changes to a ship's design and internals without changing form or shape of the ship. These upgrades would result in a ship having a "dash" designation after the model (Utility modified anaconda would be a Anaconda-U, while an armored transport variant would be Anaconda-A). Along with general changes these upgrades would have some unique less "measurable" feature integrated with the ship.
Block upgrades to the ship would be available at shipyard stations that stock the given ship types of upgrades would vary based on location, faction affinity and faction status. The cost would be proportional to the base cost of the hull and depending on the upgrade may increase the cost (and insurance) of the given ship.
Here's some initial ideas I have on the trade offs of upgrades (just filling in numbers here and there, im not trying to perfectly balance this out completely, just a 1st pass.) Also as far as % multipliers go these are designed to be global as a final multiplier on top of engineering mods.
Utility Block Upgrade:
-Takes highest optional slot grade and duplicates it as a locked cargo bay (cannot be removed).
-Increases Shields by 15%
-Increases Armor by 15%
-Increases cargo capacity by 25%
-Reduces power distributor by 1 level (cannot go below 1)
-Increase Hull Mass by 10%
-Unique feature, cargo burning FSD. Designed to consume matter as fuel for jumps when out of fuel, cargo type randomly consumed as fuel, damages FSD based on jump range.
Exploration Block Upgrade:
-Increase jump range by 25%
-Increase AFM capacity by 30%
-Reduce Heat from FSD by 25%
-Increase Armor by 15%
-Advanced discovery scanner integrated directly into ship, available in fire groups
-Reduce cargo capacity by 25%
-Increase Scoop speed by 25%
-Increase Fuel tank size by 1 grade (cannot go beyond 8)
-Reduce shields by 25%
-Reduces power distributor by 1 level (cannot go below 1)
-Unique feature, Unstable jump, selecting an destination up to 220% jump range away will allow a single jump to the target destination but may miss by +/- 50% jump range. Damages FSD based on how far the miss.
Military Block Upgrade:
-Increases ammo capacity by 50% on all weapons
-Increase Mass lock factor by 25%
-Increase Hull mass by 10%
-Reduced heat tolerance/capacity by 15%
-Increase Hull Harness by 15 or 5% (which ever is greater)
-Reduce Max speed by 10% (does not effect boost, or acceleration, only top speed)
-Reduce cargo capacity by 50%
-Increase all module health by 15%
-Unique Feature, reverse power draw, when weapon capacitor is drained continuing to fire drains other capacitors. However this also generates a proportional amount of heat to the rate which power is drained. Sustained usage may result in module damage/malfunction.
Armored Block Upgrade:
-Increase Hull Harness by 30 or 10% (which ever is greater)
-Increase total armor by 50%
-Increase all module health by 50%
-Reduce shields by 15%
-Removes 2 lowest optional slots
-Adds 2 core military slots; grade based on hull mass
-Unique Feature, surface shielding, unlike the ellipsoid shields which take up much greater volume, shields formed are only a few cm from the surface of the ship. This reduces the "average impact profile" of the ship.
Electronics Block Upgrade:
-Integrates a specialized ECM into the ship, available in fire groups
-Increase sensor range by 20%
-Increase fixed weapon target correction sway by 100%
-Reduce gimbals/turret jitter by 50%
-Reduce shield rebuild time delay by 50%
-Reduce Hull mass by 15%
-Reduce mass lock factor by 25%
-Reduce thermal signature by 50% while weapons retracted, increased by 25% when deployed
-Reduce Hull Harness by 15 or 5% (which ever is greater)
-Reduce shields by 30%
-Unique Feature, disruptive ECM, based on the range of the integrated ECM's pulse ships within the pulse suffer temporary sensor failures in addition of loss of UI and gimbal/turret accuracy loss (longer duration than sensors disabled). Based on LOS and proximity the ECM can also temporary disable drives and cause external module malfunctions.
Interceptor Block Upgrade:
-Reduce Hull Mass by 35%
-Reduce Hull Harness by 15 or 5% (which ever is greater)
-Reduce mass lock factor by 25%
-Reduce Cargo Capacity by 25%
-Increase maximum speed by 10% (does not effect boost)
-Reduce MW required to boost by 30%
-Unique Feature, fuel dump, available in weapons group allows pilot to dump fuel to reduce weight & further increase maneuverability. Safety mechanisms in place to prevent dumping when below 10% fuel.
-Unique Feature, extra ENG pip, while weapons retracted 1 additional pip is diverted from weapons to ENG, this can exceed 4 PIPs in ENG adding further benefits (linear increase to speed), does not function if no PIPs in WEP.
Extractor Block Upgrade:
-Increase limpet speed by 50% (effects all types)
-Increase Cargo Capacity by 25%
-Increase Hull Mass by 15%
-Reduce maximum speed by 15%
-Increase maximum acceleration by 25%
-Reduce shields by 30%
-Increase armor by 30%
-Increase Mass Lock factor by 5%
-Adds 2 optional slots of the lowest grade native to the ship
-Increase max boost speed by 15%
-Increase boost MW required by 15%
-Reduce sensor range by 20%
-Unique Feature, Impact Hardened Hull, direct impacts to the hull from physical objects (asteroids/ships/stations) do significantly less damage (25% of normal?)
Carrier Block Upgrade:
-Increase number of SLF in reserve by 100%
-Increase SLF Shields and armor by 50%
-Increase SLF rebuild time by 50%
-Reduce Hull Harness by 7.5 or 2.5% (which ever is greater)
-Reduce thermal signature by 25% while weapons retracted, increased by 15% when deployed
-Reduce max boost speed by 10%
-Reduce maximum acceleration by 25%
-Increase deploy-able SLF by 1
-Increase missile maximum duration by 300%
-Increase missile ammo capacity by 50%
-Unique Feature, SLF Last Command, upon signal loss of a SLF the ship is commanded to self destruct damaging nearby ships. Damage based on proximity.
-Unique Feature, SLF Linked Targeting, while in a SLF any lock on weapons (seekers/Torps) are available in the fire group menu and may be launched from the mother ship via target up-link.
Maybe a pirate upgrade set?
Again many numbers as a 1st pass guess of what might be balanced. I have no hopes that we will ever get anything like this but I wanted to throw some ideas out there and what I think could be another great way to allow player customization of their ship and how they want to play.
thanks
(Hopefully this doesn't double post, browser acting up)
Since the introduction of engineers we have now had significantly more capability to change how our ships behave and function. This has allowed many of us to build highly specialized builds for given tasks (mining, trading, combat, racing, and so on). This was a significant game changer from the days of "just A rate this and D rate that" to the long journey to make one's ship unique and something special. Given that engineers allow many modifications to the modules which are on the ship I would think we are still missing an element of customization, that is, the ship itself.
What I propose is not designed to make modified ship definitively better than un-modified rather further specialization that makes fair and reasonable trades to do such. These block upgrades to ships are designed to make large changes to a ship's design and internals without changing form or shape of the ship. These upgrades would result in a ship having a "dash" designation after the model (Utility modified anaconda would be a Anaconda-U, while an armored transport variant would be Anaconda-A). Along with general changes these upgrades would have some unique less "measurable" feature integrated with the ship.
Block upgrades to the ship would be available at shipyard stations that stock the given ship types of upgrades would vary based on location, faction affinity and faction status. The cost would be proportional to the base cost of the hull and depending on the upgrade may increase the cost (and insurance) of the given ship.
Here's some initial ideas I have on the trade offs of upgrades (just filling in numbers here and there, im not trying to perfectly balance this out completely, just a 1st pass.) Also as far as % multipliers go these are designed to be global as a final multiplier on top of engineering mods.
Utility Block Upgrade:
-Takes highest optional slot grade and duplicates it as a locked cargo bay (cannot be removed).
-Increases Shields by 15%
-Increases Armor by 15%
-Increases cargo capacity by 25%
-Reduces power distributor by 1 level (cannot go below 1)
-Increase Hull Mass by 10%
-Unique feature, cargo burning FSD. Designed to consume matter as fuel for jumps when out of fuel, cargo type randomly consumed as fuel, damages FSD based on jump range.
Exploration Block Upgrade:
-Increase jump range by 25%
-Increase AFM capacity by 30%
-Reduce Heat from FSD by 25%
-Increase Armor by 15%
-Advanced discovery scanner integrated directly into ship, available in fire groups
-Reduce cargo capacity by 25%
-Increase Scoop speed by 25%
-Increase Fuel tank size by 1 grade (cannot go beyond 8)
-Reduce shields by 25%
-Reduces power distributor by 1 level (cannot go below 1)
-Unique feature, Unstable jump, selecting an destination up to 220% jump range away will allow a single jump to the target destination but may miss by +/- 50% jump range. Damages FSD based on how far the miss.
Military Block Upgrade:
-Increases ammo capacity by 50% on all weapons
-Increase Mass lock factor by 25%
-Increase Hull mass by 10%
-Reduced heat tolerance/capacity by 15%
-Increase Hull Harness by 15 or 5% (which ever is greater)
-Reduce Max speed by 10% (does not effect boost, or acceleration, only top speed)
-Reduce cargo capacity by 50%
-Increase all module health by 15%
-Unique Feature, reverse power draw, when weapon capacitor is drained continuing to fire drains other capacitors. However this also generates a proportional amount of heat to the rate which power is drained. Sustained usage may result in module damage/malfunction.
Armored Block Upgrade:
-Increase Hull Harness by 30 or 10% (which ever is greater)
-Increase total armor by 50%
-Increase all module health by 50%
-Reduce shields by 15%
-Removes 2 lowest optional slots
-Adds 2 core military slots; grade based on hull mass
-Unique Feature, surface shielding, unlike the ellipsoid shields which take up much greater volume, shields formed are only a few cm from the surface of the ship. This reduces the "average impact profile" of the ship.
Electronics Block Upgrade:
-Integrates a specialized ECM into the ship, available in fire groups
-Increase sensor range by 20%
-Increase fixed weapon target correction sway by 100%
-Reduce gimbals/turret jitter by 50%
-Reduce shield rebuild time delay by 50%
-Reduce Hull mass by 15%
-Reduce mass lock factor by 25%
-Reduce thermal signature by 50% while weapons retracted, increased by 25% when deployed
-Reduce Hull Harness by 15 or 5% (which ever is greater)
-Reduce shields by 30%
-Unique Feature, disruptive ECM, based on the range of the integrated ECM's pulse ships within the pulse suffer temporary sensor failures in addition of loss of UI and gimbal/turret accuracy loss (longer duration than sensors disabled). Based on LOS and proximity the ECM can also temporary disable drives and cause external module malfunctions.
Interceptor Block Upgrade:
-Reduce Hull Mass by 35%
-Reduce Hull Harness by 15 or 5% (which ever is greater)
-Reduce mass lock factor by 25%
-Reduce Cargo Capacity by 25%
-Increase maximum speed by 10% (does not effect boost)
-Reduce MW required to boost by 30%
-Unique Feature, fuel dump, available in weapons group allows pilot to dump fuel to reduce weight & further increase maneuverability. Safety mechanisms in place to prevent dumping when below 10% fuel.
-Unique Feature, extra ENG pip, while weapons retracted 1 additional pip is diverted from weapons to ENG, this can exceed 4 PIPs in ENG adding further benefits (linear increase to speed), does not function if no PIPs in WEP.
Extractor Block Upgrade:
-Increase limpet speed by 50% (effects all types)
-Increase Cargo Capacity by 25%
-Increase Hull Mass by 15%
-Reduce maximum speed by 15%
-Increase maximum acceleration by 25%
-Reduce shields by 30%
-Increase armor by 30%
-Increase Mass Lock factor by 5%
-Adds 2 optional slots of the lowest grade native to the ship
-Increase max boost speed by 15%
-Increase boost MW required by 15%
-Reduce sensor range by 20%
-Unique Feature, Impact Hardened Hull, direct impacts to the hull from physical objects (asteroids/ships/stations) do significantly less damage (25% of normal?)
Carrier Block Upgrade:
-Increase number of SLF in reserve by 100%
-Increase SLF Shields and armor by 50%
-Increase SLF rebuild time by 50%
-Reduce Hull Harness by 7.5 or 2.5% (which ever is greater)
-Reduce thermal signature by 25% while weapons retracted, increased by 15% when deployed
-Reduce max boost speed by 10%
-Reduce maximum acceleration by 25%
-Increase deploy-able SLF by 1
-Increase missile maximum duration by 300%
-Increase missile ammo capacity by 50%
-Unique Feature, SLF Last Command, upon signal loss of a SLF the ship is commanded to self destruct damaging nearby ships. Damage based on proximity.
-Unique Feature, SLF Linked Targeting, while in a SLF any lock on weapons (seekers/Torps) are available in the fire group menu and may be launched from the mother ship via target up-link.
Maybe a pirate upgrade set?
Again many numbers as a 1st pass guess of what might be balanced. I have no hopes that we will ever get anything like this but I wanted to throw some ideas out there and what I think could be another great way to allow player customization of their ship and how they want to play.
thanks