A Carrier optional service that repurposes one of the landing pads to create one end of a Jumpgate between two Carriers.
Like all carrier optional services, installing the Jumpgate module takes up cargo and has an initial installation cost. Maintenance/upkeep costs would be based on how the Jumpgate was used. Each day the gate was active would create Wear and Tear on the Carrier equal to 400 Cr per light year per day, so a Jumpgate from Sol to Colonia would cost about 9,500,000 Cr per day to maintain.
Maintaining the Gate would consume Cargo (Tritiumor Hydrogen?) at a rate-per-day dependent on the size of the Gate and distance traveled. A medium Gate would consume three-times as much fuel as a small Gate, and Large Gate would consume ten-times as much fuel as a small Gate. The amounts are negotiable, but I figure maintaining a Large Gate for one week ought to consume around 700 tons of fuel (one full cargo load for a Type-9 / Imperial Cutter) 1 ton of Cargo per Lightyear per Week. The fuel consumption should happen consistently over time (perhaps on the 10min. server update).
The Gate takes 24 hours for a Gate to stabilize, and lasts as long at Credits and Fuel are available to maintain it. When the Gate shuts down, it can't be reactivated for 2 hours.
To use the Jumpgate, you request access much like you would for docking and fly "through" the designated landing pad-turned Jumpgate. Transiting the Gate gives a mini-game like Interdiction. If you fail the mini-game you're spit out of hyperspace to a random system between the source wormhole and the destination wormhole (or just a random system?). You get the same result if the destination Carrier fails to maintain its end of the Gate.
Transiting the Gate subjects to the CMDR to the Carrier's Tariff, based on the Ship Transfer Cost for an equivalent distance. (e.g. if the Tariff is set to 10%, you'd pay to the carrier owner 10% of the Ship Transfer Cost).
The Lore reason for the rarity of the gates is their high expense and lack of reliability. Note that all of the associated costs are effectively doubled since they get applied to/from both Carriers making up the Gate.
Comments:
Like all carrier optional services, installing the Jumpgate module takes up cargo and has an initial installation cost. Maintenance/upkeep costs would be based on how the Jumpgate was used. Each day the gate was active would create Wear and Tear on the Carrier equal to 400 Cr per light year per day, so a Jumpgate from Sol to Colonia would cost about 9,500,000 Cr per day to maintain.
Maintaining the Gate would consume Cargo (Tritium
The Gate takes 24 hours for a Gate to stabilize, and lasts as long at Credits and Fuel are available to maintain it. When the Gate shuts down, it can't be reactivated for 2 hours.
To use the Jumpgate, you request access much like you would for docking and fly "through" the designated landing pad-turned Jumpgate. Transiting the Gate gives a mini-game like Interdiction. If you fail the mini-game you're spit out of hyperspace to a random system between the source wormhole and the destination wormhole (or just a random system?). You get the same result if the destination Carrier fails to maintain its end of the Gate.
Transiting the Gate subjects to the CMDR to the Carrier's Tariff, based on the Ship Transfer Cost for an equivalent distance. (e.g. if the Tariff is set to 10%, you'd pay to the carrier owner 10% of the Ship Transfer Cost).
The Lore reason for the rarity of the gates is their high expense and lack of reliability. Note that all of the associated costs are effectively doubled since they get applied to/from both Carriers making up the Gate.
Comments:
- The credit cost serves the same purpose as upkeep, but also places soft limits on just how robust a Jumpgate network one could create. Yes, you could set up a Gate to Colonia, but doing so would eat 19,000,000 Cr per week plus the cost of the Carriers and the fuel. While the Tariff can mitigate some of that cost for the owner, its just shifting the expense to other players who are actively using the Gates.
- The Fuel requirement serves a similar purpose, but it also puts a minimum activity requirement on the Gates: someone has to run cargo on a minimally regular basis to keep the Gate running. More importantly, it also creates additional demand for Cargo to encourage player-driven economic activity.
- The Gate-Transit mini-game is there to inject some chance of failure. The chance is relatively small, but its enough to frustrate most botting activity, its more engaging than a loading screen, and it helps explain why the gates aren't more prevalent.
- The Tariff creates a disincentive for new players to make heavy use of the Gates. While it would be easy and convenient to take a Jumpgate from Deciat to Maia to satisfy F. Farseer's hunger for Meta-Alloys, the Gate would need to be used by at least
one67 A-rated Kraits a day for both Carrier owners to break even(with a 5% Tarrif). Both Carrier owners would be out the active use of their Carriers, and it'd cost the new CMDRseveralabout a hundred thousand Credits (which the new commander could easily afford once he starts getting familiar with the various game loops that are much more interesting than 30+ FSD loading screens). - Gates would inject some interesting choices for Trading CGs as right now the Carrier-owner dominates for trade-routes greater than roughly 200 ly. Two commanders willing to set up Jumpgates would effectively break that advantage as far as CG placement goes.
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