Suggestion: Internal Components That Are Adaptors For Additional (Smaller) Internal Components

[Geldonyetich]

In the interest of making ship builds a bit more interesting and giving the players a bit more freedom, I was thinking a cool thing to add would be an internal component that converts an internal component bay into two, smaller internal components.

The specific formula I was thinking of would be CURRENT_CLASS - 2. The idea is that you lose part of the space of the internal to the adapter hardware that handles all the power feeds and such.

For example:
An adapter installed into a class 8 internal space would provide space for two class 6 internals.
An adapter installed into a class 7 internal space would provide space for two class 5 internals.
An adapter installed into a class 6 internal space would provide space for two class 4 internals.
And so on, down to the class 3 internals which provide space for two class 1 internals.

Why not CURRENT_CLASS - 1? Well, if you think of this in terms of basic cargo internals, if you had a class 7 internal that was converted to two class 6 internals, you would end up with equivalent cargo space (128 capacity splits into two 64 capacities). This would suggest there was no overhead to installing the internal adapter. So CURRENT_CLASS - 2 seems balanced. The existence of "adapter overhead" lends to the idea that the needed space exists and can be utilized in this manner.

Of course, the only point of doing this would be to give the players greater freedom in their loadouts, which has the potential to be less balanced. For example, lets say I wanted to plug in a class 5 collector drone interface and a class 5 prospector drone interface, I could now do so with just a single class 7 internal adapter which previously only could have had one or the other. (You could potentially launch 6 drones in the space that formerly could only launch 4, but this is somewhat balanced because a class 7 component has greater range and more efficient power draw.) You could do whatever you want with those internals, so the possibilities are as endless as those provided. (Although, presumably you won't be able to install internal adapters into other internal adapters because converting a class 8 internal into sixteen class 2 internals may introduce significant technical issues in terms of GUI and database bloat).

Overall, the choice to install an adapter basically gives your ship greater versatility at the cost of the potency of using a dedicated thing in that slot instead. Additional balancing costs could be added, such as having the adapters require additional power and have a weight.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

Not this again.
.
Personally I think the internal compartments should (and to some extent already do) define the ship. I think this would be much better than the above suggestion, which would devalue a ship's internal layout.

 

[DragoonKnight]

So basically all ships could then carry everything? Horrible idea.
Maybe if we had one ship that could do this, as a special ability of the hull then that would be ok.

 

[Geldonyetich]

Personally, I think the ability to split the ships' internal components into two, lesser components still preserves the uniqueness of the ships because you are still heavily restricted by the original internal slots. Instead, you would look at those original slots with renewed interest because of the additional possibilities they introduce, possibly resulting in a feeling the hulls are even more unique than they feel already.

As for the other point, I would not say this suggestion truly allows them to "carry everything" because the lower class versions of the components are inferior to the higher class. Rather, it would introduce a choice between either carrying the full potency versions or splitting the potency across two lesser components. I think it's probable that many power gamers, myself included, would prefer to mount full-potency internals unless I feel it is worth a sacrifice to make a build "work" with a given hull.

Of course, it's easy enough to anticipate these reactions as the most likely objections to this idea. Many gamers want their hulls to be unique and specialized, and at face value this idea would seem to threaten that.

Yet, do you really think simply preserving internal slots as they stand would grant you either of those perks? No, it wouldn't, it would just force everybody to take roughly the same build because they are that much more limited in their selection of what they can place in their internal components. As with many games with supposed customization, you end up with one "best" build for the ship and are stuck with it. This is the current present-day reality of Elite: Dangerous, is it not? I would say the only solution to that would be to balance of the existing internal components being set in such a way as to encourage players to consider there to be no "best" build, and this has nothing to do with the adapter suggestion.

Balance is not all we can do to encourage uniqueness; we could also encourage emergent content via granting players additional actions in the ship customization process. If we were to not rigidly adhere to a system that tries (in vain) to force players to be unique by limiting their choices, but rather one that grants them freedom of expression, then accessing this "true" uniqueness would require additional flexibility. One of many ways this flexibility could be accomplished is like what is being suggested here: a system of internal components that are adapters that grant additional flexibility in what the players can slot there.

In truth, given how developmental priorities work, I imagine if this change comes about, it would more likely be because the developers have introduced enough internal components to either have to retrofit all the hulls or introduce a change like this. An example can be found in how Horizons suddenly necessitated adding an additional internal bay to accommodate planetary actions. The introduction of adapters would have made that unnecessary. In this way, it seems that this, or something like it, is either an inevitable change or it's something Elite: Dangerous would never expand far enough to require.

 

[Strangepork]

I agree though... Maybe just apply this for up to class 3, its a shame to waste carrying capacity for the smaller modules especially., like fitting a AD Scanner in a class 3 slot, for example.

 

[DragoonKnight]

You can say that they will be inferior versions, but I often found multiple inferior versions to be superior to their higher level counterparts. Some examples

- I would rather have two 4A SCB than a single 6A. Not only do I win out in terms of weight, but also shield restored.
- An exploration ship would be able to pack all the dual AFMU, Shields, PVH, etc that he wants and would be limited only by weight.
- cargo collector limpets work just fine with a 1A controller.

They would have to spend a lot of time rebalancing the the entire game just by giving us this module.

Just think of what could be done if I equipped the module you suggest in almost every slot on a Conda.... I could literally take everything with me, including class 7 shields, and still have room left over for stuff.

I do think they should combine certain equipment, because it makes no sense to use it by itself.
Prospector limpet controller should be part of the refinery
There should be a class 2 exploration scanner that replaces the DSS and ADS for explorers.
Docking computer should be a software upgrade that does not take up any physical space or weight.

 

[CMDR Byr Goefin]

The idea that 2 class 3s == 1 class 5 only works for cargo. Anything else, and you get much more benefit out of the 2 class 4s. SCB and Armor being the most obvious, but repair units too.

Hull re-enforce:
5 = 390 armor
3x2= 520 armor

Limpet controllers:
Same number of limpets, but half the weight

SB:
740 MJ
vrs
1080 2x540


And that is without going into the fact that you now no longer need to make choices on load out. Take it all man!

Seriously, do you think the Devs are that dumb to not see the total imbalance this would create?

 

[Iskariot]

In the interest of making ship builds a bit more interesting and giving the players a bit more freedom, I was thinking a cool thing to add would be an internal component that converts an internal component bay into two, smaller internal components.

The specific formula I was thinking of would be CURRENT_CLASS - 2. The idea is that you lose part of the space of the internal to the adapter hardware that handles all the power feeds and such.

For example:
An adapter installed into a class 8 internal space would provide space for two class 6 internals.
An adapter installed into a class 7 internal space would provide space for two class 5 internals.
An adapter installed into a class 6 internal space would provide space for two class 4 internals.
And so on, down to the class 3 internals which provide space for two class 1 internals.

Why not CURRENT_CLASS - 1? Well, if you think of this in terms of basic cargo internals, if you had a class 7 internal that was converted to two class 6 internals, you would end up with equivalent cargo space (128 capacity splits into two 64 capacities). This would suggest there was no overhead to installing the internal adapter. So CURRENT_CLASS - 2 seems balanced. The existence of "adapter overhead" lends to the idea that the needed space exists and can be utilized in this manner.

Of course, the only point of doing this would be to give the players greater freedom in their loadouts, which has the potential to be less balanced. For example, lets say I wanted to plug in a class 5 collector drone interface and a class 5 prospector drone interface, I could now do so with just a single class 7 internal adapter which previously only could have had one or the other. (You could potentially launch 6 drones in the space that formerly could only launch 4, but this is somewhat balanced because a class 7 component has greater range and more efficient power draw.) You could do whatever you want with those internals, so the possibilities are as endless as those provided. (Although, presumably you won't be able to install internal adapters into other internal adapters because converting a class 8 internal into sixteen class 2 internals may introduce significant technical issues in terms of GUI and database bloat).

Overall, the choice to install an adapter basically gives your ship greater versatility at the cost of the potency of using a dedicated thing in that slot instead. Additional balancing costs could be added, such as having the adapters require additional power and have a weight.

I leaning towards liking this idea. I am for added flexibility and modular options.
I am hesitant only because I can't quite judge the consequences.
Might this imbalance the game too much?
Perhaps a more modest version with limitations would then be feasible.
In general I like the idea of having as much control of our ship's lay out as possible.

 

[CMDR Rison]

I don't mind "undefined" ships. I don't see the reason that a combat ship couldn't be forced into a (somewhat lacking) mining ship.