I'm sure that this has probably been suggested before by cleverer people than myself but I haven't seen it for a while. Plus, the development and/or reverse engineering of thargoid technology is the perfect time to introduce a new/improved jump mechanic.
Issues with the current mechanic
1) Hyperspace jumps are pretty and a pretty good mask for a loading screen. However, that's all they are. They're non-interactive and take up a not-insignificant chunk of playtime.
2) The actual play area of Elite Dangerous is expanding quite rapidly, with the 'thargoid bubble' of happenings in and around Maia, Colonia, the human bubble etc.
The Far Jump
An additional, optional jump mechanic wherein you bypass the fuel per jump requirements and essentially 'hyper-space cruise' until you run out of fuel. This would involve using the route plotter (making sure your 'final point' is a scoopable star...) and then a variation of the interdiction mini-game during the hyperspace jump itself.
This would be high risk vs high reward and obviously the difficulty would have to be balanced. The lore behind it would be that you're traversing hyperspace and local stars along your route and other phenomenon are exerting gravitic forces on your ship, requiring you to match a vector as close as possible (essentially the escape vector from the interdiction game). Do it right, and you arrive at your destination. Do it wrong, and you're torn from hyperspace and dumped back into realspace with a greater FSD cooldown and significant FSD damage, perhaps requiring a reboot/repair.
The actual minigame itself would be scaled based on the 'far jump' distance. So if you had a Diamond Back Explorer with a total laden range of say, 450 LY, this would be a longer minigame, and more difficult, than a 200 LY jump.
How would this improve the game?
1. Risk vs reward gameplay.
2. Skilled pilots/navigators could traverse significant distances quickly.
3. Interaction into the hyperspace jump sequence.
4. Completely optional.
Balancing
1. You can only use the 'range' of your main fuel tank, additional fuel tanks cannot add to the total range. Justify this by saying that refuelling from a secondary fuel tank while in hyperspace is too unstable or something.
2. The 'Far Jump' requires a significantly longer charging time. This is mainly to avoid CMDRs using it to out-jump a pirate vessel for instance. It's intended for long-distance travel, not avoiding existing mechanics.
3. The FSD Interdictor module will now have an effect in realspace as well as supercruise, activating it in realspace will prevent any vessel from attempting a 'far jump'. Again, this will prevent CMDRs using it to escape piracy, as presumably most pirates will be carrying an FSDI.
Those are my initial thoughts, obviously would probably be subject to further balancing.
Issues with the current mechanic
1) Hyperspace jumps are pretty and a pretty good mask for a loading screen. However, that's all they are. They're non-interactive and take up a not-insignificant chunk of playtime.
2) The actual play area of Elite Dangerous is expanding quite rapidly, with the 'thargoid bubble' of happenings in and around Maia, Colonia, the human bubble etc.
The Far Jump
An additional, optional jump mechanic wherein you bypass the fuel per jump requirements and essentially 'hyper-space cruise' until you run out of fuel. This would involve using the route plotter (making sure your 'final point' is a scoopable star...) and then a variation of the interdiction mini-game during the hyperspace jump itself.
This would be high risk vs high reward and obviously the difficulty would have to be balanced. The lore behind it would be that you're traversing hyperspace and local stars along your route and other phenomenon are exerting gravitic forces on your ship, requiring you to match a vector as close as possible (essentially the escape vector from the interdiction game). Do it right, and you arrive at your destination. Do it wrong, and you're torn from hyperspace and dumped back into realspace with a greater FSD cooldown and significant FSD damage, perhaps requiring a reboot/repair.
The actual minigame itself would be scaled based on the 'far jump' distance. So if you had a Diamond Back Explorer with a total laden range of say, 450 LY, this would be a longer minigame, and more difficult, than a 200 LY jump.
How would this improve the game?
1. Risk vs reward gameplay.
2. Skilled pilots/navigators could traverse significant distances quickly.
3. Interaction into the hyperspace jump sequence.
4. Completely optional.
Balancing
1. You can only use the 'range' of your main fuel tank, additional fuel tanks cannot add to the total range. Justify this by saying that refuelling from a secondary fuel tank while in hyperspace is too unstable or something.
2. The 'Far Jump' requires a significantly longer charging time. This is mainly to avoid CMDRs using it to out-jump a pirate vessel for instance. It's intended for long-distance travel, not avoiding existing mechanics.
3. The FSD Interdictor module will now have an effect in realspace as well as supercruise, activating it in realspace will prevent any vessel from attempting a 'far jump'. Again, this will prevent CMDRs using it to escape piracy, as presumably most pirates will be carrying an FSDI.
Those are my initial thoughts, obviously would probably be subject to further balancing.
