Universal Limpet Controller!

[Limoncello Lizard]

Isince it will remove a lot of outfitting choices

When those limited outfitting choices severely limit your gameplay, it's not making the game more fun.

Example. I'm in a Python, fitted for multi-purpose missions. Out of the choice of 6 controller types, I've chosen collectors for salvage and loot. I take an assassination mission and kill the target. Not there's a damaged trade ship sitting there out of fuel. I can't do the (admittedly limited) gameplay of providing fuel to that NPC, so I have to leave him be.
A universal limpet controller would have allowed me the option to rescue the NPC.

 

[Iskariot]

Look, guys...the number of different limpet controllers are getting out of hand. Really.

Clearly, Limpets themselves are already universal in nature - no tweaking necessary there, one limpet type to rule them all. So that's the biggest hurdle already dealt with! [haha]

What I envision here, involves:

1. - A new module type, available everywhere/to everyone (dependent on market and all that, of course)
2. - Same class/rating rules of design that apply to current limpet controllers (actually, maybe include more than just odd-number classes? and apply that to current controller versions?)
3. - To select different modes, add a button to the Function tab on the right-hand UI panel (e.g. "Universal Limpet Controller Mode", similar to the Turret mode switches), and possibly a new hotkey binding option in the control settings
4. - Once fired, a limpet cannot be changed from the mode it was fired as (to prevent any overly shady shenanigans with hatchbreaking); in other words, unaffected by any controller mode switches in the ship
5. - In exchange for being Universal and saving on slots, the new Universal Limpet Controllers will be significantly more expensive than current ones; if this is not enough in Fdev's eyes, then I propose making them heavier than non-universal limpet controllers as well.

__

The possibilities this would open up for players would be endless!

There are many times where collecting materials made me wish I had room for a cargo limpet controller...and I also like the idea of being prepared to fuel & repair friends, if need be, without having to panic-open eddb.io and find a system near them that has the necessary controllers to slap onto my current ship. But having all of that at once is pretty much impossible, on top of other Optional module requirements for whatever I may be doing.

I mean, heck, it would come with some inherent risk seeing as how NPC pirates at the moment still seem to highly value Limpets....

The Fuel Rats would benefit from this, naturally - it would allow them to more easily provide Repair rescue service!

It would bring some interesting possibilities into PvP as well. Switching from Hatchbreaker to Collector mode in a timely fashion, for instance, would become of dire importance for pirates relying upon a Universal Limpet Controller.

Miners in particular would welcome this with open arms, I imagine - though some might opt not to use it just to avoid having to repetitively switch controller modes, I guess.

As for tissue research, however...maybe make it so you can only add the "alien research probe" mode via an Engineer blueprint...I mean it'd be *too* easy to have that function on top of everything else, eh? (I personally think it can never be too easy, when it comes to quality of life additions like this, but I digress.)

Yes... the way limpets are implemented is not good, not good at all.
I have been protesting against it from the moment I heard how FDev wanted to do this, because I realized it was unnecessarily inflexible and limiting.

I want a more flexible and fun limpet/drone system. and proposed the following a while ago:
.........................................................................................................................

I think the current system is weird and unwieldy. It limits game play too much.
I believe a much more flexible and fun limpet drone system is needed.

A limpet controller should be a flexible unit that can program a limpet for any task.
We would buy software packages to add options: refueling, repair, combat, reconnaissance, exploration, mining etc. etc. These software packages should be expensive as they add very usefull functionality to every ship.

The beauty of this is that even the smallest ship can reprogram their drones to do all tasks, which makes it much more useful and fun to always have at least one or two drones on board if you are so inclined.

Drones would be reusable and repairable.

A limpet drone controller would include a drone bay and should be available in different sizes and be able to manufacture new limpets from materials and would also be able to repair them if damaged.
The smallest size (perhaps a size 2) module would have have storage for two drones, but a large ship might have room for a size 8 for example that would have room for 8 drones.
The largest size drone bay might correspond to the number of drones the game allows you to have active at the same time.

All drones would refuel from the drone bay and might also be repaired there.
When a drone gets destroyed you can manufacture a new one and fill the empty drone slot.

The advantage of this system is enormous flexibility which opens the game up.

Example Scenario:
I have build myself a mining ship and I encounter an NPC without fuel in a USS. I can now reprogram a drone to bring the ship some of my fuel.
When I arrive at my mining area I can then reprogram the drone for mining and when I get attacked I might use a drone or two for defense and when my canopy gets shot out by a pirate I can program a drone to do some repairs.


The drone bay would become a true workhorse that most cmdrs would like to have on board.
I see no good reason at all for the current suffocating limpet mechanic.

 

[Watcher]

Yes... the way limpets are implemented is not good, not good at all.
I have been protesting against it from the moment I heard how FDev wanted to do this, because I realized it was unnecessarily inflexible and limiting.

I want a more flexible and fun limpet/drone system. and proposed the following a while ago:
...

This is quite similar to my own solution to the limpet/drone situation.

My take varies a little.
First, limpets become an ammo/resource type like the SLF or auto-repair system.
Second, all ships (except fighters!) start with a one drone capacity by default, larger or more specialised ships may have more.
Third, all limpet control options are available from the get go and bindable to fire control groups in the normal way.
Control range, duration and number are extremely limited in the default case, enough for some emergency repairs for yourself or someone you are helping. Again, specialised ships may have better range, duration or control numbers in given category.
Fourth, limpet modules act to increase limpet capcity (in general) and operational range, duration or control numbers in a specific category. This provides a more compelling reason for larger (or better) modules while retaining the ability to specialise in a given direction. A generalised module could also exist but only if this was significantly worse than specialised ones of the same grade.

In this way limpets become your hands in space giving you the option to particpate in more activities in general while still allowing specialised builds for given careers. It opens up rescure gameplay and so on; unless you are seriously dedicated how likely is it you are carrying the kit to help refuel or repair another pilot? Pretty much nill and it would be nice to see USS's where this would be a thing you could drop in and do. Similarly for your own ship repair in a pinch or perhaps risk your limited (default) drone supply to help you hoover up some unexpected cargo quickly. A dedicated miner would still want one or more high grade collector and propsector modules to improve range, endurance and so on and a pirate would still want a proper hatch breaker module to stand a reasonable chance of success...

So I don't see much of a downside here and plenty of benefits in terms of gameplay.

Possibly extensions, include keeping track of drones endurance and having the ability to recall them. They might not repair but perhaps you could swap them to another role after they've returned. I like the idea of a number of limpet/drone slots though with a refuel/repair cycle up to some ship capacity. If you lose a drone you can repair if you have enough capacity for a full rebuild. In this case a default would be one slot and perhaps a 1.5 capacity or something.

 

[Bunkerkind Anni]

all i want is a harpoon and a net-gun with 300m range to collect my loot in a flyby

instead of 6 different types of artificially bloated "controller" modules for 256t of one-time use rocket-propelled canisters that can't even navigate around a small rock in space...

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

The smallest size (perhaps a size 2) module would have have storage for two drones, but a large ship might have room for a size 8 for example that would have room for 8 drones.

You were doing well until this bit, which is exactly the same dumb mistake that FD made. A class 8 modules is 64 times larger than a class 2 one. So why only 4 times the number of drones?

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

Class 7 Universal Limpet Controller sorted.

 

[Bunkerkind Anni]

You were doing well until this bit, which is exactly the same dumb mistake that FD made. A class 8 modules is 64 times larger than a class 2 one. So why only 4 times the number of drones?

take mass out of the equation, as its only a "balance factor"

but its simple: we don't have unlimited slots. the the plus of the bigger controler is that you can control more drones per slot.
its just the scaling is currenlty out of bounds, you go up two sizes, but only get one more drone for the next bigger one.
wouldn't be half as bad if there would be controllers for each slot size...

 

[Iskariot]

You were doing well until this bit, which is exactly the same dumb mistake that FD made. A class 8 modules is 64 times larger than a class 2 one. So why only 4 times the number of drones?

Simple: I did not think about that.
It is just an example.
Perhaps we don't even need class 8 drone bays at all in that case.

I hope the general idea of my proposal is clear enough.

 

[Bunkerkind Anni]

for real...
another limpet controller released

Collector, Prospector, Hatchbreaker
Fuel, Repair,
Research and now decontamination?

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

take mass out of the equation, as its only a "balance factor"

but its simple: we don't have unlimited slots. the the plus of the bigger controler is that you can control more drones per slot.
its just the scaling is currenlty out of bounds, you go up two sizes, but only get one more drone for the next bigger one.
wouldn't be half as bad if there would be controllers for each slot size...

I get that there needs to be some balancing. But the scaling of x4 for one extra limpet gets a little silly. But FD aren't even very consistent with the way this is applied. Hatch breakers scale far better. If collectors were like this, it wouldn't break the game.

And one more controller type. So there's seven of them now.

 

[Iskariot]

for real...
another limpet controller released

Collector, Prospector, Hatchbreaker
Fuel, Repair,
Research and now decontamination?

Yes that is the problem.
I welcome all those different limpet tools, but with the current way limpets are implemented it is completely unmanagable.
That is why I made my proposal about limpets. It will make the growing array of limpets usable and fun again.

 

[V'larr]

Looks like reddit is catching up to the ideas in my thread here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDange...looking_at_8_different_types_of_limpets_here/