What if Life Support doubled as an integrated Module Reinforcement Package?

[DemiserofD]

Right now there's little reason to get anything but a D-rated life support, and no reason to engineer for anything but lightweight. Likewise, there's zero benefit to having a larger life support module, and in fact it's actively bad, costing you weight while giving you nothing in return.

What if Life Support had a dual purpose? Make it serve as a Module Reinforcement Package built into every ship.

That makes the higher-integrity life support modules relatively valuable, as they'd offer more protection than the lower rated ones, and it would make engineering life support for Reinforced or Shielded actually make sense, further increasing the integrity pool and thereby offering increased defense to your modules.

 

[varonica]

I just don't see a relationship between life support and hull reinforcement, it makes no sense and while yes, it is a game, this is like treating a warship aircondtitioning system as part of the hull. I like to see things make some sort of sense in the way they work not, just make life support hull re-enforcement, that's like making the wake scanner double as an FSD boost, no sense to it at all.

 

[DemiserofD]

Well, its module reinforcement, not hull reinforcement. Presumably life support encompasses everything involved with holding the air in, and presumably most interior modules would have pressurized sections. So to penetrate the module, there would be a good chance of going through the life support surrounding it, as well.

And if that is armored or shielded, it will absorb some of that damage!

More importantly, it adds greater gameplay purpose to life support.

 

[varonica]

Module re-enforcement, same thing, doesn't make any sense, life support is life support, not walls or for instance canopy, your canopy breached you still have the same amount of life support.

 

[DemiserofD]

Sure, that's how it works now.

I'm proposing that be changed, and offering a reasonable justification for why it could make sense.

 

[GoldenSilver484]

Right now there's little reason to get anything but a D-rated life support, and no reason to engineer for anything but lightweight. Likewise, there's zero benefit to having a larger life support module, and in fact it's actively bad, costing you weight while giving you nothing in return.

I think only four of my 30ish engineered ships have D-rated life supports, my ExplOrca, two ICouriers and a 699m/s Hauler.

Everything else has lightweighted (of varying grades) A-rated life supports, even my DBX.

I'd been saved several times by the extra capacities before you could synthesize more, so it's stuck with me as a default upgrade to my ships.

Sure, I might lose 0.04ly vs a lightweight D-rated, but that would only make a difference in the most extreme jump-range focused ships, which I never build for anyways. The slight increase in mass and power draw is negligible for the 17.5 extra minutes an A-rated provides.

 

[DemiserofD]

I think only four of my 30ish engineered ships have D-rated life supports, my ExplOrca, two ICouriers and a 699m/s Hauler.

Everything else has lightweighted (of varying grades) A-rated life supports, even my DBX.

I'd been saved several times by the extra capacities before you could synthesize more, so it's stuck with me as a default upgrade to my ships.

Sure, I might lose 0.04ly vs a lightweight D-rated, but that would only make a difference in the most extreme jump-range focused ships, which I never build for anyways. The slight increase in mass and power draw is negligible for the 17.5 extra minutes an A-rated provides.

The trouble is, synthesis exists, so in reality, all higher grades offer is slight convenience.

When you consider that, anything but d grade is pretty useless. Isn't it time for it to be updated to be more useful once again?

 

[GoldenSilver484]

The trouble is, synthesis exists, so in reality, all higher grades offer is slight convenience.

The half the module ratings exist for slight conveniences, higher grade life supports are capable of providing enough air to return to a station/FC so you just don't have to bother with synthesis, and even if you do synthesize more, you only need to do it half as often.

When you consider that, anything but d grade is pretty useless. Isn't it time for it to be updated to be more useful once again?

I disagree with them being useless, but even then, giving every ship a mostly free way to stack even more health isn't the way to bring about the relevancy of other life support ratings.

Most combat ships could easily drop their lowest class MRP for another HD HRP or GSB, while anyone who still uses a lightweighted life support would then find it shot out in nearly every engagement that has their shields fail, especially if they eat a missile or two.

 

[varonica]

Sure, that's how it works now.

I'm proposing that be changed, and offering a reasonable justification for why it could make sense.

There's no possible justification for that making sense, except for it being a game and it doesn't have to make sense even if it looks silly! I personally don't think your justification is reasonable and it shouldn't be done.

 

[Chrystoph]

Sure, that's how it works now.

I'm proposing that be changed, and offering a reasonable justification for why it could make sense.

You cannot make it "make sense" in the current system because it was taken from a system where life support represented endurance of a ship in terms of how much consumable resources it had in terms of breathable atmosphere and food.

Traveller includes a Jump mechanic that takes a week, and that was part of the original design mechanism for ships that had more than just an oversized cockpit. The life support system now is a hodgepodge that crosses a strike fighter's emergency system with the original Traveller design concept and doesn't meet the reality of either. That is why it takes up so much space in the design while you are told you are still flying an oversized fighter.

As long as you have the dichotomy of dogfighting and distance shipping using the same design mechanics, it never will "Make Sense".

 

[here_it_comes]

Right now there's little reason to get anything but a D-rated life support, and no reason to engineer for anything but lightweight.

Only one of my combat ships uses a D Life Support, the rest use A. My shieldless ship utilizes Shielded class A.

Pass on Life Support offering Module protection. If ya want Module protection, sacrifice internal slots.

 

[JohnnyDangerous]

I just don't see a relationship between life support and hull reinforcement, it makes no sense and while yes, it is a game, this is like treating a warship aircondtitioning system as part of the hull. I like to see things make some sort of sense in the way they work not, just make life support hull re-enforcement, that's like making the wake scanner double as an FSD boost, no sense to it at all.

What difference does it make? NOTHING makes sense in this game. NOTHING. I'm a real pilot, and we (in 20th century spaceships) had a life support system that could keep 3 men alive to the moon and back over the course of weeks which weighed in at, what, a few hundred pounds? Meanwhile in the 31st century a multi-ton module can only supply 5 minutes of air? I can get more in a SCUBA tank. Ships have max speeds as if flying through atmospheric drag, and even slow down when you drop the landing gear, weapons have damage falloff at range, hand held laser pistols have recoil, zero g space stations still have a bar with drinks in glasses, a full up spaceship costs less than a good rifle, drove SLFs have cockpits for some reason... the whole thing is a joke for realism, so what the heck, just embrace it as a game and roll with it.

 

[Darth Ender]

since life support in the game isn't related to reality at all.

i say, why not have it augment radiation exposure and add radiation as an environmental attribute to both systems, stellar objects and planetary surfaces.

new suits could be created to handle walking

new srv could be created to deal with driving

Those "new things" would not require any real additional artwork or anything, unless they wanted to be a good gaming company and create some. But it wouldn't be necessary.

Then life support ratings can give you varying levels of radiation protection before your systems start taking damage from exposure. There would be no way to augment this with shields or other modules except module reinforcements to give the modules more HP's for the radiation to eat.

different levels of radiation can be given to different stellar bodies and thus systems. It also falls off in strength with distance from source of radiation (the falloff value will vary depending on the source and system, with some systems simply being flooded all over due to where it's at (maybe close to the galactic core).
Different planetary atmospheres can absorb different levels of radiation ...providing some local protection.
you could also use some planets as a shield if they aren't the source of the radiation themselves ...by hiding in the dark side for a bit.

Life support radiation protection would act kind of like shields in terms of how it behaves, where radiation is constantly dealing damage but the recharge rate of the life support radiation management can absorb that indefinitely if it's higher than the radiation rate.
But once it isn't, this capacitor will decrease at varying rates over time until it is 0. Once it is 0, you start taking damage. There is no way to charge this externally, you have to leave the system for one with less radiation or get to a place that is protected from it (stations, some planet surfaces, dark sides of planets or far enough away from the source of radiation that it drops below your life support max rating)

Boom, instantly you have a purpose for life support, you have a new environmental hazard to consider (fun), and new SRV (reason for multi-srv bays other than just being a bad driver) and new considerations for walking around. All with minimal effort from arts and design and other creative teams (unless they want to make it cool)

Bonus if while taking radiation damage, you start getting all kinds of hallucinations and red vision.