Why can't small ships mass lock large ships?

[Phaaded]

It makes no sense that my Vulture or Cobra cannot mass lock an FDL. This means that my Vulture, realistically, can never kill and FDL, or a Type-9, Anaconda etc because they can jump out far faster than I can get through their shields and take out their drive.

I should still be able to mass lock them, simply at a reduced factor. Arbitrary ship sizes should not prevent me from being able to hunt these targets in a smaller ship.

It's particularly bad for ships like the Eagle, which will languish in uselessness forever.

 

[Bomba Luigi]

They simple don't have enough mass. you also can't masslock a Capital Ship with a Sidewinder, like it or not

 

[Midian27]

Lol, the vulture isn't the end all be all. I see no reason why it should be either. Get a bigger ship.

 

[FoxTwo]

It makes no sense that my Vulture or Cobra cannot mass lock an FDL. This means that my Vulture, realistically, can never kill and FDL, or a Type-9, Anaconda etc because they can jump out far faster than I can get through their shields and take out their drive.

Um I kill larger ships fine in my Cobra, Eagle and also the Vulture... just target important systems to prevent/delay them jumping out. You don't have to depend on "mass lock".

 

[J. J. Musclethorpe]

This was something I suggested several days ago that was then moved to page 339 of the "interdiction discussion" thread. This would partially address your issue and clean up a few other silly things like the low mass of the FDL yet its absurd inhibition value.

This is not an original idea but I would like to see this have its own discussion. I would like to see the current mass locking system scrapped, as it is very inconsistent anyhow, and replaced with a similar system based on the class/rating interdictor in operation.




Basically an inhibiting value would be placed on a vessel when this module is fired off in "regular" space (perhaps like an ECM?), which FD has already mentioned thinking of doing. You would still have balance as small ships wouldn't be able to carry large enough modules to have a significant effect on more massive ships (ship mass at this point would actually have to mean something of course).




This would preferably be applied to high jumps as well, and would be a solution to the minor problem of wings trying to low jump from the same place together. Lastly it would justify the outrageous 21 million credit price for a top notch interdictor.




Thanks for listening and please add thoughtful discussion.


Addendum - Interdictor Classes would need to go from 1-7 or 8 and be priced accordingly

 

[Guidebot]

It gives all sizes an advantage, I think. Small ships can boost away to safety because large ships are slower; large ships can withdraw by supercruising right out of combat.

 

[Soda Popinski]

It makes no sense that my Vulture or Cobra cannot mass lock an FDL. ...

I should still be able to mass lock them, simply at a reduced factor.

Makes no sense? You do realize it's called Mass Lock? That implies Mass has something to do with it. If a smaller mass can lock your ship, logically filling your hold with cargo would do the same thing as it increases the local mass.

It may suck at a gameplay level (subjective), but makes sense from a lore / technobabble perspective.

 

[Shayde]

Hmmm, I got a bit of an odd situation a few nights ago. I was in my Type 9, hauling 500t of cargo, and got interdicted. I checked to see what had bushwhacked me and found it was an Asp. I boosted and hit SC only to find my FSD was inhibited by a factor of 18 by the Asp. So I'm wondering how did a much smaller craft have such a drastic effect on me ?

Kind of the opposite way round to your question, but I suppose it's a worthwhile example of what can happen.

 

[edgar]

I would like it if the mass of multiple smaller craft could add up to mass lock a larger vessel; but other than that it's fine as it is and does makes sense.

 

[Shayde]

I would like it if the mass of multiple smaller craft could add up to mass lock a larger vessel; but other than that it's fine as it is and does makes sense.

That's a good thought. Lots of small ships swarming a big one to overpower it ! I like it

 

[KillingTime]

It makes no sense that my Vulture or Cobra cannot mass lock an FDL. This means that my Vulture, realistically, can never kill and FDL, or a Type-9, Anaconda etc because they can jump out far faster than I can get through their shields and take out their drive.

I should still be able to mass lock them, simply at a reduced factor. Arbitrary ship sizes should not prevent me from being able to hunt these targets in a smaller ship.

It's particularly bad for ships like the Eagle, which will languish in uselessness forever.

the clue's in the name!

 

[Bacon Sarnie]

MASS lock, does exactly what it implies

 

[J. J. Musclethorpe]

Hmmm, I got a bit of an odd situation a few nights ago. I was in my Type 9, hauling 500t of cargo, and got interdicted. I checked to see what had bushwhacked me and found it was an Asp. I boosted and hit SC only to find my FSD was inhibited by a factor of 18 by the Asp. So I'm wondering how did a much smaller craft have such a drastic effect on me ?

Kind of the opposite way round to your question, but I suppose it's a worthwhile example of what can happen.

As I stated, a lot of the mass lock values make little sense as they are applied almost arbitrarily regardless of true ship mass. Your issue with the Type-9 stems from it being awarded a disruption factor of only 18 even though it is one of the largest ships. This allows it to be mass locked by the Asp, Clipper, and Python equally; the FDL actually has a factor 20.

 

[Distance]

I would like it if the mass of multiple smaller craft could add up to mass lock a larger vessel; but other than that it's fine as it is and does makes sense.

This ^^

This whole discussion is pointless though as jumping to another system totally negates masslock. This is by design but I personally think it's not good in practice.

 

[StewartScott]

Ummmm really? It's called 'mass' lock for a reason. The larger the mass of an object, the larger the mass effect. The lesser the mass of an object the lesser effect it has. Otherwise the Earth could or would be orbiting the moon and not visa versa. Get the concept? Earth's mass is much larger than the moon, as the Sun's mass is much larger than the Earth's, thus the Earth orbits the Sun and not visa versa. Makes no sense for a smaller ship to be able to mass lock a larger one does it?

 

[Distance]

Ummmm really? It's called 'mass' lock for a reason. The larger the mass of an object, the larger the mass effect. The lesser the mass of an object the lesser effect it has. Otherwise the Earth could or would be orbiting the moon and not visa versa. Get the concept? Earth's mass is much larger than the moon, as the Sun's mass is much larger than the Earth's, thus the Earth orbits the Sun and not visa versa. Makes no sense for a smaller ship to be able to mass lock a larger one does it?

Asp masslocks T9 as described in a previous post . . .

 

[GunnerBill]

I guess because the larger FSD in a big ship simply overpowers the mass effect of the smaller one.

That being said if you equipped a Python with a class 2 FSD (is that even possible) perhaps a Cobra should be able to mass lock that.

Not that you would, but I hope the point is made.

 

[Woody Malden]

Ummmm really? It's called 'mass' lock for a reason. The larger the mass of an object, the larger the mass effect. The lesser the mass of an object the lesser effect it has. Otherwise the Earth could or would be orbiting the moon and not visa versa. Get the concept? Earth's mass is much larger than the moon, as the Sun's mass is much larger than the Earth's, thus the Earth orbits the Sun and not visa versa. Makes no sense for a smaller ship to be able to mass lock a larger one does it?

um...actually earth and luna orbit a common barycenter, it's just that the difference in their relative mass/orbital velocities is enough that the most noticeable effect this has is that we have tides

the same is also true of sol in relation to all other celestial bodies in the system, in fact, the slight wobble caused by this is why we're able to tell if there're planets orbiting other stars

 

[AlexRyder]

I guess because the larger FSD in a big ship simply overpowers the mass effect of the smaller one.

That being said if you equipped a Python with a class 2 FSD (is that even possible) perhaps a Cobra should be able to mass lock that.

Not that you would, but I hope the point is made.

Personally I reckon there needs to be a module that can artificially masslock something. If you can travel faster than light and manouver without instantly turning into liquid then creating an artificial mass should be really easy.

 

[PotatoOverdose]

Because the vulture isn't supposed to be the be-all and end-all of spaceships?

The vulture is an excellent brawler, but has the drawback of not being able to hold down targets very well. The FdL is worse, as a brawler, but can hold ships down much better than a vulture. Different ships for different purposes.

If the vulture get's a module to let it mass lock, than my FdL and Anaconda should get modules to let me turn as fast as a vulture.