LET HIM FINISH!
...So I find it kinda sad that we'll be getting less variation in our ships now that RNG is RN-Dead.
I think at least part of the community feels the same.
At the same time I see some forum complaints that unlocking the engineers at all is a chore (which I don't agree with).
So what I dreamt up while at work today, instead of working, was that there should be more engineers. And those engineers will do some of the same modifications slightly differently. And have the same experimental effects available, but with subtle differences.
For Eg.
Say we add Mr. Speedy Gonzales to the game. He does G5 Thruster mods. So does Palin. But Speedy does them a little differently; Speedy's Dirty Drives result in less Thermal Load, but slightly more Power Draw compared to Professor Palin.
His Clean Drives result in a slightly higher Optimal Multiplier than Palin's Clean Drives, but the Thermal Load reduction isn't quite as good.
Then, they also sell Experimentals;
Palin's Thermal Spread effect does -10% Thermal Load +5% Mass
Speedy's Thermal Spread effect does -5% Thermal Load (No +Mass [woah])
These examples are just to illustrate the point, balancing such things would take a bit of work, but I would suggest to not overthink it.
Now, as for unlocking these various engineers. Perhaps the current 'tedious' (to some people) requirements to unlock engineers could be relaxed a bit. But with the addition of more engineers, there would be more unlocks in general. I posit that a shorter time between unlocks, but more things to unlock would feel more rewarding to most players, while still leaving goals to pursue in the long-term.
Technical Challenges
What happens if I have G4 and a half Dirty Drives from Speedy but then unlock Palin and want the rest of the mod from him...
A) Down-convert the thruster to Palin-brand G3, continue as if nothing ever happened, getting Palin Dirty Drive results (like the current grandfathering system)
B) Remove the old modification entirely, start fresh from Palin-brand G1's (probably less player-friendly option)
C) ???
Ideally the engineers with sub-specializations would have their own variations of modifications as well. Eg. Farseer G3 Dirty Drives having different stats than a Palin G3 Dirty Drive.
I imagine there being about three engineers per module specialization. 3 different versions of G5 Thrusters, 3 different versions of G5 Missile Launchers' etc. More than this would start to get annoying, heck even 3 different G5 versions may already sound annoying depending on the response to this post.
Anyway I'm sure none of this will even come close to happening. Not with all the work that engineers have already gotten recently, FD have gotta move on to other parts of the game.
It's just a thing I had fun thinking about.
Also a more realistic request: Name Modules by the mod they have. I have trouble finding the right pair of multicannons for my Anaconda in my module storage list. When modules are modded they should have a corresponding name change. Like 'Sturdy Rail Gun', or 'Thermal Resistant Shield Booster'. That would make it easier to manage stored modules, and have interesting consequences for PvP.
...So I find it kinda sad that we'll be getting less variation in our ships now that RNG is RN-Dead.
I think at least part of the community feels the same.
At the same time I see some forum complaints that unlocking the engineers at all is a chore (which I don't agree with).
So what I dreamt up while at work today, instead of working, was that there should be more engineers. And those engineers will do some of the same modifications slightly differently. And have the same experimental effects available, but with subtle differences.
For Eg.
Say we add Mr. Speedy Gonzales to the game. He does G5 Thruster mods. So does Palin. But Speedy does them a little differently; Speedy's Dirty Drives result in less Thermal Load, but slightly more Power Draw compared to Professor Palin.
His Clean Drives result in a slightly higher Optimal Multiplier than Palin's Clean Drives, but the Thermal Load reduction isn't quite as good.
Then, they also sell Experimentals;
Palin's Thermal Spread effect does -10% Thermal Load +5% Mass
Speedy's Thermal Spread effect does -5% Thermal Load (No +Mass [woah])
These examples are just to illustrate the point, balancing such things would take a bit of work, but I would suggest to not overthink it.
Now, as for unlocking these various engineers. Perhaps the current 'tedious' (to some people) requirements to unlock engineers could be relaxed a bit. But with the addition of more engineers, there would be more unlocks in general. I posit that a shorter time between unlocks, but more things to unlock would feel more rewarding to most players, while still leaving goals to pursue in the long-term.
Technical Challenges
What happens if I have G4 and a half Dirty Drives from Speedy but then unlock Palin and want the rest of the mod from him...
A) Down-convert the thruster to Palin-brand G3, continue as if nothing ever happened, getting Palin Dirty Drive results (like the current grandfathering system)
B) Remove the old modification entirely, start fresh from Palin-brand G1's (probably less player-friendly option)
C) ???
Ideally the engineers with sub-specializations would have their own variations of modifications as well. Eg. Farseer G3 Dirty Drives having different stats than a Palin G3 Dirty Drive.
I imagine there being about three engineers per module specialization. 3 different versions of G5 Thrusters, 3 different versions of G5 Missile Launchers' etc. More than this would start to get annoying, heck even 3 different G5 versions may already sound annoying depending on the response to this post.
Anyway I'm sure none of this will even come close to happening. Not with all the work that engineers have already gotten recently, FD have gotta move on to other parts of the game.
It's just a thing I had fun thinking about.
Also a more realistic request: Name Modules by the mod they have. I have trouble finding the right pair of multicannons for my Anaconda in my module storage list. When modules are modded they should have a corresponding name change. Like 'Sturdy Rail Gun', or 'Thermal Resistant Shield Booster'. That would make it easier to manage stored modules, and have interesting consequences for PvP.