Future of Combat
Why This Topic
So essentially I am making this topic in order to spark a conversation and see what the community things about the matter at hand.
Combat Now and What it Could be.
As far as I am concerned ship combat in SE is quite lacking. The way I see things, there are a few directions that the combat could be changed. The firs would be to make the combat like it is seen in the Scifi shows like 'The Expanse' and 'battlestar Galactica' which seems like real ship combat in space would be like. The second option would be like the combat as it is seen in ' Star Wars' which is heavily scifi and less realistic seeming. The third option would be to make the combat like it is in the universe of Warhammer 40 000. again quite far from reality bout would seem interesting at least to me.
Expanse and Galactica
So the first option, basically this would consist of 3 to 4 primary kinds of weapons all with their own purpose. So the first weapon would be the long range option, maybe 5km in SE. These weapons would be missile or torpedoes requiring something like a radar contact to track their target. Next, would be the medium range option. This would be railguns like in Expanse or like the heavy flack cannons seen in Galactica. Weapons like this in SE could have about half the range of the missiles/torpedoes. The third weapon type would be the now existing turrets, used for point defense and close quarters fire.
Star Wars
I assume everyone here have seen Star Wars and thus know what the combat is like. So big guns firing things like laser bolts. In my opinion combat like this would not fit SE but your opinion may differ.
Warhammer 40k
Finally, Warhammer. So basically tall ship combat in space. big broadside slug fests paired with strait flying torpedoes and point defense with. The weapons here would be big broadside cannons both cannons and laser paired with various point defense options. Again I personally don't think that this would suit SE but it could be interesting.
Final Word
So tell me what you think about the options given or if you have your own ideas. I know this topic does not cover planet combat, this is because I've already made a post concerning that.
I like this feedback
The first thing they need to fix is the heavy armour. It just doesn't do the job it's supposed to. Which makes it more or less redundant and overly resource intensive to build, maintain and to operate a ship that is so much more massive in terms of weight than it otherwise would be.
The next thing to fix are the Gatling and missile turrets. The large ship variants don't need to be 3x3x3 blocks in size. They should be 1x1x1 or 1x1x2. Which would make them a similar size to the small ship version. If players building overpowered ships is the concern. Then surely the PCU and block limits systems take care of that these days. We could also have a slider in the terminal where players can choose to trade firing rate for operational time.
We also need centre-line weapons for large ships. Something like a large Gatling cannon.
There should be two broad categories of weapons. Projectile and energy based.
All weapons should require ammo of some description. Even energy weapons. In reality lasers or plasmas or microwaves would require components that are expensive to build and prone to wear and tear with use. Laser and plasma based weapons also typically require some kind of gas in addition to a high-output power source. So in SE such weapons would require oxygen or hydrogen. Perhaps a mix of both. Energy weapons should basically work like capacitors. Where they will naturally discharge over time even if they are not used.
The greater the range or damage a weapon does, the more expensive it should be to build. Weapons like rail guns and lasers should require exotic materials. Which would mean platinum or uranium as gold and silver are actually quite common in SE.
All weapons should have a limited operational time. Meaning they should all have a mandatory cool down period and energy weapons should also have a charge time, with a limited time a charge can be held. This would force players to fire their weapons in sequence, make tactical retreats and in general, take a far more considered approach to combat.
Energy shields should be limited to blocking energy weapons and perhaps redirecting projectile weapons by a few degrees. They should also be power hungry and consume power continuously. Again they would be expensive to build, maintain, have a limited operational period and require a charge time and cool down time.
EMP weapons could operated by damaging a percentage the computer components and motors in functional blocks. And like other energy weapons, they would have a charge time, cool down time and be limited in how long they could hold a charge for.
Jump drives should also be considered a tactical system and treated like an energy weapon. The rational for this is that many players have realised tactical short range jumps are entirely possible in SE. They should not be able to hold a charge indefinitely. They should have a limited operational time and additionally should damage their own grid by a small fraction with each jump.
The first thing they need to fix is the heavy armour. It just doesn't do the job it's supposed to. Which makes it more or less redundant and overly resource intensive to build, maintain and to operate a ship that is so much more massive in terms of weight than it otherwise would be.
The next thing to fix are the Gatling and missile turrets. The large ship variants don't need to be 3x3x3 blocks in size. They should be 1x1x1 or 1x1x2. Which would make them a similar size to the small ship version. If players building overpowered ships is the concern. Then surely the PCU and block limits systems take care of that these days. We could also have a slider in the terminal where players can choose to trade firing rate for operational time.
We also need centre-line weapons for large ships. Something like a large Gatling cannon.
There should be two broad categories of weapons. Projectile and energy based.
All weapons should require ammo of some description. Even energy weapons. In reality lasers or plasmas or microwaves would require components that are expensive to build and prone to wear and tear with use. Laser and plasma based weapons also typically require some kind of gas in addition to a high-output power source. So in SE such weapons would require oxygen or hydrogen. Perhaps a mix of both. Energy weapons should basically work like capacitors. Where they will naturally discharge over time even if they are not used.
The greater the range or damage a weapon does, the more expensive it should be to build. Weapons like rail guns and lasers should require exotic materials. Which would mean platinum or uranium as gold and silver are actually quite common in SE.
All weapons should have a limited operational time. Meaning they should all have a mandatory cool down period and energy weapons should also have a charge time, with a limited time a charge can be held. This would force players to fire their weapons in sequence, make tactical retreats and in general, take a far more considered approach to combat.
Energy shields should be limited to blocking energy weapons and perhaps redirecting projectile weapons by a few degrees. They should also be power hungry and consume power continuously. Again they would be expensive to build, maintain, have a limited operational period and require a charge time and cool down time.
EMP weapons could operated by damaging a percentage the computer components and motors in functional blocks. And like other energy weapons, they would have a charge time, cool down time and be limited in how long they could hold a charge for.
Jump drives should also be considered a tactical system and treated like an energy weapon. The rational for this is that many players have realised tactical short range jumps are entirely possible in SE. They should not be able to hold a charge indefinitely. They should have a limited operational time and additionally should damage their own grid by a small fraction with each jump.
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