Inertial fog - (space swamp)
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Note: this is sci-fi for gaming purposes.
This is a yellow tinged cloud in space. 1 to 5km across
Anything that enters the cloud will have all of it's velocities above 20m/s reduced by a factor of 10 i.e. normal 40 m/s becomes 22 m/s.
The includes weapon fire.
Max velocity will be 48 m/s
This will change the combat experience.
I like this feedback
You can avoid going into the cloud if you are paying attention.
The cloud could be detectable by a ranged scanner(if one exists).
You can avoid going into the cloud if you are paying attention.
The cloud could be detectable by a ranged scanner(if one exists).
Instead of a “space swamp,” I think this could be framed in a more natural way, like debris fields or dense asteroid clusters surrounded by clouds of tiny particles. These clouds don’t have to be small either — they could vary a lot in size.
Rather than having an arbitrary speed limit, the mechanic could be more physical. If you try to fly faster than, say, 100 m/s, you would start taking damage over time due to collisions with micro-particles. The damage could mostly affect thrusters, so you don’t have to constantly repair the whole ship.
Jump Drives shouldn’t work inside these areas either.
This would create a really interesting high risk / high reward zone. Perfect places for pirate bases, rare materials, and unique encounters. You could also expect players setting traps there, which makes it a cool environment for PvP as well.
Planetary rings could work the same way. If you try to cross a ring at 300 m/s, you’ll quickly destroy your engines — but you’d still have a few seconds to slow down. Ideally, there should be audio and visual warnings when approaching such areas, something like: “Safe speed below 100 m/s.”
Different clouds could also have different densities. Some might be very dense, limiting you to around 50 m/s, while others are lighter and allow up to 150 m/s safely. This would add more variety to gameplay scenarios.
You could even tie in some drag mechanics, both for atmospheres and these particle clouds. Ship shape would then matter — small, agile fighters could move faster safely, while large ships would need to slow down more.
This way, max speed stays consistent in deep space, but in atmospheres, rings, and particle clouds, your effective safe speed depends on the environment and your ship design.
Instead of a “space swamp,” I think this could be framed in a more natural way, like debris fields or dense asteroid clusters surrounded by clouds of tiny particles. These clouds don’t have to be small either — they could vary a lot in size.
Rather than having an arbitrary speed limit, the mechanic could be more physical. If you try to fly faster than, say, 100 m/s, you would start taking damage over time due to collisions with micro-particles. The damage could mostly affect thrusters, so you don’t have to constantly repair the whole ship.
Jump Drives shouldn’t work inside these areas either.
This would create a really interesting high risk / high reward zone. Perfect places for pirate bases, rare materials, and unique encounters. You could also expect players setting traps there, which makes it a cool environment for PvP as well.
Planetary rings could work the same way. If you try to cross a ring at 300 m/s, you’ll quickly destroy your engines — but you’d still have a few seconds to slow down. Ideally, there should be audio and visual warnings when approaching such areas, something like: “Safe speed below 100 m/s.”
Different clouds could also have different densities. Some might be very dense, limiting you to around 50 m/s, while others are lighter and allow up to 150 m/s safely. This would add more variety to gameplay scenarios.
You could even tie in some drag mechanics, both for atmospheres and these particle clouds. Ship shape would then matter — small, agile fighters could move faster safely, while large ships would need to slow down more.
This way, max speed stays consistent in deep space, but in atmospheres, rings, and particle clouds, your effective safe speed depends on the environment and your ship design.
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