Re: What Thargoids are up to?!
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:46 am
Ok, yet another take on how to handle Thargoids...and one that may require very little in the way of changes yet mostly makes sense.
(Also continues my thoughts from here: https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=136683#p136683 )
The Thargoids may be picking-and-choosing which wormhole tunnel to break open in interstellar space and currently they are getting typically 1 ship at a time, since originally in Oolite (without OXPs) it's only you versus ~1-5 Thargoid warships.
But there's no reason to assume you're alone in the grander scheme of things.
Galactic Navy, Behemoth, and similar OXPs have you arrive to interstellar space in the middle of a Thargoid versus Gal.Corp. fight, but I don't seem them as being an acceptable way of preventing the player from being stuck in interstellar space. Such fights should be rather rare, short-lived, and unlikely (on average) for the player to see one unless the player was intentionally made part of the fight by Gal.Corp. to being with.
Current forms of Interstellar help/rescue mostly play along the lines of someone "finding" you or you finding them ...yet either they or you somehow avoided fighting the Thargoids?
A simple solution is hitchhikers -- any ship making a jump may find other ships wanting to tag along "for free" on the same wormhole. Escorts already do it for Anaconda/Boa/Python freighters, why not regularly done by anyone else? This way, it's assumed anytime you have a misjump there's a fair chance other traders were using your wormhole and will soon arrive after you do. There could be some delay in their arrival though, possibly as much as 2 minutes after you exited the wormhole into interstellar space. They're your ticket out of interstellar space, because it's assumed they (wisely) still have max fuel since they used your wormhole -- so you best keep them alive as well as yourself! If they were a freight group, such as an Anaconda/Boa/Boa2...you might have 5 or 7 new allies to help you fight Thargoids. Smaller traders might travel in small groups as well, just not as large as a freighter group -- so 1-4 of them. Even multiple freighters could be possible -- the bugs are going to need better ships and more of them for that fight.
Considering the expense of the assets involved, a Boa/Python with 2-4 escorts BETTER be traveling with another jump-capable ship just due to the chance of a misjump.
It makes sun-skimming and jumping out seem even more insane -- since it's very unlikely anyone else will use their wormhole. Maybe Anacondas (which need larger amounts of fuel?) would do it, since their Cobra 1 escorts can jump as well, but the other freighters would be better off not.
There are logical limitations to this:
1.Station Capacity both in number of ships and launch/dock rates.
Assuming multiple freighters, I'd say each "extra" freighter has fewer escorts. Mustering 4 freighters plus escorts out of a single station is bound to take a couple minutes, so there might be only 8 escorts instead of >15 total. Any more and the station's total escort capacity could be depleted.
Escorts might be hired either single jump, short term, or long term.
2.Not everyone wants to go in the same direction at the same time.
Many who have played a large multiplayer game knows what it's like trying to organize quests/raids/wars. As the number of people goes up, so typically too does the number of people which can't make it. Out of 50 possibles, only 30-40 might be there even with a very dedicated group. In Oolite, ship crews might want some R&R, unloading/loading/reequipping times may not be as trivial as they seem from the player's point of view, at systems surrounded by multiple nearby systems traffic to any one of those systems might be relatively low, and hidden delays at the station (customs, lodging, eating, sleeping, etc) could burn hours. Yet the total "launch window" for a believable, reasonable convoy would be under 10 minutes. Anyone taking longer than that gets left behind.
Keeping all this simple, the odds of extra traders "right behind you" from each jump you do could/should go up. Since stations generally only have 1 entrance/exit, they are docking or launching in small groups anyway. Station traffic should be what works, since presumably they've had a couple centuries to make it work.
(Also continues my thoughts from here: https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=136683#p136683 )
The Thargoids may be picking-and-choosing which wormhole tunnel to break open in interstellar space and currently they are getting typically 1 ship at a time, since originally in Oolite (without OXPs) it's only you versus ~1-5 Thargoid warships.
But there's no reason to assume you're alone in the grander scheme of things.
Galactic Navy, Behemoth, and similar OXPs have you arrive to interstellar space in the middle of a Thargoid versus Gal.Corp. fight, but I don't seem them as being an acceptable way of preventing the player from being stuck in interstellar space. Such fights should be rather rare, short-lived, and unlikely (on average) for the player to see one unless the player was intentionally made part of the fight by Gal.Corp. to being with.
Current forms of Interstellar help/rescue mostly play along the lines of someone "finding" you or you finding them ...yet either they or you somehow avoided fighting the Thargoids?
A simple solution is hitchhikers -- any ship making a jump may find other ships wanting to tag along "for free" on the same wormhole. Escorts already do it for Anaconda/Boa/Python freighters, why not regularly done by anyone else? This way, it's assumed anytime you have a misjump there's a fair chance other traders were using your wormhole and will soon arrive after you do. There could be some delay in their arrival though, possibly as much as 2 minutes after you exited the wormhole into interstellar space. They're your ticket out of interstellar space, because it's assumed they (wisely) still have max fuel since they used your wormhole -- so you best keep them alive as well as yourself! If they were a freight group, such as an Anaconda/Boa/Boa2...you might have 5 or 7 new allies to help you fight Thargoids. Smaller traders might travel in small groups as well, just not as large as a freighter group -- so 1-4 of them. Even multiple freighters could be possible -- the bugs are going to need better ships and more of them for that fight.
Considering the expense of the assets involved, a Boa/Python with 2-4 escorts BETTER be traveling with another jump-capable ship just due to the chance of a misjump.
It makes sun-skimming and jumping out seem even more insane -- since it's very unlikely anyone else will use their wormhole. Maybe Anacondas (which need larger amounts of fuel?) would do it, since their Cobra 1 escorts can jump as well, but the other freighters would be better off not.
There are logical limitations to this:
1.Station Capacity both in number of ships and launch/dock rates.
Assuming multiple freighters, I'd say each "extra" freighter has fewer escorts. Mustering 4 freighters plus escorts out of a single station is bound to take a couple minutes, so there might be only 8 escorts instead of >15 total. Any more and the station's total escort capacity could be depleted.
Escorts might be hired either single jump, short term, or long term.2.Not everyone wants to go in the same direction at the same time.
Many who have played a large multiplayer game knows what it's like trying to organize quests/raids/wars. As the number of people goes up, so typically too does the number of people which can't make it. Out of 50 possibles, only 30-40 might be there even with a very dedicated group. In Oolite, ship crews might want some R&R, unloading/loading/reequipping times may not be as trivial as they seem from the player's point of view, at systems surrounded by multiple nearby systems traffic to any one of those systems might be relatively low, and hidden delays at the station (customs, lodging, eating, sleeping, etc) could burn hours. Yet the total "launch window" for a believable, reasonable convoy would be under 10 minutes. Anyone taking longer than that gets left behind.
Keeping all this simple, the odds of extra traders "right behind you" from each jump you do could/should go up. Since stations generally only have 1 entrance/exit, they are docking or launching in small groups anyway. Station traffic should be what works, since presumably they've had a couple centuries to make it work.
