Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

An area for discussing new ideas and additions to Oolite.

Moderators: winston, another_commander

User avatar
ffutures
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 2172
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2013 12:34 pm
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by ffutures »

Don't know if this has been suggested before. Something that might be useful, especially as a last-ditch escape device - a computer or other add-on that gives you the ability to hyperjump to the witch point of the system you're in. Obviously you'd need some fuel - I'd suggest at least a light-year's worth because you're using the engines in a way that isn't ideal. Also make it expensive and easily damaged, like other bits of computer, with nasty ways of going wrong.
User avatar
Smivs
Retired Assassin
Retired Assassin
Posts: 8408
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2010 11:31 am
Location: Lost in space
Contact:

Re: Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by Smivs »

I don't know - having spent ages fighting your way towards the planet the last thing I'd want is to go back to the witchpoint!
And there is an emergency escape mechanism in the game. It's called the Escape Capsule :wink:
Commander Smivs, the friendliest Gourd this side of Riedquat.
User avatar
Lone_Wolf
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 546
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:59 pm
Location: Netherlands

Re: Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by Lone_Wolf »

Ffutures,

Have the emergency jump put the ship in the Station Aegis so you'll end up in a safe spot.

However, the penalty for using this should be huge, else people will just be using it to get to the station faster.

Maybe have the emergency jump device damage lots of equipment (let's say half of all breakable things) ?

Even if you have the money to pay for the repairs, the huge repair time would likely mean you fail contracts.
OS : Arch Linux 64-bit - rolling release

OXPs : My user page

Retired, reachable at [email protected]
User avatar
ffutures
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 2172
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2013 12:34 pm
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Re: Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by ffutures »

I suggested the Witch Point as the only destination because it fits in with how the drive seems to work, also because it's less useful than jumping to the station, so shouldn't be abused as much. But if (for example) Thargoids are chasing you and have you cut off from the station and from the sun, jumping back to the Witch Point is better than nothing - you may get there to find that there are Thargoids or pirates there, of course, but that's the luck of the draw.

I really don't see why this should do a lot of damage - it's something that's easily enough done if there's another system in range and things get dangerous, doing it in the same system shouldn't really be any more hazardous to the ship.
User avatar
Norby
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 2577
Joined: Mon May 20, 2013 9:53 pm
Location: Budapest, Hungary (Mainly Agricultural Democracy, TL10)
Contact:

Re: Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by Norby »

[EliteWiki] Retro Rockets OXP is similar, and a jump to the witchpoint is an imaginable alternative imho.
User avatar
Redspear
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 2685
Joined: Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:22 pm
Location: On the moon Thought, orbiting the planet Ignorance.

Re: Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by Redspear »

Other options might be:
  • to the sun (or at least a safe distance from it)
    to the opposite side of the main planet (equidistant perhaps)
    to a random location (lucky dip)
User avatar
kanthoney
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 281
Joined: Thu Nov 07, 2013 10:21 pm

Re: Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by kanthoney »

Wouldn't your attackers simply follow you through the wormhole though?
User avatar
cim
Quite Grand Sub-Admiral
Quite Grand Sub-Admiral
Posts: 4072
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:19 pm

Re: Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by cim »

If it were to follow the normal rules for how long the entry wormhole stayed open (i.e. it's not possible for both ends to be open at once) and the normal rules for transit time, they'd never be able to reach it in time, since it would close in under a microsecond.
User avatar
Thargoid
Thargoid
Thargoid
Posts: 5528
Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:55 pm

Re: Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by Thargoid »

The [EliteWiki] Vortex has this as standard, although it's a short distance micro-jump rather than back to the witch point.
Switeck
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 2411
Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 11:11 pm

Re: Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by Switeck »

With enough big ships dog-piling into the same wormhole, I don't see why a wormhole between 2 close points wouldn't be open on both ends at the same time.
I've experimented with using stations and asteroids to make very long-lived wormholes without too many problems.
User avatar
cim
Quite Grand Sub-Admiral
Quite Grand Sub-Admiral
Posts: 4072
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:19 pm

Re: Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by cim »

Switeck wrote:
With enough big ships dog-piling into the same wormhole, I don't see why a wormhole between 2 close points wouldn't be open on both ends at the same time.
Game engine limitation, and one that before that rule was entered was noticeable in normal play - if you were in one of the zero-distance doubles, a small ship jumping to the other half would transit in about 40 seconds, but create a wormhole lasting longer (an Anaconda would generate one lasting much longer). This got it horribly confused about which end of the wormhole was which.

You could see it elsewhere too, but you needed something really big to be making the jump - I managed to get the same bug to occur on the Zaonce-Tionisla route by using a Behemoth.

The implications of a really heavy ship being able to jump between two close-ish systems, return, and then re-use its own original entrance wormholes - re-adding its mass to them when by the calculations that mass is already in the wormhole - to keep going back and forward to carve out a permanent effectively stable wormhole between the two systems were also not things I particularly felt like writing the support code for.
User avatar
Diziet Sma
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 6312
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:20 pm
Location: Aboard the Pitviper S.E. "Blackwidow"

Re: Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by Diziet Sma »

cim wrote:
The implications of a really heavy ship being able to jump between two close-ish systems, return, and then re-use its own original entrance wormholes - re-adding its mass to them when by the calculations that mass is already in the wormhole - to keep going back and forward to carve out a permanent effectively stable wormhole between the two systems were also not things I particularly felt like writing the support code for.
:shock:
Somehow, I can't see an infinitely recursive wormhole being a good thing..
Most games have some sort of paddling-pool-and-water-wings beginning to ease you in: Oolite takes the rather more Darwinian approach of heaving you straight into the ocean, often with a brick or two in your pockets for luck. ~ Disembodied
User avatar
mossfoot
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 827
Joined: Fri May 30, 2014 4:07 pm
Contact:

Re: Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by mossfoot »

Someone wants to try and break the universe ;)
--
Image
Pilot: Mossfoot - Ship ID: Viaticus Rex (Cobra MKII)
Rank: Competent - Status: Clean

http://www.noahchinnbooks.com/
User avatar
ffutures
---- E L I T E ----
---- E L I T E ----
Posts: 2172
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2013 12:34 pm
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Re: Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by ffutures »

I've run into something like this with the liners add-on; I could see a huge ship from hundreds of miles away, as I got closer it vanished, and I saw it had created a wormhole with a duration of something like 800 minutes. So I checked where it was going, realised it would be reasonably profitable, and tried to follow it. Result, my ship was instantly destroyed - not sure exactly what happened, I think I flew into the big ship INSIDE the worm-hole, if not then it was the universe telling me not to be a smart-arse...

Reminds me to ask, why don't NPC ships follow player ships through wormholes? Can't remember it ever happening to me.
User avatar
Cody
Sharp Shooter Spam Assassin
Sharp Shooter Spam Assassin
Posts: 16081
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:31 pm
Location: The Lizard's Claw
Contact:

Re: Emergency in-sysyem hyperjump

Post by Cody »

ffutures wrote:
... why don't NPC ships follow player ships through wormholes?
Some do... it depends on the circumstances and type of NPC.
I would advise stilts for the quagmires, and camels for the snowy hills
And any survivors, their debts I will certainly pay. There's always a way!
Post Reply