Maintenance
- Thread starter thiccbeard
- Start date
If it is done in a reasonable way, then sure. But I wouldn't want it to be like Minecraft durability. I mean, Things should be able to last a realistic amount of time without maintenance, not gum up ever 3 hours or something.
In any case, we will already have to fix up any damage from combat, or bumping into rocks or other ships. There will also be fuel and power to restock.
In any case, we will already have to fix up any damage from combat, or bumping into rocks or other ships. There will also be fuel and power to restock.
easier implementation that gives you a better chance of surviving: radiation clouds that slowly attack (random 0.001-0.02 dps to exposed surfaces) lighter materials, pipes/wires, and electronics but ignore high AV materials like beams and plating. Baseline estimate is you'd need to sit inside one for a day before exposed systems show the beginnings of damage and wires and pipes may have accumulated enough damage for sections to break. They can be detected with a radiation/heat sensor just like ships, so they can be used to hide in as well.
ED2: having radiation attack low-AV stuff also means it gets more dangerous when nebula and corrosive weapons have attacked stronger mats and reduced their AV, so areas where radiation and nebula combine/overlap are high environmental threats, add in battle damage or micrometeoroid swarms poking holes in your outer hull and you have reasons to overbuild and compartmentalize ships, increasing the size of the optimisation window and allowing less-than-optimal and creative builds to compete
ED: it's also better if most damage only needs a quick spray of the build tool with the material auto-select, while this game has a complex build process, I don't think minor repairs to plates, systems, and wires/pipes should be tedious, just having to track down shorts, holes, and leaks and patch them is enough of an in-depth task, especially as ships get bigger and/or more compact; the key is minor inconveniences, not gameplay-stopping problems
ED2: having radiation attack low-AV stuff also means it gets more dangerous when nebula and corrosive weapons have attacked stronger mats and reduced their AV, so areas where radiation and nebula combine/overlap are high environmental threats, add in battle damage or micrometeoroid swarms poking holes in your outer hull and you have reasons to overbuild and compartmentalize ships, increasing the size of the optimisation window and allowing less-than-optimal and creative builds to compete
ED: it's also better if most damage only needs a quick spray of the build tool with the material auto-select, while this game has a complex build process, I don't think minor repairs to plates, systems, and wires/pipes should be tedious, just having to track down shorts, holes, and leaks and patch them is enough of an in-depth task, especially as ships get bigger and/or more compact; the key is minor inconveniences, not gameplay-stopping problems
Last edited:
I'm a bit split on that. On one hand it adds another layer of engineering.
On the other hand it can just end up annoying.
I think I'd rather have system that is voluntary. I.e. optional high power propellant that increase thruster efficiency, but requires periodic maintenance, changing components, replacing pipes, ect.
This way noobs and casual players don't have to bother with it, while hardcore engineers can really spread their wings.
On the other hand it can just end up annoying.
I think I'd rather have system that is voluntary. I.e. optional high power propellant that increase thruster efficiency, but requires periodic maintenance, changing components, replacing pipes, ect.
This way noobs and casual players don't have to bother with it, while hardcore engineers can really spread their wings.
The problem is that degradation will be seriously tedious to deal with for compact ships, which may require wiring undone and major disassembly to get to their centre to repair a part.
Secondly, people who want to do repairs and build around that can already partake in combat to get their ships damaged. But plenty of other players aren't interested in maintenance, and shouldn't be forced to learn ship construction just so they can continue flying the same small mining ship around a safe zone without it falling apart.
Damage can already be experienced from combat. Degradation would just force everyone to deal with damage, which I don't think everyone would like.
Secondly, people who want to do repairs and build around that can already partake in combat to get their ships damaged. But plenty of other players aren't interested in maintenance, and shouldn't be forced to learn ship construction just so they can continue flying the same small mining ship around a safe zone without it falling apart.
Damage can already be experienced from combat. Degradation would just force everyone to deal with damage, which I don't think everyone would like.
I'm amenable to basic parts not having any degradation and high-performance upgrade parts needing repair/replacement to maintain optimal function and falling below the performance-to-cost factor of basic parts if not maintained. You pay in both credits and occasional tedium for outsized gains. For fleet combat, most ships will either be in storage or mission-killed, so that tedium is mostly overshadowed by basic attrition anyways, it really hits harder in the civil sector where the bonus factor to industrial and economic gains asks for a mild, soft balancing factor on those high-grade parts.
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2020
- Messages
- 16
What about debris from asteroids? Surely mining asteroids will dirty up your ship and get stuck to it for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately things do indeed decay over time, things simply get old and break, simple movement causes wear and tear on many things. Perhaps wiring stuck in a ships hull wouldn't break but that was just an example. While introducing a mechanic like this wouldn't be to everyones liking I know there has got to be some space junkers out there who would love to play "spaceship mechanic simulator". Or perhaps offer an easy way to fix (station docking? more expensive than player repairs?). And what about paint decay?
Degradation from use is another thing, but then we've got hazardous terrain, combat, and rebuilding and scrapping plus the materials constantly being lost every time they go through a refinery phase- not to mention we also have accidental collisions and piracy chipping away at things. Again, I support keeping the mechanic to high-end upgrade parts, it's a decent breakpoint between balance and optional mechanics.