Sails vs Engines vs Orbit

[spike]

Since Sails are not deployed in Orbit, it would be useful to know when the game considers your ship to be in Orbit or not, during a battle.

E.g. I did a "follow and destroy" mission from a planet. The location of the battle is not specifically stated. I had pretty much the same Sails, but an advantage of 27 Engines vs 15, so I figured, it's orbit, the Sails don't matter, it's all about the Engines right?

Anyway the guy escapes on combat round #1, no Bounty for me.

So it would be nice to confirm whether Sails do or don't affect Advance / Retreat at long range, when in Orbit. And also to have an indicator during a battle as to whether you are in Orbit. For example, Sails could be greyed out. That might be a bit too subtle, so something saying 'In Orbit' on the top of the screen would be helpful as well.

[Kelvin Zero]

How about changing the battle background while in orbit, say showing a planetscape in the background. That would immediately tell you the battle is taking place in orbit of a planet.

[spike]

Excellent idea.

[slayernz]

Also, if sails are retracted in orbit, then they should be subject to less damage per hit than out in deep space right? After all, I'm assuming that any sails housing must be robust enough to support re-entry and takeoff operations, so they should be relatively well protected.

[spike]

I think it's deemed a 'good thing' that Sails soak damage - otherwise that damage goes against critical stuff like Hull. I think there's no concept of taking less damage per hit - all damage gets allocated somewhere, in full.

You could argue that a folded sail will suffer more damage than a deployed sail. Less likely to be hit, more damage per hit, so it all evens out.

[slayernz]

Solar Sails are also meant to be important in evading torps at long range, so wouldn't being in orbit mean that you are more susceptible to being hit by those suckers?

[Cory Trese]

spike -- exactly how it works. Folded Sail is 12% more likely to take a critical hit!

slayernz -- far more likely to get hit. However, due to a lack of Inertial Negation field deployment in LPO (low planetary orbit) torps do less damage in orbit.

@kelvin Zero -- just one more background you say? I think I can make that happe.

[slayernz]

Do you think there could be a Countermeasures upgrade that would provide a massive boost to Stealth skill for torpedo hit calculations? You know, a port on the side of your ship opens up, and you release a hundred inflatable yellow Vae's into the coldness of space.

[Cory Trese]

Call it a "Cadar Comms Interpreter Network" ?

Isn't that how you people say hello?

(( Love the idea. Added to the list. I might add an entire group of "Defensive Upgrades" ))

[oldalchemist]

I love the idea of a graphical cue about orbit vs. deep space combat. Even better would be ships with sails open or sails closed, but that pretty much doubles the art for ships.

Defensive Upgrade Ideas
-Torpedo Countermeasures
-Flak Guns (minor improvement vs. torps, but really good against boarding pods or fighters)
-Maybe a magnetic repulsion field to reduce barrage gun effectiveness?
-Ablative armor
-Evasive maneuvers (Engines kinda covers this for a dodge bonus, but what if it also changes the orientation of the enemy ship, allowing you to flank?)

[slayernz]

I didn't think that there was artwork that showed solar sails - I just saw some that had nice big engines

If you are thinking defensive, you gotta include shields (even if only surrounding the crew sections of the ship). Limits crew deaths when your ship is hit. Then again, shields never seemed to stop the Starship Enterprise from having multiple deck breaches during their big battles ...

[Kelvin Zero]

@cory--Actually, it would be neater to have a different background for the different types of planets:

Blasted, cratered horizon for dead planets,
Over-citified world for civilized planets,
Wilderness for feral planets,
and Wilderness with a spot of civilization for fringe planets.