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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2012 14:51:02 GMT -5
Many people who play star traders get the Escape Shuttle upgrade, as it prevents death (except if the captains health turns 0). However, considdering the escape shuttle has 0 armor, pretty much no hold, and a mere 25 crew, your very vulnerable to dieing before reaching a planet as you can get dominated by a pirate half your level. So what I was thinking was maybe the escape shutle upgrade would povide space/precautions to store a less-than-10 hull ship to use as an emergency escape shuttle, and you'd go to the dry dock to equip a purchased scout/fighter class ship (or another ship with a hull of 9 or less) as the escape shuttle. This way, even though you can't have an obliterator cruiser as your escape shuttle, you can have an upgraded shuttle of your choosing that has some armor, maybe 40 or 50 crew, and some water fuel when you escape so there's a greater chance you can make it to the next planet without dieing by mutiny or being shot out of the sky by ONE torpedo.
Also, scout/fighter class ships are the weakest ships, and pretty useless to buy as there are many ships that are much better. This would give them a good use. And it makes sense too, because if the upgrade lets you store the escape shuttle, wouldnt it be able to let you store a different ship of the same size?
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 6, 2012 21:34:05 GMT -5
Great suggestion -- another upgrade like "High-End Escape Shuttle" is probably the best way to add this to the game.
I'll see what I can do. I am not a fan of the over-powered Escape shuttle, but an upgraded one could be an interesting addition.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2012 0:23:20 GMT -5
I'm not a fan f over-powered escape shuttles either. That's why I'm suggesting that if one were able to choose their own escape shuttle, it would have to be a hull less than 10. This woud make sense as an escape shuttle would have to be reletively small to be able to fit in a ship. And no ship wih hull less than 10 is super powerful, so there would still be a good chance you'd die with a hostile encounter, just less of a chance. It could even be a hull of 8 or less. Also, maybe you can prevent ships with a hull of 9 or less from getting an escape shuttle upgrade. After all, its illogical that an escape shuttle could have an escape shutltle in it of the same size (unless star traders has a differet law of physics, which, knowing the complexion of the game, I wouldn't be surprised if it did. )
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 7, 2012 0:26:00 GMT -5
Also, maybe you can prevent ships with a hull or 9 or less from getting an escape shuttle upgrade. After all, its illogical that an escape shuttle could have an escape shutltle in it (unless star traders has a differet law of physics, which, knowing the complexion of the game, I wouldn't be surprised if it did. ) That's a good suggestion, although I'm not sure how easily I will be able to implement it. Good way to fix the recursive Escape Shuttle issues reported earlier. Tying the upgrade's availability to minimum Hull size does make a lot of sense.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2012 1:25:38 GMT -5
The only thing is even a picky beggar (14 hull) having an orignal escape shuttle (6 hull) doesn't make too much sense as that's a shp of almost half size being put in another ship. I have an idea though. The upgrade provides technology which compresses the molecules of the escape shuttle allowing it to fit in the ship. But there's a limit to how much the atoms can be compressed, which is why a ship needs to be at least 10 hull big to hold another ship, even with max compression. Simple (Well not really, but there are much more complicated things in the ST universe) Maybe you can put something like this in the help/upgrade description which will solve all confusion on the logic of the escape shuttle ;D You know, you can add it as the 1202nd thing to your list.
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 7, 2012 1:36:51 GMT -5
In my list this is the first time anyone has brought up the ability to tow, attach or dock the shuttle.
From a ST RPG standpoint, the displacement of the ship is roughly equal to ((HULL*HULL)/2)
That does not help explain the logical flaw in being able to install an Escape Shuttle inside an Escape Shuttle. A minimum hull rule is one possible solution to that if it turns out to be a priority for the players on the forum.
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Post by Wolfie on Jul 7, 2012 3:21:52 GMT -5
Maybe, looking at the reply Cory gave, a kind of inventory slot could be added for an escape shuttle? That would help to sort of clear up the "where-the-heck-do-i-keep-this-thing" issue - so when you have a big enough hull you can 'fill' this 'inventory' with a shuttle, makes it seem more physical.
Also - there was another thread discussing the possibility of being able to tow ships and debris back to planets for selling or renovating - could the 2 be linked together???
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Post by phantombudgie on Jul 7, 2012 14:40:07 GMT -5
I like the idea of "choose your shuttle type" (within reason as suggested above) and especially including Water-Fuel in its hold! However, if I can't install an Escape Shuttle in my starting ship I may die so much I will have to play on Normal!
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Post by Wolfie on Jul 8, 2012 8:33:48 GMT -5
I still havnt got that achievement, but i play smuggler (normally) with the +6 armour upgrade being one of the first things i go for, i've never really had any need of it - even with my choice of starting ship (Vark mordi) on Challenging. I run from most fights. However, I do love the image of a dozen crew members frantically blowing up an inflatable escape pod while the hull slowly buckles. Another logical way of getting around the size problem??? or an IKEA flatpack - Shuttleörsk?
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 8, 2012 12:43:15 GMT -5
In my mind not really necessary. The Escape Shuttle isn't even the biggest upgrade out there -- +6 Armor points is equal to an addition 12 Hull points, which makes it one of the largest upgrades.
The escape shuttle is a great upgrade, no doubt and very required for some forms of play. I personally don't use it, but I do like the idea of a second more advanced form of the shuttle that would have slightly upgraded ship stats.
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Post by slayernz on Jul 8, 2012 17:35:27 GMT -5
One other thing to check - the escape shuttle should have the smallest of ship signatures ... it should effectively be something with a built-in omni-stealth-array. There should be little or low chance of hostile ships detecting it (I'm assuming that it's a fully functioning craft rather than something screaming out subspace distress signals to all corners of the quadrant).
Now if the game were capable (and unfortunately I already know the answer to this) ... it would be spectacular if when you do come across a friendly ship, they can choose to fly escort to make sure you get back to a safe port. You either get the option of abandoning the shuttle (in favor of being a passenger in their nice carrier-class ship), or you get to stay in the shuttle, but they fend off any hostiles.
That would also open up a new type of contract ... deep-space contracts where: You detect a IFF friendly distress signal, and find an escape shuttle within hailing distance of your ship. You are asked if you would provide escort services to planet (Blargle) in return for a generous reward of $(Quargs). Note though, that this captain has pissed off the (Glorm) faction, and they will be searching for this captain's head.
Blargle is 12 AU away.
If you decline the contract, you don't get to destroy the shuttle/occupants.
Again - I know this isn't possible in ST RPG1 - but maybe ST2 could support escorts?
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Post by phantombudgie on Jul 9, 2012 13:27:36 GMT -5
One other thing to check - the escape shuttle should have the smallest of ship signatures ... it should effectively be something with a built-in omni-stealth-array. There should be little or low chance of hostile ships detecting it (I'm assuming that it's a fully functioning craft rather than something screaming out subspace distress signals to all corners of the quadrant). Now if the game were capable (and unfortunately I already know the answer to this) ... it would be spectacular if when you do come across a friendly ship, they can choose to fly escort to make sure you get back to a safe port. You either get the option of abandoning the shuttle (in favor of being a passenger in their nice carrier-class ship), or you get to stay in the shuttle, but they fend off any hostiles. That would also open up a new type of contract ... deep-space contracts where: You detect a IFF friendly distress signal, and find an escape shuttle within hailing distance of your ship. You are asked if you would provide escort services to planet (Blargle) in return for a generous reward of $(Quargs). Note though, that this captain has pissed off the (Glorm) faction, and they will be searching for this captain's head. Blargle is 12 AU away. If you decline the contract, you don't get to destroy the shuttle/occupants. Again - I know this isn't possible in ST RPG1 - but maybe ST2 could support escorts? Please do this, in ST2 at least. Please. It is a brilliant idea.
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 9, 2012 20:47:24 GMT -5
That would be possible in ST RPG. Added both to the ideas list for the game -- great suggestions -- for either project. I wonder if perhaps the upgraded Escape Shuttle could feature some type of distress becon that would increase the chance of those friendly encounters (and aliens?!?!)
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2012 21:15:17 GMT -5
That would be possible in ST RPG. Added both to the ideas list for the game -- great suggestions -- for either project. I wonder if perhaps the upgraded Escape Shuttle could feature some type of distress becon that would increase the chance of those friendly encounters (and aliens?!?!) When I'm in an escape shuttle, the last thing I want to run into is aliens!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2012 21:18:17 GMT -5
In my mind not really necessary. The Escape Shuttle isn't even the biggest upgrade out there -- +6 Armor points is equal to an addition 12 Hull points, which makes it one of the largest upgrades. Wouldnt that depend on the ship? I thought that the bigger the ship, the less each armor is worth. For example, 6 more armor in a 10 hull ship would make more difference that on a 50 hull ship, right?
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