Fabian gives an outlook on what the team will be working on next.
You can find the full issue of the development log here.
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Excited for the idea
I just hope we can “link” more then one gate to another like:
Gate A links to B, C, D
Gate B links to A, C, D, E
Gate E links to C, D, E, F
Gate F links to E, G
And so on very much like the stargate system lol
I also hope we can set prices on gates for both corp and non corp for usage.
i guess a better thing would be a more in depth explanation to this statement
I am very excited for this feature. There are some really annoying convolutions on the map, and I have wished for some time to be able to take a page out of the Vogon playbook and build hyperspace bypasses. I think this can do a lot to vitalize the frontier.
I am intrigued by the description of upgrade options. I hope this involves meaningful tradeoffs. For example, I can imagine a lot of the playerbase desiring direct connection of existing developed systems, but I think gateways have the potential to create some really interesting emergent stories in the game. If, for example, it is more economical in some cases to have a series of gateways rather than a single long-range pair, planet location in the context of gateway connection would become another interesting development choice.
I think this could reflect an interesting element of human history that is not as prominent in the game, which is the development of settlements for their logistical value rather than the agreeableness of the climate or the value of the local resources. Examples include port cities and, perhaps more saliently, railroad towns. I imagine the need for networks of gateways creating the incentive to develop planets in systems that would otherwise be completely ignored. Perhaps some planets playing host to gateways, particularly ones that serve as junctions, would see development of refineries to produce fuel for their gateway and the adjacent ones.
If, instead, it is fairly trivial to establish direct inter-CX gateways, for example, I think the gateways will serve as a convenience and a late-game resource sink (both positives, I agree) without opening compelling new tradeoffs to consider. I don’t want to advocate for removing options from players entirely, but I hope the above ideas will be on the team’s mind as the feature is developed and balanced.
TL;DR: I hope gateways will be implemented in such as way that they validate development of new systems instead of just reinforcing the logistical superiority of the developed core.
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Fabian referred to gateways as “FTL-Like routes”. But does this necessarily mean that only FTL ships would be able to use them? Has there been any discussion about allowing STL only ships to enter gateways? This would be a neat way to enable those ships to relocate to a new system.
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Yes, we have been discussing that. Gateways will use a new fuel and provide all means necessary for the jump, so, yes, STL-only ships will be able to jump.
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As it stands now, gateways can only be linked to one other gateway. These links can be changed through a motion though.
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Ok but how many links can the receiving gateway have?
example:
a → b
c → b
d → b
a c and d only have one link, to b…
b has no outgoing link.
I guess that both ends would need a matching motion to establish the link?
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STL being able to jump is a interesting addition, i like it!
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So one export link. got it.
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Like Gladi099 is asking how many incoming link will it allow?
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I wonder if a whole new gateway for each link is going to spam up stuff to much though. Makes me think of Eve and Jita.
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I hope the new fuel recipe is complex, taking many materials to compose the final output, possible in two or more stages of produciton. Currently fuel only requires PIO and SET to make, where this could require TEC or ENG to do. Requiring something like EES in its recipe to complete.
Was just remembering that TV game show from long time ago. You like to choose gate 1 or gate 2 or gate 3 - and as alternative I have this nice envelope…
I like the idea and agree to the idea of creating custom 1:1 connections and link them to government decicions as well.
Please only make sure there is (already prepared) good enough menues in case we realy have 10 gates in a system.
Also as I understood the gates will be linked to planets.
So there could be 3 gates on planet A and 2 on planet B ! Thus it would be great to have a (current) connection overview for the system → you can see that there is 5 gates leading into system Moria (e.g. 1 to 3 from different systems and gate 4 on Montem to Benton b and gate 5 on Montem to Benton C)…
The only way I can imagine this successfully working is if it makes the ship faster, while increasing it’s marginal fuel cost. You need less upfront capex (you need fewer ships since they are more productive w\ gateways); but, the marginal cost (special fuel) is higher. If it only lowers costs then I see no benefit.
Other than speeding up a ship, I don’t see how they could be very useful at all. MAYBE, if ships took 10x as much $$$ to repair (I think they should), the damage mitigation of using a gateway would give a financial incentive to pay to use it.
I also worry about it getting spammed on basically every single planet. We’re rich enough to be able to afford silly things like that. They need to be limited, scarce, but meaningful. I think it would also be really powerful if there could only ever be some limited number of gateway links so the govt needs to decide which locations are most important for them to connect to.
Combine this with having multiple gateways per planet, depending on how the UI & costs are balanced, could be really awkward. “Do I want the Homeworld Gateway or do I want to take the Siphon gateway shit which one is it…” I think a better way to do this would be: it costs X to build the gateway, and then Y to add new destinations to it. But there will still only be one gateway structure. I don’t think having price wars or competition for multiple identical and fungible assets is good, at least not with the current version of the universe.
1 Like