How Boarding should work

DragonCatGaming

i think the way boarding should work is there would be a item that launches off of your ship, maybe a customizable space with a set size so you can do different things with it, and if it crashes into any weapon/shield/amour it does a crashing damage effect, if it destroys the part, the "boarding ship" would keep going until it either hit the next thing that can stop it, or it hits a more inward part of the ship i.e. a reactor core/corridor/quarters where it when becomes a solid structure, and your crew that you have armed would rush out and attack the enemy crew with what weapons they had (armory type structure might enable you to buy different types of weapons to fill it with) and if they kill enough of the crew, the rest surrender and join you, and you take over the enemy ship, damage and all. The real cost of taking over the ship is first: you have to replace any crew you kill and second: you have to repair any damage you cause, thus making all boarding ships both more and less viable. Also, point defense might be able to shoot the boarding ship down with enough shots (not a one shot like the with the missiles.)

ItsYaBoiCommunism

Harpoon like weapons that you could use to pull enemy ships closer and ramming weapons to soften up the enemy ship for a boarding party could be used in conjuction with boarding pods. I agree with the idea of a customizable boarding pod also.

DragonCatGaming

ItsYaBoiCommunism yeah with a customizable pod you could focus on getting the pod in there and to unload the people by loading it with armor, or you could focus on speed letting it hit the target earlier in the battle, or you could focus on loading it with people so when and if it does make it to the enemy, they would be assured to overrun the ship.

Halinder

What about a teleporter?

It'd work like the current FTL drive. Crew drag power cells to the teleporter. Once powered, 4 boarders sit inside and wait. To teleport, ctrl-click it and target a room on the enemy ship to send boarders over. Should be power-intensive given how high-tech it is.

pewpew23

what if the enemy (if there is enough) could capture the crew in the pod and take them hostage

sumghai

As an extension of Walt's plans and the OP's suggestions, here are some additional part and gameplay ideas for boarding (and counterboarding):

Parts

Weapons Locker
- 1x1
- One door only
- Allows up to four or six crew members to equip themselves with small arms on-demand, just like fire extinguishers
- Suitable for smaller vessels

Armory
- 2x2
- One door only (having fewer doors means less avenues of attack for enemy boarding parties)
- Permanently assigns up to 20% of crew as always-armed security personnel, up to a maximum of 12 per armory
- Suitable for larger vessels

Ship Interior Defense System
- 1x1
- No doors or partitioning walls
- Can only be placed in corridors
- Crew can pass through (assume it is "ceiling mounted")
- Requires one unit of energy as ammo (similar to the Point Defense System)
- Automatically attacks enemy boarders within 10~15 squares
- 360 degree coverage, minus obstruction by ship internal compartments
- Can only attack one target at a time
- Can be disabled/destroyed if overwhelmed by multiple enemy combatants

Boarding Pod
- 1x2
- One door only (at the back of the pod)
- Room for four security personnel
- Infinite no-build zone extending from front of pod
- Automatically launched if target vessel is below X% health / structural integrity, leaving behind an empty berth/bay
- Autonomous flight and return
- Prioritizes targeting of any (hypothetical) docking ports on enemy vessel
- If the enemy vessel has no docking ports, the pod attaches itself to any corridor segment(s) and requires a short amount of time to break into the enemy vessel
- If the enemy vessel is fully clad in armor, the pod attaches itself to the armor segment(s) closest to the enemy vessel interior and requires a longer amount of time to break into the enemy vessel (by "converting" the armor into a corridor)
- Pods can be shot down

Gameplay

Crew automatically arm themselves and engage the enemy if hostiles board the vessel (no need to toggle a specific alarm/alert condition)
Small arms cannot be upgraded (Too OP? Too much micromanagement?)
Each small arms fire shot follows a Gaussian distribution probability curve, where there is a low chance of dealing negligible damage, a high chance of dealing moderate damage, and a low chance of very high/instant kill damage
The restrictions imposed by the armory will force players to think about provisioning small arms for their crew (e.g. is it more cost effective to have lots of permanent security personnel, or a small core security team supported by ordinary crew that arm themselves on demand?)
Alternatively, weapons lockers may restrict the crew to defend themselves, whereas having an armory would unlock other offensive parts like boarding pods or teleporters
In addition to boarding pods and teleporters, standard docking ports could also be used to forcibly dock with an enemy vessel that also has docking ports - an interesting player strategy could involve designing ships with docking ports recessed relative to hull segments to make it more difficult for enemy docking attempts.

Personally, I think that teleporters are potentially too OP, so there could be limitations (e.g. high energy requirements, effective range, quantity of crew transported) to help make other methods more viable

SkipTheMercenary

sumghai This should totally be added!