For a long time in the game's competitive scene speed has always reigned supreme, and to win going fast has been one of the very few options available to players, if they want to win that is. So the idea behind the "broadsider drive" block is to allow for players to have slower top speeds, but still allowing them to properly compete against the stupidly fast standard. It would allow a slower niche, which has previously been completely ignored (albeit when tractor beams get temporarily buffed), to have some amount of viability without completely cutting or weakening going fast, which some players adore.
The Idea itself:
Broadsider drives would be 2x2 blocks that consumes energy, allowing it's respective ship to rotate much faster, while reducing top speed proportionally. As an example it would reduce ship's top speed by 10%, but allows the ship to rotate 30% faster. (The specific numbers aren't important, as they can be changed and fine tuned later)
Possible Implementation methods:
- All thrusters near a broadside drive are effected based on how close they are to one, similar to how FTL drives work
- A broadside drive effects the entire ship, but as power inside of it runs out it's ratios go down. Only 5% reduced top speed and 15% faster rotation, or -1% and +3%. (This method might allow it to stack but it could get absurd)
- To get stronger effects maybe you need a 3x3 or 4x4 version with more efficient ratios like 1:4 or 1:5 rather than the example of 1:3
Conceptual Nuances:
- Top speed reduction might come in the form of increased "space drag" such that it's harder to move in one direction faster, but this doesn't especially effect rotation. (To be honest I'm not sure how top speed reductions would be implemented)
- Theoretically drives could be turned off when giving chase, or if an opponent is burning forward it could be wound up right before they arrive
- It would take significant time to turn on or off, such that it couldn't be flipped on whenever an important turn is necessary. It's supposed to be a state of battle, rather than an advanced maneuvering system
- There might be some applicability to the future larger command rooms, where these drives somehow interact with them such as not turning on if there isn't a large enough command room, or you can have a limited amount of each drive based on how many and how big your command rooms are
- Other names might be anchor/rotation/inertia drives. Basically anything to do with turning a lot, the specific naming choice of Broadsider drive is supposed to hint at the fact that this block would probably be best used on broadsiders, or ships that require rotation to win.
The main takeaway, if any is that instead of weakening speed it adds an option that could theoretically be as good as speed, opening up a large amount of diversity in ship design. That's what the main goal behind such an idea is.
