A discussion that used to be about capacitors

Walt

Lafiel That should do but how is it going to be powered?

Crew would deliver batteries to it. Like the Fire Extinguisher, only one side can have a door.

Drakador_Chaos I think it´s meant as a buff provider, without having the need for power, just expanding the storage of the adjectant object.

How it would probably work is it would automatically refill the capacity of the connected part.

ucyimDa_Ruler How does it work when it is between two weapons or shields? Which part gets it?

Only one side can connect to a part, so you rotate it so that the correct side is touching the part you want.

CGDW

Sounds like it would be strong with shields but weaker with weapons. Because shields are deeper into the ship and typically not next to eachother 1 extra width isn't that punishing while lasers and electrobolts would suffer a lot more, being at the surface of the ship and only 1 wide to start with.

Also, because for weapons it only increases alpha strike and not damage throughput it won't do anything useful in multiplayer games where fights start before energy storage is full.

I like the idea though, definitely worth testing.

Dalas120

Walt Could you chain multiple capacitors together?

Walt

Dalas120 Could you chain multiple capacitors together?

No, I don't think so.

jbox1

Walt Fak, how come I literally just thought of this idea and Walt is wanting to add it to the main game immediately after?

I think capacitors ruin a lot of the aesthetic and core mechanics for Cosmoteer, in that parts are largely independent of each other. The addition of capacitors would mean, first off, a lot of ship redesigning. Also, the core mechanic of having crew deliver items from a desired source would be effected, as the idea of using ammo stores would be obsolete if you could just plug in a capacitor or ammo clip. This sort of part should be reserved to mods, which are prepared to break the game's aesthetic and feel with new mechanics and ideas.

IVIemories

jbox1 This is not the first time a Cosmoteer update has required extensive ship redesigns. Pretty much every single ship needed a massive redesign when fire and reactor explosions became part of the game - that's why Cosmoteer is in Alpha and not full release.

As for capacitors, they seem to fulfil a purpose to extend the burst potential of weapons or endurance of shields - not to replace ammo storage since they would almost certainly be more expensive and store less energy than actual power storage. I think it's a pretty good concept, trading sustained firepower for more burst damage.

jbox1

IVIemories I might also just be a little salty because...

jbox1 Fak, how come I literally just thought of this idea and Walt is wanting to add it to the main game immediately after?

Mc2

Walt Great idea, but 1 battery/ammo it to low amounth to make it interesting. Trade of for space and duration should be more equal.

Arkren

i can see myself using these to make more powerful shields, if you add it is probably going to be used

Namek

Walt I think it is a great idea, and just 1 battery is perfect, because it really makes you think; is this space really worth it? Some would do it, others not, and then designs will be very different from one another! But if you do 2 batterys per, then it gets too OP, especially if you put it all around a shield.... So lets just keep it at 1 battery per!

SpaceCat

Strange idea.

Because one element of the game is - crew has to carry stuff - crew takes care of everything!
Capacitors/magazines would make crew AND existing Batteries/Storage less valueable.

Especially Ammo-storage is considered useless by many players allready - magazines having a benefit for weapons would make normal storage almost completely useless.

Battery-Storage, on the other hand, is considerd usefull by many - but also these would be less usefull when you have a storage that does not need crew to feed power to a system.

So yes i would use them - but would use existing storage less (much less i guess).

Having smaller storage "hubs" that function exactly like the bigger ones = crew needed to operate and access from all sides, would maybe make more sense in current gameplay and building logics !?

Just some further brainstorming

What about also making existing reactors, batteries, ammo-factoreies and -storage as "capacitor/magazine" when directly adjecent ? And what about cables to get energy across the ship? Conveyors for ammo? Both of which crew can walk across but also function without crew? So crew would be only there to operate different systems/weapons? Ofc the latter could also be done by Automated systems.

All those ideas would change the game radically ...

@Walt are you thinking of changing the game radically or rather keep the fundamentals that are there now?

Walt

SpaceCat Capacitors/magazines would make crew AND existing Batteries/Storage less valueable.

Not sure I buy that capacitors/magazines would make crew a lot less valuable, since they still have to carry power/ammo to the capacitor/magazine. They'd make alpha strikes better, but in a sustained battle you'd still need the same number of crew.

Ammo/missile storage are already pretty useless, so I'm not too worried about making them less useful. (I'm planning to completely change how they work in the future.)

Making power storage less useful is a downside, though if adding capacitors has a net increase in interesting design decisions, then that's a tradeoff worth making.

SpaceCat are you thinking of changing the game radically or rather keep the fundamentals that are there now?

I am not considering radically changing the game, no.

Dibs

I think i would prefer an auto-loader connecting block for existing storages

SpaceCat

Walt Not sure I buy that capacitors/magazines would make crew a lot less valuable, since they still have to carry power/ammo to the capacitor/magazine. They'd make alpha strikes better, but in a sustained battle you'd still need the same number of crew.

Agree on this one - so the question is do alpha strikes need to be even stronger?

Walt Ammo/missile storage are already pretty useless, so I'm not too worried about making them less useful.

... i wrote about this and shortly later i learned that ammo/missile-storages are actually NOT completely useless. A guy showed off a 2-million "spinner" type ship that used them effectively (attack, turn, load-storage, repeat). Maybe the 2mil-ship range is just not very well explored yet.

Dalas120 They could be VERY powerful for compartmentalization, allowing you to power a factory in one compartment from a reactor in a different compartment.

I do not see how this is possible - unless you have a way from one compartment to another ...
... maybe i do not understand what you mean.

Lafiel

Actually, it would tied up the crew more since they have some more mouths to fill. A larger crew and more reactors would be needed. They are only useful when they get filled in time for use. And as said before in MP or tournaments they would be as useful as the storages. I think people who use storages will use them either as complete replacement or in some ratio setup.

nop

I would use it if any capacitor can be treated as the main supply door for the adjacent part(s) supply. By making it only drain the cap when primary supply is empty, but juice can be "pushed" into the system. Can't supply other caps that way, so still requires a door and maybe or maybe not crew passable.

Equalizer

As already mentioned, it would probably make shields much stronger.

Even with only 1 battery per capacitor it seems it could be used to double the strength of a shield.

It doesn't seem it would be particularly useful with weapons unless it is very cheep and in which case it would probably be too strong when used with shields.

Dalas120

I expect they'd be fairly niche, depending on cost. Definitely strong with shields (not OP though), but also potentially useful for things like railguns and point defense to help out with crew management. They could be VERY powerful for compartmentalization, allowing you to power a factory in one compartment from a reactor in a different compartment. Could also be used when you're struggling to attach doors. A missile magazine would be very interesting as well.

Overall I think they'd be more useful for crew management than for alpha strike storage, but since crew is one of the coolest parts of cosmoteer I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing.

Would power/ammo capacity be linked with the part, would it transfer instantly/rapidly, or would it take a second?

That_Angry_Man

sounds nice.

nop

In less space than a shield + 6 caps you can just have 2 shields, if caps cost 500 (+200 for a door) it would be slightly cheaper but take up more space, cover a smaller width, and require a lot more access all the way around.
Of course if you're going all out, your shield is supplied by three reactors and something like 12-18 crew. Like a railgun, it's packing a lot into a small area at great size and expense.

Maybe all caps need to be full to recharge the shield?

nop

Nah, that would be impossible to reconcile if you're sharing any cap with something else (a weapon is an obvious choice in that configuration).