05-10-2021, 04:01 PM | #21 |
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Calgary
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Re: [Space] Space Strategy: FTL Bottlenecks
I'm very fond of the jump points dynamic. Stellaris used to have three FTL modes, and you could select one for your empire.
Warp drive worked by giving you a jump range. Any system within X lightyears was reachable, and you'd stop in the system to recharge for the next jump. For Wormhole FTL you had to build wormhole stations which would allow you to jump from them to any system in the wormhole station's range. It would also create wormholes to allow you to make a return trip. And finally, there are/were hyperlanes. Which is just a system of jump point pairs. Systems can have multiple points, and each one links to a single specific other system. It wasn't long before serious players, especially in MP, were running with hyperlanes only. Warp drive and wormhole stations are cool, but it makes strategy very difficult. Warfare devolved into who could create the largest blob of ships to throw at the enemy force. This has since been enforced by the developers, who removed wormhole stations entirely and made warp drive a very late game tech. With hyperlanes it's possible to have fortified border worlds. Borders in space also make a lot more sense since both sides will naturally seek to have as few external hyperlinks as possible. Nations tend to colonzie only as far as the next chokepoint, and in cases where that doesn't happen the stray systems are usually the first targets to conquer. |
05-10-2021, 04:55 PM | #22 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: [Space] Space Strategy: FTL Bottlenecks
In general I think you should design your FTL based on the tactical and strategic results you want in your game, rather than starting with a FTL design and analyzing what tactics it will produce.
IME warp point defense produces fairly bad game play. In general space strategy is going to depend on the balance of mobile forces vs static defense:
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05-10-2021, 06:46 PM | #23 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: [Space] Space Strategy: FTL Bottlenecks
For gaming purposes I would say the important issue is how easy you want to make it to suppress piracy and smuggling., In the Starfire setting piracy is just impractical because the movement of ships is too easily controlled. You can do a bit with gates that are undetectable on one end but it won't last long before the traffic reveals its location and they put a sentry on it.
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05-10-2021, 07:08 PM | #24 | |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Re: [Space] Space Strategy: FTL Bottlenecks
Quote:
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05-11-2021, 04:18 PM | #25 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Re: [Space] Space Strategy: FTL Bottlenecks
Quote:
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05-11-2021, 04:41 PM | #26 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: [Space] Space Strategy: FTL Bottlenecks
Quote:
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05-13-2021, 11:46 AM | #27 |
Join Date: Oct 2004
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Re: [Space] Space Strategy: FTL Bottlenecks
I didnīt like that as I didnīt want to go into FTL weapons. So I went with a jump drive, instantaneous jumps, limited by jump limits much larger than Travellerīs 100D, about 24 AU for Sol, jump increments of 0.1 pc, and recharge times between jumps of 1-2 hours. So ships spend most time in normal space far away from planets and stars and interact only in STL.
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05-13-2021, 12:05 PM | #28 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: [Space] Space Strategy: FTL Bottlenecks
You don't need ftl weapons. My preference is that ships in warp can't get close enough to one another for their warp bubbles to merge, and only then is combat possible (and as a bonus, boarding actions make sense).
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05-14-2021, 11:31 AM | #29 |
Join Date: Oct 2004
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Re: [Space] Space Strategy: FTL Bottlenecks
I donīt understand. "canīt get close enough"? Shouldnīthat be that if they get close enough their warp bubbles merge and they can use weapons as if at STL speeds? Or: their warp bubbles collapse and they can only go back to FTL if either the distance has increased sufficiently or one warp generator is destroyed?
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05-14-2021, 11:34 AM | #30 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: [Space] Space Strategy: FTL Bottlenecks
Yeah, I typoed. I meant that.
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Tags |
space, strategy, worldbuilding |
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