My Idea for a new type of Gravity well

from Stardock Forums

right so the idea popped into my head the other day, what something interesting we can do with Sins.

no idea how it came to me but it did.

So, imagine some giant ship like the emperors destroyer from Starwars or something of equivalent size.

give its own gravity well, and incorporate defensive platforms into it so it looks like the weapons on the ship are firing etc.

then send your fleet out there to attack it and then either colonise it or research it or something for mad buffs or new tech, like a new kind of artifact...

idn, i havent thought it through all that much, and it may not fit into the lore or Sins style (though i did think it'd be kinda cool for whatever is chasing the Vasari... Chuck Norris' Capital Ship? His big toe? idn)

it could be like a random event. or even a new game mode... like, it appears outside your planets and charges up a main gun, and if you dont attack it in a certain time frame it wipes out a planet (either, if its possible, destroys it completely, as in actually gone from existence, and there is only a debris field left, or, simply sterylises the planet and destroys whatever is in orbit, plus damaging your culture flow etc)

idn, i like the idea, sorta, it could be something like a pirate raid... though, once again, until we get introduced to whatever is chasing the Vasari i dont think it can be introduced lore wise...

is anyone up for shelving this idea for later? or just axing it now?

10,163 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

you're saying have a supership/superstarbase that has it's own grav well?

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

as a random event yeah, something only late game and gives massive bonuses if you win

maybe its something for a campaign only...

Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

I suppose it would be possible, but I have neither the experience or the know how to do something like that

 

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

the more i think about it, the more unlikely it seems. i was just thinking something epic, other than just fighting another empire

you wouldnt fight the ship itself, so much as you would actually destroy gun emplacements and repair bays and factories etc and when enough are damaged you can attack the bridge or just go straight for the bridge, idn

maybe for a campaign, if SD/IC ever does one, but i have to say for what we have now i guess not

oh well, back to the drawing board =P

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

The idea is nice.

How about:
Derelict Supercapital - a very biggy alien ship, the size of a large asteroid, that has its own gravwell. It would look very badly beaten, incapable of moving, but with some of its generators and defenses still operational. 
It would be treated as a planet (can be bombarded to zero hit points with planetary bombardment and then colonized, never destroyed completely), with the following exceptions:

  • The derelict would act like a planet with zero logistic/tactical slots, zero max population, zero tax income and something like 1000-ish hit points.
  • The diameter of its gravity well would be somewhat like that of an Asteroid with Porous Core trait.
  • It would have a firepower of a decently upgraded Starbase, but its range would be enough to attack anything in its gravity well.
  • It would be unable to shoot for 30 seconds after being recolonized.
  • When spawned, the derelict would be colonized by pirates and hostile. After being brought to zero hit points it would become neutral and shut down until it's colonized again.

That said, those derelicts could have different looks, could be spawned in random maps just like any other planet-like object and could have one or more of the varying additional traits. All would act like passive aura abilities, that are active all the time:

  • Surprisingly Able Generators - slightly decreases weapon cooldown of nearby friendly ships and gives a slight shield regeneration.
  • Battle control systems - increases weapon damage/to hit chance of nearby ships.
  • Phase support modules - increases the phase jump charge rate of your ships by 100%, decreases the enemy's rate by 200%.
  • etc .

Whatya think? ;]

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

N3rull, that's exactly what I was thinking when I first started reading the thread.  You could even include some negative effects such as:

Reactor Breach - ships in the grav well take damage at regular intervals such as the radiation bomb ability of the Marza

Unstable Phase Drive Core- same as the destablized phase lane ability of starbases

 

You could even allow it to be mined for metal....  Maybe.  I'm thinking very much about Space Hulks in Warhammer 20K.....

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

wow, all very nice ideas, im glad someone is taking the ball and running with it

im thinking also if you mine it for advanced technologies (and face it, there would have to be some advanced tech there considering the size at least) it could act something like an artifact once colonised and explored

one question, the whole grav well with no tactical slots thing, does that mean the ship itself wont have weapons like i mentioned in the OP?

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

I like n3rull's ideas

also could add an effect that once colonized It would have something like Complete Phase Destabilization

like a Grav Bomb it would disable all enemy jump drives, of course until u actually colonized it, it would do the same to you.

or could be really mean and give it a constant effect like Reverie for anything in the grav well, then to be able to colonize it you would have to use something like the novalith or kostura cannons.

edit: after thinking about that for a bit I realized the balance issues for something like that being a choke point world (nasty)  goodbye Marza MB :)