This thread is to discuss some changes to the Engine system in GC IV Supernova.
The Problem: The designers have repeatedly noted that a "mixed fleet" model is their ideal. They want to see fleets of a variety of ships as the "preferred" design in most cases.
However, the current Engine design runs counter to that desire. Engines are too great an expense in both mass and mil cost to be placed on a large number of vessels. As such, you generally reserve engines for non-fleet ships (aka scouts or freighters), or you only use engines on larger ships such as cruisers.....but doing this limits your fleet to larger ships that support the engines, and so the mixed fleet concept is lost.
The idea of individual engine modules for each ship is simply too costly to get the desired result. And so....lets reconsider that model.
Solution Option 1: Fleet Speed = Fastest Ship in the Fleet
In this model, the fleet moves at the speed of the fastest ship in the fleet (rather than the slowest as it does today). This immediately changes the paradigm, now you could for example build a very fast cruiser with lots of engines to escort a fleet of fighters and frigates to a target. Engines become similar to many modules, a specialty item used on one ship in the fleet to benefit the whole fleet.
In this model the concept of fleet speed is removed entirely.
This solution is the simplest to implement but also has the biggest change in the paradigm, as now engines become more of a specialty module for special ships rather than a more common component. This would also result in a large speed boost in many parts of the game.
Solution Option 2: Fleet Engine Power
In this model, we create a new concept for a fleet called Engine Power:
- Engine modules now add "Engine Power" rather than a straight +x speed bump. Engine power is summed across all ships in a fleet.
- A fleet's Engine Power / Its Total Logistics = Speed Boost from Engines.
Here's an example. Lets say a cruiser picked up 2 engine modules that totaled 22 Engine Power. This means that the cruiser by itself gets a speed boost of 22 / 6 = +3. The cruiser then connects with a couple of frigates that have no engine power (4 logistics, for a total of 10). Now the speed boost = 22 / 10 = +2 speed. This little fleet connects with a freighter (4 logistics) that also has 22 engine power. Now the fleet has a speed boost of 44 / 14 = +3.
In this model fleet speed would still exist as it does today. It would be seperate from engine power and applied afterwords. So a fleet with a Fleet Engine Power boost +2 speed that also has a fleet speed of +1 would have a total of +3 speed.
The advantage of this model is that it has more granularity, and still makes engines desirable across many ships while allowing big ships to carry smaller ones so not every ship needs an engine. However, this system is a good bit more complex and requires new concepts.
Review: I think both of these solutions solve the fundamental problem that engines currently possess, and both have their positives and drawbacks so its a question of which "style" the devs want to consider.