Travel Drive is too OP

[mar3usmc]

I would like to see it changed. Have it not gradually give you speed, but suddenly after a 10second (variable) charge. It is just too easy to use it right now in place of boost, and makes it essentially impossible for enemies to escape you, or them to catch you. Universe just feels too safe with it.

Add in travel drive inhibitors too that can pull you out of the travel drive and force you to flee using a normal drive or stand and fight. Allow for you being able to use them too.

[NoDMoD]

Originally posted by mar3usmc:

Add in travel drive inhibitors too that can pull you out of the travel drive and force you to flee using a normal drive or stand and fight. Allow for you being able to use them too.

Erm, EMP missiles.

[PeaceMaker]

I agree with the OP.

[lordmarkhan2]

U can already be interdicted sometime im on travel drive and it stop i dunno why but it can be a missile or just because he shot me a little

[Xautos]

Originally posted by lordmarkhan2:

U can already be interdicted sometime im on travel drive and it stop i dunno why but it can be a missile or just because he shot me a little

i've already intercepted a number of ships, i've also been intercepted a few times. it takes a few seconds, but once you got the AI ship turned around, you can stand on the travel mode in a smaller ship without the coundown timer and escape before the AI can swing back around for another attack. Best time to do it is when the AI is boosting away and then hit the travel mode.

i think a better option is to disallow any use of the travel drive when in a battle zone of 20KM, this prevents you from escaping quickly and you'd be forced to flee by boost at the right moment to gain range, or you swat down the target. in larger battles it forces you to adapt and to take as little damage as you can.

Just so it isn't impossible to escape when you think certain death is coming? you have a rechargable one time escape mode, every 30 minutes it is recharged and ready to use again. you gain temporary invulerability to attack and you'd boost from the warzone to just a little over 24KM out, however your shields remain offline and your travel mode speed is slashed by a third temporarily and your weapons go offline for 3 minutes as the ships system recharges tfrom the serious drain during the escape mode.

[Grifta]

There is already a drive inhibitor; there's a cooldown to your travel drive every time you get hit. You have to evade hits before and during spool up, and you can't boost while it's charging. It's a sufficiently good risk/reward escape option when you're trying to run from a fight.

[Mnemon]

Originally posted by Grifta:

There is already a drive inhibitor; there's a cooldown to your travel drive every time you get hit. You have to evade hits before and during spool up, and you can't boost while it's charging. It's a sufficiently good risk/reward escape option when you're trying to run from a fight.

The combat AI however is too incompetent to ever really interdict a player that takes even the slightest precautions, unless they have something like 10:1 superiority in numbers, fast/agile craft and manage to kill the shields with some lucky hits.

[Xautos]

Originally posted by Mnemon:

Originally posted by Grifta:

There is already a drive inhibitor; there's a cooldown to your travel drive every time you get hit. You have to evade hits before and during spool up, and you can't boost while it's charging. It's a sufficiently good risk/reward escape option when you're trying to run from a fight.

The combat AI however is too incompetent to ever really interdict a player that takes even the slightest precautions, unless they have something like 10:1 superiority in numbers, fast/agile craft and manage to kill the shields with some lucky hits.

Lucky shots can happen, that is how i've ended up getting intercepted on all cases. even single pulse laser hitting the shield by chance is enough to bring the ship to a screeching halt.

[Kanaro Min]

Originally posted by Xautos:

i think a better option is to disallow any use of the travel drive when in a battle zone of 20KM, this prevents you from escaping quickly and you'd be forced to flee by boost at the right moment to gain range, or you swat down the target. in larger battles it forces you to adapt and to take as little damage as you can.

Gonna have to disagree with you on this one Xautos. It is too artificial a limitation - sorta like "You cannot go this way!" invisible borders in RPG open world games where your character keeps using the walking animation but going nowhere against an invisible wall. There's just no good scientific explanation for the "why" of it.

I'd rather see a range-limited EMP device that isn't a missile, that can be used x times per minute depending on the quality of the device, that inhibits travel mode out to x KM. The ship that uses it has to charge it up, like any EMP would require, which would take a few seconds initially, then the cooldown and recharge before the next use. It could be used by AI and hotkeyed by the player after being installed in a ship. But smaller fighters wouldn't have the power plant or space to install it - it would be for medium fighters and larger ships.

[SpaceToast]

i literally never get hit unless I want to, the AI is incapable of reliably shooting someone who is not actively trying to fight them. + 1 for travel drive requiring a charge up time similiar to capital ships.

[CMDR Sweeper]

I say leave any travel mode in and invest the time on squashing nasty bugs that can end your game way too early.
Such as getting stuck on an Ai vessel that decides to "kidnap" you and you then have to try and travel 15km in a space suit to get back, only to die of o2 and get sent back to the menu.
Here, you need to add some extra features, a save point on every docking at the very least.
This is way before you even think about balancing.

[Xautos]

Originally posted by Kanaro Min:

Originally posted by Xautos:

i think a better option is to disallow any use of the travel drive when in a battle zone of 20KM, this prevents you from escaping quickly and you'd be forced to flee by boost at the right moment to gain range, or you swat down the target. in larger battles it forces you to adapt and to take as little damage as you can.

Gonna have to disagree with you on this one Xautos. It is too artificial a limitation - sorta like "You cannot go this way!" invisible borders in RPG open world games where your character keeps using the walking animation but going nowhere against an invisible wall. There's just no good scientific explanation for the "why" of it.

I'd rather see a range-limited EMP device that isn't a missile, that can be used x times per minute depending on the quality of the device, that inhibits travel mode out to x KM. The ship that uses it has to charge it up, like any EMP would require, which would take a few seconds initially, then the cooldown and recharge before the next use. It could be used by AI and hotkeyed by the player after being installed in a ship. But smaller fighters wouldn't have the power plant or space to install it - it would be for medium fighters and larger ships.

no limitatations, once you are beyond 20 km the travel drive is open and you can high tail it.
however it is just one idea :P

[Scoob]

Doesn't ANY hit from weapon fire cancel Travel Drive? I use this method frequently to force enemies to drop to normal speeds to be engaged effectively. I've also been shot out of Travel Mode myself numerous times when an AI has done it to me...though that's far less frequent.

Scoob.

[Papasaurus Rex]

Originally posted by Xautos:

Originally posted by Kanaro Min:

Gonna have to disagree with you on this one Xautos. It is too artificial a limitation - sorta like "You cannot go this way!" invisible borders in RPG open world games where your character keeps using the walking animation but going nowhere against an invisible wall. There's just no good scientific explanation for the "why" of it.

I'd rather see a range-limited EMP device that isn't a missile, that can be used x times per minute depending on the quality of the device, that inhibits travel mode out to x KM. The ship that uses it has to charge it up, like any EMP would require, which would take a few seconds initially, then the cooldown and recharge before the next use. It could be used by AI and hotkeyed by the player after being installed in a ship. But smaller fighters wouldn't have the power plant or space to install it - it would be for medium fighters and larger ships.

no limitatations, once you are beyond 20 km the travel drive is open and you can high tail it.
however it is just one idea :P

lol "no limitations" oh except that 20km one

[Xautos]

Originally posted by Papasaurus Rex:

Originally posted by Xautos:

no limitatations, once you are beyond 20 km the travel drive is open and you can high tail it.
however it is just one idea :P

lol "no limitations" oh except that 20km one

Kanaro mentioned that it would be like an invisible wall, but i said there is no such thing to the idea as you can freely excape the 20km range. You can get clear as 20km isn't that big, the AI pilot from mostly full shields can boost upto 12km out easy, and if you boosted in the opposite direction at the same time? you'd easily escape.

[Talis]

On S & M ships there's already upwards to a 1-2 second delay from pressing the button and starting travel drive up. Also a simple 'tap' with any weapon will stop the travel drive.

If you're having issues with AI just equip a beam weapon or turret. Travels at 7000m/s and will stop the travel drive in it's tracks.

L & XL ships require a 30 second warm up without a 'tap' from a weapon, which in reality is far too long to get it started.

As for a 20km 'border' on a L & XL ship that would take from 150-400 seconds on a 'quick' L/XL ship. You really want to sit around slowly driving for 5-10 minutes before your travel drive starts up?