Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Because on the surface... diesel, gasoline, gas turbine, and electric engines don't have different end results. They simply move the vehicle forward.


Honestly though... I don't see the issue here. Even ships in the same class do not move at the same speeds (except in warp). So there's your "differences in the engines." And warp speed can be explained away saying "all the empires recognized that ships cannot move past a certain warp speed if their mass/volume is above a certain point without considerable modifications [like warp speed rigs]."

As for Tech 2... the devil is in the details.
- Covert-ops, Stealth Bombers, Force Recons, Black-ops, and SoE ships don't suffer from a speed penalty when cloaked... this could be due to a specialty modification in the engines or the cloaking device (or a combination of the two).
- Assault Frigates and Heavy Assault Cruisers have a reduction in MWD sig penalty and warp faster... those are obvious engine changes right there that may or may not be related.
- Marauders can use Microjumpdrives more frequently than other ships... probably due to a modification to the engines.
- Interceptors are basically all engines and they show it. Sig reduction bonuses, bubble immunity, faster than your average Tech 1 ship, incredibly agile, etc.


Now...

"Why can't we buy different engines and install them separately?"

- Does your average person buy a car engine separate from the car?
- Can you easily swap the engine from a Bugatti Veyron and put it into a Ferrari 599 GTO (see: like swapping engines in Tech 2 ships)? Or a Ford Focus with a Honda Civic Hybrid (see: like swapping engines in Tech 1 ships)?


"So why can we do it with T3s and nothing else?"

- Because T3s are a halfway reversed-engineered technology that we barely understand (lore-wise).
- We can't replicate some of the materials and must harvest them from Sleeper ships that fight back (thus creating a bottleneck in supply lines).
- Because of the above two points we can't mass produce it.
- Older technology would probably not accept it (akin to putting our best jet engines on a plane designed for propellers).

you have:
MWD
AB
MJD
overdrive injector
inertia stabilizers
warp core stabilizers
nanofibre internal structures (that's UK spelling for anyone wanting to correct it)
(web)
(point)
(bubbles)

4/10 - bad troll