Right! Let's talk about ship range.

[Osito]

Ok, I know there are others who think the range of ships becomes too high, too soon. For example, maximum range I could get with basic components and a warp bubble generator was about 1.5 sectors. But as soon as I get Gerax hyperdrive the entire 15x15 is explorable. Also, in case you're interested, the basic Gerax takes 4 years to travel 15 sectors.

Obviously, there will be some players who are entirely comfortable with that sudden shift in range. Thats fine. But if you don't like the sudden shift, how are we going to deal with it in DW:U?

There are four options which come to mind right away (which are not mutually exclusive):
(1) Reduce the fuel efficiency of reactors.
(2) Reduce fuel cell capacity.
(3) Increase fuel cell size.
(4) Reduce hyperdrive fuel efficiency.

All 4 options have disadvantages, but it seems to me that option (4) is the least of the evils. Furthermore, it ought to be doable without having to redesign any predesigned ships.

These are the figures for the fuel efficiencies of the Gerax Hyperdrive and the Warp Bubble Generator:

The Warp Bubble Generator has a fuel to speed ratio of 132/2000 = 0.066. Using basic components on a size 180 ship, the maximum range is about 1.5 sectors.

The basic Gerax Hyperdrive has a fuel to speed ratio of 78/12500 = 0.00624. Using basic components on a size 180 ship, the maximum range is over 15 sectors.

It will be clear that the Gerax is over 10 times more fuel efficient than the Warp Bubble, so it’s not surprising it can go so much further.

Therefore, the first step in trying to reduce the range has to be to reduce the fuel efficiency of the Gerax Hyperdrive by about a factor of 5-10. In other words, the fuel usage has to be somewhere in the range 400-800, which would give a range from about 1.5 to 3 sectors.

These are my initial thoughts on the subject. Obviously nothing has been tested by me, but I'd be interested in other's ideas.

Osito

[RICO7878]

Sounds good to me, I do feel the same way how the range just explodes pretty early on. Like you said it has its pros and cons but I would rather have the range be shorter and then have to use gas mining stations or starbases to extend the range of mainly exploration/colony ships. When Universe is released hopefully we might be able to do just that to our liking!

[ASHBERY76]

In my view the full galaxy exploration should not take place at least until mid game.Space 4x galaxies always feel very small.

Civ manages to make the planet feel with its mechanics.

[tjhkkr]

Well, I would like a tech tree to go with this, but start with an inefficient fuel cell size, and perhaps as you get farther along, the fuel cell size gets smaller, and as you change gases from CASLON to HYRDOGEN maybe you could do something there.
Will this not be modable in the new game?
Are we being asked to make a decision on this matter?
There are some games that I like a shorter search size, and sometimes I like a longer one...

[Flinkebeinchen]

The easiest way to achieve what you want seems to me just upping the possible sectors. Maybe a 25x25? 35x35?

[Osito]

ORIGINAL: Flinkebeinchen

The easiest way to achieve what you want seems to me just upping the possible sectors. Maybe a 25x25? 35x35?

Indeed, but the problem is that it won't be possible to up the number of sectors in DW:U - at least I haven't seen anything to suggest it will be possible.

@tjhkkr: yes, I think it will be possible to do what you're suggesting. Personally, I plan on switching around hydrogen and caslon, because it feels better to me that the element I've heard of would provide a power source before the 'element' (or whatever caslon is) that I haven't heard of.

[tjhkkr]

ORIGINAL: Osito

ORIGINAL: Flinkebeinchen
The easiest way to achieve what you want seems to me just upping the possible sectors. Maybe a 25x25? 35x35?

Indeed, but the problem is that it won't be possible to up the number of sectors in DW:U - at least I haven't seen anything to suggest it will be possible.
@tjhkkr: yes, I think it will be possible to do what you're suggesting. Personally, I plan on switching around hydrogen and caslon, because it feels better to me that the element I've heard of would provide a power source before the 'element' (or whatever caslon is) that I haven't heard of.

I know what you mean: I changed it to carbon-nitrogen, because sometime in the past, they though some stars had nuclear reactions using carbon-nitrogen...

[hewwo]

I completely agree that the range of ships is too large too soon. I would make the intermediate engines less efficient, as it is a nice representation of technological progress to have them improve in a meaningful way.