Hyperspace Range

[Zygon]

Is there a way to edit hyperspace efficiency or whatever sets the range?

I figured range was more dependent on fuel cell technology, but it seems more about the hyperspace engine.

I play prewarp and after developing the second-level hyperspace tech, I can suddenly fly from one side of the galaxy to the other on the same ship that could only go a sector and a half with the first warp drive technology. This is on the same fuel cells. I was looking forward to setting up an array of fueling stations and slowly building outward, to suddenly reach everything was kind of jarring.

[JCVocke]

Not yet, but once Universe comes out we will be able to redesign all of the ship components and tech progression. I'll be adding several new stages to the hyperspace tree to keep early and mid game ranges relatively small, and ships fairly slow.

[Deathball]

ORIGINAL: JCVocke

Not yet, but once Universe comes out we will be able to redesign all of the ship components and tech progression. I'll be adding several new stages to the hyperspace tree to keep early and mid game ranges relatively small, and ships fairly slow.

I've been thinking about modding range to be more limited as well, though I planned to try making fuel cells bigger so you'd have to make a conscious decision between designing a long range strike ship with less guns or a short range patrol boat with more guns.

[CyclopsSlayer]

@OP

Notice if you would that the HyperDrives do not consume fuels directly. They Consume 'Energy'.

Warp Field Precursors use 132 Energy for Speed 2000.
While the base Gerax uses 72 Energy for speed 12500.

Small wonder your range goes through the roof when the Gerax uses half the Energy (fuel) for 6x the speed. Greater Fuel capacity, better Fuel to Energy conversion, all should serve to also increase range.

[Zygon]

That makes sense. Still, the sudden ability to travel basically anywhere makes the galaxy feel small and the excitement of a large unknown frontier disappears.

I play with 1400 stars 15x15 and have technology on very expensive. I don't mean to sound like a complainer, it was just a shock to go from a huge galaxy that will take much time to even be able to reach the other side to one where I can go there on one tank of gas.

I don't know how to mod, I was just hoping there was something like a .cfg file that could be edited to change the engine so instead of going from 132 to 72, maybe something more like 132 to 112 or so.

[JCVocke]

Yeah, that sudden shift is jarring, and it really makes it obvious just how much DW had an existing system (the Warp Age), and Shadows really just tacked a new system (Pre-Warp) onto it without properly making sure they mesh well together.

No one knows how easy it will be to modify DW:Universe, but I have my hopes that it will be primarily about modifying Text Files like a Paradox Interactive Game, or perhaps xml files like Civ4. Worst case scenario the game provides a C based SDK which you can compile into a dll, which while annoying, is still better than nothing.

[Osito]

I would hope it will be very easy to mod something like this. It's certainly high up on my list of things to change. What worries me more is the impact it will have on the AI. For example, will it be possible to make a change like this without having to redesign all the AI ships so they work properly? I don't know whether I have the appetite for all that. I fear that making mods relating to ship design may be rather tedious, owing to the need to design new templates for the AI. I hope I'm pleasantly surprised.

[Ardilus]

A couple of thoughts on this for the OP..

Having started playing at RotS, the capability jump with Gerax really feels like the game 'begins'. I like to start at pre-warp mostly because I like having 100% control over beginning designs, early station placement, etc, but usually burn through at 4x game speed until arriving at the appropriately-research-intensive Gerax.

That said, even with excellent drives, it will take considerable time to explore each system in a 1500 star galaxy. Generally you would need to purchase galaxy maps from other empires to finish out 100% exploration by late / end game anyhow.

Another consideration is that you don't want to overbuild anything. Long fuel station chains could easily dampen your private economy and cost you heavily, especially in the early game. Also consider that it is usually better to keep most ship maintenance cheaper, and that includes minimizing fuel cells on most designs. Size caps also force consideration that the extra tonnage be used for weapons and defenses on military ships, and instead lean towards research for range extension, such as hydrogen-based drives.

Especially when playing 'very hard', economic efficiency is absolutely vital in the early game, and I will often only provide one reactor on most ships - not enough to cover the entire power requirement for a full-speed jump. In many situations, this means that a basic Gerax max speed can sometimes be as low as 6000 or so, or in other words a much less significant range increase from warp-bubble.