gate alignment

[Betelgeuse]

I think gates should be controlled by factions and would only allow there faction to go through.
They are these big important things in game but no some seems to want to control these things of huge importance.

[Yugi]

Well, there'd be constant battles n' stuff for control of the gates, making it difficult to maintain control on them so probably only gates in major or themed systems will be controlled, such as the gates in St.K's (Commonwealth-controlled), Charon (Pirate-controlled), Ares (Ares-controlled), Jiang's Star (Sung-controlled), Heretic (Iocrym-controlled).

[goat not sheep]

But....then how do u accsess it? Also....don't forget point Juno!

[Yugi]

Well, I suppose you'd have to kill a bunch of enemies.

[TedStudley]

What about just having stations that guard the gates, and you have to destroy the station in order to get through without being harassed.

[Karl]

Having faction-controlled gates would help solve the "free wrecks" issue, where enemy ships repeatedly spawn out of a stargate locted near a friendly station and repeatedly get destroyed.

[goat not sheep]

Oh! I know....there's this...fraction gate locker device....which controls the gatre. Now,...if you destroy it...it "unlocks" the gate!

[Karl]

Well, factions could control the coded-frequency of the stargate... without which ships entering will either be torn to pieces or never make it to the other end...

[goat not sheep]

So...we blow it up? And why are stargates(made with non-alien tech) invincible? Oh wait...the iocrym built em. Then how do certain un-advanced fractions control invincible alien matter?

[Karl]

Then how do certain un-advanced fractions control invincible alien matter?

You haven't seen Stargate, have you?

In any case, you should be able to answer that question yourself if you think about it.

[OddBob]

This would be awesome, because then we'd need a gate network so you can find a way around, not to mention so enemies can get into friendly systems.
Any force occupying a gate is likely bigger than you can take on alone. What with the turrets and mines, the big duralloy gate and two squadrons of ships backed up by a cruiser. Be fun to try though.

Well, there'd be constant battles n' stuff for control of the gates, making it difficult to maintain control on them so probably only gates in major or themed systems will be controlled,

You mean they'd be the only ones consistantly controlled.
"Oh, darnl, we'd have to fight the enemy to control this." has never stopped someone from attempting to do so.

[Karl]

This would be awesome, because then we'd need a gate network so you can find a way around, not to mention so enemies can get into friendly systems.

Of course having the systems networked in a non-linear way would be cool (and would increase exploration), but I don't think that you need to add that to have this. Well... it depends on how you implement the gates, of course.

A simple thing to do within the current level system would be to have the gate alignments fixed, with the "backwards" gate be friendly/alliance and the "forwards" gate be enemy/other, with the main effects of that being that friendly ships spawn from the friendly gate, and enemy ships spawn from the enemy gate. (Well, that works if you can fit all of the factions in the game into "friend" and "enemy".)

You could also have extra "one-way" faction-controlled gates in the systems... which would serve as spawning points for enemy ships, and could be destroyed with effort.

[Betelgeuse]

gates are very moddable. You can already make networks (not easily)(well only me and fossaman have done it but still) and one way gates are easy to make.

[Karl]

True, true! And adding factionality would increase the mod-ality of gates... another fine reason to add the feature.

[TedStudley]

And what about a way that you could lead a friendly construction ship to an unclaimed stargate to build a gate. Make there be less inflow of baddies coming to kill you. It would be only a matter of time before they destroy the gate, though, and come through anyway.