Permanent upgrades

[SparcMan]

I had an idea to consider for future versions. There could me certain places (ringers or some post-Heretic race) that allow you to make some ship upgrades permanent and do not use up a device slot. This would apply to stackable items such as ICX and patch spiders/arms. It should not apply to shields for example because you can only have one shield at a time and you're probably going to need to upgrade at some point. Permanent installed devices cannot be turned off or disabled. So for example, you can't hide on top of a friendly base if you have a permanent ICX installed. Engine upgrades are in the same category as shield as you can only have one and you need to be able to upgrade. Permanent upgrades cannot be removed, but I think if it becomes damaged in battle, it is considered destroyed (and maybe does some extra damage to your armor since it was a permanent attachment). Quantum CPU however is one-of-a-kind and even if better CPUs become available post-heretic, it should be possible to have more than one type of CPU (to read different types of ROMs). Any takers?

[Revolver]

It's an interesting idea, but I don't know how plausable it would be to have an item that cannot be removed. Usually anything that can be installed can be removed, but I do like the idea of not being able to turn it off.

I can see having an ICX bolted to a segemet of armor (where it doesn't belong) and it's just out there acting on it's own accord without any connection to the ship or ability to turn it off.

Maybe as a tradeoff, having extra items might interfer with your shield generating capabilites resulting in slightly weaker shields or slower regenerating shields.

[Frits]

Hmm but the ship already has a device permanently installed and it cannot be destroyed, the ship computer. Come to think of it, doesn't this one have a CPU then? It could be several CPU's, as backups.

[Atheist_Chuck]

Well, if you stuck an ICX into your armour, wouldn't it extremely degrade the efficiency of your armour segment?

[James]

If anything is going to be changed about the device system, I'd suggest that there be about triple the slot count for each ship type, and devices can take e.g. 1-5 slots. It doesn't make a ton of sense that a laser canon takes as much space as a CPU, which takes as much space as a new reactor, which takes as much space as a reactor with 40 times the capacity, which...

Anway, you get my drift. This would add another tradeoff (e.g., extra opportunity to use strategy) -- Reactor A burns through fuel twice as fast as Reactor B, but takes up 2 slots instead of, say, 5. You can get some thrusters that let you cover a whole system in 10 seconds, but they take up half your device slots 'cause they need to use most of the ship's internal space just for cooling equipment. Perhaps you can get different sized cargo expansions?

This seems like it would be a small change with big implications.

[SparcMan]

Well I'm saying that your inability to turn it off is a tradeoff for having it not use up a device slot (if you could install a dozen icx turrets, missiles and projectiles could never even get close to you, but you'd risk alienating every base you docked at if enemies with projectile weapons come along).

[Revolver]

If anything is going to be changed about the device system, I'd suggest that there be about triple the slot count for each ship type, and devices can take e.g. 1-5 slots. It doesn't make a ton of sense that a laser canon takes as much space as a CPU, which takes as much space as a new reactor, which takes as much space as a reactor with 40 times the capacity, which...

Anway, you get my drift. This would add another tradeoff (e.g., extra opportunity to use strategy) -- Reactor A burns through fuel twice as fast as Reactor B, but takes up 2 slots instead of, say, 5. You can get some thrusters that let you cover a whole system in 10 seconds, but they take up half your device slots 'cause they need to use most of the ship's internal space just for cooling equipment. Perhaps you can get different sized cargo expansions?

This seems like it would be a small change with big implications.

If you ever played the game Armored Core, they had a similar system to this, each core unit hade a set number of slots which could be used for various devices, some simple devices like radar jammers took up one slot while others devices like missle intercepting lasers took up more slots.

I do see how the current setup could work; think of the USB ports on your computer, you can connect all sorts of devices, but there's still a set number of things that can be installed at any one time. In Transcendence I see the device slots having to do more with the ship's computer rather than the physical mounting components.

[Ghengis]

Meh, I don't think that realism is the point -- I think that multi-"slot" devices would make for more possibilities, and therefore (IMHO) more fun.