Posts split from here.
JoshParnell wrote:Yes! Temporary / hidden wormhole appearance is and will remain a feature ;) So I guess we're agreeing on that point? :)
While I sometimes disagree with what I suggested, in this case I do not. =P
You just never confirmed
anything at all about interstellar travel so this is the first nugget of information period.
Again, here's another constant that clearly influences the equilibrium. Consider that at one extreme - 100 hidden wormholes in every system at all times, moving every 5 minutes or so - locking down becomes impossible. Now consider that at the other extreme - no temporary wormholes, ever, and never more than 2 wormholes per system - locking becomes possible. Apply intermediate value theorem, and profit :geek: System locking can be made to be as impossible or as trivial as you want. Similar arguments can be made for all of the relevant constants.
The distribution of stable vs. unstable (temporary) wormholes is a thing for the balancing phase.
It's just a number that will be adjusted to allow for
some uncertainty while generally allowing the universe to have some structure and reliability.
I wouldn't take anyone serious who claims to know the right number now. =P
The big thing to me is the fact of the number's existence.
ThymineC wrote:Hm. I'd rather ships just emerged within the endpoint they come out of.
An
exact point would cause problems.
Ships entering a wormhole at different speeds would collide.
It's safer to have the computer spread them out
a little on arrival.
How little? Far enough to make the game work.
...and it makes... a fiery ring.
This is
my oldest X3 script in action.
A neat ring of stationary lasertowers is installed around a jumpgate.
Bzzzzt.
The problem is: it's working too well. (I wasn't that concerned with balance back then =)
Nothing can survive coming out of a jumpgate like that. Perfect defense is perfect... and horrible game balance.
JoshParnell wrote:Honestly, despite all my arguments that it's hard to lock down space (and that we can make it arbitrarily hard), I'm not even sure why a skilled player being able to do so is such a bad thing. Owning a top-security bubble doesn't mean you've won the game. In an infinite universe, there is no 'perfect' play. There are only the goals that you set and whether or not you achieve them :)
That's the beauty of an infinite universe.
Even if the player is the biggest fish in the small pond that is this tiny corner of the universe, he is still somewhat insignificant on the greater scale. =)
There is no "I" in Tea. That would be gross
.