Although I posted this elsewhere in a list of suggested improvements for Aetherspace, I don't know if I explained it clearly. What I'd like to see is aetherspace opened up to everyone, whether they have a ship or not, and the means to achieve this is by temporary aether pods.

The basic premise is fairly simple: You can use nexus energy to create a temporary 'ship' that you can use for 1 hour, which then dissolves into the aether.

The way a pod is created is by going to a Prime or Nexus World portal room, making sure you are able to draw power from that nation's nexus, and calling the command "PORTAL FORM POD". This will drain 10 energy from the nexus, shown on powerlogs, and create a temporary manse room docked at that place, with description unique to that nation. For example:


The control window is not the same as a command module, or any other regular algontherine module. Unlike the algontherine creatures, which are alive, the pods are purely fashioned from magical power, and they are controlled slightly differently. While you still MODULE LOCK and MODULE UNLOCK, you are limited to the following commands:

POD LAUNCH/DOCK -- docks at an aetherspace location (requires Aethercraft in Aethercraft)
POD STEER --- moves in a given direction (requires Aethercraft in Aethercraft)
POD TRANSVERSE --- transverses through a rift in aetherspace (requires Transverse in Aethercraft)
POD REGENERATE --- takes 10 seconds during which the pod cannot move, restores 250 hull strength upon completion. (Requires Empathy in Aethercraft)
POD TARGET SHIP/CREATURE/POD --- targets the small weapon aboard the pod at a given target, the range is smaller than a normal turret. (Requires Battle in Aethercraft)
POD FIRE --- Fires a blast at targetted entity, does half the damage of a normal turret. (Requires Battle in Aethercraft)
Edit: POD ARMADA LIST/JOIN /LEAVE --- Allows you to join an armada - thanks for pointing it out Alianna! (Requires Armada in Aethercraft)

On the aetherspace map, pods would appear as '*', and could be targetted by both ships and creatures. They would have exactly 1000 500 hull strength, and would move at the same speed as a 10 7 room algontherine. If the time limit runs up while you are in aetherspace, the effect is the same as if a ship has run out of power - it implodes and kills all inside. You can funnel personal power into the pod to increase the remaining time. Conglutination should function inside pods, regardless of whether the person actually has Trans planar or not.

You would not be able to change the permissions on a pod - it would allow only the creator to enter the pod itself and use the control window. If the owner has an entourage though, they can follow in just fine. When first creating a pod, the strength of the magical energies would make it invulnerable to damaging attacks for 1 minute. The station itself cannot be targetted individually, but ship-wide effects - such as the ship wide aeon attack - will flow on to the station.

The places you can summon pods from will be in three two main places:
1) The aetherplex chamber, for neutral pods (20 power will be drained from your reserves)
2) Your nation portal room, for nation pods
3) Your nation nexus world, for nation pods

Ok, what is the point?

A ) Everyone is able to travel to aetherbubbles and experience aetherspace, even newbies, even if they cannot afford or get to know someone with a ship.
B ) Near Nexus Worlds, defenders have an option for dealing with raiders in aetherspace. It's not as good an option as an algontherine, but with enough people it may be enough to make a difference.

I'd love being one of ten pods shooting out of the Avaerin to swarm the filthy Wyrden ships that want to destroy our forest-warship instead of just one, personally.

How fast would these things move?

Hrm, I wouldn't count on the Avaerin in that situation...


I'm thinking a moderate speed - I said the same as a 10-room ship in the original post, but on reflection, that might be too slow. Maybe a 2-5 room ship speed?

kind of like an intercepter from starwars? hrmm make carrier aether crafts?

Make it so that there is a module that lets you make a limited number of neutral pods from onboard a ship and I will love you forever.

I kinda dislike the idea.

Most people have access to ships by virtue of their orgs. The problem is that the orgs don't use them. It's a pretty striking contrast to what the BT do with the Seeker, where we strap someone little into a turret until they gain three levels, have them learn 15 aethercraft, and strap them back in and teach them how to use it. It's not hard at all to get someone to experience aethercraft if the leaders just put a little emphasis on it.

The pods, however, are more crew efficient than regular ships, and that would take a lot away from them. I would be ok with it if they were basically gimped one-room aethership taxis, but as they are, they look like a better alternative to a warship.

Well, I did try to make them much more unappealing than a ship. What should be changed to make them more so?

1000 hull isn't much, and they won't have any shield or empath to moderate incoming damage. It would take 6 pods to equate to 3 turrets with no artifacts, and it won't be possible to use any combateer afflictions. They'll also have to come in close to attack, and with only one balance for fire/target/move, I don't see them as being that offensively brilliant unless there are a lot of them. The 1 minute creation immunity was kind of a reflection of this, that I thought they might be a little -too- suicidal.

1000 hull is as much as a one room ship gets anyways.

The crew efficiency is a big part of that. If you field five people in the Seeker, you get 1400-ish hull and three full turrets. If you field five people in pods, you get two and a half turrets, 5000 hull (actually, more--you waste damage in imploding a ship), and a lot more flexibility in moving in different directions.

If you field three people in a ship designed with one turret and no extra rooms, you get 1100-ish hull and one turret. If you field three people in pods, you get one and a half turrets and 3000 hull.

But, when it comes down to it, I don't know if I'd be ok with this as anything except a slow, flimsy taxi deal. 500 hull, speed of a standard seven room warship. People pay a lot for aetherships. No one would pay that much for something even remotely replicated by spending 10p.

20p, but ok, 500 hull is fair enough, along with the speed of a 7-room ship. Would you remove the regenerate and target/fire skills entirely?

Yeah. If you need to fight things, get a crew. I honestly don't think any non-rogue character doesn't have access to a ship. I would, however, add the ability to funnel power into it to keep it longer. That way you can take it to a bubble and back.

I like that, and I suppose we can abandon the nexus worlds sphere for now. Will change!