Yes, I know, you're all sick of hearing about aetherspace suggestions. Well, this is my attempt to put it all together in a final report to submit to the admin directly. Bear with me!

Changes

1. Movement Messages (I)
Suggested Change:
When a ship moves, its targettable name should be shown, such as:


alternatively...

Show manse names on SHIP LOOK INFO, such as:

Justification:
It should be easy to target ships once you've seen them, and sometimes the alias can be quite different from the descriptive name.

2. Movement Messages (II)
Suggested Change:
When a ship moves, all people aboard the ship including those locked into modules will see the message 'You lurch sideways as glides into motion.' No further messages are shown unless the command chair is on-balance and unused for 5 seconds, and then the message 'There is a barely perceptible shift as glides to a rest.' If the crew have CONFIG MAPSHOW ON, however, they will see the current room description-per-move view.

Justification:
This is to cut down on the spam that occurs while piloting through aetherspace. It is a huge hindrance to communication and enjoyment of aetherspace, because of the fact anything you see quickly scrolls off the screen during the rapid-fire steering.

3. Module Repair Shortcuts
Suggested Change:
GRID MODULES should allow for substitutes or shortcuts for grid module repairing, such as:

CODE

GRID MODULES
chair - ######
turret - #####
turret - #####

Would targettable as:

CODE

GRID REPAIR MODULE CHAIR
GRID REPAIR MODULE TURRET.1
GRID REPAIR MODULE TURRET.2

Justification:
Without having fairly sophisticated trigger systems, it is very difficult to keep track of what module id codes need repairing, especially if the Empath switches between ships frequently. It is next to impossible to use GRID MODULES while in flight or in combat, due to the spam.

3.2 Module Repair Over Time
Suggested Change:
Module and ship afflictions given by combateers, particularly blown up modules, must fade on their own after a given amount of time, say 30 seconds.

Justification:
The requirement that a ship have an expert-level Empath to cure these afflictions is a massive hindrance. For example, it is possible for a small ship with one combateer to blow up the command chair of other ships, and should they not have a specced Empath, or an Empath without enough skill, the combat is effectively over. There is nothing the ship can do.

4. Aethercraft: Interlink
Suggested Change:
GRID JOIN and GRID REMOVE changed to be useable while docked.

Justification:
The ship channel is used before actually launching into aetherspace, particularly for impending battle preparations or to coordinate crew placement and numbers needed. It would also be nice if other grid commands that don't affect flying could be usable while docked, such as deepbond.

5. Empath: Screech
Suggested Change:
Screech can either be used as a passive ability that blocks relay communications of all ships within a 100 space radius (maybe this should just be incorporated into Dissonance, and screech have no passive function), or as an active ability that causes all nearby aethercreatures and ships to move randomly on the next tick. This latter active ability could be blocked by deadspace and dissonance.

Justification:
Why on earth would you try to hail an enemy? Even worse, why would they answer? The current effect of damaging ships on an open channel will never be used, except on friendlies for a joke.

6. Empath: Resonance
Suggested Change:
Possible ideas for a new trans skill - an ability to convert damaging attacks to healing for a few seconds, an ability to transfer a set percentage of hull damage to the locked in crew, an ability to reflect damage/afflictions back to the attacker for a few seconds, a fullheal-like ability, that restores a single module to 100% repaired. Please suggest something if you have an idea!

Justification:
Resonance is just a lesser version of Spiral, and really doesn't add anything unique to the skillset. Resonance is 10 power for aetherbeasts not to attack the ship (stationary), Spiral is 10 power for the ship to be immune to attacks from beasts and ships while moving (apparently faster than normal but I'm not sure about that). There's no need for this duplication, especially when it will always be more advantageous to use Spiral.

7. Combateer: Shock
Suggested Change:
Still costs 8p to immbolize a ship, as it is now, but costs 0p to immobilize a creature. The creature is halted for only 5 seconds, and the turret balance takes this long to recover.

Justification:
Power use is simply not justified for stopping a single creature in place. If it is only immobilized at the cost of using that turret, I don't see a problem balance-wise. I am assuming here that it does not stop the creature from attacking, only from moving.

8. Commander: Fusion
Suggested Change:
The skill be reworked so that it only allows teleportation to a synchronized ship, taking 5 seconds to complete. Instead of flashpoints, the WORMHOLES ability below will replace non-ship based teleportation.

Justification: Flashpoints make ship combat against a prepared commander rather pointless. Just like instant escape teleportation is very limited in regular ground combat, instant escape teleportation makes a sustained attack on a ship next to pointless. It also can effectively eliminate the need to actually travel through aetherspace if multiple flashpoints are available on different ships and the organization is liberal with power supply. This change is very controversial, with many players unwilling to support it.

9. Targetting
Suggested Change:
Increase the maximum range that ships and creatures can be targetted, scaled by ship size. So larger ships will have a larger range than smaller ships.

Justification:
Given the size of aetherspace, a larger sphere of interaction around each ship gives a greater chance combat is achievable. It also acts to slightly mitigate the penalty of speed on larger ships.

10. Commander: Immersion
Suggested Change:
Remove the power cost entirely, or make it 1p per use. The accumulating hull damage while in use would remain.

Justification:
Hiding from scans is worthless, thus it can be disregarded in considering balance. Using immersion to stop a vortex throwing the ship half-way across aetherspace is supposed to be useful, but given it costs 10 power for enough time to draw only 4 power with one collector (and not to mention summoning creatures), it is useless. This change would make it much more viable.

Additions

11. Aethercraft: Glide
Short Desc:
Glide smoothly along the aether currents.

Extended Desc:
Syntax: PILOT GLIDE
PILOT STOP
Your algontherine will continue moving in a given direction until it encounters some sort of obstruction. Note that the command chair will be off balance until PILOT STOP is used, but a new PILOT GLIDE command can be issued without a stop in between.

Details:
Very simple, just makes the algontherine steer in a certain direction every x seconds, where x is given by the command chair balance time modified by both ship size, Commander specialization skill, chair artifacts, and environment type. This is to make piloting aetherspace a little easier. Suggested Rank: Adept, 75%.

12. Empath: Relay
Short Desc:
Communicate beyond aetherspace through an aether relay.

Extended Desc:
Syntax: GRID RELAY ACTIVATE
If your organization has purchased an aetherspace relay on their docks, you will be able to communicate through all aether channels as if you were still on that plane. This ability will tax the willpower of the empath due to the strain required to maintain the tenuous connection.

Details:
While active, adds a line to SHIP STATUS and allows all crew to hear and speak on channels that correspond to the aetherspace plane they are on. That is, if the ship is in ethereal aetherspace, and there is an aetherspace relay on any ethereal organization dock at which the ship is permitted, anyone on board will be heard as if they were on the ethereal plane. It's to make it more viable to go on aetherspace expeditions without giving up the feeling of being part of the world, and also to promote ground-to-air coordination. If the imperialism idea below is implemented, this skill is not as necessary. Suggested rank: Expert, 75%.

13. Commander: Union
Short Desc:
Travel between algontherine entities via a living conduit.

Extended Desc:
Syntax: PILOT CONDUIT FORM (ship)
PILOT CONDUIT ACCEPT (ship)
PILOT BREAKAWAY
Requires ramhead module. Link two algontherine together so that crew can be transferred between them. Both ships must have a ramhead module through which the port will be accessible.

Details:
Just like ram, but with the other ship accepting it. May never be used, but would allow crew to be transferred across an armada if people on one ship have to leave. Suggested rank: Master.

14. Commander: Traversal
Short Desc:
Store a path through aetherspace for traversing later.

Extended Desc:
Syntax: PILOT TRAVERSE PATH (5 power).
Your grasp of aetherspace topography is so great that you can imprint a given route
in the mind of your algontherine and allow it to follow the path for you. The algontherine
can remember up to 400 movements at a time.

For example, PILOT TRAVERSE PATH NE,2E,SE,2S,SW,2W,NW,2N

Traversing a memorized path works similarly to gliding, in that the command chair will
be off balance while the ship moves as quickly as possible in the given directions.
PILOT STOP will halt the ship at any point, as will any obstacles the ship encounters.
The directions must be given as a comma separated list with no spaces, and repeated
movements can be described by a number in front of the direction, so '4SW' would equate
to 'SW,SW,SW,SW'.

Details:
This is a replacement skill for Commanders once they lose access to fusion-to-flashpoint. It would be much nicer to have a server-side pathfinding function so the commander only has to say 'pilot to this point ', but I suspect this may involve too much calculation load cost for the benefit.

15. Commander: Wormholes
Short Desc:
Pierce through aetherspace to form dimensional wormholes.

Extended Desc:
Syntax: PILOT WORMHOLE TO (ship)
PILOT WORMHOLE CANCEL
Create a wormhole in space that allows any ship to travel instantly across vast distances. Both ships must be in the same type of environment, and on the same plane. This is a slow process, and requires both ships to remain stationary while tunnelling. The dimensional flows around existing wormhole openings mean that you cannot create new wormholes within 20 spaces of another. If the ships are within 150 spaces of each other, a regular blue wormhole is formed that can be used by any pilot. If the ships are more than 150 spaces apart (but within 300 spaces), a special red wormhole is formed that can only be used by Commanders.

Details:
Makes a wormhole object at both locations that allows any ship to jump between them. Takes 5 minutes to form, both commanders must have the skill. Wormholes can be blocked by the seal skill. Destroying a wormhole takes between 5-15 minutes. Using a wormhole requires the Transverse skill in Aethercraft. Non-commanders can use blue wormholes for 1 power per jump, and cannot use red wormholes at all. Commanders can use blue wormholes for 0 power per jump, and can use red wormholes if they have the Tunnel skill, for 2 power per jump. Still allows commanders to have an edge, but promotes quicker movement through the heavy traffic areas of aetherspace for everyone. Suggested rank: Virtuoso.

16. Combateer: Destabilize
Short Desc:
Blast an open wormhole to unravel the dimensional tunnel.

Long Desc:
Syntax: TURRET DESTABILIZE
By focusing your turret on the mouth of an open wormhole, you will be able to destabilize the dimensional energies that support the tunnel through aetherspace. You may not do anything while the process is occurring without interrupting the destabilization, although if multiple turrets are focused the eventual implosion will be hastened.

Details:
Just cancels a wormhole. The combateer only needs to enter the command once, then as long as the ship doesn't move and they don't enter any other turret commands, the process continues until completed. Ships passing through a wormhole that is being destabilized will take hull damage. If one turret is focused, the time should be about 15 minutes to complete. If three (or more) turrets are focused, the time should be about 5 minutes. Suggested rank: Virtuoso.

17. Combateer: SonicWave
Short Desc:
A mighty sonic boom that damages all creatures around the ship.

Long Desc:
Syntax: TURRET SONICWAVE
Modulating your turret to fire specially prepared blanks, you can cause an immense sonic explosion around the vicinity of your ship, damaging all creatures nearby and in adjacent locations. This ability does not depend on what the turret is currently targetting. Ships are not affected.

Details:
This would damage all aetherbeasts in the ships location and to a distance of 2 spaces away, dealing damage equal to about 50% of a normal turret blast (still increased by starburst artifacts). This gives combateers a really nice PvE skill that makes them quite useful if the ship is going to be swarming creatures, and they have no PvE skills at the moment. Suggested rank: Gifted, 50%.

18. Aethercraft: Anchor
Short Desc:
Drop a dimensional anchor to tether the algontherine in place.

Long Desc:
Syntax: PILOT ANCHOR HERE
PILOT LAUNCH
By placing a dimensional anchor at your current location, you can safely remain in aetherspace for extended periods. Note that you will need to have a dimensional tether installed in your algontherine by an artisan, with at least one enchantment charge remaining. To successfully anchor your ship, you must be stationary and uninterrupted for 10 seconds.

Details:
This skill requires a new artisan product installed in an algontherine (an object that can be picked up with a short decay time would be best), charged by an enchanter with up to 10 charges. On activation, will be cancelled by movement, or by being attacked. It creates a temporary dock in aetherspace, which allows the ship to stay there and not lose power or be attacked by creatures. One jinsunjolt will destroy the anchor and throw the ship back into aetherspace. The pilot can launch at any time. This is something that has been wanted since the release of aetherspace - if you need to go afk suddenly, you can't just 'pause' out there. I think the Resonance skill in Empath was intended to provide this function, but the implementation fell well short of intent.

25. Aethercraft: Homing
Short Desc:
Your algontherine can find its own way back to the hatchery.

Long Desc:
Syntax: PILOT HOMING
Every algontherine knows the place at which it was birthed, and can teleport itself across great distances to return to it. This process requires intense concentration on the part of your ship, and thus can only be achieved while it is docked and safe from all external threats. The ship will take some time to prepare itself for the jump and requires a fully healed hull. The ship will be unable to launch again for a short time upon arriving at the aetherplex chamber. It cannot be used from a dimensional anchor.

Details:
This skill is available to everyone, and again cuts down on the unnecessary parts of aetherspace travel. If you've travelled halfway across the verse to get to a bubble, the journey back is both boring and annoying. This ability can only be done while the ship is docked, takes 10 power and 30 seconds, and requires full hull strength (so jinsunjolting will prevent it). It doesn't go anywhere but to the aetherplex, so you can't use it to get out of piloting. In effect, it would act just like the whistle artifacts, shifting the ship between docks. Suggested rank: Adept: 100%.

optional: Commanders could get an improved version of the skill that can also home the ship to one of the four nation docks, if they are linked. Maybe the Improved Homing skill would also take only 15 seconds to complete, and cost 5 power.

General Mechanics

19. Experience
It is quite difficult to judge this, but it seems that the level of risk to reward is unappealing for the higher levels (60+), while being insanely good for the lower levels (30-). I think this is a problem, because aetherspace requires significant investment and thus should really begin to pay off at those levels where you have the skill and also the resources to acquire a good quality ship.

I would suggest that experience be scaled, unlike regular bashing, so that you gain more experience being in a crew if you are yourself a higher level. It should probably also be slightly scaled based on the size of the ship - a ship with huge hull and multiple turrets should probably have to hunt more difficult creatures to get good experience. It also really shouldn't be possible to skip a low-levelled person through half a dozen levels by locking them into a station and flying them around aetherspace for 10 minutes. (Unless this is possible with just following while bashing, but I doubt it)

At the moment, the reward of aetherspace is relatively low, and yet the hassle involved in getting there and forming a crew is quite high. Experience is one of the issues - you simply cannot use aetherspace to level once you are above level 60 or so.

20. PvE in Aetherspace
Combined with the experience issue, there just isn't enough reason to use aetherspace for hunting purposes when you're above level 60 or so. The gnome trading ships are fantastic, and give relatively good gold incentives, but on their own they don't outweigh the negatives - its easier, faster, and more enjoyable to bash.

The first problem is that aetherbeasts do only one thing, every time. Their behaviour is completely predictable, and this makes PvE in aetherspace phenomenally uninteresting compared to bashing, in which the mobs can throw various things at you. Additionally, the fact they damage every single module with every hit makes the empath's job really quite monotonous. I would suggest an alternative for this is that every attack creatures can either:

1. hit the hull for high damage
2. hit the hull for moderate damage but reverberate some module damage to a few stations in the ship, or
3. hit the hull for extremely low damage and cause one station to be afflicted with shock, murkle or worble.

The type of creature might determine what proportion of these attacks are used, but the last one should be very rare on low-level creatures - it requires an empath specialization to cure.

Another problem is that combateers in PvE are essentially using automated 'hit' macros. I think this is uninteresting and also their lack of any specialization skill that contributes to PvE other than their turret speed boost makes them hardly worth having. I'm not sure what the best way to address this is, but one way might be to add specialization abilities that facilitate more strategy - for instance, an area-based but weaker attack, a minor-damage-over-time attack that slows the movement of a single creature while active, and maybe even a way to make a creature loyal for a short time, and attack hostile creatures/ships.

21. Aetherpods
Make it possible to use nexus energy to create a temporary 'ship' that you can use for 1 hour, which then dissolves into the aether.

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.

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 ARMADA LIST/JOIN /LEAVE --- Allows you to join an armada. (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 500 hull strength, and would move at the same speed as a 10 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. 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. 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 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

22. Slipstreams
Redistribute the slipstream terrain in the text file that defines aetherspace, so that it is possible to follow it like a road to most of the major locations (prime docks, aetherbubbles, but perhaps not raidable areas like nexus worlds or Moon/Night). Also consider ways to make travelling large distances quicker and less strenuous on the pilot, for example, give slipstreams a 'river-like' effect of a directional current that will pull along any ships that are on it (or alternatively, a new terrain or even specialization skill that creates it).

Many people just don't have the patience to fly manually between aetherspace locations. Although this does potentially open up a market for enterprising captains once flashpoints are removed, it still acts as an inhibitor for using the aetherspace system. Making it easier for transport alone will relieve some of the frustration of players.

I don't think the river idea needs to be necessarily that hard to code, for example:

CODE

XX^^^^^^$^^^^XXXX
XXXX^^^^^$^^^XXXX
XX^^^^^^^^$^^^XXX
^^^^^^^^^^$^^XXXX
^^^^^^^^^$^^XXXXX
^^^^^$$$$^^XXXXXX
^^^^$^^^^^XXXXXXX

Now, let's say that the fastlane works in that if you enter a dollar sign from the location of another dollar sign, 0.3 seconds later you are pushed in the direction of the only other adjacent dollar sign. So you would move onto a dollar sign, nothing would happen, then you have to move in a direction, and then you can let it take you around.

This isn't necessary, simply reworking slipstream environments in the text file for aetherspace would be sufficient. The river idea is just presented as an option.

23. Aetherspace Imperialism
Too long to post here, link provided

24. Simulators/Arenas

CODE

17.1.2 AETHERSHIP SIMULATORS

I. SIMULATORS
-------------
The Parallax Simulator was a gift from the technologically advanced
Gnomes, allowing any algontherine and her crew to experience the sensations
of aetherspace combat without the penalties normally associated with it,
such as experience loss, ship damage, and power consumption. The Parallax
Simulator functions when two or more algontherine docked at the Aetherplex
Chamber link their senses to the central overmind, and appear to enter a
neutral arena in which their crews are pitted against one another for fun
or glory.

Each city and commune has the chance to purchase their own Simulator, which
allows algontherine at the nation's dock to engage in mock battles.

Any Commander locked into a command chair can challenge another crew at the
same dock with SIM CHALLENGE , providing their algontherine has the
required 5% reserves which will be consumed on initiating the simulation.
Other crews which are seeking simulator battles will be displayed on the
SIMWHO listing.

The simulator is also used for a number of group events, such as Free-For-All,
Wargames, Gnomish Treachery, and Aetherspace Invaders. During any of these
events, SIM STATUS will give you some information about the event.
Additionally, if you go to the Pool of Portals near each dock, you
may SIM SCAN any ship or SIM DIAG any player currently participating
in order to see how they are faring.

While inside the simulator, player death does not cost experience but will
eject you from the Portal system, and ship implosions will not drain the stored
reserves. All consumables that are not used up in a regular arena will not
be used up in the simulator.

You will leave the arena with the same levels of endurance and willpower as you
entered it. The same is true of many such things, like Karma, Devotion and
the damage level of ship modules.

The simulator is a device to battle outside of normal reality thus anything that
happens within the simulation should not be carried to the rest of Lusternia.

II. SIMULATOR COMMANDS
----------------------
SIM CHALLENGE        : Challenge an algontherine to a mock battle.
SIM STATUS          : Get some information on whatever simulation (if any)
                           is currently taking place in the Simulator, including
                           a list of participants.
SIM WATCH            : Experience an algontherine's simulated struggles.
SIM UNWATCH                : Cease watching an algontherine.
SIMWHO                     : See a list of aether crews looking for simulations.

III. PURCHASING SIMULATORS
--------------------------
Cities and Communes, and only those, may purchase, own, and operate simulators.
Contact your city patron, or estarra@lusternia.com, for more details.

So essentially, it costs 5% of a ship's reserves (10 power) to use for a normal challenge, works just like arenas in that you can't lose anything inside, and could be quickly coded as a very small little region of aetherspace that you enter when someone accepts your challenge (and there would be no spawned creatures in this environment).

This way, crews could practice aethership fighting without dying over and over again. Oh, and if NPC gnome algontherine can be coded for the Gnomish Treachery group event, there might be a way to use them to add handicaps to powerful ships against smaller ones.


==========================================================================

Okay, so, this is the report I want to forward to the admin trying to make aetherspace more user-friendly and interesting. I've numbered everything so it should be fairly easy to comment on certain suggestions, and if there are other suggestions that are deemed important, suggest them and I'll add them to the list!

Edit: Also, to note, my favourite suggestion among all of these would be imperialistic outposts (followed narrowly by anchors). If only we had that kind of conflict potential!

I don't really have anything to say against this. Wonderful suggestions.

give aether pods a 1 turret that does like 1/6th the damage? so we can have huge space battles with interceptor type things.

This all seems fairly interesting. I will note that Items 21-24 will probably not happen anytime in the near future.

In any event, I suggest you bring this up again after the last 2 monk guilds are released. Timing isn't very good to have us consider aetherspace updates (unless you don't mind putting off the Mag and Glom monk guilds for 6 months).

-cries- no more mag monk delays.

Yay, thankyou for reading it!


If only it were up to me...

Avaer, as much as I respect you if you delay Mag monks I swear I will commit voluntary manslaughter.

This would make aethercombat just..godly.

I really like the slipstream/roads ideas.

Same here. If it can't be implemented, that's too bad, but at least the wormhole thing should be ok.

Elryn for Aetherspace-coding Eph.

EDIT: Kudos to whoever actually originally coded aetherspace, though.

I wish!

They're not just my ideas though, quite a few were contributed, collaborated or refined by other people!

i think we need aethership photon torpedos.

I'm opposed to the fusion/flashpoint elimination idea...but, in the spirit of balancing, I was thinking of something new to replace this...

There could be some kind of new skill in Commander that involves the symbiosis of the commander and the ship, allowing the ship to slowly learn to remember the paths it takes to different places. Each time the ship goes from point A to point B, it'll learn the path from A to B a bit more, and eventually, with enough trips between A and B, it'll be able to go, by itself, from A to B, at a rate perhaps proportional to how well it's 'learned' it.

So, let's say I go from the Celest dock to the Facility dock once. Then, the ship will start learning the path from Celest to the Facility, and every subsequent trip I make either from Celest to the Facility or from the Facility to Celest will 'reinforce' the learning. After 20 trips (completely making this number up), the ship will be able to travel by itself from Celest to the Facility or back, perhaps with a half second delay in each movement or w/e. To make this learning stronger, the commander would have to take the ship manually (not with the auto-go) from point Celest to the Facility, and perhaps the auto-movement speed will max out after X number of trips. The max speed would maybe be a little faster than is possible with a person manually moving.

One thing about the movement speed, however, is that even at its slowest, the ship ought to move fairly fast, in order to run away from aetherspace creatures (or else it'll be too much of a danger to use it at its starting levels). Also, the path from any two points can be pre-listed, so the ship need not take the same path manually each time...if it forms a bond, it'll just automatically go on the pre-set path from point A to B. Also, ships must dock at a certain place in order to register it's being there. And, to make things even more interesting, if you go from point A to B, B to C, then C to A, you'll have essentially made one "trip" between A and B, one between B and C, and one between C and A, but NOT two between A and B

To prevent people from just getting a whole bunch of memories stored up, there are two options, which could even be implemented together:
-Have the memories decay over time if not used much
-Restrict the number of memories the ship knows, and rank them. So, for instance, I can only have 5 paths remembered: Celest to Facility, Celest to Krum., Celest to Leo, Celest to Mag, and Celest to Frost. Even supposing I've maxed out the number of trips I can go between each, my ship will only be able to know one at the max level (say, Celest to Facility). The next one in the rank, say Celest to Krum., will max out at the equivalent of 95% of the max number of trips back and forth, and so on.

What do you guys think?

Isn't the functionality you're looking for here going to be incorporated by the traversal skill originally suggested? It will involve getting a hold of the exact directions once - either from another pilot or from your own travel - and then the ship will just autopilot at regular speed along that path. Just like memorizing, without the 'training' repetition.

The idea you've suggested isn't bad, but I can see a couple of problems. The main one I have might be because I'm misunderstanding - at maximum, are you suggesting the ship should go faster than what it ordinarily would manually, based on terrain, ship size, artifacts and commander bonus? Or that it would go slower than manual until you have 'maxed' the training, and then it would equate to autopiloting at manual speed?

The exact direction bit seems a bit tedious...I never use exact directions when I go in aetherspace, and I think one of the cool things about it is that it's SO big that you can just sorta meander about in the right general direction...but yes, when you max it out, it will follow a given set of directions, but that'll be built into the game, so you won't ever have to input it...

Don't think I entirely understand the question, but maybe this will clear it up...
-When you've just made enough trips to let your ship go from point A to B on its own, it'll travel slower than as fast as you can if you're doing it manually, perhaps without even considering the commander bonus. It should still go fast enough that you can escape creatures, though.
-When you've maxed out the number of repetitions you can make, the ship, when going on one of its memorized paths, will go SLIGHTLY faster than is possible with manual commanding, with commander bonus, with terrain affecting it. I hadn't thought of artifacts before, but perhaps they can be outside this equation, and just have their normal affect on the ship during this process. In fact, it might even be equivalent to lowering the time it takes for commander to regain balance when the ship is in this 'autopilot' mode.
-Somewhere in between just learning and fully memorized, the ship will travel at a speed somewhere in between the two options...

One thing I forgot to mention before...let's say you leave Celest's dock, making it point A, and fly over to the Facility. You realize you don't want to go to the Facility, so you fly all the way to astral, to the leo dock, but then you realize where you really wanted to go was the Facility after all. So, if you don't dock at leo, and fly back to the Facility, it'll just be like Facility is point B, and you 'reinforce' the link between A and B. It doesn't matter that you took the extended long way by flying past Leo...only the start dock and end dock will matter...just a small caveat meant to make it more interesting...

Added another idea, #25: Homing. I think this might better retain most of the utility benefits of fusion without the problems.

I realize this is quite likely the necro to raise all necros, but I am so joyous and grateful that I can't resist!







Morgfyre and Estarra, you are treasures beyond compare! Thank you so, so much for your hard work in implementing these changes, I almost can't believe it actually happened!! This is one game - strike that, world - that I simply cannot forget nor truly ever leave for good, and the calibre of your creation is only matched by your willingness to involve the community itself in its own evolution.



I'm hoping that I will be able to see whether Resonance and Spiral have differentiated into useful abilities in unique situations, as formerly the resonance bonus of hiding from creatures for 10 seconds was mostly irrelevant if you could outrun them, but I've been gone too long to know intimately what the situation now is.

I'm also looking forward to scanning through the forums over the last year to see what the general player attitude towards this beautiful and innovative system now is, as it surely stands as one of the most distinguishing and unique attractions of Lusternia.

Anyway, once again, thank you so ever much for making my week, and for continuing to provide the most immersive, memorable and valuable experience I've yet known.

We still don't use aetherspace though.