Thomas Franz
The combat speed of a ship currently seems to depend on the integrity ratingof the ship. If your integrity rating is less than 100% then your combat speed automatically drops as well.

I don't think this really makes sense since ships can already have an integrity breakdown (esp. after combat).
I think ships should work at full efficiency regardless of the integrity rating, if you do not maintain you will fall apart sooner or later...

Thomas
Steve-Law
I assume this is a similar restriction to ISR drives. You can't use faster ISR drives in lighter ships as they will be pulled apart by the forces. If a ship has lower efficiency then it will not be able to perform at the same speed.

Perhaps, if you were given an option to perform at full speed regardless of integrity, then this would increase the strain on the ship and thus increase the chance of integrity failure?
ptb
Possible there should be a cutoff (90%?), above which the ship performs according to it's secification. I doubt the manouverablilty of a modern aircraft is effected by daily wear and tear, although combat damage is another matter wink.gif


Althoguh I havn't actually noticed my combat speed altered by integrity, then again I don't have many combat vessels any more happy.gif
David Bethel
QUOTE
The combat speed of a ship currently seems to depend on the integrity ratingof the ship


Yes
Current combat speed = max combat speed * integrity

Integrity breakdown should only ever tested if you are damaged, so it does not always come into play.
Thomas Franz
OK, if undamaged ships are never chcked for breakdowns then it is not a good idea to let ships operate at full combat speed regardless of integrity.

One possibility would be to let ships always operate at full combat speed but check for breakdowns every time the combat speed is used (battle, trying to escape a battle, etc). Of course the chance for breakdown should be depending on current integrity (never breakdown if > 80% integrity) and it should also depend on the combat speed of the ship and the type of hull used.
This sounds perfectly realistic to me, a heavy hulled ship with a 3g combat speed will not be effected unless it has really low integrity or is damaged, different story for a heavy hulled ship with 8g combat speed and 70% integrity. And if you do not want your xlight freighters to fall apart on the first sight of pirate ship you better keep it above 80% integrity (or don't even try to flee ph34r.gif )
Even better would be to increase the chance of breakdown if tractor beams try to drag you into combat since this certainly adds extra stress to the hulls even though the engines might be able to move the ship away from the tractor beams' grasp. In the case of tractor beams a ship that is fleeing should even have a slight chance of breakdown if integrity is >80%.

... but before David starts pulling out his hair over my suggestions I would be glad already if ships operate at full combat speed if integrity is >80%, this would simplify things a lot and give ship designs a reasonable timeframe of operation before they need to be sent for maintenance. Maintenance is costly enough so I'd at least be able to operate ships at 95%+ effectiveness without them sitting in the docks all the time...


Thomas
MasterTrader
QUOTE (Thomas Franz @ Feb 2 2005, 12:06 PM)
And if you do not want your xlight freighters to fall apart on the first sight of pirate ship you better keep it above 80% integrity (or don't even try to flee ph34r.gif )

Keeping integrity above 80% would require an xlight freighter to put in for maintenance every five weeks. If it is not safe for an xlight freighter to flee unless you are maintaining once a month, this would make xlight hulls all but useless. I do not like that idea.

Richard
AFT
Thomas Franz
I can see Richards point, no intention to make xlight hulls maintain that often...

But I still think ships should operate at 100% effectiveness if integrity is > 80%. Any reasons against this?


Thomas
ptb
QUOTE (Thomas Franz @ Feb 8 2005, 05:00 PM)
But I still think ships should operate at 100% effectiveness if integrity is > 80%. Any reasons against this?

I don't nesserially agree it should be 80% but i do agree with the idea of a cutoff point smile.gif