Autopilot, boosters and other ideas

[djs4000]

So the current autopilot is pretty great, and I am thankful for it, but I think it makes the game a bit too easy, specially at the beginning. I was thinking it would be a cool idea to buy autopilot for the ship and use it as a booster. You could have different levels of autopilots that way: AP w/o cruise (cheapest), AP w/ cruise , AP with automatic docking (click on station in the map and will automatically go there and dock). The current booster system is a bit boring, because all they really do is give you a passive boost to stats, which doesn't really translate to a huge difference in gameplay. You already have the skill system for passive boosts, so the current boost seem redundant.

Which brings my next idea to make boosts more fun: Make them semi permanent. I'm thinking they could work like gems in Diablo. If you're not familiar with that system, let me explain. Boosts could be upgrades that are permanent and not removable (at least not freely), which makes considering which upgrades to take something to really think about. It would sort of create different specs for the same ship and make owning more than one of a ship type useful. You could use the boosts system to create ships with random stats at the shop. It would create interesting scenarios like do I buy a ship that has most of the upgrades I want, but no room left for new ones, or do you buy a ship with no boosts, and then pay more installing each boost separately. Since you already have devices to add active abilities, and you have the skill trees to add passive stat bonuses, boosts should add semi-passive abilities. You should be able to pay to remove a boost, but if you do, that boost is destroyed (again, like diablo 2 gems).

Lastly, and this is just cosmetic, I was thinking adding more objects to the background and foreground would be neat. Adding asteroids under the player layer in asteroid feels would create a sense density and depth. Adding asteroids and other objects on top of the player layer could create cool hiding places for hiding pirates and setting up pvp ganks. Perhaps add a slight out of focus effect to not confuse the player would be helpful.

[Hecter94]

I dig the idea of having Autopilot as a booster.

It makes sense to me as well, like...why would a simple civilian shuttle have the same autopilot as a heavily armed Military warship?

You could add other boosts as well, such as having lower level autopilot boosters not applying any passive bonuses from your pilot skill level but having the highest levels actually increase them.

In addition to that, you could have different varieties of autopilot, like one that doesn't work as an "autopilot" at all, but is instead always active in the background providing your ship with increased maneuverability.