Easy, simple. Weapons that knock back ships.
This effect is already in game, sort of. Ive seen engineless ships be pushed back by weapons. Ive also seen them pushed forward
It might be an interesting mechanic. Works better against light (and thus, probably faster) ships, and less against heavy. Though this of course isnt definate.
I would think short-ish range. Prehaps enough to knock some ships out of cruiser laser range? Would go well with those longer range weapons, as they tend to have larger minimum ranges.
Also provides an itneresting choice for a player, to get close with a light ship, fast, or close close in with your super heavy melee guys.
Been think of this for quite a while, decided to post it so i can claim it as my own.
Interesting concept. Sort of a sci-fi weaponized version of the Bull Rush.
Although Iāve never seen anyone actually use that action in D&D, so itās probably a bad comparison.
So are you thinking just pushing the ship away, or maybe forcing a turn component on it as well? Kind of like what happens to fighters that are too close to a good KABOOM on a frigate or cruiser? At least Iāve seen some vidcaps on YouTube that seem to show fighters not only getting shoved sideways by the explosion, but also slewing around like a car with bald tires on glare ice.
Crakker, I like your proposal. Have you thought of whether the range of effect (or odds of success) should rely more upon the sizes of the two ships involved, or perhaps the power available to the knockback weapon? A frigate knocking-back a cruiser might be a bit of a stretch, unless the frigate mounted enough power plants aboard to really ramp-up the effect of the device. Just wondering. Or maybe the longer the device goes without firing, the more power it stores up for its next shot. If it keeps firing at minimum interval, the distance that targets are knocked-back is shortened.
Iāve seen that same effect repeatedly in-game. Make it the opposite of a tractor beam moduleā¦call it a pressor, repulsor, something like that? A bit like the Gyro Destabilizer from āMaster of Orion 2ā. In this case, I prefer a knockback plus the random spin.
I like Repulsor Beam - it just feels right. And the spin could be irritating as hell - I will vouch that in MOO2, the aforementioned Gyro Destabilizer is less of a threat for its damage than for the fact that you have to rotate your ships back to face the enemy. Now think about a GSB frigate or cruiser that is suddenly forced into a 90 degree turn, sending it suddenly away from the enemy. Ouch.
