Rebalancing Bluespace Pipes
Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 9:10 am
Bluespace pipes have recently been added, but it seems that they've already caused a considerable amount of salt, to the degree that a PR is already up for their removal.
It seems rather sad that a feature with such potential could be removed because a few people have figured out how to use it to great effectiveness, especially so shortly after its addition. I said as such in the PR, and Fwoosh invited me to post my suggestions here; I figured that this would be a great opportunity to invite other suggestions as to rebalancing this feature.
The main points of contention were that it "Literally lets you teleport gas anywhere on the station with zero gating, research requirements or mineral requirements". If this is the case, then there's plenty of opportunities for rebalancing in making it more difficult to acquire.
- First of all, a mineral gate would be a good idea. It would require materials to build, including bluespace crystals - likely more than other items which also require such crystals, due to being a constant portal open at a considerable pressure.
- A research gate is also wise, particularly if it involves relatively high bluespace research, such as requiring bluespace crystals.
- To this end, the Rapid Pipe Dispenser Machine could be upgraded to produce Bluespace piping, with the above materials and research requirements.
- The number of bluespace pipes that could be created could be set to a cap, even a low one at a pinch. It would be handwaved by dimensional stability or requiring paired-up frequencies in order to operate, attached via a multitool.
- Finally, removing the ability to build them, and instead making the only instances 1. Random Occurences/loot in Lavaland and 2. A single, consistently placed pair of bluespace pipes on the map every round, at a fair distance to each other, already built into the system and likely to cause catastrophic and obvious disaster if improperly removed.
These simple solutions help to, at the least, come up with ideas for fixing bluespace pipes without them needing to be removed. Of course, this isn't just limited to my ideas - you likely have better ones swimming around somewhere. Feel free to post them!
This thread is dedicated to Fwoosh, who went from zero to pissed so fast that I'm wondering if bluespace pipes killed his family.
It seems rather sad that a feature with such potential could be removed because a few people have figured out how to use it to great effectiveness, especially so shortly after its addition. I said as such in the PR, and Fwoosh invited me to post my suggestions here; I figured that this would be a great opportunity to invite other suggestions as to rebalancing this feature.
The main points of contention were that it "Literally lets you teleport gas anywhere on the station with zero gating, research requirements or mineral requirements". If this is the case, then there's plenty of opportunities for rebalancing in making it more difficult to acquire.
- First of all, a mineral gate would be a good idea. It would require materials to build, including bluespace crystals - likely more than other items which also require such crystals, due to being a constant portal open at a considerable pressure.
- A research gate is also wise, particularly if it involves relatively high bluespace research, such as requiring bluespace crystals.
- To this end, the Rapid Pipe Dispenser Machine could be upgraded to produce Bluespace piping, with the above materials and research requirements.
- The number of bluespace pipes that could be created could be set to a cap, even a low one at a pinch. It would be handwaved by dimensional stability or requiring paired-up frequencies in order to operate, attached via a multitool.
- Finally, removing the ability to build them, and instead making the only instances 1. Random Occurences/loot in Lavaland and 2. A single, consistently placed pair of bluespace pipes on the map every round, at a fair distance to each other, already built into the system and likely to cause catastrophic and obvious disaster if improperly removed.
These simple solutions help to, at the least, come up with ideas for fixing bluespace pipes without them needing to be removed. Of course, this isn't just limited to my ideas - you likely have better ones swimming around somewhere. Feel free to post them!
This thread is dedicated to Fwoosh, who went from zero to pissed so fast that I'm wondering if bluespace pipes killed his family.