Attractive Nebulas

posted on May 8th, 2012, 4:07 am

I know this is a strange thing to ask, but I'm contemplating the various map designs that will be possible in the next patch, mostly the "highway" nebula.  I'm trying to plan for how big they will need to be in order for players to use them properly, and it's going to be harder than I first thought.

I know there is support in the game engine for "unattractive" paths, where ships will try to avoid entering a nebula but they will go into it if they are forced.  Once they are in the nebula they will fly freely through it, although if they are ordered to travel longer than 5000ish units inside the nebula they will leave and try to re-enter it from the closest edge near the destination.

Is it possible to create the opposite, a nebula that ships prefer to enter over regular space?  Or perhaps a new fleet stance could be introduced that bunches all the ships as closely as possible, so that they will all travel fast together.  Also, if there's a particular map layout that makes nebulas easier to use, I want to be sure to incorporate it.

I know it's a lot of work, and may not be in the next release, but I would like to hear your thoughts on how this could/should work.

posted on May 8th, 2012, 5:17 am

if you can mod, you can try to remove the blocking layer from the nebbie. (such as the same effect as asteriods) and to my knoledge, that will fix your pathing issues. but you also have the problem of people building in the nebbies.

posted on May 8th, 2012, 2:33 pm

That's what I was thinking, but it won't mean anything if I mod it since I want everyone to be able to play my maps...

What about paths?  The map-maker lets you create them, but does the game engine still recognize them and cause ships to travel along them?