Hyperspace time

[clinton]

Firstly, pioneer looks great, and I can see it getting a lot better.But one issue, I played a lot of First Encounters many years ago, and I remember hyperspace time being proportional to distance. In Pioneer it seems proportional to distance squared however. I find this a bit annoying when trying do deliver packages, trying to perform lots of little jumps to save hyperspace time, where in First Encounters it was a simple matter of taking the most direct route.Could this be made (or optionally made) to be simply be proportional to jump distance? I understand this will make short jumps longer than they currently are.

[Irdwrwyn]

Speaking personally, I'd be happy with either system. I always liked the Frontier one, because it was an interesting idea: that jumping the maximum distance always took a set amount of time, with lesser distances taking a proportion of that maximum time. But honestly, I could get used to Pioneer's as well. I think as long as there's a consistent system so that people can learn what to expect, either will work fine.Plus, although it may be a subjective opinion, I also believe that science-fiction games should be encouraged to be science-fiction in themselves. And 'hyperspace' is one of those SF staples that everyone uses but people rarely put a lot of creativity into. Generally it's just "that parallel universe that lets you go faster than light in this one". It's a standard; an off-the-peg tool. Sometimes you get shows like Babylon 5, where hyperspace is made something a bit different (it has 'drifting currents' and requires beacons to navigate); and one of the things that always fascinated me about the original Elite - or at least the backstory/novella - was the idea of 'witch space', where strange, haunty things can happen.

[Brianetta]

Pioneer's jump times are much more complex than that. Your journey time is also affected by mass. If you have an important deadline on a package, do not fill your hold with tradeable goods as well. Go light and empty.