This weeks dev blog is looking at an extremely exciting new feature that will be headed to game soon.
Another Monday means another update from me filling everyone in on what I’ve been up to the past week. It’s been a pretty big week and I’ve been working on an exciting new feature that I am sure everyone will be looking forward to! Once again I’m going to let a screenshot do the talking.
We are finally working on adding teleport devices! Known as Transdimensional Warpers, these new items will allow players to teleport to distant galaxies based on a few factors. First, warping distance which is controlled by the device. If the warp requires more jumps than that, it’s a no go. Second, each Warp Device has a shield and positioning requirement. If you are not at full shields and far enough away from nearby solar bodies (suns, moons, planets), it’s also a no go. Finally, you may only warp to a special Warp Beacons. There will be some AI controlled warp beacons scattered around the universe in special places like Sol, Lyceum, Iq’ Bana, etc, but the real draw is in player controlled warp beacons.
Player controlled warp beacons come in two varieties. First, there are permanent beacons. These can be built and placed in any team owned territory. Once placed, they function as a warp destination for the player who placed it, his squad and his entire team and can be used by any class of warp device. Second, there are temporary warp beacons. These are beacons that have the same placement requirements as normal drones, with the exception that they are unable to be placed in instanced or owned galaxies. As with permanent beacons, they will act as destinations for for the player who placed it, their team and their squad. The difference is they can only act as destinations for specialized transwarp devices.
Fleet Commanders (and maybe Seers) will gain initial access to the specialized devices capable of warping to temporary beacons. Even more interesting though is the other feature of a Fleet Commander Transwarp drive. These capital ship devices will allow a player to teleport an entire squad to any warp beacon. This means you could have a speedier player scout ahead to your instance entrance, place a temp. beacon and an FC could bring the entire squad there!
Finally, for those wondering, Transwarp Devices will bring slaves along for the ride. If you have any non-stasised slaves set to follow in the galaxy with you, they’ll jump as well.
This is a really big gameplay feature that I’m extremely excited about and I’d love to hear your feedback on it. I know there are going to be a lot of questions so sound off in the forums and let me know what you think!
