I love how much control we have over our ships. We can change how they behave and what they can do just by choosing different modules and, in case of manufactured and ellydium ships, by directly changing what will be the ship’s strengths, what will be its weaknesses.
I also really like the idea of getting experienced (or synergized some time ago) with the ship, therefore enhancing it stats.
Where the game hits the wall a bit for me, is when you cannot improve the ship any further. You optimize your build, you get your ship and modules to the highest level or rank, and then…? The only thing you get right now is a bit more free experience (and the hidden one that you can turn into the free one with the horrendous amounts of GS) - and that doesn’t really amount to much, certainly not in the “what more can I do with this ship” department.
And yeah, of course you’ve got yourself a strong ship that way, but that gets old really fast.
And sure, you also have many other ships you can check out and invest yourself in. But if someone is more of a “that’s my favorite ship” kind of guy, like I am, flying other ships doesn’t really hit the spot.
What I was thinking about lately, flying around in my loveliest Aura, was further ship customization using our resources along with the ship’s experience we get after we reach its max level.
And I don’t mean enhancing it per se (although bringing the ship up the rank would really be something – I’d love my Aura to be a hot 17). More like “refitting” it point by point, part by part, changing its base stats. Of course with diminishing returns - the further you stray from the original stats, the harder it gets to tinker with your ship without breaking it and the bigger the costs of changing it.
Another idea I’ve been toying with is module integration and integrated modules bonuses. Imagine permanently integrating a module with the ship, with all its pros and cons. Let’s say you get more output from the module that way, or better yet - you also get to directly tinker with it, but you cannot remove it anymore - not without selling the ship and buying a new one.
You think you’ll never want your Aura without the cruise engine, like me? Fine, pay for integrating it – you won’t be able to remove it, but you’ll be able to increase its power (but also increasing its power drain), or add a bonus of being able to jump-start to max speed from zero, but after 10 seconds you won’t be able to use afterburners for another 30, till they cool off.
You love verniers? Integrate them and have your afterburners burn part of your energy to also increase your turn speed (and become able to tinker with it, increasing or lowering speed and cost), or become fast and furious, able to make sharp 90 or 180 degree turns but unable to turn for some time after.
The main aim here would be “I love my ship; I want her to get even better in what she’s good at”. And such customizations would not only make the ships more in line with what we would want them to be able to do, but they’d make players bond with their chosen ships much more than now. And you do want your players to bond with your game, that way or another. The emotions is all it’s always really about.
One of the reasons why I decided to put this suggestion out here is what I see could be the first step in such direction - the pve-only bonuses you’ve mentioned in your latest dev’s blog.
I hope you’ll like my idea and someday you’ll decide to implement it.