Ghost and Caul: Can you give me some examples of the wallbanging and worm-can-opening?
Because I can't see any.
I'm especially interested in why and how lore and gameplay would have to shift.
Running off the top of my head :
(Elf Drones = little helper drones that we never see, such as salvage drones before they existed as a model)
Teleporters are introduced, and either must be retconned into existence or unveiled as a new technology. Retconning has issues in streamlining the PF, as suddenly its presenting itself in situations where Elf Drones quite happily handled things (cargo moving, etc). Adding new technology is neat, but now we have to limit its applications very hard.
Teleport materials? Why not teleport bombs into the enemy ship? Well shields can stop them, oh wait the shields are gone - armor tankers get gibbed. Maybe armor can block teleport voodoo rays - ok now we're into structure. Instagib from structure? Maybe we should just not let them teleport into ships at all. What stops them from teleporting into ships? Inability to lock onto a moving object? Reason X for implications Y?
How about teleporting things from a planet to a ship? What can you teleport, and why? Can you teleport people ala Star Trek? No? How do you salvage people from wrecks if you use a teleporter instead of Elf Drones? Do you use both? Why put the space for a teleporter when the Elf Drones do it just fine already? Is the teleporter tech cheap and compact, expensive and compact, cheap but bulky?
If you can teleport, why not teleport your Capsule to a safe location some hundred kilometers away? If the teleporters have any kind of range, surely your matter can be relocated instantly once your ship explodes. No? Why can they not, are there certain materials and complexities you cannot teleport? Do you need to have some kind of heavy instracture to use the teleporter? If you can teleport goods from a planet to an orbiting structure, how is it better than using the railgun/rocket pod/etc methods already in use? Cheaper, more efficient, bigger load?
My point in essence, teleportation is an extremely powerful technology. You will need to be very clear in what it can do, and what it cannot do. The more you limit it for gameplay reasons, and then lore reasons, the more worthless it becomes. What ideal roles teleporters would be good in, technology already exists for. Cheaper, more reliable and (vaguely?) established technologies. If this was the start of EVE Online, you could make an argument for teleporters. Nowadays, we just have everything they do covered already in EVE's unique way.
This is in part why the Sansha's Nation Wormhole Generator technology is a Big Deal™, it's the ultimate form of teleporter. The ability to instantly go anywhere in space from Point A to Point B with seemingly unrestrained capacity for your star ships. In lieu of any new details limiting this technology, it's an End Game level of power. Nothing compares to it, in theory you could start opening wormholes inside planetary cores and ripping them apart from the inside. Were it to start being used for anything other than 'ominous threat', it would have to be removed immediately or stripped down to worthlessness to balance the game environment.
Edit ; Just to head off the 'but Incursions are already using it!' line of thinking. The full potential of the teleporter/Wormhole technology and the Nation's military might are not being brought to bear, or presented as such. This is a very clear limitation from a game master design perspective, the same as with every other faction. I'm speaking largely in the context of it existing as a 'background prop', much like how Elf Drones do.
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Topic: Can you beam me up, Scotty? or Transporters in New Eden? (Read 5707 times)