Factory A Suggestion on the Hyperdrive Issue.

[Republic Engineering]

It seems there’s been a recent development that’s caused quite a stir amongst those that utilize the Factory. So, I’ve decided to toss my two cents into offering a suggestion to the current Factory team.

In the Star Wars Canon, hyperdrives work at the speed of plot, especially here on Chaos. While we note some ships jumping to lightspeed faster than others in the various media interpretations of Star Wars, their travel times - often governed by the speed of their Class - vary wildly from source to source. When it comes to Chaos, all conventional thought and consideration beyond "it helps me travel vast interstellar distances and is stopped by Interdictors," is pretty much tossed out the window. Starships, regardless of their Hyperdrive Class, arrive in the thread at the same time and leave with a single post. Micro/NanoJumps are calculated and carried out in the same post as well, regardless of the various environmental factors at play.

Thus, I think it’s fair to say that - generally speaking - no one really cares about the Hyperdrives beyond if you have it or not. Anything else is purely added flavour in the hopes that someone decides to break the mould whilst writing their stories on Chaos.

So, my suggestion is two-fold. As the excel spreadsheet already has the Hyperdrive rating in the Small Craft section (1m - 50m) - I say why not keep it. However, in keeping it - fold the None and Very Low options together to count as One rating, much like how the Corvettes have their Hangar Space Ratings laid out.

• Example: Hyperdrive Class / Rating: [None to Slow: Class +6] | [Average: Class 5 - 1] | [Fast: 0.99 to ~0.25]
• Edited Example: Hyperdrive Class/ Rating : [None] | [Average: > Class 1] | [Fast: < Class 1]

Ideally, this would make things easier with the least amount of work on the administrative level, and act - at least in my opinion - as a workable compromise. Mainly if Ships are being submitted without a Hyperdrive, as they should “benefit” from having their ability to travel from one system to another taken from them.

As I mentioned, my suggestion was two-fold, why not use the same balancing scale as discussed above with the other Starships as well? In theory, this change would also ensure that everyone is on the same page, be they Factory Judges or Submitters when it comes to crafting their submissions.

However, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, these words are just my two cents to help the Factory in some capacity. I also realize that the Hyperdrive “issue” is currently being discussed behind closed doors.

PS: Yes, I love my technobabble, but I also realize not everyone's a fan of it. However, in my eyes, it's better to have it and not need it - than to not have it and need it. So, take that as you will.

 

[AMCO]

Republic Engineering

I agree wholeheartedly, though I would argue for having the first point be "None", rather than "None to Slow", and have "Average" cover everything above a Class 1 - as you said, people rarely pay attention to Hyperdrives beyond having them or not, so why not roll with it?

As for applying it to larger vessels too, that's certainly an interesting idea that might shake things up a bit - I don't believe I've ever seen anyone submit any system patrol crafts, for example.

 

[Republic Engineering]

AMCO - I was trying to stick within the scheme that the Factory already employed, but I agree with lumping all Hyperdrive Classes above Class 1 into a single rating. It makes things even easier, lol.

 

[Lily Kuhn]

Thank you

 

[Niamh Raste]

I can dig this as long as having no hyperdrive counts as -1 and the fast counts as +1 so you gain a point to spend if you have no hyperdrive.

 

[Cyrus Tregessar]

I don't think there needs to be much fuss about speeds, so long as no hyperdrive counts as a 'point' and a fast hyperdrive counts as a 'strength.' So the former gives you a rating boost whereas the latter can be balanced with just another weakness.

That balances itself out per the current rules, no real extra fluff needed.

 

[Republic Engineering]

The issue there is that it doesn't presently balance itself out under the new and current ruleset, as the Hyperdrives are being treated as a binary Yes or No option, with nothing more than a "Free weakness" given in place of having No Hyperdrive. If you had a Faster Hyperdrive, as per the Update, it still needs to balance itself out via the Strengths and Weaknesses... which vary from judge to judge with no cemented consistency.

Having a system like this in place avoids the unwritten rulings that Judges place on submissions due to bias, and it used the framework of the system that was in place before the Update.

I do agree with you that the speed doesn't really matter, as I've mentioned in this thread and countless others - people will still show up and leave in a single post. However, if you've got a higher rating in every other category, a submission needs to make sacrifices in order to be balanced. It's evident in canon that sacrificing a hyperdrive begets notable improvements elsewhere... so why isn't that a thing here in the factory?

Sure, you could argue that the "Free Weakness" touted by the current administration is enough to justify an increase in ratings - but that'll be something everyone will have to fight for with notably inconsistent judging methods. As in the other suggestion thread - and old hand at making starships was told that having No Hyperdrive wasn't a weakness. I'd rather have something written in stone - rather than being forced to submit my work to nebulous and ever-changing criteria.

 

[Cyrus Tregessar]

Yeah that makes sense. I think the edited example is the most straightforward way to cover it.