Hey @everyone,
after the first Teaser about the HWS Marketplace and Chatbot rework, it’s time for another new feature in HWS 8 I teasered already couple of times
Supergates
With Supergates you have now the possibility to warp with your ship(s) to another playfield - since the normal Portals can only warp your player.
This allows more dynamic within the Universe.
Especially since we implemented for the Supergates a simple “Allow” and “Deny” system, similar to the Sector mechanic.
This means for example that you can warp away from the Prototype Startplanet with your ship (after you have chosen an Origin) but can’t warp to that Supergate back again (One-Way).
The other way around: you can warp to the Supergate on the ECC planet but can’t warp from there to other ones.
Type sg:? in chat in HWS 8 to see the possible destinations
More insights:
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using the Supergate is for now free (no credit, item or RP cost)
-
depending on the playfield each Supergate will have a big area around it — this means you get warped randomly insight that zone. If the Supergate zone is for example 10k x 10k x 10k big the chances to get warp camped are very, very small. You know when you are in the zone as soon as you get greeted.
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the “do not warp camp” rule is for now not active for Supergates, because I will configure very large zones. It’s part of the risk / adventure to not know what is on the other side (we would remove that rule completely if the current random factor of 3k would be increased for default jumps)
-
one of the biggest dynamic this offers is that you have to be inside that Supergate zone to be able to jump away. This means you can’t escape any time you want. Strategy and positioning will be the key for escaping or attacking.
For now this mechanic will be tested live in the very new Titan Orbit. You can jump from here and there inside but can only escape if you are in the Supergate zone in the center.
The Orbit and the Titan planet will be a new PvP hotspot with no rules, no Anti Grief or what so ever (well, sadly we can’t prevent OP devices on certain playfields yet) — but as always: high risk = high reward.
Player / Faction Activity reward
Some requested it and it’s our first version to a probably more complex system in the future.
In HWS 8 the size of the Faction and the activity in general matters more than before.
Solo
- You get +1 RP per active playhour on HWS
Faction
- For every 10 active faction member everyone in that faction get …
- For every 20 active faction member everyone in that faction get …
- For every 30 active faction member everyone in that faction get …
- For every 40 active faction member everyone in that faction get …
- For every 50 active faction member everyone in that faction get …
- (active = logged in and played within the last 7 days)
Alliance
- … +10 RP per day
- … +20 RP per day
- … +30 RP per day
- … +40 RP per day
- … +50 RP per day
Freelancer
- … +1 RP per day
- … +2 RP per day
- … +3 RP per day
- … +4 RP per day
- … +5 RP per day
Lawless
- … +5 RP per day
- … +10 RP per day
- … +15 RP per day
- … +20 RP per day
- … +25 RP per day
We have players with over 3000 playhours in total or +1000 playhours within one season. We want to reward this even more passively (along the other new systems as the Vote reward for example).
Regarding the Origin differences I want to see bigger decisions and immersion. Freelancer are well-known Solo / Duo Adventurer / Hunter. Alliance is a big collective organisation and Lawless is a potential big group with unclear infrastructure.
Of course Factions in Alpha 8 - with the new Offline Protection system are in a different spotlight now, but I know that some big factions stay and fall together. 
That’s it for today. Excited to see how the Supergates will be used in HWS 8!
Stay tuned for more teasers tomorrow…
