Suggestion: Ship Maintenance

Have privately owned vessels break down with use. Given an Integrity variable to represent current upkeep levels (100% being perfect and 0 being derelict). Ship maintenance skill would be used to improve the integrity. The makepublic taxis would be exempt because of the autorepair on landing. Hint echoes should be used to describe failing systems (engine rattling, hyperdrive screeching, manuevering systems shuddering). This would provide a more immersive gameplay element and give more function to the ship maintenance skill than just fixing sabotage/combat damage.

This is a really interesting idea and providing a new credit sink (need to buy specific ship parts in order to upkeep?) for ships aside from the initial purchase fills a niche that needed to be filled. Perhaps a system of individual systems that occasionally upkeep/repair or replacement could be (like you said), hyperdrive, maneuvering systems, sublight drives, with additions maybe like landing gear, lighting, life support.

They would all have to take a while before they need to be replaced, obviously…

I am all for this idea.  Since I joined, I’ve noticed people complain about how many credits can be made while running cargo.  This is a good way to offset those ridiculous profits cargo runners make.  Plus, it could open up new ideas for developments, give some folks a chance to upgrade their ship with a better engine without needed to purchase a new ship all together, etc.  Well done, Mav.

Totally makes me thing of the millennium falcon undergoing ‘repairs’ on hoth, and every little thing you can imagine failing and breaking down as they try to escape.

Would be nice to see this actually put into the game, but it definitely should not be so that a new ship starts breaking down after an hour of use already.

I like this, but I think only a trained engineer should only be able to see exactly what’s wrong with it. Maybe like diagnose but for engineers. Like irl usually only mechanics or people who know cars can tell you exactly what’s wrong, and then solve the problem. But I really like this idea.

I agree with Zak about having a diagnose of sorts, but there should be a duplicate or slightly more basic skill for pilots as well, they know their ships and should be able to atleast point to a problematic area without having to rely on a second class to do it.

Edit: In addition to being repaired with components, there should be an option to jury-rig a repair on the fly, like mid-space when your hyperdrive dies, you can fiddle around and get an extra 5-10% integrity, or if youre truly cruel, 1-2%, just enough to get you home/ out of combat.

I really like your edit. Also yeah sure make it a piloting skill as well. Could be passive when you look at the “status” command.

I think this idea is great. If you think about it, your spacecraft would take some sort of damage over time. Think of all those cargo runners, making short runs in and out of orbit. The structural damage would eventually take its toll. Also landing gear would need to be maintained, otherwise run a risk of crashing onto the pad, causing a minimal amount of damage. Spacecraft entering hyperspace would also be damaged, mostly the engines. Standard electronic damage for shields, taking fire, ect. How awesome would it be to have a fuse blow in the middle of battle, causing your shields to flicker allowing a small amount of damage through.

This could add to space combat, especially for those who think capital ships should be manned. A manned turret hits more accuractly (I believe), so having say a engineer on board to fix your ship during combat would be benefitial. Added to all of this, if added in it could lead to more deaths! While it sucks to die, we all just roll a new character. It would lead to more character development and certain clans wanting to avoid war because of the costs.

I think its a terrible idea. It would take about 2 instances of needing to fix your ship before it becomes a major chore to constantly keep your ship in operation. Also considering its mostly a solo-function to repair your ship it provides absolutely no roleplay value to the game.

I do not want to see this idea come to the game.

Ship maintenance wasnt intended to enhance group RP, it was for immersion, the separation of the real world and the fantasy world that LotJ is trying to create. If this idea is implemented correctly, your ship will not break every flight, or every 10 flights, maintenance can be done with a preventive stance. Sure your ship will break if you run it into the ground, but why cant you do your preventive maintenance during the 5 minute hyperspace travels (all of the internal components but the actual hyperdrive should be repairable in hyperspace)