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[frag971]

Using it in quotes in the title because anyone who is able to hack understands that "hacking" is an often misused word. What i'm basically talking about here is the typical ability of sci-fi ships to hack into the enemie's computers to extract hidden information and influence the ship physicly. But this has to be confined in a game mechanic that lends itself smoothly across the rest of the game's features.

So i propose the following mechanic as another dimention to combat. My aim is to keep it as micromanagement-free as possible so as to not influence current gameplay in combat but add another layer of interesting gameplay.

So a stat that ships have is the processing power of the on-board computer in Flops (don't mind actual numbers). This computer, or more precisely its processing speed will dictate how all system ships work - this will translate into a flat % modifier, not unlike World of Warcraft's Haste Rating. Things like turret accuracy, shield extension, damage-to-flux shield efficiency, etc... Things that are controlled not by hardware but by software. Implementing it into the "vanilla" game will simply add a 100% modifier to all affected stats thus changing absolutely nothing.

What will change however is the addition of on-board computer software. This software is just programs sold in stations (or hacked from other ships in combat!) that you upload to ships in order to provide that function. So i'll provide some concrete examples:

-TunnelWorm.huk - Long range. Its only function is to provide access to the enemy ship's systems for other programs to work and must successfully penetrate the enemy ship first before activating. [Passively increases virus penetration +20 while active]
-ShieldFrequency.sov - Short range. Every 1 second there's a 0.25% chance to find the enemy's shield frequency. Chance is additive each attempt. (5% on the 20th second)
-TurretJam.siv - Short range. Takes 10 seconds. Immobilizes a random turret on the enemy's ship.
-TurretHack.sov - Short range, takes 30 seconds. Takes control of a random enemy ship's turret or hardpoint.
-Firewall.huk - Passively increases virus protection by +15.
-Punda Anti-Virus.huk - Removes a random virus within your ship's systems. Generates Flux while active. Still doesn't block popups.
-xxxBBCxxx.hck - Disguised as a porn folder designed to retrieve schematics. A successful anti-viral attack on this program sends a random schematic available from this ship to you.
-DDOS.bak - An extremely simple yet effective way to shut down a virus attack. Increases time required for successful virus attacks for both you and all affected by 800%. Yes, a .bak file. These are still around.
-LogicBomb.hck - Upon uploading takes 20 seconds to activate. Upon activation it randomly choses a subsystem (a turret, afterburner, shields, etc...), when that subsystem activates it generates a large amount of Flux instead. If this causes an overload that subsystem is destroyed (flameout).

Pretty much all of the hacking is done automatically in fleet battles. The only management a player has to make is which programs to load on which ships outside of combat. Programs have a computing power requirement (so bigger ships can handle more programs), range at which they are effective and the firewall/anti-viral software running. Ships with faster computers perform viral and anti-viral tasks faster (usually). I envision fancy minimalistic tooltips popping out from a ship indicating a hack is in progress and it's basically a tug-of-war between your and the enemy ship's software programs. Some ships may be loadded with defence software and nigh-impossible to penetrate, others may focus on penetration and have less defence.

What do you think?

[Grug]

I think it's quite interesting. Electronic warfare could definitely be a neat component to this game, should it ever be implemented.

[BillyRueben]

I'm almost certain there is already an electronic warfare thread around here somewhere. I'm just not a big fan of the idea. I think that there is already plenty of things going on in combat without adding another layer.

[Grug]

But there could be MORE.

[xenoargh]

I'd really rather see informational warfare and intelligence-gathering (i.e. Phased ships that aren't as easily spotted, sensor jamming, etc.) before another element like this.

While this would be very cool in the context of just a few ships, in large, fleet-scale combat, it would just be more noise in what is already a very noisy combat system.  I don't think it would add nearly as much to the game as the amount of time Alex would have to take away from other things would make it worth.  Also, in the next build of the game it's probably going to be possible to make Systems, Weapons and Hull Mods that can do some or all of these things, in terms of practical effects.

[Gothars]

As said by others, another layer of complexity would likely distract from the battle, not make it more interesting. I could imagine hacking at best as an simple addition to the current combat layer. For example a beam weapon with high OP-cost that reduces enemy CR by half as long as it hits.

[silentstormpt]

Can be done in a mod but, its really "overpowered" and "unfun" to fight against...

[naufrago]

I think it could integrate well with the campaign layer (EDIT: with some reworking), but it would be an unnecessary layer of complexity in the combat layer. Outside of combat, I could see it being useful to steal schematics, reduce CR from one or more ships in a fleet, decrease their speed, make a ship's weapons/engines have a chance to malfunction (similar to the effect of having really low CR), etc. Perhaps it could be an ability unique to phase ships that you could sneakily send out to employ electronic warfare.

It's an interesting idea, but not one I'd want to have to keep track of in real time in combat.

[ciago92]

I think it could integrate well with the campaign layer (EDIT: with some reworking), but it would be an unnecessary layer of complexity in the combat layer. Outside of combat, I could see it being useful to steal schematics, reduce CR from one or more ships in a fleet, decrease their speed, make a ship's weapons/engines have a chance to malfunction (similar to the effect of having really low CR), etc. Perhaps it could be an ability unique to phase ships that you could sneakily send out to employ electronic warfare.

It's an interesting idea, but not one I'd want to have to keep track of in real time in combat.

I like this idea. maybe have it one of the dialogue options when you first interact with a fleet? fight/trade/hack/run etc. if you choose hack then you've got various options as far as disabling their engines if you're running or lowering their shield efficiency or something

[mostmodest]

I like this idea. maybe have it one of the dialogue options when you first interact with a fleet? fight/trade/hack/run etc. if you choose hack then you've got various options as far as disabling their engines if you're running or lowering their shield efficiency or something

There could be a split hack menu in the dialogue options when you encounter a fleet.
Click "Hack" as one of the dialogue options.
Choose "Combat Hacks", "Escape Hacks" or "Other" (Better names in game, ofc)
In "Combat Hacks", there would be various options to decrease their combat proficiencies; such as "Lower Shield Efficiency", "Reduce Accuracy", "Reduce Vent Speed", "Reduce Flux Capacity", "Reduce System Effectiveness" (Reduce drone # by 10%, increase cooldown time for other systems) etc.
In "Escape Hacks", there would be various options to increase escape chances; such as "Lower Top Speed", "Lower Acceleration", "Lower Weapons Range", etc.
In "Other", there would be various options to reduce the fleet's other stats; such as "Lower CR", "Reduce LR", "Impede Engine Capabilities", "Reduce Supply effectiveness" (increase supply use rate), etc.

But that's just one idea. The whole premise of hacking could be used in many other ways; such as temporarily disabling a ship in battle, controlling a ship for a limited time in battle (get ships with hacking as a system which have a 10% chance to override controls on an enemy ship in battle), etc.

[gauntelakor]

I like the idea, but I dont get the right feel for exactly this. Some form of Electronic combat is HIGLY suggested by me, but I cant see what form it would take at the moment. Maybe a dialog thing, could be a fleet wide tug of war bar at the top of the screen or something like that, could be an entirely new stat like you suggest or could be hull mods/weapon mounts specializing ships in physical combat or electronic combat or any combination/variation of those or something entirely different

[icepick37]

This is one of those post-release wishlist threads, haha. I do like the idea, just don't know how it would actually play out. It would need to mesh with current game mechanics or it will feel really tacked on.

[Foxtrot]

My opinion is pretty much the same as the last two, except you could always just look up RUSE and take their stuff on deception, might be pretty good

[GUNINANRUNIN]

Information warfare is fun, but it just wouldn't fit. I'm also not sure how RUSE's deception mechanics could work at all in an action game.

[Foxtrot]

But this isn't totally an action game, you control fleets, so it has a touch of RTS, and thats where the E-warfare of RUSE comes in, i could easily see a cloak hullmod or something being added so a ship has a chance of not appearing on the initial fleet scan, and that means you can never be truly sure of the number of ships the enemy fleet, then you just hack some ships on to the enemy radar. That's one tactic, the others you guys can figure out.