Actually, this was the idea behind the delta_v plugin, which looked awesome, but I haven't heard of it in years.
Anyhow, here's a suggestion. If you want the thing to be balanced, you need to create a set of rules for weapon design, ship design, etc. These are the rules I made for Galaxy's Edge so that it would be balanced and consistent.
Damn, I can't format this. Use your imagination.
Spöb Type: Gövt Tech level
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Capital 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Military 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
University 3 4 5 7 8 9 10
Corporate 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Industrial 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Mine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Backwater 2 2 3 3 4 4 5
Defense should be in 5-ship waves, and the total tonnage should equal techlevel * 1000
Avg ships (for systs)
Add up all techlevels in the system, and divide by 2.
For uninhabited systems, 1/2 of avgships in the most advanced neighboring system.
Fighter bays:
Tons: total tonnage of ships allowed in bay
Cost: double ship cost
Weapon Cost:
Base cost: 1,500 credits
Base mass: 1/2 ton
Multipliers (add them up and multiply cost and mass)
Range = Count * Speed / 100
Multiplier Dam/Sec Range Speed Ammo/Sec(-) Flags
0.5 4 100 1200 3
1 10 200 2400 10
2 20 400 4800 40
3 30 700 9200 90
4 45 1100 + 160
6 60 1600 360 Turret, limited
8 80 2200 640 Turret; crappy guidance
10 100 2900 1,000 Good guidance
15 150 3700 2,250
20 200 + 4,000 Mine (-)
Divide mass as follows:
TL1, 0.4; TL2, 0.7; TL3, 0.9; TL4, 1.0; TL5, 1.1; TL6, 1.3; TL7, 1.6; TL8, 2.0; TL9, 2.5; TL10, 4.0.
Fuel use for energy weapons:
Ammotype Damage Per shot
-1001 2
-1002 4
-1003 6
-1004 8
-1005 10
-1006 12
Engine Cost:
Acceleration/Speed Turn % of weight
100 1 10
200 2 20
300 3 30
400 4 40
500 5 50
600 6 60
700 7 70
800 8 80
Each ton of engines costs 4,000 credits.
Divide tons (after cost) as follows:
TL1, 0.4; TL2, 0.7; TL3, 0.9; TL4, 1.0; TL5, 1.1; TL6, 1.3; TL7, 1.6; TL8, 2.0; TL9, 2.5; TL10, 4.0.
Fuel Cost:
2 tons & 10,000 credits per 100 units.
Fuelregen Tons Cost
128 0 5,000
64 1 10,000
32 2 20,000
16 4 40,000
8 8 80,000
4 16 160,000
2 32 320,000
1 64 640,000
Tons divided: TL1, 0.4; TL2, 0.7; TL3, 0.9; TL4, 1.0; TL5, 1.1; TL6, 1.3; TL7, 1.6; TL8, 2.0; TL9, 2.5; TL10, 4.0.
Passive Defense Cost:
Shields: 1 ton and 10,000 credits per 50 units.
Armor: 1 ton and 5,000 credits per 50 units.
Shieldre %tonnage (shieldre = shieldre * shields/2000)
128 0
64 4
32 8
16 16
8 32
4 64
2 82
1 91
For every base ton of shieldre, it'll cost 10,000 credits.
Tons divided: TL1, 0.4; TL2, 0.7; TL3, 0.9; TL4, 1.0; TL5, 1.1; TL6, 1.3; TL7, 1.6; TL8, 2.0; TL9, 2.5; TL10, 4.0.
For all ships:
Cargo space is free, but takes up tonnage.
Freemass is always 20% of the ship's total mass.
Deathdelay = mass/10
Crew size: 1 per 25 tons (just a general rule - fighters, for example, usually have 1 crew no matter what size)
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Ship size:
Tons: Length: Image Size:
10 32 8-24
15 39 24-32
20 45 24-32
25 50 24-32
30 55 24-32
40 63 32-40
50 71 32-40
75 87 40-48
100 100 48-64
150 122 64-72
200 141 72-80
250 158 80-88
300 173 88-104
400 200 104-112
500 224 112-136
750 274 136-160
1000 316 160-192
1500 387 192-224
2000 447 224-272
3000 548 272-352
5000 707 352-400
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Giule out.
(This message has been edited by Giule (edited 03-15-2001).)
(This message has been edited by Giule (edited 03-15-2001).)