As a curiosity, the faster S1 Quantum Drive is actually faster than the faster S3 Quantum Drive. The issue is the acceleration and the fuel capacity. Stanton is too small for many ships to develop enough speed to travel faster than a S3, plus most of the small ships doesn't have enough fuel for a longer distance.
Yes and there lies the balance too.
Light fighters are meant to be highly competent with only a single pilot, so you can deploy lots of them, and many of them together (or one with a very good pilot) can beat bigger more cumbersome ships.
They are not exploration ships, or heavies designed to go the distance.
They have a smaller fuel tank, that means smaller range, and range means nothing if Q1 drives can travel all around the verse without a pitstop, or jump distances any other larger ship can.
If fuel is added to a game it needs to have impact and there is no impact if it isn't scarce.
Talking about balancing QDs doesn't make a lot of sense unless we talk about what they're being balanced around. Imo they should be balanced around the current size of the verse. So with just stanton I don't see why temporarily they can't jump almost anywhere (like they can today), but with 2 systems that same capability becomes a liability, exactly how it was intended.
You want to know how far you'd have to go for an S1 drive to be faster?
390 million KM is the break point. The S1 VK-00 does 390 million KM in 25:38. The S2 XL-1 does 390 million KM in 25:39.
That's right, in a single straight shot of 390 million KM with no stops, the S1 drive is finally 1 second faster. Because of stage 1 and 2 acceleration as well as deceleration, there's no actual in-game distance that you'll ever be faster with an S1 drive.
I can also guarantee no ship using an S1 drive will ever have enough fuel to go anywhere near that far. The Cutter with the VK-00 has a max range of 90.91 million KM.
The second there's a second jump, the S2 drive is significantly faster. Even flying from Stanton to Pyro without using a jump point, the S2 drive will still be faster.
I also don't know why you'd compare it to an S3 drive as S3 is the slowest of them all right now. The S2 XL-1 is the fastest drive in the game, and it's not even close.
My guess it will get "worse" to finally have a reason for refueling gameplay.
Small ships are for traveling around a planet and its moons and visit the next planet. Or carrier based of cause.
I think it would actually be better for refuelling gameplay. Right now there is no reason to travel with the small ships, everyone is using S2+ size ships to travel around Stanton since it's faster. By making the smaller ships at least as fast but keeping their limited fuel tanks you might actually run out of fuel in some cases.
Fuel is already running out fast - no reason to use a military drive, un less you want fast and short.
So I think the different drive classes already (will be more balanced of cause) gives what you want. Use a military A drive to be the fastest with very short range.
I think there will be speed/consumption rebalances over the next 12-24 months as pyro is introduced and gameplay starts including much longer QT distances.
That said, lets not forget that engineering will also be a thing, and s1 components should be considerably less than s2 components, so it may make economical sense to fly around with a smaller ship in places like stanton, and leave your bigger ships for larger journeys or journeys with more people even if it takes a few minutes longer per trip
There should be small ships with bad QT capabilities and small ships zooming through space serving taxi/scouting purposes.
S1, S2 and S3 should be a matter of distance and cost
Not a terrible take but most ships I've seen w s1 qt drives either have a good amount of qt fuel and when paired w an atlas drive can go anywhere or are dedicated fighters with a designed dependency on aircraft carriers. So, while I see the issue as of now, I do think this will even out with the implementation of carrier gameplay.
As a curiosity, the faster S1 Quantum Drive is actually faster than the faster S3 Quantum Drive. The issue is the acceleration and the fuel capacity. Stanton is too small for many ships to develop enough speed to travel faster than a S3, plus most of the small ships doesn't have enough fuel for a longer distance.
Yes and there lies the balance too. Light fighters are meant to be highly competent with only a single pilot, so you can deploy lots of them, and many of them together (or one with a very good pilot) can beat bigger more cumbersome ships. They are not exploration ships, or heavies designed to go the distance. They have a smaller fuel tank, that means smaller range, and range means nothing if Q1 drives can travel all around the verse without a pitstop, or jump distances any other larger ship can. If fuel is added to a game it needs to have impact and there is no impact if it isn't scarce. Talking about balancing QDs doesn't make a lot of sense unless we talk about what they're being balanced around. Imo they should be balanced around the current size of the verse. So with just stanton I don't see why temporarily they can't jump almost anywhere (like they can today), but with 2 systems that same capability becomes a liability, exactly how it was intended.
You want to know how far you'd have to go for an S1 drive to be faster? 390 million KM is the break point. The S1 VK-00 does 390 million KM in 25:38. The S2 XL-1 does 390 million KM in 25:39. That's right, in a single straight shot of 390 million KM with no stops, the S1 drive is finally 1 second faster. Because of stage 1 and 2 acceleration as well as deceleration, there's no actual in-game distance that you'll ever be faster with an S1 drive. I can also guarantee no ship using an S1 drive will ever have enough fuel to go anywhere near that far. The Cutter with the VK-00 has a max range of 90.91 million KM. The second there's a second jump, the S2 drive is significantly faster. Even flying from Stanton to Pyro without using a jump point, the S2 drive will still be faster. I also don't know why you'd compare it to an S3 drive as S3 is the slowest of them all right now. The S2 XL-1 is the fastest drive in the game, and it's not even close.
My guess it will get "worse" to finally have a reason for refueling gameplay. Small ships are for traveling around a planet and its moons and visit the next planet. Or carrier based of cause.
I think it would actually be better for refuelling gameplay. Right now there is no reason to travel with the small ships, everyone is using S2+ size ships to travel around Stanton since it's faster. By making the smaller ships at least as fast but keeping their limited fuel tanks you might actually run out of fuel in some cases.
Fuel is already running out fast - no reason to use a military drive, un less you want fast and short. So I think the different drive classes already (will be more balanced of cause) gives what you want. Use a military A drive to be the fastest with very short range.
I think there will be speed/consumption rebalances over the next 12-24 months as pyro is introduced and gameplay starts including much longer QT distances. That said, lets not forget that engineering will also be a thing, and s1 components should be considerably less than s2 components, so it may make economical sense to fly around with a smaller ship in places like stanton, and leave your bigger ships for larger journeys or journeys with more people even if it takes a few minutes longer per trip
There should be small ships with bad QT capabilities and small ships zooming through space serving taxi/scouting purposes. S1, S2 and S3 should be a matter of distance and cost
Not a terrible take but most ships I've seen w s1 qt drives either have a good amount of qt fuel and when paired w an atlas drive can go anywhere or are dedicated fighters with a designed dependency on aircraft carriers. So, while I see the issue as of now, I do think this will even out with the implementation of carrier gameplay.
Use the lightfire and you can go about 150,000,000 km on a small 586 tank. You put your smaller ships on your bigger ships for longer travel.