Antimatter and Phase Jumping

How does it work?

from Sins Forums
Antimatter and Phase Jumping:
Phase jumping does not cost antimatter. The act of jumping has a negative effect on antimatter that renders portions of it unuseable effectively consuming it. Thus, a ship without any antimatter reserves can still make a jump.

Blair


So far as I know, that is all the information we have available on the subject.

My take on it is that it is a defense against being unable to jump due to low AM but still preventing you from jumping around like a kangaroo all hopped up on speed.

On your way IN the effect would be pretty much the same as if it was just consumed: there is a portion of the AM that you cannot use for a period of time. The rate at which it become usable again is unknown. It could be the same as normal recharge or it could be slower or even faster for all we know. I seriously doubt that that it is permanent because that would encourage camping strategies.

On the way OUT, however, it makes a huge difference because now no matter how depleted your AM is from a battle you can still make a jump. That could be the difference between losing your entire fleet in a lost battle and making a successful retreat and live to fight another day.

I think that it will be represented as a grayed-out (or some equivalent) area at the beginning or end of your antimatter bar that recharges/become available again at a different rate than antimatter that has been used in the conventional sense.

Anyone else feel like taking a crack at reverse-engineering the whole system from 3 short sentences?
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Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
or even faster for all we know

that would make no sense! it would regen faster than your regen could make up for it.
Anyone else feel like taking a crack at reverse-engineering the whole system from 3 short sentences?

I can do it in one.
making a phasespace jump renders a portion of your antimatter bar useless for an extended period of time, while still allowing you to jump without antimatter.

was that all that hard?
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Erm ill give it a shot...

The inhibition of Antimatter stores is a sideeffect of phase-jumps?
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
too vague.
and you didn't mention the detail about being able to jump-on-empty!
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
Antimatter isn't needed for the jump at all, but it evaporates in hyperspace... For whatever reason.   

This explains why
a)the jump has a negative effect on AM and
b)why you don't need the AM to make the jump.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
I'll give it a go.


it requires you visualise antimatter as gasoline in a tank.
Jumping freezes the bottom of your AM tank.
You can't use the AMgas in it until it defrosts again.



Shooting weapons and using abilities is like driving normally, AM gets used up and you need to refill it at the nearest gas station.

However, when you jump, you 'freeze' the bottom of your tank, this doesn't use up the AM gas, but you can't use it until it defrosts again.

When there's no more AM in the tank, you can't drive (shoot) but you can still jump, it just freezes your tank without there being AMgas in it.

(only the first 3 sentences count, the rest is elaboration)


Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
Who said you get the AM back? From what Blair said in the upper quote there is no such thing as making it unusable for a limited time period.
The act of jumping has a negative effect on antimatter that renders portions of it unuseable effectively consuming it.

Consuming isn't storing temporarily. Or have I missed something?
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
that would render half your fleet useless with a couple of jumps. obviously you HAVE to get that portion back.
there really isnt a way around it.
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
Wow, Space Voyager and Alcari make good arguments. Space Voyager's would work if you get it back at the same rate as regular recharge and Alcari's works if it is a different rate - though instead of freezing you could throw in some techie mumbo jumbo.
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

that would render half your fleet useless with a couple of jumps. obviously you HAVE to get that portion back.
there really isnt a way around it.

It recharges when are out of hyperspace anyway. Your fleet wouldn't be able to fight after several successive jumps that would evaporate (or whatever) all the AM.
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top
Ok heres a thing . Ships going at FTL , you cant stop halfway and turn back. From a gameplay point of view I understand why , but from lore is it just that...

Ships being able to fling themselves at FTL speeds but are unable to navigate or stop safely at FTL speeds so therefore require the massive gravity wells of Suns and Planets to "catch" the ships from FTL.
Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top
It recharges when are out of hyperspace anyway

YES
thats the idea. I told you that.
Ships being able to fling themselves at FTL speeds but are unable to navigate or stop safely at FTL speeds so therefore require the massive gravity wells of Suns and Planets to "catch" the ships from FTL.

or maybe they just cannot receive physical communications in FTL. that would make things a lot simpler, and frankly, less likely to lose your ships
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top
It recharges when are out of hyperspace anyway

YES
thats the idea. I told you that.


I thought that Anti-matter wasnt wasted in a 'jump' but instead was unusable for a period afterwards.
Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top
Yes, but presumably it becomes usable again with time.
Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top
So whats all this about recharge?
Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top
recharge, become usable again... lets not nitpick
Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top
Fine, fine.

I just like my details.
Reply #17 from Sins Forums Top
which none of us have.
Reply #18 from Sins Forums Top
recharge, become usable again... lets not nitpick

But these are the details that let us "theorise" about the system.

Recharging is definitely in because (as Schem nailed it) the recharge is faster nearer to the stars. Recharging is IMO ok because you sort of gather or produce the AM. But "becomes usable again" is weird. It means that a part of your AM (this part would make it even more weird) is, as was proposed, frozen, than suddenly comes into action. Why only a part, why can't this be avoided...
Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top
which none of us have.


True, but its my nature to be a perfectionist.

By the way, ever thought of capatalising things, or making them more than fragments. Sorry its just been bothering me.

Recharging is definitely in because (as Schem nailed it) the recharge is faster nearer to the stars. Recharging is IMO ok because you sort of gather or produce the AM. But "becomes usable again" is weird. It means that a part of your AM (this part would make it even more weird) is, as was proposed, frozen, than suddenly comes into action. Why only a part, why can't this be avoided...


AM isnt only used for 'jumps, its used for abilities. And it is not used in jumping, as it has been announced to my knowledge. Instead after the jump you cant use it for a brief period(probably to stop players from spamming abilities right away in an enemy system, home field advantage).

As for the recharge closer to stars, that probably applies to the use of the abilities, not the jumps.

Reply #20 from Sins Forums Top
But "becomes usable again" is weird. It means that a part of your AM (this part would make it even more weird) is, as was proposed, frozen, than suddenly comes into action. Why only a part, why can't this be avoided...


Well, lemme see if I understood your question correctly. Instead of using up AM, jumping only renders some of it unusable for a period of time. I would imagine that it doesn't become usable again in chunks, but gradually just like regular recharge. And it seems reasonable to imagine that the amount of AM that becomes unusable is proportional to the length of the jump.


And TGE made me think of something else... I wonder if the rate at which it becomes usable again is variable like the recharge is. i.e., does it become usable faster if you are close to a star or is it a fixed rate?
Reply #21 from Sins Forums Top
ever thought of capatalising things, or making them more than fragments

its quite the moral connundrum for me.
And TGE made me think of something else... I wonder if the rate at which it becomes usable again is variable like the recharge is. i.e., does it become usable faster if you are close to a star or is it a fixed rate?

I've been considering this for a while. it would make sense, and increase the usefulness of a star as a staging area.
Reply #22 from Sins Forums Top
I really hope that the stars are actually useful for recharging antimatter. I would be pleased to be able to use them as staging points for invading enemy help star systems.

It would be amazing if 2 or more enemy players happen jump to the star in someone else's star system at the same time. Fighting each other wouldn't help them claim planets in that system, so they sit there and eye other while the AM recharges. Hehe, things would be tense if you had like 4 or 5 enemy players sitting around waiting for the AM to recharge. Man, that would be like a powder keg waiting to go off. Even better, when all these enemy players jump away to conquer one of the planets in that system, they all pick the same planet. Hehe, that is one way to test the graphics power of your PC.

Damn, if you owned an entire star system, you would have to keep an eye on your star to make sure no armadas are sitting there powering up the AM.
Reply #23 from Sins Forums Top

I really hope that the stars are actually useful for recharging antimatter. I would be pleased to be able to use them as staging points for invading enemy help star systems.

It would be amazing if 2 or more enemy players happen jump to the star in someone else's star system at the same time. Fighting each other wouldn't help them claim planets in that system, so they sit there and eye other while the AM recharges. Hehe, things would be tense if you had like 4 or 5 enemy players sitting around waiting for the AM to recharge. Man, that would be like a powder keg waiting to go off. Even better, when all these enemy players jump away to conquer one of the planets in that system, they all pick the same planet. Hehe, that is one way to test the graphics power of your PC.

Damn, if you owned an entire star system, you would have to keep an eye on your star to make sure no armadas are sitting there powering up the AM.


That sounds like so much fun, I wish I was playing right now... Especially since theoretically that could actually happen. Oh well only a few weeks now and I've got my pre-order in.
Reply #24 from Sins Forums Top
Few weeks? Damn, I really hope that is the case. Still, I think it is more likely that the August release date turns into September turns into October tuns into November and finally turns into December. Isn't that how it always goes?

Still, I would rather wait a few extra months and get a game that is stable, balanced and 100% done.
Reply #25 from Sins Forums Top
Well, lemme see if I understood your question correctly. Instead of using up AM, jumping only renders some of it unusable for a period of time.

No, this is just a part of one of out theories. Nothing like this has been said by the devs, thankfully.