Make warp point exits their own stellar object

[ekolis]

What do you want to see? Warp point exits should appear on the system map.

How would it help players? You can see where warp points lead, in case they are one way. Will also speed up pathfinding because we will no longer have to scan the entire galaxy for warp point exits.

Alternatives N/A

Screenshots and mockups N/A

Things to consider Should you see an incoming warp point before you warp through the corresponding outgoing warp point?

Warp point exits will also need to be destroyed when closing a warp point.

We will need graphics for these exits that is distinct from the regular warp point graphics.

[ekolis]

Or maybe warp points could reference what's essentially a waypoint as their exits, rather than a sector. So a "normal" warp point would reference another warp point, but you could also have warp points that reference ships, stars, etc. - or just a sector as before, if you want a one-way warp point.

But then what if you close a warp point that's referencing a ship? Would the ship be destroyed?

And maybe warp points could not even be space objects at all - they could reference two waypoints, an entrance and an exit, so you could make a warp point that takes you from your flagship to your homeworld or whatever!

How to define the standard two way warp points though, and cause closing one to close the other (rather than making it one way)? Maybe a flag on warp points that indicates if they are two way?

[ekolis]

Implementation detail: should a ship be allowed to warp "through" itself? Say if you have a warp point in your flagship to your homeworld - could the flagship itself warp home through that warp point? Or can it only be used to send other ships home? I guess it would be simple enough to add a flag to the ability that specifies if this is allowed...

[ekolis]

And how would we represent warp points on the map? Warp points that target sectors can of course be displayed like "normal" warp points are. But what of ship or planet based warp points? Display them on the map too? A special icon on the ship's icon?

[ekolis]

I guess I could make waypoints physical objects that are "tethered" to either a space object or a sector... Then warp point exits would be easier to find for pathfinding purposes but we could still get the whole nifty "mobile warp points" thing...

[ekolis]

Waypoints that have an owner (are not natural warp points) could be cloaked so that they are not visible to other empires, or at least not traversable. Or maybe there could be an option to allow that? Ability sharing?

[ekolis]

And what of artificial warp points created via stellar manipulation?

[ekolis]

Ooh, yeah, private warp points. That could be some special tech where you can make warp points that only you and/or your allies can see and/or use...

[ekolis]

Or warp points could have a cloak level, such that many of them you can see and use right away, but some need to be detected... maybe they could have level 9 cloak in everything but gravitic? It would be awesome to differentiate the various sensor types somehow!