Finishing Up Coms

I'm finally wrapping up coms work (for now). This ended up being quite a detour, and I'm not sure how much of it will actually be player-facing in the next release, but it was all work that needed to be done eventually, so time well spent, I think. That said, I am definitely ready to move on.

Coms Mast

We now have a stowable/deployable antenna mast which includes all the transmit & receive hardware for the 3 new coms modes:

• Radio (RF) - Medium bandwidth, omnidirectional. Some signal degradation over long distances (i.e. limited range).
• Laser (FSO) - High bandwidth, directional tightbeam. No appreciable signal degradation over Solis-scale applications when sufficiently powered. Required for secure coms & most local STC communication.
• Ansible (FTL) - Low bandwidth, directional, high energy use. Standard coms mode while in warp. Requires target lock handshake with other end before entering warp.

RF works normally while stowed but with a limited range (higher signal degradation). FSO also works while stowed, but the nose of your ship must be pointed directly at your target. FTL is unavailable when the mast is stowed. Mast stowage during high acceleration maneuvers is recommended because, yes, it can break.

When deployed, mast hardware can be tilted & rotated to acquire coms targets rather than having to point your nose. Once acquisition is locked, the mast can be set to automatically track the target as long as it remains in range.

Ship sensors use RF mode, which propagates at light speed. This is a problem for a ship with superluminal warp capabilities, especially during interplanetary travel. The ansible (I'm reading a lot of Le Guin lately) provides magic instant communication, but with a very limited bandwidth (single target & reduced significant figures, basically) so that you can maintain an accurate sensor lock while warping.

Coming Up Next

Close range physics & collisions are the next big item on the to-do list. This is an area with LOTS of room for improvement, but will also involve a lot of research & testing on my part, so I expect it to get off to a slow start.

Next month's devlog will likely be more of a year-in-review kind of thing, unless I end up making crazy progress on the close range stuff.