Ill throw my two cents into the ring here.
Low Alt:
Structural integrity damage builds up over time, around 1 point a minute (I will explain this concept more later).
Dropship transport time is decreased by 25%-50%
Dropship flyby time is increased by 25%-50%
OB travel time is decreased by ~33%
OB Effective radius is decreased by 4-5 tiles (25%-33% smaller!)
Hijack travel time is deceased by 25%-50%
Hijack explosion is 10%-25% larger, more fuel aboard the DS
Possibly allow railgun usage? I feel like this should be added and tested AFTER the alt system is more fleshed out/implemented.
Bioscan rate decreased
No passive req income
Geocentric (normal) Alt:
No Integrity damage caused
Standard Dropship behavior
Standard OB behavior
Standard Hijack behavior
Bioscan rate increased
No passive req income
High alt:
No Integrity Damage caused
Dropship transport time INCREASED by 25%-50%
Dropship flyby time DECREASED by 25%-50%
OB travel time INCREASED by 33%
Effective radius increased by 2-4 tiles? (Unsure, but for cluster and incident this feels fair, unsure about HE)
Bioscan rate DECREASED
Passive req income (increased to around 500 a minute)
Able to preform repairs on hull (Intel point purchase, see below)
hijack time increased by 25%-50%
ability to move out of orbit (this ends the round in an RP friendly way 5 or so minutes after its called. See below)
Before I get into talking about hijack, I want to address my idea for hull integrity. As proposed, each minute in low alt flight, a point of hull damage is taken out of a pool of say 30. From 30-20 damage points left, no real effects are noticed besides rare hul shaking and flickering lights, from 20-10 the hull will begin to shake more frequently and moderate damage (lights going out/breaking, shorted APCs), below 10 minutes pipes begin to explode and APCs struggle to stay online. Should the timer reach zero, the almayer will return to normal flight, lose its ability to change altitude and suffer massive internal damage. These points CANNOT be recovered without spending them on a hull repair droid, a new intel purchase at DEFCON 3 (for say, 5 points for 5 more minutes of use). Furthermore, should the integrity level reach zero, no amount of intel purchases can repair the damage. This keeps low alt time a highly valuable resource, that if used correctly, could allow for marines to get the edge they need in a critical time, or allow for command to push the almayer to its absolute limit in the name of the operation.
Finally Hijack. Even as a newer member of the community, Iâve noticed that hijack isnât exactly everyoneâs favorite feature. I feel this is due to the fact that is too common of an occurrence. While its certainly cinematic at times, it can feel very stale having the same slugfest at the end of each round. Iâd argue that should an operation evacuate at high altitude, command can order ARES to move the ship out of orbit to prepare for a jump, setting a 2-5 minute window for xenos to hijack. Upon the xenos failing, the marines will successfully get away and return to chinook, ending in a xenomorph victory. Iâm not sure of the exact timing, but I feel there is an argument to make hijack less common, and not required for the xenos to win a round.
Finally, Iâm not a coder, and have no idea how feasible any of this is. I tried to keep it to numbers changes for everything but my proposal for hijack.