@Quarior Here, just put this together. Hopefully its easy to setup. https://empyriononline.com/threads/simulated-orbit-non-api-batch-mod.91512/
My thoughts on this - might be a bit programmatically intensive, but may prove to be worth the efforts all around: First, we'd have to make the system's star an actual body, approachable like any other planet - just don't try to "land" on them... nothing good will come of it. But once we can approach the system's star, a system-to-system jump could be initiated, jumping from one star to the next. The jump mechanic/lore would be: Using the gravitational pull of the star, the warp range of the warp drive is enhanced greatly, allowing ships to "slingshot" from one star to another, using the gravitational pull of the target star to decelerate an approaching ship. How much of this would we actually have to do/see in game? To me, it would go like this: You initiate a jump to the system's star, just like you'd jump to a planet. From that star you can then select the star of the next system as a jump target, by linking the stars in the same manner you'd link planets. Your arrival would put you in the "Stellar Orbit" playfield of the star of the next system, and from there you could jump to a planet in that system. I'd say make the link between star and planet to the nearest planet to the star in that system, and you've got a winner. Warp-gates are kind of passe - old sci-fi hat. At least this method makes kind-of sense from an explanation perspective. The problem I see with adding a new warp device is - at present, we're pretty taxed by CPU, so adding another device might be a big stretch for some builds. Not to mention this might not be something existing ship designs are suited to accommodate. While w may very much enjoy building and designing, having to rebuild and redesign for every newly designed bit of tech is.......... cumbersome?
