Okay, this is how I invision the future of ties working:
Right now we just have one tie type. It's kind of springy and hard. It oscillates back and forth forever, making it severely limited in use.
In the new system we have these types:
Rope: Like a child and mother tied together. Both bots can move in any direction they like, but once they hit a defined tie length the tie becomes like a bone, until the bots move together again.
Spring: Similar to current system, but you have to expend .5 k (x - init length) ^ 2 energy to move the tie using tielen, etc. k is the spring constant and init length is the resting length of the spring. Both must be set before the tie hardens.
Shocks: Like springs sorta. Except it's a clamped spring (like those doors that close themselves slowly, or good shocks on a car). So basically the tie won't oscillate the bots back and forth. They'll jsut smoothly return to their natural length.
Bone: set an initial length. The tie can't change it's length ever, so bots will be effectively kept at the same distance from each other. If the stress from the bots gets too large, the tie will break.
Temporary Ties: Works exactly like current temporary ties. These ties will dissolve instead of harden. Also, all other ties will behave this way until they harden. Birth ties fall under temporary ties obviously. These will be most useful for feeding (or made that way).
You have to define which tie type you want as you fire. The cost of establishing that tie will depend on the type (not sure how yet), with temporary ties being cheaper.
Probably (in descending order of cost) Bones > Ropes > Shocks > Spring > Temporary Ties.
Bots will be able to move around freely while attached to ties, changing their orientation without affecting the ties. Sort of like a ball bearing (look up ball bearings if you don't know what I'm talking about. A picture is worth a thousand words.)
Bots will be able to change the angle between any two ties by applying energy. The amount of energy required depends on swimming factor, the mass of the bots at either end of the ties, the bot's own body, etc. I'm not entirely sure how this will work yet. I'll probably base it on how framsticks (
remember this topic?) works.
Ties have a bandwidth that determines how much energy/other stuff can be moved through it in a cycle. This bandwidth is determined by the firing bot's body and extra energy spent (sorta like shootval to pwoer up shots), as well as tie type probably. A stronger bandwidth will also be better able to break through slime, but will degrade as well in the process.
