Thrusters only push at the direction they're pointed at

[Yrjosmiel]

Yeah, this has been suggested a bajilion times but for real.
like
how are you reversing with only forward thrusters
that sht don't make sense.

 

[CyberTao]

Because creative sandbox.

The only way I would ever agree to this is if I could use rails to rotate engine sections and thus change my direction of thrust. But that is impossible.

 

[Crimson-Artist]

Thrust update will do something like this where we'll be able to allocate how much thrust our ship will have in a given direction but the direction of the thruster block itself still won't matter. but honestly the last thing I want Starmade to do is be like Space engineers. (The ultra realism with things like thruster direction and thruster damage really screwed with creative building)

 

[Yrjosmiel]

Because creative sandbox.

The only way I would ever agree to this is if I could use rails to rotate engine sections and thus change my direction of thrust. But that is impossible.

They're just creative builds, right?
Doesn't matter about the function?

 

[Kaamio]

Form before function, as cyberpunks tend to say, but even they use stuff that actually works. Dunno, kind of I agree that directional thrust would be nice but then again Starmade doesn't really strike me as a game that strives toward realism. The upcoming thruster update has been explained from the start as having a thrust pool you can assign to different directions to achieve similar effect to actually placing them sideways and such. Definite no to thruster damage, it's kinda cool but like Crimson said, it really does make designing nice looking ships a pain in the ass if you want them to be able to move.

Considering the huge amount of thrusters our ships have compared to Space Engineers (5000 vs 50) I think assigned thrust pool is more player friendly option, especially when not building cubes.

 

[mrsinister]

Because creative sandbox.

The only way I would ever agree to this is if I could use rails to rotate engine sections and thus change my direction of thrust. But that is impossible.

You know an idea just hit me......

what if you made the rail rotate aspect of your ship the main part, built the ship around that and you rotate the ship around it? it would be a quick(mass enhancer/speed block) 90 degree movement and you could fine turn it in increments, or even go as far as 45 degree increments and fine tune in between......heh

note: of course thrusting will be a bit odd...like forward would now become sideways and such...but interesting concept though.

 

[TheOmega]

Thing is, docking only uses the system furthest down the chain. So turrets get power from the main ship but the main ship doesn't get squat from the turrets.

Also the thrust update was more like how the old weapon system worked, not the actual direction of thrust. If I might add, the way they describe it, it says that the percentage of thrust you have in that direction is also the percentage of the server speed limit you can move in that direction.

 

[CyberTao]

They're just creative builds, right?
Doesn't matter about the function?

The glory of a creative sandbox is you can make something look functional if you want. I myself like to use pseudo-function; putting systems in places that if they were destroyed, would mimic the actual effect (like putting Beam computers in the weapons' lenses). Has the same effect of "this has to go here", but lets you choose not to if you want, I image we could do the same after the thruster update.

 

[Yrjosmiel]

the thruster update.

What would be in the update?
at least
what do you guess

 

[CyberTao]

What would be in the update?
at least
what do you guess

Well, there is a thread in General Discussion stickied at the top caused Thruster Mechanics Explained. In that, Calbiri explained what he wanted the thrust changes to be like, but that probably isn't the final form we will get. Mostly just something to think on, and helps to figure out what they do not want to do.

 

[Visitor]

I actually wouldn't mind, and even enjoy more realistic propulsion (in fact, even Space Engineers is rather simple when it comes to building ships) but since there's something that will be done in that direction, with thrust percentage allocation, potentially it'll be enough.

 

[AtraUnam]

 

[NorseEngineer]

how about the thrusters give mostly propulsion in the axis they are directed at, but also on the other axes, depending of distance (on axis) from core. Thrusters far from the core on x axis but same on y and z will turn faster on x axis.
that way creative builds can still be made, and the thrust on each axis will determine the acceleration on each axis, also for turning.
this will give some realism and function, but not ruining the creative freebuild, also allows bigger ships to add steering force.

 

[Yrjosmiel]

How about this:
For example, a thruster at the back part of the ship pointing to the left would kind of "rotate" the ship in the y-axis.
If you press the W key, all the thrusters pointing forward would activate. Press the A for all thrusters pointing left, etc.
Moving the mouse around will activate certain thrusters to point at that direction. If you don't have any, it'll be like when you freecam, except you can't move your mouse around.

 

[Ithirahad]

You guys do realize that oriented thrust has nothing to do with how your ships look, right? It would be as simple as using your remove filter to pull out some thrusters and put them back facing a different way. :\

 

[Kaamio]

Fine tuning would be an absolute nightmare, though. Given how our ships are solid with modules... altering the orientation of thrusters would pretty much require special tools to visualise where and which way pointing you got stuff.

 

[Yrjosmiel]

You guys do realize that oriented thrust has nothing to do with how your ships look, right? It would be as simple as using your remove filter to pull out some thrusters and put them back facing a different way. :\

not sure if support or not

 

[Ithirahad]

not sure if support or not

Indifferent and neutral, personally. Just pointing something out since everyone's going "but.... muh sandbox!"

 

[CyberTao]

Indifferent and neutral, personally. Just pointing something out since everyone's going "but.... muh sandbox!"

That is not good game design. Blocks are buried and you would not be able to tell which block where is facing what. If a system boils down to trial and error for every ship, it aint a good feature.

 

[Neoclad]

OMG I posted the exact same thing like 2 weeks ago! And you even replied to that thread! Why do you get more answers? Cause you have a profile picture?

Back on topic: Yeah we need those directional thrusters, starmade needs that, common sense screams for that, DO IT!

And btw, the GUI solution proposed by the devs is absolute shite. GUI, in a voxel sandbox, just lol. And that's even ignoring all the mechanical complexity of the system when you want to change direction in a fighter.