A few changes, FAR easier than my original suggestion.

[Ithirahad]

Since http://starmadedock.net/threads/chairs-n-viewscreens-and-stuff.75/ may be hard to implement and won't come for a while if at all, how about a few simpler changes for the closer-at-hand future, in the spirit of that topic:

• Make Cockpit Blocks a usable way to "enter" (control) a ship, so the core is no longer the only method.
• When a player enters a core/cockpit or other computer, leave their model where it was when they hit "R" rather than causing it to disappear, but have said model play a "pressing buttons" animation, as though they were using their consoles. Not only does this add immersion, but it also means that exiting your core won't mean getting dumped out through the ventral hull or stuck into a void in the systems areas of your ship.
• Implement a Navigation Computer that you can program a coordinate point into. When you activate it, it causes a ship to automatically fly towards those coordinates at max speed. For balance reasons, a ship flying via nav computer might have its turrets disabled or something.

...'Nuff said, for now.

 

[Miow22]

the last idea is very nice.

 

[therimmer96]

I like them all, although getting the button pressing animation looking good for every block location possible might be difficult

 

[Visitor]

Last idea is decent, standing by the console is part of the earlier thread. In general, I'd rather concentrate on adding what's in the previous thread mentioned, as it was discussed and improved upon more and not all of it would really take such a long time. In addition, even if it's not necessarily a case here, I believe it'd be better to go straight for decent features rather than make some small stand-ins to be replaced later at some point.

 

[Ithirahad]

Last idea is decent, standing by the console is part of the earlier thread. In general, I'd rather concentrate on adding what's in the previous thread mentioned, as it was discussed and improved upon more and not all of it would really take such a long time. In addition, even if it's not necessarily a case here, I believe it'd be better to go straight for decent features rather than make some small stand-ins to be replaced later at some point.

Personally, I'd rather see these stand-ins put in in time for the Steam release, allowing Schema more time to work on other things. (Specifically, survival features.) Remember, initial implementation doesn't take that long, but bugfixing tends to drag on for at least 5 times the amount of time it took to originally code in the feature.

I like them all, although getting the button pressing animation looking good for every block location possible might be difficult

It isn't supposed to. People can either mount their computers one block up from the floor, with the front directly touchable by the player, as it realistically should be, or they can deal with awkward-looking button pressing. Not really a big deal.

 

[Winterhome]

Eh, I tend to put my cores inside of the backs of chairs for cockpit views.
Might be difficult to maintain that kind of immersion if I have a Dave in front of the camera.

Perhaps have an invisible block controlled by the core that determines the position of Dave's feet and the direction he's facing?

 

[Viridis00]

Oh my god yes, I've wanted the player model to stay in place at point of entry for a long long time. It almost feels like a ship is piloting itself sometimes when you "enter" a core. The only draw back here is everybody will target the obvious looking bridges (though to be fair, exposed bridges in sci-fi is one of the worst things you could do in warfare) and core drilling, which is going to be a thing of the past when the ship HP system is in place would basically just be replaced with coring to kill the pilot.

However, maybe it could be set that one hit from a weapon while on the core/cockpit makes you only stumble out and you're granted a few seconds of invincibility (plot armor?) to get off your painfully exposed Star Destroyer-esque bridge.

Nav computers and cockpit control need to be a thing though. They've been suggested a million times but they're just legit good suggestions.

 

[Ithirahad]

However, maybe it could be set that one hit from a weapon while on the core/cockpit makes you only stumble out and you're granted a few seconds of invincibility (plot armor?) to get off your painfully exposed Star Destroyer-esque bridge.

This MIGHT be a good idea, actually, now that I'm thinking about it...

 

[HerrColonel]

I agree with your ideas even if I would prefer a system where you can actually sit on a chair to controll stuff. But I don't think this will happend any soon so your ideas will give us more immersion and it looks like it could work with the actual mechanics of the game.
I support the "escape immunity" idea. You would be definitely killed if shot again if you return to the ship core (after some repairs) or while in your escape pod but still have the opportunity to escape.

 

[Vyor]

I like this far better than your previous one.

 

[Ithirahad]

I like this far better than your previous one.

Er, why? It's just a 'crappier' version of the same things, minus the viewscreens.

 

[Aecetym]

Make Cockpit Blocks a usable way to "enter" (control) a ship, so the core is no longer the only method.

Well as long these "cockpits" used to control the ship wouldn't become another target to shoot at, but still keep the core as a target, I think this is a good idea until controle chairs or something can be added.

When a player enters a core/cockpit or other computer, leave their model where it was when they hit "R" rather than causing it to disappear, but have said model play a "pressing buttons" animation, as though they were using their consoles. Not only does this add immersion, but it also means that exiting your core won't mean getting dumped out through the ventral hull or stuck into a void in the systems areas of your ship.

This would indeed fix getting randomly dumped at some place when exiting a ship, even when you have enough space in the (core)room.

Implement a Navigation Computer that you can program a coordinate point into. When you activate it, it causes a ship to automatically fly towards those coordinates at max speed. For balance reasons, a ship flying via nav computer might have its turrets disabled or something.

The Navigation computer idea I support. But I don't see why it would need balancing like turning off the turrets, leaving you defenceless when you come across pirates. Not that you can do anything while the ship is moving like building or anything. Also the fact that ships without players don't load sectors means that these ships can't travel using the auto pilot to a set location.

Now I can also put the coordinates into the navigation, point my ship at it and jam a paperclip or someting in the keyboard so it would keep flying in that direction without me pressing the botton. Might sound stupid but I wouldn't have to suffer the potential downsides of the system.

However, maybe it could be set that one hit from a weapon while on the core/cockpit makes you only stumble out and you're granted a few seconds of invincibility (plot armor?) to get off your painfully exposed Star Destroyer-esque bridge.

Now pilot armor would be very good addition, even if it's just so you can get to the escape pods on your ship. But I think players shouldn't be targetable while being in the ship, only when you can see them from a cockpit view, same goes for AIs.

 

[Ithirahad]

Well as long these "cockpits" used to control the ship wouldn't become another target to shoot at, but still keep the core as a target, I think this is a good idea until controle chairs or something can be added.

If someone shot your cockpit, you'd just get ejected, not killed.

This would indeed fix getting randomly dumped at some place when exiting a ship, even when you have enough space in the (core)room.

Yeah...

The Navigation computer idea I support. But I don't see why it would need balancing like turning off the turrets, leaving you defenceless when you come across pirates. Not that you can do anything while the ship is moving like building or anything. Also the fact that ships without players don't load sectors means that these ships can't travel using the auto pilot to a set location.

The idea is that you can ride around while walking around your ship interior or whatever. But yeah, I guess the 'balance' IS useless; I was thinking about people sending massive ships to people's bases to spawnkill them. :P

Now I can also put the coordinates into the navigation, point my ship at it and jam a paperclip or someting in the keyboard so it would keep flying in that direction without me pressing the botton. Might sound stupid but I wouldn't have to suffer the potential downsides of the system.

Clumsy system is clumsy... Personally, I use my flight-stick throttle. But it's still clumsy, and there needs to be a proper way to do this without sticking things on/in your keyboard or using an accessory that not everyone has.

Now pilot armor would be very good addition, even if it's just so you can get to the escape pods on your ship. But I think players shouldn't be targetable while being in the ship, only when you can see them from a cockpit view, same goes for AIs.

Agreed; player diamonds ideally should disappear if players are behind blocks; they shouldn't just be instakillable/trackable.

 

[Vyor]

Er, why? It's just a 'crappier' version of the same things, minus the viewscreens.

It's less intrusive, adds a nice feature, and fixes a problem.

 

[Ithirahad]

It's less intrusive, adds a nice feature, and fixes a problem.

Er, 'intrusive?' Unless you're an annoying minmaxer doomcube builder guy, or a micro-fighter pilot, it doesn't affect you much... Worst case scenario, you have to put a seat in front of your core. Big deal. :\

 

[Vyor]

Er, 'intrusive?' Unless you're an annoying minmaxer doomcube builder guy, or a micro-fighter pilot, it doesn't affect you much... Worst case scenario, you have to put a seat in front of your core. Big deal. :\

But you wouldn't gain anything from doing that... you gain a tactical advantage that makes big ships even more powerful with your other suggestion.