StarMade 0.154 (fixes and features)

[BeefBacon]

Wait, there was an optimal layout for engines? I thought they just worked like power storage? Oh well, guess I needn't worry about it now.

 

[jorgekorke]

- added new config value to select the type of block scaling for block groups by type. linear(weapons), box dim add (power), box dim mult (docking).

Is that a server configuration ? Meaning that each different server may config the way a ship's systems works ?

Spoiler: Click here if the answer is "YES". If it's a "NO", just forget about it

This is a terrible, terrible idea, my old friend !

By doing that you will block out and restrict everyone to play on their respective server, making shifts unbearable. Since each server might have a different setup, each ship schematic will be usable only where a certain ship was created.

Pretty much killing the free will on server blueprint roaming.

Say, a faction has created it's ships on their base located at Server A ; but they must move to Server B to attack their enemies or simply wage war.

Since server A has rather different method of ship systems compared to server B, this faction's ship will be quite weaker.

Please reconsider those last additions on this patch. I know the community is putting pressure on you to keep frequent updates going, but we know this isn't the ideal, so accidents like this don't happen.

With the exception of the new weapon effect; with all due respect, this is a terrible, a terrible update! Now I'm honestly upset about it.

 

[Viridis00]

I MUCH prefer this new way engines work. Compromising ship designs for efficient power setups is all the complication we need. Having power storage and engines act the same way gives you a lot less to worry about. All you need is a clear path so you can link the block groups together.

The old thruster method actually helps keep craft smaller most of the time. Instead of having to place a ton of blocks to get a good thrust, if you worked around the system, you ended up saving a lot of space for other systems like energy and shields. I've been working on refitting my ships recently, and my past release of the StarViper, which was at the time was fairly inefficient anyway actually suffered. I'd need to add more blocks to even match the past thrust. If I had designed it properly in the first place I probably would have taken even more of a hit.

 

[Grimson]

did the gravity system get changed sense .151 because now my gravity keeps getting canceled out if I move like 5 blocks and jump.

 

[Ithirahad]

did the gravity system get changed sense .151 because now my gravity keeps getting canceled out if I move like 5 blocks and jump.

Go into Options and assign the Grappling Hook to a different key than your jump key and it'll be fixed.

 

[Grimson]

Thanks that fixed it

 

[Keptick]

Just started testing this game out and it seems pretty legit. Too bad you cant land on planets and walk around and inhabit them tho or have I not found the right one yet/

What the [foul words] are you talking about??? Landing on and inhabiting planet is very possible. Just give it more than a single second to load.

 

[rece ktore leczo]

credulo Same thing we may say about any non-vanilla configuration. Customizing servers config files does not make transferring ships between servers easier, but make gameplay more enjoyable on each one (depending on player's gaming taste).

If we had a possibility to work on only specific system in building mode then refitting the ship would be easier, but so far there is no such tool.


Anyway i hope Schema won't stop at adding more variables to config files

 

[Izikiel]

I'm liking the changes that are coming out, thanks guys.

 

[jorgekorke]

rece ktore leczo You made a good point, however, inter-server wars, or, if I may say, any real war between big factions won't be possible to happen anymore if the servers keep getting unique. I'll make an example with known names so you might understand what I mean.

Let's suppose the DFN gets offended to something the Vaygr declared on the forums and decide to declare war.

However, if the DFN is based on NASS (just an example) and the Vaygr is inside Illusive, considering the huge differences between the servers (thanks to the new configs), merging ships to battle would be pointless, since the DFN ships are strong on NASS configurations, but on Illusive, they turn out to be very weak.

The only way for the DFN to strike is to rebuild their whole fleet to be "usable" inside the Illusive server. The same is true for the Vaygr, to make any act inside NASS. There will be no "war" or "battle" at all.

 

[rece ktore leczo]

credulo That's why we need a tool to make refitting easier, not forbidding further customization of servers.

And if someone want to wage an inter-server war, then he must be prepared that he would need to fight in another universe, where other laws apply, probably even without surplus of resources (so far it's not a big problem unfortunately). So it won't be an easy task and using ship's builds from own server on the enemy one isn't going to be the most efficient thing to do.

The best way would be to find enemies on own server. Or the worst way

 

[jorgekorke]

rece ktore leczo I understand your point of view. I do support additional tools in the hands of server owners (I was one myself, managed Illusive Gaming from Sep/13 to Jan/14), but I still think the game's "movable things" like ships and it's catalog's entries should be preserved to maintain the free-will of one. If this essence is taken out from the game, we're going to experience the same problems Minecraft (before the the arrival of MCEdit) had.

" My server is gone, and so is all my hard work "

That was the reason I had quit MC and moved to SM, since you can carry your blueprints and preserve your work, no matter what could happen with the server (your resources and money might be gone, but the work of building, which is the most time-consuming, is saved. depending on the owner, you might even be able to save your station, with the /import_sector cmd)

 

[ToyotaSupra]

Sven_The_Slayer Engines were always spam designs, just like everything else in the game with an integer TBH. Doomcubes still prevail, and I get the idea that this may hurt fighters (small ships).

Sorry to be a pain, but a question to the devs: Are we still getting mines or are we moving away from that?

 

[aceface]

proper 3rd person view...

 

[Rhyssia]

Beams behavior seems really buggy. on a 1:1 Beam : Pulse array. You can tap the fire button, or hold it down and watch your energy (literally) tank while obliterating anything in front of you.

 

[aceface]

The beams are bugged, the isanths can now deplete 40k shields as soon as the beam touches your ship

 

[rece ktore leczo]

credulo I don't think that moving the ship to another server would make it completely useless. From my experience (of course it may vary for different players) the longest time of creating the ship is actually making the shape of the ship + interior + decorating. Stuffing it with system blocks is the easiest and the fastest part.
Refitting of course is pretty time consuming but if we would get a tool to make it easier and much much quicker, then refitting the ship to be efficient on various servers could be made in matter of minutes (for small ships).

The biggest problem i see is that ships in community content wouldn't be universal, as some may be built to be efficient on certain hardcore servers (i.e. no shields) but as the Starmade would be closer to the final release and wider known = more players, every server build will have its own niche.

 

[Viridis00]

The biggest problem i see is that ships in community content wouldn't be universal, as some may be built to be efficient on certain hardcore servers (i.e. no shields) but as the Starmade would be closer to the final release and wider known = more players, every server build will have its own niche.

This is something, as a ship builder I'm very worried about. Having the ability to configure your servers is fine, but there needs to be some reasonable standard of balance in the vanilla that we can base our ships around.

Particularly, I don't think energy or thrusters should be a configurable value. Both formerly being calculated off specific placement, that can wreck a ship from one server's config to another. Shields (even though vanilla shield suck hard right now) and weapons are simple enough to refit that I feel comfortable releasing a ship, and knowing that a user can do their own refits and mods.

Right now, I want to update all my ships, but I'm just scratching my head as to if I should even bother if they're not going to work the next day with all the re-balancing. But, I guess that's just something we all have to bear for a while in the name of long term stability.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Ships big enough to being "pierced" don't really rely on one single "cable" of engines anyway to have this problem. The "web design" prevents that well. Still, fighters are now even more weak and useless due to the increase of needing on space for engines. That means less space for power/shielding/weaponry. So yes, since I'm into small crafts, I hate this change with all of my heart.

You can't quote part of my message out of context like that. People will build a huge single reactor because it is super efficient per block. I was specifically saying it is a bad idea because the ability to cripple a ship in a single shot. You may be disagreeing with me because you never fully understood how the last implemented thrust mechanic worked. I'm not sure what you mean by "web design" but if you are talking "checkerboard" that was the worst possible way to build your engines since .14 until this update

Sven_The_Slayer Engines were always spam designs, just like everything else in the game with an integer TBH. Doomcubes still prevail, and I get the idea that this may hurt fighters (small ships).

No they were not spam designs, they multiplied in efficiency as they increased in box dim, like power generation but with much more rapid growth

The old thruster method actually helps keep craft smaller most of the time. Instead of having to place a ton of blocks to get a good thrust, if you worked around the system, you ended up saving a lot of space for other systems like energy and shields. I've been working on refitting my ships recently, and my past release of the StarViper, which was at the time was fairly inefficient anyway actually suffered. I'd need to add more blocks to even match the past thrust. If I had designed it properly in the first place I probably would have taken even more of a hit.

This is very true, every ship I refit for .14 got an increase in every stat thanks to having efficient engines. I was able to take ships that were kind of garbage and turn them into not so bad ships. I still cannot pass judgment on the new scaling method because I haven't had a chance to apply it in practical situations yet but it does look poor for small craft.

 

[rece ktore leczo]

Having the ability to configure your servers is fine, but there needs to be some reasonable standard of balance in the vanilla that we can base our ships around.

There would be a proper balance, which most likely would be used by many players (with minor tweaks). Current weapon system is pretty new and also there were (and still are coming) some changes to shield and thrust equations, to prevent immediate coring of the ships. Anyway so far we can only get close to the final balance, but can't achieve it, because there will be added new features influencing ships' combat/flying and probably adding new features, so only once everything (or great majority) is implemented, we can talk about pretty stable values in the config file.

Few days which already passed from the .15 release is far too little to talk about fair optimization of the systems regardless Devs and testers best effort.


And refitting ships wouldn't be such a pain with tools to do so, either built-in game or third party ones. I've literally already stated this 3 times, even on the same page in this thread and here i am, repeating myself for the 4th time - You don't want more configurable server config files because currently refitting sucks and i say - do not forbid greater customization, just make refitting much less painful. It's a win-win situation.