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The idea needs more fleshing out which I implore my fellow starmates to help with. However I have the basic concept in mind.
Micro vehicles are small vessels that can transport only a few people at a time across terrain. I think they should be produced as meta items you can use to spawn.
In my mind the ability to make your own micro vehicles should have two prerequisites. You'd need an advanced factory and have it produce a micro assembler.
When you use the micro assembler it would put you into an advanced build mode with 1/8th scale. The max build area should be 128^3 blocks. The parts you use have to be fed into the assembler 1:1. Logic could be used but no weapons or effect modules. No shielding either. Just thrust, power, power storage and hull/decor blocks. The end result would be a vehicle that fits within a maximum 16x16x16 area.
The maximum thrust provided should be limited to what would be produced by a lone shipcore with friction providing the extra locomotion. Power regeneration should also be capped along side a softcap for power storage. During the build stage you should have access to logical templates for wheels, engines, moving parts and drive system. All of this would need to be mapped to a control instrument panel.
The controls would be connected to an operator's seat. Who ever is in that seat can control the vehicle's mapped functions. Ideally this would match the movement used in astronaut mode. As an example: pressing W would make w/e means of locomotion you wired to that input key on. Moving the vehicle forward if done properly. To rewire controls you would have to load that vehicle's blueprint into the assembler and remap it manually.
What the end result vehicle looks like would be plates, struts and machinery (logic) existing in a 1/8th scale virtual space within space that can interact with the surroundings and player models. Cars, trucks, motorbikes, hover craft, helicopters, biplanes, jets and the like should all be possible. How a vehicle performs is dependent on how it was built. Docking it magnetically should be simple enough but it should also be possible to put it in your inventory as a meta item to respawn later.
Humor my segue..
The micro assembler produces meta items. This opens up the possibility of hand made weapons. We would just need to switch the assembler's "mode" from the 128^3 to something sane for a hand held weapon. Something along the lines of 32x8x8 for striking weapons (produce a meta item that is swung) and 16x32x8 for firing weapons (item has a kick and fires from active weapon module). Eventually we can add modes for other skeletal attachable items and possible accompanying animation(s).
Again. This all needs a lot more discussion before it'll work even in concept. The biggest hurdle is making viable and functional vehicles that can co-exist with the existing blocks like Lego and Duplo bricks do. The next big issue would be getting them to move and control their movement/acceleration. In theory you could make micro spacecraft the same way. But it's a big stretch.
Micro vehicles are small vessels that can transport only a few people at a time across terrain. I think they should be produced as meta items you can use to spawn.
In my mind the ability to make your own micro vehicles should have two prerequisites. You'd need an advanced factory and have it produce a micro assembler.
When you use the micro assembler it would put you into an advanced build mode with 1/8th scale. The max build area should be 128^3 blocks. The parts you use have to be fed into the assembler 1:1. Logic could be used but no weapons or effect modules. No shielding either. Just thrust, power, power storage and hull/decor blocks. The end result would be a vehicle that fits within a maximum 16x16x16 area.
The maximum thrust provided should be limited to what would be produced by a lone shipcore with friction providing the extra locomotion. Power regeneration should also be capped along side a softcap for power storage. During the build stage you should have access to logical templates for wheels, engines, moving parts and drive system. All of this would need to be mapped to a control instrument panel.
The controls would be connected to an operator's seat. Who ever is in that seat can control the vehicle's mapped functions. Ideally this would match the movement used in astronaut mode. As an example: pressing W would make w/e means of locomotion you wired to that input key on. Moving the vehicle forward if done properly. To rewire controls you would have to load that vehicle's blueprint into the assembler and remap it manually.
What the end result vehicle looks like would be plates, struts and machinery (logic) existing in a 1/8th scale virtual space within space that can interact with the surroundings and player models. Cars, trucks, motorbikes, hover craft, helicopters, biplanes, jets and the like should all be possible. How a vehicle performs is dependent on how it was built. Docking it magnetically should be simple enough but it should also be possible to put it in your inventory as a meta item to respawn later.
Humor my segue..
The micro assembler produces meta items. This opens up the possibility of hand made weapons. We would just need to switch the assembler's "mode" from the 128^3 to something sane for a hand held weapon. Something along the lines of 32x8x8 for striking weapons (produce a meta item that is swung) and 16x32x8 for firing weapons (item has a kick and fires from active weapon module). Eventually we can add modes for other skeletal attachable items and possible accompanying animation(s).
Again. This all needs a lot more discussion before it'll work even in concept. The biggest hurdle is making viable and functional vehicles that can co-exist with the existing blocks like Lego and Duplo bricks do. The next big issue would be getting them to move and control their movement/acceleration. In theory you could make micro spacecraft the same way. But it's a big stretch.
