Read by Schine Mobile Shipyards (shipyards on ships)

[killerdude8]

So on and off for the past 2 years or so, Adding stuff to it whenever I can think of something good enough, I've been working on this:

A Hiigaran Carrier from homeworld, If you know anything about Homeworld, You'll know what that ship does, Its basically a mobile ship constructer, mainly fighters and other smaller craft. Anyways, I read about the latest update featuring Shipyards, Immediately I thought that would be the absolute perfect addition to my ship, So I began work on adding to the interior, Giving the construction bay a sort of industrial feel to it, Unfortunately this was stopped fairly early on as I tried to place the Shipyard block.

So thats the suggestion really, Shipyards enabled on ships, I can't really see any balance issues with it, You'd still need the materials to build the ships, It just makes it mobile, so you can TRULY have a Mothership capable of constructing a fleet of ships to assist it.

 

[Criss]

Part of the concern is that placing space station services onto a ship means the entire game can be played without owning a permanent base. Space stations should be a more efficient place to use factories, claim territory, and build ships. If shipyards, among other systems, are placed onto a ship there needs to be a balancing factor which is why they are not in yet.

 

[killerdude8]

I suppose one way to do it, Ships built in mobile shipyards use more resources to build, While still allowing for a proper nomadic playstyle, ultimately building a station and sticking around in one place would be a lot better.

 

[aceface]

Part of the concern is that placing space station services onto a ship means the entire game can be played without owning a permanent base. Space stations should be a more efficient place to use factories, claim territory, and build ships. If shipyards, among other systems, are placed onto a ship there needs to be a balancing factor which is why they are not in yet.

Balancing factor = home base protection

 

[HolyCookie]

Part of the concern is that placing space station services onto a ship means the entire game can be played without owning a permanent base. Space stations should be a more efficient place to use factories, claim territory, and build ships. If shipyards, among other systems, are placed onto a ship there needs to be a balancing factor which is why they are not in yet.

what about my drone yard suggestion? or maybe it should be drone dock....
a dock that repairs drones and you are able to command them to undock and attack target, or to return to dock.
it would keep things balanced yet make the carriers a lot more useful.

 

[The Judge]

Mobile Shipyards would be a nice addition, although it would ruin the point of having a base.
You could have a size restriction for mobile shipyards, as well as less efficient building, or reductions on shielding, max speed, or thrust.

 

[sayerulz]

Until the cargo system comes out, mobile shipyards would be totally overpowered, as a ship could spam thousands of drones.

 

[Cheapskate]

Until the cargo system comes out, mobile shipyards would be totally overpowered, as a ship could spam thousands of drones.

There's an easy balance for this. Make the time required and energy expended for mobile shipyards rather high. That way, it would be hard to maintain defensive turrets, fly around, AND regain shields while trying to spam drones everywhere. It would also make the construction of larger ships more difficult, but not impossible. With this, people could build drones and ships during the long-haul of space travel and it would still be balanced. I'm thinking about the tactical improbability of successfully rebooting your ship mid-battle, as an example. It takes to long, lowers your defenses, and makes you a sitting duck.

Or better yet, you could make drone shipyards Repair-Only, that way, you can only spawn in as many drones as you actually have on your ship [or less, if some have been utterly destroyed]

 

[sayerulz]

If they are repair only they would be fine.

 

[StormWing0]

This brings up the idea of a ship spawner of some kind and ways to turn the shipyard into one. It'd be nice though if people couldn't spawn more than they could dock to their ships unless the ships/drones spawned ended up destroyed or docked elsewhere. Although I agree that a mobile base should be infinitely more expensive on everything than a station base. I see no issues letting people have mobile bases as long as they don't have things like home base protection on a ship and the station only things had a lot more of a benefit to them than the ship based versions.

 

[Groovrider]

Hmm. A shipyard block prevents charging jump drives? Possibly increasing the amount of energy/modules require to generate flight status.

 

[cyberus111]

Balancing factor = home base protection

Not really, since anyone with one of these could pull up to any derelict station, drop a faction block, hit homebase and add rail basic to dock to and boom, homebase protection

 

[killerdude8]

Not really, since anyone with one of these could pull up to any derelict station, drop a faction block, hit homebase and add rail basic to dock to and boom, homebase protection

But its not mobile anymore and becomes like a station. The whole purpose of this is to be able to create PROPER mobile bases.

Also a good solution to get around that, Any ship with a shipyard cannot dock to stations or other ships.

 

[cyberus111]

But its not mobile anymore and becomes like a station. The whole purpose of this is to be able to create PROPER mobile bases.

Also a good solution to get around that, Any ship with a shipyard cannot dock to stations or other ships.

That would do the job. Just a side note I wasn't thinking that a mobile shipyard would dock permanently, just that *getting* homebase protection, be it overnight or somewhere near a combat zone wouldn't be difficult given how simple it is to, as I said, slap down a faction block and call it home.

 

[Zaphord]

Maybe if we look at it as if it were a modern aircraft carrier, which can only support a set number of fighter.

Here's how I see it; build your mobile shipyard/carrier/mothership/etc. and build a set number of drone or fighter bays into it. The ship would only be able to support as many drones/fighters as it has bays for them, and not constantly spamming new ships as soon as it builds them.

Mind you, if you're looking at AI drones, this would tie into any future AI updates since the drones would be slaved to the bays that built them. Player flown fighters wouldn't cause an issue, seeing as it would just remain docked until someone decides to pilot it.

 

[max stripe]

Part of the concern is that placing space station services onto a ship means the entire game can be played without owning a permanent base. Space stations should be a more efficient place to use factories, claim territory, and build ships. If shipyards, among other systems, are placed onto a ship there needs to be a balancing factor which is why they are not in yet.

we already have a reason to have a permanent base... home base = we dont have to worry about our shit being blown up
in fact the main balancing factor in this is that if you have a mobile base its likely to get blown up at one point or another... its just not as secure as a home based station
also the game can already be played without owning a permanent base... i only use a homebase as a respawn point in deep space.. other than that i park my ships far out with no base in sight... saves resources... hell i dont even use factories or station based storage... i buy everything i need from shops by selling parts ive stolen off those ive killed (players and AI's)

 

[jayman38]

I think the fact that such a ship would immediately be a prime target for hostile activity would make it balanced. You could even make it more difficult for them to avoid detection: make any ship with on-board shipyard facilities (or other capital ship systems) impossible to cloak or jam (no silent running if you want a mobile base!). To make it even tougher on the owner, maybe highlight any ship with shipyard systems on board as a red nav point for all players. I almost thought of directing AI pirates to it as well, but then those pirates simply become a source of parts.

 

[max stripe]

I think the fact that such a ship would immediately be a prime target for hostile activity would make it balanced. You could even make it more difficult for them to avoid detection: make any ship with on-board shipyard facilities (or other capital ship systems) impossible to cloak or jam (no silent running if you want a mobile base!). To make it even tougher on the owner, maybe highlight any ship with shipyard systems on board as a red nav point for all players. I almost thought of directing AI pirates to it as well, but then those pirates simply become a source of parts.

so do the players directed at it
it shouldnt be red on teh nav... it should just show to everyone within 3 sectors the name of the ship and its location

 

[StormWing0]

so do the players directed at it
it shouldnt be red on teh nav... it should just show to everyone within 3 sectors the name of the ship and its location

I say it should shop up like a station on the galaxy map. Ships with station parts should at least show up like one, while you won't be able to tell exact place in the sector too easily you'll know what sector it is in. So unless it is docked it'll show up like a station.

 

[killerdude8]

Maybe if we look at it as if it were a modern aircraft carrier, which can only support a set number of fighter.

Here's how I see it; build your mobile shipyard/carrier/mothership/etc. and build a set number of drone or fighter bays into it. The ship would only be able to support as many drones/fighters as it has bays for them, and not constantly spamming new ships as soon as it builds them.

Mind you, if you're looking at AI drones, this would tie into any future AI updates since the drones would be slaved to the bays that built them. Player flown fighters wouldn't cause an issue, seeing as it would just remain docked until someone decides to pilot it.

I REALLY like this idea, You dont have the bays for those ships, you can't create those ships.

we already have a reason to have a permanent base... home base = we dont have to worry about our shit being blown up
in fact the main balancing factor in this is that if you have a mobile base its likely to get blown up at one point or another... its just not as secure as a home based station
also the game can already be played without owning a permanent base... i only use a homebase as a respawn point in deep space.. other than that i park my ships far out with no base in sight... saves resources... hell i dont even use factories or station based storage... i buy everything i need from shops by selling parts ive stolen off those ive killed (players and AI's)

This is how I also play the game, I'd just like to be free from totally relying on stations for things that should be made possible on large motherships.

I think the fact that such a ship would immediately be a prime target for hostile activity would make it balanced. You could even make it more difficult for them to avoid detection: make any ship with on-board shipyard facilities (or other capital ship systems) impossible to cloak or jam (no silent running if you want a mobile base!). To make it even tougher on the owner, maybe highlight any ship with shipyard systems on board as a red nav point for all players. I almost thought of directing AI pirates to it as well, but then those pirates simply become a source of parts.

Realistically any ship large enough to properly support a shipyard is gonna be impossible to cloak regardless.