Hi, so this is a pretty simple idea at the root of it. The AIM is to make smaller ships more useful and help larger ships be a little less annoying to use by introducing fuel/ammo based versions of already existing blocks and adding a new block to make use of stars in farming.
New Weapon:
Gatling Gun - This bad boy does more damage than a cannon, but has less range. It uses less power, but uses resources. Bullets! It also has a limit of 4 groupings max (because any more than that would make for a ridiculous gatling gun, doncha think!?). It'd have all the same attachments. Make it a sniper gun. Make it do EMP damage. Make it an ION bullet shotgun hailstorm! Stick an overdrive on it if you'd like and it will use more power and ammo per shot. ETC. One caveat would be that if one of your groupings gets damaged, it stops working! But don't worry, the others still work. Until they get damaged.
New Thruster:
Rocket Booster- Give it more bang than a thruster. But it uses fuel! Ahh, so get out that salvage beam! But the fuel is craftable! Or maybe.. refinable.. Mine from planets, mine from asteroids because fuel is in short supply at the shop! Maybe it runs on crystal composite. Who knows, but it uses fuel! It could be turned on and off, like ION modules to give you that extra boost when you need it. And it would need to be connected to a storage block to pull the fuel from. Or maybe.. a tank. This would be useful for more medium sized ships, to make them more maneuverable. For larger ships, if someone is super rich, maybe they can have a decently fast ship.. so long as they are willing to mine, mine, mine! A caveat of these rocket thrusters is that they can overheat! So don't use em too long or you'll have to wait for them to cool down. And maybe some particularly savage server admins can turn on an option to make them explode if they overheat.
New Shield:
Fusion Shield - This ultra-compact shield runs on.. you guessed it, fuel! When you turn it on, it burns through all that extra fuel you have laying around. It charges your shields quick, using a small amount of energy and lots of fuel. It also adds a passive amount to your shield capacity as well, though it takes passive energy to do this (as opposed to a shield capacitor which doesn't take energy). This would make smaller ships be able to take on larger ships, but at a price! Mine mine mine! Get your asteroids quick.
New Generator:
Fusion Generator - Need that extra bit of power? Tired of long lines of reactors everywhere? Fear not! Make some of these guys and they'll give you four times the power of reactors per block! Or maybe 10! They don't work quite like reactors, in that they don't have the same type of bonus system. They actually work better in individual blocks. Who knows? But they do use that pesky fuel. So get that mining rig out, because if your small to medium sized fighter ship is to help a raid a larger ship, you'll want it powered up and ready to go when you need it. But there will be a caveat to using these. If your generator has any part of it destroyed, BOOM. You won't want to be anywhere near that explosion.
New Fuel Generator:
Starshine Generator - This handy machine uses light from a star plus a little bit of organic materials plus a little energy to create fuel! It does it slowly, but surely, but also passively. Keep this thing well-stocked so next time you visit it, you'll have some fuel to spare for your fighter ships. The closer to a star and the larger the array, the faster it generates fuel from the biomatter you provide it. It can be turned on and off, like an ion generator, if placed on a ship and also with logic blocks!
Some extra blocks to help supplement the idea:
A tank for fuel - it's like an inventory, but just holds fuel.
Pipe to bring fuel to your shield, bullets to the rail gun, or draw fuel out of your fuel generator to bring to tanks.
Bullets
So - if you made it this far, feedback is welcome! And thank you for your time.
New Weapon:
Gatling Gun - This bad boy does more damage than a cannon, but has less range. It uses less power, but uses resources. Bullets! It also has a limit of 4 groupings max (because any more than that would make for a ridiculous gatling gun, doncha think!?). It'd have all the same attachments. Make it a sniper gun. Make it do EMP damage. Make it an ION bullet shotgun hailstorm! Stick an overdrive on it if you'd like and it will use more power and ammo per shot. ETC. One caveat would be that if one of your groupings gets damaged, it stops working! But don't worry, the others still work. Until they get damaged.
New Thruster:
Rocket Booster- Give it more bang than a thruster. But it uses fuel! Ahh, so get out that salvage beam! But the fuel is craftable! Or maybe.. refinable.. Mine from planets, mine from asteroids because fuel is in short supply at the shop! Maybe it runs on crystal composite. Who knows, but it uses fuel! It could be turned on and off, like ION modules to give you that extra boost when you need it. And it would need to be connected to a storage block to pull the fuel from. Or maybe.. a tank. This would be useful for more medium sized ships, to make them more maneuverable. For larger ships, if someone is super rich, maybe they can have a decently fast ship.. so long as they are willing to mine, mine, mine! A caveat of these rocket thrusters is that they can overheat! So don't use em too long or you'll have to wait for them to cool down. And maybe some particularly savage server admins can turn on an option to make them explode if they overheat.
New Shield:
Fusion Shield - This ultra-compact shield runs on.. you guessed it, fuel! When you turn it on, it burns through all that extra fuel you have laying around. It charges your shields quick, using a small amount of energy and lots of fuel. It also adds a passive amount to your shield capacity as well, though it takes passive energy to do this (as opposed to a shield capacitor which doesn't take energy). This would make smaller ships be able to take on larger ships, but at a price! Mine mine mine! Get your asteroids quick.
New Generator:
Fusion Generator - Need that extra bit of power? Tired of long lines of reactors everywhere? Fear not! Make some of these guys and they'll give you four times the power of reactors per block! Or maybe 10! They don't work quite like reactors, in that they don't have the same type of bonus system. They actually work better in individual blocks. Who knows? But they do use that pesky fuel. So get that mining rig out, because if your small to medium sized fighter ship is to help a raid a larger ship, you'll want it powered up and ready to go when you need it. But there will be a caveat to using these. If your generator has any part of it destroyed, BOOM. You won't want to be anywhere near that explosion.
New Fuel Generator:
Starshine Generator - This handy machine uses light from a star plus a little bit of organic materials plus a little energy to create fuel! It does it slowly, but surely, but also passively. Keep this thing well-stocked so next time you visit it, you'll have some fuel to spare for your fighter ships. The closer to a star and the larger the array, the faster it generates fuel from the biomatter you provide it. It can be turned on and off, like an ion generator, if placed on a ship and also with logic blocks!
Some extra blocks to help supplement the idea:
A tank for fuel - it's like an inventory, but just holds fuel.
Pipe to bring fuel to your shield, bullets to the rail gun, or draw fuel out of your fuel generator to bring to tanks.
Bullets
So - if you made it this far, feedback is welcome! And thank you for your time.