I'm just making a list of more ideas around the stars we have in game and some interesting changes that could be done to them. If anyone wants to help add to the list have at it.
Display Option for sun Radiation Sectors: Would be very handy to have so we don't accidentally fly into the area and wonder why we're melting.
Super Deadly Point Of Intensity: In this case you are flying through the core sector of a star and fly through the big glowing point of light in the sector. This point taking of 1+ blocks of space would instakill all blocks it comes into direct contact with while overall heat intensity gets higher and ticks for damage more often the closer you get to it. Basically if you fly through the point where the light is coming from it'll burn your ship in half. :P
Mineable Stars: In the case of mineable stars it could be setup any number of ways but mainly it comes down to needing 3 new blocks, Plasma, Outer Star Core, and Point of Intensity Star Core. All 3 of which under normal conditions don't collide with anything nor do they even check for collisions. The names of these blocks also have the star's color, intensity, and size in them but it's optional as it can be in the block stats as well. Sort of like the player equipment but stacks with same stat blocks.
Now you might be wondering how you are going to mine these things if you can't even touch them. Salvagers could hit the blocks in question with their beams yes but also keep in mind that stars regenerate lost blocks as able but the beams will pass right through them all mining them faster than they can regenerate. That said star mining isn't going to be some walk in the park, get too close and you'll burn up. Staying in the core sector too long where these blocks exist also isn't going to be easy since one miscalculation and your whole load is lost. Even the best miners could fail in this case.
Destructible Stars: This kinda goes along with mineable stars allowing you to destroy them outright and cause them to super nova the whole system. Now systems destroyed this way well reform after a while and neighboring systems might takes some damage as well from the blast but they'd also gain some of the materials from the exploding system too. Now as some people have mentioned trolls could use this to nuke someone's hard work into oblivion. Home Bases would be shielded by config option from the novas by default. However anything unlucky enough to not be docked to one isn't as lucky, even astronauts not hiding in a ship core or some other enterable block would die instantly. Also whether a star is destructible or not is also server configurable and it is turned off by default.
Dyson Spheres: For those of you that are crazy and want to build a station in the core sector of a star this is for you. :P When you go to spawn a station inside a core sector of a star you are given the option to spawn it in Dyson Sphere mode. What this does is it centers on the Point Of Intensity and spawns 2 blocks in each of 6 directions around it a server set distance away from the center. The POI becomes a block of the station as well but it can't be deleted through build mode in this case. The new blocks for this are also used in Fusion Reactors as well and they are the Solar Collector Block and the Solar Output Block. The Solar Collector Block comes in just as many shapes as armor and hull currently come in but has a solar panel texture on all sides. It collects the solar energy for the Solar Output Block to convert into either power or shield regen.
The Solar Output block has to be next to a Power Reactor or Shield Recharger to know what to convert some of that Solar Power to, it can also be slaved to a weapons computer creating a super powerful solar energy based effect for the weapons using it. Solar Power gets divided by the number of different in use output blocks so having too many active outputs could be harmful to production. So you could have the solar energy split between power regen and shield regen coming out 20 different blocks but it only divides in half because it is only split between 2 different things. Now if you have those same 20 outputs split between 20 different weapons you've now reduced the effect strength to 1/20th the amount it'd normally be if it was slaved to only one weapon computer.
When the blocks are first deployed for a station it is only a predefined starting point, you can move them as needed to where you want them. Also Solar Collector and Solar Output blocks are only immune to damage from the POI if they are surrounding it making a complete sphere or cube shape around it. Even if the sphere or cube has holes in it like when the station is first spawned these blocks can take a crazy amount of solar radiation before giving out giving a player planet of time to fix the problem before they start losing blocks. As long as these blocks are between the POI and other blocks the POI can't damage the blocks it can't illuminate. Also these 2 blocks can be used on ships or in other configurations but they'll take damage if in damage range in those configurations. Using them on stations or ships far away from the POI on the other end of the system will give less solar energy but it'll still give some.
The amount of solar energy someone gets is based on the surface area of a grouping and its distance from the POI. The Distance part of the equation is ignored inside the Center Core Sector of a Star. So you could use the collectors and outputs on far away stations and ships to gather solar energy but it wouldn't be as much as sitting in the core.
Fusion Reactors: Aside from 1 addition block Fusion Reactors are basically mini Dyson Sphere that can be mounted on ships and stations with a mined or artificial POI in their center. They use all the same blocks but the new block is basically a storage for star point of intensity cores. POI Container: This block allows a player to drop a Point of Intensity Star Core inside it allowing for smaller and safer reactors in the process. It also allows for a moving POI to happen allowing ships to carry what amounts to a mini Dyson Sphere on board.
Wider Range of Star Radius's: Currently we've got 1 and 2 sector radius stars but nothing bigger than that. having a range of 1 to 8+ sectors or even maxing out at a whole system in radius would make for some interesting encounters. In the cases of larger stars the radiation zone and block melting zone could bleed over into neighboring systems if needed creating a very nasty surprise for anyone on that side of the system.
Multi-System Systems: This is were allowing systems to overlap into nearby systems happens. Rather than cutting it off right as the system boarder it allows the system to bleed over as needed putting some of its objects into the systems it is overlapping with. This also allows for the generation of super systems that could take up many smaller systems in diameter having smaller stars, planets, and asteroids orbiting a single system star.
Well that's all I can think of right now. Any ideas?
Display Option for sun Radiation Sectors: Would be very handy to have so we don't accidentally fly into the area and wonder why we're melting.
Super Deadly Point Of Intensity: In this case you are flying through the core sector of a star and fly through the big glowing point of light in the sector. This point taking of 1+ blocks of space would instakill all blocks it comes into direct contact with while overall heat intensity gets higher and ticks for damage more often the closer you get to it. Basically if you fly through the point where the light is coming from it'll burn your ship in half. :P
Mineable Stars: In the case of mineable stars it could be setup any number of ways but mainly it comes down to needing 3 new blocks, Plasma, Outer Star Core, and Point of Intensity Star Core. All 3 of which under normal conditions don't collide with anything nor do they even check for collisions. The names of these blocks also have the star's color, intensity, and size in them but it's optional as it can be in the block stats as well. Sort of like the player equipment but stacks with same stat blocks.
Now you might be wondering how you are going to mine these things if you can't even touch them. Salvagers could hit the blocks in question with their beams yes but also keep in mind that stars regenerate lost blocks as able but the beams will pass right through them all mining them faster than they can regenerate. That said star mining isn't going to be some walk in the park, get too close and you'll burn up. Staying in the core sector too long where these blocks exist also isn't going to be easy since one miscalculation and your whole load is lost. Even the best miners could fail in this case.
Destructible Stars: This kinda goes along with mineable stars allowing you to destroy them outright and cause them to super nova the whole system. Now systems destroyed this way well reform after a while and neighboring systems might takes some damage as well from the blast but they'd also gain some of the materials from the exploding system too. Now as some people have mentioned trolls could use this to nuke someone's hard work into oblivion. Home Bases would be shielded by config option from the novas by default. However anything unlucky enough to not be docked to one isn't as lucky, even astronauts not hiding in a ship core or some other enterable block would die instantly. Also whether a star is destructible or not is also server configurable and it is turned off by default.
Dyson Spheres: For those of you that are crazy and want to build a station in the core sector of a star this is for you. :P When you go to spawn a station inside a core sector of a star you are given the option to spawn it in Dyson Sphere mode. What this does is it centers on the Point Of Intensity and spawns 2 blocks in each of 6 directions around it a server set distance away from the center. The POI becomes a block of the station as well but it can't be deleted through build mode in this case. The new blocks for this are also used in Fusion Reactors as well and they are the Solar Collector Block and the Solar Output Block. The Solar Collector Block comes in just as many shapes as armor and hull currently come in but has a solar panel texture on all sides. It collects the solar energy for the Solar Output Block to convert into either power or shield regen.
The Solar Output block has to be next to a Power Reactor or Shield Recharger to know what to convert some of that Solar Power to, it can also be slaved to a weapons computer creating a super powerful solar energy based effect for the weapons using it. Solar Power gets divided by the number of different in use output blocks so having too many active outputs could be harmful to production. So you could have the solar energy split between power regen and shield regen coming out 20 different blocks but it only divides in half because it is only split between 2 different things. Now if you have those same 20 outputs split between 20 different weapons you've now reduced the effect strength to 1/20th the amount it'd normally be if it was slaved to only one weapon computer.
When the blocks are first deployed for a station it is only a predefined starting point, you can move them as needed to where you want them. Also Solar Collector and Solar Output blocks are only immune to damage from the POI if they are surrounding it making a complete sphere or cube shape around it. Even if the sphere or cube has holes in it like when the station is first spawned these blocks can take a crazy amount of solar radiation before giving out giving a player planet of time to fix the problem before they start losing blocks. As long as these blocks are between the POI and other blocks the POI can't damage the blocks it can't illuminate. Also these 2 blocks can be used on ships or in other configurations but they'll take damage if in damage range in those configurations. Using them on stations or ships far away from the POI on the other end of the system will give less solar energy but it'll still give some.
The amount of solar energy someone gets is based on the surface area of a grouping and its distance from the POI. The Distance part of the equation is ignored inside the Center Core Sector of a Star. So you could use the collectors and outputs on far away stations and ships to gather solar energy but it wouldn't be as much as sitting in the core.
Fusion Reactors: Aside from 1 addition block Fusion Reactors are basically mini Dyson Sphere that can be mounted on ships and stations with a mined or artificial POI in their center. They use all the same blocks but the new block is basically a storage for star point of intensity cores. POI Container: This block allows a player to drop a Point of Intensity Star Core inside it allowing for smaller and safer reactors in the process. It also allows for a moving POI to happen allowing ships to carry what amounts to a mini Dyson Sphere on board.
Wider Range of Star Radius's: Currently we've got 1 and 2 sector radius stars but nothing bigger than that. having a range of 1 to 8+ sectors or even maxing out at a whole system in radius would make for some interesting encounters. In the cases of larger stars the radiation zone and block melting zone could bleed over into neighboring systems if needed creating a very nasty surprise for anyone on that side of the system.
Multi-System Systems: This is were allowing systems to overlap into nearby systems happens. Rather than cutting it off right as the system boarder it allows the system to bleed over as needed putting some of its objects into the systems it is overlapping with. This also allows for the generation of super systems that could take up many smaller systems in diameter having smaller stars, planets, and asteroids orbiting a single system star.
Well that's all I can think of right now. Any ideas?