Read by Council texture change: wrap system blocks in plates

[jayman38]

I would like to see system blocks like reactors, shields, capacitors, other blocks with the same texture on all six sides modified so that four of the sides are textured with a simple flat plate. That way, we can select whether the system block will be decorative with the animated texture, or will look like just another piece of hull, simply depending on the block's orientation. This will primarily help smaller builds (think: fighters) look better. We should be able to re-use a plate texture already in the texture set, so it wouldn't even require another texture square.

Mockup images:

 

[NTIMESc]

Your mock-up is exactly what I was imagining for embedding systems in hull in my post in this thread: An idea how to make it possible to build smaller fighters.

Even if its only decorative, I think this is a great idea!

 

[Lecic]

I thought slabs were the magical block that saved the day for fighters? I don't really see a use for adding an identical copy of all the system blocks in the game that's just decorative. Sounds like a huge waste of IDs and time for the devs to me.

 

[jayman38]

I thought slabs were the magical block that saved the day for fighters? I don't really see a use for adding an identical copy of all the system blocks in the game that's just decorative. Sounds like a huge waste of IDs and time for the devs to me.

My suggestion is to change the way the existing system blocks are textured, not to add duplicate copies with a different texture scheme.

At the scale of truly to-scale fighters, even slabs are too bulky, because there are no wedged slabs to make it sleek.

 

[Lecic]

My suggestion is to change the way the existing system blocks are textured, not to add duplicate copies with a different texture scheme.

At the scale of truly to-scale fighters, even slabs are too bulky, because there are no wedged slabs to make it sleek.

What about people who like system blocks as they currently are?

Assuming we got wedge slabs (which are planned for the future afaik), what purpose do these serve?

 

[NTIMESc]

My suggestion is to change the way the existing system blocks are textured, not to add duplicate copies with a different texture scheme.

Thinking about this further, since the block data only stores the BlockID, orientation, and hitpoints, it might not be possible without duplicating system blocks in every hull color :-(
I really don't think running out of BlockIDs is going to be a problem, but maybe there is another reason use them sparingly.

 

[jayman38]

What about people who like system blocks as they currently are?

Assuming we got wedge slabs (which are planned for the future afaik), what purpose do these serve?

Nobody has yet chimed in to say they love the look of the old system blocks and would hate if this idea replaced them.
They might be out there.
Somewhere....

Seriously, if people are using more than one face of system blocks for decoration, I'd be deeply surprised. And if someone gets a plate where they want to see the decoration of the system block animations, they can simply remove that visible layer of system blocks, rotate them so that the animation is visible instead of the plate side, and they are back in business with the look they originally intended.

Wedge slabs are really unrelated, but are desired for a better look at that small scale. On a real fighter scale (<30 meters) you still need some system blocks somewhere, but generally fighter designs are too thin to hide systems effectively between two opposing layers of hull/armor slabs, and the slabs in their current look are not aerodynamic-looking enough to convince small-ship aficionados that you are looking at an aerodynamic (aerospace) fighter jet. I realize not everybody needs to make their fighters aerodynamic (E.g. Babylon 5 Star Furies), but some folks want to recreate real-life fighter jets or something similar, while having enough system blocks to make it nearly as effective as it is pretty.

Me personally, I just want to be able to line my hallways with systems instead of hull or armor, without feeling like I am walking through a discotheque.