Buying stations

[Mered4]

Doesn't matter. That was in another universe, resources shouldn't transfer over any more than, say, your inventory or your admin privileges.

Look, what I'm saying is that I have to work decently hard to just spawn my ships in on the servers I play on without admin. Yesterday I spent about 3 hours farming shops before I finally got an admin to help me out spawning in my Death Star, which ended up being un-spawnable anyway (dev build, etc etc.) I am usually ok with that, but since gameplay really doesn't matter at this stage in development, I just want to fly my ship around MP and show it off. I know that places like NASS work a lot differently than this, but gameplay just isn't even close to the final product, so I don't even bother judging the system. Buying stations is the same way - Sure, the admin commands make sure no-one spawns in some 1500m behemoth that breaks the server without anyone knowing, but it also prevents the little guy from spawning in his little station, ya know? And what's the good in that, when bigger stations will be credit limited, even more so than ships?

 

[Keptick]

I'm not against the concept of more practical transfer of station designs, but what this game really doesn't need at the moment is another mechanic where you pay a sum of credits for the instant creation of a structure. Implement it in a way that requires autmated builder drones, materials and construction time and I couldn't be happier, but make it as disastrous as the current blueprint system, and I'd prefer you hadn't.

There's already server config option to enable buying blueprints with blocks only. Meaning that you can't buy a ship if you don't have all the materials in your inventory.

Besides, the fact that you don't like to *poof* ships out of nowhere doesn't mean that we shouldn't have the ability to easily spawn in stations without poking server admins a couple thousand times first. With the config option I mentioned above, stations would also have to be bought with blocks. I don't care if it's just as a place holder until we get things like shipyards, but it would still be much better than what we currently have (sector import/export system).

I'm also sure that @schema could easily implement a server config to disable station blueprints.

 

[RedDwarfIV]

You do know that you have to make the money first? In servers where cubeatom is disabled, that can be very difficult and time consuming. Besides, stations could have many types of blocks in them. I've often had a full inventory and needed to get rid of something to put something else in - so how do you carry all the blocks a station would require when you buy it?

And again, gameplay considerations need to come after there is already a mechanic for buying in stations.

 

[Ithirahad]

You do know that you have to make the money first? In servers where cubeatom is disabled, that can be very difficult and time consuming. Besides, stations could have many types of blocks in them. I've often had a full inventory and needed to get rid of something to put something else in - so how do you carry all the blocks a station would require when you buy it?

And again, gameplay considerations need to come after there is already a mechanic for buying in stations.

Difficult? No. Time consuming? Yes, but only because of having to fly around dropping build blocks, ripping out hull, and selling parts of the massive stacks to shops repeatedly for hours.

 

[lupoCani]

Yesterday I spent about 3 hours farming shops before I finally got an admin to help me out spawning in my Death Star

Well of course you did. Such distinctly capital vessels should indeed require time to produce, not to mention a supply system and manufacturing infrastructure.

but since gameplay really doesn't matter at this stage in development, I just want to fly my ship around MP and show it off.

Gameplay very much does matter. This game is still in it's infancy, and while it's quite true that that the current mechanics are far from final, the only way we're going to change that is if the game is built with long-term balance in mind and doesn't throw in unbalanced features because they'll be fun in the meantime.

What I can get behind is a placeholder system that maybe throws off balance a bit, but nevertheless adheres to the fundamental properties such a system should have. Like, some form of delay or time-consuming aspect, block-purchase only, maybe a unique block to preform the function that you have to craft.

 

[NeonSturm]

Gameplay very much does matter. This game is still in it's infancy, and while it's quite true that that the current mechanics are far from final, the only way we're going to change that is if the game is built with long-term balance in mind and doesn't throw in unbalanced features because they'll be fun in the meantime.

What I can get behind is a placeholder system that maybe throws off balance a bit, but nevertheless adheres to the fundamental properties such a system should have. Like, some form of delay or time-consuming aspect, block-purchase only, maybe a unique block to preform the function that you have to craft.

While true it is always easier to make something right from the beginning to consider the possibilities you want to support and build something that is capable to do it.

 

[DemonGunz]

what if could purchase the station blueprint but the shop supplied a construction ship that you could command to goto a location and fill that ship with all the required blocks needed to finish that construction simular to how the shipyard system would work for ships but using an npc ship to hold the resources instead of a shipyard

 

[lupoCani]

While true it is always easier to make something right from the beginning to consider the possibilities you want to support and build something that is capable to do it.

Of course, that micro-suggestion was a compromise idea that aimed to be conceptually, though perhaps not entirely, right from the beginning. If it was up to me, however, I'd naturally skip any placeholder middlemen.

what if could purchase the station blueprint but the shop supplied a construction ship that you could command to goto a location and fill that ship with all the required blocks needed to finish that construction simular to how the shipyard system would work for ships but using an npc ship to hold the resources instead of a shipyard

Yes, that could work, but if we're going as far as to implement automated construction ships, I don't see why shop should be involved in the first place. Just let players make their own, the less shops are needed for, the better.

 

[ltmauve]

Here's how it should work: Get a bunch of NPCs. Put a build block on a station. Shove the NPCs into gravity. Go into the build block, then open up blueprints menu. It will list station blueprints now. Select one, and the NPCs will begin removing and rearranging whatever blocks are there, and if their own inventories have the correct blocks, they will place them until the blueprint is finished.

 

[NeonSturm]

Here's how it should work: Get a bunch of NPCs. Put a build block on a station. Shove the NPCs into gravity. Go into the build block, then open up blueprints menu. It will list station blueprints now. Select one, and the NPCs will begin removing and rearranging whatever blocks are there, and if their own inventories have the correct blocks, they will place them until the blueprint is finished.

Don't use slaves for this. Use robots for this !!! :p

 

[ltmauve]

No, they're workers. What I was trying to go for was a) no summoning of blocks b) no sudden structures appearing; if you want a base you need time.

 

[lupoCani]

Here's how it should work: Get a bunch of NPCs. Put a build block on a station. Shove the NPCs into gravity. Go into the build block, then open up blueprints menu. It will list station blueprints now. Select one, and the NPCs will begin removing and rearranging whatever blocks are there, and if their own inventories have the correct blocks, they will place them until the blueprint is finished.

That's actually brilliant. I'd still want construction AI ships alongside that of course, but using Npc's would be quite an excellent mechanic.