Reduce Complexity within the Crafting system

[Mered4]

I'm not sure how folks feel about this one on MFleet, as no one there seems to really think about it (most of us are quite good at crafting by now).

But I do get a lot of complaints that the crafting system has a very, very steep learning curve. I have a simple suggestion for helping to reduce the unnecessary complexity within the crafting system without removing too much depth.

Make ship blueprints require resources instead of blocks.

This allows for an easier, more straightforward method with which to value ships (like the old credits system), but still keeps the economy resource based.

The crafting system itself would remain unchanged - if you wanted to craft blocks, you can still go through the process of doing so.

I'd also like to point out that the most tedious part of filling ship BPs in Starmade is the creation of Advanced armor. Getting the resources for it isn't super difficult - it's expensive, sure, but not overly so. The problem is the complex five step process, not including the conversion from standard blocks to wedges, tetras, etc. The conversion from Grey Hull to other colors isn't intuitive, either. I have Grey Advanced Armor - why can't I color it black? Or white? Or whatever?

I think the easiest way to solve this would be to break down the armor *tree* into a two step process at most: Get the resources, then turn it into Advanced/Standard/Basic Hull, then Color it with paint/ingots (depending on the level of armor).

 

[jzimmerman4]

I agree that there should be less steps in creating different blocks, especially armor. That's something that I liked about the Minecraft crafting is that it was always quite simple and straight forward. I also personally feel like there are way to many types of ores and crystals. I would prefer to see the number cut in half at least so that it would be possible to memorize them.

 

[CyberTao]

The Shipyard update would allow plexstorages to be linked to the shipyard (or so I heard), and those storages could be supplied by factories. I also remember hearing that empty storage chest emit a logic signal, which could be used to trigger factories automatically. No hull > Signal emitted > Restarts related factories > Hull supplied > Signal ended.
Remember, you won't be able to just poof in a ship forever.

I also recall Calbiri saying they plan to make it so that you can set the minimal/maximum number of items in the chest to pull. So if White hull dropped below 250, it would pull hull, and that pull may activate factories? Either way, it was to be so that the shipyard could create the blocks needed if there was no enough with a proper setup.


But I haven't used the crafting system, so I can't speak for the annoyances it causes. Just wanted to pop in that tidbit I heard about shipyards.

 

[jzimmerman4]

Yea if the process was simplified then I would prefer to have to make the actual blocks for the ship expecially since it would make more sense in terms of a shipyard

 

[Mered4]

Yea if the process was simplified then I would prefer to have to make the actual blocks for the ship expecially since it would make more sense in terms of a shipyard

I could agree with this.

It would also be nice to see if Tom would be willing to test a simplified BP system (resources only) on MFleet for a little while, to see how that changes player behavior.

 

[toasts]

I'm all for a simpler crafting system, but I think you should still have to craft the blocks for blueprints rather than using just the raw resources.

~Toast

 

[Lukwan]

Agreed. The BP should just use the standard block (once it has run out of edges and tetras etc.) I don't need to prove any thing to the BP...I already crafted those special blocks when I made the original ship. It makes sense to eliminate pointless tedium at the source whenever possible. When fun collides with realism fun should win...unless it creates unbalance.

 

[GRHayes]

I agree that there should be less steps in creating different blocks, especially armor. That's something that I liked about the Minecraft crafting is that it was always quite simple and straight forward. I also personally feel like there are way to many types of ores and crystals. I would prefer to see the number cut in half at least so that it would be possible to memorize them.

Lets see minecraft you refine the material then make the item. Starmade you refine the materials and then make the item. The difference is in starmade they built color into the armor menu. Which they have already said they are separating.

Maybe that we have more than one factory in starmade. But in minecraft you do essentially as well you have the forge, the potion stand, the enchanting table....

Hmm. Star made you can automate processes and have it do a lot of work for you. Minecraft sorry can't do that. Sure you can make an automated monster trap and even a rail car system that sorts your loot but you can't automate crafting in minecraft.

 

[max stripe]

Lets see minecraft you refine the material then make the item. Starmade you refine the materials and then make the item. The difference is in starmade they built color into the armor menu. Which they have already said they are separating.

Maybe that we have more than one factory in starmade. But in minecraft you do essentially as well you have the forge, the potion stand, the enchanting table....

Hmm. Star made you can automate processes and have it do a lot of work for you. Minecraft sorry can't do that. Sure you can make an automated monster trap and even a rail car system that sorts your loot but you can't automate crafting in minecraft.

you can auto craft using mods in minecraft

 

[GRHayes]

you can auto craft using mods in minecraft

Sure can. You could also run spigot and craftbukkit and do a lot on the server side as well.

But we were not talking mods were we? We were talking built into the game because that is what the proposal is to change not to change a mod.

 

[Cryocasm]

Make ship blueprints require resources instead of blocks.

To be honest, they practically do.

Since you can link factories together, all it really takes it babysitting the factories to produce the correct hulls / standard armor / advanced armors necessary.

The feature I would really like to see is one level above yours: allow the shipyard to automatically command the factories to alter their production target. This way you still require the factory infrastructure (and are limited in terms of production volume by the factory enhancer n count) and you don't need to constantly look after it.

I am also strongly agreeing with the notion of being able to recolor armor blocks at all stages of production, it is annoying that you basically "lock in" your grey hulls at the most basic step, which means that for any larger project you just stock pile grey hulls until you know what you need, which adds time expense to the building process.

But I think the coloring issue ties back with the fact that each of the individual ores is prescribed a color, so by introducing coloring you're basically making crafting 8 times less difficult: all ores now equal all colors, so you have (theoretically) have 8x more blocks of one specific armor color. This issue will come down to the devs deciding on if the game needs this sort of a simplification, and the survival mode implications are large as well: in the vanilla survival economy all blocks will become more abundant and therefore less valuable because they are easier to produce, which means factions will want to war more quickly because production costs are now based on total ore volume, not specific ore volume to the most used armor blocks.