Scaffold wedges

[Creeper__God]

Ok so this is a fairly self explainitory and very simple suggestion. Scaffold wedges. We have scaffold, which is an amazing decorative block, but the possibilities of using it is greatly limited by the lack of scaffold wedges. I understand that the devs are trying to conserve block ids but I think that losing a single block id to gain this would be a fine trade off.

 

[Monchoman45]

Can I just throw out the idea of wedges, corners, heptas, and tetras for basically everything? Like crystals and mesh and circuits and motherboards and doors and forcefields and lights. All of the things.

 

[Valiant70]

Can I just throw out the idea of wedges, corners, heptas, and tetras for basically everything? Like crystals and mesh and circuits and motherboards and doors and forcefields and lights. All of the things.

I was thinking the same thing about force fields.

I understand that the devs are trying to conserve block ids but I think that losing a single block id to gain this would be a fine trade off.

Honestly, I think the shapes code needs to be re-written to take up one block ID for all shapes, if that's possible. I think something is going to have to happen to block IDs ultimately. Running out is a distinct likelihood. I honestly can't think of a clever solution, but perhaps a better coder like Schema will eventually find one. It's difficult because the most straightforward solution would require adding additional bits of data to each block in the game, greatly increasing the size of already massive server files. There's only so much information you can store in... I think it's two bytes per block.

 

[ltmauve]

I figured out how to rearrange the bits so that all the shapes and then some could fit into one ID. It took a couple bits from HP to rotations. Schema commented on it but I haven't heard any official word since then.
http://starmadedock.net/threads/crystal-wedges-no-extra-ids-needed.1956/

 

[jayman38]

There's only so much information you can store in... I think it's two bytes per block.

3 bytes, which is 24 bits.

Citation from the official Wiki:
http://starmadepedia.net/wiki/Blueprint_File_Formats#Block_Data

I think scaffold wedges will be worth the use of another Block ID. (I've estimated that we have about 110 official-game Block IDs left, assuming they stick to their plan of leaving 256 Block IDs free for custom blocks. We'll have over 250 Block IDs available if the devs drop the custom Block ID count down to 128.)

That brings up another issue: There has been talk about "crawling", whether it is vertically up a surface as a ladder, or horizontally as a crawlspace. An angled scaffold wedge implies that the devs will need to implement diagonal "crawling". I don't think it'll be a big issue, but it'll require a little extra effort.