Prerelease v0.200.250

Haven't done a lot of playing lately, so i may be late to the party.

But honestly: wtf is that red power worm?
Is it just temporary?
Just another stupid thing to build around? ...as if refitting ships wasn't already enough fun...
If i want to have a conduit connecting power and stabilizers i would build one with blocks.
Now it looks like arbitrarily hindering ship design for nothing.

PLEASE KILL IT WITH FIRE!

Next, we'll have a campfire block. Makes it easier for us to make a human sacrifice before refitting.

NuclearFun said:

Haven't done a lot of playing lately, so i may be late to the party.

But honestly: wtf is that red power worm?
Is it just temporary?
Just another stupid thing to build around? ...as if refitting ships wasn't already enough fun...
If i want to have a conduit connecting power and stabilizers i would build one with blocks.
Now it looks like arbitrarily hindering ship design for nothing.

PLEASE KILL IT WITH FIRE!

Click to expand...

Criss, schema, that was a Master Builder speaking. One of the longest present prominent builders on Starmade. Coincidentally, the only Master Builder who actually also valued performance on his designs.

NuclearFun the red beam is there to prevent an "island meta", a.k.a building unconnected chunks of ship with nothing between the reactor and stabiliser group to save mass. If the beam gets hit, your power goes out for a few seconds, but they plan to give more serious consequences like the damage dealt to it transferring to the reactors or the stabs. We hope it is temporary. Doesn't look like it, though.

NuclearFun said:

Haven't done a lot of playing lately, so i may be late to the party.

But honestly: wtf is that red power worm?
Is it just temporary?
Just another stupid thing to build around? ...as if refitting ships wasn't already enough fun...
If i want to have a conduit connecting power and stabilizers i would build one with blocks.
Now it looks like arbitrarily hindering ship design for nothing.

PLEASE KILL IT WITH FIRE!

Click to expand...

But but but.. We get to make fun new ships like this!

OmegaGame said:

But but but.. We get to make fun new ships like this! View attachment 47293

Click to expand...

why

The_Owl said:

why

Click to expand...

Why not when the material is this easy?.. Hell, dick, dick and dick could pilot one of these bad puppies.

The_Owl said:

why

Click to expand...

Everyone had a phase like that in Minecraft, Starmade or any other voxel builder at some point. When you just HAVE TO build something phallic. It's inevitable unless you're a female (and not even sure about that)

Hell, my first d***ship wasn't even intentional, I only realised the shape after a faction member blatantly pointed it out while laughing.

Matt_Bradock said:

Everyone had a phase like that in Minecraft, Starmade or any other voxel builder at some point. When you just HAVE TO build something phallic. It's inevitable unless you're a female (and not even sure about that)

Hell, my first d***ship wasn't even intentional, I only realised the shape after a faction member blatantly pointed it out while laughing.

Click to expand...

Hell, proffessionals do it too, take a look at the TCS Midway from Wing Commander Prophecy. https://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/MIDWAY_T.png

by the way, on the side of the generic stabilizer/chamber system hate, can we get some hate directed toward shield bubbles too?

don't wan't that reading this thread schema gets the impression that shield bubbles were a good idea or even salvageable.

LoSboccacc said:

by the way, on the side of the generic stabilizer/chamber system hate, can we get some hate directed toward shield bubbles too?

don't wan't that reading this thread schema gets the impression that shield bubbles were a good idea or even salvageable.

Click to expand...

I agree, shield bubbles forces not only ship design but also ruins modular stations.
Here's a station falling victim to the shield bubbles:

See those ships docked to the docking module? All unshielded.
We need to say no to shield bubbles aswell as the stabilizers along with other unwanted features.

Does Schema want us to build giant stations just to park our ships in a shield?

Kelpaz said:

Does Schema want us to build giant stations just to park our ships in a shield?

Click to expand...

Or don't build anything else than a homebase that don't need shields.

Scypio said:

Or don't build anything else than a homebase that don't need shields.

Click to expand...

That's pretty hard when running an empire, can't have an empire with just a homebase.
I have sectors to hold, my ships have places to be.

And Shield Bubbles coming into existence down the road was the reason I planned ahead with my stations. The Power 2.0 is far more of an issue than Shield Bubbles ever well be. Just make sure to have your stations setup to have multiple generator points for shields.

StormWing0 said:

And Shield Bubbles coming into existence down the road was the reason I planned ahead with my stations. The Power 2.0 is far more of an issue than Shield Bubbles ever well be. Just make sure to have your stations setup to have multiple generator points for shields.

Click to expand...

Stations could also have potentially different rules, bc they're a different entity type. They could have higher caps and bigger bubbles. Or maybe treat docked entities of a station differently than docked entities of a ship.

OmegaGame said:

But but but.. We get to make fun new ships like this! View attachment 47293

Click to expand...

Yep! The Reactor Dildo. lol

Jeffenuva said:

Stations could also have potentially different rules, bc they're a different entity type. They could have higher caps and bigger bubbles. Or maybe treat docked entities of a station differently than docked entities of a ship.

Click to expand...

Ya that'd help. Also what'd help is making it so we can set how far up the docking tree for stations and ships active reactors and active chambers are allowed. Say by default on Stations it'd be 1 up from the base entity on reactors but 0 up from it on chambers, while on ships it'd be 0 on both.

Also ships should be built strong. No one likes little annoying leaches stuck to the skin.

Jeffenuva said:

Stations could also have potentially different rules, bc they're a different entity type. They could have higher caps and bigger bubbles. Or maybe treat docked entities of a station differently than docked entities of a ship.

Click to expand...

yay! more broken mechanic to fix a broken mechanic over something that never was an issue to begin with

I think my main concern, other than the very explicit concerns with stations and modular designs, was the fact that the shielding system worked completely fine otherwise with one adjustment being 100% shield share. Integrity being introduced now almost eliminates the entire purpose of "bubble shielding" as parts of the ship not connected well are no longer as strong as previous. The old system worked, and well at that, so I see no reason to attempt to fix something that has worked since its inception.

For floating objects apart from the main section of the ship, my simple suggestion is and was that we have magnet blocks that must be paired in order for a floating segment to occur which would allow another game mechanic to be introduced with targeting structural weak points as well as solving the problem of multiple (either docked or not) floating entities. This would allow interesting ship designs to occur naturally and not be a massive impediment to balance, it would also help with the eventual addition of breakaway physics in general as it would emulate some of what is to come later.
For a show of diagrams:

Non-Breakaway Physics (General Purpose)
This is the general case of a non-damaged ship in blueprinting phase.

Working Connection (No Damage)

(Main Ship)------------------(Floating Section)
[][][][][][][]------------------------- [][]
[][][][][][][]------------------------[][][][]
[][][][][][][]-----------------------[[][][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][]={ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- }=[][][][]] (Must be a linear open connection between the Mothership connector and the Child connector)
[][][][][][][]--------------------- [][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][]-----------------------[][][][][][]
[][][][][][][]-------------------------[][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------------[][]

Disabled Connection (Damage Sustained on Child)

(Main Ship)------------------(Floating Section)
[][][][][][][]------------------------- [][]
[][][][][][][]------------------------[][][][]
[][][][][][][]-----------------------[[][][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][]={ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- }=[][][][]] (The Child connector has been destroyed therefore the Floating Section flies off)
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------- [][][][][][]
[][][][][][][]-------------------------[][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------------[][]

Disabled Connection (Damage Sustained on Mothership)

(Main Ship)------------------(Floating Section)
[][][][][][][]------------------------- [][]
[][][][][][][]------------------------[][][][]
[][][][][][][]-----------------------[[][][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][]={ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - -}=[][][][]] (The Mothership connector has been destroyed therefore the Floating Section flies off)
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------- [][][][][][]
[][][][][][][]-------------------------[][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------------[][]

Working Connection (Damage has been Sustained but there is a Redundancy)

(Main Ship)------------------(Floating Section)
[][][][][][][]------------------------- [][]
[][][][][][][]------------------------[][][][]
[][][][][][][]-----------------------[[][][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][]={ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- }=[][][][]] (Working Connector Pair)
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][]={ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- }=[][][][]] (The Child connector has been destroyed)
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][]={ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- }=[][][][]] (The Mothership connector has been destroyed)
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][]-----------------------[[][][][][]
[][][][][][][]------------------------[][][][]
[][][][][][][]------------------------- [][]

This would make decentralization possible but would also introduce weakness points into the ship if used to create Floating Sections.

Breakaway Physics Simplification/Implemetation
There is also a way to use this for an interesting structural reinforcement mechanic. This would most likely be implemented with breakaway as the diagrams above can be accomplished with complete blueprints and this below will need on the spot calculations. On top of being a general improvement to floating mechanics in the game, it would allow for an easier check of breakaway in the code. Instead of remembering which parts of the ship are floating normally and not making them fall apart, the code could simply check for the existence of a Connector Pair, in which case if the answer is no the section will fall off.

Working Connection (No Damage)

(Main Ship)
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][][][]---------------[][][[][][][]
[][][][][][][]-----------------------[[][][][][]
[][][][][][][]----------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][]={ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- }=[][][][]] (Must be a linear open connection to create a Connector Pair)
[][][][][][][]----------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][]-----------------------[[][][][][]
[][][][][][][][][]---------------[][][[][][][]
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][[][]

Working Connection (Damage Sustained Creating Floating Section)

(Main Ship)------------------(Created Floating Section)
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][][][]---------------[][][[][][][]
[][][][][][][]-----------------------[[][][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][]={ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- }=[][][][]] (Must be a linear open connection to create a Connector Pair)
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][]-----------------------[[][][][][]
[][][][][][][][][]---------------[][][[][][][]
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][[][]

Disabled Connection (Damage Sustained Creating Floating Section Without Working Connector Pair)

(Main Ship)------------------(Created Floating Section)
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][][][]---------------[][][[][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------- [[][][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][]={ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- }=[][][][]] (Connector Pair is broken therefore the Floating Section falls off)
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------- [[][][][][]
[][][][][][][][][]---------------[][][[][][][]
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][[][]

(Main Ship)------------------(Created Floating Section)
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][][][]---------------[][][[][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------- [[][][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][]={ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- }=[][][][]] (Connector Pair is broken therefore the Floating Section falls off)
[][][][][][][]---------------------[][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][]---------------------- [[][][][][]
[][][][][][][][][]---------------[][][[][][][]
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][[][]

I originally intended to shitpost in a less detailed fashion, but I could not allow this opportunity to escape me at such an integral time of game development.

Nosajimiki said:

I see your meme and raise you an allegory!

*Ahem*...

In the beginning God made man and woman, and said that this is good. In fact, he liked people so much that he gave them the ability to reproduce.

But Eve soon found an exploit so that she could have all the pleasure of reproduction without having all the work of raising kids. Upon seeing this, God exclaimed, “OH NO! This is not good”; so, God removed all carrots, cucumbers, and all other similar vegetables. Then Adam found an even easier exploit; so, God removed thumbs. Then Adam and Eve discussed how God had patched away the exploits, and working together found many new ways to exploit the system. So, God removed mouths and many other body parts that can not be named on Starmade Dock, but no matter how hard God tried Adam and Eve would always find new ways to exploit the system.

Getting tired of writing patches, God decided to redesign the whole reproductive system so that it would no longer be pleasurable. Surely enough, Adam and Eve stopped exploiting… but they also did not reproduce either. After a while, Adam and Eve decided that life was no longer fun so they both threw themselves from a cliff, and the world became a very quiet and lonely place for God to visit.

After a while, God decided to pull a backup of his original design and said, “this was not good… but it was a good start”. So, he let Adam and Eve continue to use their exploits, but patched the reproductive system to feel better when used as intended so that the human race would still have a reason to go forth and multiply. Adam and Eve loved how this new system worked so they told God, “Thank you, now THIS is good.”

Click to expand...

For the record, it took more than one restore