Currently, ship-building tools are a bit lackluster; the very basic things are there, but not much more. Here are some additional trivially easy additions which would make everyone a great deal happier:
1. Radial Symettry for 180 and 90 degrees. Place an axis of rotation (or even just re-use the planes model to determine the axis), then use that. Trivial math, highly useful feature.
2. Typed x,y,z sizes for advanced placement, with a much higher cap. If processing/bandwidth is an issue, have the cap be based on volume rather than in a specific dimension. It will make long coridors and sections of hull plating much easier to create. Being able to type the sizes is also important. Even going from 1 to 10 is an HCI nightmare in the current system.
3. Circles/ovals/spheres/elipsoid. Same as creating a rectangular box, but with a check to ensure each block is within the specified volume. Simple math, simple code. One change in creation, one in removal; and the same equation handles all of those shapes.
4. Cylinders. Same as above, but with another commonly used shape. Would require additional UI element to specify which dimension is the axis around which it rotates.
So yeah, 4 simple to implement changes which would make shipbuilders everywhere rejoice. The trickiest would probably be 2, depending on how tricky your text-box code is to use [and the fact that it is rarely used outside of where it is absolutely 100% necessary seems to suggest it may be a pain].
1. Radial Symettry for 180 and 90 degrees. Place an axis of rotation (or even just re-use the planes model to determine the axis), then use that. Trivial math, highly useful feature.
2. Typed x,y,z sizes for advanced placement, with a much higher cap. If processing/bandwidth is an issue, have the cap be based on volume rather than in a specific dimension. It will make long coridors and sections of hull plating much easier to create. Being able to type the sizes is also important. Even going from 1 to 10 is an HCI nightmare in the current system.
3. Circles/ovals/spheres/elipsoid. Same as creating a rectangular box, but with a check to ensure each block is within the specified volume. Simple math, simple code. One change in creation, one in removal; and the same equation handles all of those shapes.
4. Cylinders. Same as above, but with another commonly used shape. Would require additional UI element to specify which dimension is the axis around which it rotates.
So yeah, 4 simple to implement changes which would make shipbuilders everywhere rejoice. The trickiest would probably be 2, depending on how tricky your text-box code is to use [and the fact that it is rarely used outside of where it is absolutely 100% necessary seems to suggest it may be a pain].
