- Joined
- Aug 10, 2013
- Messages
- 290
- Reaction score
- 367
Hello.
The newest update seems to have concluded the lengthy troubles we had with docking areas, but it also raised a new possibility.
You see, I always found using the docking enhancers a bothersome task, and the area they generate around themselves a nuisance at best, and a serious hindrance in creative construction at worst. Whatever you do, the area has to be left empty, or it won't work.
Empty square areas aren't a terribly fine sight to behold, but I put up with them so far, thinking that's how the game works, they're needed for properly attaching my turrets, or ships.
Until a few patches ago they were more lenient, and allowed a little bigger turrets than the highlighted areas, and it was good. A few bits protruding here and there, a little longer barrels and such, and it improved the visuals quite nicely.
Sadly, that's no longer the case; all my turrets from all my ships were torn off, and I couldn't dock them back unless I made them, or the ships considerably uglier. Needless to say, this sucks. Seriously.
But then I tried out the new console command ( /ignore_docking_area true ), and it quickly turned out that those bloody docking areas aren't even necessary to make the system work.
Ships dock nicely, turrets work like a charm no matter how I place them, and I'm free to build around them.
Excuse the caps, but THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD WORK!
Take a look for yourself, it's time for the promised PIKCHURRZ:
Good docking:
-You don't need any more empty space than the ship itself. Good when your core is placed far to the front or the rear
-You don't even need a straigth floor. You could contour it to the ship's shape.
-You can build all sorts of stuff around it, like ladders, docking clamps, or, if you're in a hurry to build a demonstration... a wall. ( A really amazing wall. Like, it's not tilted one bit. )
Bad docking:
-If the ship core is not in the middle, you need to build the dockingarea twice as large as the ship itself.
-Nothing may be built in that huge green box.
-The nice wall is gone.
Good turret:
-Doesn't take up any more space than it needs to.
-You can build a turret basket.
-Said turret basket can be sunk into the main hull, thus protecting the turret's core and the docking module; The turret won't get torn off or destroyed in combat so easily.
-You're free to shape the main hull any way you like. It can follow the turret's contour, or have neat little details.
Bad turret:
-Takes up an enormous space.
-You wanted a turret basket? Too bad, now it's protruding way too high.
-You may be tempted to dig a giant, ugly, box-shaped hole in the main hull so you might fix this and sink the turret.
-Or lose the basket, and every detail that protrudes from the back of the hull.
-Docking enhancers are exposed. The turret may get torn off if even one of them gets destroyed.
-You may have to sacrifice interior space to try and hide the enhancers.
I imagine that console command will be very popular, very soon. It might even be good enough to make this the deafult setting.
The only real downside is, you might get stuck when trying to un-dock something, but careful building can keep that problem at bay for the moment, and perhaps in the future a line of code could be added that GENTLY nudges your ship or turret towards the nearest suitable empty space after undocking, until it's free of collision.
And there's one last thing that would make the turrets way better:
They should only traverse horizontally (relative to themselves), and a new attachment block should be made that let's the turret's guns (or a part of the turret containing the guns) traverse vertically. Basically, you'd have two joints instead of one.
And that's all for now.
Cheers.
The newest update seems to have concluded the lengthy troubles we had with docking areas, but it also raised a new possibility.
You see, I always found using the docking enhancers a bothersome task, and the area they generate around themselves a nuisance at best, and a serious hindrance in creative construction at worst. Whatever you do, the area has to be left empty, or it won't work.
Empty square areas aren't a terribly fine sight to behold, but I put up with them so far, thinking that's how the game works, they're needed for properly attaching my turrets, or ships.
Until a few patches ago they were more lenient, and allowed a little bigger turrets than the highlighted areas, and it was good. A few bits protruding here and there, a little longer barrels and such, and it improved the visuals quite nicely.
Sadly, that's no longer the case; all my turrets from all my ships were torn off, and I couldn't dock them back unless I made them, or the ships considerably uglier. Needless to say, this sucks. Seriously.
But then I tried out the new console command ( /ignore_docking_area true ), and it quickly turned out that those bloody docking areas aren't even necessary to make the system work.
Ships dock nicely, turrets work like a charm no matter how I place them, and I'm free to build around them.
Excuse the caps, but THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD WORK!
Take a look for yourself, it's time for the promised PIKCHURRZ:
Good docking:
-You don't need any more empty space than the ship itself. Good when your core is placed far to the front or the rear
-You don't even need a straigth floor. You could contour it to the ship's shape.
-You can build all sorts of stuff around it, like ladders, docking clamps, or, if you're in a hurry to build a demonstration... a wall. ( A really amazing wall. Like, it's not tilted one bit. )
Bad docking:
-If the ship core is not in the middle, you need to build the dockingarea twice as large as the ship itself.
-Nothing may be built in that huge green box.
-The nice wall is gone.
Good turret:
-Doesn't take up any more space than it needs to.
-You can build a turret basket.
-Said turret basket can be sunk into the main hull, thus protecting the turret's core and the docking module; The turret won't get torn off or destroyed in combat so easily.
-You're free to shape the main hull any way you like. It can follow the turret's contour, or have neat little details.
Bad turret:
-Takes up an enormous space.
-You wanted a turret basket? Too bad, now it's protruding way too high.
-You may be tempted to dig a giant, ugly, box-shaped hole in the main hull so you might fix this and sink the turret.
-Or lose the basket, and every detail that protrudes from the back of the hull.
-Docking enhancers are exposed. The turret may get torn off if even one of them gets destroyed.
-You may have to sacrifice interior space to try and hide the enhancers.
I imagine that console command will be very popular, very soon. It might even be good enough to make this the deafult setting.
The only real downside is, you might get stuck when trying to un-dock something, but careful building can keep that problem at bay for the moment, and perhaps in the future a line of code could be added that GENTLY nudges your ship or turret towards the nearest suitable empty space after undocking, until it's free of collision.
And there's one last thing that would make the turrets way better:
They should only traverse horizontally (relative to themselves), and a new attachment block should be made that let's the turret's guns (or a part of the turret containing the guns) traverse vertically. Basically, you'd have two joints instead of one.
And that's all for now.
Cheers.
